General News

The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has challenged the government to come clean on the Guantanamo Bay ex-detainees transfer deal with the US.

The John Mahama-led administration has brokered a deal with the Obama government to house two ‘high risk’ ex-detainees of the dreaded prison camp in the West African country over a period of two years.

The Council has expressed worry over the pact which has been shrouded in secrecy.

“The whole process lacks transparency,” the CCG pointed out in a statement.

According to the General Secretary of the Council Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, the general public is at risk because the government failed to consult.

“The non-engagement of civil society and other stakeholders on such sensitive security issue that affects the common good of the nation has put all of us at risk as the ordinary people don’t know what is required of them in the current potential security threat. Infact the whole process lacks transparency.”

It has therefore advised the government to “consider immediate recession of the decision and relocate the inmates outside the country.”

“It will be recalled that, in 2007, the United States (US) government wanted to establish its African Command (AFRICOM) in Ghana and most Ghanaians and African countries kicked against it.

“The admission of the Guantanamo inmates into Ghana is no different from setting up an AFRICOM in Ghana.

“We are of the strongest view that, the inadequate public consultation and broader consensus building by government is exposing our nation and the entire sub-region to terrorist attack, and must be reversed,” the Council noted.
“According to FoxNews, one of the two prisoners brought from Guantanamo Bay to Ghana, in the person of Bin Atef “is an admitted member of the Taliban and fought for Usama bin Laden, while [the other] Al-Dhuby trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.”

“The website adds; “the two inmates [who have spent close to 14 years in prison] are the first of a group of 17 detainees expected to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay that includes “multiple bad guys” and “Al Qaeda followers.”

“There are enough evidences for us to believe that these inmates have Al Qaeda ties and put all of us at risk.

“Government must answer the following questions and give further information about the whole thing;

1. Who is funding their stay in Ghana?
2. Will their families be allowed to visit them in Ghana?
3. Are they going to have any public interactions?
4. Are they going to be camped, restricted or reintegrated into the society as refugees?
5. Have Ghanaians been properly educated on public safety and security consciousness in the wake of terrorism?
6. Do we have what it takes to detect and deal with any threat of terrorism?

“We are very much aware that Ghana belongs to a community of nations which requires her to support international humanitarian efforts such as the provision of assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.

“However, the case of the Guantanamo inmates is entirely different and is not in our national interest.

“It is our hope and prayer that the President will listen to the lamentations of Ghanaians and quickly relocate the inmates,” the statement concluded.

Source: starrfmonline.com

The bravery of a taxi driver on Saturday morning led to the arrest of two armed robbers who were escaping from a robbery scene.

The robbers were said to have attacked their victim, a lady around the Lands Commission area of Cantonments in Accra and shot her.

The Good Samaritan taxi driver managed to knock down the robbers' motorbike as they tried to get away and they ended up in a gutter with broken legs but still shooting from their seated position.

An eyewitness said it took a military man, driving by, to jump out of his car with a gun to stop the robbers.

The entire incident was said to have happened at the prime residential area around 8am on Saturday.

The lady who was said to have survived but sustained leg wounds was recovering at the 37 Military Hospital.

The police later arrived at the scene to arrest the suspects.

Watch the video below.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

A huge manhunt in Argentina netted only one of three fugitives convicted of a triple murder, officials said hours after claiming all had been caught.

The three broke out of a maximum-security prison almost two weeks ago.

President Mauricio Macri's office initially said they are been captured north-west of Buenos Aires, but police later said that two remained at large.

The latest twist is a major embarrassment to the new president, correspondents say.

The police manhunt - shown on live television - has gripped the country.

Police say the man they captured, Martin Lanetta, was caught after the car the men were travelling in rolled over in the chase in Santa Fe province, about 500km (300 miles) from the capital.

The other two escaped on foot.

Victor Shellac and brothers Christian and Martin Lanatta were serving life in prison for kidnapping and murdering three men allegedly connected to an drug trafficking ring.

President Macri - a conservative who replaced Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner after elections in December - had accused the previous administration of not doing enough to crack down on drug crime.

Last month the men escaped from one of the country's most secure prisons using a fake gun to threaten one of the guards.

Martin Lanatta, had leapt into the political limelight last year when he accused the presidential chief of staff, Anibal Fernandez, of complicity in the killings.

Mr Fernandez denied the accusation but it damaged his campaign last October to become the new governor of Buenos Aires province.

The candidate who won, María Eugenia Vidal, dismissed the intrigue and said the jail-break had been an inside job.

She sacked the head of the prison service.

Source: bbc.com

The largest jackpot in American history is on offer to US lottery players, with a payout of about $900m (£620m) possible after Saturday night's draw.

Lottery fever in the US had resulted in long queues outside lottery-ticket vendors, driving up the jackpot value.

The rise means that an individual could take home about $558m (£384m) if they choose a lump-sum prize.

The winning numbers for the jackpot are 32, 16, 19, 57 and 34, and the Powerball number is 13.

The lottery is known as Powerball and is played in 44 of 50 states and three American territories. It takes place each Wednesday and Saturday at 22:59 PM (03:59 GMT).

Lottery officials quoted in US media say the odds of winning are one in 292 million.

If there is no winner, the prize will be rolled over to Wednesday when the jackpot could reach $1.3bn.

Source: bbc.com

The Mexican attorney general's office says it will begin the process of extraditing recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the US.

It said the move was in line with US extradition requests from 2014.

On Friday Guzman was detained and sent back to the maximum-security prison he escaped from six months ago.

