SOMALIA – An airstrike has killed the head of intelligence of al-Shabab, a Somali-based extremist group which is believed to have been among those who planned attacks on Kenyans.

Kenyan military spokesman Colonel David Obonyo said on Thursday that Mahad Karate, also known as Abdirahim Mohamed Warsame, died along with 10 middle-level al-Shabab members in an airstrike 10 days ago in Nadris camp in the south of Somalia. The US State department in April designated Karate a terrorist, saying he played a key role in the Amniyat, the wing of al-Shabab responsible for the April attack on Garissa University College in Kenya that resulted in nearly 150 deaths. Al-Shabab wants to topple Somalia’s weak government and has launched extremist attacks on neighbouring countries that have sent peace-keeping troops to back Somalia’s government.(Irish Independent)...[+]

ENGLAND – The girl groomed by Adam Johnson told a school friend that the former England footballer “offered to meet her for money” and gave her £50 for a trip to London, a court has heard.

The friend also told jurors that the then Sunderland midfielder asked the alleged victim “for a naked picture” on the messaging app Snapchat. Giving evidence via videolink at Bradford crown court on Wednesday, the witness said: “She [the complainant] said that they talked on Snapchat and he’d asked her to send a naked picture and that’s all I can remember about it.” She added: “She told me that she’d been texting him before she went away and he offered to meet her for money.” The girl, who cannot be named, is the first of the alleged victim’s friends to give evidence against Johnson.(theguardian)…[+]

ENGLAND – The British headmistress of a school in one of Pakistan’s most remote regions has finally returned to work eight months after an acrimonious dispute with her well-connected predecessor left her in exile in London. Carey Schofield was greeted by crowds of parents and teachers when she finally flew into the former princely state of Chitral last week after a spectacular falling out with Geoffrey Langlands, a celebrated Raj-era army officer who taught a generation of Pakistan’s political leaders. Her return was made possible by the decision of the school’s entire staff to travel more than a thousand miles on a rickety school bus to lobby Langlands to drop his opposition to Schofield, whom he accused of mismanagement and overspending. (theguardian)…[+]

GERMANY – Pegida defector Rene Jahn claims the far-right extremists spread ‘a pack of lies’ about migrants coming into the country to suit their ‘racist’ anti-immigration agenda. Lifting the lid on the secretive extremist group’s inner workings, Jahn accused them of cynically exaggerating the scale of the migrant threat. Revealing he left after the group was ‘hijacked’ by extremists, the defector revealed he is alarmed at the inflammatory rhetoric used by group leaders. In an exclusive interview, he told Daily Mail: ‘The things they say now are a pack of lies. ‘Churches are not being turned into mosques. The Rhineland is not a caliphate. Kindergartens are not banned from serving pork, and there is no Sharia police.’(Daily Mail)…[+]

FINLAND/NORWAY – The extreme right-wing vigilante group Soldiers of Odin have spread across Scandinavia from Finland to Norway, according to reports. The anti-immigrant group was formed last autumn and have been patrolling streets in several Finnish towns ‘to protect the Finns from the threat of asylum seekers’. This week, a group of Soldiers of Odin have been seen on a vigilante walk through the town of Tønsberg in southern Norway. During what is believed to be the first appearance of Soldiers of Odin groups outside of Finland, some 14 ‘soldiers’ walked around the town on Saturday night. However, the group, dressed in black coats wearing the insignia of the Soldiers of Odin met heavy resistance from the local population, who rejected their protection and protested their presence.(Daily Mail)…[+]

MEXICO – Pope Francis has asked Mexican indigenous people in Chiapas state for forgiveness over the way they have been excluded from society. He made his appeal while celebrating Mass in three native languages after a new Vatican decree approved their use. The Pope also used the open-air service in San Cristobal de las Casas to warn about threats to the environment.

Throughout his five-day trip he has condemned the evils of forced emigration and drugs. He has urged Mexico’s leaders to provide “true justice” to suffering citizens.

But on Monday he drew attention to the suffering of indigenous people in his address in Chiapas state. “On many occasions, in a systematic and organized way, your people have been misunderstood and excluded from society,” the 79-year-old pontiff said after citing Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan text.(BBC)…[+]

BRAZIL – More evidence linking the Zika virus to birth defects in babies has been found, scientists in Brazil say. The team at the PUC-Parana University discovered the virus in the brains of two babies who only lived for 48 hours.

The mosquito-borne virus is thought to cause microcephaly in babies, who are born with damaged brains and abnormally small heads. Brazil has about 460 confirmed cases of microcephaly, and is investigating about 3,850 suspected cases. The virus has spread throughout Latin-America, but Brazil has been hardest hit.

Scientists told the BBC that samples taken from the brain tissue of the two babies showed that the Zika virus was still actively present. The scientists have been following the pregnancies of 10 women in the north-eastern state of Paraiba – the second worst-hit by cases of microcephaly.(BBC)…[+]

ENGLAND – A primary school has been forced to tell parents to stop smoking cannabis on the school run – while another is reminding parents not to use foul language when dropping off their children. Deputy head Deborah Binns wrote a strongly-worded letter after receiving ‘concerning reports’ that the substance was being smoked around St John’s Primary in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester.

In the letter, Ms Binns reminded parents they needed to ‘set a good example’ for their children and that smoking drugs was a ‘serious safeguarding concern’. She also warned that police officers could start patrolling the area to keep a ‘close eye’ on the situation and that any suspects would be reported to the authorities.

(Daily Mail) (FOTO: thesun.co.uk)…[+]

NEW ZEALAND – Anna Cochrane dislocated a rib while hanging from a hot air balloon over the skies of Ashburton, but that did not stop her from smashing a world record.

The Wellington-based ambulance officer set a new world record on Sunday for the highest static trapeze act while suspended from a balloon, with a performance lasting more than five minutes at an altitude of between 3100 and 3500 metres. The previous record was just over 660m.

Cochrane was about 30 seconds into the routine on Sunday morning when she heard the ribs on her left side make “a couple of pops”. “I’m a paramedic, so I assessed myself while hanging upside down. I thought, there’s definitely something wrong…[+]

AUSTRALIA – Australian police have seized $1 billion Australian dollars’ worth of the drug “ice” from a shipment of silicon bra inserts and art supplies, the country’s federal police said, worth approximately US$700 million. According to authorities, the bust is one of the biggest in Australia’s history, and the largest seizure of liquid methylamphetamine ever. Four people have been charged over the haul, which included 720 liters of the drug, the Australian Federal Police said Monday.

Australian customs first discovered around 190 liters hidden inside thousands of stick on gel bras in a shipment from Hong Kong in December of last year. Delivery of the shipment was tracked to a storage facility where a Hong Kong national was arrested. An additional 530 liters of the drug were then found concealed in art supplies stashed in storage units in Sydney.(CNN)…[+]