Uganda ( Ugandan officials have previously denied that their troops were in Sudan )

Ugandan officials have previously denied that their troops have joined the fight, saying their forces were deployed in South Sudan mainly to aid civilian evacuations.

The involvement of a foreign army in South Sudan's conflict could escalate a crisis set off by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, the fugitive former deputy president who commands rebel forces.

It comes a day after Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, admitted for the first time to helping his South Sudanese counterpart fend off the rebellion.

Uganda's troop involvement in combat in South Sudan could raise concerns that other regional countries could be sucked into the conflict, fighting their own proxy wars as has happened elsewhere on the continent, such as Congo.

 

A spokesman for the prime minister of Ethiopia, where peace talks are taking place, said earlier this month having Ugandan troops engaged in combat would be "absolutely unwarranted".

"Only the other day, Jan. 13, the SPLA and elements of our army had a big battle with these rebel troops at a point about 90km from Juba," Museveni said. 

"We inflicted a big defeat on them. Unfortunately, many lives were lost on the side of the rebels. We also took casualties and also had some dead."

Kuol Manyang, South Sudan's defence minister, said the Ugandan forces in his country numbered "a battalion", and that they were there to help quell the rebellion by Machar

- See more at: http://www.sudan.net/completenews.php?nsid=4888&cid=1#sthash.y3lnQDmY.dpuf

SUDAN ( South Sudan Rebels Claim Recapture of Malakal )

South Sudan former rebel army soldiers patrol in the streets of Malakal, the capital of the biggest oil producing state in the Upper Nile, on January 12, 2014. South Sudan Rebels Claim Recapture of Malakal
VOA -  January 14

Lucy Poni

Last updated on: January 14, 2014 2:14 PM

Rebel forces loyal to former South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar recaptured the town of Malakal Tuesday, a spokesman for Machar announced to delegates at talks aimed at ending the violence in the world's newest nation.

 

“I have just received confirmation from our field commander that the SPLM/SPLA forces under the direct command of Major-General Gathoth Gathkuoth have recaptured the strategic town of Malakal, the capital of oil-rich Upper Nile state," Brigadier-General Lul Ruai Koang, Machar's military spokesman, said.  

"Our forces are still pursuing Salva Kiir’s forces,” Ruai said in Addis Ababa, where the two sides in the month-old conflict are holding peace talks.

Fighting has been raging in and around Malakal since Sunday. Ruai said government troops were likely among some 200 people who drowned when a crowded boat sank as it carried people fleeing the fighting across the White Nile River.

“Government forces were chased, some towards Akoka. Our forces are still pursuing them. Some of them crossed the river. So the people who are said to have drowned in the river, I am sure some of them are government forces,” he said.

Ruai said the general in charge of government troops in Malakal, Johnson Gony Beliu, abandoned his soldiers and fled to Juba with Upper Nile state Governor Simon Kun Pouch.

 

It was impossible to confirm Ruai's claims with independent sources or with the army.

 

Rebels vow to keep oil flowing

The capital of Upper Nile state, which produces the bulk of South Sudan's oil, has already changed hands twice since South Sudan was engulfed in unrest last month when an attack by renegade soldiers on an army headquarters in Juba  quickly spread around the country.

Heavy fighting was reported in Malakal on Tuesday morning as the rebel forces launched a final assault on government positions.

Ruai said that recapturing Malakal has given the rebels control of South Sudan’s oil,  which could give them a better bargaining tool at the peace talks in Addis Ababa.

 

But that was not the reason they launched their offensive on the strategic town, he said.

“We are not doing this so as to strengthen our position at the negotiations.  We are doing this because we have been attacked several times,” he said.

Ruai said the rebel forces will ensure that oil production continues in Upper Nile, which produces around 85 percent of South Sudan's oil, the backbone of the young country's economy.

Before a disagreement with Khartoum led to a production shutdown in January 2012, South Sudan produced half a million barrels of crude a day, accounting for 98 percent of government revenues and about 80 percent of gross domestic product, according to the Revenue Watch Institute.

Reports that Malakal was again in the hands of rebel forces came days after government troops snatched control of  Bentiu, the capital of oil-producing Unity state, from Machar loyalists.

The two sides are also fighting for control of Bor,  the capital of Jonglei state, which government forces vowed last week to recapture from rebels, who took control of the town early on in the conflict.

The United Nations says well in excess of a thousand people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in four weeks of violence in South Sudan.

- See more at: http://www.sudan.net/completenews.php?nsid=4885&cid=1#sthash.cUb21nA5.dpuf

Saudi Arabia ( Lawyers defend " Father " of gossip that he dropped his daughter down well )

A number of lawyers have volunteered to represent the grieve-stricken parents of Lama Al-Rouqi in taking legal action against those tarnishing their reputation .
Lama was declared dead after efforts failed to retrieve her body from a well she fell into a month ago. The lawyers say they will support the plaintiff’s case in court free of charge.



