Tunisia ruling Islamists call for rally

MEMBERS of Tunisia's main ruling Islamist party are calling for a rally in the capital on Saturday, a day after police clashed with protesters at the funeral of murdered opposition figure Chokri Belaid.

The Ennahda party demonstration was to take place in the centre of Tunis on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, where the latest violence has taken place, the party said in a statement.

The protest would "defend the legitimacy of the national constituent assembly," where the Ennahda-dominated coalition holds a majority, and would "fight against (the political) violence" it said the opposition is using.

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets on Friday for the funeral procession of Belaid, who was killed by a lone gunman on Wednesday, and clashes with police led to 132 arrests, said the interior ministry.

The opposition blames Ennahda for the murder of the outspoken government critic, but the ruling party vehemently denies any involvement.

The unrest comes amid tension and division within Ennahda itself, after the recent sacking of the party's leader and as Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali attempts to form a new government of technocrats, which hardliners oppose.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Unidentified child found wandering alone

POLICE are searching for parents of a young child who was found wandering alone in the streets of Perth's east more than 24 hours ago.

The boy, who is about three-years-old, was found on Belgravia Street in Belmont at about midday on Friday.

He has not been able to provide his name or details of his parents or guardians, and is currently being cared for by the Department for Child Protection (DCP).

Neither the DCP nor police have received any reports of a missing child.

Police have now released a picture of the boy, who has short brown hair, brown eyes and a light olive complexion.

He has limited speech.

Anyone able to identify the boy should contact the Department's Crisis Care Unit on 9223 1111.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Domestic violence tracking set for WA

SERIOUS domestic violence offenders in Western Australia will almost certainly find themselves being monitored electronically, with both main political parties pushing the plan.

If WA Labor wins the March 9 election, Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says the party will start a $4.5 million electronic monitoring trial of domestic violence offenders who breach restraining orders - a plan he mooted in March last year.

But Corrective Services Minister Murray Cowper said the Liberal-led government had already approved the drafting of legislation to create a new category of a serious, violent offender to enable courts to order them to wear GPS tracking devices.

This would initially target repeat domestic violence offenders, Mr Cowper said, after the Liberals announced their GPS tracking policy last month.

The government had also passed legislation that meant a mandatory one-year jail term for anyone who tampered with the device, he said.

"Will Mr McGowan commit to mandatory sentencing for tampering with a device?" Mr Cowper said.

Mr McGowan said domestic violence was on the rise and victims were not being adequately protected.

He pointed to Saori Jones, who was murdered in front of her two children by her ex-husband Bradley Wayne Jones.

Jones received a five-year prison sentence in 2011, moving WA Labor to introduce a private member's bill, known as Saori's Law, to parliament last year, but it was voted down by the Barnett government.

The bill sought the near-automation of restraining orders in domestic assault cases and would have cleared the way for victims to remain in their homes even if the properties were registered in the offenders' names.

Mr McGowan also took a swipe at Premier Colin Barnett's announcement on Saturday - Chinese New Year's Eve - to promise $2 million to improve Chinatown in Northbridge.

Sticking with one of his key campaign themes of transforming the CBD, Mr Barnett said he wanted to turn the area into a vibrant laneway precinct, building on the Perth City Link project currently under way.

This involves sinking the Fremantle rail line to make the border between the city and the entertainment district more pedestrian-friendly.

Two new street connections would be created, the premier said, including linking the high-end King Street - home of Perth's most expensive retail rentals - to Lake Street, one of Northbridge's most bustling roads.

But Mr McGowan said the announcement confirmed the Premier's priorities were wrong and out-of-touch, and came as the WA government racked up record debt levels.

Instead, Mr McGowan said he was focused on traffic congestion, which the opposition planned to solve with its Metronet rail plan to connect outer suburbs to the city and airport, and easing high costs of living.

The Australian newspaper's Newspoll figures on Friday pointed to a landslide win for the WA Liberals, who lead 57 per cent to 43 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

But Mr McGowan is romping it in as preferred premier, jumping 11 points to 40 per cent. On the same basis, Mr Barnett has slipped to 44 per cent, down four points.

The poll has a three per cent margin of error.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iran frees Slovak man arrested for spying

A SLOVAK man arrested in Iran and accused of spying for the United States has been released and returned home.

Iranian authorities claimed in January that 26-year-old Matej Valuch was involved in Central Intelligence Agency activities in Iran.

Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said on Friday that Valuch was released after "difficult and complicated" bilateral negotiations.

Lajcak gave no details.

Valuch, who was standing next to the minister at a news conference, denied he worked for the US intelligence, saying "I am not a spy".

He declined to take questions.

Lajcak said Valuch would not talk about his Iranian experience in the future.

In a documentary broadcast in Iran, Valuch said he was recruited by a CIA agent and ran a job recruitment agency in Tehran as a front.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Emergency alert for Hotham heights

HOMES are under threat as a large, fast moving bushfire burns in Victoria's alpine region.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) has issued an emergency alert for Hotham Heights in the state's northeast, with the fire expected to impact the area within the next two hours.

Authorities advise residents to leave now if it is safe or take shelter nearby.

The out-of-control bushfire is 11,000 hectares and creating spot-fires approximately one to 2km ahead.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Suicide bomber' attacks Mali troops

A SUICIDE bomber has blown himself up near a group of Malian soldiers in the northern city of Gao, a local military officer says.

The suicide bomber "approached us on a motorbike, he was a Tamashek (Tuareg), and as he came closer he set off his belt," said Mali First Sergeant Mamadou Keita.

"He died immediately and among us, one was injured."

The act marked the first suicide attack in the embattled west African country since the start of a French-led offensive to oust the Islamists from Mali's north, where they had controlled key towns for 10 months.

It comes a day after one of the militant groups, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), said in a message on Thursday that it had "created a new combat zone" by organising attacks on military convoys and placing landmines.

A landmine blast on Wednesday between the northern towns of Douentza and Gao killed four civilians returning from market, an officer with Mali's paramilitary police said.

That explosion came after a similar blast in the same area on January 31 claimed the lives of two Malian soldiers.

"MUJAO is behind the explosion of two Malian army cars," the group's spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui said in a text message to Agence France-Presse.

A month after the French launched a lightning offensive to chase out the rebels, Paris has warned of "residual jihadist groups" who were still fighting.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Burke to reveal Tarkine heritage decision

The environment minister is set to reveal his decision on heritage listing for Tasmania's Tarkine. Source: AAP

ENVIRONMENT Minister Tony Burke is set to reveal his decision on heritage listing for Tasmania's Tarkine.

The federal government has been assessing the heritage value of Tarkine, home to the largest tract of temperate rainforest in the southern hemisphere and the last haven of disease-free Tasmanian devils.

Mr Burke will make an announcement in northern Tasmania on Friday.

Environmentalists want the area protected from mining.

They say it fulfils eight of 10 criteria for becoming a world heritage area - only the second place in the world that would do so - but only five per cent is protected in national parks.

The Tarkine been home to mining for more than a century and 10 new mines, some open-cut, are planned for the area in the next five years, according to the Tarkine National Coalition.

The state government has granted several mining leases, which are still subject to federal approval, and Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings says only one per cent of the Tarkine will be affected by the proposals.

In 2010, Mr Burke allowed an emergency heritage listing in the area to lapse.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man charged after filming up girls' skirts

A MAN has been caught on CCTV filming up the skirts of women in shopping malls across Sydney.

The 52-year-old man was captured on CCTV at shopping malls on George Street in Sydney and in Liverpool, using his mobile phone to film up the skirts of women.

One of the incidents occurred in August last year, while the other two were captured in January.

Police arrested and charged the Frenchs Forest man with three counts of film person's private parts without consent.

He was released on bail with strict conditions and will face North Sydney Local Court on February 25.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Firefighting helicopter crashes in Tas

A HELICOPTER pilot has been rescued after his chopper crashed while he was fighting a bushfire in Tasmania.

