Govt: Yemeni PM and six officials injured

Yemen's prime minister and six government officials have been injured during the shelling of the presidential compound in Sanaa, government spokesman says.

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Militants kill at least six in Pakistan

Pakistani Shiite Muslims gather during a road block protest in Quetta on Friday following the attack.The militants fire at a graveyard in Balochistan provinceAt least nine people are injured

(CNN) -- Militants in two vehicles fired a rocket and guns at people in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, leaving six dead and nine injured, a senior police official said.

The militants targeted a graveyard in Hazara area, said Muhammad Dawood Junejo, a Quetta police officer.

"Initially, they fired a rocket and then started firing on people in the graveyard," the officer said.

The officer said the incident seems to be an act of sectarian attack.

Quetta is the capital of the Balochistan province, which has had militant attacks in the past.

Last year, about 50 minority Shiites were killed when a suicide bomber struck an Al Quds rally in September.

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'No hope of life' for trapped Mexican miners

Miners trapped in Mexico mine blastNEW: Residents of a nearby village hold a funeral for one killed minerNEW: Lozano says crews are close to reaching the remaining workersHe also says there is no hope of finding the miners aliveFive specialists from Chile join rescuers

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexico's labor secretary said search crews were close Thursday to reaching the bodies of eight workers likely killed in a mine explosion, state media reported.

Earlier in the day, Labor Secretary Javier Lozano said there was "no hope of life" for the eight miners who remain trapped inside a mine in Sabinas, Mexico.

Lozano first made the declaration on Twitter and then in a televised interview on CNN affiliate Televisa.

A sixth body was found Thursday, he said. If no one survived, that means there are eight more bodies to be found and recovered from the coal mine.

Residents of a nearby village held a funeral for the sixth victim just hours after he was found, the state-run Notimex news agency reported.

Experts from Chile who helped rescue miners there in October arrive Thursday to help crews.

A blast Tuesday morning at the mine just outside Sabinas left 14 workers trapped inside.

Authorities waited until toxic gases dissipated enough to allow rescuers to begin exploring the mine's tunnels, Notimex said.

A 15-year-old worker had both arms amputated after he was seriously injured in the blast, Mexico's attorney general's office said.

Lozano took a critical tone in a Twitter post as rescue operations began, saying "having a minor working here" was a "fault of the owner of this 'mine.'"

The mine had only been operating for 20 days and had 25 workers who were not unionized, Lozano said.

He described such small, makeshift coal mines as "unsafe places," calling them "irregular, deadly traps, as we are seeing."

The owner of the mine is a company known as Binsa, the statement from the attorney general's office said.

Federal authorities said they had no record of the company, and that the owners of the land where the mine is located never registered any excavation at the site, said Ricardo Rojo, a spokesman for Mexico's economic ministry.

But a Binsa spokesman rejected government claims the the company was operating in an irregular manner.

"It is one of the companies with the best safety," spokesman Jesus Espinosa said in an interview with Mexico's W Radio, adding that government and union officials had reviewed its operations.

The mine contains a shaft that is 60 meters (197 feet) deep, Sabinas Mayor Jesus Montemayor Garza said.

Federal authorities are investigating what caused the explosion while family members anxiously wait outside the mine and local workers from other mines help with the search.

"They are miners from Sabinas who are risking their lives in order to pull out the bodies of their peers," Montemayor said.

Sabinas is in the coal production center of Mexico and has a museum dedicated to the history of coal mining.

Several chapters of that history, however, have been tragic.

In 2006, in the nearby town of San Juan de Sabinas, 65 miners perished after an explosion in the mine where they were working. Explosive gas inside the mine hindered the rescue of the miners at the Pasta de Conchos mine, which the government eventually abandoned.

An organization representing family members of the victims of that accident said Tuesday's blast was a tragic reminder that the federal government must do more to regulate mines. One activist from the organization said there had been more than 40 people killed in local coal mines since the 2006 accident.

"How long will to take to recognize that there is a very serious crisis in coal mining (in the Mexican state of) Coahuila, in which the workers and their families are those who must endure the worst, with dead, widows and orphans?" a statement from the organization said.

CNN's Rey Rodriguez, Rafael Romo and Catherine E. Shoichet and journalists Hanako Taniguchi and Tania L. Montalvo of CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

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Last known World War I combatant dies at 110

Last known surviving combatant of World War I, a British sailor, dies aged 110Claude Choules witnessed the surrender of the German fleet in 1918He was declared last WWI combatant after U.S. vet Frank Buckles died this yearOnly surviving WWI vet is Florence Green, who served in RAF in non-combat role

(CNN) -- The last known survivor of the 70 million combatants from World War I, a British sailor who witnessed the surrender of the German fleet in 1918, has died at the age of 110.

