Sana'a, Yemen  - Yemeni police have arrested a leading figure of the Islamic Jihad movement in the southern province of Abyan amid a clampdown on militant groups, security sources said on Saturday.

Khaled Abdulnabi was captured outside his house in the city of Ja'ar in Abyan late on Friday after police followed a suspicious car into Abdulnabi's house, the sources said.

A gun battle broke out between police forces and armed followers of Abdulnabi in streets of Ja'ar after the arrest and lasted for several hours, witnesses said.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Three policemen were wounded in a gun battle with suspected Islamic militants in southern Yemen late Friday, local officials said.

The fighting took place in Ja'ar city, southern Abyan province, where Jihadist fighters have a strong presence. Officials said the militants were believed to be members of a group affiliated to al- Qaeda.

Ja'ar is 600 kilometres south of the capital Sana'a, and is close to the Hatat mountains where armed Islamic groups often take shelter.

In order to bring the health care to the doorstep of the common people, the Goa government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Novo Nordisk Education Foundation, Bangalore on Diabetes Care Programme on Thursday.

At the time of signing the MoU on Diabetes Care Programme, the Health Minister of the state government Vishwajeet Rane was also present.

While lecturing on the occasion, Rane said, “Diabetes is a major health hazard in the country affecting young and old. Goa has a alarming proportion of Diabetes patients.”

Denver, Colorado  - After days of low-key protests, 100 demonstrators were arrested by police on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention after refusing requests to disperse, police media officials said Tuesday.

Police said in a statement that a protest crowd of about 300 people had gathered near Civic Center Park near the state capitol building in downtown Denver, and "many were observed carrying rocks and other items that could be used to threaten public safety."

Denver police used pepper spray after the protestors "suddenly rushed a police safety line," police said.

Kabul  - The Afghan Interior Ministry said on Friday that 76 civilians, including women but mostly children, were killed in a coalition airstrike in western Afghanistan.

"Today in the afternoon during a bombardment of coalition forces 76 people, including 19 women, seven men and the rest children, all under 15 years-of-age were martyred," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Quito  - Some 1,000 police officers evicted 200 indigenous people from a 70-hectare lot they had illegally occupied for more than a year, Ecuadorian media reported Thursday.

The members of the Kichwa, Shuar and Hoaorani communities had lived on the land in the Amazonian town of Puyo, some 222 kilometres from Quito, since April 14, 2007.

Force was used to remove them after an initial verbal request that the indigenous people leave the site failed to achieve the intended results. Officers brought down the walls of precarious houses and pulled people out of their homes.

According to media reports, one civilian was wounded by a gunshot during the operation.