A Tasmanian police rescue helicopter evacuated the pilot at 5pm (AEDT) after his helicopter crashed while he was fighting the fire near Molesworth in the state's south, police said.

The pilot was flown from the scene and taken to hospital in a stable condition.

The cause of the crash is unknown at this time.

The Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) says the fire danger in the Molesworth area is very high with a large bushfire burning at Glen Dhu Road.

The fire is impacting the areas of Suhrs Road, Fehlbergs Road, Valley Road and Collins Cap Road to Springdale Road, it says in a statement.

TFS warns it is likely to be too late to leave the area, with residents advised to activate their bushfire survival plan.

Spot fires may threaten homes earlier than the main fire front.

The TFS says there may be embers, smoke and ash falling on Molesworth, Glenlusk and Collinsvale, Myrtle Forest Road, and Old Springdale Road.

TFS said an out-of-control fire on the Huon Highway at Franklin, south of Hobart, has prompted a high fire danger rating for the area.

TFS says the fire may now affect the Huon Highway, Castle Forbes Road and Fleurtys Road to the south of Franklin.

Communities south of Franklin and Castle Forbes Bay may experience embers, smoke and ash falling on them.

A low-moderate fire danger rating has also been made for the Lefroy area, between Bridport and George Town on the north coast, with a large bushfire burning out of control at Shaw Street.

The fire may affect the communities of the Lefroy township and properties southeast of Lefroy are also at risk from smoke and embers, the TFS said.

The 52-year-old Hobart man crashed into a clearing near the bushfire before being rescued.

His helicopter was one of a team of four choppers water-bombing the Molesworth blaze that started on February 6.

Police said the man was airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital for assessment and was shaken by the incident but not seriously hurt.

The Air Transport Safety Bureau has been advised of the crash. Investigators will look into the cause of the accident.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Burma opposition MP joins cabinet

THE president of Myanmar (Burma) has appointed an opposition MP to his cabinet, giving a foothold to a political rival in his reformist government for the first time.

Tin Shwe, an upper house member of parliament from the National Democratic Force (NDF), has been drafted in as deputy minister of hotels and tourism by President Thein Sein, state-mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.

The decision prompted the NDF, a splinter group from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, to insist that it would not go easy on the government now that its man is in the cabinet.

"There was no negotiation with the party and we didn't know about it in advance," NDF chairman Khin Maung Swe told AFP, adding the party nonetheless supported the appointment.

"We will continue to oppose whatever does not benefit the people... There is no plan not to oppose the government just because one of us has become a minister."

Tin Shwe, a 67-year-old doctor, will now step down as an MP to carry out his duties in cabinet, leaving the NDF with five serving lawmakers spread across both parliament houses in Naypyidaw.

The number is fewer than half the seats they won in disputed 2010 national elections that sparked the bitter split with Suu Kyi, whose party boycotted the polls, saying the rules were unfair.

Thein Sein has overseen sweeping reforms of the once-authoritarian junta-ruled nation, including Suu Kyi's election to parliament in by-elections held in April 2012 that gave her party more than 40 seats in parliament.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bring back banned drinkers register

THE scrapped Northern Territory banned drinkers register dramatically cut alcohol-fuelled violence when it was introduced, federal Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon says.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard took aim at the NT government for dumping the successful program when it won power during her Close the Gap report to parliament on Wednesday.

She's written to the NT government urging them to overturn the decision, but they have signalled that's not going to happen.

Mr Snowdon, who has lived in Alice Springs for 30 years, told parliament he's seen first hand the scourge of alcohol abuse.

He said in the first year after the Labor government introduced the register in July 2012 alcohol-related assaults across the NT were down 15 per cent.

Mr Snowdon said there were also 10,000 fewer anti-social behaviour incidents reported across the NT in that time.

After the register was scrapped last year there were "hordes of people lining up at bottlos and grog shops", he said.

"We have seen an immediate spike in drunkenness around Alice Springs," Mr Snowdon told the lower house.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tunisian opposition leader shot dead

THE leader of a Tunisian opposition party who had been particularly critical of the country's Islamist government has been shot dead.

