General News

Johnson & Johnson, one of the world's largest drug manufacturers, has gone on trial in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit by the US state of Oklahoma.

Prosecutors accuse the firm of deceptively marketing painkillers and downplaying addiction risks, fuelling a so-called "opioid epidemic".

Johnson & Johnson denies wrongdoing and says it marketed products responsibly.

It is the first of 2,000 cases brought by state, local and tribal governments against pharmaceutical firms in the US.

On average, 130 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2017, of the 70,200 people who died from an overdose, 68% involved a prescription or illegal opioid.

• Is this America's most hated family?
• What are opioids and what are the risks?
• The teachers battling opioid overdose fears

Johnson & Johnson produces a fentanyl patch which can be prescribed for severe pain.

Fentanyl belongs to a class of drugs known as opioid analgesics, which change how the body feels and responds to pain. It is also used as a recreational drug, often mixed with heroin and cocaine.

In its court filing, Oklahoma alleged that Johnson & Johnson was the "kingpin" behind "the worst man-made public health crisis in [the] state's history," growing and importing raw materials which other drug-makers used for their own products.

In its opening statements to the court in the city of Norman on Tuesday, the state said that Johnson & Johnson along with Purdue Pharma - which produces the prescription painkiller OxyContin - and Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals had pushed doctors to prescribe more opioids in the 1990s by using misleading marketing.

State lawyer Brad Beckworth said Johnson & Johnson did so by marketing opioids as "safe and effective for everyday pain" but downplayed addictive qualities and thus helped to create a drug oversupply.

"If you have an oversupply, people will die," he said.

Lawyer Brad Beckworth made opening remarks for the state

Mike Hunter, Oklahoma's attorney general, told the court that it was time to hold the companies "responsible for their actions".

"This is the worst manmade public health crisis in our state's history. To put it bluntly, this crisis is devastating Oklahoma," he said.

Johnson & Johnson will make its opening statement later.

The state argues that Johnson & Johnson created a public nuisance which will cost between $12.7bn (£10.02bn) and $17.5bn (£13.8bn) to remedy over the next 20 to 30 years.

But Johnson & Johnson argues that the public nuisance law does not apply in this instance.

This is the latest in a string of legal cases against painkiller manufacturers over prescription drugs.

Earlier this month, Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to an $85m (£67m) settlement with Oklahoma over a similar lawsuit which claimed its opioids had contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.

Purdue Pharma also reached a $270m settlement with Oklahoma in a separate case. The wealthy Sackler family, which owns the firm, has been charged with fraudulently transferring money from the company to protect its funds from litigation.

Source: bbc.com

Director of the Advanced BodySculpt Centre, Obengfo Hospital, Dr Dominic Obeng-Andoh has been charged with murder by the district court. Together with his janitor, who has also been charged with impersonation, the duo has been remanded in police custody to assist with investigations into the death of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme (NEIP), Stacy Offei-Darko.

Detective Chief Inspector Simeon Appiosornu told the court that they are still investigating, and, if granted bail, the duo would interfere with investigations.

Lawyer for the accused persons, Jonathan Dzaisu told the court, presided over by Afua Sackey that the facts presented by the prosecution do not support the charges levelled against his clients.

He prayed the court to grant his clients bail as the first accused person is a qualified medical doctor and a hard-working man who takes care of many Ghanaians.

The lawyer said his client has not been feeling well since his arrest and pleaded with the court to order the prosecution to afford the 1st accused person access to medical health. The court, however, adjourned the case to June 12.

Meanwhile, Nana Akosua Animah, mother of the 37-year-old deputy CEO, told the media in various interviews that her daughter died at the Obengfo Hospital under mysterious circumstances and was put in the morgue without the knowledge nor consent of any family member.

The mother said she only got informed of her daughter’s death three days after her passing.

She said she felt suspicious about the turn of events and reported Dr Obeng-Andoh to the police.

In the meantime, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital is performing a postmortem on Ms Offei Darko’s body to ascertain the cause of her death, adding that “even a chicken won’t be treated like she was”.

Dr Obeng-Andoh has had several brushes with the law in the past. In 2017, his facility was shut down by the Medical and Dental Council for operating without a licence.

In 2016, Dr Obeng-Andoh was arrested for operating illegally following numerous complaints received from his patients.

Source: www.ghanacrusader.com

Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, has affirmed that his team still remains focused and ready to premiere the undercover work he did with the BBC, on the Ghana Football Association (GFA), titled ‘Number 12’ which uncovered some fraud and corruption.

Excerpts of the investigations have been shown to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his deputy, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Accordingly, GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi and Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Anthony Karbo, whose names popped up in the investigations, have reported to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to assist with investigations.

However, Anas’ ways of conducting the investigations have been questioned by Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong. According to Mr Agyapong, Anas entrapped the people captured in his documentaries, a situation he believes should not be countenanced.

Speaking about Anas’ modus operandi on Badwam on Accra-based Adom TV on Tuesday, 29 May 2018, Mr Agyapong described Anas as a corrupt journalist who sets up people with the aim to destroy their reputation. He, therefore, called on President Akufo-Addo to reinstate all the judges who were fired or interdicted or are being prosecuted for corruption after being caught on camera by Anas, allegedly taking bribes to warp justice, since, according to him, they were all set up by the journalist.

“I call on President Akufo-Addo to reinstate all the judges because the guy [Anas] enticed them. He used two boys, Ahmed and Rahman, to set the judges up. If you set people up, it is not investigative journalism … and I’ll prove to the whole Ghana that the boy is so corrupt and wicked, evil from the things he has done, bringing institutions that have been built over the years, down for him to be rich.”