“This is the least thing we can do to comfort Al-Rouqis and to hold accountable those who hurt their feelings during this difficult time,” said Fahd Al-Harbi.
Al-Rouqis plan to file a lawsuit against the people who circulated rumors across social media channels and accused the father of deliberately dropping Lama in the well.
Such allegations violate the Kingdom’s cyber crime laws, said lawyers.
Hijab bin Masri Zalamy, head of the Al-Awali tribe, appealed to the Interior Ministry to halt the campaign of gossip and rumors.
Zalamy said Al-Awalis were heading to Tabuk to follow up on the latest rescue efforts and stand by the grieving family shortly after hearing the news.
The governor of Tabuk recently received Zalamy’s tribe and Al-Rouqi’s relatives. He also expressed his deep concern over the tragedy. The governor has ordered all relevant authorities to help in expediting Lama’s recovery efforts

Mexico ( Mexican Cops Find 3 Slain Near U.S. Border ) across from Douglas, Arizona

MEXICO CITY – Three men were found fatally shot near the U.S. border in the northern Mexican municipality of Agua Prieta, the Sonora state police said Friday.

Police received a report shortly after 8:00 p.m. Thursday about an exchange of gunfire in the Deportiva neighborhood.

Officers responding to the call found the bodies of three men inside an overturned, bullet-riddled pickup truck, state police said in a statement.

Authorities offered no information on the identity of the victims, but El Universal newspaper said in its online edition that businessman Armando Moreno may have been among the dead.

An AK-47 assault rifle and two handguns were found with the bodies.

The Sonora Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation, state police said.

Agua Prieta sits just across the border from Douglas, Arizona.

India ( Wife of prominent Indian minister Shashi Tharoor " Found dead " after exposed husbands adultery )

NEW DELHI: The wife of prominent Indian minister Shashi Tharoor was found dead Friday in a five-star hotel room after she exposed his alleged adultery with a Pakistani journalist on Twitter.
The minister’s private secretary, Abhinav Kumar, said Tharoor and Pushkar had been staying at the luxury hotel since Thursday as painting work was being done at their home.
The minister had been away during the day at a conference, Kumar said.
When he returned in the evening, he found the door of Pushkar’s suite locked from the inside.
“She seemed to be sleeping in a normal way but later it was found she was dead,” he said.
Kumar said there was “no sign of foul play,” adding: “The cause of death and the time of death, we cannot say now.”
TV footage showed an ambulance with flashing blue lights outside the hotel.
Pushkar’s death came a day after Tharoor issued what he called a joint statement from the couple saying they were “happily married and intend to remain that way.”
The statement added “Sunanda has been ill and hospitalized this week and is seeking to rest” and asked for the media to respect the couple’s privacy.
The alleged affair surfaced when a curious series of messages appeared on the Twitter account of the suave thrice-married human resources minister, seen by his two million followers.
They showed private exchanges purportedly between the 57-year-old (@shashitharoor) and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar (@mehrtarar), in which she professed her love for him and he said his wife had discovered his affair.



 Tharoor quickly responded by saying his Twitter account had been “hacked,” but wife Sunanda spoke to two newspapers saying that she was the author of the messages.
“Our accounts have not been hacked and I have been sending out these tweets,” Sunanda told the Economic Times, adding to the Indian Express that she “100 percent” stood by the messages.
However, the statement had said the couple were “distressed” by the controversy created by “unauthorized tweets” and denounced “distorted accounts of comments allegedly made by Sunanda in the press.”
The Pakistani journalist strongly denied having an affair with the former UN diplomat.
Reacting to Pushkar’s death, Tarar tweeted: “I just woke up and read this. I’m absolutely shocked. This is too awful for words. So tragic I don’t know what to say. Rest in peace, Sunanda.”
Then Tarar added, “What the hell. Sunanda. Oh my God.”
CNN-IBN channel anchor Sagarika Ghose said she spoke to Pushkar on Thursday and she appeared depressed and was sobbing uncontrollably.
Ghose said Pushkar, who has a son in his 20s from an earlier marriage, told her she had seen a message in which Tharoor allegedly said he would leave his wife after general elections due by May.
Sunanda, who had reportedly been suffering from tuberculosis, had accused Pakistani journalist Tarar of being a Pakistani intelligence agent and of “stalking” her husband.

Dog News ( In the Dog House - Subaru Dog Commercial )

Indonesia ( A young African lion has died after getting its head caught in cables ) " Death Zoo "

SURABAYA, Indonesia: A young African lion has died after getting its head caught in cables in its cage at an Indonesian zoo notorious for hundreds of animal deaths in recent years, it was announced Thursday.
The 18-month-old lion named Michael was found early Tuesday at the zoo in Surabaya, in the east of the main island of Java, said zoo spokesman Agus Supangkat.


“The lion was found hanging from the roof of his cage. He was very young and got his head stuck in cables that keepers use to open and close the cage,” Supangkat told AFP.
Supangkat insisted that the death was an accident and not due to negligence. Police were investigating its death, he added.
The incident came just two days after a wildebeest was found dead in its cage at the zoo, which has been dubbed the “death zoo” because so many animals have died there prematurely in recent years due to neglect.
Among them have been endangered orangutans, a tiger whose food was laced with formaldehyde and a giraffe found dead with a beachball-sized lump of plastic in its stomach, after eating food wrappers thrown into its pen over the years.
The wildebeest died on Sunday evening of intestinal complications.
Supangkat insisted the wildebeest had been properly fed and said it became sick after days of intense rain and humidity.
The management of the zoo — Indonesia’s biggest — has been taken over by the Surabaya city administration, but the deaths have not stopped and animal welfare groups continue to call for its closure.
African lions are found in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as vulnerable.