12 Egyptian soldiers die in Sinai attack

CAIRO • An attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others yesterday in the Sinai Peninsula where security forces are fighting militants, the army said.

An army spokesman said that soldiers clashed with the assailants in the northern Sinai. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Mexico to extradite drug lord in early 2017

MEXICO CITY • Mexico is aiming to extradite imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States early next year, the country's national commissioner of security said yesterday.

Guzman's extradition would set up a major trial in the US for a man whose cartel has been accused of murdering countless people in Mexico while providing tonnes of cocaine and other drugs to users in the US.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Germany probes refugee baby sale

BERLIN • German police said they were investigating a refugee couple after their one-month-old baby was put up for sale on the online auction platform eBay for €5,000 (S$7,600).

The police on Thursday launched a probe into possible human trafficking after they were tipped off about the ad which appeared online for about 30 minutes on Tuesday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

No word on Ukraine crisis summit: Merkel

BERLIN • German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday said there had been no decision yet on whether to proceed with a "Normandy format" summit with Russia, France and Ukraine on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, in Berlin next week.

"We are still open to this, but there is no decision yet," Dr Merkel told a news conference. She said she was waiting for news from ongoing discussions at the expert level on the issues involved.

REUTERS

Nominations for next African Union chief

ADDIS ABABA • Kenya, Senegal and Chad will each nominate a candidate to become the new head of the African Union, which failed to choose a successor to Ms Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in July.

Candidates include Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed, Chadian Foreign Affairs Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat and Senegal's Abdoulaye Bathily, the United Nations' special representative for Central Africa, according to the media. The vote is due in January next year.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE