Almeno cinque persone sono state uccise in due attentati al Cairo questa mattina, il maggiore dei quali ha distrutto la facciata della sede di direzione della sicurezza della polizia. La prima esplosione al quartier generale della polizia, alle 6:15 ora locale, ha ucciso quattro persone e ferito altre 70. L’esplosione, secondo quanto riferito, é stata causata da una bomba in un veicolo; l’esplosione ha danneggiato anche il vicino edificio del Museo islamico. In una seconda esplosione, alcune ore più tardi, un IED è stato fatto esplodere accanto a veicoli della polizia nei pressi della stazione della metropolitana Behooth nel quartiere Dokki, uccidendo un poliziotto e ferendone otto.

The attacks come a day before the anniversary of the January 25 revolution in 2011 that removed Hosni Mubarak.
The blast at the directorate building shattered glass from shops hundreds of metres from the site.
“It was around seven this morning. I heard shots and then the ground shook, the windows shattered,” Mohamed Taher, a shopkeeper who owns a cafe 100 metres from the blast, told Al Jazeera.
The Reuters news agency reported gunfire after the explosion. State television quoted witnesses as saying gunmen opened fire on buildings after the blast.
Smoke was seen rising over the city centre and a large number of ambulances were seen on their way to the blast site.
Pictures on Twitter and state television showed the exteriors of buildings damaged by the blast.
The explosion destroyed a metal gate outside the multi-storey building and badly damaged its facade, and damaged the nearby Islamic Museum.
While no one has said they carried out the attacks, the Ansar Bait al Maqdis group issued an audio statement late on Thursday that explicitly threatened the police.

Source Al Jazeera

Unarmed Hezbollah members were searching vehicles and checking the IDs of drivers at several points along the Hadi Nasrallah highway.
The Lebanese Army also set up separate checkpoints in the area.
The heightened security comes days after a suspected suicide bombing killed four people in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik, where the party enjoys broad support.
Tuesday’s bombing was the fourth deadly blast targeting the southern suburbs. Radical Syrian rebel groups have claimed most of the attacks, describing them as retaliation for Hezbollah’s military role alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces in Syria.

One killed in second Cairo bombing near metro station: state TV

Il Presidente Hassan Rouhani, in un incontro con il suo omologo della Repubblica dell’Azerbaigian, il Presidente Ilham Alyiev, a Davos, in Svizzera, ha discusso in merito a questioni di reciproco interesse…

The president told Alyiev that Iran and Azerbaijan Republic are similar in many ways, adding that the two countries have many commanilities and progress of Azerbaijan Republic is very important for Iran .

President Rouhani called for more trade and economic relations between Tehran and Baku, addig that Iran is ready to transfer its experiences in different fields including petroleum and petrochemicals to Azerbaijan Republic.

President Alyiev, for his part, congratulated President Rouhani on his election and said common points between the two countries in culture, religion, and social affairs are strong points in bilateral relations.

The two presidents also officially invited each other to visit Tehran and Baku.

Source IRNA

Notizie di scontri e di combattimenti giungono da Janzour e dall’area di Warshefana… L’accordo iniziale di ieri, tra il governo e il Consiglio della Shura di Warshefana, sembra così destinato a fallire.

The agreement, under which security forces would be pulled out of the district in return for a promise by the Council that suspected criminals wanted by the Prosecutor General would be handed over within a week, saw government forces start to withdraw last night.
Nine people have been killed and a further 20 injured so far in the clashes, according to Warshefana Shura Council spokesman, Abuejila Saif Annaser. He said the casualties included the wife of the Head of Alazizia Local Council, who is now in Zahra hospital in a critical condition. Her son was also reported killed yesterday.
Part of yesterday’s agreement with the government apparently included providing medical supplies for Zahra hospital and sending the most critically-injured abroad for treatment.
A Janzour resident said that late this afternoon explosions and heavy fire could be heard from some ten kilometres away.

Un’autobomba ha colpito il quartier generale della polizia egiziana nel centro del Cairo Venerdì mattina, uccidendo almeno tre persone e ferendone decine. L’esplosione, sentita in varie parti della città, ha innalzato un’alta colonna di fumo sulla capitale egiziana. Un gran numero di ambulanze sono accorse sul posto. I Fratelli Musulmani alzano il tiro della ricolta contro il governo dei militari.

State news agency MENA quoted an unnamed security official as saying the explosion was caused by a car bomb. At least three people were killed and 47 were wounded, according to the state radio.
The bombing came on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the 2011 uprising that toppled Egypt’s longtime autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.
A Muslim Brotherhood-led coalition plans protests after Friday prayers across the country as part of their near-daily demonstrations against the July overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the recent vote on the country’s rewritten constitution.
Shortly after the explosion, the state TV aired footage showing several wrecked and charred floors of the high-rise security building with the pavement outside littered with shuttered glass, pieces of bricks and rocks.
According to the report, gunfire resounded from the area immediately after the blast, but there were no other details.
About two hours later, rescue teams were still trying to extract victims trapped inside the security building, MENA said. The agency said the blast had also shattered windows and damaged the facades of a museum and a court house nearby.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s bombing but Egypt has seen a sharp rise in attacks targeting police and the military in the aftermath of the July 3 coup that ousted Morsi.
The most prominent attack was a failed assassination attempt on the interior minister in Cairo in September and the December suicide car bombing that targeted a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, leaving nearly 16 dead, most of them policemen.
The military-backed government has blamed the Brotherhood group, from which Morsi hails, for the attacks, and designated it as a terrorist organization. The group has denied the accusations as baseless.
An al-Qaida-inspired group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or the Champions of Jerusalem, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks, saying they aimed to avenge the killings of Morsi’s supporters in the months-long heavy security crackdown on protesters demanding his reinstatement and denouncing the coup.

Il presidente Hassan Rouhani ha dichiarato oggi che la repubblica islamica dell’Iran avrebbe continuato con il suo programma nucleare per scopi civili.  In un discorso al World Economic Forum di Davos, Rouhani ha detto che il suo paese non avrebbe nessuna intenzione di rinunciare al suo diritto di esercitare una tecnologia pacifica.

The President reiterated Iranˈs desire to engage with its international partners.

Rouhani, the architect of brokering a deal to end a decade-long confrontation with the western governments, over the national nuclear program in November said it was part of his drive to rapprochement with the western governments and improve relations with the countryˈs neighbors.

ˈWhat we have achieved is not merely a temporary agreement but a prelude to future agreement and engagement,ˈ Rouhani said.

In Thursdayˈs speech, he said he would push for greater engagement with the world as part of his drive to make the Iranian economy one of the top 10 within the next three decades.

ˈI view Iranˈs economy as the most congruent, capable and closest to that of successful emerging economies, and I see Iranˈs place alongside them in the future.ˈ

Rouhani said the country intended to reopen trade and industrial and economic relations with its neighbors.

In response to a question from World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab on whether that included all countries, Rouhani said: ˈAll countries that Iran has officially recognized are inside the circle.ˈ

ˈEast and West, North and South — there are no exceptions.ˈ

Iran does not recognize Israel and believes it is an occupying and illegitimate entity.

Syria hot topic at day one of Davos

He said Iran ˈbelieves that everyone, all of us, should try our best to put a stop to the bloodshed in Syria, and later push terrorists out of Syria.ˈ

Rouhani said the next step would be to ˈpave the way for the opposition to sit around a table with the Syrian governmentˈ and for free and fair elections to be held.

Source IRNA

Alcuni uomini, responsabili della sicurezza dei veicoli della polizia, hanno sparato colpi di arma da fuoco in aria presso il Ministero degli Interni nel quartiere di Al-Hasaba, nel nord di Sana’a. Gli uomini hanno dichiarato di aver sparato in segno di protesta, chiedendo che il generale Mohamed Qahtan, ministro degli Interni dello Yemen, si dimetta dal suo incarico.

The protestors have accused Qahtan of directing security forces not to arrest armed tribesmen believed to have been involved in the shooting of two policemen, according to Mohamed Ali, a Special Security Forces soldier who participated in the protest.

Last Monday, police attempted to prevent a group of men from constructing a building they did not have a permit to build, Ali said.  The men shot at the policemen, killing one, eyewitnesses eyewitnesses told the Yemen Times. This Monday, the police returned to the site again to arrest the men for the shooting.  The armed men allegedly opened fire again, killing another officer, said Ali, who was present at the time of both shootings.

However, Ali says orders came down from Qahtan not to pursue the men accused of shooting the officers.

“After we surrounded the tribal leader’s house, we were surprised to receive Qahtan’s order to leave the place,” he said.

This provoked the troops who were on service besieging the house to go directly to the Headquarters of the Interior Ministry to protest the minister’s alleged instructions.

“We were shocked by his [unjust] order,” said Ali. “He is supposed to back and encourage us— not to let us down.”

“The lives of policemen and soliders were put at risk and the interior minister has done nothing,” said Mohamed Al-Jilah, a policeman and guard at the Interior Ministry’s headquarters.

In a press release, the Interior Ministry says the tribesmen were arrested.

Source Yemen Times

Hopes to sign a cessation of hostilities agreement between the South Sudanese government and the rebels, who are referred to as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Opposition, have slipped away with the rebels blaming the government for the “intransigence.”

The two factions representing the government of Salva Kiir Mayardit and the rebels led by former vice-president Riek Machar Teny have been negotiating in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for the last three weeks under the mediation of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), but with no progress.
The expected agreement on the cessation of hostilities has been delayed because the two parties could not yet agree on attaching the release of the political detainees as part of the immediate implementation of the ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Ugandan UPDF forces, said James Gatdet Dak, the spokesperson for Machar.
“A final draft on the cessation of hostilities has been worked out by the two parties in Addis Ababa. The draft calls for the withdrawal of the foreign troops of the neighbouring Uganda who were illegally invited to participate militarily in the internal affairs of South Sudan by non-other than the president Salva Kiir,” Dak said.
He however decried the intransigent position of the president who appeared to maintain his refusal to neither withdraw the Ugandan forces nor release the political detainees.
“However, the clear messages we receive from the side of the government indicate that Kiir is not willing to agree on the withdrawal of the UPDF troops. He also doesn’t want to release the SPLM leaders whom he wrongfully detained in the capital,” he further charged.
The spokesperson of the former vice-president added that both the withdrawal of the UPDF forces and the release of the detainees were genuine demands that should be effected simultaneously with the coming into effect of the cessation of hostilities agreement.
In Addis Ababa where the mediation struggle to finalise the cessation of hostilities deal, the government negotiating team did not come to the venue of talks Wednesday morning.
Sudan Tribune sought to get some explanation from the mediation but they refused to comment.
However, diplomatic sources in Addis said the parties were expected to sign the cessation of hostilities deal on Thursday afternoon.
Observers say the recent military advances by the South Sudanese army in Bor and Malakal give the government delegation greater leverage at the negotiating table.
South Sudanese officials say that government forces are now control all of the major towns previously under the rebels control and that the latter have lost the war.
REBELS REFUTE CLAIMS OF WEAKNESS
Dak refuted allegations that the rebels have been weakened and may not fight back against the government.
He further said the rebels have been reorganising their ranks and preparing for a big thrust against the government’s strategic positions, including the capital, if Juba continue to reject a ceasefire based on its clear, simple demands and terms.
“It would be a wrong assumption and regrettable mistake on the side of the government to reject the demands of the pro-democracy SPLM/A forces, putting it on the false hope and excitement that the democratic forces had lost the war,” he said.
He claimed that the rebels tactically withdrew without a fight from the towns they previously captured, saying this was in order to reorganise for the next move if the cessation of hostilities agreement was not insight.
The rebel official went to accuse the government forces of killing civilians and destroying public and private properties.
“The pro-Kiir forces and their Ugandan mercenaries did not fight any body in those towns of Bentiu, Bor and Malakal. They just came in and went on rampage killing civilians, destroying the houses, burning them down, including dismantling the phone network system in the case of Malakal. That was the fight they did on the properties,” he said.
South Sudanese president spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, told a news conference in Juba on Wednesday that the rebels killed 127 patients in Bor hospital and destroyed houses and shops.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, South Sudanese president Salva Kiir refused to issue a presidential pardon to release the 11 political detainees indicating that he prefers they face justice.
“You cannot arrest somebody, release him without showing him or showing the world the mistake he committed, which led to the arrest,” he said.

Source Sudan Tribune

Cinque uomini, presunti sostenitori di Gheddafi, sono stati uccisi in uno scontro a fuoco a Sabratha dopo che il gruppo era stato scoperto dalle forze di sicurezza locali. Il gruppo si stava dirigendo in direzione Ajilat. Secondo una fonte dell’esercito, altri sette presunti sostenitori dell’ex Rais sono stati catturati e arrestati.

It has not been disclosed where the group came from or how many men were in it, other than “a lot”, according to the source .  The rest managed to escape.
The source told the Libya Herald that the fighters were caught moving through the town just before 5am. The gun battle lasted over two and a half hours. 
On Saturday, when the Tamenhint airbase near Sebha was taken over by Qaddafi supporters, other pro-Qaddafi elements came out in Ajilat with green flags and pictures of the former dictator. They were confronted by local military council but it was unable to contain the situation and asked for support.
Yesterday, forces from Zintan arrived and after heavy fighting managed to gain the upper hand. 
It is claimed that the group heading through Sabratha this morning were heading to Ajilat to help the beleaguered Qaddafi sympathisers there.
It is not clear yet if what happened at the Tamenhint airbase and in Ajilat, together with the various other appearances of Qaddafi symathisers with green flags in the past few days, are part of a coordinated movement. If so, it does not appear to well organised, let alone have any significant or measurable support.