Nigeria gunmen kill six at Christmas mass

GUNMEN have attacked a church in northern Nigeria during midnight mass on Christmas Eve, killing six people including the pastor, before setting the building ablaze, residents and police say.

"A group of gunmen came into the village at midnight and went straight to the church," said Usman Mansir, a resident of Peri village near Potiskum, the economic capital of Yobe state.

"They opened fire on them, killing the pastor and five worshippers. They then set fire to the church," he added, specifying that a branch of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) was targeted.

A senior police official in Yobe confirmed the details to AFP, but declined to be named.

Yobe police chief Sanusi Rufa'i said "this is a security issue" and refused to comment further.

Boko Haram Islamists have carried out several attacks in Yobe, which borders the state of Maiduguri, where the insurgent group is based.

The Islamists are blamed for killing hundreds of people in northern Nigeria since 2009. It was not clear who was behind the latest violence.

While Yobe's population is overwhelmingly Muslim, the commercial hub of Potiskum has a significant Christian minority. Peri is just two kilometres outside the city.

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Queen calls for togetherness at Christmas

LOOKING past the scandal which has at times shaken the royal family in 2012, a humble Queen has sent out a global thanks to those who helped celebrate her 60-year reign.

During the monarch's Christmas message, in which she became the first royal to appear in 3D format, the 86-year-old sovereign touched on friendship, sport, duty and religion.

In her address, the Queen recognised the efforts of those serving in the armed forces and emergency services.

Grandson Prince Harry, 28, continues to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan in his role as a British Army apache helicopter co-pilot.

Earlier in the year, the playboy prince attracted unwanted exposure when caught short of clothing on camera during a game of strip billiards in Las Vegas.

Prince William's much-adored wife Catherine also made global headlines as topless photos taken during a holiday in France popped up in tabloids and glossy magazines. The surrounding hubbub soon came to an end with the announcement that the Duchess of Cambridge, 30, is expecting her first baby.

However, news of the royal pregnancy led to further controversy with the death of a nurse working at a hospital where Catherine was being treated for acute morning sickness after a prank call by Australian DJs.

While there was no mention of her own family in her address, the Queen focused on community spirit and support.

"It's important at this time of year to reach out beyond our familiar relationships to think of those who are on their own," she said.

The Queen sent her thanks to those who helped celebrate her Diamond Jubilee Year.

"It was humbling that so many chose to mark the anniversary of a duty which passed to me 60 years ago. People of all ages took the trouble to take part in various ways and in many nations," she said.

She labelled the London 2012 Games as a "splendid summer of sport", with mention of the dedicated volunteers who contributed to the city's successful role as Olympics host.

"It is my prayer this Christmas Day that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others," the Queen said of Jesus Christ.

"I wish you all a very happy Christmas."

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Fukushima kids getting fatter

CHILDREN in Fukushima are getting fatter as outdoor activities have been cut in the area due to radiation fears after last year's nuclear disaster, a Japanese government report said.

The education ministry said it had surveyed the heights and weights of about 700,000 children, aged between five and 17, at schools and kindergartens across the country this year.

It compared the number of obese children, defined as weighing at least 20 per cent more than the average for their age and height, among the 47 prefectures.

Fukushima registered the highest rates in seven of the 13 age groups, the ministry said. In 2010, the prefecture on the north of the main island Honshu topped the table only in the 10th year of school.

"The amount of exercise has declined in Fukushima, mainly among elementary school pupils, as outdoor activities in some locations have been restricted after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident," a ministry official told a news conference.

In Fukushima, 449 - or 56 per cent of public schools - curbed outdoor activities during school time as of June last year due to radiation concerns, Kyodo news agency said.

Such restrictions remained in place at 71 elementary and junior high schools as of September this year, Kyodo said.

In the accident of March last year, an earthquake-triggered tsunami smashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant, sparking meltdowns and explosions.

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Morocco busts Qaida recruitment cell

MOROCCAN authorities said they had broken up a recruitment cell for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in the central Fez region, after announcing the discovery of a jihadist network last month.

"The police, in coordination with the leadership of territorial surveillance, have dismantled a cell with six members, originating from the city of Fez," the interior ministry said in a statement.

The aim of the cell was to "enroll and recruit young Moroccans who have embraced jihadist ideas, in order to send them to camps of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) in Algeria," it added.

Among those arrested was a "former prisoner detained under the anti-terrorism law," who had been "extradited from Algeria in 2005 after he attempted to join the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC)."

AQIM, the global terror network's north African branch, evolved from the GSPC, a breakaway group of militant Algerian Islamists who refused to lay down their weapons when Algeria's civil war ended.

Last month, the Moroccan authorities said they had dismantled several "terrorist" cells that were planning to attack strategic targets in the kingdom.

More than 2000 Islamists were arrested and sentenced after 2003 suicide bomb attacks in Morocco's second city of Casablanca that killed 45 people including the 12 attackers.

