BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi forces on Saturday, December 26, clashed with diehard jihadists from the Islamic State (ISIS) group defending the former government complex in the heart of the city of Ramadi.

After a major push on Tuesday that broke ISIS defenses around the city center, government forces have been slowed by snipers, booby traps, roadside bombs and suicide attackers.

While initial hopes of a quick victory have faded, Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) and the army have advanced steadily through the devastated capital of Anbar province.

They reached a key intersection in the Hoz neighborhood, home to the government complex, whose recapture would go a long way towards ensuring a full recapture of Ramadi.

"CTS has cleared Hoz neighborhood in central Ramadi completely and arrived near the government complex," the force's spokesman Sabah al-Numan told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Iraq's war media cell, which speaks on behalf of the interior and defense ministries as well as the paramilitary groups fighting against ISIS, said the jihadists' use of improvised explosive devices had forced a shift in strategy.

"The plan was to enter Hoz from Dhubbat but because of the mines, CTS changed tack and came in from the river bank," a statement said.

The latest fighting around the government complex left at least two members of the Iraqi security forces dead and nine wounded, according to Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a police captain.

At least three were killed on Friday, according to several senior officers and local officials.

The figures they provide for ISIS casualties are high, with at least 23 killed on Friday alone.

The number of ISIS fighters hunkered down in central Ramadi was estimated at the start of the operation 5 days ago at no more than 400.

"You have the 8th Iraqi army and CTS... and they're all pushing forward," said Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US-led coalition which has been supporting Iraqi forces in Ramadi with daily air strikes.

"CTS have made more progress, they're several hundred meters (yards) closer to the government complex," Warren said.

The advance by the government forces has also been hampered by the possible presence of dozens of families trapped in the combat zone and used by ISIS as human shields.

Government forces held off months of ISIS assaults in Ramadi until May 2015, when the jihadists blitzed their opponents with massive suicide car bombs and seized full control of the city.

That defeat was Baghdad's worst in the war against ISIS, and a victory now would provide a welcome boost to the much-criticized federal forces. – Rappler.com

KANO, Nigeria – At least 14 people were killed and several others injured by Boko Haram gunmen in a Christmas Day attack on a village in northeastern Nigeria, vigilantes said Saturday, December 25.

Attacking astride bicycles, the jihadists invaded Kimba village in flashpoint Borno state around 10:00 pm on Friday, opening fire on residents and torching their homes. 

"The gunmen killed 14 people and burnt the whole village before they fled," Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian assisting the military in fighting Boko Haram, told Agence France-Presse.

"Not a single house was spared in the arson," another vigilante, Musa Suleiman, said after visiting the razed village.

Hundreds of Kimba residents fled to Biu nearby, where they were put up in a refugee camp already brimming with people running from Boko Haram. 

The attack comes just days before Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's self-imposed deadline to stamp out the group expires on December 31 and in the same week he said that Nigeria has "technically" defeated the jihadists. 

Buhari took office in May vowing to end the six-year insurgency that has killed over 17,000 people and spooked much-needed investors in Africa's largest economy and foremost oil producer.

Nigerian troops have won back territory from Boko Haram, but in response the jihadists have increasingly resorted to suicide bombers – many of them young children – to wage war for an independent Islamic state.

The militants have damaged what little infrastructure existed in the country's underdeveloped north at a time when the government is facing a cash crunch as a result of the free-falling oil price.

According to the Global Terrorism Index, a report released by the New York-based Institute for Economics and Peace, it "has become the most deadly terrorist group in the world".

The UN children's agency said this week that over one million Nigerian schoolchildren have been kept out of school because of the conflict, warning that the lack of education will fuel radicalisation in and around Nigeria. 

The jihadists have allied themselves with the Islamic State group, but experts doubt the scale and scope of the collaboration. 

Still, there are growing fears that a once localized hardline Muslim movement is morphing into a regional jihadist threat as Boko Haram launches attacks on Nigeria's neighbors Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

LONDON, United Kingdom – Heavy rains triggered floods in parts of northern England on Saturday, December 26, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes and the deployment of army personnel to shore up overwhelmed defenses.

Lancashire in northwest England and Yorkshire in the northeast were the worst affected, with environment officials issuing more than 300 alerts in those areas, including 31 warnings of possible deadly floods.

The Met Office national weather service issued its most serious "red warning", which calls on those in areas at risk to take action.

Around 10,000 homes in the region were without power after a substation was damaged, and many elderly and other vulnerable people were rescued from inundated homes by lifeboat.

In some areas water reached the lower windows of houses and shops, turning high streets into muddy waterways, and  cars were abandoned after narrow country lanes turned into fast-flowing streams.

Underscoring the severity of the deluge, Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to visit the flood-hit region on Monday, December 28, after chairing an emergency government COBRA committee meeting on Sunday, December 27.

An emergency meeting had also been held on Christmas Day.

"My thoughts are with people whose homes have been flooded. I'll chair a COBRA call tomorrow to ensure everything is being done to help," Cameron tweeted.

Officials are under pressure after similar flooding earlier this month in northwest England.

The floods in Cumbria caused damage estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds and turned many towns and villages into swamps, prompting angry accusations that the government had failed to spend enough on flood defenses. – Rappler.com

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his anti-migrant comments, on Saturday called the current wave of refugees to Europe "an organized invasion," and that young men from Syria and Iraq should instead "take up arms" against the (ISIS) group.

