Oscar Pistorius could take stand next week in murder triale
Pretoria, South Africa -- The prosecution in the Oscar Pistorius murder case expects to rest early next week, prosecutor Gerrie Nel announced unexpectedly on Wednesday. Nel has only four or five more witnesses to call, he declared to the shock of the courtroom just before lunch on the 13th day of the trial. He requested and got an adjournment until Monday to consider the state's position in the case.
Libya threatens to bomb N.Korea oil ship trading with rebels
Libya threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker if it tried to ship oil from a rebel-controlled port, in a major escalation of a standoff over the country’s petroleum wealth.
British-Swedish journalist shot dead in Afghanistan
Gunmen have shot dead a British-Swedish journalist in the embassy quarter of Kabul in an unusual attack using a pistol with a silencer.
In a world where upskirt shots are legal, there can't be enough anti-creep laws
Here’s the thing about picture-collecting voyeurism: desire may be amoral, but the act of taking iPhone photos of non-consenting individuals in order to get your rocks off doesn’t happen without consequences. There are personal repercussions. And there should be more legal punishment, too.
DR Congo warlord Germain Katanga found guilty at ICC
The International Criminal Court has found Congo militia leader Germain Katanga guilty of war crimes but acquitted him of sexual offences.
Mali hotel attack: Hunt for three suspects
It is not clear if the suspects now being sought took part in the attack or were accomplices.
The exact number of gunmen is also not known. Eyewitnesses said up to 13 entered the hotel shooting, however the company that runs the hotel, Rezidor Group, said on Friday that only two attackers were involved.
The victims
- Two Belgians, including Geoffrey Dieudonne, an official at the parliament in Belgium's Wallonia region.
- Three Chinese, Zhou Tianxiang and Wang Xuanshang and Chang Xuehui were executives from the state-owned China Railway Construction Corp, the company said in a statement on its website.
- US national Anita Ashok Datar, 41, was in Mali working on projects involving family planning and HIV. Ms Datar, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, was a senior manager at Palladium Group, an international development organisation.
- Six Russians were killed, all employees of the Volga-Dnepr airline, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. Volga-Dnepr reported that the six were Stanislav Dumansky and Pavel Kudryavtsev, mechanics; Vladimir Kudryashov, a flight radio operator; Konstantin Preobrazhensky, a flight engineer; Sergey Yurasov, a load manager, and Aleksandr Kononenko, a navigator.
- Israeli education consultant and executive Shmuel Benalal, who is reported to have been in Mali to work with the government.
A US national also died, and US President Barack Obama said the attack was yet another reminder that the "scourge of terrorism" threatened many nations.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said three Britons who had been in the hotel were safe.
President Keita said Mali would "do everything to eradicate terrorism" in the country.
At the scene: Thomas Fessy, BBC West Africa correspondent
AP
Mali woke up to a state of emergency on Saturday morning but the streets of the capital are still bustling.
Perhaps the state of emergency does not make a difference for the people here as the whole country has been on edge for three years with jihadi threats coming from the north.
I drove through the city and I could not really tell that the presence of security forces had been stepped up.
There is a lot of anxiety at the entrances to some of the main hotels which host foreign guests. Visitors are being searched more thoroughly and, in some cases, cars are not allowed to park inside the hotel compound.
Staff from the hotel where I am staying even apologised for taking their time to look through our luggage despite knowing us well from previous trips.
Seven Malians, including police officers and security guards, are currently being treated at Bamako's Gabriel Toure, most of them for bullet wounds.
The claim by a Saharan jihadist group allied to al-Qaeda that they were behind the attack is a reminder that the country still faces an insurgency, says the BBC's Frank Gardner.
Reuters
In 2013, French forces managed to reverse the takeover of much of Mali by Islamist militants.
But it is a large country with porous borders and areas of ungoverned space in which jihadist groups have been able to hide and plan attacks, our correspondent says.
It has not been helped by the ease with which weapons can come across from Libya, nor by the proximity of a murderous insurgency in Nigeria.
There is as yet no established link with the attacks in Paris one week ago that killed 130 people.
