Six In The Morning Friday January 9

Paris attack suspects holed up in French town

French town of Dammartin-en-Goele near Paris in lockdown as police operation under way to detain two suspects. Last updated: 09 Jan 2015 09:24

A massive police operation is under way in northeast of Paris, as the search for two suspects responsible for the heinous killing of 12 people at French magazine earlier in the week, intensified, local media and the interior ministry have confirmed.

Local media said witnesses reported on Friday a high-speed car chase and gunshots as police chased the suspects on a French highway outside Paris.

The latest developments come as heavily armed anti-terrorism police swooped on residential areas northeast of Paris in a extensive manhunt for two brothers suspected of being behind killing at satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo.

Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Dammartin-en-Goele, around 30km north-east of Paris, on Friday, said the entire area was under lockdown amid multiple reports filtering through of the men's whereabouts in the area. It is also undersood that the men may have taken a hostage.

US prepares for sentencing of radical British Muslim preacher Abu Hamza

Federal guidelines suggest 56-year-old should be jailed for life

ANDREW BUNCOMBE 

 

NEW YORK

 

Friday 09 January 2015

The US is readying for the sentencing of radical preacher Abu Hamza – a man accused of "waging a global war of jihad against those he considered infidels” and who faces life in prison after being convicted of trying to establish an al-Qaeda training camp in America.

The 56-year-old, whose full name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, is scheduled to be sentenced in New York on Friday morning local time. The hearing comes amid reports that the security services believe of the two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris was mentored by an associate of Abu Hamza,

He will be sentenced before district judge Katherine Forrest at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse in Manhattan, having been convicted last May of a series of terror-related charges.

Thailand opens impeachment proceedings against former PM Yingluck

Thailand's military-appointed assembly has opened impeachment proceedings against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. She and her supporters have dismissed the charges against her as being politically motivated.

Former prime minister Yingluck told Thailand's National Legislative Assembly, appointed by the ruling military junta, on Friday that the whole procedure against her was an act of futility.

"I was removed from my position as prime minister. I have no position left to be removed from," Yingluck pointed out.

Yingluck, who swept to power in a landslide election victory in 2011, was removed from office in May of last year in a controversial court ruling shortly before the military seized power in a coup after months of mass protests against her rule.

She stands accused of dereliction of duty over a rice subsidy scheme that the country's anti-corruption commission has said cost the country around $4 billion (3.4 euros).

North Korea shows progress in missile-launching submarine

January 9, 2015 - 1:03PM

Rick Gladstone

Washington: North Korea has displayed its cyberattack capabilities and advances toward making nuclear warheads, the country's adversaries say. Now, the North appears to have shown progress in fitting submarines with missile launchers.

A report posted on Thursday on the website of 38north, a prominent research group that focuses on North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery of a North Korean submarine, taken less than a month ago, indicates the vessel may have one or two vertical launching tubes for either ballistic or cruise missiles.

The submarine, first seen last July, could be an experimental test bed for underwater missile launching, which would be harder to detect than land-based launchers, the report said. It was written by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., an arms expert and authority on North Korea's defence capabilities.

Boko Haram continues violence in new attack on Nigerian town

The Islamic extremist group called Boko Haram has continued to terrorize Nigeria, killing dozens in the northeast town of Baga.

By Ardo Abdullah, Reuters

BAUCHI, NIGERIA — Boko Haram militants have killed dozens of people and burned down homes in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga in the past two days, in a second killing spree since seizing control there at the weekend, witnesses said on Thursday.

Two locals said the Islamist insurgents began shooting indiscriminately and burning buildings on Tuesday evening in raids on the civilian population that carried on into Wednesday.

"I escaped with my family in the car after seeing how Boko Haram was killing people ... I saw bodies in the street. Children and women, some were crying for help," Mohamed Bukar told Reuters after fleeing to the state capital Maiduguri.

Saudi activist to be flogged in public, Amnesty International says

By Slma Shelbayah, CNN

Prominent Saudi online activist Raif Badawi will be flogged for the first time in public on Friday following prayers in front of a mosque in Jeddah, according to Amnesty International.

Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi Arabian riyals (approximately $267,000) in May 2014 by a Saudi court accusing him of insulting Islam, said his wife and a source who followed the case closely.

A respected rights activist in Saudi Arabia, Badawi first got into legal trouble with the Saudi government after he started the Free Saudi Liberals website in 2008, which included a forum for users to discuss religion.