Algeria reinstates term limit and recognises Berber language

The language can now appear on official documents, although Arabic will remain the language of government.

A two-term limit on the presidency was lifted in 2008 to allow Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.

The limit is part of a package of constitutional reforms that authorities say will strengthen democracy. 

Opposition leaders have dismissed the changes as superfici

Berber language recognised

The Berber language - known locally as Amazigh - was recognised in 2002 as a national language, meaning it could be taught officially in schools in Berber-speaking regions.

But Berbers pushed for it to be awarded official status, meaning it would also be accepted on administrative documents.

The Berbers were the original inhabitants of North Africa before the seventh century Arab invasion, and they now make up 13 million of Algeria's 39 million people.

Among the other reforms are the promise of an independent electoral commission and recognition of the roles of women and youth. 

And the president will be required to nominate a prime minister from the largest party in parliament.

The changes were among those promised by President Bouteflika following the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011. 

The scrapping of terms limits allowed Mr Bouteflika to stand for a third term in 2009. The 78-eight-year old president was re-elected again in 2014 but has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke the previous year.

'Bulwark again change'

The package was passed by 499 votes to two, with 16 abstentions, senate speaker Abdelkader Bensalah said.

"This project crowns the process of political reforms promised by the head of state," said Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.

The reforms guaranteed "democratic change by means of free elections" and were "a bulwark against the vagaries of political change", he added.

But opposition critics say the reforms are little more than a show and will do little to reduce the grip on power held by Mr Bouteflika and his inner circle.

With his terms nearly at an end, there are fears of instability in the mainly Muslim country of 40 million, a key energy producer.

Unlike many countries in the region, including its neighbours Libya and Tunisia, Algeria was unaffected by the Arab Spring.

But it is facing a range of challenges, including regular jihadist attacks and sporadic outbreaks of violence between Berbers and Arabs.

'Most Wanted' Suspect Killed In Police Shooting

Ronald Barawis Jr was in a car when he and a female passenger suffered several gunshot wounds.

The incident happened in Puainako as officers were investigating a possible sighting of a fugitive, later identified as Barawis.

Officers located him in a vehicle in the drive-thru of a fast food restaurant car park.

Police said the 38-year-old man had a shotgun, rifle, and two semi-automatic guns within reach in his car and there was also a bullet-proof vest inside.

When officers approached on foot and demanded Barawis get out, he drove over barriers, pressed the accelerator and then sped towards a policeman before ramming two patrol cars, according to authorities.

Officers then opened fire when he reportedly tried to go through hedges and jump the kerb.

Gordon Lewis, who witnessed the shooting, was quoted as saying: "Police had gotten out of the car and approached the vehicle and asked the driver to step out of the car.

"He then put it in reverse and then he accelerated and tried to go thru the hedges and jump the curb and that's when the police opened fire."

He added: "It sounded like about a dozen, yeah, from here, and we went up there sounded like a couple more shots."

A 28-year-old woman who was in the front seat of the vehicle is in critical but stable condition at Hilo Medical Center. She has not been arrested.

Barawis was wanted on two outstanding warrants for a parole violation and contempt of court, as well as resisting an order to stop an automobile, reckless driving and reckless endangering.

He was also being sought for questioning over his alleged involvement in an attempted murder incident in December 2015.

UAE says it is ready to send ground troops to Syria

The UAE has already deployed troops to Yemen to fight as part of the Arab coalition [File: EPA]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to send ground troops to Syria as part of an international coalition to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, a top official has said.

The announcement comes just days after Saudi Arabia expressed the same position, saying that it was prepared to deploy troops to fight ISIL in Syria if the US-led coalition were to agree.

"Our position throughout has been that a real campaign against [ISIL] has to include a ground force," the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said at a news conference in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Gargash added that "US leadership on this" would also be a prerequisite for the UAE.

He did not elaborate about how many troops the UAE could send - but added: "We are not talking about thousands of troops".

Saudi Arabia, which has targeted ISIL with air strikes since the campaign began in Syria in September 2014, said on Thursday it was ready to provide ground forces to defeat the armed group.

"We know that air strikes cannot be enough and that a ground operation is needed. We need to combine both to achieve better results on the ground," Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told Al Jazeera on Thursday.

'Wooden coffins'

Syria, however, responded by warning against foreign intervention, threatening all foreign army soldiers who enter the country without President Bashar al-Assad's government's agreement.

"Any ground intervention in Syria, without the consent of the Syrian government, will be considered an aggression that should be resisted by every Syrian citizen," Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said on Saturday.

"I regret to say that they will return home in wooden coffins."

Muallem appeared to indicate a boosted confidence that the government's recent military advances against opposition fighters in Aleppo put it "on track" towards winning the five-year civil war.

"Like it or not, our battlefield achievements indicate that we are headed towards the end of the crisis," he said, before calling on rebel fighters to "come to their senses" and lay down their weapons.