Chokri Belaid, leader of the leftist Movement of Democratic Patriots, was shot by unknown attackers in the neck and head as he was leaving his Tunis home for work, his wife told Chems FM radio.

Belaid, a lawyer, had been outspoken in his criticism of Tunisia's ruling coalition, which is led by the Islamist party Ennahda.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali denounced the murder as an "act of terrorism" against Tunisia.

"This is a criminal act, an act of terrorism not only against Belaid but against the whole of Tunisia," Jebali from the ruling Islamist Ennahda party told FM Radio Mosaique.

He promised to pursue all efforts to "immediately" arrest the murderer.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

S Korea predicts multiple nuke tests

SOUTH Korean President Lee Myung-Bak believes North Korea could detonate multiple devices when it goes ahead with a nuclear test expected in the coming weeks or days.

In an interview published on Tuesday in the Chosun Ilbo daily, the outgoing president also acknowledged the huge challenge the international community faces in seeking to wean Pyongyang off its nuclear weapons program.

The North has signalled that it will carry out a "higher level" nuclear test very soon, in a defiant response to tightened UN sanctions after its successful long-range rocket launch in December.

Lee said "higher-level" suggested Pyongyang might attempt to detonate several devices.

"North Korea is likely to carry out multiple nuclear tests at two places or more simultaneously" to maximise scientific gains from an event that will be globally condemned, Lee said.

Experts around the world are gearing up to analyse any test for what it might reveal about the current status of the North's weaponisation program.

Of particular interest will be any sign that its scientists have succeeded in developing a warhead that can be fitted onto a missile.

"If the North produces miniaturised weapons that can be used as warheads on missiles, it would really pose a threat," Lee said. "That's why the whole world is watching it so intensively."

Lee has only a few weeks left in office at the end of a five-year term marked by an almost total freeze of contacts between North and South Korea.

In his interview, he suggested that diplomatic efforts would make little headway in bringing about a significant policy shift in Pyongyang.

"I think it is difficult to persuade the North regime to give up the nuclear path," he said.

Some predict the test will come before the Lunar New Year on February 10, while others suggest it will be timed to coincide with the February 16 birthday of late leader Kim Jong-Il, father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.

South Korea and its ally the United States are holding a joint naval exercise off the Korean peninsula as tensions rise - a drill condemned as a "warmongering" exercise by North Korea.

Its official news agency Tuesday threatened a move going "beyond the imagination" of Seoul and Washington in response to the exercise, which it terms a rehearsal for invasion.

"The US is now getting hell-bent on the joint anti-submarine drill targeting the 'north's nuclear facilities'," the agency said in an editorial.

"Now that the hostile acts toward the (North) have gone beyond the limit of universally accepted... norms of the international community, the (North's) option in reaction to it will also go beyond the imagination of the hostile forces," it said.

"There is no other option for the (North) but to fight it out."

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man dies in back yard chainsaw accident

A MAN'S body has been found in the back yard of his home at Wamuran, north-west of Brisbane, after an alleged chain saw accident.

Police media said concerns were raised earlier tonight after the 44-year-old man did not show up to collect his children.

"Police were asked to do a welfare check because no one knew where he was," the spokesman said.

"Then, prior to police arriving at the (Forest Creek Place) address, family members found the man in the back yard."

Initial indications show the man was carrying out work in the yard, when he slipped and cut himself with the chainsaw.

The man died from his injuries. Police said there is nothing to suggest at this stage that it was not an accident.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Urban pays tribute to flood volunteers

Keith Urban has paid tribute to Queensland's flood volunteers at his third and final concert in Brisbane tonight.

The country crooner delighted local fans at his rescheduled concert tonight after Queensland's wild weather halted his third and remaining Brisbane show.

Originally set for Sunday January 27, the concert was postponed to the next day before continuing severe weather halted it all together.

After performing around the rest of Australia, Urban delayed his return to Los Angeles to take to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre stage tonight.