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Egypt court frees Mubarak-era Senate chief

AN Egyptian court has freed the former Senate leader under ousted president Hosni Mubarak on bail, after spending the maximum permitted 18 months in jail awaiting his corruption trial, the official MENA news agency reports.

Safwat al-Sherif, one of the top-ranking members of Mubarak's National Democrat Party, was allowed out on payment of the equivalent of $US8100 ($A7830).

He is one of several Mubarak-era officials facing charges of corruption and abuse of power.

In October he and other former regime officials were acquitted of charges of ordering horse- and camel-riders to attack protesters in Cairo during the country's uprising.

Mubarak himself is serving a life sentence for the deaths of some of the 850 protesters in the revolution. He is appealing the conviction, and a court will decide on January 13 whether or not to order a new trial.

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Iran begins naval war games

IRAN has launched naval manoeuvres in the Gulf, and announced plans for another exercise in the strategic Strait of Hormuz later this week, media reports said.

Revolutionary Guards naval units began a four-day exercise inside Iranian waters at South Pars, a joint gas field between Iran and Qatar, a Guards spokesman was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

The drill, dubbed "Fajr 91," is aimed at honing "capabilities in executing defensive and security scenarios," Admiral Alireza Nasseri said without elaborating.

The Guards are tasked with defending Iran's territorial waters in the Gulf.

The regular navy, meanwhile, on December 28 begins an exercise dubbed "Velayat 91," covering an area that includes the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean, navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari said in remarks reported by the ISNA news agency.

Warships, submarines and missile defence systems will be used and tested during the exercise, Admiral Sayari said.

"We will definitely respect the maritime border of our neighbours, and conduct the manoeuvres based on international law," Admiral Sayari said.

"Iran aims to demonstrate its defensive naval capabilities by conducting this exercise, and send a message of peace and friendship to regional countries."

Iran frequently conducts missile tests and manoeuvres to underline its military muscle and has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic should it be attacked.

The strait is a narrow channel at the entrance of the Gulf through which a third of the world's traded oil passes.

The US has warned Iran that any attempt to close the strait would be viewed as a "red line" - grounds for US military action.

Iran's navy, with 17,000 servicemen, is tasked with defending Iranian interests in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Its offshore forces are limited to half a dozen small frigates and destroyers, and three Russian Kilo class submarines.

Iran regularly denounces the regional presence of foreign forces, including the US, particularly those stationed in the Gulf. It says the security of the region must be ensured "by regional countries."

Arab monarchies on the opposite side of the Gulf from Iran are worried by what they see as territorial ambitions by the Islamic republic, which frequently stresses Persia's historic dominance over the waterway.

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17 killed as Yemen army, tribesmen clash

YEMEN'S army has launched an offensive against tribesmen suspected of repeatedly sabotaging an oil pipeline in the country's east, sparking clashes that left 17 people dead, tribal sources say.

The dead included 10 tribesmen and seven soldiers, said the sources, who added the offensive in Marib province's Habab valley, 140 kilometres east of the capital Sanaa, was launched in the early hours of Tuesday and backed by air raids.

The sources said the army was "randomly shelling" the area where some al-Qaeda militants joined tribesmen battling Yemeni troops. Marib is a major al-Qaeda stronghold.

Tribesmen, of whom 18 were also wounded according to the same sources, fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, one source said.

According to official figures, lost production because of attacks on the oil pipeline in the east cost the government more than $US1 billion ($A965 million) in 2012, while oil exports fell by 4.5 per cent.

A tribal source told AFP the offensive was targeting prominent figure Salah bin Hussein al-Dammaj, who has allegedly blown up the pipeline several times to pressure the authorities to pay him 100 million riyals ($A465,000) in compensation for land he claims was taken from him in Sanaa.

The 320-kilometre pipeline carries oil from Safer oilfields in Marib to an export terminal on the Red Sea. It carries about 180,000 barrels per day.

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Military plane crashes, killing 27

KAZAKHSTAN'S acting border service chief was among 27 people killed in a military plane crash near a southern city, authorities said.

The An-72 crashed at 1255 GMT (11.55pm AEDT) about 20 kilometres away from the city of Shymkent near the border with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security said in a statement.

The fatalities included a crew of seven and 20 border guards, including the acting head of the ex-Soviet nation's border protection service, Col. Turganbek Stambekov, the statement said. Without specifying further details, authorities said an investigation was opened into the crash.

Stambekov was appointed acting head of the border service in June, after a mass killing of 14 frontier troops in a remote Kazakh outpost near China the month before. Vladislav Chelakh, a 20-year-old conscript, was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison after being found solely responsible for the killings.

The border service has come under close scrutiny in Kazakhstan since the killings, which many argued showed the lack of readiness and professionalism among serving troops. Legislation approved Thursday by the upper house of parliament and supported by Stambekov was designed to improve the process for selecting conscripts for the service.

The Kazakh-Uzbek border stretches 2200 kilometres of Central Asian steppes and deserts.

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