"I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees," said Zeman in his Christmas message to the Czech Republic released Saturday.

He went on to say that compassion was "possible" for refugees who are old or sick and for children, but not for young men who in his view should be back home fighting against jihadists.

"A large majority of the illegal migrants are young men in good health, and single. I wonder why these men are not taking up arms to go fight for the freedom of their countries against the Islamic State," said Zeman, who was elected Czech president in early 2013.

He added that their fleeing their war-torn countries only serves to strengthen the ISIS group.

The 71-year-old evoked a comparison to the situation of Czechs who left their country when it was under Nazi occupation (1939-1945) in order to "fight to liberate the country and not to receive social benefits in Great Britain."

It's not the first time Zeman has taken a controversial stance on Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.

In November, the leftwinger attended an anti-Islam rally in Prague in the company of far-right politicians and a paramilitary unit.

The country's Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who has previously criticised the head of state's comments, said Zeman's Christmas message was based "on prejudices and his habitual simplification of things."

A recent survey showed that nearly 70 percent of Czechs oppose the arrival of migrants and refugees in their country. – Rappler.com

CHICAGO, USA – Millions of residents in the southern United States struggled Saturday, December 26, to recover from fierce storms and floods that officials say have left at least 17 people dead in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.

With more severe weather expected across the central United States, forecasters are warning of airport delays and flooded roads as travelers return home after the Christmas holiday. 

Feeding on unseasonably warm air, storms left a trail of destruction in rural communities from Alabama to Illinois.

More than a dozen tornadoes were reported Friday in six southern states.

In Alabama, where Governor Robert Bentley has declared a state of emergency to deal with the heavy flooding, tornadoes uprooted trees and tore off rooftops, with one touching down in Birmingham, the state's most populous city. 

"The damage was ... confined to approximately one square mile," Birmingham Fire Department Chief Charles Gordon told CNN. "We have 3 houses that collapsed."

No one died, but Gordon said victims were rescued from the debris.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Georgia counterpart Nathan Deal also declared states of emergency in counties affected by the weather.

In Mississippi, 10 people were confirmed dead on Saturday, the state emergency management agency said on Twitter. About 60 others were injured, it said.

Among the dead was a 7-year-old boy killed when a storm picked up and tossed the car he was traveling in, fire chief Kenny Holbrook told reporters in the town of Holly Springs.

Six fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee, including 3 people found dead Thursday, December 24, in a car submerged in a creek, according to the fire department in Columbia, Tennessee.

Another person was killed in Arkansas.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service warned that while the heaviest rain was over for the southeastern United States, the central and southern plains states, especially Arkansas and Missouri, were now in for severe thunderstorms.

Flash flooding could be a "serious concern" from northeast Texas into Missouri, they said.

Flood warnings and advisories remained in effect Saturday in parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and other areas in the southeast.

The East Coast meanwhile was enjoying unseasonably warm weather, with record-setting temperatures during Christmas week in New York and Washington. – Rappler.com

DAMASCUS, Syria – The United Nations hopes to convene peace talks between Syria's government and opposition on January 25, it said Saturday, December 26, a day after the killing of a powerful rebel leader who supported negotiations.

The death of opposition chief Zahran Alloush also appeared to derail a plan to evacuate thousands of jihadists and civilians from southern Damascus.

Alloush, 44, was the commander of Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam), the predominant opposition faction in the Eastern Ghouta rebel bastion east of Damascus.

The group has remained firmly opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group. 

A senior member of Jaish al-Islam said planes had targeted a "secret meeting" of commanders, confirming Alloush was among those killed.

Syria's regime claimed responsibility for his death, which was seen as dealing a heavy blow to the nearly 5-year uprising and also complicating the fragile peace process.

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura's office said he has "intensified efforts" to convene talks on January 25, hopefully including the "broadest possible spectrum" of opposition representatives.

He "counts on full cooperation of all the relevant Syrian parties in this process," the statement said, adding: "Continuing developments on the ground should not be allowed to derail it."

The talks are the first step of an ambitious 18-month plan endorsed by the UN Security Council to end Syria's war, which has killed more than 250,000 people.

'Severe blow' to peace talks

But analysts feared Alloush's death would thwart the already-fragile negotiation process.

Backed by Saudi Arabia, Jaish al-Islam was one of the most influential armed groups invited to broad-based opposition talks in Riyadh earlier this month.

Representatives in Riyadh agreed to eventual negotiations with the regime and were set to choose at least part of the opposition delegation for the talks.

Analyst Karim Bitar said Alloush's death is "a severe blow to the Riyadh negotiations process".

"Given Alloush's authoritarian temper and strong rule, it will take time for Jaish al-Islam to recover from this blow and for the alternative leadership to emerge," he said.

Aron Lund, editor of the Carnegie Endowment's Syria in Crisis website, said: "Those negotiations needed hardliners like Zahran Alloush to be involved for their credibility."

Alloush was a "rare successful centralizer in the Syrian rebel movement," Lund added, and with him gone, opposition cohesion could "unravel."

Abu Hammam al-Buwaydani was elected to replace Alloush just hours after his death, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A 40-year-old businessman and fighter from Douma in Eastern Ghouta, he hails from a family with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the monitor said.

In his first video address, published Saturday, a solemn Buwaydani said the difficulties faced by Jaish al-Islam "have only made us fiercer."

He urged rebels to be "one cohesive rank" in the fight against the regime, stressing his group's "moderate approach".