Guzman, who was one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers, escaped from there in July through a tunnel dug in the showers.

That was his second escape - he was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and escaped from Puente Grande jail in 2001, reportedly in a laundry basket after bribing officials.

He was on the run for 13 years before being held again in 2014. Previous requests from the US have been turned down.

Late on Saturday, Rolling Stone magazine published an article by US actor Sean Penn based on a meeting he had with Guzman at his secret hideout before his capture.

The two men discuss various topics, including drug trafficking. Guzman is quoted as saying: "If there was no consumption, there would be no sales.''

Katy Watson, BBC news, Mexico City

The extradition of "El Chapo" to the US is by no means a foregone conclusion. The two countries have an extradition treaty but there are many steps that need to be taken and officials that need to approve the request.

Many people believe that he should face justice in Mexico first. But the case goes beyond sovereignty and national pride.

Those CCTV images of Guzman slipping down from his prison-cell shower into a mile-long tunnel last year still haunt authorities. He has escaped not just once but twice from high-security prisons and there is concern his influence and financial clout could allow him to do it again.

With the headaches that Guzman has given President Pena Nieto, whose reputation was severely bruised by the escape, perhaps extradition is the safer bet.

Who is 'El Chapo' Guzman?

No detail was given about the time frame for an extradition but experts say the process could take months, the BBC's Katy Watson in Mexico City reports.

The attorney general's office said that lawyers for Guzman would have three days to file objections and 20 more days to prove them, though that timeframe could be extended, AFP news agency reports.

Journalists went to see the manhole through which Guzman tried to escape during the operation on Friday

In a statement welcoming Guzman's recapture, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Guzman had caused "significant violence, suffering and corruption on multiple continents".

The US filed requests in 2014 for his extradition so he could face charges of smuggling vast amounts of drugs into the country.

Guzman, who was named Public Enemy Number One by the Chicago Crime Commission in 2013, has been indicted by at least seven US federal district courts.

Guzman was arrested on Friday in the north-western city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa - which he had come to dominate through his drugs cartel.

During the raid, he managed to flee through a drain but was later caught by marines in a shootout.

Five suspects were killed in the operation and one marine wounded.

Source: bbc.com

A man who shot and wounded a policeman at point blank range as he sat in his patrol car was inspired by Islamic State militants, police said.

Edward Archer, using a stolen gun, fired at least 11 shots at Jesse Hartnett in Philadelphia.

Despite being shot, Mr Hartnett left his vehicle and was able to return fire, striking the gunman three times.

Mr Archer was arrested within minutes and later confessed to police he did it for Islam, officers told reporters.

"He has confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam," Police Commissioner Richard Ross said, because he believes "police defend laws that are contrary to Islam".

The 30-year-old from Yeadon, Pennsylvania, told police he pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

But there is no evidence that he was working with anyone else, Mr Ross said.

Archer was shot several times

Philadelphia court records show he was convicted of assault in March and was set to begin a prison term. He had also been convicted of forging documents in a nearby suburb.

Mr Archer's mother, Valerie Holliday, said he is mentally ill and had suffered multiple head injuries, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

"He's been acting kind of strange lately. He's been talking to himself . . . laughing and mumbling," she told the newspaper.

"He's been hearing voices in his head. We asked him to get medical help."

Ms Holliday also told the Inquirer that he had been a devout Muslim "for a long time".

After the shoot-out, Mr Hartnett screamed into his radio: "I'm shot, I'm bleeding heavily." He has serious injuries and requires surgery.

"His will to live undoubtedly saved his life," Mr Ross said. "This could have easily been a police funeral."

Mr Ross said Mr Archer's gun was a police firearm that was stolen in 2013.

The shooting happened on the day two men who came to the US as refugees were charged with supporting terrorism - in Texas and California.

A month ago, attacks in San Bernardino, California, left 14 people dead, carried out by a couple inspired by Islamic State.

Source: bbc.com

Mexico's authorities have recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, six months after he escaped from a maximum-security jail.

In a post on Twitter, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said: "Mission accomplished: We got him."

Guzman, one of the world's most-wanted drug lords, smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines to the US through the Sinaloa cartel he led.

He escaped from jail through a 1.5km (1 mile) tunnel dug in the showers.

President Pena Nieto described Guzman's arrest as a "victory against impunity" and said it showed Mexicans could have confidence in the state's ability to guarantee law and order.

"There is no group that it is impossible to confront," he said.

Guzman was apprehended following a shoot-out with Mexican marines in Los Mochis, a coastal city in his home state of Sinaloa, in north-west Mexico, the president said.

Five people are thought to have been killed in the raid, which involved the army and navy as well as police.

Katy Watson, BBC Mexico and Central America reporter

The capture of El Chapo will be a big boost to President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration.

The escape last July of Mexico's most-wanted criminal was politically embarrassing. It made the government look stupid at best and institutionally corrupt at worst - many people doubted El Chapo's escape could have happened without inside help.

It was made worse too by the fact that the president had previously said that if he escaped again it would be unforgivable.

Mr Pena Nieto has called the arrest "mission accomplished" - hopefully it is third-time lucky for the government with El Chapo remaining behind bars and the president's legacy not being that of allowing a violent criminal to escape.

The US congratulated the Mexican government but did not indicate whether prosecutors would seek Guzman's extradition.

In a statement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Guzman had caused "significant violence, suffering and corruption on multiple continents".

Guzman's July escape was his second - he was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and escaped from Puente Grande jail in 2001, reportedly in a laundry basket after bribing officials.