“From what I’ve seen and what I know, I’m going to show the pictures… Anas is a thief because if he can set people up in Dubai, take their money and buy tablets, ship them to Ghana and refuse to pay taxes on them, for the wife to sell, you think we are stupid in this country?” he quizzed. But Anas tweeted minutes after Mr Agypong’s comments that: “#Number12 we are focused.”

Source: www.ghanacrusader.com

The White House has criticised China after it imposed retaliatory tariffs against the US on a range of goods including pork and wine.

Beijing has introduced duties of up to 25% on 128 American imports following President Donald Trump's decision to slap tariffs on steel and aluminium.

China said the move was intended to safeguard its interests and balance losses caused by the new US tariffs.

US stock markets plunged, partly on fears the duties will escalate.

Technology stocks were among Monday's biggest losers including Amazon, after President Trump stepped up his Twitter attacks against the online retailer.

In its statement about the tariffs, the White House accused Beijing of "distorting global markets".

"China's subsidisation and continued overcapacity is the root cause of the steel crises," spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.

"Instead of targeting fairly traded US exports, China needs to stop its unfair trading practices which are harming US national security and distorting global markets."

The back-and-forth reflects rising tensions between the US and China, which President Trump has described as an "economic enemy".

• US winemakers feel crushed by China tariffs
• Five reasons why trade wars aren't easy to win
• What could China do in a US trade war?

What is this fight about?

The US has taken two major steps recently that have triggered tension with China.

On 8 March, it announced global steel and aluminium tariffs saying the measures were necessary to protect US producers and critical to national security. (Certain allies such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union, are in line for exemptions, pending talks.)

China challenged the US use of national security to justify the tariffs and announced retaliatory tariffs on $3bn (£2.1bn) worth of US products.

Those tariffs went into effect on Monday, targeting US goods including frozen pork, nuts, fresh and dried fruit, ginseng and wine.

Who will blink first?

By Stephen McDonell, BBC News, Hong Kong

China's theft of foreign intellectual property is what sparked all this in the first place, according to Washington. If international companies want to operate in China they must hand over their intellectual property for the privilege, thus delivering the likes of German high-speed rail technology into the hands of Chinese engineers.

Yet now that China's retaliatory tariffs have kicked in, there are also those sympathetic with that argument who are worried that launching a potential tariff war is not the way to fix the problem. Naturally others say China has been getting away with this for years and tough measures were needed in order to force change.

There is also the overall imbalance in US-China trade but a large Chinese surplus, of course, means it is potentially much more exposed during a trade war than America. For this reason Beijing will want to negotiate a way out of this escalating tariff showdown.

Its first set of tariffs are relatively mild but they come in response to the first round of US tariffs and a second has already been announced. There are plenty more American companies to be hit and other nations, especially those in Europe and Asia, could soon find themselves dragged into this conflict.

That dispute, however, is a preview of a bigger showdown between the two countries.

A few weeks after announcing the steel and aluminium tariffs, the White House said it would impose additional tariffs on as much as $60bn in Chinese imports over intellectual property violations.

It said China has practices that put US firms at a disadvantage and unfairly pressure them to share technology, especially in fields such as robotics and telecommunications.

The two sides are now negotiating over the issues, though the White House has also said previous talks have failed, necessitating tariffs.

• What is a trade war and why should I worry?
• Reality Check: Is Trump right about US trade deficit?

What's the reaction?

American businesses caught up in the dispute have raised alarm, noting that China is a large market for certain goods, including pork, soybeans and aircraft.

For example, last year China was the third largest market for US pork, receiving about $1.1bn worth of products, according to the National Pork Producer Council.

"Any restriction on export markets is not a good development for US pork producers," Jim Monroe, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, told the BBC.

US companies have said that while they share some of the Trump administration's concerns, they are worried that threatening tariffs is not the best way to resolve the problems.

"The direction of what the US government is doing, and that is to apply some pressure, use some leverage, to level the playing field is the right one, although I don't think tariffs is the best way to go," said William Zarit. chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Mr Zarit told the BBC that members of his organisation, which represents more than 900 companies operating across China, including Intel, Dell, Honeywell and Coca-Cola, were encouraged to hear that top officials have started talking again.

"I think it shows that both sides want to solve this before it gets out of hand," he said.

Source: bbc.com

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended a deal with the UN to give residency to thousands of African migrants in exchange for Western nations resettling the same number.

Hours after announcing the deal, he put the plan on hold, saying he would meet with residents of south Tel Aviv, where many of the migrants live.

The arrangement had drawn opposition from within his governing coalition. It replaced a plan for mass deportations to Africa.

Under the five-year agreement with the UN refugee agency, some 16,250 African migrants who entered the country illegally, many of them seeking asylum, would be resettled in Western nations, which Mr Netanyahu had said included Germany, Italy and Canada.

For each migrant resettled overseas, Israel would give "temporary residence" to a migrant in Israel, Mr Netanyahu told a news conference earlier on Monday.

It replaced a controversial plan to forcibly send male African migrants to third countries in Africa if they did not go voluntarily.

The nations were reported to be Uganda and Rwanda and Israel's Supreme Court had blocked deportations meant to begin on Sunday.

• Israel's unwanted African migrants

In a late-night Facebook post announcing the suspension of the UN deal, Mr Netanyahu said that earlier agreement had failed because Rwanda had pulled out.