ISIS loses strategic dam

Alloush's death also appeared to halt the planned evacuation of some 4,000 people, half of them jihadists, from Damascus' southern districts Saturday.

The plan was to see the evacuees transferred out of Qadam, Hajar al-Aswad and the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmuk into northern Syria, according to a government official.

Those moved are expected to include members of the ISIS and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front.

But a security source close to the negotiations told Agence France-Presse the plan was now on hold. 

"Jaish al-Islam was supposed to provide safe passage through areas east of Damascus for the buses heading to Raqa," ISIS's Syria bastion, the source said by telephone.

"About 1,200 people were supposed to leave today (Saturday), but the death of Zahran Alloush means we are back to square one," he said. 

He said buses standing by to transfer the evacuees had left empty and "the plan was on hold until Jaish al-Islam reorganizes itself".

The deal came after two months of intense talks between government and district leaders, he said.

Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with anti-government protests but has spiraled into a multi-sided civil war. 

In northern Syria Saturday, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab groups seized the key Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates and seven villages on the river's eastern bank from ISIS.

Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Talal Sello told Agence France-Presse dozens of ISIS fighters had been killed.

The SDF can now cross into ISIS-controlled territory along the river's western bank, bringing it less than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Manbij, an ISIS stronghold. – Rappler.com

ASUNCION, Paraguay – More than 160,000 people have been driven from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in some of the worst floods in decades, which have left at least 6 people dead, authorities said Saturday, December 26.

The areas hardest hit in the week leading up to Christmas were in Paraguay, where 4 people have been killed by falling trees. President Horacio Cartes has declared a state of emergency to free up more than $3.5 million in disaster funds.

The intense rain storms, caused by an unusually strong "El Nino" pattern, have forced 130,000 Paraguayans from their homes, authorities said. In the capital Asuncion, thousands were temporarily without power.

Emergency personnel were carrying out rescue and evacuation operations, said David Arellano, the head of operations for the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN).

"We cannot abandon the thousands of families who each year are affected by flooding," Cartes said in his Christmas message. 

El Niño is the name given to a weather pattern associated with a sustained period of warming in the central and eastern tropical Pacific that can spark deadly and costly climate extremes. 

Last month, the UN's World Meteorological Organization warned the phenomenon was the worst in more than 15 years, and one of the strongest since 1950.

In northeastern Argentina, two people were killed and about 20,000 were evacuated from their homes by flooding caused by a rise in the level of the Uruguay River, authorities said.

Entre Rios province was the worst off with about 10,000 people displaced, most of them in Concordia, a city of some 170,000 located on the banks of the river where officials said it was the most serious flooding in 50 years.

Uruguay, which borders the river, has declared a state of emergency in several northern departments. As of Saturday, about 9,000 people were forced from their homes, according to national emergency officials.

And in Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff on Saturday flew by helicopter to survey the damage in southern Rio Grande do Sul state, where about 9,000 people have been displaced by flooding in recent days.

The federal government has released $1.7 million in emergency funds for the affected areas. – Rappler.com

PARIS, France – A French academic and an MP published online Friday, January 1, the famous diary of Anne Frank, despite a dispute with rights holders as to whether the work is now in the public domain.

The duo claim "Diary of a Young Girl" became public property on January 1 as 70 years had elapsed since Frank's death at the age of 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Under a 1993 European law, a book loses exclusive copyright at the start of the seventh decade after its author or authors are dead.

"In regards to this book, this testimony and what it represents... I bear the conviction that there is no greater combat than to fight for its freedom, no greater tribute than share it without restriction" wrote University of Nantes lecturer Olivier Ertzscheid, who posted the work online in its original Dutch.

Frank used the diary to chronicle her life from June 1942 to August 1944 while she and her family were in hiding in Amsterdam.

A tableau of life for persecuted Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, it was first published in Dutch in 1947 by her father, who deleted some passages. More than 30 million copies have been sold.

The Anne Frank Fund, based in Basel, Switzerland, holds the rights to publication and told Agence France-Presse previously that it had sent a letter threatening legal action if the diary was published.

The Fund argues that the book is a posthumous work, for which copyright extends 50 years past the publication date, and that a 1986 version published by the Dutch State Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) is under copyright until at least 2037.

Ertzscheid had in October published on his website two French versions of the book, only to take them down after the publisher Livre du Poche sent a formal notice stating that copyright for translators was still in effect.

He pointed out that another famous work with World War II ties had also become public domain on Friday: Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic manifesto "Mein Kampf."

French parliament member Isabelle Attard of the Green Party also published Frank's book online in its original Dutch on Friday, arguing that "fighting the 'privatization of knowledge' is an absolutely topical issue."

Attard has criticized the fund's opposition as a "question of money", adding that if the work was in the public domain, its author would gain even more renown. – Rappler.com

CHICAGO, USA – The Illinois National Guard was ordered into action Friday, January 1, and hundreds of people urged to flee rising floodwaters, as the death toll from days of heavy rain in the US Midwest mounted.

Swathes of the United States have been buffeted in the last week by tornadoes, storms and torrential rain, while the US East Coast has seen unseasonably warm weather over the holiday season.

Missouri and Illinois have been particularly hard hit from the record-breaking and relentless deluge in the past week.

The death toll from the flooding in the Midwest rose to 23, CNN said. Fifteen of the dead were in Missouri and eight in Illinois.