He was on the run for 13 years before being held again in 2014.

CCTV footage of his 11 July escape showed Guzman pacing his cell several times before heading into the shower area and disappearing at the maximum-security Altiplano jail.

A huge manhunt followed, with flights suspended at the nearby airports. The US government had offered a $5m (£3.2m) reward for information leading to his capture.

Authorities located him several days ago based on reports that he was in the Los Mochis area.

In October, Mexican officials said they had "broken up" and arrested the group responsible for helping him escape.

Guzman's wealth is estimated at $1bn.

Despite being the leader of one of the world's most powerful and violent drug cartels, Guzman was seen by some in Sinaloa - where there are few job opportunities - as a modern-day Robin Hood figure who could offer more security to people than the government.

Following his escape, shopkeepers began selling souvenirs such as baseball caps branded with "El Chapo" (Guzman's nickname, meaning "Shorty").

Source: bbc.com

Belgian prosecutors believe they may have found a bomb factory also used as a hideout by one of the jihadists after the Paris attacks.

Police found traces of explosives, three handmade belts and a fingerprint of fugitive Salah Abdeslam.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels had been rented in a false name that might have been used by a person already in custody.

Islamic State (IS) suicide attackers killed 130 people in the attacks.

Traces of the explosive TATP (acetone peroxide) and the belts, which could have been used to transport explosives, were found in the raid on 10 December in Rue Berge, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said.

The prosecutor's office told the BBC that Abdeslam's fingerprint was not dated, and it would be very hard to determine the date.

Who were the Paris attackers?

Paris attacks: The investigation so far

Paris attacks: Who were the victims?

Paris attacks: What happened on the night

Prosecutors believe that the Schaerbeek flat was used only by the Belgium-based attackers who went to the apartment, got the explosive belts, and then went to Paris.

However, they believe that Abdeslam, 26, did go back to the flat in Schaerbeek because he probably thought it would be the only place where he could be safe after the attacks.

Their theory is that somebody drove him there, and dropped him not far from that Schaerbeek address, right after the Paris attacks.

French police pulled over the VW Golf car he was travelling in with two others near Belgium, but then let the group continue their journey.

Abdeslam is believed to have rented a VW Polo car in Belgium, which was later found near the Bataclan concert hall in Paris where 89 people were killed. But he also rented a Renault Clio and reserved two hotel rooms outside Paris before the attacks.

His precise role in the attacks themselves is unclear. Although his brother Brahim blew himself up, Salah Abdeslam is thought to have played a logistical role.

The Paris attacks are believed to have been at least partly planned in Brussels. Belgian police have arrested 10 people in the investigation, including one who rented the apartment in Schaerbeek. The district is central, just north of the EU institutions.

Among the 10 held are Mohammed Amri et Hamza Attou, suspected of having brought Salah Abdeslam back to Brussels from Paris.

Immediately after the attacks, the police focused their searches on Molenbeek, in western Brussels, where some of the attackers were known to have lived.

The suspected ringleader was Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national. He and his cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen died in a fierce gun battle five days after the attacks, when police raided a flat in Paris where they were hiding, heavily armed.

The search for Abdeslam

• Hours after the 13 November attacks, Salah Abdeslam's VW Golf car was pulled over by French police on the A2 motorway near the Belgian border, but was released after checks
• It is unclear whether police had linked a VW Polo found at the Bataclan venue to him by this time
• Police issued an arrest warrant on 15 November
• Unconfirmed reports said he was spotted by police in the Belgian city of Liege, heading towards Germany, on 15 November but escaped in a black BMW
• A raid on a suspected hideout in Molenbeek, Brussels, later that day was delayed because of a ban on night-time searches
• Friends told media the suspect was hiding in Brussels and desperately trying to get to Syria
• Undated fingerprint from Abdeslam found in a flat in Rue Berge, in the central Brussels neighbourhood of Schaerbeek, on 10 December
• Police believe Belgian attackers picked up explosives belts from Schaerbeek flat before Paris attacks and Abdeslam returned there afterwards

Source: bbc.com

At least 47 people have been killed by a truck bomb targeting a police training centre in the western Libyan city of Zliten, reports say.

Media in Libya said the attack struck the al-Jahfal training camp.

The camp was a military base during the rule of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In a separate attack, a suicide bomber killed six people at the entrance to Ras Lanuf, a major oil port in northern Libya.

One of those killed was a 16-month-old baby, according to Osama al-Hodeiri, a spokesman for the security forces that guard the oil facilities.

"A driver in a Toyota Land Cruiser blew himself up at a checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Ras Lanuf," he said, adding that three guards had also been killed.

• Latest updates on the bombing
• Lawless Libya: Can peace be achieved?

Libya has been hit by instability since Gaddafi's overthrow and killing in 2011, and there is concern the so-called Islamic State (IS) group is gaining a foothold there.

The country has been run by two governments - only one of which is recognised by the international community.

A spokesman for the ministry of health of the rival government based in the capital, Tripoli, told the BBC that 47 people were killed and more than 100 people were injured in the first attack, which was reportedly heard 60km (40 miles) away in Misrata.

Other news agencies have put the death toll at 50.

Analysis: Rana Jawad, BBC News

This is one of the deadliest bomb attacks in Libya and comes at a time when hospitals across the country are suffering from severe shortages in medical supplies.

The explosion was similar in size and impact to the multiple bombings in the eastern town of al-Qubbah that targeted a petrol station in February last year.

That incident was claimed by the so-called Islamic State group, just a few months after it established a foothold in the country.