He said he would rethink the terms of the UN accord after listening to the views of Israelis. Mr Netanyahu had faced criticism from anti-migrant groups in southern Tel Aviv and powerful politicians in his own governing coalition for striking the deal.

Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, called the plan a "total surrender to the false campaign in the media" and said the credibility of the government was at stake.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was among ministers saying they did not know anything about the agreement before it was announced. Culture Minister Miri Regev expressed concern about the "identity and social fabric" of Israel if the migrants were allowed to stay, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Where are the migrants from?

Most of the 42,000 African migrants in Israel are from Eritrea - a one-party state whose leaders have been accused of crimes against humanity by a UN inquiry - and war-torn Sudan.

They say they fled danger at home and that it is not safe to return to another African country, but Israel considers the majority of African asylum seekers to be economic migrants.

Most of them entered from Egypt several years ago, before a new fence was built along the desert border. This has ended most illegal crossings.

• Read about Eritrea
• More on Sudan

How controversial is this issue?

The decision in January to offer the migrants a cash lump-sum and a plane ticket to leave Israel voluntarily or otherwise face forced expulsion was controversial in Israel.

Some critics in the country and among the Jewish community abroad - including former ambassadors and Holocaust survivors - said the plan was unethical and a stain on Israel's international image. The UN refugee agency said it violated local and international laws, and large protests were held in Israel.

Mr Netanyahu said the opposition was "baseless and absurd" and that Israel would resettle "genuine refugees".

Activists, however, noted that only a handful of Eritreans and Sudanese had been recognised as refugees by Israel since the country took over the processing of applications from the UN in 2009.

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

Source: bbc.com

Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker best known for passing on information that led to the arrest of Chelsea Manning, has died aged 37.

In online messaging conversations, Manning confided in him, describing confidential military material Manning had sent to Wikileaks.

Wikileaks published the video of a US helicopter strike that killed seven people, including a journalist working for the Reuters news agency.

The cause of Lamo’s death, confirmed to the BBC by the Sedgwick County coroner in Kansas, has not yet been made public.

On Facebook, his father Mario wrote: “With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian's friends and acquittances [sic] that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.”

Lamo's own record as a hacker included some high-profile targets, such as Microsoft and the New York Times.

'Thrust upon me'

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper in 2011, Lamo described his decision to give up Manning as “not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me”.

Lamo said he would have "lasting regret" if Manning was handed a long sentence.

Manning, known at the time as Bradley Manning, was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison. However, President Barack Obama later commuted her sentence and she was released in May 2017.

She is now attempting to become the Senator for Maryland, her home state.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Friday described Lamo as a “petty conman and betrayer of basic human decency”.

Source: bbc.com

Ukraine and separatist rebels in the east of the country have exchanged hundreds of prisoners, in one of the biggest swaps since the conflict began in 2014.

Some 230 people were sent to rebel-held areas in return for 74 prisoners who had been held by pro-Russia rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

It was the first swap in 15 months.

The release and exchange of prisoners was one of the points in the Minsk peace agreement, signed in 2015.

The deal has stalled since and analysts say the swap does not signify wider progress. Both sides continue to hold other prisoners.

The number of prisoners swapped was lower than initially announced after dozens of people who were meant to be returned to rebel-held territory refused to go to the other side.

"Some of them have already been released and the charges against them have been cleared by the Ukrainian authorities and then they prefer to stay in the government-controlled side," Miladin Bogetic, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, told the BBC.

Two Ukrainians - a man and a woman - opted to stay on the rebel side, AFP news agency reports.

The months-long negotiations for the exchange saw the involvement of presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, as well as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Buses and other vehicles carrying the prisoners assembled at the Mayorsk checkpoint near the city of Horlivka in Donetsk for the swap.

Historian Igor Kozlovskiy, 63, who was captured by Donetsk rebels on suspicion of storing weapons, told AFP: "I was in captivity for two years... Still a lot of prisoners remain [in Donetsk]."

The UK government said the prisoner swap was a "welcome step towards meeting the commitments all sides have made".

The conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in April 2014, soon after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The UN says more than 10,000 people have died in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Source: bbc.com

A team of girls from Afghanistan has won a special award at an international robotics competition in Washington in the US.

The six girls were taking part in the FIRST Global Challenge competition, which took place across three days and saw 158 nations compete against each other.

They took home a silver medal for courageous achievement, which was awarded to teams "that exhibit a can-do attitude throughout the challenge, even under difficult circumstances, or when things do not go as planned".

According to the New York Times, the team's mentor Alireza Mehraban said: "We are simple people with ideas. We need a chance to make our world better. This is our chance."

Their story made the news because, at first, they weren't going to be allowed to go to the competition because of visa problems.

They were told twice that they weren't allowed to enter the country so wouldn't have been able to take part.

However, US President Donald Trump stepped in at the last minute and the girls were able to travel to the US and participate.

The competition - which hopes to inspire young people to want careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths - will take place in Mexico City next year.

Source: bbc.com

Six teenagers from Burundi taking part in a robotics competition in the US have been reported missing, police say.

Four boys and two girls - aged from 16 to 18 - disappeared during the First Global Challenge tournament in Washington DC.

The DC Police Department says they were last seen on Tuesday - on the closing day of the competition.

Reports say two of the teenagers have since crossed into Canada but this has not been confirmed by the police.

On Thursday, the DC Police Department posted fliers of the missing group on its Twitter page, asking members of the public to get in touch if they had any information.