But the toll could rise, with increasing concerns about the fate of two missing Illinois teenagers last seen several days ago.

One of them, Delia Ann Stacey, 18, was last heard of on Monday, when she sent a text message to her family saying simply "Help," the Herrin Police Department said in a statement on Facebook.

"Further contact with Stacey via her phone has been unsuccessful, as has the use of all resources available in determining its location," it said.

There were growing fears too for residents in southern Illinois, where the rising Mississippi River reportedly topped a levee, putting several towns and rural communities at risk.

Hundreds of people were urged to evacuate.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, who toured some of the affected communities, tweeted: "I have ordered Illinois National Guard soldiers into active duty to aid local efforts to save lives and mitigate flood damage in Southern IL."

Forecasters warned that southern US states were in increasing danger in the days to come.

"Major flooding is occurring or forecast on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and tributaries in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, with record flooding at several locations," the National Weather Service said.

"Major flooding is also occurring on the Arkansas River and tributaries in Arkansas. Floodwaters will move downstream over the next couple of weeks, with significant river flooding expected for the lower Mississippi into mid-January."

There was some relief, however, in the St. Louis area of Missouri, where flooding was at last receding.

For many, the big cleanup now begins. The more unfortunate saw their homes wiped out.

"We're just basically homeless. We have nowhere to go," Damon Thorne, 44, told ABC News.

He and his 60-year-old mother Linda were staying at a Red Cross shelter at a church after their mobile home park in Arnold, Missouri was washed away by the surging Meramec River. – Rappler.com

NEW DELHI, India (UPDATED) – Suspected Islamist gunmen attacked an Indian air force base near the border with Pakistan early Saturday, January 2, security officials said, with at least two of the militants killed and fighting ongoing.

A top security official, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse that the gunmen were believed to be from the Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group, describing them as suicide attackers who breached security at the base in the northern state of Punjab while wearing army uniforms.

Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, director general of police in Punjab's Pathankot district, told AFP that the attack began around 3:30 am (2200 GMT Friday) and that there were four to five attackers.

"The gunfire is still going on," he told AFP.

"Two of the attackers are believed to be dead in the gunfight while the rest are holding out inside one of the buildings in the base," he said.

He added that there had been no damage to fighter planes at the base.

The unnamed security official, who was on the scene, also said that security forces had so far prevented the attackers from inflicting major damage.

"They are heavily armed and the attack is aimed to cause maximum damage to the equipment at the station but we have been successful so far," he said.

"We believe they are Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists."

High alert

Authorities had put the state on high alert on Friday after five gunmen in army fatigues hijacked a car driven by a senior police officer, which was later found abandoned on the Pathankot-Jammu highway, an important road link connecting the restive neighbouring region of Kashmir with India's plains.

It was not yet clear if there was any link with Saturday's attack.

In July, three gunmen dressed in army uniforms opened fire on a bus and then attacked a police station in the nearby Gurdaspur district of Punjab, killing seven people including four policemen.

India blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants for that attack.

Since independence from Britain in 1947 India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, a Himalayan territory they both occupy in part and claim in full.

India regularly accuses Pakistan's army of providing covering fire for rebels who infiltrate across the border and then mount attacks in the Indian sector of Kashmir.

And while insurgents frequently target police in the volatile Kashmir region, Punjab, a majority-Sikh state, has largely been spared the violence.

New Delhi suspended all talks with Pakistan after Islamist gunmen attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people. The attacks were later found to have been planned from Pakistan.

The two nuclear-armed states agreed to resume a peace process in 2011 but tensions have spiked over the past two years, with cross-border shelling over the disputed border in Kashmir claiming dozens of lives since 2014.

Frosty relations saw a thaw last week when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.

The two countries decided to start a dialogue process to resolve outstanding issues, with the foreign secretaries of both countries scheduled to meet in Islamabad later this month. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Marking the New Year, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) held a medical and dental mission on Saturday, January 2, for the Muslim community in Barangay Culiat, Quezon City.

INC spokesman Edwil Zabala told Rappler that the 101-year-old church has been conducting medical and dental missions called “Lingap sa Mamamayan (International Aid to Humanity)” for the past 20 years.

“It’s part of the biblical doctrine that we uphold to love our fellow men, and the Iglesia has been fulfilling that,” Zabala said in a phone interview.

He said that the INC has been holding other medical and dental missions for other communities in the country.

On Saturday, 89 health personnel from the INC-owned New Era General Hospital helped in the medical and dental mission.

They provided free medicines and medical services, including urinalysis and blood pressure and sugar check-up, to 1,997 barangay residents. They also gave free dental extraction services to 308 patients. 

Zabala said: “We are now currently holding a distribution of relief goods for members of the community who need it. They’re not necessarily victims of a calamity, but it was part of the need identified by the community leaders.” He added that about 2,000 bags of relief goods would be distributed to the Culiat Muslim community on Saturday.

The INC provides other assistance to communities who request aid from the church. Zabala cited an eco-farming community it started for Kabihug families in Barangay Bakal, Paracale, Camarines Norte, in November 2015. 

“We purchased about 300 hectares [of land] and built 300 houses for the Kabihug community in Camarines Norte. We built a school house for them [and] a training center for livelihood skills,” he said. 

To promote understanding

Zabala also said the INC has started extending help to several Lumad communities in Mindanao and the church is hoping to build a similar eco-farm for them. 

At the same time, he explained how this medical mission is important given issues faced by the INC in 2015.

