BEIRUT (AP) -- Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday.The Sunni extremists, who follow a radical interpretation of Islam, have repeatedly targeted religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq since seizing control of large swaths of both countries. The group's fighters have ransacked churches, demolished Shiite and Sunni Muslim shrines, and ensl

BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Iraqi officials have expressed irritation and analysts scepticism at the US prediction that an offensive to retake Iraq's key city of Mosul from jihadists could be launched in April-May.Mosul is a major hub for the Islamic State group and holds special significance as the place where jihadist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.It has been under the jihadists' full control since the second day of their June offensive in Iraq but feder

MADRID (AFP) -- Spain said Tuesday it had broken up an online network accused of recruiting young women to join Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria and arrested four suspects.The arrests came as European nations scramble to halt a surge in young people wanting to travelling to Iraq and Syria to fight with the jihadists.Two of the suspects were arrested in Melilla, the Spanish enclave neighbouring Morocco, in the latest operation by Spain's authorities targeting such recruiting net

NAIROBI (AFP) -- The head of the UN's climate science panel, Rajendra Pachauri, has stepped down, the body announced Tuesday, amid claims that he sexually harassed a subordinate."The bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agreed on Tuesday... to designate vice-chair Ismail El Gizouli as acting IPCC chair," it said. "The designation of Gizouli follows the decision by Rajendra K Pachauri, PhD, to step down as chairman of the IPCC effective today."The Nobel Peace Prize-awarded pane

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday that the government is looking to restrict the number of Chinese tourists entering the city, following a public backlash over the influx of mainland visitors.The announcement came after a leading travel body said official figures showed the volume of mainland visitors over the Lunar New Year period fell for the first time in almost 20 years -- attributing the trend to the frosty reception they receive."We will continue to speak with Chinese auth

GENEVA (AFP) -- South Korea has pushed forward with its complaint against the United States over anti-dumping tariffs on steel pipes used by the oil industry, the World Trade Organization said Tuesday.Seoul requested consultations with Washington over the matter in December, but South Korea has now requested the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body set up a panel of experts to resolve the issue after being unsatisfied with the talks, a WTO statement said.The Geneva-based WTO polices global trade accord

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Embattled former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra decried the "death of democracy" in Thailand Friday after the junta-stacked parliament impeached her and prosecutors announced corruption charges that could see her jailed.The successful impeachment of Yingluck, the kingdom's first female premier and the sister of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, carries an automatic five-year ban from politics, while the criminal charges could see her sentenced to a decade in prison.She swift

SCHILTIGHEIM, France (AFP) -- He had a promising graphic designer job, plans to be a wedding videographer and was a star sportsman in his French town. So how did Youssoup Nassoulkhanov end up in an Islamic State group video praising the Paris attacks?The streets of Schiltigheim in the Alsace region of eastern France are not a terrorist breeding ground.Although the town has never quite recovered from the shuttering of factories in the 1980s, and a fifth of the population remains unemployed, it st

TOKYO (AFP) -- Sony said Friday it was asking Japanese regulators for permission to delay its earnings release next month after a cyberattack at its Hollywood film unit compromised "a large amount of data".The Japanese firm said its US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment subsidiary will not have time to put together its financial statements after the attack, linked to its controversial North Korea satire "The Interview," which has been widely blamed on Pyongyang.The Tokyo-based firm, which was due

TOKYO (AP) -- The United Nations' official in charge of investigating human rights violations in North Korea said Friday he stands by U.N. findings of widespread abuses there despite recent backtracking by a prominent defector on the details of his life in the North's prison system.Marzuki Darusman said that although defector-turned-activist Shin Dong-hyuk has revised some of the details of his story, it remains for the most part valid and represents the experiences of just one of hundreds of de