The latest explosion has not been officially claimed by any group yet, but it comes against the backdrop of intensified attacks this week carried out by IS militants near Libya's eastern oil ports.

If nothing else, the latest bombing is an indication of how the political and military chaos is degrading the institutional capabilities in the country.

Devastating attacks of this kind are on the rise, as the ability to prevent them and deal with the aftermath is at an all-time low.

It was reported that a water truck rigged with explosives was used in the bombing.

State of emergency

The ministry of health declared a state of emergency and called on all hospitals in Tripoli, 160km (100 miles) to the west of Zliten, and Misrata to the east, to take in casualties.

Residents in Zliten told the BBC that dozens of people were transferred to Tripoli, as the hospital in Zliten struggled to cope with the number of people injured.

Urgent calls for blood donations were made to Zliten residents, the Lana news agency reports.

The UN Special Representative to Libya, Martin Kobler, said that the blast was a suicide attack.

Libyan media said hundreds of recruits were outside performing morning exercises when the centre was targeted.

In December, the country's rival politicians signed a UN-brokered deal to form a unity government, but that has not yet been implemented.

Source: bbc.com

HEMPSTEAD, Texas –  A Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland after a contentious traffic stop last summer was fired Wednesday after being charged with perjury for allegedly lying about his confrontation with the black woman who died three days later in jail.

Trooper Brian Encinia claimed in an affidavit that Bland was "combative and uncooperative" after he pulled her over and ordered her out of her car. The grand jury identified that affidavit in charging Encinia with perjury, special prosecutor Shawn McDonald said Wednesday night.

Hours after his indictment, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it would "begin termination proceedings" against Encinia.

Bland's arrest and death — which authorities ruled a suicide — provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters linked Bland to other black suspects who were killed in confrontations with police or died in police custody, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

Video of the stop shows Encinia drawing his stun gun and telling Bland, "I will light you up!" She can later be heard off-camera screaming that he's about to break her wrists and complains that he knocked her head into the ground.

Encinia's affidavit stated he "removed her from her vehicle to further conduct a safer traffic investigation," but grand jurors "found that statement to be false," said McDonald, one of five special prosecutors appointed to investigate.

She was taken to the Waller County jail in Hempstead, about 50 miles northwest of Houston. Three days later, she was found hanging from a jail cell partition with a plastic garbage bag around her neck. Authorities have ruled she committed suicide, and the grand jury has already declined to charge any sheriff's officials or jailers in her death.

The perjury charge is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Encinia was not immediately taken into custody, and an arraignment date has not yet been announced.

About two dozen protesters attended Wednesday's news conference where the indictment was announced. One protester's sign read, "Legalize black skin."

Source: foxnews.com

An Islamic court has sentenced a Nigerian cleric to death by hanging for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in the northern city of Kano.

Abdulazeez Dauda, popularly known as Abdul Inyass, was convicted after a trial held in secret to avoid protests.

Five of his followers were also sentenced to death last year.

These are the first death sentences for blasphemy handed down by a Nigerian Sharia court; those delivered for other offences have not been carried out.

• Africa Live: BBC news updates

Mr Inyass is a preacher at a local faction of the Tijaniya sect, founded in Senegal by Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, which has a large following across West Africa.

He was reported to have said that "Niasse was bigger than Prophet Muhammad" during a lecture at an event in May, leading to violent protests in the city.

The BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano says he then fled to the capital, Abuja, and nine of his followers were arrested for their alleged part in organising the event.

When they were arraigned in court, there were further clashes and the courthouse was set on fire, he says.

Analysis: Muhammad Kabir Muhammad, BBC Hausa, Abuja

Anyone who is not satisfied with the judgement of a Sharia court can appeal to the Sharia Court of Appeal in the state within three months. From there the case can be taken to the federal Court of Appeal, which is secular and, finally, to the Supreme Court.

There are judges of the Court of Appeal who are learned in Islamic law and who would be convened by the court's president to hear the case.

The Sharia courts only try Muslims. If a case involves a Muslim and a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim will be given the option of choosing where he/she wants the case to be tried. The Sharia court can only hear the case if the non-Muslim gives written consent.

Amina Lawal, who was found guilty of adultery in 2002 and sentenced to death by stoning, was acquitted by a Sharia Court of Appeal.

Four of the followers were acquitted and the five sentenced to death are appealing against their conviction at the state's high court.

Kano has a predominately Muslim population and Islamic courts operate alongside secular courts.

Mr Inyass, whose five-month trial was held in secret for security reasons, will also be able to appeal against the verdict at the high court.

Several states in northern Nigeria introduced Sharia after the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.

Tijaniya at a glance

The Sufi sect of Tijaniya was founded in Algeria in 1784 by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tijani.

It spread all over the world, with large following in North and West Africa. It also has followers in South Africa, Indonesia and other parts of the world.

There are other Sufi sects in Islam but Tijaniya is the largest.

They have three main daily practices: Asking the forgiveness of God; sending prayers to the Prophet Muhammad and affirming the Oneness of Allah.

Senegalese-born Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse was credited with reviving the sect in the 20th Century. People travel from across the continent to visit his shrine.

They have several factions including the Haqiqa (Realist) group, whose members were convicted of blasphemy in Kano.

Source: bbc.com

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has strongly criticised police handling of gang attacks on women and girls in Cologne on New Year's Eve.

"The police shouldn't work like this," he said, as it emerged that three suspects had been identified.

More than 100 victims have complained of being sexually assaulted or robbed by gangs of up to 30 men, reportedly of Arab or North African appearance.

