Boko Haram suspects found dead after arrest by Nigerian army

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The Nigerian army has denied it killed the men

Eighteen men arrested by soldiers in north-east Nigeria have been found dead hours after being taken into custody, residents in the town of Potiskum say.

All the bodies had gunshot and knife wounds, they said.

The men had earlier been accused of being members of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

The Nigerian military has denied killing them and announced the release of more than 40 others who had been suspected of links with the militants.

Two residents of Potiskum, who told us they had identified 18 bodies in the town's morgue, said the men had been arrested on Wednesday by the Nigerian military during a search operation.

A nurse at the morgue was quoted by AFP news agency as saying the bodies had been brought in by soldiers.

'Cold-blooded murder'

The news agency said community leaders believed the men had been killed because they were from the Kanuri ethnic group from which Boko Haram draws many of its members.

They have demanded an inquiry into the deaths.

Funerals were held on Tuesday for those killed in the previous day's attack in Potiskum

"We believe they were killed on suspicion of being Boko Haram because they were Kanuris," AFP quoted an unnamed community leader as saying.

Another said: "The government should look into this cold-blooded murder and ensure justice is done because being a soldier is not a licence to kill at will on mere suspicion."

Atrocities

Potiskum is the commercial centre of Yobe state and has been the scene of many attacks by Boko Haram, including a suicide bombing on Monday in which 15 people died.

The Nigerian army has been conducting a war against the group and has frequently been accused of committing atrocities itself, including torture and beheadings.

It denies doing so.

In the city of Maiduguri, which has been at the centre of the insurgency, the army said it had released 42 people who had earlier been accused of being members of Boko Haram.

They were given more than $1,000 (£631) each by the military and the local government.

How it happened: Tracing Typhoon Haiyan's havoc in the Philippines

A woman comforts a crying relative as a plane leaves the airport during evacuation operations in Tacloban, Philippines, on Tuesday, November 12. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, laid waste to the Philippines. Officials say as many as 10,000 people may have died in the storm.

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Premier League: Chelsea slip lets Arsenal move clear at the top

Aaron Ramsey celebrates after scoring Arsenal's second goal in Saturday's 2-0 win at home to Liverpool.

The last time Arsenal led the English Premier League by as much as five points, it was February 2008.

So it's no surprise that Arsene Wenger, whose last silverware came three years before that, is not getting carried away.

The veteran manager knows, after all, that a few days is a long time in football.

On Tuesday his team lost 2-0 to Chelsea in the League Cup, which many trumpeted as a sign that Jose Mourinho's side had taken the ascendancy and would be the dominant force this season.

But on Saturday Mourinho's men crashed 2-0 to Newcastle, which had lost to the EPL's bottom side Sunderland the previous weekend, and Arsenal earned a five-point lead at the top with a comprehensive win by the same score against another title hopeful, Liverpool.

Arsenal's pre-season target Luis Suarez and fellow in-form striker Daniel Sturridge barely had a look-in for Liverpool, which had scored 12 goals in the past four games.

Santi Cazorla volleyed a 19th-minute opener after his header hit the post, and Aaron Ramsey joined Sturridge on 10 goals in all competitions just before the hour mark when the Wales midfielder was given time to shoot from outside the penalty area.

"I am always confident, but of course there is a long way to go," Wenger said. "Today was an important win for the team.

"It was vital to win, I said that before the game and I don't change my mind, because had we not won people would say 'Yes, Arsenal at home they cannot win the big games.'

"The Chelsea game was an important game but not of the importance of today's game. But still, it was a disappointment and it was important to respond today, to convince people that we can win these big games.

"We had a good solidarity, a good focus, and I believe we have plenty of other big games coming up and this will help us deal well with them."

On Wednesday, the Gunners will travel to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund in a match which will have a big bearing on the London club's hopes of progressing to the knockout stage of the Champions League.

"Who would have said that Chelsea would lose today at Newcastle after Tuesday night? But that's the Premier League and it's down to consistency," Wenger said.

"We are consistent since the first of January 2013, with the same group (of players). We have shown since our massive blip against Aston Villa (at the start of this season) that we have been very consistent. We have 10 games, 25 points."

While Wenger appears calm, Mourinho admitted to being worried after the Newcastle defeat left his Chelsea side in second place, above Liverpool on goal difference.

