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In a statement Wednesday on its website, the French embassy said the offices would close as of Friday, and told French citizens to leave the country "as soon as possible." The U.S. embassy closure will not affect counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaeda's Yemen branch, which the U.S. views as the world's most dangerous branch of the terror group. Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country and it has been in crisis for months as fighters led by Iran-linked Abdel-Malek al-Houthi last week dissolved parliament and claimed formal control of the government. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned in January and has since been under house arrest, and Houthi has repeatedly warned against foreign intervention. "We will not accept pressures. They are of no use," al-Houthi said in a speech on Tuesday. "Whoever harms the interest of this country could see that their interests in this country are also harmed."

More than 200 migrants are dead after the motorboats they were travelling on sank in the Mediterranean Sea, the UN's refugee agency says. "Nine were saved after four days at sea. The other 203 were swallowed by the waves," UNHCR's spokeswoman in Italy, Carlotta Sami, said on Twitter. She called the situation a "horrible and enormous tragedy". On Monday, at least 29 migrants died after the inflatable boat carrying them overturned in high seas. Seven were already dead when they were picked up near the Italian island of Lampedusa, and a further 22 succumbed to hypothermia after spending more than 18 hours on the open deck of the vessel which picked them up. The International Organization for Migration says the two boats involved in the latest tragedy had departed from the Libyan coast on Saturday. The IOM says that each boat was carrying more than 100 people when they capsized, probably on Monday. The nine survivors all speak French, and are believed to be f...

Kevin Costner is asking God for a miracle as Bobbi Kristina Brown remains hospitalized on the eve of the anniversary of her mother Whitney Houston’s death. “I hope that God opens her eyes and lets her breathe and lets her brain work, and she gets a second chance,” Costner said in an interview with “Nightline” co-anchor Juju Chang last Friday at the W Hotel in Hollywood. Continue...

PEOPLE’S Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Olujimi Agbaje, has urged the people of the state to vote for him to enable him to address areas bothering on their social and economic welfare, which had suffered for close to 16 years under the watch of the All Progressives Congress.  vanguardngr.com . Continue...

                 How will you feel as a mother if your husband sexually abuses your innocent daughter? This is the question a woman in Bauchi State is trying to come to terms with, as her husband, Abubakar Magaji, a resident of Liman Kagum in Bauchi local government, did the abominable act of having carnal knowledge of their 11-year-old daughter. He confessed he was tempted by the devil. He added that he could not resist defiling his daughter when his wife left him because of a misunderstanding between them. Reacting to the development, the state Commissioner of Police, Lawal, Shehu expressed worry over the increasing rate of rape cases in the state and vowed that all rape suspects will be charged to court and prosecuted. He said: “Since January, we have arrested over 10 suspected rapists, only this week we recorded over five cases. It is worrisome that among the suspects arrested is a 45-year-old man who raped his 11-year-old daughter and...

Nigeria is to investigate reports of rapes, child trafficking and other abuses in camps for people fleeing from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Continue...