News in Brief

Malians votes defying threats
Afp,Bamako
Malians defied Islamist death threats yesterday to vote for a president expected to usher in a new dawn of peace and stability in the conflict-scarred nation.
Voters have a choice of 27 candidates in the first election since last year's military coup upended one of the region's most stable democracies as Islamist militants hijacked a separatist uprising to seize a vast swathe in the desert north of the country.
The ballot opened at 8:00am under heavy security after one of the main Islamist armed groups in northern Mali said Saturday it would "strike" polling stations.

Suicide bomber kills 9 cops in Iraq
Afp, Kirkuk
A suicide bomber killed nine Kurdish police in northern Iraq yesterday, a district official and a doctor said.
The bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle near a three-vehicle police convoy in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, also wounding nine officers.
The town is part of a swathe of northern territory that Kurds want to incorporate into their three-province autonomous region over the strong objections of the federal government in Baghdad -- a dispute that diplomats say is one of the main threats to the country's long-term stability.

US drone kills 6 'Qaeda' in Yemen
Afp, Aden
An apparent US drone strike killed six suspected al-Qaeda militants overnight, a Yemeni military source told AFP yesterday.
The six suspects were travelling in a two-vehicle convoy in Mahfad in the southern province of Abyan, much of which was held by the jihadists before an army counter-offensive last year, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In a major offensive in summer 2012, the Yemeni army drove al-Qaeda militants out of most towns in Abyan, including Zinjibar and Jaar which they had held for a year.
But the jihadists retain a presence in the nearby mountains of Mahfad.

Maduro, Castro meet in Havana
Afp, Caracas
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met aged Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana on Saturday, Venezuelan state news agency AVN reported.
Fidel Castro, who turns 87 next month, rarely appears in public and pictures of the historic leftist leader are unusual.
The two men met following celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the capture of the Moncada barracks, the event that began the Cuban revolution.
AVN published four photographs of the leaders, including one in which Castro is shown with a book about the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez written by a Spanish journalist.

Liberals gain in Kuwait polls
Afp, Kuwait City
Kuwait's Shia minority lost more than half of their seats and liberals made slight gains in the Gulf state's second polls in eight months, in a major blow to radicals.
The final results, released early yesterday by judicial authorities, showed Shia candidates winning just eight seats in the 50-member parliament.
Shiite candidates had won a record 17 in the previous house elected in December but scrapped in a court ruling last month. Shias form around 30 percent of Kuwait's native population of 1.23 million.
The official figures also recorded a significant rise in turnout.