Claude Choules, who was born in Pershore, western England, died in his sleep at a nursing home in the Western Australian city of Perth on Thursday.

Choules was declared the last-known WWI combatant earlier this year after the death of U.S. veteran Frank Buckles, also aged 110.

Obama pays respects to last U.S.WWI veteran

The death of Choules now means the only known remaining WWI veteran is 110-year-old Florence Green, who served with the British Royal Air Force in a non-combat role.

The Royal Australian Navy expressed its condolences on Thursday while Captain Brett Wolski, Commanding Officer of HMAS Stirling, said all naval personnel had been affected by the announcement. "Our thoughts are with Claude's family at this sad time," he said.

Choules joined the Royal Navy in 1916, and initially served on the training ship HMS Impregnable at Devonport. While serving on HMS Revenge the young sailor saw the German imperial fleet's surrender at Firth of Forth, in Scotland. He was also present for the German fleet's destruction at Scapa Flow.

In 1926, after emigrating to Australia, he transferred to that country's navy, and rose through the ranks to become chief demolition officer on the western side of the continent at the outbreak of World War II.

He always said that the old men make the decisions that send the young men into war.
--Adrian Choules on his father Claude

Early in the war Claude was flown to Esperance, on Western Australia's southern coast, to identify a mine that had washed ashore. After realizing the weapon was German, Claude was responsible for disposing of the first mine to wash up on Australian soil during WWII.

During the low point of the Allied campaign, Claude was made responsible for destroying facilities and oil tanks in Fremantle harbor in the event of a Japanese invasion. In 1942, Claude placed depth charges in ships that were unable to sail from Fremantle with the intention of sinking them should the Japanese invade.

After the war Claude served in the Australian docks police until his retirement in 1956. Married for 80 years to Ethel, a Scottish children's nurse who lived to 98, he had three children, 13 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

His son Adrian told the newspaper he had received many phone calls offering condolences. But he said he wanted to celebrate his father's life rather than mourn.

"He treated his family very, very well, and so they all responded by looking after him very well," Choules said of his father.

"He knew you only get out what you put in, and he was a fine example of that. He was a good family man."

Choules said his father refused to glorify war and flouting Anzac Day parades. In later life Choules refused to be interviewed about the wars in which he served.

"He always said that the old men make the decisions that send the young men into war," Adrian said.

"He used to say, if it was the other way around, and the old pollies were off fighting, then there would never be any wars."

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Body recovered from Air France plane wreckage

Search teams retrieved a body from the wreckage of the Air France airbus Flight recorders recovered and are being "dried"Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009, killing 228 people It took nearly two years to locate the bulk of the wreckage

Paris (CNN) -- Search teams retrieved a body from the wreckage of the Air France airbus that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009, the French Interior Ministry said.

The body was still attached to a seat and "appeared degraded," the ministry added in a written statement.

"The attempts to bring up the bodies were made in particularly complex conditions. Considerable uncertainties still remain regarding the technical feasibility of recovering the bodies," the French Ministry statement said.

DNA samples from the remains -- recovered from a depth of 3900 meters (12,700 feet) - will be sent to a laboratory for analysis, the statement added.

Thursday's announcement came days after the flight recorders were located.

All 228 people aboard the Airbus A330 Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were killed on June 1, 2009. Until now, 50 bodies had been recovered on the surface after the crash.

However, some relatives of those who died have expressed reservations about remains being brought to the surface.

Last month Robert Soulas, head of a support group for families of flight victims, said: "For me, personally I would like to leave the bodies of my children, my two children, on the seabed."

Other relatives have called for the bodies to be recovered.

The Airbus A330's pilots lost contact with air traffic controllers while flying across an area of the Atlantic Ocean known for constant bands of severe turbulence, officials said. But exactly what caused the plane to plunge into the sea has remains a mystery.

France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said on Thursday that the external casings of both the flight recorders -- which record data and cockpit voices -- were in good condition and that they had started a "drying" process.

It would take a couple of days for the units to dry and then approximately a week or two before they could determine if both were still working, the BEA said.

Martine Del Bono, a spokeswoman for the Paris-based BEA said that even if there was some internal damage to the recorders, some data might still be recoverable.

"We must be very very careful... we are confident but it will take time for us to know whether we can retrieve all the data."