In August, suspected Islamist gunmen killed 13 people, including five UN workers, during a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare.
France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened in the country in January 2013, when al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on Bamako after taking control of the north of the country.
The UN force in Mali took over responsibility for security in the country from French and African troops in July 2013, after the main towns in the north had been recaptured from the Islamist militants.
Militancy in Mali:
- October 2011: Ethnic Tuaregs launch rebellion after returning with arms from Libya
- March 2012: Army coup over government's handling of rebellion, a month later Tuareg and al-Qaeda-linked fighters seize control of north
- June 2012: Islamist groups capture Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao from Tuaregs, start to destroy Muslim shrines and manuscripts and impose Sharia
- January 2013: Islamist fighters capture a central town, raising fears they could reach Bamako. Mali requests French help
- July 2013: UN force, now totalling about 12,000, takes over responsibility for securing the north after Islamists routed from towns
- July 2014: France launches an operation in the Sahel to stem jihadist groups
- Attacks continue in northern desert area, blamed on Tuareg and Islamist groups
- 2015: Terror attacks in the capital, Bamako, and central Mali
Terror attacks: Belgium 'looking for several suspects'
Belgium's police forces are looking for several terror suspects, as the capital, Brussels, endures a second day of a security lockdown.
Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the current threat was greater than that posed by Salah Abdeslam, wanted for the Paris attacks.
Brussels is on its highest level of alert amid fears an attack.
The city was a base for the Paris attackers - Islamic State militants - who killed 130 people.
The security situation in Brussels is being reviewed and an announcement about whether the lockdown should continue is expected at 1700 local (1600 GMT).
Metro services remain suspended, and residents have been told to avoid crowds.
Soldiers are patrolling the streets as a manhunt continued for Salah Abdeslam, 26, a French national who lived in Brussels. Police describe him as armed and dangerous.
Friends said he was in the Brussels area and trying to get to Syria.
Interior Minister Jambon said the "terror threat in Belgium would not be over once Salah Abdeslam is out of harm's way".
"The threat is broader than the one suspected terrorist," he told Flemish broadcaster VRT.
Letter from Africa: When will Nigeria's leader visit Chibok?
(News from cnn.com) In our series of letters from African journalists, Sola Odunfa in Lagos argues that Nigeria's president has failed to show leadership over the Chibok abductions.
The date 14 April 2014 will not go away in a hurry from the memory of Nigerians. That was the day the militant Islamist group Boko Haram staged perhaps the most horrendous attack on the Nigerian nation since it launched its insurgency in 2009.
Early on that Monday morning the group detonated heavy explosives at a major bus station on the outskirts of the nation's capital Abuja in which at least 71 people were killed and hundreds more wounded.
President Goodluck Jonathan, quite appropriately, visited the scene of the explosion and commiserated with the victims. But the insurgents were not done.
The Abuja explosions were powerful, killing at least 71 people
A woman reacts as she sees victims of the blasts being brought to hospital
Security was tightened in Abuja after the attacks
Late that night, another unit of Boko Haram attacked a government-run girls' secondary school hundreds of kilometres away, in Chibok town in the north-eastern state of Borno. It abducted more than 200 of the girls from their hostels. The girls were preparing for the national secondary schools certificate examination.
'Working Nigeria'
The insurgents also killed a number of other people in the town, burnt houses and carted away foodstuff.
While news of the Chibok attack was breaking to Nigerians the following day, President Jonathan was shown on television joyfully addressing his ruling People's Democratic Party's (PDP) rally in Kano, the main city in the north. Many people criticized his visit as being insensitive to the plight of the victims.
Information Minister Labaran Maku promptly defended it.
"Going to Kano was a loud statement that terrorists would not stop this country from moving and from working," he said.
The statement could not have been better-said by the president's worst political enemy. Mr Jonathan is facing elections for a possible second term in 10 months' time. His public rating since the April attacks have reached an all-time low.
For the past week or so, women's groups and other non-governmental organisations have been staging demonstrations in Abuja and other cities, accusing the government of not doing enough to secure the release of the Chibok girls.