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, which sent the Philae lander onto a comet's surface in November, has revealed unexpected details about these celestials balls of ice, dust, and rocky particles.In eight papers published in the journal Science on Friday, researchers describe what they have learned about Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko since the 100-kilogram Philae landed on it November 12 after a 10-year trek piggybacking on Rosetta.High-definition images taken by the

RIYADH (AP) -- Saudi Arabia's newly enthroned King Salman moved quickly Friday to name a future successor to the crown in his oil-rich kingdom, a significant appointment that puts the kingdom's future squarely in the hands of a new generation.King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud's actions came as the Sunni-ruled kingdom mourned King Abdullah, who died early Friday at the age of 90 after nearly two decades in power.A royal decree affirmed Crown Prince Muqrin as his immediate successor. After Muqrin

NEW YORK (AP) -- The video of two Japanese hostages being held by the Islamic State group seems, like past IS videos, taken in an arid, desert setting. But suspicions are emerging that the message was not prepared outdoors at all.An expert in these videos said it was more likely completed in an indoor studio with a false backdrop made to appear that it was done outdoors.Kenji Goto, a journalist, and Haruna Yukawa, who runs a security company, are seen kneeling in orange jumpsuits with a masked m

FREETOWN (AFP) -- Sierra Leone on Friday lifted crippling nationwide restrictions on movement put in place at the height of the Ebola crisis, amid signs that the deadly epidemic was retreating.The nation of six million had restricted travel for around half its population, sealing off six of its 14 districts and numerous tribal chiefdoms in response to an outbreak which has killed more than 3,000 Sierra Leoneans."Restrictions on movement will be eased to support economic activity. As such, there

SANAA (AFP) -- Yemen faced a dangerous power vacuum Friday after its president announced his resignation over a deadly standoff with Shiite militia controlling the capital and lawmakers called an emergency weekend session.President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, said he could no longer stay in office as the country was in "total deadlock"."I believe that I have not been able to achieve the goals for which I took up my duties," he said late Thursday, adding tha

MELBOURNE (AFP) -- A stunned Roger Federer was dumped from the Australian Open Friday in his worst showing since 2001 as Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova bounced back to stay in the title hunt.In the tournament's biggest upset, the Swiss world number two had no answer to Italian Andreas Seppi, who he had conquered in their past 10 meetings."Just a bad day. I wish I could have played better but clearly it was tough losing the first two sets," Federer said after crashing out in the third round 6-4

ZURICH (AFP) -- Iranian and US diplomats resumed talks in Switzerland on Friday, as the pace intensifies towards a complex deal on Tehran's nuclear programme.Two days of meetings between Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and top US negotiator Wendy Sherman began Friday morning in Zurich, a US spokesman told AFP.EU political director Helga Schmid was also taking part in the meetings, he added.The talks are taking place less than a week after Araghchi met with Sherman and representativ

 RIYADH (AFP) -- King Abdullah's death could not have come at a worse time for Saudi Arabia's vital oil sector as the absolute monarchy seeks to reassert its leadership in a fast-changing industry.After an exceptional decade that saw it build up production capacity and huge financial reserves, Saudi Arabia is facing a major challenge from new market players -- in particular North American shale oil producers.The Gulf powerhouse now finds itself locked in a battle for market share against unconve

ZURICH (AP) -- Three second-tier World Cup sponsors opting not to renew for the 2018 tournament in Russia was normal in sports business, FIFA insisted on Friday.Castrol, Continental and Johnson & Johnson all let their World Cup commercial deals expire in December amid widespread allegations of corruption implicating FIFA executive committee members.The companies were among eight second-tier FIFA partners who collectively paid $524 million to be associated with the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which

China on Friday decided to free on bail 12 of the 14 South Koreans under detention on charges of drug trafficking, allowing them to be investigated without physical detention, a Seoul official said.However, the Chinese law enforcement authorities will continue to detain the other two South Koreans involved in the case, a South Korean foreign ministry official said, requesting that he not be identified."We were informed that bail will be allowed for the 12 Koreans," the official told reporters, d