"It took a few try's but we made it back", he told the crowd to huge applause.

"More importantly you made it back and we really appreciate that."

In a break between songs the Caboolture-raised star brought members of the Red Cross, Surf Life Savers and the State Emergency Services on stage to honour their volunteer work during the flood cleanup.

"This is just 15 of the thousands of people around Australia and especially Queensland who all to often remain nameless." Urban said

"They put their arse on the line and get amongst it to help us rebuild and we want to thank them."

Promoter Michael Chugg said: "Keith was very disappointed Brisbane could not proceed on either night and he worked to shift his LA commitments to make this reschedule possible."

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Patel trial jury to be polled for bias

Jurors selected for the trial of Jayant Patel will be quizzed by lawyers to see if they are biased. Source: AAP

IN an Australian first, the jurors in the manslaughter trial of former Bundaberg Hospital doctor Jayant Patel will be polled by lawyers to see if they are biased.

In the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday, Justice George Fryberg agreed with an application by defence lawyers to question the 12 jurors and three reserve jurors after they had been selected.

The application was brought under the Jury Act, which includes pre-trial publicity as one of the grounds for quizzing a jury about prior knowledge and possible bias.

Lawyers in the Patel trial have been unable to find any other case in Australia where prospective jurors were questioned about their possible bias against a defendant.

Dr Patel is set to stand trial for the manslaughter of Bundaberg Hospital patient Mervyn Morris, 75, in June 2003.

Mr Morris died three weeks after Dr Patel performed an operation on him.

The trial is listed to start on Wednesday, with jury selection expected to take the usual one to two hours before the questioning begins.

Justice Fryberg, who will publish his reasons for allowing the application at another date, has asked the defence lawyers and prosecution to consider overnight what format the polling might take.

He said at this stage he was inclined to prepare a written questionnaire which the jurors could take to the jury room to complete.

The questions would be answered without discussion, with a bailiff in the room to enforce the rule.

Once the answers were completed lawyers would be able to question any jurors in open court.

Unless there wa a request from a juror for an answer to remain private, the answers would be made public.

Prosecutor Peter Davis SC said research had failed to find any other case in Australia where a jury had been polled after being selected.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Israel arrests 20 Hamas members

ISRAELI forces have arrested 20 members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Israeli military confirmed the arrests but would not elaborate.

According to several Hamas officials the arrests took place in the early hours of Monday across the territory. One of those arrested was in charge of reconciliation talks between Hamas and its rival, the secular Fatah, according to the Hamas officials.

Palestinians have been deeply divided since Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, ousting forces from the Fatah party, led by the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in bloody street battles. Abbas has since ruled only in parts of the West Bank, and Hamas has held sway in Gaza.

Multiple attempts to reach a long-elusive reconciliation agreement between the two Palestinian groups have not succeeded so far. And while efforts to end the split have failed, the two sides have tried to make a show of unity since Hamas' fierce battle with Israel in November and Fatah's subsequent recognition bid at the United Nations.

Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organisation because it has carried out scores of deadly attacks, including suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.

Hamas politicians have been subject to arrests by Israel since the group defeated Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Scientists confirm King Richard III find

Scientists will reveal the result of tests to determine if a skeleton belongs to King Richard III. Source: AAP

SCIENTISTS say they have found the 500-year-old remains of England's King Richard III under a parking lot in the city of Leicester.

University of Leicester researchers say it is "beyond reasonable doubt" that a battle-scarred skeleton unearthed last year is the king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Osteologist Jo Appleby said on Monday that a study of the bones provided "a highly convincing case for identification of Richard III".

And DNA from the skeleton matches a sample taken from a distant living relative.

The last English monarch to die in battle, Richard was depicted in a play by William Shakespeare as a hunchbacked usurper who left a trail of bodies - including those of his two princely nephews - on his way to the throne.

Many historians say that villainous image is unfair.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Armed bandits threaten 80yo NSW shopkeeper

AN 80-year-old takeaway store owner and his daughter have been threatened with an axe and a machete during an armed robbery in northern NSW.