The public mood became angrier because of the confusion among security agencies about rescue efforts and the number of girls abducted.
A few days after the incident, the official spokesman of the army announced that troops had rescued 100 of the girls and that there were only eight left in captivity. Almost immediately the authorities in Borno state and the school contradicted the army's statement.
Visiting Chibok
They challenged the military to produce or state the whereabouts of the girls whom they claimed had been rescued, and said they were only aware of about 13 girls who had escaped on their own.
The girls were seized from their hostel late at night
Since then the military has refrained from making public statements about rescue operations. President Jonathan held a special meeting of the National Security Council to which non-members were invited. Whatever the government is doing militarily now has returned to secrecy, but there is no surfeit of tough talk by President Jonathan that the girls would be rescued safely and that "all those who took part in that act will surely pay for it".
Two Saturdays ago, Mr Jonathan staged a prayer breakfast where Benin's President Boni Yayi was his guest. The session was in honour of those killed by Boko Haram. Many relatives of the victims and other concerned Nigerians are however seeking solutions more potent than prayers.
Nigerians from across the spectrum have been outraged
Local hunters in the Chibok area led an expedition into Sambisa forest where the girls are believed to be held but they returned after villagers warned them of the viciousness of the abductors. Women's groups now say they are willing to go into the forest in search of the girls if nobody else would. It is a sad reflection of the confidence they have in President Jonathan's government.
Abuja is hosting a three-day summit, which will end on Friday, of the World Economic Forum for Africa. Many heads of government and business leaders from around the world are attending. In order to enhance security, all government offices and public schools in the capital city will be closed during the summit.
It suggests that the fate of the Chibok girls will assume a lower priority until the departure of the Their Excellencies. Perhaps then the president will find the time to visit Chibok.
President Goodluck Jonathan is hosting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other leaders at the summitNigeria abductions: Michelle Obama 'outraged'
US First Lady Michelle Obama has said the mass kidnap of Nigerian schoolgirls is part of a wider pattern of threats and intimidation facing girls around the world who pursue an education.
She said she and her husband Barack Obama were "outraged and heartbroken" over the abduction on 14 April of more than 200 girls from their school.
She was speaking instead of her husband in the weekly presidential address.
The Islamist militant group Boko Haram has claimed the abductions.
In the latest incident attributed to Boko Haram, residents said the group destroyed an important bridge near the area in north-eastern Nigeria where the girls were seized.
It is the second reported bridge attack in two days, and may indicate an attempt to limit access for anyone trying to rescue the captives, correspondents say.
'Call to action'
Mrs Obama, who was speaking ahead of Mother's Day in the US on Sunday, said the girls reminded her and her husband of their own daughters.
"What happened in Nigeria was not an isolated incident. It's a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions," she said.
She cited the Pakistani schoolgirl and campaigner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot and wounded by the Taliban for speaking out for girls' education.
"The courage and hope embodied by Malala and girls like her around the world should serve as a call to action," Mrs Obama said.
It is unusual for a US first lady to make outspoken foreign policy remarks, but Mrs Obama has campaigned for the girls' release.
Michelle Obama has often appeared alongside her husband during the weekly address, but this is the first time she has delivered the speech alone.
Earlier this week, she tweeted a picture of herself in the White House holding a sign with the message "#BringBackOurGirls".
The UN Security Council expressed outrage over the abductions, saying it would consider "appropriate measures" against Boko Haram. The US is seeking to have UN sanctions imposed on the group.
Michelle Obama has been actively campaigning for the release of the girls
US and British experts are in Nigeria to assist with rescue efforts.
A senior US official said Washington was also considering a Nigerian request for surveillance aircraft.
British High Commissioner Andrew Pocock said drones could help gather intelligence but urged caution.
He told the BBC's Today programme: "The eye in the sky, even if it were able to be focused on the spot, isn't a panacea."
Traditional hunters armed with bows and arrows and old-fashioned shotguns are ready to enter the forest where the girls are thought to be held, local officials in Borno state have told the BBC's Mark Doyle.