The teenagers were identified as Don Ingabire, 16, Kevin Sabumukiza, 17, Nice Munezero, 17, Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, Richard Irakoze, 18, and Aristide Irambona, 18.

Competition organisers say they alerted police after Burundi's team supervisor was unable to find the teenagers.

In a statement, First Global Challenge spokesman Jose Escotto said "the proper reports have been submitted to the police who are investigating the case", according to the Washington Post.

The three-day robotics competition saw teams from 150 nations compete against each other.

The event aims to inspire young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

However, it made the news earlier this month after a team of girls from Afghanistan were initially not allowed to attend the competition because of visa problems.

But US President Donald Trump stepped in at the last minute and the girls were able to travel to the US and participate.

The Afghan team later won a silver medal for courageous achievement, which was awarded to teams "that exhibit a can-do attitude throughout the challenge, even under difficult circumstances, or when things do not go as planned".

Source: bbc.com

OJ Simpson, the former American football star and convict, had told a court in Nevada that he "basically lived a conflict-free life" as he expressed regret for getting involved in an armed robbery, and pleaded for his freedom on live TV.

Simpson was convicted in 2008 of an armed robbery involving two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The 70-year-old is today asking four parole board members to release him after serving the minimum nine years of a 33-year sentence.

His daughter Arnelle, 48, testified on his behalf, describing him as a flawed but ultimately good man, and saying: "We just want him home".

Simpson appeared as inmate No. 1027820, dressed in blue jeans and a blue button-down shirt, in a stark hearing room in a remote Nevada prison.

OJ gets parole

"It was a serious crime, you deserved to be sent to prison'" says Nevada Parole Commissioner, Tony Corda. "You have complied with the rules of the prison and you have programmed in an acceptable manner. You are a low risk offender according to our guidelines and you have community support." The other three commissioners concur.

Source: The Telegraph

In recent times, Ghanaians have experienced many instances of mob injustice leading to the lynching of innocent people on suspicion of being thieves, armed robbers or witches without allowing the law to take its course. This is mainly due to distrust in the police and court. Many people in certain communities have a countless number of instances where suspected criminals and outlaws are left to go free or treated with kit groves, encouraging offended persons and communities to result in this uncivilized and barbaric ways of seeking redress and justice that has been denied them by the law enforcing authority.

Many individuals, groups and communities in Ghana are not pleased with the work of the police and court adjudications because of the belief that justice in some cases as shown in some of Anas Aremeyaw Anas undercover works confirming an open secret that justice is given to the highest bidder, making the offended party with no money angry and trying to seek justice their own way. It is therefore appropriate for the law enforcement authority to be alive and responsible for their duties of prosecution and adjudication of justice in a fair, honest and transparent manner to win back the confidence of Ghanaians, and to discourage people from resulting in this inhuman and barbaric means of seeking justice.

The average Ghanaian do not see the willingness and the readiness of the Police to win the trust and confidence of Ghanaian with respect to their handling of certain criminal cases, because there has been instances where people who are supposed to be in either prisons or police custody have been involved and mention  in crime and offences committed during their period of incarceration, a typical case is the gruesome murder of the former Ashanti Regional GJA Chairman, Mr. Edward Best Enning, where some of the reports that came suggested certain outlaws in prison might have come out of prison to commit that murder, there has also been an online publication by a Kumasi base ultimate FM that a notorious armed robber who is suppose to be in prison is walking around and acting as a bodyguard to some

prostitutes who give information about their client to these robbers for attack to rob them of their monies and properties. How would victims of these robbers on the loose feel if they see them on the street or catch them on robbery mission and the police are not available or the police station is far away? Your guess will be as good as mine.

Many people are de-motivated to report offences to the police because of the lackadaisical attitude of some policemen and women who make financial demands and other conditions such as complainant hiring cars before they attend to them.

There is a recent mob injustice in the Northern Region where a suspected motorbike thief’s throat was slash by the mob that arrested him and dump his body elsewhere, before his body was taken to Tamale West Hospital, indicating that many people still uphold the criminal ways of seeking justice they believe the authority responsible may not give them a fair justice to their satisfaction.

In our quest to get the mindset of Ghanaians on this menace of mob injustice, we pose a question, are Ghanaians pleased with the work of the police and the court in adjudicating crime cases? 325 of the 500 people representing 65% of the respondents says empathic no whiles the remaining 175 out of the 500 respondent representing 35% said yes they are pleased with the work of the police and the court. In all 6 regions out of 10 regions were selected with each region having 83 respondents in the major district capital within the said regions of Northern Region, Brong Ahafo Region, Ashanti Region, Greater Accra Region, Volta Region and Central Region.

Signed

Timothy Fiadjoe

(secretary)

0244471923

Signed

Felix Djan Foh

(President)

0244691605

The US and UK are banning laptops from cabin baggage on flights from certain countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Turkey.

The US ban on electronic devices larger than a smartphone is being imposed as an anti-terrorist precaution.

It covers inbound flights on nine airlines operating out of 10 airports. Phones are not affected.

The British ban, announced hours after the American measure, is similar but applies to different airlines.

Downing Street said airline passengers on 14 carriers would not be able to carry laptops in cabin luggage on inbound direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The Turkish government said the US ban was wrong and should be reversed.

• Will the new US travel rules affect me?
• What about the parents?

Large electronic devices will still be allowed on board in checked baggage.

Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said his country was also considering restrictions on electronics in the cabins of planes.

Which flights are affected?

