NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Germany politics: Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday rallied her Christian Democratic Union party behind a proposed new government with the center-left Social Democrats, receiving overwhelming support from delegates for a coalition deal. Of about 1,000 delegates at a convention in Berlin, only 27 voted against the agreement which had drawn criticism from some conservatives in the party. Though getting the most votes, the CDU posted one of its worst results ever in last September’s election as many conservative voters, anguished over the arrival of more than a million refugees, defected to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.
2 Kidnapped girls: Frightened students on Monday stayed away from the school in northern Nigeria where Boko Haram extremists seized 110 girls in a raid a week ago, while pressure grew on the government to act. The Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi had been closed following the attack that reminded many of Boko Haram’s kidnapping of 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok in 2014. Teachers resumed classes Monday, but students were absent. Anger has been growing in Nigeria as the government struggles to respond to the attack, with authorities giving conflicting reports on the abductions. Many fear the girls seized last week were taken to become brides for Boko Haram extremists.
3 Earthquake: A powerful, 7.5-magnitude quake rattled villages and a large gold mine in central Papua New Guinea on Monday. The government sent officers to the region to assess unverified reports of fatalities and check the extent of the damage. The quake hit 55 miles southwest of Porgera, the site of a gold mine that employs more than 2,500 residents. The area also is home to a number of oil and gas operations and coffee plantations.
4 Mideast tensions: Relatives of Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teen-turned-protest icon, said troops arrested 10 people from her West Bank village on Monday, including a 15-year-old cousin with a serious head injury. The teen, Mohammed, had part of his skull removed by surgeons after being shot at close range by Israeli troops on Dec. 15. That incident reportedly set off Ahed when she slapped and kicked two soldiers later that day. Tamimi is on trial for the scuffle, and her case has drawn international attention. Mohammed said he was held for 10 hours in a cold cell, with his hands cuffed behind his back, before being released. He said he was interrogated about throwing stones at soldiers and organizing protests, allegations he denied.
5 Hungary complaint: Hungary’s foreign minister on Monday called for the resignation of the United Nations’ human rights chief for referring to Prime Minister Viktor Orban as one of the “xenophobes and racists” seeking “ethnic, national or racial purity.” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein was “unworthy” of his position. Orban, a staunch opponent of immigration, especially by Muslims, has often said he wants to prevent Hungary from becoming a “mixed society.”
6 Egypt election: Human Rights Watch sharply criticized Egyptian authorities on Monday for a series of “arbitrary” arrests of political opponents of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ahead of next month’s presidential election. HRW says the intensifying repression and the use of terrorism-related charges against peaceful activists reflect a government strategy to silence critical voices ahead of the vote.