African leaders back Gambian results

abuja, nigeria» West African leaders are promising to enforce the results of a Gambian election upset being challenged by the country’s longtime coup leader.

A summit of the Economic Community of West African States ended Saturday with all leaders stating they will attend the inauguration on Jan. 19 of newly elected businessman Adama Barrow.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh shocked his fellow citizens by conceding defeat after a Dec. 1 vote, then changed his mind and called for a new election.

The United Nations, the United States and the African Union all have condemned the move.

manila, philippines» President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Saturday to terminate a pact that allows U.S. troops to visit the Philippines, saying “Bye-bye, America” as he reacted with rage to what he thought was a U.S. decision to scrap a major aid package over human rights concerns.

A U.S. government aid agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, said earlier in the week that its board deferred a vote on a renewal of the development assistance package for the Philippines “subject to a further review of concerns around rule of law and civil liberties.”

istanbul» A suicide car bomber set off an explosion Saturday that demolished a public bus transporting off-duty soldiers in Turkey’s central province of Kayseri, killing 13 troops and wounding 56 other people, authorities said.

Saturday’s blast comes a week after a car bomb attack claimed by Kurdish militants killed 44 people, mainly riot police, and wounded over 150 others near a soccer stadium in Istanbul.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the identity of the Kayseri attacker was known and that seven people had been taken into custody in connection with the attack.

Police were searching for five others.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the suicide bomber ambushed a commando brigade on weekend leave in the city of Kayseri.

The Turkish army said 48 troops were among the wounded in Saturday’s “treacherous attack.” The state-run Anadolu Agency said the explosion at the entrance gate to Erciyes University hit a bus transporting off-duty soldiers.

Speaking in Kayseri, Health Minister Recep Akdag told reporters 56 people had been wounded in the attack, including four who were in critical condition.

london» Norman the booby bird may have clocked in the most unlikely air miles in aviation history.

The red-footed booby, a native of tropical zones, was discovered on a southern English beach Sept. 4, about 5,000 miles from his nearest Caribbean habitat.

It was first recorded sighting of the species in Britain.

Named Norman by his rescuers, the starving, dehydrated bird spent months under heat lamps as a Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wildlife center nursed him back to health.

Wildlife officials said Saturday that the bird is back where he belongs, a Cayman Islands nature reserve following a 12hour British Airways flight Thursday with a veterinary escort.