Diane is a perfectionist. She enjoys searching the internet for the hottest events from around the world and writing an article about it. The details matter to her, so she makes sure the information is easy to read and understand. She likes traveling and history, especially ancient history. Being a very sociable person she has a blast having barbeque with family and friends.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has defended his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States after it was used in a propaganda video by Somali militant group al-Shabab.
Donald Trump said people had praised his courage in truthfully highlighting a “problem” that others preferred to ignore.
During an appearance on CBS News, Donald Trump said: “Now people are getting involved.”
The tycoon’s call, after San Bernardino shooting in which 14 people died, has been widely condemned.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump’s rhetoric was turning him into the “best recruiter” for ISIS.
A propaganda video by Al-Shabab, al-Qaeda’s Somali affiliate, used a clip of Donald Trump repeating his call at a campaign rally last month.
His appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation, to be shown on January 3, Donald Trump was questioned over how his comments had been framed by al-Shabab as an incentive for Muslims to join holy war.
“Look, there’s a problem,” Donald Trump said.
“I bring it up. Other people have called and say you have guts to bring it up because frankly it’s true and nobody wants to get involved.
“People that are on different persuasions than me right now are saying, you know, maybe Trump isn’t wrong. We want to examine it.”
The video, released by al-Shabab’s media wing, also urges African-Americans to convert to Islam and take part in holy war. It says racism, police brutality and anti-Muslim sentiment are rife in the US.
In recent years, several Somali-Americans from Minnesota have gone to fight for al-Shabab in Somalia.
Al-Shabab, which seeks to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government and impose a strict version of Sharia, has carried out attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Last month’s campaign statement from Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the United States until the authorities could “figure out what is going on”.
China is accused by Vietnam of violating its sovereignty by landing a plane on an artificial island built in a contested part of the South China Sea.
According to the Vietnamese foreign ministry, the airfield was built illegally on a part of the Spratly archipelago that lies within its territory.
China said it has complete sovereignty over Fiery Cross Reef and had used a civilian plane to test the airstrip.
Several nations dispute China’s territorial claims in the area.
China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, resulting in overlapping claims with several other Asian nations including Vietnam and the Philippines.
They accuse China of illegally reclaiming land in contested areas to create artificial islands with facilities that could potentially be for military use.
The US has said it was concerned that January 3 flight had exacerbated tensions.
Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said there was “a pressing need for claimants to publicly commit to a reciprocal halt to further land reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarization of disputed features”.
“We encourage all claimants to actively reduce tensions from unilateral actions that undermine regional stability, and taking steps to create space for meaningful diplomatic solutions to emerge,” Pooja Jhunjhunwala said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China conducted the flight to test whether the airfield facilities met the standards for civil aviation.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side,” Hua Chunying said, referring to the Spratly Islands by their Chinese name.
Hanoi’s foreign ministry said Vietnam handed a protest note to China’s embassy and asked China not to repeat the action, Reuters reported.
It called the flight “a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam on the Spratly archipelago”.
Satellite images published in April 2015 showed China making progress with building the airstrip on reclaimed land on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands.
The landmass could accommodate a runway about 3,000m long.
It also showed dredging to the south of the reef, in apparent work to improve the reef’s port facilities.
China says its work is legal and needed to safeguard its sovereignty.
Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota has been shot dead on her second day in office in the Mexican city.
Gisela Mota was killed at her home in Temixco, 50 miles south of the capital Mexico City, hours after taking her oath of office on January 1, police said.
Reports said Gisela Mota, a former federal congresswoman, was attacked by four gunmen. Police shot two of the attackers dead and arrested the others.
A motive for the killing is unclear. Several Mexican mayors were killed in 2015 by alleged drug traffickers.
Gisela Mota, who was in her early 30s, had promised to try to clean up Temixco, an industrial city where problems associated with drugs and organized crime are rife.
President Barack Obama has announced he will take unilateral action to tackle the gun violence in the United States.