British Airways and EasyJet are among the airlines affected by the UK ban.

The nine airlines affected by the US ban are Royal Jordanian, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways.

They have been given a deadline of 07:00 GMT on Saturday to impose the ban, US officials said, adding that the restriction had no end date.

However, an Emirates spokeswoman told Reuters news agency the airline understood that the US directive would come into effect on 25 March and remain valid until 14 October 2017.

The airports affected are:

1. Mohammed V International, Casablanca, Morocco
2. Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
3. Cairo International Airport, Egypt
4. Queen Alia International, Amman, Jordan
5. King Abdulaziz International, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
6. King Khalid International, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
7. Kuwait International Airport
8. Hamad International, Doha, Qatar
9. Abu Dhabi International, United Arab Emirates
10. Dubai International, United Arab Emirates

Why now?

The restriction is based, we are told, on "evaluated intelligence", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner writes.

That means that US intelligence has either intercepted discussion of a possible extremist plot or has been passed word of one by a human informant.

The Middle Eastern and North African airports affected are nearly all ones with close, friendly relations with Washington, so this will be seen by some as a drastic and unpopular measure. Wealthy Gulf Arab business leaders flying to the US, for example, will no longer be able to work on their laptops mid-flight.

But aviation security experts were alarmed by an incident in Somalia last year when the insurgent group al-Shabaab smuggled an explosive-filled laptop on a flight out of Mogadishu, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. The aircraft was still low enough that the pilot was able to land the plane safely.

• What happened on the bombed Somali plane?

How is the ban being justified?

In a statement, the DHS cited attacks on planes and airports over the past two years.

Bombs, it said, had been hidden in such items as a soft drink can, in the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt in October 2015 with the loss of 224 lives, and the laptop used in the unsuccessful Somali attack last year.

"Terrorists have historically tried to hide explosives in shoes in 2001, use liquid explosives in 2006, and conceal explosives in printers in 2010 and suicide devices in underwear in 2009 and 2012," it noted.

"Evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items," the DHS said.

A British Government spokesperson said: "The additional security measures may cause some disruption for passengers and flights, and we understand the frustration that will cause, but our top priority will always be to maintain the safety of British nationals."

Will the ban be effective?

Turkish Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan told reporters the ban was "not a right move". Ataturk Airport, which has stringent security checks in place, was attacked last year.

"We particularly emphasise how this will not benefit the passenger and that reverse steps or a softening should be adopted," he added.

Philip Baum, editor in chief of Aviation Security magazine, told the BBC: "If we cannot, in 2017, distinguish between a laptop that contains an IED [improvised explosive device] and one that does not, then our screening process is completely flawed.

"And encouraging people to check laptops, and other such items, into the luggage hold simply makes the challenge even harder. Cabin baggage can, at least, be inspected piece by piece and the accompanying passenger questioned."

Simon Calder, travel editor of the UK's Independent newspaper, suggested the British ban would affect travelers differently because it included budget flights.

"It's easy for the Americans, they don't have as many flights as us coming in and furthermore they don't have things like low-cost flights where I'm not going to pay to check in a bag," he told the BBC.

"And suddenly I've got my laptop, I'm going to have to put that in a little bag and hand it in. Oh, and by the way, good news for petty thieves all over the airports of the world because lots of rich pickings are going to be around."

Is this linked to the Trump travel ban?

Officials quoted by Reuters news agency said the new measure was not connected to US President Donald Trump's efforts to ban travelers from six Muslim-majority states.

• Second US judge blocks new travel ban

Source: bbc.com

The Trump administration has issued tough guidelines to widen the net for deporting illegal immigrants from the US, and speed up their removal.

Undocumented immigrants arrested for traffic violations or shop-lifting will be targeted along with those convicted of more serious crimes.

The memos do not alter US immigration laws but take a much tougher approach towards enforcing existing measures.

There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.

Five questions ahead of new US travel ban

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday the new guidelines would not usher in mass deportations but were designed to empower agents to enforce laws already on the books.

"The president wanted to take the shackles off individuals in these agencies," Mr. Spicer said.

"The message from this White House and the Department of Homeland Security is that those people who are in this country, who pose a threat to our safety, or who have committed a crime, will be the first to go."

What's changed from the Obama era?

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) new blueprint leaves in place Obama-era protections for immigrants who entered the US illegally as children, affecting about 750,000 young people known as Dreamers.

But it expands the more restricted guidance issued under the previous administration, which focused its policy on immigrants convicted of serious crimes, threats to national security or those who had recently crossed the border.

Donald Trump's immigration order marks a sharp break with those Obama-era policies. Instead - according to the Department of Homeland Security implementation memos - the Trump administration essentially will "prioritize" the deportation of almost all undocumented immigrants, everywhere.

The Homeland Security Department's list of prioritized "removable aliens" is so broad as to include just about every class of undocumented immigrant - with only a carve-out for individuals who entered the US as children.

All this will require more money and manpower - and the Trump administration is going to ask Congress for the former and go on a hiring spree to address the latter. Local and state law-enforcement officials will also be allowed to arrest unauthorized immigrants.

While Mr. Obama aggressively enforced immigration law and ramped up deportations in some areas and at some times, there were notable instances where he de-emphasised action. In the Trump era, immigration authorities are now being given the power to make a sea-to-sea, border-to-border push.

What's in the new orders?

The two memos released on Tuesday by the agency also allow Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport people immediately.

During Mr. Obama's presidency, expedited removals were applied to people who had been in the country for no more than 14 days and were within 100 miles of the border.

