News in Brief

Iraq ends years-old Baghdad curfew
Afp, Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an end to a years-old nightly curfew in Baghdad in a bid to ease restrictions on daily life despite persistent violence, officials said yesterday. Abadi wants there "to be normal life as much as possible, despite the existence of a state of war," his spokesman Rafid Jaboori said, referring to the battle against the Islamic State jihadist group.

13 killed in Libya oil field attack
Afp, Tripoli

Gunmen in Libya killed 13 people, including five foreigners, in an overnight attack on an oil field partially owned by France's Total, a chief security officer said on Wednesday. "Eight Libyans, three Filipinos and two Ghanians were killed in the attack" at the Al-Mabruk field, said officer Hakim Maazzab, the head security guard at a nearby oil complex. "All of them had their throats slit apart from one Libyan, who was shot dead," he added. A spokesman for the guards at Libya's oil installations, Ali al-Hassi, accused militants loyal to the Islamic State group of carrying out the attack, without providing details.

S Korea, US hold joint naval drill
Afp, Seoul

The United States and South Korea kicked off a joint naval exercise yesterday involving a US nuclear submarine that is certain to draw a sharp response from Pyongyang. The submarine joined South Korean naval vessels in an exercise focused on detecting enemy submarines and surface vessels in waters near the Korean Peninsula.

UK sees record level of anti-Semitic incidents
Afp, London

A record number of anti-Semitic hate incidents were reported in Britain last year, fuelled by the conflict in Israel and Gaza, a charity that monitors such crime reported yesterday. The Community Security Trust, which records anti-Semitism and provides security for Britain's Jewish community, said that 1,168 anti-Semitic incidents were reported over 2014.

Oil tanker hijacked off Nigeria, one dead
Afp, Athens

Pirates have hijacked a crude oil tanker off the Nigerian coast, taking three hostages and killing the vessel's Greek deputy commander, the Greek coastguard said Wednesday. The Malta-flagged Kalamos was anchored and awaiting fresh cargo from Qua Iboe, an oil terminal in Nigeria's southeastern region operated by ExxonMobil, when it was boarded on Tuesday.

US drone in Yemen kills top Qaeda militant
Afp, Dubai

Al-Qaeda said yesterday that one of its top militants, Harith al-Nadhari who threatened more attacks on France after the Charlie Hebdo killings, died in a US drone strike in Yemen. Nadhari and three other militants were killed in a January 31 "crusader American drone strike against their car" in Shabwa province of southern Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said on Twitter.

Kerry to hold nuclear talks in Iran  tomorrow
Afp, Kiev

US Secretary of State John Kerry will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart tomorrow on efforts to secure a deal over Tehran's nuclear programme, the state department said yesterday.