In his first weekly address of 2016, Barack Obama said he would meet Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss actions he could take.
Barack Obama said he was using his executive powers as president because the US Congress has failed to address the problem.
Analysts say there will be a backlash from gun activists and Republicans.
However, Barack Obama told Americans that he had received too many letters from parents, and teachers, and children, to sit around and do nothing.
“We know that we can’t stop every act of violence,” he said.
“But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something – anything – to protect our kids from gun violence?”
Barack Obama has admitted that his inability to win Congressional backing for what he called “common sense gun laws” was the greatest frustration of his presidency.
The president could use his executive authority in several areas, including expanding new background check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume dealers.
However, he is likely to face stiff opposition to his plans.
The National Rifle Association has already launched a video series attacking gun control activists.
In Texas, a new “open carry law” will allow Texans with a permit to wear handguns on their hips in holsters – openly displaying the fact they are armed.
Last month a Texas police chief warned the president that trying to disarm Americans could spark a revolution.
Previous efforts to introduce stricter gun control laws have repeatedly foundered despite the large number of people dying in gun attacks.
A joint Democrat-Republican bill following the 2012 shooting of 20 children and six adults at a primary school in Connecticut failed to get the 60 votes needed to broaden background checks and ban assault weapons.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has confirmed that he will seek re-election for a third term in 2017.
The announcement was expected after a referendum approved constitutional changes to allow him to run for three further terms and could potentially see him to stay in power until 2034.
Paul Kagame said Rwandans had made clear they wanted him to lead the country after 2017, and he could only accept.
He has dominated Rwandan politics since his rebel army ended the 1994 genocide.
Last month’s referendum result means Paul Kagame can run for a third seven-year term in 2017 and then two further five-year terms.
In his New Year’s address at midnight, Paul Kagame, 58, said Rwanda did not need a president for life, and that someone else would take over sooner rather than later.
“You requested me to lead the country again after 2017. Given the importance and consideration you attach to this, I can only accept.
“But I don’t think that what we need is an eternal leader,” he said.
Part of the president’s New Year’s message was directed towards his critics abroad.
Paul Kagame was clearly telling them that democracy was at work in Rwanda and that he was only responding to the people’s wishes.
The US and the EU have said Paul Kagame should step down in 2017 to allow a new generation of leaders to emerge.
They also denounced the results of the referendum, saying voters were not given enough time to make informed decisions.
Paul Kagame has received widespread praise for bringing economic development to Rwanda, but critics have also accused him of a heavy-handed rule.
Rights groups accuse the government of stifling the media and political opposition.
Paul Kagame became acting president in 2000 and was then elected in 2003 and 2010. However, he has effectively held power since 1994, when his rebel force entered the capital, Kigali, to end the country’s genocide.
Dubai authorities are trying to find out what caused a spectacular fire to engulf a 63-storey luxury hotel in the city center on New Year’s Eve.
Firefighters managed to subdue the fire, but part of the Address Downtown Hotel is still smoldering.
A significant fire is still visible on the 20th floor, where the blaze apparently started.
The tower was evacuated and 16 people were hurt. But a fireworks show went ahead at the Burj Khalifa tower nearby.
The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building and an iconic symbol of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Photo Reuters
Streets around the Address Downtown Hotel have been cordoned off, but boulevards around the Burj Khalifa are open.
The fire broke out at about 21:30 local time on December 31 and appeared to engulf much of the Address Downtown, a five-star hotel and apartment complex, within 10 minutes.
Four teams of firefighters battled the blaze for hours, officials said.
The Dubai government tweeted that 14 people had suffered minor injuries, one moderate injuries and there was one “heart attack case” due to “overcrowding and smoke”.
The fireworks display went ahead as smoke continued to billow from the hotel.
Alternative accommodation would be offered to evacuated guests, the Dubai government said.
New Year celebrations have begun across the world, with revelers in Australia and New Zealand among the first to welcome 2016.
Crowds counted down the last seconds of 2015 at Auckland’s Sky Tower in New Zealand with a laser show and fireworks display.