Phil Seymour, chief operating officer of the International Bureau of Aviation, a British aviation consultancy, said: "I remain skeptical about how useful this device (memory unit) will be. If you were to throw a computer into the ocean, imagine how all the parts would eventually split up. You also have the corrosive effects of seawater and the immense depths involved."

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Al Qaeda confirms bin Laden's death

Al Qaeda confirms bin Laden deathAl Qaeda issues a threat against the United StatesIt urges Pakistanis to "rise up and revolt"The Web has long been a favored medium for jihadis

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda released a statement on jihadist forums Friday confirming the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamist websites.

The development comes days after U.S. troops killed bin Laden in a raid on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

The statement, translated by SITE, lauded the late militant, threatened to take action against the United States, and urged Pakistanis to "rise up and revolt."

Bin Laden's death will serve as a "curse that chases the Americans and their agents, and goes after them inside and outside their countries," the message said.

"Soon -- with help from Allah -- their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears," it said.

The statement said al Qaeda will "continue on the path of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders ... without hesitation or reluctance."

Full statement from al Qaeda on Osama bin Laden's death

"We will not deviate from that or change until Allah judges between us and between our enemy with truth. Indeed, He is the best of all judges. Nothing will harm us after that, until we see either victory and success and conquest and empowerment, or we die trying."

It said that Americans "will never enjoy security until our people in Palestine enjoy it."

"The soldiers of Islam, groups and individuals, will continue planning without tiredness or boredom, and without despair or surrender, and without weakness or stagnancy, until they cause the disaster that makes children look like the elderly!"

It urged Pakistanis "to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves" and "from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

Bin Laden and other militants used the Internet to post messages to their followers before and after al Qaeda's September, 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

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Bombing of Gadhafi won't let up, Clinton warns

Hillary Clinton in Rome: "As long as Gadhafi continues to attack his citizens, we will continue to strike his forces."NEW: Libyan government says use of its assets would be theftRebels claim they have retaken southern cityThe U.S. considers seizing Gadhafi funds to help Libya's peopleThe International Organization for Migration suspends ships after Misrata is shelled

Rome (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meeting with allies, kept up pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Thursday, demanding that he "cease attacks and the threat of attacks" against rebels who oppose his rule.

Gadhafi must withdraw all forces from rebel cities they have entered, restore services to those cities, and allow humanitarian aid in, Clinton insisted.

U.S. and NATO bombing of his forces will continue until he meets the terms, she said.

"As long as Gadhafi continues to attack his citizens, we will continue to strike his forces," she said.

"It is time for the violence to end. It is time for Gadhafi to go. It is time for a democratic transition to begin," she said.

The United States is also looking into ways to help the rebels financially, including seizing Gadhafi assets and using them to aid Libya's people, and helping the Transitional National Council to sell oil, Clinton said.

Clinton was speaking in Rome, where international powers held their second high-level meeting on the Libyan crisis.

The Libyan government, according to state TV, said financing the rebels from frozen assets would be equivalent to theft.

Congress is being consulted on the possible use of a portion of the $30 billion in assets, two senior State Department officials said.

It was not clear whether any of the money would go directly to the opposition government.

European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton said the Rome meeting "underlined the international community's unity and determination to bring the Libyan crisis to a quick and satisfactory conclusion. With the humanitarian situation deteriorating, time is of the essence. Gadhafi must end his attacks against his own people and respect human rights."

Also Thursday, the International Organization for Migration said it was suspending its passenger ships between the two rebel towns of Benghazi and Misrata after Gadhafi forces shelled the port in Misrata Wednesday, killing at least five people.

IOM media director Jean Philippe Chauzy said operations would be suspended until the organization puts in place a "better evacuation plan."

The IOM never again wants to experience what happened on Wednesday, he said.

No one was injured on the IOM-chartered boat in Misrata at the time of the shelling, the agency said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, the international medical humanitarian group (known as Doctors Without Borders in English), said a 22-member team is delivering surgical and medical care to the wounded at two hospitals and a clinic. The organization has donated more than 25 tons of medicine and medical equipment, it said in a statement Thursday.

Rebels, meanwhile, told CNN that they have taken the southern city of al-Koufra, with Gadhafi forces gone except for a small group on its western edge. The two sides have exchanged control over al-Koufra over the past two months. CNN could not independently verify the claim.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague ordered two Libyan diplomats to leave the country for "actions contrary to the interests of the UK," the Foreign Office announced Thursday.

He gave them a week to get out, starting Wednesday, the Foreign Office statement said.