Officials say the violence should not cast suspicion against all refugees.

A crowd of about 1,000 men had gathered in the square outside Cologne station during New Year's Eve, letting off fireworks. Many were drunk and aggressive.

Police eventually evacuated the area because of the risk of injury from the fireworks.

But gangs of youths soon returned and carried out dozens of attacks over a number of hours with little apparent response from the local authorities until well after midnight.

What went wrong?

Cologne mayor's 'code of conduct' attacked

Two women in Cologne have told police they were raped and many were groped, including a volunteer policewoman. Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the attacks appeared to have been co-ordinated and spoke of "a new scale of organised crime".

Women were also targeted in Hamburg and Stuttgart. More than 30 complaints have been filed by women saying they were indecently assaulted or robbed on Hamburg's Reeperbahn.

Police in Stuttgart say several women were attacked at Schlossplatz in the city centre.

Hundreds of people protested near Cologne station on Tuesday night, angered by the brazen attacks and by the slow response of political leaders.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed outrage over the "disgusting attacks" and the interior minister was asked about the police response on national TV.

Mr de Maiziere criticised police for allowing the attackers to return. The square was evacuated, he said, "and then later these events take place and they wait for complaints. The police shouldn't work like this".

The widespread identification of the attackers as North African or Arab in appearance has also caused considerable alarm because of the influx of more than a million migrants and refugees in the past year. Many of the incomers have fled the conflict in Syria.

Cologne's night of violence

One man described how his partner and 15-year-old daughter were surrounded by a crowd outside the station and he was unable to help.

"The attackers grabbed her and my partner's breasts and groped them between their legs."

A woman, named Busra, told German television the ordeal was "truly terrible".

"They felt like they were in power and that they could do anything with the women who were out in the street partying. They touched us everywhere," she said.

Another woman was robbed of her mobile phone at the station entrance after midnight and went to police to report it. "There were lots of girls, all crying uncontrollably."

And a British woman visiting Cologne said fireworks had been thrown at her group by men who spoke neither German nor English. "They were trying to hug us, kiss us. One man stole my friend's bag," she told the BBC.

"I've been in scary and even life-threatening situations and I've never experienced anything like that."

The "anti-Islamisation" Pegida movement and the right-wing AfD said the attacks were a consequence of large-scale migration. AfD leader Frauke Petry asked if, after the attacks, Germany was now sufficiently "diverse and cosmopolitan".

Mr de Maiziere emphasised there should not be any general suspicion towards refugees, at least "at this stage of the investigation".

"But if North Africans were the perpetrators, for which there is some indication, there should not be a taboo and people should not gloss over it."

Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker had earlier said it was "completely improper" to link the attackers "who appeared to come from North Africa" with refugees.

But she was herself mocked for urging young women and girls to adopt a code of conduct that meant keeping an "arm's length" distance from strangers and sticking with a group of people.

'New dimension'

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger told journalists on Wednesday that three suspects had been identified, although no arrests had been made.

He warned that anti-immigrant groups were trying to use the attacks to stir up hatred against refugees.

Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers has rejected criticism of his force, describing what happened as "a completely new dimension of crime".

But police union chief Rainer Wendt said a lack of resources meant that the Cologne force had been unable to clear the square properly.

Mr Wendt was critical of the Berlin government, arguing that federal officers who had the task of policing the station itself had been deployed in recent months to strengthen border security in Bavaria.

Cologne authorities are particularly concerned that the attacks may hit the city's reputation ahead of its February carnival, when hundreds of thousands of revellers are expected on the streets.

Source: bbc.com

The UN Security Council says it will begin work immediately on new measures against North Korea, after Pyongyang said it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

The council condemned the test, saying "a clear threat to international peace and security continues to exist".

This is the North's fourth nuclear test since 2006, but if confirmed would be the first of an H-bomb.

However, the US has joined nuclear experts in questioning whether the blast was large enough for such a test.

US White House spokesman Josh Earnest said "initial analysis was not consistent with North Korea's claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test".

He added: "Nothing that happened overnight has changed our view of North Korea's nuclear capabilities."

• How the world has reacted
• What we know so far
• How to stage an underground test
• Leaders condemn reports of H-bomb test
• Crisis solutions on social media
• Pyongyang's nuclear tests

The Security Council held an emergency session on Wednesday. It was called by the US, Japan and South Korea.

Uruguay's UN Ambassador Elbio Rosselli, current president of the council, said: "The members... recalled that they have previously expressed their determination to take further significant measures in the event of another [North Korea] nuclear test.

"In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, [they] will begin to work immediately on such measures in a new Security Council resolution."

Mr Earnest said North Korea's isolation had "deepened as they have sought to engage in increasingly provocative acts".

Japan's ambassador to the UN, Motohide Yoshikawa, called for a swift and robust new UN resolution.

He said: "The authority and credibility of the Security Council will be put in question if it does not take these measures."

However, he and other members have not spelled out what they will be or when the resolution could be adopted.

Russia's UN ambassador said it would be going "too far" to say Moscow supported further sanctions.

North Korea's tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013 triggered UN sanctions, with 20 entities and 12 individuals on a UN blacklist.

'Bang would have been bigger'

If an H-bomb test were confirmed, it would mark a major upgrade in North Korea's nuclear capabilities.

Hydrogen bombs are more powerful and technologically advanced than atomic weapons, using fusion - the merging of atoms - to unleash massive amounts of energy.

Atomic bombs, like the kind that devastated two Japanese cities in World War Two, use fission, or the splitting of atoms.

