Gambia’s President, Yahya Jammeh, arrived back in Banjul on Wednesday, official sources said, one day after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace and the government denied media reports of a coup attempt.

Jammeh was in France or Dubai when violence broke out and he returned home via N’Djamena, where he told officials from Chad during a refueling stop on Tuesday evening that he planned to return home.

Jammeh, himself took power in a coup at the age of 29 and since then has stifled dissent in his West African nation. He has come under increasing criticism from abroad over issues ranging from human rights to his claims he can cure AIDS.

Banks reopened on Wednesday, people headed to work and the city’s key Denton Bridge was also open, witnesses said.

On Tuesday, state radio played traditional music and an announcer read a government statement playing down the incident.

“Contrary to rumours being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail in The Gambia,” it said. “(The) government would like to urge the public and all businesses to continue with their normal activities.”

Witnesses in the centre of Banjul, which is situated on an island and connected to the rest of the city by the Denton Bridge, said on Tuesday that security forces were stationed on street corners and patrolled streets after hours of shooting earlier in the day.

This year, the European Union withdrew millions of dollars in aid shortly after Jammeh signed into law an act that could imprison homosexuals for life. In 2012, he was criticised for executing nine people being held in prison.

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An author and a columnist, Yinka Odumakin, says his book, ‘Watch the Watcher’, was written to put the records of a former Nigerian leader, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, straight.

The author of ‘Watch the Watcher’, published three weeks after the former President released three volumes of his book entitled, ‘My watch’, said that the content of his book was not influenced by Mr Obasanjo’s book.

He, however, said that the title of the book was changed after Mr Obasanjo’s book came out.

“It is a public intellectual duty to set the record straight and to let those who have been in charge of affairs and those who are still in charge of affairs to know that a time has come for us, as victims of their misrule, not to forget.”

He likened Obasanjo’s publication to a situation where a serial rapist would be invited to give a lecture on ‘the evils of rape’, saying that Nigerians have “allowed people to falsify history”.

According to him, the book will help Nigerians get a record of the past.

Mr Odumakin described Mr Obasanjo’s book as “a package of lies”, insisting that the former President has “a selective integrity that when he does a thing, it is right and when other do it, it is wrong”.

“I wonder why Obasanjo only knows the right things when he is not in office.

“It amazes me when Obasanjo continues to grandstand and move from side to side.

“Obasanjo’s book is a package of lies.

“For General Obasanjo to come out and tell Nigerians that he was not aware of any pact with AD in 2003 that it was his deputy, Atiku. Atiku never featured in all the talks and meetings. All the meetings held with Obasanjo, I was present. The first meeting was in Obasanjo’s home in Ota and I was there,” he said, discountenancing claims …read more      

Midfielder Kevin Constant is named in Guinea’s Nations Cup squad despite his strained relationship with the football association. …read more      

The Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has returned to the country, officials say, after what was described as a coup attempt while he was in France. …read more      

A resolution demanding Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and establishment of a Palestinian state is rejected by the U.N. Paul Chapman reports

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Seven adults and two children have been found dead in the Canadian city of Edmonton after a man carried out what police called a “senseless mass murder” linked to “extreme domestic violence”.

The gunman is believed to have killed himself after the murders. Police are not looking for any other suspects.

The suspected killer, whose relatives said was “suicidal”, shot to death a woman in her 30s in the south of the city of nearly one million people before heading to a residence in the north where he killed another seven people – three women, two men, a girl and a boy.

According to witnesses cited by the Edmonton Journal, the owner of the house where the seven bodies were found, had experienced financial difficulties.

Police chief Rod Knecht said it was the worst mass killing in Edmonton since six people were killed in 1956.

“This series of events are not believed to be random acts, and there is no risk to the broader public. These events do not appear to be gang-related, but rather tragic incidents of domestic violence.”

Police say that the gunman used a stolen 9mm handgun and later killed himself at a restaurant north of Edmonton. They have only released the names of one of the victims and have not detailed the relationship between the shooter and his victims.

Mr Knecht said that the man, who committed suicide, had a criminal record going back to 1987.

Mass killings and gun crime are relatively rare in Canada compared to the neighboring United States, where gun ownership is much more widespread.

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Nigeria’s 2015 general election is less than 45 days away and while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to say it is fully prepared for the elections, many Nigerians are yet to see how the card readers the commission intends to use in the voting process work.

It is the first time that the commission will be using card readers for elections and a source of worry for Mr Adeola Soetan of the Democracy Vanguard is the fact that there has been no simulation of how the card reader works.

Moving from manual process to infusing technology in voting process is a milestone that requires high efficiency and that is the fears that Mr Soetan expressed on Wednesday, while giving his opinion on INEC’s preparedness for the 2015 general elections.

“There is need for a simulation. We do not want to witness the crises of bad election as seen in different countries here in Nigeria.

“So far, we have seen that INEC’s preparations are below average.

“You judge by what is happening now and not what has happened before.

“INEC has continued to say they would use card readers for the elections. We have not seen the card readers and the INEC has not shown or demonstrated how the card readers are to be used up till now,” he said, expressing worries that Nigerians may not know how these cards work.

If there is any election that Nigeria must conduct well, it is the 2015 general elections and the INEC has continued to reassure Nigerians of its commitment to ensuring that they get a a free, fair and credible election.

Stakeholders have continued to also prepare in their various capacities and Mr Soetan said the readiness of Nigerians for the elections gives hope of a remarkable election.

“I think our duty really is to assist in what …read more      

Hong Kong begins cull of 15, 000 chickens after finding the H7 strain of bird flu in a batch of live animals. Paul Chapman reports.

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Two Albanian seamen have been killed on a tugboat while towing the fire-stricken Norman Atlantic ferry.

Both men died after being hit by a connecting cable between the vessels on Tuesday, Albanian officials say.

“One man died on the spot when one cable broke after it got stuck in the propeller. The other died on board a few minutes ago when being assisted by a helicopter medical team,” a port authority official in Vlore told Reuters.

Ten people had earlier died after the Norman Atlantic caught fire on Sunday off the Greek coast.

Rescue teams evacuated more than 400 people from the car ferry that caught fire off Greece’s Adriatic coast in a 36-hour operation on roiling seas.

Italian and Albanian magistrates have ordered the Italian-flagged ferry, which was chartered by Greek ferry operator Anek Lines, to be seized to investigate the cause of the fire.

It is unclear how many passengers are still missing. Rescue helicopters have been diverted after another ship sent a distress signal nearby.

A cargo ship carrying several hundred people near the Greek island of Corfu appealed for help late on Tuesday morning, according to Greek media.

Monday’s rescue operation was conducted amid considerable danger and panic.

As passengers tried to escape from the flames by going on to the deck, they were confronted with freezing cold rain and huge waves while heat from the fire below scalded their feet.

Survivors described scenes of people fighting to get to lifeboat slots and into helicopter baskets. Those rescued have complained that the crew seemed overwhelmed by events.

Some witnesses said that there had been no fire alarms or knocks at the door from the crew to rouse sleeping passengers.

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Indonesian authorities prepare to receive and identify bodies after pinpointing what they believe is the wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501. Paul Chapman reports.

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