The British Ministry of Defence and NATO said Thursday their forces had been engaging Gadhafi's troops over the past several days, destroying ammunition dumps, surface-to-air batteries, and other targets.

As for the Rome meeting, Hague said the international community is "resolved to continue to take action" on Libya, and "more countries took part and reiterated that Gadhafi should go." Participants also agreed to help the Transitional National Council with short term financial support with the establishment of the Temporary Financial Mechanism, which was suggested in the first meeting in Doha, Qatar, according to a statement released at the conclusion of the talks.

The diplomatic and military moves came soon after the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said in a report there are "reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed and continue being committed in Libya."

The report highlighted the alleged commission of rape by Gadhafi's government, as well as the deportation or forcible transfer of citizens during the civil war that continues to rage in that country.

It also noted war crimes, including intentionally directing attacks against civilians not participating in the fighting. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo issued a statement saying he will soon request arrest warrants against three individuals who are "most responsible for the crimes committed." The individuals were not named.

It is not clear if he plans to file charges against anyone on the rebel side, though the report mentioned "alleged war crimes as well as other crimes against humanity" appear to have been committed by "different parties."

He warned when he opened the probe two months ago that the rebels are subject to international law just as Gadhafi's forces are.

This is the first time the International Criminal Court has begun investigating possible crimes against humanity as they were occurring in wartime, Moreno-Ocampo said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to Bulgaria, said, "I fully support the principle that whoever and whenever there is violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, those people should be accountable and go to justice."

NATO began bombing Libya on March 19, after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution authorizing any means necessary, short of invasion, to protect civilians demanding the end of Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule.

CNN's Elise Labott, Amir Ahmed, Carol Jordan, Mitra Mobasherat and Atika Shubert contributed to this report.

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Brazil's court recognizes same-sex unions

NEW: A gay rights advocate calls the decision a "historic achievement"The court votes 10-0 in favor of recognizing same-sex unionsThe court rules that same-sex couples have the same legal rights as heterosexual couplesAt least 60,000 homosexual couples live in Brazil, preliminary census data shows

(CNN) -- Brazil's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that the nation should recognize same-sex unions.

The court voted 10-0 in favor of recognizing the unions. One justice abstained because he had spoken publicly in favor of same-sex unions when he was attorney general.

The court ruled that the same rights and rules that apply to "stable unions" of heterosexual couples will apply to same-sex couples, including the right to joint declaration of income tax, pension, inheritance and property sharing.

The ruling does not allow same-sex marriage, but gay rights activists hailed it as an important advance for same-sex couples. Previously, decisions related to same-sex unions were left for judges to evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

Cleber Vicente, project coordinator for the Rainbow Group in Rio de Janeiro, called the decision "a historic achievement," the state-run Agencia Brasil reported.

"There is something to celebrate this result," he said. "It is a struggle that stretches for over 15 years."

Some gay rights groups have encountered strong resistance in parts of Latin America, where the influential Roman Catholic Church often opposes measures allowing same-sex unions or adoption by same-sex couples.

Argentina became the first Latin American country to approve same-sex marriage in 2010. Mexico City approved same-sex marriage in 2009. And several other countries in the region have legalized civil unions.

Brazil's high court ruling came in response to two lawsuits -- one filed by the Rio de Janeiro state government in 2008 and another in 2009 by the Public Ministry, a group of prosecutors that is part of the federal government but independent from its executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Gilmar Mendes, a Supreme Court justice, told Agencia Brasil that the court has an obligation to respond to protect gay couples who are still victims of prejudice and violence.

"This legal limbo that (same-sex couples encounter) contributes to discrimination, even to the violent practices that have (been) seen in the news. It is the duty of the state to protect and duty of the court to give that protection if, somehow, it was not intended by the legislature," he said.

According to preliminary results of the country's 2010 census, at least 60,000 homosexual couples live in Brazil.

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State TV: Syrian military leaving Daraa

Report: Syrian military on the moveNEW: Syrian troops gather on edges of Banias, a witness saysAn activist group says there is little sign of a withdrawal from DaraaAmnesty International says it has received reports of torture and ill treatmentRights group: Pro-reform demonstrators are being held without access to lawyers

(CNN) -- The Syrian military began pulling out of the southwestern town of Daraa on Thursday after a mission to "restore security and calm," state TV reported.

Government troops have been battling pro-reform protesters over the past month and a half. The human rights group Amnesty International says more than 500 people were killed during the clashes and thousands more were rounded up for questioning.