Revenant's Inarritu wins top directing award at DGA

The Revenant, starring Leonardo Di Caprio as a frontiersman fighting for survival, leads the Oscars race with 12 nominations, including best director.

Past DGA award winners have often gone on to claim the best director Oscar and the best film category.

Inarritu won the DGA award for Birdman in 2015 and then won the Oscars double.

The DGA is the industry's leading group of film and TV directors and its opinion carries a lot of weight.

To date, there have been only seven occasions when the DGA winner has not then won the subsequent Academy Award. 

The group also chose Matthew Heineman as best documentary maker for Cartel Land. 

Heineman's film focuses on vigilante groups fighting drug cartels on both sides of the US/Mexican border. 

Heineman said: "I hope that this film will give voice to those trapped by the cycle of violence in hopes that one day the cycle will end."

Open race

For Inarritu, Saturday night's accolade makes the Mexican the first director to win back-to-back DGA awards.

He was notably moved when picking up his trophy at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. 

He first acknowledged his father, who died two years ago, saying: "I think he's getting some business up there to make this happen and I miss him a lot." 

He went on to add: "This hug, this embrace you're giving to me today is going to a whole country, a whole Latin American community in this country. 

"The people who live here contribute a lot to this country."

Inarritu has already won the Golden Globe for best director for the Revenant and he is nominated for the directing Bafta. 

But despite The Revenant's leading position in the Oscars race, this year the DGA award was considered hard to call as each of the leading industry guilds has championed a different film. 

The Producers Guild of America gave its top prize to The Big Short and the Screen Actors Guild award for best ensemble went to Spotlight. 

Also at the DGA awards, a new prize was presented this year for first-time feature film director. It was won by Alex Garland for his Oscar-nominated sci-fi film Ex Machina. 

In addition to film directors, the DGA also honoured those working in television. David Nutter won the award for a TV drama series for his international fantasy hit Game of Thrones. 

Chris Addison won for best TV comedy direction for the political comedy series Veep.

The debate over diversity in Hollywood was on the agenda too at the awards ceremony with the guild's president bringing it up in his welcome speech.

Paris Barclay said it was important to convince "the industry that equal opportunity means just that". 

"Equal opportunity means a level playing field," he added.

Five Questions About North Korea's Rocket Launch

North Korea insists it has carried out the launch of an Earth observation satellite into space -  the Shining Star 4.

Washington, Seoul and others disagree, instead maintaining that this is the latest stage in the development of a nuclear missile.

Pyongyang had long failed to put a satellite into orbit, but was eventually successful with the Unha-3 in late 2012, although experts question how long that remained in orbit for.

It takes less than 10 minutes to get a rocket into orbit and it would take around 30 minutes for a missile to reach the west coast of America from North Korea.

The Unha-3 had a potential range of 10,000km - putting Hawaii within reach - but it's still to early to say whether this latest launch has improved on that.

Pyongyang insists it has launched an Earth observation satellite into space

:: How are North Koreans reacting to the rocket launch?

In North Korea, the news of a successful launch will be greeted as cause for national celebration.

State television will be broadcasting bulletins on a loop, praising the leadership and guidance of Kim Jong-Un.

Crowds will gather around the big screen outside Pyongyang Central train station to watch and express their unbridled joy.

The country's new science and technology museum already has a replica of the Unha-3 rocket on display - this will become a focal point for displays of celebration in coming days.

Commemorative posters will be available and this day will be marked annually.

Both the space and nuclear programme are sources of great pride in the country.

When I met schoolchildren in Pyongyang last year and asked them what they wanted to do when they grew up, all the boys said they wanted to be a "scientist" or "space engineer".

North Koreans watch and applaud the launch on a giant public screen

:: Why does Kim Jong-Un need to win the admiration of his people?

Kim Jong-Un doesn't have the fabled reputation of his forefathers.

Kim Il-Sung, the current leader's grandfather, is famed for leading a successful resistance against the occupying Japanese.

He was the first leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and treated literally as a god, the Sun God, inside North Korea today.

His son, Kim Jong-Un's father, Kim Jong-Il, was officially born inside a secret military camp near the holy Mount Paekdu as his father fought the Japanese.

He continued the cult of personality and is remembered by North Koreans almost as fondly as his father.

Conversely, Kim Jong-Un is young, Swiss educated, overweight and lacking in military experience.

Portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il hang in every classroom, home and office in North Korea.

Giant murals of the two men cover building facades.

They are worshipped in a way Kim Jong-Un isn't.

Statues of N Korea's late founder Kim Il-Sung and late leader Kim Jong-Il

Developing the nuclear programme is a way of creating his own legacy and showing strength.

:: What are the consequences of the rocket launch?

Coming so soon after the latest nuclear test, Pyongyang seems to have taken advantage of international disagreement.

Washington and Beijing are unable to reach a joint position on how to punish North Korea, and Pyongyang might reasonably conclude that whatever fate awaits them won't be much worse as a result of the rocket launch.

North Korea is already sanctioned extremely heavily.

