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31 January 2017

UK pardons thousands convicted under past anti-gay laws

In this Thursday, March 19, 2015 file photo, a notebook of British mathematician Alan Turing is displayed in front of his portrait during an auction preview in Hong Kong. Thousands of men convicted under now-abolished anti-homosexuality laws in Britain have been pardoned posthumously under a law passed on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 and many more still alive can now apply to have their criminal convictions wiped out. Calls for a general pardon have noted the 1954 suicide of World War II codebreaking hero Alan Turing after his conviction for "gross indecency." After he received a posthumous royal pardon in 2013, pressure for pardons intensified.

Thousands of men convicted under now-abolished anti-homosexuality laws in Britain have been pardoned posthumously under a law enacted on Tuesday, and many more still alive can now apply to have their criminal convictions wiped out.

Announcing the new law, the Ministry of Justice said the pardons apply automatically to deceased men who were convicted for consensual same-sex relations before homosexuality was decriminalized several decades ago. Men living with convictions can apply to the government to have their names cleared.

18 January 2017

Nigerian air force bombs refugee camp, more than 100 dead

In this Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, file photo, Cameroon soldiers stand guard at a lookout post as they take part in operations against the Islamic extremists group Boko Haram, their guard post is on Elbeid bridge, left rear, that separates northern Cameroon form Nigeria's Borno state near the village of Fotokol, Cameroon. Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly bombed a refugee camp Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2017, killing more than 100 refugees and wounding aid workers, a Borno state government official said.

A Nigerian air force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly bombed a refugee camp on Tuesday, killing more than 100 refugees and aid workers and wounding 200, a government official and doctors said.

Military commander Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor confirmed an accidental bombardment in the northeastern town of Rann, near the border with Cameroon, saying "some" civilians were killed.