That year, the church's former ministers, including its leader's brother, surfaced to expose the alleged corruption in the INC. The INC has denied these claims. 

He said: "Through this we are able to teach first of all the members of the church itself to abide by that biblical doctrine that we must extend assistance to our fellow men in need. Second, it promotes understanding among different faith groups."

Zabala also said the Lingap sa Mamamayan activity in Quezon City is a “good way” to start 2016.

This comes after the INC also broke 3 Guinness World Records during its celebration of the New Year.

With at least 100,000 INC members gathering at the Philippine Arena to welcome the new year on December 31, 2015, the church broke world records for largest fireworks display, longest line of sparklers lit in a relay, and the most number of sparklers lit simultaneously. – Rappler.com

KANO, Nigeria – One year after a massive attack ranked among the worst in Boko Haram's 6-year insurgency, the residents of Baga in northeast Nigeria say their home is a ghost town. 

The jihadists razed the fishing hub on the shores of Lake Chad in a 4-day assault beginning January 3 last year, forcing thousands from their homes and killing hundreds of others.

Unlike other Boko Haram attacks, which often go virtually unnoticed outside Nigeria, the Baga massacre made headlines around the world after it was reported 2,000 people lost their lives in the raid and Amnesty International released satellite images showing the ravaged town.

With its charred houses and shuttered businesses, it is hard to believe Baga used to be a lively trading center of 200,000 people, where merchants would travel to sell cattle, leather goods, and trade fresh produce.

"Baga is still deserted, we are all living in camps and homes of friends and relatives in Maiduguri because we are scared of returning home," Muhammad Alhaji Bukar, a displaced Baga resident, told AFP.

The Nigerian military reclaimed Baga in March and troops patrol its dusty streets today. (READ: Up to 150 drowned, shot dead fleeing Boko Haram in Nigeria)

But the town's enduring emptiness – under 1,000 people are living there now – highlights how difficult it is to get people back home and restore peace to the battered northeast region.

In June, destitute residents of Baga and surrounding villages started trickling back to fish, encouraged by military victories winning territory back from the jihadists. 

The fisherman would sell their catch of catfish and African bonytongue in the key northeast city of Maiduguri, the spiritual home of the insurgency and the restive capital of Borno state.

In the window of calm, about 5,000 residents returned to Baga. But the peace did not last long.

In July, Boko Haram ambushed a lorry carrying people returning home, killing 8 Baga residents.

In the days that followed, the militants slit the throats of several fishermen and killed farmers who had returned to harvest their melons.

'We can't return'

The Nigerian army and forces from neighboring countries have, over the past year, been able to flush Boko Haram out from captured towns, but is not able to stop the jihadists from regrouping in the surrounding villages and bush. 

Spurned not crushed, the militants had found cover near Baga in the little islands lined with tall grass that dot the freshwater lake. 

As Bukar Kori, head of the Baga's traders union, puts it: "We can't return to Baga yet. It is still not safe, especially with Boko Haram lurking on nearby islands." 

Today, an estimated 700 people are living in Baga, with the majority the town's former residents staying in Maiduguri.

Its population has almost doubled from two million since 2009, when Boko Haram embarked on its bloody quest to establish an independent Islamic state in Nigeria.

The extremist insurgency has forced over 2.5 million people – just over the population of Paris – living in the Lake Chad Basin to flee from their homes, according to a December report issued by USAID, a United States government humanitarian agency. 

While the Nigerian government insists that Boko Haram has been "largely" defeated going into 2016, the jihadist group continues to wreak havoc by sending out suicide bombers, sometimes in droves.

Last Sunday, in an attack lasting 48 hours, the militants invaded Maiduguri unleashing "dozens" of suicide bombers, killing 22 people.

The Nigerian government has acknowledged the monumental task of getting displaced people like those in Baga back home, but has not yet given a concrete plan on how to tackle the issue. 

"There is still a lot of work to be done in the area of security," President Muhammadu Buhari said in a New Year's statement. 

"This government will not consider the matter concluded until the terrorists have been completely routed and normalcy restored to all parts of the country."

Boko Haram's insurgency has killed 17,000 people in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, damaging millions of dollars of infrastructure at a time when the country is facing a cash crush as a result of the plunging price of oil. – Rappler.com

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – About 4,000 people from Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat welcomed the new year in temporary evacuation sites, amid threats of more attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on their communities.

The families have taken shelter in gymnasiums since the BIFF launched attacks on Christmas eve.

During the last few hours of 2015, the BIFF launched simultaneous attacks on the nearby Shariff Aguak, Shariff Saydona, and Datu Piang town army detachments of the 601st Brigade.

No death was reported in the New Year's Eve attack, but on Christmas Eve, 11 people were killed, including 6 farmers. The BIFF, a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has owned up to the attacks as part of its Jihad or holy war.

Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu visited the evacuees in  Kauran gymnasium ahead of the New Year to distribute relief goods.
 
Mangadadatu also gave P10,000 in burial assistance and a sack of rice each to the family of the slain farmers. He said he would arrange educational assistance for the children of the slain breadwinners under Maguindanao's MagPeace scholarship program.

Maguindanao gov to MILF: Help fight vs BIFF
 
Mangudadatu, who was emotional during his visit, said he remembered his own family tragedy when he saw the photos of the slain farmers.
 
“When I saw the photos of those killed, it reminded me of the carnage of my family in 2009, in this town also. These beasts, these people who took the lives of your loved ones, how could they sleep at peace with what they did?" he said as he clenched his fist.
 
