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China's defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng on Wednesday said the country has observed United States B-52 bombers flying in the newly established air defense identification zone over East China Sea, reports Xinhua. Geng said the U.S. aircraft flew south and north along the eastern border of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone from 11:00 a.m. to 1:22 p.m. Tuesday, about 200 km to the east of the Diaoyu Islands. The Chinese army monitored the entire process, carried out identification in a timely manner, and ascertained the type of aircraft. "We need to stress that China will identify every aircraft flying in the air defense identification zone according to the country's announcement of aircraft identification rules for the air defense identification zone," Geng said. "China is capable of exercising effective control over this airspace," Geng added. China announced the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone on Satur

(Nigeria) Six men in green uniform stand in the back of a pick-up truck in northern Nigeria's biggest city, on the look-out for prostitutes, their clients, transvestites, drunks and drug addicts. Their patrols in Kano also scout for men and women deemed to be dressed indecently, examples of supposedly "immoral" behaviour and even Western-style haircuts they consider violations of Islamic law, known as sharia. "Once we receive an intelligence report or a tip-off of an immoral act being committed in a particular place, we mobilise our men to the area and put an end to it and arrest the perpetrators for either counselling or prosecution," Adamu Haruna Bayero, who heads the patrol, told AFP. In recent weeks, the sharia enforcers, or Hisbah, have launched sweeping crackdowns and made hundreds of arrests in Kano following a state-government directive to cleanse the commercial hub of so-called immoral practices. Often their raids coincide with religious fes

Ethiopia has flown home over 50,000 citizens in Saudi Arabia after a crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich state, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. "We projected the initial number to be 10,000 but it is increasing," foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told AFP, adding that the final total once the mass airlift ends is now expected to be around 80,000. Ethiopia started repatriating citizens living illegally in Saudi Arabia after a seven-month amnesty period to formalise their status expired on November 4, sparking violent protests between Saudi police and Ethiopian migrants preparing to leave the country. The Ethiopian government said three of its citizens were killed in clashes. Dina said the government is spending $2.6 million (1.9 million euros) on the repatriation programme to bring citizens home, the majority women. Ethiopia has said relations with Saudi Arabia remain "sisterly", with Dina saying the government's main priori

Israel is failing to penalise Jewish settlers for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, who enjoy "virtual impunity" from prosecution, Ramallah-based rights group Al-Haq said on Wednesday. In a 40-page report, Al-Haq also called on the international community to avoid funding settler groups, a day after Israel and the European Union reached a compromise deal over funding for bodies operating in the occupied West Bank or east Jerusalem. Settlers carrying out attacks, which involve the use of "live ammunition" and "the destruction and denial of access to property" have been left unpunished by the Israeli authorities, Al-Haq charged. "Settlers involved in the planning and perpetration of such acts have remained largely immune from the enforcement of the law and, in some cases, have even benefited from official support from state authorities," it said. "Israeli settlers enjoy virtual impunity for crimes against Palestinians, and b

An Egyptian prosecutor has ordered the arrest of two prominent activists for inciting protests, a source in the prosecutor's office said on Wednesday. The arrests of Ahmed Maher, the Head of the April 6 Youth Movement, and Alaa Abdel Fattah, were ordered after they took part in demonstrations outside parliament on Tuesday, defying a new law restricting protests. Twenty-four other activists were detained on Tuesday for four days, pending investigation of allegations of thuggery, attacking public employees, stealing wireless devices and protesting without permission from the Interior Ministry, the source said. Four female activists who were detained were released along a desert highway, said a security source. The new law, passed by the army-backed government on Sunday, angered some Egyptians and human rights groups who described it as a major blow to freedom in the most populous Arab country. Egypt had experienced some of its worst civilian violence in decades after

(Nigeria) Gunmen in Plateau State have killed 37 people in a pre-dawn raid Tuesday, the military said, the latest unrest to hit the area gripped by a decade-long sectarian conflict. "At 2:00 am (0100 GMT) unknown gunmen carried out an attack" in four villages, said area military spokesman Salisu Mustapha. The attackers killed... 13 persons in Katu Kapang, eight in Daron, nine in Tul and seven others in Rawuru." Plateau falls in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, on the dividing line between the mainly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north. Mostly Muslim herdsmen from the Fulani-Hausa ethnic group have been blamed for scores of attacks on mainly Christian agriculturalists from the Berom ethnic community. Fulani leaders say the Berom politicians who control the state have systemically suppressed the rights of herdsmen, denying them access to desperately needed grazing land. It was not clear who carried out the latest attack which hit the Barkin Ladi

Israeli security forces killed a militant near the West Bank city of Hebron who was affiliated with two Palestinian militants shot dead earlier on Tuesday evening, the army said. Following the operation near Yatta, "a terrorist exchanged fire with security forces, resulting in his death," the Israeli army said in a statement.