134 starved children may die daily in Borno - Unicef warns

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The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) has disclosed that about a quarter of a million displaced children in Borno State are suffering from severe malnutrition.

The agency said it found people without water, food or sanitation in areas formerly in control of the Boko Haram terrorists, warning that tens of thousands of them may die if not urgently treated.

An international charity group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), had, last month, said that the condition of the Internally Displaced Persons in Bama camp, where 24, 0000 are living, is a catastrophic humanitarian emergency.

According to the group, nearly 200 refugees who fled Boko Haram attacks, have died of starvation and dehydration.

"Some 134 children on average will die every day from causes linked to acute malnutrition if the response is not scaled up quickly,"  Unicef's Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine.

"We need all partners and donors to step forward to prevent any more children from dying. No-one can take on a crisis of this scale alone."

The Nigerian Army had on Monday, July 25, boasted that the Boko Haram sect, which has killed about 20,000 people and left over two million displaced, has been completely defeated.

Malawi arrests infected man for raping girls in cleansing rituals

An HIV-positive man has been arrested after he confessed to raping girls and women as part of sexual cleansing rituals in Malawi, police said on Tuesday.

Eric Aniva was taken into custody in southern Nsanje district after President Peter Mutharika ordered his arrest on Monday, police officer Kirby Kaunga told newsmen.

Aniva said during a recently aired BBC programme, The Assignment, that he raped girls as young as 12 without using protection.

``Most of those I have slept with are girls, school-going girls’’, Aniva said on camera.

Mutharika said in a statement that tough action needed to be taken against Aniva for his "evil acts", including deliberately placing girls and women at risk of contracting HIV.

Report says sexual cleansing is a traditional practice in some rural areas of Malawi, which requires girls and women to be ``purified’’ through sexual intercourse with a man, who is paid for the ``service.’’

``The custom is, for example, practiced after first menstruation or when a woman is newly widowed’’, it added.

The statement said Aniva had previously been in the spotlight of local media, after he told journalists in 2012 that he had slept with over 100 women and girls and then lost count.

Mother stabs, partially dismembers 3 sons

Phoenix - The Phoenix mother had been transported to the hospital covered in blood with stab wounds to her neck and abdomen when police officers searching her house opened a closet to a grim discovery.

Inside officers found the partially dismembered bodies of her three young sons.

Police discovered the dead boys - ages 2 months old and 5 and 8 years old - in a closet full of miscellaneous items. Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump said the youngest boy's body was in a suitcase.

Crump said the children appeared to have been stabbed to death and "parts of their bodies were dismembered."

The 29-year-old mother is in the hospital in critical condition with self-inflicted stab wounds. Police say she is the primary suspect and will face charges.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Leaked document says 2,000 men allegedly assaulted 1,200 German women on New Year’s Eve

LONDON — At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.
It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities.
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, published by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the previous estimates have to be dramatically revised — upward.
Authorities now think that on New Year's Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — many of them foreign nationals — have been identified.
Only four have been convicted, but more trials are underway.
On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year's Eve assaults. Hussein A., a 21-year-old Iraqi, and Hassan T., a 26-year-old Algerian, were handed suspended one-year sentences. Both arrived in Germany in the past two years, a court spokesman said. He declined to specify whether the two had sought asylum.
Officials have linked the sexual assaults to the influx of refugees. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He also predicted that many of the New Year's Eve perpetrators will never be convicted. "We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Germany has relatively low CCTV coverage, which makes it more difficult for investigators to identify suspects.
Although it is not expected that significantly more CCTV cameras will be installed in the foreseeable future, other measures have been taken. Germany's Parliament passed a stricter sexual-assault law last week that will make it easier for courts to sentence those who facilitate or are involved in assaults.
Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass such a law, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. Most of the perpetrators in that city stand accused of groping and facilitating sex assaults as part of a group — accusations that were difficult to prosecute.
The stricter law is also supposed to make it easier for refugees to be deported if they are convicted in sex-assault cases — an aspect of the new law that activists and advocates for refugees have harshly criticized.
Halina Wawzyniak, a lawmaker from the Left Party, told The Washington Post last week that immigration issues and sexual-assault cases should not be linked, as refugees could end up facing a "double punishment" by being deported. "The debate used to be about 'no means no' — now all that is being talked about in social networks are foreigners again," she said.

