Fuel pipeline blast kills 73 in Mexico

Alicia Moreno, wife of late Cesar Jimenez Brito, 40, who died during an explosion of a fuel pipeline, holds hands with her daughter during his funeral service at the cemetery in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan, state of Hidalgo, Mexico, on Sunday. At least 73 people were killed after a pipeline that had been ruptured* by suspected fuel thieves exploded in central Mexico, authorities said on Saturday.SD-Agencies

Car bomb linked to New IRA rattles N. Ireland

Northern Ireland police on Monday questioned four men over a car bomb linked to a dissident* republican group that has heightened concerns about the risks of Brexit disrupting a hard-won peace in the British province.

The bomb detonated at 8:10 p.m. on Saturday outside the courthouse* in the border city of Derry. There were no casualties.

Police have said they believe a paramilitary* group calling itself the “New IRA” was behind the blast. “We haven’t seen a device of this nature function for quite a while. It’s a high-risk tactic,” Mark Hamilton from the Police Service of Northern Ireland told BBC radio.

Israel, Chad renew ties

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chadian President Idriss Deby announced on Sunday the resumption* of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said.

“Both sides see the renewal of the relations a key to future cooperation, for the benefit of both sides,” the statement said.

The announcement took place after Netanyahu arrived earlier on Sunday in Chad for a first-ever visit by an Israeli prime minister to the Muslim-majority country.

Militants storm Nairobi hotel, killing 14

Kenyan security forces have “eliminated” the militants who stormed an upscale* hotel compound and killed at least 14 people in an attack claimed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on January 16.

More than 700 civilians had been safely evacuated from the Dusit hotel complex, he added, after an attack that echoed a 2013 assault on a Nairobi shopping center that killed 67 people.

Two Chinese citizens were at the scene of the attack but were later rescued, the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi said.

Greek PM Tsipras survives confidence vote

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras won a confidence vote in parliament last week, clearing a major hurdle for Greece’s approval of an accord to end a dispute over Macedonia’s name and averting the prospect of a snap election.

Tsipras called the confidence motion after his right-wing coalition partner Panos Kammenos quit the government Jan. 13 in protest over the name deal signed between Athens and Skopje last year.

10 UN peacekeepers killed in Mali attack

Jihadist gunmen killed 10 Chadian peacekeepers and injured at least 25 others in an attack on a U.N. camp in northern Mali on Sunday, one of the deadliest strikes against the U.N. mission in the West African country.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was “in reaction” to the visit to Chad by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Mauritanian Al-Akhbar news agency, which regularly receives statements from this jihadist group.(SD-Agencies)