Up to 25,000 people had been expected to turn up for the festivities.
In Australia, fireworks lit up Sydney harbor at midnight. A million were expected to turn up.
New Zealand welcomed in 2016 an hour after Samoa and Kiribati, the first countries to ring in the New Year.
As the New Year sweeps across Asia, major cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing will kick off their own celebrations.
In Egypt, festivities will be staged in front of the pyramids near Cairo, as the government works to revive its tourist industry.
Meanwhile, in Dubai, an extravagant display will illuminate the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, with 400,000 LED lights and 1.6 tons of fireworks set to be used.
In Europe, approximately one million people will countdown at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany’s capital, Berlin.
Despite security fears across the continent, many major public events are going ahead, though with heightened security restrictions.
In Madrid, only 25,000 people will be allowed into the Puerta del Sol Square. More than 100,000 people are expected to watch the Mayor of London’s fireworks show, a ticketed event.
Over in Sierra Leone, the declared end of Ebola will mark a return to festivities, after Freetown, the capital, was left deserted a year ago due to the disease’s outbreak.
As 2016 finally reaches the Americas, up to a million people are expected to converge on Times Square in New York, amid tight security, to watch the famous ball descend.
On Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, crowds will not only mark the New Year – they will also fete the 100th anniversary of Samba music, and the upcoming summer Olympics.
South Africa’s King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has begun a 12-year prison sentence for kidnapping, assault and arson.
King Dalindyebo, who is a nephew of the late Nelson Mandela, reported to prison after his legal attempts to overturn his conviction failed.
The case against King Dalindyebo was related to a dispute he had with some of his subjects about 20 years ago.
He comes from the Thembu clan, to which Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, belonged.
King Dalindyebo, 51, is the first monarch to be jailed in South Africa since minority rule ended in 1994.
He ascended to the throne in 1989, and has about 700,000 subjects.
South Africa has 10 officially recognized monarchs representing different ethnic groups and clans.
They play a largely ceremonial role, and attend to minor disputes within their communities.
King Dalindyebo was accused of kidnapping a woman and her six children, setting their home on fire and beating up four youths, one of whom died, because one of their relatives had failed to present himself before the king’s traditional court.
He handed himself to prison authorities in the eastern city of Mthatha in compliance with a court order after a judge refused to extend his bail on December 30, the justice ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, Justice Minister Michael Masutha turned down his request for a retrial, saying there was no legal justification for doing so.
King Dalindyebo had maintained his innocence, saying he disciplined his subjects under customary law.
Sentencing him in October, the Supreme Court of Appeal said: “His behavior was all the more deplorable because the victims of his reign of terror were the vulnerable rural poor, who were dependent upon him. Our constitution does not countenance such behavior.
“We are a constitutional democracy in which everyone is accountable and where the most vulnerable are entitled to protection.”
Many people feel King Dalindyebo has disgraced the royal family, and that he will be hard-pressed to find any sympathy, correspondents say.
There is already talk of his son, Prince Azenethi Dalindyebo, being crowned as the next monarch.
King Dalindyebo defected from the governing African National Congress (ANC) to the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party during his legal battles.
The DA revoked King Dalindyebo’s membership following the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Rivers in Midwest brought flood warnings for over 12 million people on December 30 as scores of buildings were submerged after days of intense rain in which 24 people have died.
Two rivers west of St. Louis crested at historic levels, flooding local towns, disabling sewer plants and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
Major rivers including the Mississippi are expected to reach record highs as flood waters rush toward the Gulf of Mexico, the National Weather Service said.
The flooding has closed many roads and parts of I-44, a major artery running from west Texas to St. Louis. It poses a threat to livestock and crops in farm areas stretching from Illinois to Louisiana.
Water rose to the rooftops of homes and businesses in Missouri, where Governor Jay Nixon called the flooding “historic and dangerous”.
Jay Nixon spoke with President Barack Obama on December 30 and received a pledge of federal support.