They say 400 to 500 men have gathered but their departure is not imminent - they still hope the army will step up its efforts.
Our correspondent says it is a sign of Nigerians' frustration with the lack of progress in the search.
Nigerian army spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade told the BBC the allegations of a lack of action were being made in order to discredit the military and there was no truth in them.
"This is not the first time we're hearing of hunters wanting to go into the forest. The military has always carefully utilised the support and understanding of locals ... and others who have vital knowledge and information that could enhance counter terrorism operations," he said.
Boko Haram has admitted capturing the girls, saying they should not have been in school and should get married instead.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language, began its insurgency in Borno state in 2009.
At least 1,200 people are estimated to have died in the violence this year alone.
Nigerians demand government do more to bring home kidnapped girls
Editor's note: Are you there? Share your story or photos.
Lagos, Nigeria (AFRICTALK) -- Nigerians took to the streets Thursday to demand the government do more to rescue scores of girls abducted by militants more than two weeks ago.
Militants seized about 230 girls in the dead of the night at a high school in the nation's far northeast, a hotbed for Islamist group Boko Haram.
Armed men herded the girls out of bed and forced them into trucks on April 16 in the town of Chibok. The convoy of trucks then disappeared into the dense forest bordering Cameroon.
Roughly 200 girls are still missing, although the authorities and parents differ on the number.
Nigerians have rallied for days to criticize the government's handling of the rescue efforts. Hundreds wept and chanted "bring back our girls" during protests in the capital of Abuja on Wednesday. A day later, protesters gathered in Lagos.
Shortly after the abductions last month, frustrated Chibok residents went into the forest in motorbikes to search for the girls.
During their nine-hour trek, they never saw a single soldier in the forest where authorities believe the militants took the girls, said Enoch Mark, whose daughter and two nieces were among the kidnapped.
"A total of 230 parents registered the names of their daughters who were missing on the day of the kidnap," said Asabe Kwambura, principal of the Government Girls Secondary School. "From my records, 43 girls have so far escaped on their own from their kidnappers. We still have 187 girls missing."
Angry relatives
In Chibok, angry parents accused authorities of playing politics with the lives of their children.
Witnesses have seen militants in dozens of vehicles headed to nearby Cameroon, said Ayuba Alamson, whose two nieces were among the kidnapped.
Nigeria's Defense Ministry released a statement Thursday saying it is committed to continuing its search.
"A lot of information has been received in the efforts at securing the freedom of the girls. The Armed Forces assures all Nigerians that it will continue to appraise every information received during this operation accordingly," it read.
"While it will not relent in its efforts in this search, the Armed Forces is mindful of the fact that some of the information with which it has been inundated are actually a ploy to distract it from its goal of dealing with terrorism and other violent crimes aimed at crippling the nation."
Borno state Education Commissioner Musa inuwa Kubo similarly said that the government and military are doing whatever it takes to secure their release.
"This is a delicate situation that requires careful handling," Kubo said. "When you have heavily armed men holding close to 200 girls hostage, you have to be very careful in your approach so as not to risk the safety of these girls you want to rescue.
He said authorities are withholding information for safety reasons.
"It is a security issue and we just can't be divulging all the efforts we are making to get these girls freed," the education commissioner said.
#BringBackOurGirls
But angry Nigerians said authorities are not doing enough. They took to social media using hashtag #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters to demand more from the government.
David Peter, a sound engineer, music producer and recording artist in Lagos, sent CNN an iReport in which he calls on the government to do more.
"If you're not safe anywhere in the world, you should be safe in your house, in your own back yard. We mandate the federal government to bring back our daughters, and our children," he said.
Boko Haram's name translates to "Western education is a sin" in the local language.
The group especially opposes the education of women. Under its version of Sharia law, women should be at home raising children and looking after their husbands, not at school learning to read and write.
Rights groups say the militants kidnap girls to perform chores and sexual services.
CNN's Vladimir Duthiers reported from Lagos, and Faith Karimi wrote and reported from Atlanta. CNN's Antonia Mortensen, Nana Karikari-apau and Millicent Smith contributed to this report.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