In his speech at the front of hundreds of families gathered at the gym, he condemned the BIFF's brutality.  "These BIFF rogues just wanted to sow terror," he said.
 
Mangudadatu also called on the MILF to help stop the vicious activities of its breakaway group.

“I am appealing to the MILF leadership. They should help the government in running after these rogue elements. They should be one with us in government in putting an end to these violent activities of BIFF and let peace [reign] in all communities in the Bangsamoro land," he said.

Jabib Guaibar, the MILF’s Local Monitoring Team representative in North Cotabato, said the MILF is not mandated to do this.

Responding to journalists' questions, he said: "Our hands are tied here. We have no mandate or authority to run after them unless we are now part of the government. That is one issue indicated in the BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law)," he said.

Under the agreement creating the Ad Hoc Joint Advisory Group (AHJAG), the MILF committed to run after criminal elements but only in their known areas or near their territories.

The BIFF broke away from the MILF as it did not support its peace negotiations with the government.

Meanwhile, the military said it would deploy more troops to areas prone to attacks.

“There is no let-up in running after these BIFF rebels. We will provide more troops to areas where civilians are prone to attacks," 6th Infantry Division Commander Major General Edmundo Pangilinan said in a meeting with local government officials from Mlang, North Cotabato, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, and Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat. –Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health reported a total of 458 fireworks-related injuries as of 6 am Saturday, January 2 – 44% less than in 2014.

In an interview on dzMM on Saturday, Health Secretary Janette Garin said that the figure is is 49% lower compared to the 5-year average from 2010 to 2014.

About 78% of the injuries were caused by the banned firecracker piccolo, she added.

She reitertated the DOH's call for a total ban on firecrackers, and her preference for public fireworks displays held by various local government units to welcome the new year.

“Nagkakaroon din ng nakikiusap na baka ito (total firecrackers ban) ay maapektuhan ang kabuhayan [ng] mga tao na maaaring dependent. Pero ang tingin namin hindi naman dependent iyan dahil seasonal naman ang paputok,” Garin explained.

(Some people have appealed to us to not push for a total firecrackers ban because it might affect the livelihood those dependent on firecracker sales. However, we don’t believe this because firecrackers are seasonal products only.)

Yesterday morning, the DOH recorded 380 cases of injuries from fireworks and firecrackers, and 4 from stray bullets.

A drunk man also died after he embraced a giant firecracker, called "Goodbye Philippines,” as it was about to explode. (READ: New Year mayhem kills 2, injures hundreds)

Garin noted that there was no reported case of fireworks ingestion as well.

‘All-out war’ vs piccolo

Meanwhile, environmental watchdog EcoWaste Coalition urged the government to declare an “all-out war” against the use of piccolo, as it  supported the DOH’s proposal to impose a national ban on firecrackers.

“An all-out war against smugglers, distributors, and sellers of piccolo will stop this small but terrible monster in further harming more child victims,” EcoWaste Coalition coordinate Aileen Lucero said in a statement.

She urged the government to declare the crackdown as early as now, and to assign the Bureau of Customs to execute this before the next Christmas season.

“As what is at stake is the health and safety of young children, we urge the government to provide for a reward system that will lead to the identification and apprehension of culprits involved in the illegal trade of piccolo and other banned firecrackers,” said Lucero.

“We urge our lawmakers to enact a total ban on firecrackers to stop this out-of-date practice of ushering in the New Year with bloodied hands, smoggy atmosphere and garbage-strewn surroundings,”  she added.

The EcoWaste Coalition earlier slammed as “totally unacceptable” the amount of garbage on the streets of Metro Manila on January 1. – Rappler.com

SHANGHAI, China – China has unveiled changes to the structure of its military described by President Xi Jinping as "a major policy decision to realise the Chinese dream of a strong army," state media reported late Friday, January 1. 

Beijing in November said it planned sweeping changes in a move intended to enhance the ruling Communist Party's control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The changes announced on New Year' day will see a new army unit set up to oversee China's arsenal of strategic missiles.

Besides the "Rocket Force," the PLA also unveiled an army general command to serve as the headquarters for land forces and a support unit to assist combat troops, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The changes come as China acts more aggressively in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea and comes just after Beijing announced on Thursday it is building its second aircraft carrier. 

The nation's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a secondhand Soviet ship built more than 25 years ago that was commissioned by China in 2012 after extensive refits.

At the same time, Xi, who is chief of the Communist Party and also serves as head of the military, is planning to slash China's number of troops by 300,000 to roughly two million to craft a more efficient fighting force.

China's Central Military Commission, which Xi chairs, on Friday also released guidelines to help build the country's vision of a modern military before 2020 by cutting troops and improving the quality of combat personnel, Xinhua said.

The new PLA Rocket Force is tasked with maintaining conventional and nuclear weaponry with the ability to both deter and strike, Xi told a ceremony for the founding of the three new organisations, according to Xinhua.

But a spokesman for China's Ministry of Defence denied any shift in the country's nuclear weapons policy.

"China's nuclear policy and nuclear strategy are consistent, there has been no change whatsoever," spokesman Yang Yujun said Friday, according to a transcript posted on the ministry's website. 

The new unit would take over from the Second Artillery Force, he said.

