VERDEN, Germany (AFP) — A former German lawmaker went on trial yesterday accused of downloading child pornography in a case that triggered a major political scandal leading to the resignation of a cabinet minister.

Sebastian Edathy, 45, formerly a high-flying Social Democrat lawmaker known for his fight against far-right extremists, is accused of downloading images and video files featuring child pornography onto his work laptop in 2013.

Edathy, who is being tried by a court in the northern town of Verden, denies the charges for which he could face two years in prison.

He is also charged with possession of a book and CD containing photos which prosecutors said contained illicit material featuring minors.

The case was adjourned until March 2 after around 90 minutes to allow Edathy and his defence team to discuss a possible admission of guilt, which could open the way to for an out-of-court settlement.

The former MP resigned his Bundestag seat citing health reasons a year ago, just days before it emerged that his home and offices had been searched.

The case proved an early political headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of her third term. Then agriculture minister Hans-Peter Friedrich resigned after coming under pressure over suspicions he leaked confidential information about the probe.

Edathy gained prominence for heading a parliamentary panel into the shock 2011 discovery of a neo-Nazi killer cell.

5.4-magnitude quake rocks central Spain

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — A 5.4-magnitude earthquake jolted Madrid and central Spain yesterday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake struck at 5:16 pm (1616 GMT) with its epicentre at Ossa de Montiel near Albacete, about 220 kilometres (135 miles) southeast of Madrid, Spain’s National Geographic Institute said.

Its depth was given as 14 kilometres (8 miles).

Firefighters in Albacete received several calls for information but not to intervene, a local firefighter service spokesman said.

The last deadly earthquake in Spain occurred on May 11, 2011 when a 5.1-magnitude quake killed nine people and wounded at least 100 in the southeastern city of Lorca.

That quake, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, damaged some 20,000 buildings including many from the 16th and 17th centuries.

It was the deadliest earthquake in Spain since April 19, 1956, when a tremor wrecked buildings and left 11 people dead in Albolote, a town in the southern Spanish province of Granada.

Charlie Hebdo team bites back with new issue

PARIS, France (AFP) — More than a month after jihadist gunmen massacred much of the Charlie Hebdo editorial staff, the magazine is back at work with another savage swipe at its favourite enemies.

The cover of the latest issue due out tomorrow depicts the Pope, a jihadist, former president Nicolas Sarkozy and far-right politician Marine Le Pen as a pack of enraged animals chasing after a dog with a copy of Charlie Hebdo clamped in its jaws.

“We’re back!” reads the headline.

The team has lain low since rushing out a “survivors’ issue” a week after the jihadist attack that killed 12 people, including five of France’s best-loved cartoonists, on January 7.

In a show of defiance, the magazine’s “survivors’ issue” featured Mohammed on its cover with a tear in his eye, holding a “Je Suis Charlie” sign under the headline “All Is Forgiven”.

“Je Suis Charlie” was the slogan taken up around the world to express solidarity with the weekly. A print run of 2.5 million is planned for the new edition.

1,000 Egyptians evacuated from strife-hit Libya via Tunisia

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — At least 1,000 Egyptians have been evacuated from Libya through Tunisia since Friday, the Tunisian transport ministry said, following the murder of Coptic Christians by the Islamic State group.

Last week Egyptian and Libyan warplanes hit IS targets inside Libya after the jihadists released a video showing the beheadings of 21 Christians, most of them Egyptian.

Since then Egypt has urged the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians who work in Libya to leave and chartered planes to ferry them home from Tunisia.

At least 1,000 Egyptians who fled to Tunisia have been airlifted home since the first flight was set up on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Tunisian transport ministry said.

She told AFP that 250 more Egyptians were expected to leave from the south eastern Djerba-Zarzis airport by 1600 GMT.

A Tunisian customs official said that an unspecified number of Egyptians were also waiting on the Libyan side of the border, hoping to cross the frontier.

Four police slain in 24 hours in Rio, host to 2016 Olympics

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Four police officers were killed over the weekend in and around Rio de Janeiro, highlighting the Brazilian city’s struggle to tame street violence ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

An officer from a special battalion for security at major events like the Pope’s recent visit, the 2014 Wold Cup and forthcoming Olympics, died after being shot seven times late Sunday, according to G1 Globo news site.

Approximately 24 hours earlier, a civil police inspector was killed in the northern Baixada Fluminense suburb.

Meanwhile, in the town of Niteroi, across Rio’s famous bay, an officer was killed while returning from the carnival champions’ parade.

A fourth died in a shootout after a bakery robbery in the Nova Iguacu suburb.

US names first global envoy for LGBT rights

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is naming its first international envoy for gay rights.

The State Department says Randy Berry will be its special envoy to promote human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

Berry is a veteran diplomat currently serving as consul general at the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He’s also served at U.S. posts in Bangladesh, Egypt, Uganda and South Africa, and speaks Spanish and Arabic.

The State Department said earlier it would appoint an openly gay foreign service officer to the post.

France bans 6 from traveling to extremists in Syria

PARIS (AP) — France has barred six people from leaving the country because they wanted to join extremists in Syria, the first such travel ban under a new law aimed at keeping French radicals from gaining violent experience abroad.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says some 40 others will face travel bans in the coming weeks. He did not name the six.

The bans issued yesterday are the first since a sweeping anti-terrorism law passed last year. An Interior Ministry official says the passports and ID cards of the six have been declared invalid for six months.