"I'm angry because I don't understand it," said the former Real Madrid manager, who won two EPL titles in his first season at the London club. "Of course I am worried, and I read in previous years it happened the same.

"Chelsea were successful in cup competitions but not successful in the Premier League. Last year in December, they were not in the race for the title because they were already 20 points behind."

Mourinho made nine changes to his team, and complained: "I made 11 mistakes. I should have picked another 11 and not this one."

While the Portuguese coach's fortunes may have momentarily dipped, those of the Manchester clubs soared this weekend.

Defending champion Manchester United won 3-1 at Fulham, the fourth victory in a row in all competitions for under-pressure manager David Moyes -- who saw Antonio Valencia, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney score in the first half as his side stayed eighth.

Manchester City moved up to fourth -- six points behind Arsenal -- with a 7-0 thrashing of third-bottom Norwich, having lost at Chelsea last Sunday.

England goalkeeper Joe Hart was dropped following his costly blunder at the end of that match, and his Romanian replacement Costel Pantilimon has now kept two clean sheets following the midweek League Cup win at Newcastle.

Sergio Aguero's eighth league goal this season moved the Argentina striker to the top of the scoring charts alongside Sturridge, while Yaya Toure hit his fifth, Alvaro Negredo his fourth and Edin Dzeko his third among seven individual scorers.

Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic was also a notable name on the scoresheets after his wind-assisted effort deceived Southamptoncounterpart Artur Boruc after just 13 seconds.

The Bosnia international became the fifth keeper to hit the target since the EPL began in 1992, while Jay Rodriguez's equalizer left Saints in fifth place, behind City on goal difference.

"As a manager that is the first time I've had to experience a moment as unlucky as that," said Southampton's Mauricio Pochettino.

"I don't blame him at all. I think it had more to do with the weather conditions.

"He didn't apologize for anything because he didn't have to. The wind was changing gusts completely all the time and it is a ground which is open on three sides, which makes it even more windy."

West Brom moved up to 11th with a 2-0 win that dropped Crystal Palace to the bottom of the table, despite nine-man Sunderlandlosing 1-0 at 10th-placed Hull.
West Ham drew 0-0 with Aston Villa in Saturday's other match.

Continuing Our March to an AIDS-Free Generation and Improved Global Health

Ambassador Goosby Delivers Remarks on Global AIDS

Secretary Kerry Delivers Remarks at High-Level PEPFAR Meeting in New York

Secretary Clinton Embraces Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's Florence Ngobeni-Allen on World AIDS Day

Former President Bush Visits a PEPFAR-Supported Clinic in Tanzania

It is with a degree of sadness but also an enormous debt of gratitude that I post my final blog as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and head of the Office of Global Health Diplomacy.

I am deeply grateful to President Obama who gave me this extraordinary chance to serve and to Secretaries Clinton and Kerry for their exceptional leadership in this historic endeavor -- and for the faith they put in me with these two positions. These past four and a half years have been among the most fulfilling of my 30-year career in HIV/AIDS.

I want to express my sincere appreciation to former President Bush, whose bold vision launched U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and brought the full weight of American power and capability to the global effort to combat this epidemic, and to the United States Congress for its leadership, from both sides of the aisle, which has consistently and courageously stood behind this country’s global AIDS efforts.

I also want to also send my heartfelt thanks to my staff and to all the incredible men and women with whom I have served -- Americans of all backgrounds, as well as colleagues around the world. These committed and courageous people are living proof that through determination, dedication, and unfailing effort all things are truly possible.

And, above all, I want to thank my family, who stood by my side and gave me the strength to carry on not only in recent years, but for the past three decades of my involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I am extremely proud of all that we have accomplished together. Since 2008, we have more than tripled the number of individuals receiving lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy through support from PEPFAR. We have surpassed one million babies being born without HIV due to PEPFAR-supported programs. And perhaps most importantly, we have arrived at a moment in which creating an AIDS-free generation is truly within our reach.

Through our collective efforts, we have also all been a part of transforming the way that development is done. While continuing to rapidly expand access to lifesaving HIV services, we have moved PEPFAR from an emergency state to a more sustainable footing. We have helped establish a robust health care delivery capability -- often where little to none previously existed -- that is being used not only to address HIV, but also a broader range of health issues. We have helped elevate issues of health and development into the upper echelons of diplomatic dialogue. And we have evolved our relationship with host countries to a true and enduring partnership -- one that positions them to assume greater ownership of their national HIV response.

