GAMBIA
Ruler rejects election results
Gambia’s ruler of more than 22 years announced late Friday that he no longer accepts defeat in the presidential election, reversing course a week after he conceded to his rival. In a speech on state television, President Yahya Jammeh said that investigations since the Dec. 1 vote have revealed a number of voting irregularities. “I hereby reject the results in totality,” he said. Only one week ago, a jovial Jammeh was filmed calling opposition candidate Adama Barrow to wish him the best.
Netherlands
Man with IS flag is detained Dutch police detained a 30-year-old man on suspicion of preparing a terrorist crime after finding a Kalashnikov rifle, two full ammunition clips and a painting featuring a flag used by the Islamic State group at his home, prosecutors announced Friday. The suspect was detained Wednesday by a special arrest team in the port city of Rotterdam following an investigation that was triggered by a tip from the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, prosecutors said in a statement. The man appeared before an investigating judge on Friday and was ordered held for two more weeks. Officers who searched the man’s home also uncovered four boxes of highly explosive illegal fireworks, mobile telephones and $1,687 in cash.
NIGERIA
30 killed in suicide bombing
Two women suicide bombers blew themselves up at a bustling market in northeast Nigeria’s Madagali town on Friday morning, killing at least 30 people and wounding 67, an army spokesman said. The attack comes as Nigeria’s government claims it is routing the Boko Haram Islamic extremists blamed for the blasts. The explosions occurred on the edge of the extremist group’s Sambisa Forest stronghold, which Nigeria’s military has been bombing ahead of ground assaults. Since the military has dislodged the insurgents from towns and villages this year, they have been attacking soft targets.
FRANCE
Rats overrun Paris parks
Both Nadine Mahe des Portes and the rat panicked when she inadvertently stepped on it on her walk back from work through Paris. “I heard a terrible squeak,” the property agent recalled. “I thought I’d stepped on a child’s toy or something.” When Parisians are literally tripping over rats on the sidewalk, it is clear that the city has a problem. Exterminators with decades on the job struggle to recall infestations as impressive — perhaps that should be repulsive — as those now forcing the closure of Paris parks, where squirmy clumps of rats brazenly feed in broad daylight, looking like they own the place.
Compiled from wire reports