"Scores were arrested and huge amounts of up-to-date weapons and ammunition in several places were confiscated, which helped bring back the sense of safety to the residents of the city," a Syrian military source told the SANA news agency about the Daraa mission.

But the international activist group Avaaz said there was little sign of a Syrian withdrawal from Daraa, and warned that remaining Syrian armored units still pose a threat to demonstrators.

Syrian soldiers were gathered on the edges of Banias, a city on Syria's northwest coast, according to a witness who spoke to CNN Thursday.

"The army has deployed more than 30 tanks around Banias and 40 armored vehicles," said Anas Al Shaghri, a 23-year-old Syrian economics student. "We are told that the Syrian army will enter the city just like they did in Daraa any minute."

Citizen protesters are posted at checkpoints leading into Banias in an effort to keep the Syrian military out of the city, Al Shaghri said. "We just carry batons and telephones to film whenever the government thugs and armed security forces attack."

The Syrian military warned the protesters that "if we don't pull out the checkpoints the security forces will break into the city," he said.

But Al Shaghri said the protesters "are not terrorists, nor armed. We are simple a people longing for freedom."

At least 16 people have been arrested and detained in the city over the past three days, he said.

The announcement of the pullout from Daraa came a day after Syrian security forces arrested two people outside the University of Damascus as student demonstrators rallied for the release of political detainees, eyewitnesses told CNN. Army convoys and tanks rolled into the capital city, setting up what the witnesses described as a base in the central square.

"The army knows they cannot pressure the economic situation too much in Damascus. Everyone is trying to go about their work, school and their businesses," one eyewitness activist told CNN.

Amnesty International said it has received firsthand reports of torture and other ill treatment from detainees held in Syria, as a wave of arrests of anti-government protesters intensified over the weekend.

The organization said "widespread, arbitrary arrests" had taken place in towns across the country in recent days. At least 499 people were detained Sunday during house-to-house raids in Daraa, a key location for pro-reform protests, the group said, adding that most were being held at unknown locations without access to lawyers or their families.

The rights group also said it had the names of 54 people killed last Friday, which brought to 542 the number of people killed during a month and a half of protests in Syria. Amnesty International stated in a report that the high number of deaths can be attributed to the tactics used by Syrian security forces.

And in a statement released Thursday, Avaaz said more than 400 people -- including members of prominent families who took part in recent protests -- have been rounded up in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani. The group said 38 of those arrested were released Wednesday "and sent home with instructions to spread the word in their communities of their arrest and torture, as a warning to anyone involved in anti-government activism."

Another 300-plus arrests have been made in Sakba, another Damascus suburb, Avaaz said. CNN could not independently corroborate those reports.

Avaaz said more protests are expected across Syria after Friday prayers.

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Two Al Qaeda deaths, one guilty plea

Two brothers who were mid-level leaders in al Qaeda are killed in YemenIn Germany, a 25-year-old man pleads guilty to belonging to an al Qaeda fundraising cellThe fundraiser also confessed to being trained for combat operations in Pakistan

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda suffered setbacks on the battlefield and in court Thursday, with two mid-level leaders being killed in southern Yemen, that country's state-run media reported.

Meanwhile, a 25-year-old German national pleaded guilty in Frankfurt to charges of belonging to an al Qaeda terror cell that trained him in Pakistan, a court spokesman told CNN.

In Yemen, the brothers who were al Qaeda leaders, Musaed and Abdullah al-Harad, were killed in Shabwa, where security forces were hunting for them, a security source told Yemen's state-run 26sep.net website.

The two had been involved in several terrorist operations in the past, the source told the digital media outlet.

In Germany, al Qaeda operative Rami Makenesi provided a confession to all charges in exchange for a prison sentence of no more than five years, the spokesman said.

Makenesi traveled to Pakistan in March 2009 and joined al Qaeda after a stay in a terrorist training camp, according to a statement by the office of the federal prosecutor. Makenesi also participated in combat operations in Pakistan, the prosecutor said.

On Makenesi's request, a high-ranking al Qaeda leader released him from further participation in combat operations and ordered him to support the cause by collecting funds in Europe, the prosecutor's statement said. Makenesi was also ordered to be available for other, unspecified missions, the prosecutor said.

Makenesi had to raise 20,000 euros (more than $29,000) every six months and was supposed to act as a contact in Germany, the prosecutor said.

Makenesi was arrested in Pakistan on his way back to Germany last June by Pakistani security forces and was transferred to the German authorities in August, authorities said.

Journalist Roman Lehberger and CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.

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