About 300 people in Valley Park, Missouri, west of St. Louis, were evacuated in case a levee is breached on the Meramec River, said Chief Rick Wilken of the Valley Park Fire District.
At least 24 people have died, mostly from driving into flooded areas, in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Oklahoma after days of downpours with as much as 12 inches of rain.
In Eureka, Missouri, along the Meramec River, Mayor Kevin Coffey said a man was rescued from atop the cab of his pick-up truck after spending the night in a parking lot to watch over his gun shop business.
Historic floods on the Mississippi in 1993, 1995 and 2011 occurred during warm weather, after snow melts in the north.
While the rains have stopped for now, freezing weather is setting in.
Agriculture experts said water standing more than a week could kill the soft red winter wheat crop. Export premiums for corn and soybeans were at their highest levels in weeks because of stalled barge traffic on swollen rivers.
Former New York Governor George Pataki has pulled out of the race for the Republican nomination.
Correspondents say George Pataki has failed to make any impact in the polls.
In a tweet on December 29, George Pataki said he was suspending his campaign but was “confident we can elect the right person”.
George Pataki launched his campaign in May, positioning himself as a moderate in a heavily conservative field.
However, he has barely registered in state or national polls and was not eligible to take part in televised debates involving the high-profile candidates.
Bruce Breton, a member of George Pataki’s New Hampshire steering committee, said the former governor had told him on Tuesday that he would be leaving the race.
He said George Pataki’s campaign had struggled to win media attention or to raise funds.
“He said he couldn’t get any traction. He worked hard, it’s just a different type of year,” Bruce Breton said.
Donald Trump has announced he is planning to spend $2 million a week on campaign advertising.
The Republican presidential hopeful said he would bring out “substantial” adverts in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina ahead of primary elections in February.
Photo AP
Donald Trump, a property tycoon, has previously said that he is funding his campaign himself and wouldn’t be in the pocket of lobbyists or powerful corporate entities. He has also insisted that he has spent very little on his campaign so far, and yet is the frontrunner.
“I’ll be spending a minimum of $2 million a week and perhaps substantially more,” Donald Trump said in a video broadcast on CNN.
“I’m going to be doing big ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and they’re going to be very substantial.”
Donald Trump’s campaign so far has been marked by a series of controversial statements.
The billionaire, who has no political experience, leads the polls nationally among Republican voters, and is also ahead in some key states.
The primary contests begin at the start of February and the presidential election is in November.
Kim Yang-gon, a top aide to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has died in a car crash on December 29, state news agency KCNA has said.
Kim Yang-gon, 73, was the director of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers’ Party and was in charge of ties with South Korea.
He was part of a high-level delegation from North Korea that helped ease a stand-off with South Korea in August, after an exchange of artillery fire.
KCNA called Kim Yang-gon Kim Jong-un’s “closest comrade and a solid revolutionary partner”.
“Comrade Kim Yang-gon, a Workers’ Party secretary and member of the party Central Committee Politbureau… died in a traffic accident at 6:15AM, Tuesday, at age 73,” KCNA said, without giving details.
It added that Kim Jong-un would lead an 80-member state funeral for Kim Yang-gon on December 31.
Tension between North Korea and South Korea increased in August when a border blast injured two South Korean soldiers.
Meetings at that time eventually led to the two Koreas stepping away from a military confrontation.
Kim Ynag-gon was succeeded by Jun-Scol Nic as director of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party.
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has denied murder over the death of black teenager Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times in 2014.
Jason Van Dyke was heckled as he arrived at court where he denied six counts of first-degree murder.
Video released earlier this year showing the shooting of Laquan McDonald sparked an outcry and the resignation of the chief of police.
A federal investigation into Chicago’s police is under way amid a national debate about the police use of force.
The inquiry will explore whether race plays a part in the police use of force and whether officers are properly held accountable.
Laquan McDonald, who was 17 at the time, was armed with a knife when he was stopped by police.
The dashcam footage showed him moving away from police when Officer Jason Van Dyke opened fire.