Under the new guidance, agents can expedite deportations for undocumented immigrants who are unable to prove they have been in the country for more than two years, located anywhere in the US.

Some of the new priorities include:

• Expanding deportations to undocumented immigrants who have been charged with a crime, misrepresented themselves, pose a risk to public safety, or "have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits" - effectively allowing agents to arrest any illegal immigrant they encounter
• Ending US policy to release those caught on the border and instead placing them into detention centers until their cases are resolved
• Calling for authorities to prosecute parents who help smuggle their children into the country
• Allowing plans to begin on an expansion of the border wall along the US southern border

The DHS plans to hire an extra 10,000 agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 5,000 more border patrol officers to enforce the new guidance.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly wrote in one of the memos: "The surge of illegal immigration at the southern border has overwhelmed federal agencies and resources and has created a significant national security vulnerability to the United States."

Mr. Kelly's memo also includes instructions to enforce an existing provision of the US Immigration and Nationality Act that allows authorities to send some people caught illegally at the border back to Mexico, regardless of where they are from. It is unclear whether the US has authority to force Mexico to accept foreigners.

A US Border Patrol agent apprehended an undocumented immigrant near Texas in July 2014

Where's this guidance come from?

It is a blueprint to implement executive orders that Mr. Trump signed on 25 January, days after taking office.

The new guidelines did not explain how Mr. Trump's border wall would be funded and where undocumented immigrants apprehended in the crackdown would be detained.

The memos instruct agents to use "all available resources to expand their detention capabilities and capacities," but Congress would probably need to allocate money to build new detention centers.

Source: bbc.com

The Speaker of Parliament Professor Mike Oquaye has called for the amendment of Ghana’s laws to completely ban homosexuality and make it illegal.

According to the Speaker, who doubles as a pastor, the despicable act is against the country’s culture and cannot be accepted.

Speaking during a courtesy call by the Royal House Chapel led by its founder Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah, Prof. Oquaye said existing legislations are not clear of the illegality of the practice.

“It is unfortunate that people have become so liberal that they will want to liberalize Christianity…even priests are approving of homosexuality and allowing a man and a man [to] marry, a woman and a woman [to] marry and these are manifest abominations.

“I trust that with your kind of insistence, the Parliament of Ghana…will find its way clear in strengthening the laws to ban homosexuality as they exist. As for this, may God forbid that it becomes a Ghanaian culture,” Prof. Oquaye said.

Ghana’s laws are silent on homosexuality, but persons found to be engaging in such acts are mostly attacked and brutally assaulted.

Most African countries also frown on the act and in some countries, people suspected to be homosexuals are jailed or killed.

Source: starrfmonline.com

A village in Hungary has banned the wearing of Muslim dress and the call to prayer. By leading what it calls "the war against Muslim culture", it hopes to attract other Christian Europeans who object to multiculturalism in their own countries.

"We primarily welcome people from western Europe - people who wouldn't like to live in a multicultural society," Laszlo Toroczkai tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. "We wouldn't like to attract Muslims to the village." This is a village where Muslims and gays are unwelcome.

Mr Toroczkai is mayor of Asotthalom, a remote village in the southern Hungarian plains, situated around two hours from the capital Budapest.

"It's very important for the village to preserve its traditions. If large numbers of Muslims arrived here, they would not be able to integrate into the Christian community.

"We can see large Muslim communities in western Europe that haven't been able to integrate - and we don't want to have the same experience here," he says. "I'd like Europe to belong to Europeans, Asia to belong to Asians and Africa to belong to Africans. Simple as that."

The refugee crisis has contributed to a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment across large parts of Europe and Hungary is no exception.

At the height of the migrant crisis, as many as 10,000 people crossed the border - just minutes from Asotthalom - from Serbia into Hungary each day.

The mayor has capitalised on the anxiety about such an influx and introduced by-laws of questionable legality.

The new local legislation bans the wearing of Muslim dress like the hijab and the call to prayer and also outlaws public displays of affection by gay people. Changes are also being brought in to prevent the building of mosques, despite there being only two Muslims living there currently.

Many lawyers think the laws contravene the Hungarian constitution and, as part of a general review of new local legislation, the government will rule on them in mid-February.

The laws, however, have support among many members of the community.

One resident, Eniko Undreiner, said it was "really scary" to see "masses of migrants walking through the village" last year as they crossed into the country.

"I spend a lot of time at home alone with my young kids - yes, there were times when I was scared," she says.

The two Muslims living in the village did not want to speak to the BBC for fear of attracting attention to themselves.

However, one member of the village said they were "fully integrated" within the community.

"They don't provoke anyone. They don't wear the niqab, they don't harass people... I know them personally. We get on just fine."

The mayor hopes the village can be at the forefront of what he calls "the war against Muslim culture".

He has employed round-the-clock border patrols, which he thinks will attract white Europeans to live there.

The Knights Templar International has been advertising homes in Asotthalom on its Facebook page.

Its members include Nick Griffin, former leader of the British National Party, and the party's former treasurer Jim Dowson.

"I have been contacted by Jim Dowson," Mr Toroczkai explains. "He came to Asotthalom a few times as a private individual, just to have a look. Nick Griffin also came with him."

Mr Griffin has previously described Hungary as "a place to get away from the hell that is about to break loose in western Europe".

"When it all goes terribly wrong in the West, more will move to Hungary and Hungary needs those people."

We have asked Knights Templar International and Nick Griffin for an interview, but neither responded.