Bruce Bennett, an analyst with the Rand Corporation, was among those casting doubts on Pyongyang's test: "The bang they should have gotten would have been 10 times greater than what they're claiming."

A South Korean politician, Lee Cheol-woo, said he was briefed by the country's intelligence agency that the blast "probably falls short" of a hydrogen detonation.

North Korea's 'spectacular' rhetoric, by the BBC's Steve Evans

The rhetoric from the North Korean media was spectacular, announcing the country had carried out a "world startling event" - the underground test of a hydrogen bomb.

"People of the DPRK are making a giant stride, performing eye-catching miracles and exploits day by day," state media said.

That North Korea is still living with its predictable 1950s post-Korean War world view, where the US is the prime aggressor, was made clear too.

"The US is a gang of cruel robbers which has worked hard to bring even a nuclear disaster to the DPRK."

But despite the rhetoric, outside experts are sceptical about how much of a giant stride had been made.

What is not in doubt is the determination of Pyongyang to go down the nuclear path despite widespread condemnation the last time it tested a device.

North Korea's dramatic rhetoric

Suspicions that North Korea had carried out a nuclear test were raised when an earthquake was registered near the Punggye-ri nuclear site in North Korea at 10:00 Pyongyang time (01:30 GMT), with the tremors rattling Chinese border cities.

Hours later, in a surprise announcement, a newsreader on North Korean state TV said: "The republic's first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10:00 am on January 6, 2016."

A note signed by North Korea leader Kim Jong-un authorising the test said 2016 should begin with the "stirring explosive sound" of a hydrogen bomb.

China and Japan are reported to have been trying to detect radiation.

Can North Korea now launch a nuclear missile?

Despite North Korea's claims, experts are sceptical that North Korea can make a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on a missile.

What do we know about the latest test?

Observers agree a nuclear explosion of some kind took place and it seems to have been a bit bigger than the last test in 2013, but not nearly big enough to be a full thermonuclear explosion - an "H-bomb" - as Pyongyang claims.

Why can't the world stop North Korea?

North Korea has a determination to defy both world opinion and heavy sanctions to reach its nuclear goal. Crucially, its main ally, China, has proved either unwilling or unable to help.

Source: bbc.com

The Gambia's government has banned its female employees from leaving their hair uncovered at work, a leaked memo quoted by private newspapers says.

Women should use a "head tie and neatly wrap their hair", the memo said, without giving reasons for the ban.

Last month, The Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh declared the Muslim-majority country an Islamic republic.

He added that no dress code would be imposed and citizens of other faiths would be allowed to practise freely.

The Gambia is popular with Western tourists because of its beaches.

Mr Jammeh withdrew the former British colony from the Commonwealth in 2013, describing the organisation as neo-colonial.

• Africa Live: BBC news updates

The memo, dated 4 January and published in the pro-opposition Freedom and JollofNews newspapers, said that an "executive directive has been issued that all female staff within the government ministries, departments and agencies are no longer allowed to expose their hair during official working hours".

"All are strictly advised to adhere to this new directive," it added.

Some 90% of Gambians are Muslim.

When Mr Jammeh declared The Gambia an Islamic republic, he said the move was in line with the West African nation's "religious identity and values".

His critics said the declaration was intended to deflect attention from the poor state of the economy, including the rise in the price of basic commodities.

Many Muslim scholars believe that Islam requires Muslim women to cover their hair in public.

However, the requirement is not strictly adhered to in The Gambia.

First Lady Zineb Yahya Jammeh has previously appeared in public with her hair uncovered.

In November, the Gambian leader banned female circumcision, saying it was not required in Islam.

Mr Jammeh, who seized power in 1994 as a 29-year-old army lieutenant, is accused by rights activists of presiding over a brutal regime which is intolerant of dissent.

The European Union temporarily withheld aid money to The Gambia in 2014 over its poor human rights record.

Source: bbc.com

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) says it will push for tougher legislation to jail anyone guilty of "racial bigotry", or "glorifying" apartheid.

Black people could no longer be treated as "sub-humans", it said.

The nation has been gripped by a racism row after Penny Sparrow, an opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) member, on Facebook called black people "monkeys".

She denied she was a racist. The DA party suspended her membership.

The racially discriminatory apartheid system ended in South Africa in 1994. It had been introduced in 1948 by the then-white minority government and was later declared by the UN as a crime against humanity.

• Africa Live: BBC news updates
• Awaiting the golden age

A spokesman for the ANC chief whip's office, Moloto Mothapo, told the BBC that current legislation was insufficient to tackle racism.

"We haven't had a single person imprisoned for racism despite many instances of racism. We don't believe it addresses the crime of racism," he said.

A statement issued by the ANC parliamentary chief whip's office said racial bigotry and apartheid should be considered a serious human rights violations punishable by imprisonment because of South Africa's "painful past".

"Elsewhere glorification of Nazism and denial of Holocaust is a crime and perpetrators are tried and sentenced to a prison term," it added.

The ANC also said it had filed criminal charges against several DA members - including Ms Sparrow and MP Dianne Kohler Barnard.

Ms Kohler Barnard was expelled from the DA in October after she shared a post on Facebook which suggested that public services in South Africa were better during apartheid and called for the return of former President PW Botha.

She won an appeal against her expulsion from the party, and was instead ordered to pay 20,000 rand ($1,320; £888) to a charity working with communities disadvantaged by apartheid.

On Monday, the DA said it had filed charges against Ms Sparrow "for infringing the dignity of all South Africans and for dehumanising black South Africans" as it did not tolerate racism.