All of this has only been possible because thousands of committed and compassionate individuals wake up each day and go to bed each night thinking about how we can all do more and do it better. The global AIDS community is truly unlike any other that I have known. I am honored and humbled to have played my small role in this unprecedented worldwide movement.

One day in a future we can now clearly see, we will achieve the dream of an AIDS-free generation. When we do, it will mark the completion of an incredible and improbable journey from those terrifying early days of the epidemic in San Francisco.

This epidemic has wrought untold harm on our world, stolen millions of lives, destroyed families and entire communities, and very nearly entire nations. But it also brought out the best in people -- in the United States and around the planet.

We can find no better way to honor those we have lost than to keep pushing forward, and to complete the task that we began more than thirty years ago. We must also ensure the lessons of this fight are truly learned and applied to many of the other challenges our world faces. In this way, we can build a future that is not only healthier, but also more peaceful, more just, and more secure for generations to come.

About the Author: Eric Goosby serves as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, leading all U.S. government international HIV/AIDS efforts, and director of the Office of Global Health Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State.

Kerry: U.S. ties with Egypt 'vital'

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a joint press conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy in Cairo.

U.S. ties with Egypt go deeper than aid, America's top diplomat said Sunday.

"Let me make it clear here today: President Obama and the American people support the people of Egypt," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. "We believe this is a vital relationship."

Kerry's visit marked the highest-level U.S. official trip to Egypt since former President Mohamed Morsy's ouster in July. It was also his first trip to the country since the U.S. suspended significant military aid to Egypt over the bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

After meeting with Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, Kerry pushed for reforms as he defended the U.S. decision to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance.

"It's not a punishment," Kerry said. "It's a reflection of a policy in the United States under our law."
He described aid as "a very small issue."

"Our hope is that we can make the progress we need on democracy, the rights of people, the protections of people, the ability of the country to have its civil society strengthened and restored, and then we will march together hand in hand into the future, with Egypt playing the vital role that it has traditionally played in this region," Kerry said.

Kerry stressed that U.S. humanitarian support to Egypt continues, in addition to counterterrorism efforts with the military and work to ensure safety in the Sinai Peninsula.

The aid suspension last month roiled Egyptian officials. Fahmy told CNN's Christiane Amanpour at the time that the decision raised concerns about the U.S.-Egypt relationship.

"This has been a relationship that has a continuity to it, especially on strategic issues like military cooperation. And any disruption in that continuity raises concerns. ... This is a very important relationship to both countries, and we need to work to enhance it, because it serves both sides," he said.

Kerry's visit to Egypt was the first stop on a 10-day trip to the Middle East, Europe and Northern Africa. From Egypt, he is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia.

‘US spies on Nigerian security agencies’

Indications emerged on Saturday that the United States has been spying on the Nigeria’s security agencies, especially the State Security Service, and probably the Presidency.

In a report published in New York Times, Edward Snowden, an American computer specialist, who worked for the US Central Intelligence Agency and as a contractor with the US National Security Agency, stated that Nigeria’s SSS was one of the security agencies across the globe that the N.S.A. had been listening in on.

He said briefs on the information gleaned from intercepting of telephone conversations and hacking of computers of the SSS, other security agencies in Nigeria and other countries are delivered to the office of the US President, Barrack Obama every morning.

“By many accounts, the agency provides more than half of the intelligence nuggets delivered to the White House early each morning in the President’s Daily Brief — a measure of success for American spies. One document boasts that listening in on Nigerian State Security Service had provided items for the briefing “nearly two dozen” times. In every international crisis, American policy makers look to the N.S.A. for inside information,” Snowden told New York Times.

The release of documents that proved that the NSA had been eavesdropping on the communications of world leaders, including US allies, had caused diplomatic rows, with Germany and some other countries protesting.

Snowden also noted that the NSA had obtained thousands of classified documents, containing secrets of governments around the world, pointing to a possibility that it might have obtained secret documents of the Federal Government of Nigeria, or tapped President Goodluck Jonathan’s phone conversations.

Snowden, who is on a temporary political asylum in Russia, disclosed classified details of several top-secret United States, Israeli, and British government mass surveillance programmes to the press.

He started releasing the NSA’s documents in June and the documents he has released so far show that the US has been spying most countries in the world.