Days of protests followed the release of the video, which President Barack Obama said was “disturbing”.
There were calls for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy quit his job.
On December 26, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city “deserved answers” after a police officer accidentally shot and killed a 55-year-old woman when responding to a domestic disturbance.
Selahattin Demirtas’ call for Kurdish autonomy has been condemned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “treason”.
Recep Tayip Erdogan said, referring to Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP): “What the co-leader has done is treason, provocation.”
At the weekend the HDP and other pro-Kurdish groups called for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east.
Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into those comments.
The Turkish military has stepped up operations against the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule. The army says it has killed more than 200 PKK militants in the latest fighting.
The PKK is regarded as a “terrorist” organization by Turkey, the US and EU.
The HDP won 59 seats in Turkey’s 550-seat parliament in the November 1 elections. It came third, behind Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Speaking on December 29, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Selahattin Demirtas and other Kurdish leaders would be “taught a lesson” by the people and the law.
He accused Selahattin Demirtas of challenging Article 14 of the constitution, which bans activities deemed to “violate the indivisible integrity of the state”.
On December 27, Selahattin Demirtas backed a declaration by a Kurdish umbrella group – the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) – which called for “autonomous regions” and “self-governance bodies”.
The declaration, issued in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, said the “rightful resistance” of Kurds against Turkish state policies “is essentially a demand and struggle for local self-governance and local democracy”.
It called for the “formation of autonomous regions, to involve several neighboring provinces in consideration of cultural, economic and geographic affinities”.
The PKK has been battling the Turkish military for three decades, in a separatist conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.
Israel’s ex-PM Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for bribery.
Ehud Olmert, 70, had been sentenced to six years by a lower court in 2014, but this was reduced by the Supreme Court.
He was convicted over a real estate deal that took place while he served as mayor of Jerusalem, prior to becoming prime minister in 2006.
Ehud Olmert, who stepped down in 2009, will become the first former Israeli head of government to go to prison.
He is due to begin his sentence on February 15.
The Supreme Court acquitted Ehud Olmert of receiving a 500,000-shekel ($130,000) bribe from the developers of Holyland, a controversial block of flats in Jerusalem, after he appealed against the March 2014 conviction.
A separate conviction of illicitly taking a 60,000-shekel payment for another project was upheld.
Ehud Olmert said following the ruling: “A heavy weight was lifted from my chest today, when the Supreme Court exonerated me of the main charge, of Holyland.
“No bribe was ever offered to me and I never accepted one.”
Several other government officials and businesspeople were convicted alongside Ehud Olmert in 2014.
The judge at the time said he was guilty of “moral turpitude”.
In a separate case, Ehud Olmert was sentenced earlier this year to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust for accepting illegal payments from an American businessman.
The Supreme Court is yet to rule on Ehud Olmert’s appeal in that case.
Chicago police “accidentally struck and tragically killed” a mother of five after responding to a domestic disturbance, department officials say.
Bettie Jones, 55, was killed along with her neighbor, 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier, who was the reason for the police call-out on December 26.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said an investigation had been launched.
The city’s police department is already the subject of a federal investigation over its use of force.
It follows the killing of a black teenager by a white officer in 2014.
Photo WFLD-TV
December 26 double shooting happened in the early hours. Antonio LeGrier told the Chicago Sun-Times that he had returned home to find his son, who had mental health issues, in an agitated state.
Antonio LeGrier said he called the police, and warned his neighbor Bettie Jones, who lived on the floor below, about what was going on.
When the police arrived, the man said, he heard gunshots and found his son and Bettie Jones lying in the foyer.
Chicago Police Department said in a statement that “upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon, fatally wounding two individuals.
“The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in a statement, said: “Anytime an officer uses force the public deserves answers, and regardless of the circumstances, we all grieve anytime there is a loss of life in our city.”
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced earlier this month that a federal investigation into the Chicago Police Department would focus on whether there was a racial dimension to its use of force and its accountability procedures for officers involved in the use of force.