On Facebook, Ms Sparrow used the word monkeys to describe New Year's revellers on the beach in the eastern city of Durban because of the mess she said they made.

She later apologised but was condemned by many on social media and the hashtag #RacismMustFall was trending on Twitter.

The South African Human Rights Commission, a statutory body, is also investigating her comments.

Source: bbc.com

Hundreds of people have protested in the German city of Cologne over sexual assaults and thefts carried out by groups of men on New Year's Eve.

Some held up signs demanding action from Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Mrs Merkel has expressed outrage over the "disgusting attacks" and said everything must be done to find those responsible.

Witnesses and police said that the men involved were of Arab or North African appearance.

The scale of the attacks, involving groups of drunk and aggressive young men, has shocked the country.

There is an intense debate in Germany about refugees and migrants who arrived in record numbers last year, many of them fleeing the conflict in Syria.

However, Cologne Mayor Henriette urged people not to jump to conclusions about the attackers, none of whom has been arrested.

'New dimension'

Women have made at least 90 criminal complaints to police about harassment by gangs at Cologne's main railway station on Thursday night.

At least one woman in Cologne was reportedly raped and many were groped, including a volunteer policewoman.

Women were also targeted in Hamburg and Stuttgart in similar attacks, but on a smaller scale.

Police searched suspects outside Cologne Central Station on Tuesday

Up to 300 people, mostly women, demonstrated against the violence near the scene of the attacks on Tuesday evening.

Some held placards reading: "Mrs Merkel! Where are you? What do you say? This alarms us!"

Police were pictured stopping and questioning men near Cologne's central station on Tuesday.

However, the city's police chief, Wolfgang Albers, said no arrests had yet been made over the New Year's Eve attacks.

"We don't currently have any suspects, so we don't know who the perpetrators were," he said.

"All we know is that the police at the scene perceived that it was mostly young men aged 18 to 35 from the Arab or North African region."

He called it "a completely new dimension of crime" and rejected criticism of his force's handling on the night.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas warned against using the attacks to bolster anti-refugee sentiment.

"In criminal law what's important is proving a crime, and everyone is equal before the law," he said.

"It doesn't matter where someone comes from, it matters what they did and that we can prove it."

Mrs Merkel called Ms Reker on Tuesday to discuss the attacks.

She said everything must be done "to find the perpetrators as quickly and comprehensively as possible and punish them, regardless of their origin or background".

"It's completely improper... to link a group that appeared to come from North Africa with the refugees," she said, following talks with police.

She also promised preventive measures ahead of Cologne's carnival in February, when hundreds of thousands of revellers are expected on the streets.

One man described how his partner and 15-year-old daughter were surrounded by a crowd outside the station and he was unable to help. "The attackers grabbed her and my partner's breasts and groped them between their legs."

Most of the crimes reported to police were robberies.

A British woman visiting Cologne said fireworks had been thrown at her group by men who spoke neither German nor English. "They were trying to hug us, kiss us. One man stole my friend's bag," she told the BBC.

"Another tried to get us into his 'private taxi'. I've been in scary and even life-threatening situations and I've never experienced anything like that."

Source: bbc.com

At least 34 bodies have been washed up on the Turkish coast in the latest tragedy to hit migrants and refugees trying to cross the sea to Greece.

Their boats are thought to have capsized while crossing to the island of Lesbos.

The bodies were found on beaches at Ayvalik and Dikili some 30 miles (50km) apart. Several were children.

More than one million migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2015 and the vast majority went from Turkey to Greece.

According to the UN, 3,771 people were listed as dead or missing.

Conditions in the Aegean Sea in the early hours of Tuesday were described as rough and officials said the migrants who had tried to reach Lesbos were in rubber dinghies.

Coast guards at Ayvalik searched the area for survivors and rescued eight people who had climbed on to a breakwater, reported Dogan news agency.

Residents said the boat that sank off Ayvalik appeared to have hit rocks. "I'm guessing these people died as they were trying to swim from the rocks," one man said.

Security forces pulled some bodies from the water while others could be seen on the beach, all wearing life jackets. Some were clearly children.

Police told Turkish media that 24 bodies were found on the beach or in the sea off Ayvalik while 10 more were discovered near Dikili.

Although their nationalities were not confirmed, local governor Namik Kemal Nazli Hurriyet said they were Syrians, Iraqis and Algerians.

On Sunday, dozens of people were rescued from a small island off the town of Dikili as they tried to cross to Lesbos. Helicopters had to be called in because the island was too rocky for rescue boats to get to.

Boats are continuing to arrive on the Greek islands every day, despite the wintry weather. Lesbos is by far the most popular destination for migrants leaving Turkey. More than 500,000 reached the island in 2015.

Late last year, Turkey reached a deal with the European Union to tighten its borders and reduce the numbers crossing to Greece in return for €3bn (£2.1bn) and political concessions.

Source: bbc.com

An emotional US President Barack Obama has unveiled new restrictions on gun purchases, saying the "constant excuses for inaction" have to stop.

Wiping away tears, the president recalled the Sandy Hook primary school shooting in 2012 where 20 children and six adults were killed.

His executive actions, without Congress approval, widen background checks on potential gun buyers.

But the National Rifle Association said it would fight Mr Obama's measures.

And the leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Paul Ryan, said the plans were certain to be challenged in the courts.

"His words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty," he said.

Meanwhile, sales of guns in the US appear to have risen, amid speculation in recent weeks that the White House was going to tighten the law.

Earlier, the president announced the law change at the White House, while surrounded by survivors and relatives of victims of shootings.

