AFP, Khan Yunis
Azza al-Najjar struggles in vain to keep her two-year-old warm by wrapping him in blankets in her prefabricated metal home as a winter storm lashes the Gaza Strip.
“The cold increases the suffering of people here,” the 24-year-old mother says.
Moscow factory fire kills 12
AFP, Moscow
At least 12 people, including three children, perished in a fire in a Moscow factory that caused the roof to collapse, Russian authorities said on Sunday.
Investigators said the blaze engulfed an area covering 3,000 square metres (over 32,000 square feet) in a factory situated in the east of the Russian capital, which makes clothing according to local media.
Roadside bomb kills 2 soldiers in Sinai
AP, El-Arish
Egyptian medical officials say a homemade bomb in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula has killed two soldiers and wounded two other military men.
Rafah hospital said in a statement that the incident happened early Sunday morning, and that one of the wounded, an officer, was in critical condition.
Airstrikes kill over 32 in Yemen
AP, Sanaa
Airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels killed over 32 people overnight including at least eight civilians in the capital, Sanaa, officials said on Saturday.
The airstrikes appeared to target a rebel camp and factories producing food and plastic in northern and western Sanaa, the security and medical officials said.
Chad President new AU chairman
AFP, Addis Ababa
Chad’s President Idriss Deby took over the post of African Union chairman on Saturday, replacing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
“I accept this task with pleasure, but with a little agony as the responsiblity you entrust in me is heavy and fraught with challenges,” Deby said, in speech at AU headquarters in Ethiopia.
