Togo votes for prez

LOME: The African nation of Togo on Thursday elected a president in a test of democracy with the opposition expressing fears the vote could be rigged in favour of the son of the country’s longtime dictator. Voting started peacefully at most polling stations in the capital of a nation notorius for electoral violence. More than three million voters are eligible to choose a new leader among seven candidates including incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, son of the late dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema. The 43-year-old former mines minister and financial adviser under his father, is seeking a second-term mandate.

Cambodia rocket test

KAMPONG CHHNANG: Cambodia on Thursday mounted a rare public test of rockets to protect against “invaders”, amid a lingering military standoff over disputed territory with Thailand. In the first such public drill since the country’s civil war ended more than a decade ago, troops fired some 200 rockets at an airfield 180 km from the Thai border. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the exercise was “not about showing any military muscles”, but to prepare for the country’s defence.

Qaeda suspects held

SANAA: Yemeni security forces arrested 11 men in the capital Sanaa on suspicion of plotting attacks for Al-Qaeda, killing one man during the operation, a security source said on Thursday. “The 11 men are currently under interrogation. They were planning to assassinate security officials and target interests in Sanaa,” the source told AFP, without specifying what interests the 11 were suspected of targeting.

Ganic bail rejected

LONDON: A judge on Wednesday refused to free former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic on bail following his arrest on a Serbian war crimes warran. The judge at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court rejected an offer by a British academic with whom Ganic has worked to stand $38,000 bail for him after his arrest at London Heathrow airport on Monday. Prosecutors said Ganic — who Serbia wants over the killing of 18 soldiers and officers in an attack on a Yugoslav army convoy in May 1992 — had substantial means which made the risk of him fleeing too great.

Togo votes for prez

LOME: The African nation of Togo on Thursday elected a president in a test of democracy with the opposition expressing fears the vote could be rigged in favour of the son of the country’s longtime dictator. Voting started peacefully at most polling stations in the capital of a nation notorius for electoral violence. More than three million voters are eligible to choose a new leader among seven candidates including incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, son of the late dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema. The 43-year-old former mines minister and financial adviser under his father, is seeking a second-term mandate.

Cambodia rocket test

KAMPONG CHHNANG: Cambodia on Thursday mounted a rare public test of rockets to protect against “invaders”, amid a lingering military standoff over disputed territory with Thailand. In the first such public drill since the country’s civil war ended more than a decade ago, troops fired some 200 rockets at an airfield 180 km from the Thai border. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the exercise was “not about showing any military muscles”, but to prepare for the country’s defence.

Qaeda suspects held

SANAA: Yemeni security forces arrested 11 men in the capital Sanaa on suspicion of plotting attacks for Al-Qaeda, killing one man during the operation, a security source said on Thursday. “The 11 men are currently under interrogation. They were planning to assassinate security officials and target interests in Sanaa,” the source told AFP, without specifying what interests the 11 were suspected of targeting.

Ganic bail rejected

LONDON: A judge on Wednesday refused to free former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic on bail following his arrest on a Serbian war crimes warran. The judge at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court rejected an offer by a British academic with whom Ganic has worked to stand $38,000 bail for him after his arrest at London Heathrow airport on Monday. Prosecutors said Ganic — who Serbia wants over the killing of 18 soldiers and officers in an attack on a Yugoslav army convoy in May 1992 — had substantial means which made the risk of him fleeing too great.

Early dinosaur cousin

PARIS: Scientists have uncovered the bones of a dinosaur-like creature that roamed Earth at least 10 million years earlier than the oldest known dinosaur, according to a study published on Thursday. Discovered in Tanzania, Asilisaurus kongwe would have been waist-high to a human, ate plants, and lived some 240 million years ago, said the study, published in Nature. The discovery means that dinosaurs probably appeared much earlier than previously thought. It also points to a rich variety of fauna during the period before dinosaurs began their 165-million domination of the planet.