"The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now, but they can't hold America hostage," Mr Obama said.

Analysis - Anthony Zurcher, BBC News North America reporter

An emotional president employed all of his rhetorical skill to justify what are, in reality, executive actions that only modestly expand federal regulation of firearm sales.

Standing in a room filled with victims of gun violence, he explained that the murder of schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut, changed him - and that he hoped it would change the country.

Three years have passed since that school massacre, however, and the country hasn't changed. While some states have toughened their laws, others have expanded gun rights and the US Congress has taken no action.

So Mr Obama did what he could, and wrapped the move in language that sounded more appropriate for a ceremony announcing the passage of sweeping legislation that, in today's political environment, has no chance of reaching his presidential desk.

And even this small move will likely be fiercely challenged in court, in Congress and at the ballot box by whichever Republican wins the nomination fight to replace him in 2017.

Gun violence is significantly higher in the US than in other advanced countries, killing about 30,000 people each year.

Congress has been reluctant to pass any laws restricting gun ownership, facing pressure from gun owners and the powerful National Rifle Association.

Mr Obama tried to pass expanded background check legislation in 2012 after the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and six adults dead but it failed in Congress.

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (above), who was the victim of a shooting, attended the White House event

The executive actions include:

• Background checks for all gun sellers, overturning current exemptions to some online and gun show sellers
• States providing information on people disqualified from buying guns due to mental illness or domestic violence
• Increased workforce for the FBI to process background checks, hiring more than 230 new examiners
• Congress being asked to invest $500m (£339m) to improve access to mental healthcare in the US
• The departments of defence, justice and homeland security exploring "smart gun technology" to improve gun safety

The announcement is already shaping up to be an issue in the 2016 presidential election.

Leading Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted: "@POTUS is right: We can protect the second Amendment while protecting our families and communities from gun violence. And we have to."

Republican candidate Senator Ted Cruz tweeted that the executive actions are unconstitutional, with a link to sign up for his campaign correspondence on a webpage that says "Obama wants your guns" with a photo of the president in an army jacket and hat.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush tweeted that he would repeal the actions and protect the Second Amendment.

During Mr Obama's speech, comedian Amy Schumer, cousin of New York Senator Chuck Schumer, was in the audience. Two women died in a shooting at a movie theatre in Louisiana during a showing of her movie Trainwreck.

Gabby Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived a shooting, was there as well, in addition to many relatives of victims and survivors of mass shooting.

Shares in gunmaker Smith & Wesson rose to their highest value since 1999 ahead of the president's announcement.

The number of background checks on potential buyers - a guide to future sales - has risen in the wake of mass shootings in the past.

Why Obama is powerless - the roadblock at Congress

Are you mad or criminal? - the question a gun seller asks

Texas women and their firearms - a photographer taught to shoot at an early age

Do tighter gun laws work? - a state where guns are a way of life

Guns at home - the question parents hate to ask before a playdate

Source: bbc.com

The North Korean authorities say they have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb amid reports of a tremor near the main nuclear test site.

State media announced the test after monitors detected a 5.1 magnitude quake close to the Punggye-ri site.

The North is thought to have conducted three previous underground nuclear tests there since 2006.

A hydrogen bomb uses fusion to create a blast far more powerful than that of a more basic atomic bomb.

If confirmed, it would mean Pyongyang is intent on pursuing its nuclear programme with little regard for the major political and diplomatic costs that will inevitably accompany this unwelcome development, says Dr John Nilsson-Wright of Asia Programme at Chatham House.

In a surprise announcement a newsreader on North Korean state TV said: "The republic's first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10:00 am on January 6, 2016."

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen bomb, although international experts were sceptical.

What is a hydrogen bomb?

• A weapon energised by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes in a chain reaction, developed in 1958 by the United States

• Also known as a thermo-nuclear bomb, it is seen as a "cleaner" bomb than an atomic one as it has less radioactive fallout - but also much more powerful

• Unlike an atomic bomb, powered by nuclear fission, a hydrogen bomb is powered by the fusion of lighter elements into heavier elements

• Such bombs can be as small as a few feet long and can fit in warheads of ballistic missiles

Suspicion of a test was first raised after the US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the quake - detected at 10:00 Pyongyang time (01:30 GMT) was in the north-east of the country, some 50km (30 miles) from Kilju city, near Punggye-ri.

The BBC's Kevin Kim in Seoul says analysts will now focus on trying to detect if any gases have leaked from the subterranean explosion to conclude what type of nuclear material may have been used, if it indeed it was a test of a hydrogen bomb.

North Korea's nuclear tests

9 October 2006

The first test detonated a device based on plutonium, rather than enriched uranium. The test was conducted at Punggye-ri, also known as P'unggye-yok. US intelligence officials said that it had not been a powerful one, measuring less than one kiloton - that is less then a tenth of the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

25 May 2009

A second underground nuclear test was carried out which was said to be more powerful than the first. Russia's defence ministry estimated a blast of up to 20 kilotons, a similar size to the American bombs that completely destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Although the North gave no details of the test location, South Korean officials said a seismic tremor was detected in its neighbour's north-east around the town of Kilju - close to Punggye-ri.

12 February 2013

Unusual seismic activity was detected around Punggye-ri. This was followed by confirmation from the state news agency that North Korea had successfully tested a device. The announcement referenced a "miniaturised" nuclear device which raised fears that Pyongyang's ultimate aim is to produce a device small enough to fit on a long-range missile.

Source: bbc.com

Source: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana