Embattled Yemeni areas under curfew
SANA, Yemen -- Yemen's top security body imposed an overnight curfew in restive areas of the capital, Sana, on Saturday after Shiite rebels took over the state television building during heavy clashes.
The Supreme Security Commission said the curfew was being imposed in the north and west of the capital and will remain in place indefinitely. It follows days of clashes between Shiite rebels, known as Hawthis, and Sunni militiamen affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood's Islah party that have left more than 140 dead and prompted thousands to flee.
The fighting has raised fears of an all-out sectarian conflict in an impoverished country already grappling with a powerful local al-Qaida affiliate and an increasingly assertive separatist movement in the south.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the spokesman of the Hawthis, said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page that his group took over the TV building after a heavy exchange of gunfire with troops guarding the building.
All three state TV networks went off the air, and witnesses said the building was on fire.
Judge lets ailing Venezuelan go home
CARACAS, Venezuela -- A former Caracas police chief whose decade-long imprisonment had rallied Venezuela's opposition has been released from jail on humanitarian grounds to continue serving a 30-year sentence at home.
Ivan Simonovis had been imprisoned since 2004 in connection with the death of pro-government protesters who had rushed to the defense of then-President Hugo Chavez during a failed coup attempt two years earlier. In 2009, he was convicted of aggravated murder.
The 54-year-old former police chief appeared briefly at his home in the La Florida neighborhood early Saturday as word of his release spread on social media. Appearing on a second-floor balcony, he waved to the crowd and kissed his wife and daughter but made no comments as two camouflaged police officers stationed outside looked on.
The judge who authorized Simonovis' release barred him from making statements to the media, engaging in politics or using social media, said his wife, Bony Pertinez de Simonovis.
The Supreme Court said in a Twitter message Saturday that Simonovis would have to return to prison once his health improves.
50,000 flee floods in Pakistan's south
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's disaster management agency said Saturday that rescuers with boats and helicopters had evacuated about 50,000 people from the country's south after raging floods inundated more villages there.
In a statement, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency said about two dozen people were killed in the past 24 hours in the eastern Punjab province, raising the death toll from rains and flooding to 346.
It said floodwaters wreaked havoc in Punjab province and were now passing through remote areas in the southern Sindh province, but so far no deaths had been reported there. Pictures from Pakistani news channels showed submerged villages and people living in tents and in open areas.
Medical staff in the flood-hit areas has so far treated more than 300,000 patients, it said.
The floods have affected 1.7 million Pakistanis apart from damaging standing crops in vast areas.
Dalai Lama: China's Xi 'more realistic'
NEW DELHI -- The Dalai Lama praised Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday for being "more realistic" and principled than his predecessors, a day after Xi's three-day visit to India ended.
The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader has lived in exile for decades in India's Himalayan foothill city of Dharamsala, after fleeing China following a failed 1959 uprising. The arrangement has irritated Beijing, which has long accused the Dalai Lama of fomenting unrest and encouraging Buddhist monks to self-immolate in demanding more autonomy for Tibet, a Himalayan region in western China.
However, Beijing's attitude appears to be shifting, the Dalai Lama said, noting that China's Communist Party leaders, who officially are atheist, are now "mentioning the importance of spiritualism."
The spiritual leader said that since becoming president in March 2013, Xi has demonstrated "through his handling of problems, he is comparatively more realistic and with more principles" than his predecessors.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 09/21/2014