The Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has called for a temporary but total ban on Muslims entering the US. Mr. Trump said that recent polling showed that many Muslims nursed hatred towards America. Jenner Bryon is in Washington. “In his statement, Mr. Trump said it was obvious to anybody that the hatred was beyond comprehension. Until the dangerous threat was properly understood, he said America could not become the victim of horrendous attacks by people who believe only in Jihad and have no sense of respect for human life. The statement is the strongest anti-Muslim sentiment yet coming from a presidential candidate. It gives no details about how Muslims could be kept out of the country. But as the Republican front runner, Mr. Trump is clearly tapping a disturbing trend in US politics.” The White House saidMr. Trump’s statement was contrary to US values and national security interests.
The FBI has said that the husband and wife who killed 14people in the city of San Bernardino last Wednesday had been radicalized for some time. The FBI says the couple had also taken part in target practice before they opened fire on public health workers. David Willis reports. “Since Wednesday’s attack, the FBI says it has conducted more than 400 interviews and collected 320 pieces of evidence. Some of that evidence, including the pipes that were thought were being used to make pipe bombs, has been transferred to the FBI’s headquarters in Washington DC for analysis. But the crucial question of whether Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had the backing of an international terrorist organization or were acting alone remains unanswered.”
A museum in the Netherlands says an ultra-nationalism militia group in Ukraine has asked it for $5 million to return a collection of Golden Age paintings stolen a decade ago. The West fries Museum says the case may also involve art thieves with contact of the highest political level in Ukraine.
Independent experts in Mexico investigating the disappearance of 43 students last year saved new evidence which contradicts official versions that a drug gang killed them and burned their bodies. The group said satellite pictures showed no signs of fire at a rubbish dump near where the students were thought to have been murdered. AlejandroValencia is involved in the investigation. “Satellite monitoring shows only one fire in the state of Guerrero Sep 17, 2014 and it does not correspond to Cocula’s coordinates. That cited report concludes that it did rain in Iguala on Sep 26 and 27 and no fire was detected in the locality of Cocula during those days.” World news from the BBC.
The judicial authorities in Ghana have sacked 20 judges implicated in a hugely damaging bribe taking scandal. Those sacked were magistrates or lower-court judges. A number of high court judges are still suspended facing further investigation. The corruption came to light after an under cover reporter Aremeyaw Anas spent 2 years amassing nearly 500hours of video footage as evidence.
Russia has presented France with a puppy as a symbolic replacement for a police dog killed in the aftermath of the Paris attacks last month. The dog’s death sparked international sympathy with tributes paid on social media. The German shepherd puppy named Dobrynya after a night from Russian folklore was handed to the French Ambassador in Moscow who called it an extraordinary gift. Meanwhile, less than a month after gunmen stormed their performance at the Bataclan venue in Paris massacring 90 people, the American rock band Eagles of Death metal have again played in the city. The group were invited on stage by the Irish band U2.
A group of designers and architects who helped redevelop art veranda and housing estate in northwest England have won the prestigious Turner Prize for contemporary art. The Assemble Collective worked with the local community to transform ten 19th century houses earmarked for demolition in Liverpool. Our arts editor Will Gompertz reports. “The winner of the 2015Turner Prize is an architectural collective called Assemble. Their winning exhibit is their creation of interior of one of the houses the collective helped renovate in a rundown area. Inside is a short come showroom selling doorknobs and wall tiles produced by the local community with the money made going back into the regeneration project. This is art as social enterprise from a group of 20 somethings wanting to make a difference.”
