The Yemen-based Houthi movement claimed to have shot down a Saudi helicopter near the border with Saudi Arabia on Friday, according to the group's spokesman. The Saudi-led coalition hasn't commented on the report yet.

An alleged video showing a Saudi helicopter being downed near the frontier with the Saudi Arabian region of Asir, which borders the northern part of Yemen, has been published on social media platforms.

The video shows an alleged Saudi Apache attack helicopter that was reportedly hit by a new surface-to-air missile launched by Yemeni air defences. Riyadh has yet to confirm or deny the Houthis' claims.

New South Wales rolled out mobile phone detection cameras on Sunday, hoping to cut the number of fatalities on its roads by a third over two years, transport authorities said.

The world-first mobile phone detection cameras, according to Transport for NSW, which manages the state's transport services, operate day and night in all weather conditions to determine if a driver is handling a mobile phone.

"It's a system to change the culture," the NSW police assistant commissioner, Michael Corboy, told Australian media last week.

Making or receiving voice calls while driving in NSW is legal, but only when using a hands-free device. All other functions, such as video calling, using social media and photography, are illegal while behind the wheel.

Dozens of demonstrators were injured in clashes with security officers close to the Iranian consulate in Najaf on 28 November.

Demonstrators have reportedly set the Iranian consulate building in the Iraqi city of Najaf on fire for the second time in a week as violent protests rock Iraq's southern regions.

Protesters, mostly young people, have reportedly accused the Iraqi elites of being corrupt and serving the interests of foreign powers, especially Iran, while the country is plagued by endemic poverty and mass unemployment.

The families of the four men accused of the gang rape, murder, and desecration of Priyanka Reddy in a case which has shocked the whole of India, have called for their sons to be hanged and burned for what they did.

The four accused men currently in custody for the barbaric crime are Mohammad Pasha, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen, and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu. Each of their families have faced public humiliation and intense scrutiny in the wake of the devastating crime.

"If my son is wrong, burn him the same way she was burned. Isn't the victim also the daughter of a mother? I am suffering today, I can imagine what the girl's mother is going through," Chennakesavulu's mother Jayamma said. "You hang him, kill him or shoot him dead. Will you listen if I say I want my son back? You give whatever punishment. I have a daughter too," she added while fielding questions from journalists in Telangana.

"You do anything. God only knows," the mother of the accused Siva said, echoing comments made by the parents of the accused Mohammad.

Fifth person detained after vessel carrying cocaine was intercepted off Galicia coast

A crane carries the 'narco-submarine' refloated near Vigo, north-eastern Spain. Photograph: Salvador Sas/EPA

Spanish police have arrested a man alleged to be the pilot of the "narco-submarine" that was intercepted off the coast of Galicia last weekend carrying three tonnes of cocaine.

Two other men were arrested at the scene after allegedly trying to scuttle the semi-submersible vessel and swim to shore on 24 November.

From a journalist on the ground in Bolivia, who witnessed the massacre of protesters in El Alto this week:

"I have no words. In this area of Bolivia, there are only two journalists. A Mexican colleague who covers the protests for a French outlet and me. The area is surrounded by military and police. Today I saw a massacre."

A Russian armored vehicle was hit by an explosion while on a reconnaissance mission ahead of a joint patrol with Turkey in a Kurdish-populated area of northern Syria. Three military policemen were injured.

The incident happened on Monday in the Kobani district of Aleppo Province, along the Syrian-Turkish border, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The military policemen were on a reconnaissance trip in preparation for an upcoming patrol with Turkish forces when an improvised bomb detonated on the road.

A museum in Berlin on the notorious East German police fell victim to a brazen robbery just a week after thieves stole priceless artifacts from Dresden's Green Vault. This time, the criminals also got away with jewelry and medals.

It appears as though German museums are going through a rough patch, when even the infamy of the once-omnipresent and menacing East German secret police, or Stasi, cannot shield its displays from thieves' sticky fingers.

The museum, located in the former Stasi headquarters in Berlin's eastern district of Lichtenberg, was robbed during Saturday night or into the early hours of Sunday, police said in a statement, adding that a thief or thieves broke into the building through a window on the second floor, smashed several showcases and got away with valuable military decorations and jewelry.

They also had, apparently, plenty of time to escape; the theft was only discovered by a museum staff member on Sunday morning. The identities of the intruders or even their exact number, are still unknown.

My friend J made a flying visit from San Francisco recently. Over dinner, we tackled some of the big, pressing questions of the day, such as the US education system, climate change, populism and what exactly Irish people mean when they say "grand".

"They mean 'posh', right?" he said, showing off the word he learned on his last visit, and now likes to invoke at every opportunity.

"No, no, no. Never. Rarely. Well sometimes," I said, before the husband and I treated him to a good 20 minutes, rich with anecdote and example, on all conceivable occasions for the deployment of "grand".

"Grand", we explained, with no small degree deal of national pride, can run the spectrum from thoroughly disappointing, to barely tolerable, to entirely adequate, to slightly uppity, to horrifically pretentious. The ambiguity is the point. As a nation, we try to avoid being forced to commit ourselves too firmly to anything, which is how we've managed to navigate our way through decades of political strife, and some of the thorny social issues of recent years.

When you live on an island this small and this damp, you spend a lot of time indoors trying not to fall out with other people, we concluded, as we triumphantly wrapped up the lecture. Ireland's secret weapon is the word "grand".

He left the next morning on the early train back to Dublin, and texted that the food, company, board games and the coffee on the train were grand. I've no idea whether he actually enjoyed himself or not. If he keeps this up, he'll be entitled to an Irish passport.

One of the other things we talked about was how we have ceded so much of our autonomy, attention and psychological wellness to the device in our pockets. He brought to our attention the latest Silicon Valley wellness fad - a phenomenon called "dopamine fasting", which is what thrusting Valley types do when they suspect their system is overrun with the so-called happiness hormone, largely because of all the time they're spending plugged into their phone, microdosing on dopamine. (J, to be clear, is not a proponent of dopamine fasting. He's grand as he is.)

French police have attracted some really bad publicity, after knocking down an elderly lady during a rally in Marseille - an event being held to honor another 80-year-old woman who died after being hit by a police grenade.

Over 1,000 people gathered in the southern city of Marseille on Saturday to remember Zineb Redouane. A resident of the city and of Algerian origins, she died in hospital last December at the age of 80 - a day after she was hit in the face by a tear gas grenade, launched by riot police during a turbulent Yellow Vests rally.

The demonstrators carried a large banner, reading "Tribute to Zineb. Batman kills, let's be Joker!" and chanted "We are all children of Zineb!" They marched past the apartment in Marseille's old city where Redouane used to live.