Mr Toroczkai says he would be happy to welcome people from England.

Asked if he is trying to establish a white supremacist village, Mr Toroczkai replies: "I didn't use the word white. But because we are a white, European, Christian population, we want to stay [like] this.

"If we were black we'd want to stay a black village.

"But this is a fact and we want to preserve this fact."

Source: bbc.com

Canadian police have charged a French-Canadian student over the fatal shooting of six Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Quebec.

Alexandre Bissonnette faces six counts of first-degree murder and five of attempted murder.

The 27-year-old briefly appeared in a Quebec City court over Sunday evening's attack, during evening prayers at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre.

Vigils have been held across Canada to commemorate those killed and injured.

More than 50 people were at the mosque when the shooting erupted just before 20:00 on Sunday.

Nineteen people were wounded - all men - and of five people still in hospital, two were in a critical condition.

A man of Moroccan heritage who was also arrested after the attack, Mohamed Khadir, is now being treated as a witness.

Quebec provincial police have released the names of all six victims who were killed:

• Father-of-three Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, a grocer and butcher

• Khaled Belkacemi, 60, a professor in the food science department at Laval University

• Father-of-three, Abdelkrim Hassen, 41, an IT worker for the government

• Aboubaker Thabti, 44, and two Guinean nationals, Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and Ibrahima Barry, 39

Mr Bissonnette did not enter a plea as he appeared in court on Monday, wearing a white prison-issue jump suit, his hands and feet shackled.

The suspect was arrested in his car on a bridge leading from Quebec City to Ile d'Orleans, where he called police to say he wanted to cooperate with the authorities.

According to local media, Mr Bissonnette studied political science and anthropology at Laval University, whose campus is about 3km (two miles) away from the mosque.

The Montreal Gazette reports that the suspect dressed up as the Grim Reaper for Halloween, according to his Facebook page, which has now been taken offline.

On the social network, he also reportedly "liked" US President Donald Trump and French National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

Francois Deschamps, an official with an advocacy group, Welcome to Refugees, said the suspect was known for his far-right views.

"It's with pain and anger that we learn the identity of terrorist Alexandre Bissonnette, unfortunately known to many activists in Quebec for taking nationalist, pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social media," Mr Deschamps wrote on organisation's Facebook page.

At the scene - Jessica Murphy, BBC News

The streets around the mosque are mostly deserted except for the police investigators milling around the cordoned-off site.

Noemie Roussel Paradis is standing alone across from the empty mosque holding a Koran. She is a proud convert to Islam and came to pay her respects after "this murder, this attack, this act of terrorism", even though this was not the mosque where she prays.

"This is Allah's home, and there was blood spilled on the floor," she said.

She said it's likely that she shared a Ramadan meal with one of the people who was in the mosque during the attack. "The only thing we can do now is cry and hope that Allah will make those responsible face their actions," she said.

Nearby, Martin St-Louis is holding a large wooden board, its painted message carrying a call for peace.

"Where terror stands or walks, peace must stand," he said. "I'm no philosopher or priest, but for those people who fall, we have to stand."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard both described the shooting as a terrorist attack.

Addressing the more than one million Muslims who live in Canada, Mr Trudeau said: "We are with you.

"Thirty-six million hearts are breaking with yours. Know that we value you."

The shooting came amid heightened global tensions over Mr Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim countries.

But the White House, which condemned the attack, said it was also an example of why the US president's policies were needed.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: "It's a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be pro-active, rather than reactive when it comes to our nation's safety and security."

The mosque has been a target of hate crimes in the past, including last summer when a pig's head was left on its doorstep during Ramadan.

Mohamed Labidi, vice-president of the Islamic centre, said the victims had been shot in the back.

"Security at our mosque was our major, major concern," Mr Labidi said tearfully. "But we were caught off-guard."

The predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec has welcomed thousands of immigrants from Arab countries and other nations.

But there has been a longstanding debate over the "reasonable accommodation" of immigrants and religious minorities.

Source: bbc.com

President Trump fired his acting attorney general on Monday after she defiantly refused to defend his immigration executive order, accusing the Democratic holdover of trying to obstruct his agenda for political reasons.

Taking action in an escalating crisis for his 10-day-old administration, Mr. Trump declared that Sally Q. Yates had “betrayed” the administration, the White House said in a statement.

The president appointed Dana J. Boente, United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to serve as acting attorney general until Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is confirmed.

Ms. Yates’s decision confronted the president with a stinging challenge to his authority and laid bare a deep divide at the Justice Department, within the diplomatic corps and elsewhere in the government over the wisdom of his order.

“At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” Ms. Yates wrote in a letter to Justice Department lawyers.

The extraordinary legal standoff capped a tumultuous day in which the White House confronted an outpouring of dissent over Mr. Trump’s temporary ban on entry visas for people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, went so far as to warn State Department officials that they should leave their jobs if they did not agree with Mr. Trump’s agenda, after State Department officials circulated a so-called dissent memo on the order.

“These career bureaucrats have a problem with it?” Mr. Spicer said. “They should either get with the program or they can go.”

Ms. Yates’s decision effectively overruled a finding by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which had already approved the executive order “with respect to form and legality.”

Ms. Yates said her determination in deciding not to defend the order was broader, however, and included questions not only about the order’s lawfulness, but also whether it was a “wise or just” policy. She also alluded to unspecified statements that the White House had made before signing the order, which she factored into her review.