According to the Better Government Association, Chicago police shot 240 people between 2010 and 2014, or about one per week. Seventy of those people died and of those, two-thirds were African American.
Loretta Lynch’s announcement came after weeks of protest which followed the release of video footage, showing the moment a police officer opened fire on 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, shooting him 16 times, in 2014.
Former El Salvador soccer player Alfredo Pacheco has been shot dead in the city of Santa Ana, 47 miles west of the capital San Salvador, officials say.
A man approached Alfredo Pacheco, 33, and fired several shots at a petrol station.
Police say two other people were injured in the attack, the motive of which is being investigated.
Pacheco, who was El Salvador’s most-capped player, was banned for life in 2013 for match-fixing.
Pacheco and another 13 members of the national team were found guilty of receiving bribes to lose several matches between 2010 and 2013.
He played 86 times for his country.
For years, El Salvador has had one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Earlier this month, Honduran international footballer Arnold Peralta, 26, was shot dead while on holiday in his hometown.
Argentine activist Maria Isabel Mariani, known as Chicha ,who spent nearly half of her life looking for her missing granddaughter will need to resume her search after a case of mistaken identity.
Chicha Mariani, 92, announced on December 24 that she had finally met her granddaughter.
Clara Anahi Mariani Teruggi was abducted by the military in 1976.
But a prosecutor working on the case said Chicha Mariani had been introduced to the wrong woman.
The announcement on December 24 was hailed as another triumph for the campaign group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which was formed to reunite families with their missing children.
Even President Mauricio Macri celebrated the news on his Twitter account. He tweeted: “I want to wish Chicha Mariani, her granddaughter, and all the family a happy Christmas reunion.”
On December 26, DNA tests were released showing that the woman Chicha Mariani met was not her missing granddaughter.
“There is no genetic match between Ms Mariani and her alleged granddaughter,” said prosecutor Pablo Parenti, Head of the Attorney General’s Unit for Cases of Child Appropriation.
Chicha Mariani founded her own organization, the Anahi Foundation, which includes one of her granddaughter’s names, after stepping down as president of the Grandmothers in 1989.
Results from an official bank of genetic samples were negative.
Chicha Mariani, who is nearly blind, is devastated, said Anahi Foundation spokesman Juan Martin Ramos Padilla.
“It was a hard blow for Chicha,” he said, adding that she is determined to carry on.
“She is 92 and will continue searching for her granddaughter. We just hope to be able to find her.”
Chicha Mariani’s granddaughter was abducted 39 years ago at just three months old.
Her parents, Daniel Mariani and Diana Teruggi, were members of the Montoneros left-wing group.
The baby was taken from their home in an operation in which Diana Teruggi was killed.
Chicha Mariani’s son, Daniel, escaped but went into hiding and was killed a few months later.
There is no suggestion that the woman who met Chicha Mariani had attempted to deceive her. The Buenos Aires Herald identified her as Maria Elena Wehrli.
Maria Elena Wehrli arrived at Chicha Mariani’s house on Christmas Eve with the results of a DNA test carried out by a private laboratory,” said prosecutor Pablo Parenti.
“The National Genetic Database is the only body authorized to determine the identity in these cases,” he added.
The Grandmothers encourage children who were born during the military government, between 1976 and 1983, and have any doubts over their identity to come forward and do a DNA test.
The organization has already reunited 119 children to their families, the most recent last month.
Most pregnant women arrested by Argentina’s secret police were killed shortly after giving birth.
Some 500 children were abducted from their mothers in captivity.
They were often given for adoption for non-communist families. In other cases they were just handed over to orphanages.
Some of the adoptive parents knew of their children’s backgrounds, but many of them did not.
Some 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed during more than seven years of military rule in Argentina.
Benin’s PM Lionel Zinsou walked away unscathed after the helicopter in which he was traveling crashed, his daughter said.
It is unclear why the helicopter carrying Lionel Zinsou crash-landed at a stadium in the country’s northwest.