Beijing's forces have been involved in sometimes tense confrontations with Japanese and Philippine units over maritime disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea respectively, prompting fears that the disputes could result in armed clashes. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Former Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia "Virgie" Torres died on Saturday, January 2.

Torres, 62, died after suffering from cardiac arrest at a hospital in Pampanga.

Radio dzBB reported that the death was confirmed by Ruben Torres, the former official's brother.

Malacañang expressed its condolences to the Torres family. "We extend our sympathy and condolences to the family of former Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres," Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said in a statement.

Torres, a known "shooting buddy" of President Benigno Aquino III, was in public service for 33 years. She served in different positions at the LTO, starting as a cashier at the Tarlac LTO in December 1980.

She retired from government service in October 2013, after figuring in a viral video showing her playing in a casino.

Last year, her name resurfaced in the news after she allegedly asked Customs officials to release 64 containers of smuggled sugar worth over P100 million.– Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are scheduled to visit a memorial site for Filipino soldiers who died in World War II, during their state visit to the Philippines in late January, according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.

“The schedule has been arranged in consideration of the Philippines, which was forced to sacrifice so many lives,” the newspaper said, citing a source.

They will visit the Heroes Cemetery in Taguig, which is devoted to those who died during World War II.

Japan has repeatedly apologized for the war. During President Benigno Aquino III’s state visit to Japan last year, the emperor was quoted saying, “This is something we, Japanese, must long remember with a profound sense of remorse.”

The Imperial couple will also visit a monument in Caliraya, Laguna, that is devoted to the the 520,000 Japanese who died in the Philippines during the war. 

“Taking into consideration the feelings local people might have against mourning the Japanese war dead, the Imperial couple will fly to Caliraya aboard a helicopter based on the Akitsushima, a large Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel, instead of traveling in a motorcade that would involve traffic regulations,” the newspaper said. 

The 5-day visit that will begin January 26 – the first that a reigning emperor will make to the Philippines – will mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Upon the arrival of the Imperial couple, they will lay a wreath at the Rizal Park in Manila. They will meet Aquino in Malacañang and then attend a Palace dinner banquet held in their honor.

They will also meet representatives of the Japanese-Filipino community.

The state visit is scheduled as the two countries develop stronger ties in the wake of China's aggressiveness in the South China Sea.

The two countries have agreed to start talks on a visiting forces agreement that will allow rotating visits of Japanese troops in the Philippines, simililar to the Philippine's agreements with the US and Australia.

Japan is keen on providing large patrol vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard. – Rappler.com

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (UPDATED) – Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia executed Saturday, January 2, a prominent Shiite cleric, who had been behind anti-government protests, drawing angry condemnation from Shiite-majority Iran and Iraq.

And the EU expressed concern about possible "dangerous consequences" in a region already fraught with sectarian tensions, just hours before Riyadh summoned Iran's envoy to complain about Tehran's "aggressive" remarks.

Nimr al-Nimr, 56, was executed along with 46 other men, including Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda killings, the interior ministry said.

That sparked demonstrations in at least one city in oil-rich Eastern Province, where Shiites complain of marginalization, as well as in Bahrain, Iran and Iraq.

The interior ministry said the men had been convicted of adopting the radical "takfiri" ideology, joining "terrorist organizations" and implementing various "criminal plots".

An official list published included Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in 2003 and 2004.

Some of them had been convicted of taking part in May 2003 attacks on expatriate compounds in Riyadh that killed 35 people, nine of them Americans, the ministry said.

Others were involved in 2004 attacks on a housing complex in the eastern city of Khobar, in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, and other assaults.

Among them was Fares al-Shuwail, described by Saudi media as Al-Qaeda's top religious leader in the kingdom.

Notably absent from the list, was Nimr's nephew, Ali. He was arrested at the age of 17 and allegedly tortured during detention before being sentenced to die, sparking fury from rights watchdogs and the United States.

'Oppression and execution'

All those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.

Some were beheaded, while others were shot by firing squad, said ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki.

Executions have soared in the country since King Salman ascended the throne last January, with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said: "The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution.

It will "pay a high price for following these policies," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Turki said Iran's reaction was "irresponsible", and Riyadh summoned Tehran's envoy in protest.

The foreign ministry "handed the Iranian ambassador... a stern protest letter over the aggressive Iranian statements on the legal sentences carried out today against terrorists in the kingdom," said a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

It expressed its "complete rejection of these aggressive statements, which it considers a flagrant interference in the kingdom's affairs".

Tehran ally Hezbollah said Saudi Arabia's rulers are "global criminals" and denounced Nimr's execution as a "heinous crime".

Rights groups have repeatedly raised concern about the fairness of trials in Saudi Arabia, where murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the case "raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights".

It also has "the potential of enflaming further the sectarian tensions that already bring so much damage to the entire region, with dangerous consequences," a statement said.

Iran's Basij student militia, connected to the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, called for a demonstration Sunday outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Riyadh warns over security

Riyadh's statement said it holds Tehran "completely responsible for protecting" the kingdom's missions in Iran and all their employees from any "aggressive acts".

In Saudi ally Bahrain, police used tear gas to disperse dozens of youths from the majority Shiite population protesting the executions.

And prominent Iraqi Shiite lawmaker Khalaf Abdelsamad called for the closure of Riyadh's embassy and urged the government to expel its ambassador.

"The execution of Sheikh al-Nimr will have serious consequences and bring about the end of the Al-Saud (royal family's) rule," his office said.