This has had a profound effect on everyday life but has clearly failed to stop the development of the nuclear programme.

It's likely the United Nations will slap new sanctions on them, but the leadership will care little for how that might affect the people.

The men at the top, and their families, will continue to enjoy the trappings of power.

One other consequence of this launch is likely to be louder calls for the US to deploy its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defence system in South Korea to protect the peninsula.

A nuclear programme is a way of the current leader showing his own strength

North Korea would undoubtedly claim such a move provocative.

:: Would North Korea fire first?

There are two hypothetical scenarios:

YES: A series of events heightens tensions in the peninsula.

The US flies its B-52 nuclear bombers close to North Korea airspace as a demonstration of strength and superiority.

Seoul puts its military on highest state of alert.

North Korea, having spent decades convincing itself an attack is imminent, is now sure this is the moment.

Being insanely paranoid, the young leader orders a pre-emptive strike to show his people he is a warrior to fear.

He then hurries off into an underground network of bunkers as the country above him collapses into war.

NO: For all its success convincing its own people that North Korea is a nuclear power to be reckoned with, the leadership privately knows it doesn't have the resources to develop a weapon capable of accurately hitting the United States.

Its military, although enormous, is built on sand. Weapons systems are old and malfunctioning. Soldiers are badly trained, poorly equipped and suffering low morale.

The nuclear programme is nothing more than an expensive ploy to be noticed.

In time, under pressure from China, it will be used as a negotiating chip to reduce sanctions and slowly open North Korea up.

London Bus Blown Up For Jackie Chan Film

Some Londoners were left confused as they saw the bus go up in flames as it travelled along Lambeth Bridge on Sunday.

The Port of London Authority confirmed it was a stunt for a film and that the bridge was closed off.

But it took some people by surprise.

Author Sophie Kinsella tweeted: "Hey film types, next time you blow up a bus on Lambeth Bridge maybe tell us first so children in park aren't freaked?"

Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire Nigel Huddleston posted a video of the explosion on Twitter with the message: "Anyone worried about the exploding bus on Lambeth Bridge just now? It was just for a movie."

One user responded to the MP's video with the message: "Surprised with current terrorist activities that this got the go ahead."

Mr Huddleston told Sky News: "Some may fear it was for real if far enough away not to see the cameras and crew.

"They did notify locals by putting notices in flats and offices etc. But given the size of the explosion I'm sure many tourists and some locals must have been worried.

"Twitter worked pretty well in clarifying it was for a film pretty quickly. But not everyone is on Twitter."

The controlled explosion was part of filming for a scene in The Foreigner, which stars Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan.

The film's producers posted a warning on Twitter about the explosion beforehand which said: "The explosion is controlled and operated by our special effects team."

It added: "Every precaution will be taken to ensure the safety of the people in the area."

The film is directed by Martin Campbell, who was behind Bond films Casino Royale and GoldenEye.

Priest molestation victim quits Vatican’s sexual abuse commission

A prominent British member of a papal advisory commission on sexual abuse by the clergy who has been outspokenly critical of the Vatican has left the group, the Vatican said on Saturday.

A statement said that at a commission meeting "it was decided" that Peter Saunders would take a leave of absence. Saunders, head of Britain's National Association for People Abused in Childhood, would now "consider how he might best support the commission's work".

In a separate statement, commission president Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston said Saunders had been asked to advise the commission on the possible establishment of a victim survivor panel.

Saunders, a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, did not immediately reply to a telephone message requesting a comment.

His departure leaves only one victim of sexual abuse by a cleric, Marie Collins of Ireland, sitting on the commission, which has been slowed down by internal disputes.

Saunders had been increasingly critical of the commission, which was set up in 2014. Made up of clerics and lay people from around the world, its task is to help Pope Francis establish "best practices" in dioceses around the world to root out sex abuse in the Church. Eight of the commission's 17 members are women.

The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said it shared Saunders' frustration with Vatican officials.

"Pete has been a brave, honest and tireless voice for kids and victims," it said in a statement.

On the eve of the current meeting, Saunders was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that the previous meeting last year was a "non-event," and demanded that the pope attend the current meeting.

"It will be outrageous if he doesn’t attend, and I will say so — it will be the end of the honeymoon for Pope Francis," the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying.

In the worldwide sex abuse scandal, which first became prominent in Boston in 2001, abusers were shunted from parish to parish instead of being defrocked and handed over to authorities.

Saunders has been outspoken on several issues in the past few months. Last year, he criticized Francis for appearing to endorse parents who spanked their children in order to discipline them.

He also made waves when he said that Australian Cardinal George Pell should be dismissed over allegations he failed to take action to protect children years ago. Pell is now the Vatican's economy minister.

Last April, Saunders and three other lay commission members met with O'Malley to complain over the appointment of a bishop in Chile accused of covering up abuse.

The Vatican says that as part of an advisory body, the commission's members should not comment on individual cases of abuse and leave these up to investigators.