Dana J. Boente, United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia

Mr. Trump responded to the letter with a post on Twitter at 7:45 p.m., complaining that the Senate’s delay in confirming his Cabinet nominees had resulted in leaving Ms. Yates in place. “The Democrats are delaying my cabinet picks for purely political reasons,” Mr. Trump said. “They have nothing going but to obstruct. Now have an Obama A.G.”

One of Mr. Trump’s top advisers condemned the decision as an illustration of the politicization of the legal system. “It’s sad that our politics have become so politicized that you have people refusing to enforce our laws,” Stephen Miller, the senior policy adviser, said in a televised interview.

Mr. Trump has the authority to fire Ms. Yates, but as the top Senate-confirmed official at the Justice Department, she is the only one authorized to sign foreign surveillance warrants, an essential function at the department.

“For as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so,” she wrote.

Ms. Yates’s letter transforms the confirmation of Mr. Trump’s attorney general nominee, Mr. Sessions, into a referendum on the immigration order. Action in the Senate could come as early as Tuesday.

The decision by the acting attorney general is a remarkable rebuke by a government official to a sitting president that recalls the dramatic “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon fired his attorney general and deputy attorney general for refusing to dismiss the special prosecutor in the Watergate case.

That case prompted a constitutional crisis that ended when Robert Bork, the solicitor general, acceded to Mr. Nixon’s order and fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor.

Ms. Yates, a career prosecutor, is different because she is a holdover from President Barack Obama’s administration, where she served as deputy attorney general. She agreed to Mr. Trump’s request to stay on as acting attorney general until Mr. Sessions is confirmed to be attorney general.

At the State Department, which is also without a leader, career officials are circulating a dissent memo that argues that closing the borders to more than 200 million people to weed out a handful of would-be terrorists would not make the nation safer and might instead deepen the threat. Mr. Spicer countered that the effects of the ban had been exaggerated and that it would help fulfill Mr. Trump’s vow to protect the country.

Taken together, the developments were a stark confrontation between the new president, who is moving swiftly to upend years of policies, and a federal bureaucracy still struggling with the jolting change of power in Washington. There is open hostility to Mr. Trump’s ideas in large pockets of the government, and deep frustration among those enforcing the visa ban that the White House announced the order without warning or consulting them.

Source: www.nytimes.com

A Nigerian air force jet has accidentally killed and injured many civilians in Rann, in the north-east of the country, the military has said.

International aid agency MSF says at least 50 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the incident.

Aid workers are among the casualties - the Red Cross says six of its workers are confirmed dead.

The attack took place near Nigeria's border with Cameroon where the army has been fighting Boko Haram militants.

Army spokesman Maj-Gen Lucky Irabor said the jet's pilot had mistakenly believed he was attacking insurgents. He said the mission had been ordered, based on intelligence about a gathering of Boko Haram fighters.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a message expressing his dismay at the loss of life and pleading for calm.

His spokesman said Mr Buhari's administration would offer help to the government of Borno state "in attending to this regrettable operational mistake".

'Shocking and unacceptable'

MSF said many of the casualties were believed to be displaced people who had fled from areas where Boko Haram had carried out attacks.

The charity's director of operations, Jean-Clement Cabrol, said: "This large-scale attack on vulnerable people who have already fled from extreme violence is shocking and unacceptable."

MSF spokesman Etienne l'Hermitte urged the Nigerian authorities to facilitate evacuations of those injured, by land and air.

"Our medical and surgical teams in Cameroon and Chad are ready to treat wounded patients," he said.

"We are in close contact with our teams, who are in shock following the event."

It is the first time an accident of this type has happened in north-east Nigeria and comes as the military carries out what it is calling its final push against Boko Haram.

Source: bbc.com

Five people have been shot dead by a gunman at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida, officials say.

It happened at the baggage claim area in Terminal 2, just before 1300 local time (1800 GMT), the airport confirmed.

Eight people were injured. The gunman, believed to be an Iraq war veteran, was taken into custody.

Hundreds of people were standing on the tarmac outside the terminal as dozens of police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene.

Witnesses said the attacker walked along the baggage carousals, shooting people as they tried to run or hide. They said he appeared to be in his 20s, was wearing a Star Wars T-shirt and did not say anything as he fired.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson told US media that the gunman had been identified as Esteban Santiago, but that has not been confirmed by law enforcement.

The suspect surrendered to police when he ran out of ammunition, the witnesses added.

Officials said he was a passenger who had checked in an unloaded gun and ammunition with his luggage, but then loaded it in the bathroom after landing and collecting his bag.

Flying with firearms is legal in the US as long as the guns are kept in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage only, under rules of the Transport Security Administration (TSA). Ammunition is allowed only in checked luggage. Are we safe?

Source: bbc.com

The man wanted for the Berlin lorry attack that killed 12 people and injured 49 had been under surveillance earlier this year according to media report.

Anis Amri, 23, was reportedly monitored on suspicion of planning a robbery in order to pay for guns but that surveillance was lifted for lack of evidence.

Prior to entering Germany, Anis Amri had served four years in Italy for arson and also faced a jail sentence in absentia in Tunisia.

The failed asylum seeker is now the subject of a manhunt across Europe for the attack that happened in Berlin, Germany.

An arrest warrant has been issued after his residence permit was found in a car that left a trail of carnage at a Christmas market near the Kurfuerstendamm, on Monday evening.

German authorities have warned he could be armed and therefore dangerous. They are offering a reward of up to €100,000 (£84,000; $104,000) for information leading to the arrest of Anis Amri.