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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Embassy liaison officer slain

From Wire Reports

SANAA, Yemen – A Yemeni security investigator at the U.S. Embassy was shot and killed Thursday by masked men on a motorcycle in the latest assassination by militants of political and security targets in cities across the country.

Yemen officials said the ambush bore the tracings of al-Qaida, which in recent months has intensified its activities in the Yemeni capital after coming under increasing pressure by U.S. drone strikes and offensives by security forces against its redoubts in the nation’s south.

Qassem Aqlan was shot Thursday in his car near his house in western Sanaa. The embassy is in the eastern part of the city. Yemeni officials described Aqlan as a security liaison officer.

Charity plans first Irish abortion clinic

Dublin – A family planning charity plans to open the first abortion clinic in Ireland, challenging decades of legal confusion over the extremely limited access to pregnancy terminations in both parts of the island.

Officials at the Marie Stopes facility due to open next week in Belfast, capital of the British territory of Northern Ireland, said Thursday they plan to offer nonsurgical abortions to women whose pregnancies are less than nine weeks in gestation. They expect protests and have declined to reveal the clinic’s street address.

Women will receive medication that causes a miscarriage only if doctors determine that continued pregnancy would jeopardize their physical or mental health.

Pastor denied entry to Canada

Toronto – A spokeswoman for U.S. pastor Terry Jones said Canada has denied entry to the preacher, whose congregation held a Quran burning in March 2011 that triggered deadly protests in Afghanistan.

Stephanie Sapp said Thursday that Jones was turned back at the Michigan-Ontario border. She said officials denied him entry because of a fine he got in Germany almost 20 years ago for using the title “doctor” there, as well as a criminal charge of breaching the peace at a planned rally in Detroit last year.