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Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has resigned under pressure from Shiite rebels who seized the capital in September and have confined the embattled leader to his home for the past two days.  Presidential officials said Hadi resigned after being pressured to make concessions to the rebels, known as Houthis. He had earlier pledged political concessions in return for the rebels withdrawing from his house and the nearby presidential palace, but Houthi fighters remained deployed around both buildings throughout the day.

How do the fish that thrive in the waters around Antarctica prevent their blood from turning to ice? Turns out at least some of them don't. Scientists have long known that the group of fish species known as notothenioids have an antifreeze protein in their blood that prevents them from being frozen to death, but new research has revealed that the same protein keeps ice crystals in their veins, apparently permanently.

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation alleged on Thursday that the school certificate presented by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was forged. The Director of Media and Publicity of the organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, made the allegation at a press conference in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.

For most of us, a blood test begins with a needle, a syringe and the promise it will all be over quickly. But at the back end, testing blood often requires transporting the vial to a clinic, a range of laboratory equipment and trained clinicians and doctors to get an accurate result. The whole process can take days, and in some cases even weeks. But imagine if you could put the whole laboratory into a portable unit that delivered a reading immediately? One Irish company says it has developed the solution -- a "clinic-in-a-box" that can test for a range of diseases or medical conditions in minutes, from just a single drop of blood.

A smuggler's drone flying from Mexico crash-landed just south of the U.S. border city of San Ysidro, California, in a failed drug delivery this week, the Tijuana Municipal Police said. The incident showed that smugglers aren't just going underground any more, using tunnels beneath the U.S.-Mexico border to transport drugs and migrants. Now the smugglers are trying to do business by air, too, in unmanned aerial vehicles. The drone was loaded with more than 6 pounds of the synthetic drug crystal meth, Tijuana police said.

The blue and gold braided beard on the burial mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun was hastily glued back on with epoxy, damaging the relic after it was knocked during cleaning, conservators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo have said.

Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz al-Saud, born on August 1, 1924, passed away after a long illness at the age of 90. Like his father, King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, and equally important, like his brother Faisal, Abdullah will long be remembered as one of the most reform-minded rulers in the history of the kingdom. Among his most important contributions to contemporary Saudi society were his efforts to revamp the country’s succession mechanism, which he revamped in  2007, when he established the Allegiance Council (Hayat al-Bayaa). His successor, the late king's brother, Salman bin Abdilaziz al-Saud, 79, will most likely continue in his footsteps, pursuing consistent policies both at the regional and global levels. Abdullah became the first king to visit Riyadh's shantytowns where he witnessed the level of poverty that some Saudis experience, and vowed to take the necessary measures to alleviate those conditions.

Sarah Jane Maher was devastated after she lost her best friend who was tragically killed in car crash while traveling to meet up on her 18th birthday.  Sarah binged on takeaways every night and scoffed crisps and chocolate for 18 months.  Sarah ballooned to 13 stone 12lbs and suffered severe depression after the loss. But after seeing a picture of herself on a rare night out in York, she vowed to turn her life around and hit the weights.   Sarah embarked on a seven-days-a-week training schedule, ditched fatty foods and takes on a rigorous 45-minute cardio regime to get into shape for competitions.

The leader of Germany's "anti-Islamisation" movement PEGIDA has stepped down after a picture emerged of him sporting a Hitler-style haircut and moustache, along with racist slurs he posted on Facebook. "Yes, I am stepping down from the board," Lutz Bachmann, 41, was quoted as telling Bild daily in an online report on Wednesday.

The reported arrest of a local Islamic State leader in Lahore is the latest in a series of signs the Syria and Iraq-based militant group has expanded into Pakistan.   Reuters, quoting intelligence sources Wednesday, says Pakistani security forces arrested a man they believe is the commander of the IS branch in the country.  It said two accomplices who helped recruit and send fighters to Syria were also arrested.

Four suspected car snatchers, who are now in the custody of the Lagos State Police Command, have explained how they snatched expensive vehicles in different areas of the state and sold them to buyers in Cotonou, Benin Republic. The suspects are Raoul Dedavi, Bright Ekeocha, Aziza Akobu and Adebayo Peter. According to the police, Dedavi, a Beninoise car dealer who is based in Cotonou, is one of the alleged receivers of the vehicles stolen by the gang.

Rashida Samji, a former Vancouver notary accused of committing a $110-million fraud involving at least 200 investors, has been fined and permanently banned from B.C.'s capital markets. Samji was fined $33 million by a B.C. Securities Commission panel for running a massive Ponzi scheme, said Joyce Johner, senior litigation counsel at the commission.

A Liberian research scientist Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan has invented a diagnostic test that can detect and distinguish different kinds of viruses at the same time. His invention detects viruses like the HIV, hepatitis viruses, Dengue hemorrhagic fever virus which has similar symptoms like the Ebola virus. U.S. Media reports that Dr. Nyan developed the test while working at the Laboratory of Emerging Pathogens at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States of America.

 A man died after setting himself alight in a car at the Tlhabane police station, North West police said on Wednesday. "Police in Tlhabane are investigating a case of malicious damage to property after a 35-year-old man died when he allegedly attempted to commit suicide by setting fire to his estranged wife's vehicle on Tuesday," police spokesperson Thulani Ngubane said.

A 36-year-old man has been charged with two counts of murder after the bodies of a couple were found inside their Gold Coast home in Upper Coomera, where a boy believed to be their son was found unharmed.

A four-year-old Perth boy has become the first patient in the world to be fitted with an artificial pancreas.

Army Spokesperson Brigadier Laleye Ignored Redeployment To Address Press Conference.   The Nigerian Army spokesperson, who addressed a press conference on Tuesday to announce that the army could not find General Muhammadu Buhari’s school leaving certificate in its records, had already been redeployed from that post, military sources say. Read more>> http://saharareporters.com/2015/01/20/buhari-certificate-controversy-army-spokesperson-brigadier-laleye-ignored-redeployment

The Islamic State (IS) militants threaten to kill two Japanese hostages unless $200 million ransom is paid within 72 hours , but Tokyo has vowed it will not give in. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe demanded IS to immediately free the two hostages unharmed.

 The Min. of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Aminu Wali, on Sunday in Abuja summoned the Indonesian Ambassador to register Nigeria's protest over the execution, by firing squad, of two Nigerians. A statement issued by the ministry's Director of Public Communication, Mr Ogbole Amedu-Ode, said the executed Nigerians are: Solomon Okafor (Alias Namaona Denils) and Daniels Enemuo (Alias Diarrassoube Mamadou) by the Indonesian government.

      General Buhari said he will address all controversial issues surrounding his academic certificates at a press conference tomorrow, January 21st by 9am in Kano. The APC presidential candidate made this known through the Director of the APC's Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

     A former South African Finance minister, Trevor Manuel has said education must be valued and hard work is required to achieve success, at a time high unemployment rates in the country are increasingly being seen as a source of instability. Addressing hundreds of pupils at the Youth Unemployment Prevention Project in Cape Town, Manuel said: "we have a common future and determination is needed to succeed". He said education was "lifelong and there were no shortcuts, hard work is required".