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page 20 FRANCE Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam extradited to France Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the sole survivor among a group of Islamist militants who killed 130 people in Paris in November, was extradited to France from Belgium on Wednesday. Abdeslam, 26, was Europe’s most wanted fugitive until his capture in Brussels on March 18 […]
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FRANCE
Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam extradited to France
Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the sole survivor among a group of Islamist militants who killed 130 people in Paris in November, was extradited to France from Belgium on Wednesday.
Abdeslam, 26, was Europe’s most wanted fugitive until his capture in Brussels on March 18 after a four-month manhunt. He was taken by helicopter to Paris under armed guard and then driven to the capital’s main law courts.
French Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas said Abdeslam would be held in a high-security prison in the Paris region.
His capture in March came four days before separate suicide bomb attacks by Islamist militants at Brussels international airport and on a metro train which killed 32 people.
Frank Berton, a high-profile French criminal lawyer, said he would lead Abdeslam’s defense and had visited his client for more than two hours last week in his prison cell in Belgium along with Abdeslam’s Belgian lawyer, Sven Mary.
TURKEY
PM issues secular pledge on new constitution
Turkey’s PM Ahmet Davutoglu has said the country’s new constitution will feature the principle of secularism.
He said Turkey’s secular and democratic character was “not up for debate”.
His comments came a day after a key member of the ruling AK party (AKP) called for secularism to be taken out of the constitution.
Parliamentary speaker Ismail Kahraman, who is overseeing the draft charter, said Turkey was a Muslim country and should have a religious constitution.
Turkey is a NATO member and aspires to join the EU, which has traditionally regarded the country as a model of secular democracy in the Islamic world.
But critics of the government fear the modern state’s secular foundations are being eroded.
Opposition parties also fear the new constitution could concentrate too much power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who wants an executive presidency to replace the current parliamentary system.
N/KOREA
N/Korea to stage first party congress in nearly 40 years
North Korea has said its ruling Workers Party will hold its first congress in nearly 40 years next month.
The gathering, which will take place in Pyongyang from 6 May, will be only the seventh in the party’s history and the first under leader Kim Jong-un.
It will be closely watched for signs of major policy shifts, movement among senior officials or comment on North Korea’s nuclear programme.
It comes as North Korea is believed to be preparing a fifth nuclear test.
North Korea has often timed its controversial tests to coincide with big political occasions.
Its fourth test, in January, was followed by the launch of a satellite.
Both were violations of existing sanctions and resulted in the UN imposing further measures limiting trade and contact with the North.
The last North Korean congress was in October 1980, before the current leader Mr Kim was born.
IRAN
Four journalists jailed on security charges
A US-based media advocacy group has condemned the sentencing by a court in Iran of four reformist journalists to between five and 10 years in prison.
Afarin Chitsaz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Saman Safarzai and Davud Asadi were found guilty of charges including acting against national security.
The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Iran to change laws that it says allows journalists to be harassed.
The four were arrested in November as part of a crackdown by hardliners.
Writers, artists and other cultural figures were also detained in the run-up to February’s elections for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, in which supporters of moderate President Hassan Rouhani made gains.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela introduces two-day week to deal with energy crisis
Venezuela’s government has imposed a two-day working week for public sector workers as a temporary measure to help it overcome a serious energy crisis.
Vice-President Aristobulo Isturiz announced that civil servants should turn up for work only on Mondays and Tuesdays until the crisis was over.
Venezuela is facing a major drought, which has dramatically reduced water levels at its main hydroelectric dam.
But the opposition has accused the government of mismanaging the crisis.
The measures announced on national television by Mr Isturiz affect two million public sector workers.
“There will be no work in the public sector on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, except for fundamental and necessary tasks,” he said.
AUSTRIA
Austria passes controversial new asylum law
Austria has passed a controversial new law that restricts the right of asylum and allows most claimants to be rejected directly at the border.
Rights groups say the law undermines the principle of protection from war and persecution.
It comes days after Austria’s far-right came top in the first round of a presidential election.
Austrian officials say they are also considering building a fence at the main border crossing with Italy.
The new asylum law lets the government declare a “state of emergency” over the migrant crisis and reject most asylum-seekers, including those from war-torn countries such as Syria.
It also limits any successful asylum claim to three years
“These amendments are a glaring attempt to keep people out of Austria and its asylum system,” said Amnesty Europe director Gauri van Gulik.
CAPE VERDE
Cape Verde ‘shooter’ found after manhunt
A soldier suspected of killing 11 people at a military barracks in Cape Verde has been arrested after a 24-hour manhunt, the authorities say.
The government of the islands off the north-west of Africa believes “personal motives” led to the shootings. The deaths were not an attempted coup or connected to the drugs trade, it said.
The victims included eight soldiers and three civilians, two of whom were Spanish nationals.
The Spaniards were working on repairs at a hilltop communications hub protected by soldiers at the barracks in Monte Tchota, a forested area on Santiago island about 27km (17 miles) north of the capital, Praia.
A police officer found the bodies at about midday local time (13:00 GMT) on Tuesday and an abandoned car containing eight Kalashnikovs and ammunition was discovered later.
JORDAN
Jordan bans Lebanese rock band with gay singer
A Lebanese rock band says it has been banned in Jordan because its music supports religious and sexual freedom.
Mashrou’ Leila was to play in the Roman amphitheatre in Amman on Friday, but the concert was cancelled on Tuesday.
The band said the official explanation was that its music was at odds with the “authenticity” of the site, despite having performed there three times.
Mashrou’ Leila’s lead singer is openly gay – and the band tackles taboos that few other Arab musicians have explored.
ISRAEL
Israel army kills Palestinian siblings in ‘attack’
Israeli forces have shot and killed two Palestinians as they allegedly attempted to stab soldiers at a checkpoint in between occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.
The troops fatally shot 23-year-old Maram Saleh Hassan Abu Ismail and her younger brother Ibrahim, 16, at the Qalandia military checkpoint between the central West Bank city of Ramallah and East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health.
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the pair were “armed with knives” and “came toward the border guards” to attack them.
After the incident, Israeli forces fired tear gas and sound grenades during clashes with Palestinian youth.
IRAQ
$800m of IS funds destroyed by strikes
Up to $800m (£550m) in cash held by so-called Islamic State (IS) has been destroyed in air strikes, a US military official says.
Maj Gen Peter Gersten, who is based in Baghdad, said the US had repeatedly targeted stores of the group’s funds.
The blow to the group’s financing has contributed to a 90% jump in defections and a drop in new arrivals, he said.
In 2014, the US Treasury called IS “the best-funded terrorist organisation” it had encountered.
In a briefing to reporters, Maj Gen Gersten, the deputy commander for operations and intelligence for the US-led operation against IS, said under 20 air strikes targeting the group’s stores of money had been conducted.