23:12
A suicide bomber has killed two soldiers and injured three civilians in an attack on a military base in Somalia. The man detonated a device in a minibus as guards ordered him to stop near the gates. Officials said the attack in fact had been foiled, as the terrorist failed to get inside the base. African Union peacekeepers are stationed at the same base – none of them was wounded.
22:53
A powerful earthquake has struck some 35 kilometers beneath the island of Luzon in the Philippines, 181 kilometers away from the country’s capital Manila. No further details are available at this point, but according to the USGS, the US Geological Survey, the earthquake hit on Sunday at 06:18 am local time, which is Saturday 10:18 pm UTC.
21:08
One person has been killed and another seriously injured after a stage collapsed before a Radiohead concert in Toronto, AP reports, citing local paramedics. The concert of the legendary rock band was scheduled to take place on Saturday but the venue said on its website that it has been canceled.
19:19
The Muslim Brotherhood, which holds the majority of seats in Egypt’s parliament, has challenged a court ruling to dissolve parliament. The party claims the elected body can only be dissolved through a popular referendum, adding that according to the ruling military council, there is no party that has the authority to dissolve parliament. The order was passed by Egypt’s highest court on Thursday. A new election will now have to be held.
17:30
Egypt's ruling military council has officially dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament elected just six months ago. The order was ruled by the Egypt’s highest court on Thursday. A new election will have to be held. A presidential run-off vote between Shafik and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsy takes place on Saturday and Sunday.
15:16
Russia is to introduce a three-level alarm system to define terrorism threats after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Saturday. “The following levels of terrorism threat can be imposed on specific Russian territories: blue level for elevated alert, yellow one for high alert, red one for critical alert,” the statement said. The decree comes into force from the day of its official publication.
14:04
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has finally received the Nobel Peace Prize – 21 years after she was awarded it. In her Nobel speech in Oslo, Suu Kyi praised the power of her 1991 honor both for bringing human rights violations in Myanmar to international attention and for saving her from personal despair. Suu Kyi, 66, spent 15 years under house arrest due to her political activities. After gaining her freedom in 2010, she headed her National League for Democracy party and made it into Myanmar’s parliament in 2012.
13:24
At least 24 people have been killed and 32 injured when a bomb planted in a pickup truck exploded at a crowded bus stop in northern Pakistan on Saturday. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast. The town of Landi Kotal, which is on the border with Afghanistan, is the regional headquarters of the Khyber tribal region. It is frequented by the Zakhakhel tribe, which has formed a pro-government militia and has waged a war against the outlawed militant group Lashkar-i-Islam.
12:19
At least 32 people have been killed and 70 more wounded after a double bombing in central Baghdad, police say on Saturday. The blasts shook the city's Kadhimiya district and Sanaa Square, where thousands of Shia Muslim pilgrims had gathered to mark a major religious festival. As in previous instances, the bombs were hidden in cars. A similar incident took over 80 lives across Iraq the previous Wednesday.
11:15
The heir to Saudi Arabia's throne, Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, has died in Geneva. Aged in his late 70s, he had been ill for some time, rumored to be suffering from diabetes. He had been heir to King Abdullah since October 2011, after his full brother Prince Sultan died.
10:55
Israeli military officials said a rocket was fired into southern Israel on Saturday, but exploded in an area of open desert, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF, however, declined to say from which direction the rocket might have been launched. "Last night an explosion was heard in the Arava area in southern Israel. Following an examination in the area it was determined that the rocket was probably a Grad, and the incident is currently being reviewed," said the Israeli military spokeswoman.
09:17
Strong winds and showers left over 20,000 people without electricity in Russia’s south on Saturday. “Water and gas supplies have not been hampered,” said the regional Emergencies Ministry.”20,600 people and 11 community facilities, including the local hospital, remain without electricity. The hospital has already been supplied by backup sources.”
06:21
At least 32 pilgrims have been killed and 14 injured when a private bus fell off a river bridge near Osmanabad town, 450 km from the city of Mumbai, early Saturday. A majority of those injured are in serious condition and the casualty figure is expected to go up, police say. The bus was on a journey to the famous pilgrim centerof Shirdi in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra when the tragedy occurred around 2.30 am.
03:00
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of sexual harassment by a fellow party member. The allegation come as Sarkozy is about to lose his immunity, opening the way to a number of probes into fraud cases. In a controversial fictional book based on Sarkozy’s career, Marie-Celie Guillaume, a UMP party member, portrayed the former leader as a dictator who had sexual affairs with female politicians in his office. The author of the book entitled “The monarch, His Son and His Kingdom” described an event when Rocky, the character based on Sarkozy, asked a local MP to perform sexual favors on him. Guillaume insists the alleged incident did actually take place when the MP was visiting Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace to ask for funds for a local project. On Saturday Sarkozy loses his presidential immunity and is no longer protected from investigations.
01:03
A fire that broke out on Friday night in north-west Moscow and spread to cover some 1,000 square meters also led to the partial collapse of the burning building at the very moment a group of firefighters of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry entered it. Two of them sustained serious injuries, and one of them, Artyom Oblomov, a 27-year-old commander, died later in an ambulance despite attempts at resuscitation. The second firefighter, 32, was taken to an ICU department in Moscow’s Sklifosovsky Institute in a critical condition. The blaze was put out in the early hours of Saturday.
00:13
The UN Security Council has urged Libyan authorities to immediately release four members of the International Criminal Court who were detained after visiting the imprisoned son of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, Associated Press reports. The council stressed that Libya is legally obliged under the UN resolution that authorized the court to investigate possible war crimes in the country “to cooperate fully with and provide any necessary assistance to the ICC.” Four ICC staff have been detained since June 7 in the western city of Zintan and are accused of committing a “security breach.”