In Yemen, where the kingdom is leading a coalition against Shiite rebels, the religious scholars association controlled by them condemned the execution.

Reactions will not be limited to "angry protests; they will turn into a sweeping revolution" against Saudi authorities, said the statement published on the rebels' sabanews.net website.

Nimr's brother, Mohammed, said he had hoped that "wisdom and a political solution" would prevail to spare the cleric's life.

And he warned that his execution could trigger "negative reactions" inside and outside Saudi Arabia.

"This action will spark anger of (Shiite) youths" in Saudi Arabia, but "we reject violence and clashing with authorities".

The Bahraini government and the United Arab Emirates voiced support for the conservative kingdom, saying the executions were necessary to confront extremism.

Nimr was arrested in 2012, three years after calling for Eastern Province's Shiite-populated Qatif and Al-Ihsaa governorates to be separated from Saudi Arabia and united with Bahrain.

The interior ministry had described him at the time of his arrest as an "instigator of sedition".

A video on YouTube in 2012 showed Nimr making a speech celebrating the 2012 death of then-interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.

"Let the worms eat him," Nimr had said, while also criticising the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where the Shiite community has also complained of marginalization.

The anti-government protests that erupted in eastern Saudi Arabia five years ago coincided with a Shiite-led protest movement in Bahrain that was later crushed with help from Saudi troops.

Scores of men and women turned out Saturday to protest peacefully in Qatif, some carrying placards bearing Nimr's photo. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Australia will provide P17.5 million (US$373,442) in humanitarian aid for victims of Typhoon Nona (international name: Melor) that devastated central Luzon in mid-December.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced Saturday, January 2, that the aid will include 5,700 hygiene and safety kits for families affected by flooding. These kits include blankets, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, water containers, and basic hygiene and safety items for women.

“As a good friend and close neighbor in the Indo-Pacific region, the Australian Government has responded to the request for assistance from the Philippines Government, which has already mobilized considerable domestic resources to support affected communities,” Bishop said in a statement.

Typhoon Nona caused heavy flooding in central Luzon, killing 42 and leaving 24 injured. Nearly 280,000 families had their homes damaged or destroyed. Thousands were left without food, water or medical care. Nona hit northern Philippines just a week after another storm, Onyok, also brought rain and floods. (READ: Santa absent this year in typhoon-hit Philippines)

Nona’s damage to infrastructure and agriculture reached P6.45 billion (US$137.74 million). The Philippine government spent P88 million (US$1.87 million) in assistance so far.

Australia will distribute the supplies through the United Nations Population Fund, and the Philippine Red Cross. It will also provide assistance in the form of sexual and reproductive health services through its partners, the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Canberra also sent an Australian Civilian Corps specialist to work with the Philippine government in disaster response logistics and humanitarian relief efforts.

A long-time ally, Australia has been providing aid to the Philippines for disaster preparedness and response including during Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the worst storm to hit the Southeast Asian nation in 2013.

Australia’s aid program includes multi-hazard and risk-mapping, updates to land use and contingency plans and zoning ordinances, and establishing early warning systems, and emergency management teams in high-risk areas.

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell said his country hopes that the aid for Nona victims will augment resources of the Philippine government.

 “The Australian Government and our people are concerned for families who sadly face difficult conditions over Christmas and New Year,” he said.

“We have a long legacy of cooperation and this assistance is part of Australia’s continued support to our friends in the Philippines.” – Rappler.com

TEHRAN, Iran – Saudi Arabia will pay "a high price" for executing prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, January 2, Iran's foreign ministry said.

Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari strongly condemned the execution, which came after his Shiite country repeatedly asked its Sunni-ruled rival to pardon the cleric.

"The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution... the Saudi government will pay a high price for following these policies," he said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

Nimr, 56, was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in Eastern Province, where the Shiite minority of Saudi Arabia complains of marginalization.

"The execution of a figure like Sheikh al-Nimr, who had no means to follow his political and religious goals but through speaking out, merely shows the extent of irresponsibility and imprudence," said Ansari.

For its part, the Basij student militia connected to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards called for a demonstration on Sunday afternoon in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Sparking anger

Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests along with 46 other men, drawing angry condemnation from Iran and Iraq.

The execution of Nimr al-Nimr and the others, including Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in deadly Al-Qaeda attacks, was announced by the Saudi interior ministry.

It prompted calls for demonstrations, with the brother of the 56-year-old cleric warning it could stir more trouble in oil-rich Eastern Province where Shiites complain of marginalisation.

"This action will spark anger of (Shiite) youths" in Saudi Arabia, said Mohammed al-Nimr.

The interior ministry said the 47 men had been convicted of adopting the radical "takfiri" ideology, joining "terrorist organisations" and implementing various "criminal plots".

A list published by the official Saudi Press Agency included Sunni Muslims convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudi and foreigners in the kingdom in 2003 and 2004.

One of those executed was Fares al-Shuwail, described by Saudi media as Al-Qaeda's top religious leader in the kingdom. He was arrested in 2004.

Notably absent from the list, however, was Nimr's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, whose arrest at the age of 17 and alleged torture during detention sparked condemnation from rights watchdogs and the United States.

All those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.

Some were beheaded with a sword while others were executed by firing squad, said interior ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki.

Executions have soared in the country since King Salman acceded the throne in January 2015, with 153 people, including convicted drug-traffickers, put to death last year, nearly twice as many as in 2014. – Rappler.com