Six In The Morning Monday January 26

26 January 2015 Last updated at 09:19

Greece election: Syriza leader Tsipras vows to end austerity 'pain'

Anti-austerity Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras has vowed to end Greece's "five years of humiliation and pain" after his general election win. 

Before cheering supporters, Mr Tsipras again pledged to renegotiate Greece's massive international bailout. 

With nearly all of the votes counted in Sunday's poll, Syriza looks set to have 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority. 

Syriza's victory has raised fears about Greece's future in the euro. 

The currency fell to $1.11 against the US dollar following the result - the lowest level in more than 11 years.

Greece has endured tough budget cuts in return for its 2010 bailout, worth €240bn (£179bn; $268bn) and negotiated with the so-called troika - the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB).

Dozens of Philippines police killed in shootout with fugitive Islamist terrorist

January 26, 2015 - 12:36PM

Lindsay Murdoch

South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Bangkok: More than 30 Philippines police commandos have been killed trying to capture South-east Asia's top Islamist terrorist, who was involved in planning the 2002 Bali bombings.

Malaysian-born Zulkifli Abdhir, one of the US's most wanted persons with a $US5 million bounty on his head, is believed to have been killed or wounded in the botched operation in a lawless region of the southern Philippines.

Zulkifli's death would be a severe blow to Islamist militants responsible for a series of deadly bombings in the Philippines and a recruitment drive for the so-called Islamic State group.

The elusive militant, also known as Marwan, was wrongly reported to have been killed in an air strike on a rebel base on the densely forested Philippines island of Jolo in 2012.

Strategic city falls in Nigeria's battle against Boko Haram

By Aminu Abubakar, CNN

Updated 0831 GMT (1631 HKT) January 26, 2015

Hundreds of Boko Haramgunmen on Sunday launched a predawn attack on the Nigerian city of Maiduguri and were locked in a fierce battle with government troops on the outskirts of the city, according to the military, residents and citizen vigilantes.

The militants launched a simultaneous attack on the town of Monguno and were apparently successful in taking control of the town and its military barracks, a Nigerian military officer in Maiduguri told CNN.

"Our soldiers initially repelled the terrorists but they mobilized more fighters and came back in full force. They overwhelmed our troops and forced them to retreat," said the officer, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

How an ISIS Beheading Might Change Japan

By Matt Schiavenza

A video released on Islamic State-affiliated Twitter accounts show the apparent beheading of Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old Japanese citizen who had been held captive by ISIS forces since last August. Yukawa's death hasn't been independently verified, but the Japanese government said it believes the video to be authentic. The beheading came days after ISIS demanded Japan pay a $200 million ransom to free Yukawa and Kenji Goto, a 47-year-old journalist and fellow captive. The Japanese government had pledged to free the hostages, but said it would not "bow to terrorism." According to Goto, who spoke in the video that showed Yukawa's purported execution, ISIS will free him if Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, a female affiliate currently imprisoned in Jordan, is released.

Police And Protesters Clash In Egypt On Anniversary Of Uprising

 |  By HAMZA HENDAWI and SARAH EL DEEB

Anti-government protesters fought street battles with police in Cairo and other cities on Sunday, the fourth anniversary of the country's 2011 uprising, as clashes left at least 15 people dead and dozens injured. Another two people died when an explosive device they were planting under a high-voltage tower in the Nile Delta exploded prematurely, according to security officials.

Most of the deaths took place in Cairo's eastern Matariyah district — an Islamist stronghold where police used tear gas and birdshots to disperse supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group armed with firebombs and rocks. At least nine protesters and one police conscript were killed in the clashes there, the officials said.

Two other protesters and two policemen were killed elsewhere in Cairo on Sunday, and one in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Alberto Nisman shooting: Journalist Damian Pachter flees Argentina in fear for his life after breaking the story

Reports say the journalist has gone to Israel after his phone was tapped

ANDREW BUNCOMBE 

The journalist credited with being the first to report the shooting death of a controversial Argentine prosecutor has fled the country, saying that he feared for his life. On Sunday night he arrived in Israel.

Damian Pachter, a journalist with the Buenos Aires Herald, had written about the death of Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor whose body was found just hours before he was due to testify to politicians over allegations he had made that the country’s president had derailed an inquiry into a notorious bomb attack.

Officials initially said they believed Mr Nisman had taken his own life. But then President President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – the person whom Mr Nisman had levelled allegations at – and other officials said his death was not suicide. The president’s chief of staff said it was believed ‘rogue’ agents had killed Mr Nisman.