“My father is fine. There were no victims in the helicopter accident in Djougou,” Marie-Cecile Zinsou tweeted.
Earlier this month, Lionel Zinsou confirmed he would run as a candidate in Benin’s 2016 presidential elections.
Photo AP
The helicopter crashed while landing at a stadium in the city of Djougou, a spokesman for Benin’s interior ministry Leonce Houngbadji told the AFP news agency.
He said no-one in the helicopter was hurt.
Lionel Zinsou, a former private-equity executive, was appointed prime minister of Benin in June.
He has said he will run for president in February 2016 election as a candidate of the ruling Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE) party.
Lionel Zinsou’s announcement put an end to speculation Benin’s president Thomas Boni Yayi was seeking a third term, Reuters reported in early December.
China has expelled French journalist Ursula Gauthier over an article she wrote that was critical of Beijing’s policy towards Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Beijing confirmed it would not renew press credentials for Ursula Gauthier, of the French news magazine L’Obs.
It said an article Ursula Gauthier wrote about the unrest in Xinjiang supported “terrorism and cruel acts” that had killed people.
Ursula Gauthier called the claims “absurd” and said Beijing was trying to deter foreign reporters in the country.
If her press card is not renewed, Ursula Gauthier cannot apply for a new visa, and will have to leave China by December 31.
Ursula Gauthier would be the first foreign journalist to be expelled since al-Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan in 2012.
Photo AP
China blames the long-running unrest in western autonomous Xinjiang region on Islamist separatists, many of whom it says have foreign ties.
However, Xinjiang’s ethnic Uighurs, most of whom are Muslim, say Beijing’s repression of their religious and cultural customs is provoking the violence.
Ursula Gauthier published her article after the attacks in Paris in November, suggesting China’s solidarity with France might have an ulterior motive – to justify its own crackdowns in Xinjiang.
The article triggered condemnation from the Chinese government and state media, which demanded an apology and retraction from her.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed on December 26 it would not renew Ursula Gauthier’s press card, saying she had failed to make a “serious apology” to the Chinese people and was no longer “suitable” to continue working in the country.
“China will never support the freedom to champion terrorism,” the ministry said.
The foreign ministry complained of what bit termed a double standard, whereby tough action in the West was called anti-terrorism but in China was described as the repression of ethnic minorities.
About 50 people are missing and feared dead after a landslide hit a jade mining region in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state.
A search for survivors and bodies is continuing after Christmas Day accident in the area around Hpakant, officials say.
In November 2015, more than 100 people were killed in the same area after a massive landslide.
Jade mining produces piles of waste rock. Itinerant workers climb the heaps to search for the gem stone.
The Bangkok Post quoted Hpakant official Tint Swe Myint as saying five bodies had already been found.
“According to witnesses, about 50 people are still missing,” he said.
However, Myo Htet Aung, another local official, told the AFP news agency that “just three or four people are missing at the moment” and no bodies were found at the site.
In November’s disaster, many of those killed were people who made their living scavenging on or near the waste dumps left by large-scale industrial mining firms.
In a report in October, advocacy group Global Witness said the value of jade produced in 2014 alone was $31 billion – the equivalent of nearly half of Myanmar’s (Burma’s) GDP – yet hardly any of the money was reaching ordinary people or state coffers.
Local people in mining areas accuse the industry of a series of abuses, including poor on-site health and safety and frequent land confiscations.
A bushfire on Christmas Day has destroyed more than 100 homes in Australia’s Victoria state, officials say.
Ninety eight homes had been razed in Wye River and 18 at Separation Creek, officials say. No injuries are reported.
Hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blaze along the famous Great Ocean Road in Victoria’s south-west, popular with holidaymakers.
A change to cooler weather and rain has greatly reduced the threat, but some emergency warnings remain in place.
Some 1,600 residents and tourists from the popular tourist spot of Lorne were evacuated on December 25 amid fears that a wind change would push the fire towards the town, but were allowed to return on December 26.