Police said the elderly man and his 56-year-old daughter were woken up around 1.45am (AEDT) on Sunday by loud noises at their home on Queen Elizabeth Drive at Coraki.

When they went to investigate the sounds in their adjoining takeaway food shop they were confronted by two masked men.

One of the men was armed with an axe, while the other was wielding a machete, police said.

The bandits threatened the man and woman before demanding cash and cigarettes.

They then forced the pair into the woman's Nissan Tiida car, drove them about three kilometres out of Coraki, and ordered them out of the vehicle.

Police pursued the car a short time later at Casino but the robbers managed to dump the vehicle and escape on foot.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Israeli minister: Assad's fall imminent

ISRAEL'S defence minister said he sees the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad as imminent, and that it will be a major blow to his country's regional archrival Iran.

Ehud Barak's appearance at a gathering of the world's top diplomats and defence officials in Germany on Sunday came days after an Israeli airstrike that US officials say hit a convoy of anti-aircraft weapons inside Syria bound for the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Israel hasn't publicly acknowledged the airstrike.

Barak brought the issue up and stopped short of confirming it, but said "what happened in Syria several days ago... that's proof that when we said something we mean it - we say that we don't think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon".

He added that "Hezbollah from Lebanon and the Iranians are the only allies that Assad has left."

He said in his view Assad's fall "is coming imminently" and when it happens, "this will be a major blow to the Iranians and Hezbollah".

"I think that they will pay the price," he said.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

French bomb Mali extremists

French President Francois Hollande has received a rapturous welcome in war-torn Mali. Source: AAP

FRENCH warplanes bombed training and logistics centres run by Islamist extremists in northeastern Mali on Sunday, just hours after President Francois Hollande visited the country, the military said.

The "major" air strikes were carried out overnight in the Tessalit area north of Kidal, the last bastion of radicals who occupied the desert north for months before France's intervention, military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said.

Earlier, President Francois Hollande called on Africans to take over the fight against extremism as he received a rapturous welcome in Mali, where a French-led offensive has driven back Islamist rebels from the north.

The French leader's whirlwind tour came as troops worked to secure Kidal, the last bastion of radicals who seized control of Mali's desert north last year after a coup, raising fears that an area larger than France could become a safe haven for al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

In the fabled city of Timbuktu, thousands gathered in the central square, dancing to the beat of drums - a forbidden activity during the extremists' 10-month occupation - to welcome the French leader with shouts of "Vive la France! Long live Hollande!"

Hollande, whose surprise decision to intervene in Mali three weeks ago made him a hero in the former French colony, told the crowd France's mission was not finished, but that African countries would soon have to take over.

"It's not over yet. It's going to take several weeks, but our goal is to pass the baton," he said on Saturday.

"Our African friends will be able to do the job we've been doing until now."

Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traore, who joined hands with Hollande and raised them in a victory salute, thanked his counterpart for the French troops' "efficiency", which he said had allowed the north to be freed from "barbarity and obscurantism".

Hollande was offered a young camel as a gift of thanks as he toured the city.

"The women of Timbuktu will thank Francois Hollande forever," said 53-year-old Fanta Diarra Toure.

"We must tell him that he has cut down the tree, but still has to tear up its roots."

Hollande and Traore visited Timbuktu's 700-year-old mud mosque of Djingareyber and the Ahmed Baba library for ancient manuscripts, both targeted by destructive Islamist militants.

"There's a real desire to annihilate. There's nothing left," Hollande told the mosque's imam as they visited two ancient saints' tombs that the extremists attacked with pickaxes in July, considering them idolatrous.

"We're going to rebuild them, Mr President," said Irina Bokova, the head of UNESCO, which is trying to assess the scale of the damage to Mali's ancient heritage, particularly in Timbuktu, a caravan town at the edge of the Sahara that rose to fame in the 14th century as a gold and salt trading hub.

Hollande later travelled to the capital, Bamako, where he addressed a large crowd gathered at a monument commemorating Mali's independence from France.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More