Mother charged with murder in deaths of her 4 children

Memphis – A mother in Tennessee has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse and neglect in connection with the stabbing deaths of her four young children, authorities in Tennessee said on Saturday

Shanynthia Gardner of Memphis was charged with four counts of first degree murder while committing aggravated child neglect in the deaths of four of her children – all under the age of 5 – whose bodies were found after deputies entered her apartment in east Memphis.

Gardner also faces four counts of first degree murder while committing aggravated child abuse; four counts of aggravated child neglect or endangerment; and four counts of aggravated child abuse.

Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham says the victims were a 4-year-old boy; a 3-year-old girl; a 2-year-old girl; and a 6-month-old girl.

A 7-year-old boy escaped the attack. All five children were Gardner's.

Deputies were called to an apartment complex in unincorporated Shelby County on Friday afternoon. They took Gardner into custody after finding the children's bodies.

On Friday, Oldham said the district attorney general's special victims' unit had been called in and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell has promised all resources necessary for the investigation.

"One of the most difficult questions in any investigation is always, 'Why did this happen?'" the sheriff said.

County Commissioner Mark Billingsley also said the county would work to help the family of the children recover.

"It's just a very sad day," he said. "It's really beyond words, quite frankly."

Neighbour Sean Ahearn said he didn't know the family by name, but that he often saw the children, who all appeared to be under age 6, playing in the front yard. They liked to pet his dog when he was taking it for a walk, he said.

"From what I saw, they were very open and friendly kids," he said. "You never imagine that this kind of thing could happen."

The apartment where the stabbing occurred is in a gated community with a golf course called The Greens at Irene. On Friday afternoon, deputies were standing at the gate house questioning motorists as they drove into the neighbourhood.

Resident Patricia Johnson spoke with reporters from her car. She said she wasn't allowed to leave for two hours as deputies investigated the scene.

She has a child, and said she burst into tears when she heard about the killings.

"I can't fathom that," she said. "What would babies do to make you do that?"

The state Department of Children's Service has offered its assistance to local law enforcement, but has no record of interaction with the slain children, said spokesperson Rob Johnson.

"We've done an exhaustive search and we are not aware of any contact with this family," he said.

Mother charged with murder in deaths of her 4 children

Memphis – A mother in Tennessee has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse and neglect in connection with the stabbing deaths of her four young children, authorities in Tennessee said on Saturday

Shanynthia Gardner of Memphis was charged with four counts of first degree murder while committing aggravated child neglect in the deaths of four of her children – all under the age of 5 – whose bodies were found after deputies entered her apartment in east Memphis.

Gardner also faces four counts of first degree murder while committing aggravated child abuse; four counts of aggravated child neglect or endangerment; and four counts of aggravated child abuse.

Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham says the victims were a 4-year-old boy; a 3-year-old girl; a 2-year-old girl; and a 6-month-old girl.

A 7-year-old boy escaped the attack. All five children were Gardner's.

Deputies were called to an apartment complex in unincorporated Shelby County on Friday afternoon. They took Gardner into custody after finding the children's bodies.

On Friday, Oldham said the district attorney general's special victims' unit had been called in and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell has promised all resources necessary for the investigation.

"One of the most difficult questions in any investigation is always, 'Why did this happen?'" the sheriff said.

County Commissioner Mark Billingsley also said the county would work to help the family of the children recover.

"It's just a very sad day," he said. "It's really beyond words, quite frankly."

Neighbor Sean Ahearn said he didn't know the family by name, but that he often saw the children, who all appeared to be under age 6, playing in the front yard. They liked to pet his dog when he was taking it for a walk, he said.

"From what I saw, they were very open and friendly kids," he said. "You never imagine that this kind of thing could happen."

The apartment where the stabbing occurred is in a gated community with a golf course called The Greens at Irene. On Friday afternoon, deputies were standing at the gate house questioning motorists as they drove into the neighborhood.

Resident Patricia Johnson spoke with reporters from her car. She said she wasn't allowed to leave for two hours as deputies investigated the scene.

She has a child, and said she burst into tears when she heard about the killings.

"I can't fathom that," she said. "What would babies do to make you do that?"

The state Department of Children's Service has offered its assistance to local law enforcement, but has no record of interaction with the slain children, said spokesperson Rob Johnson.

"We've done an exhaustive search and we are not aware of any contact with this family," he said.