Many of those forced to leave their homes had to spend Christmas night in hastily-arranged shelters.
More than 500 firefighters, 60 tankers and 18 aircraft have been involved in fighting the flames.
Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said they were “working around the clock to bring this fire under control”.
Craig Lapsley warned that although the immediate threat had eased, the fire had the “potential to burn” for weeks to come.
Thousands of tourists typically descend on the area in the days after Christmas to visit coastal towns.
Many residents and holidaymakers were forced to flee, as festivities were abandoned when the scale of the threat became apparent.
Anyone still planning to travel to the area is being asked to check emergency warnings and to avoid the Great Ocean Road if possible.
The Falls Music and Arts Festival, which is held annually near Lorne, may not go ahead because of the fires, its organizers said.
The fire began with a lightning strike on December 19 and has been fanned by strong winds and intense heat in recent days, burning across 5,437 acres so far.
Victoria is one of the most fire-prone regions in the world.
Many bushfires are started by lightning strikes, while others are sparked accidentally by campers or discarded cigarettes.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly stopped a man from committing suicide.
According to his office, the president talked the man out of jumping off the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
The man had climbed over a railing on the Bosphorus Bridge linking Europe with Asia and was threatening to kill himself.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s motorcade was crossing the bridge at the time.
Photo TRT World
TV pictures showed Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s staff asking the sobbing man to talk to the president. After a few moments, he was escorted to safety.
The man was suffering depression due to family problems, and police had been trying to prevent him from jumping for some two hours, the Dogan news agency reported.
Footage shows officials persuading him to go and talk to the president in his car.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not leave his car, and he speaks to the man with his mobile phone pressed to his ear.
An official from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office told Associated Press news agency he had promised to help him.
Dozens of people are reported killed in an explosion at an industrial gas plant in south-eastern Nigeria.
A truck is said to have exploded as it was off-loading butane cooking gas in the town of Nnewi in Anambra State.
Reports of fatalities vary from 35 to more than 100 people killed, including factory workers and neighbors.
Local police have confirmed the incident but have yet to provide further details. A huge fire reportedly followed the blast.
The dead and injured were taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi which has a predominantly Christian community.
Witnesses said people had gone to the plant to fill up gas bottles ready to cook meals on Christmas day.
A reporter for Associated Press counted the remains of 100 bodies.
Another witness told the Vanguard newspaper that the blast was triggered when a truck began discharging cooking gas without waiting for the mandatory cooling time.
Passersby were also caught up in the explosion, the newspaper reported.
Witnesses described a huge fire with acrid black smoke hovering over the scene of the disaster.
Pope Francis has denounced materialism in his annual Christmas homily.
The pontiff has warned the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics not to be “intoxicated” by possessions.
Pope Francis called for more sobriety in a world obsessed by “consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance”.
The Pope was celebrating a Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in front of about 10,000 people.
On December 25, Pope Francis will deliver his traditional Christmas message from the central balcony of St Peter’s Square.
Celebrating Mass, the Pope said Christmas was the time to “once more discover who we are”.
He called on believers to show the same simplicity as the child Jesus, “born into poverty in a manger despite his divinity” to inspire their lives.
“In a society so often intoxicated by consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance, appearances and narcissism, this child calls us to act soberly, in other words, in a way that is simple, balanced, consistent, capable of seeing and doing what is essential,” he said.
“Amid a culture of indifference which not infrequently turns ruthless, our style of life should instead be devout, filled with empathy, compassion and mercy.”
Security was tight at the service with police carrying out spot checks in the area surrounding the Vatican. Everyone who went into the basilica, the largest church in Christendom, had to pass through metal detectors.
Correspondents say Pope Francis used his homily to reflect the key themes of three years in office – mercy, compassion, empathy and justice.
“In a world which all too often is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin, we need to cultivate a strong sense of justice, to discern and to do God’s will,” he said.
Pope Francis’ voice was occasionally hoarse – the effect of a slight flu earlier this week.
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