Czech leader says Muslims 'impossible to integrate' in Europe

Czech President Milos Zeman

   Prague (AFP) --- Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his fiery anti-migrant comments, said on Sunday that it was almost impossible to integrate the Muslim community into European society.

   "The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible," Zeman said in a televised interview.

   "Let them have their culture in their countries and not take it to Europe, otherwise it will end up like Cologne," he added, referring to the mass New Year's Eve assaults on women in Germany and elsewhere.

   "Integration is possible with cultures that are similar, and the similarities may vary," pointing out that the Vietnamese and Ukrainian communities had been able to integrate into Czech society.

Zeman, a 71-year-old leftwinger and the first-ever directly elected president of the Czech Republic, has repeatedly spoken out against the surge of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe.

   Earlier this month, Zeman claimed the influx was masterminded by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood which uses money from several states to finance it in a bid to "gradually control Europe".

   Late last year, Zeman called the surge in refugee numbers "an organised invasion," urging young men from Iraq and Syria to "take up arms" against the Islamic State (IS) group instead of running away.

   More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of them refugees fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

   But few asylum seekers have chosen to stay in the largely secular Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.5 million people, with the majority heading to wealthier Germany and other western EU states.  

China tells Taiwan to abandon independence 'hallucination'

   TAIPEI/BEIJING --- Taiwan should abandon its "hallucinations" about pushing for independence, as any moves toward it would be a "poison", Chinese state-run media said after a landslide victory for the island's independence-leaning opposition.

   Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a convincing victory in both presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, in what could usher in a new round of instability with China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own.

   Tsai pledged to maintain peace with its giant neighbor China, while China's Taiwan Affairs Office warned it would oppose any move toward independence and that Beijing was determined to defend the country's sovereignty.

   Reacting to Tsai's victory, China's government-controlled media used noticeably less shrill language than that leveled at Chen Shui-bian, the DPP's last president, and noted her pledges for peace and to maintain the "status quo" with China.

   But the official Xinhua news agency also warned any moves toward independence were like a "poison" that would cause Taiwan to perish.

   "If there is no peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan's new authority will find the sufferings of the people it wishes to resolve on the economy, livelihood and its youth will be as useless as looking for fish in a tree," it said.

   China called Chen, who led Taiwan from 2000-2008, a troublemaker and a saboteur of cross-strait ties, even as he tried to maintain stable relations with Beijing.

   The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper, said in an editorial that if Tsai's administration sought to "cross the red line" like Chen, Taiwan would "meet a dead end".

   "We hope Tsai can lead the DPP out of the hallucinations of Taiwan independence, and contribute to the peaceful and common development between Taiwan and the mainland," it added.

   In Taiwan, the China-friendly China Times called on Tsai to be a "dove for cross strait peace".

"Peace across the Taiwan Strait is the most important external factor for Taiwan's stable development," it said in an editorial.

   Tsai won 56 percent of the vote to sweep aside rival Eric Chu of the China-friendly Nationalist Party that had ruled Taiwan under incumbent president Ma Ying-jeou since 2008.

   Tsai's DPP also made huge gains in the parliamentary polls to gain an absolute majority with 68 seats in the 113-seat legislature, giving her administration a far stronger policy-making lever over the next four years, and potentially more leverage over Beijing on cross-strait deals and affairs.

   China's Foreign Ministry, in its reaction to her victory, said Taiwan was an internal matter for China, there is only one China in the world and the island's election neither changes this reality nor international acceptance of it.

   "There is only one China in the world, the mainland and Taiwan both belong to one China and China's sovereignty and territorial integrity will not brook being broken up," the ministry added.

   "The results of the Taiwan region election does not change this basic fact and the consensus of the international community."

   Tsai has been thrust into one of Asia's toughest and most dangerous jobs, with China pointing hundreds of missiles at the island it claims, decades after the losing Nationalists fled from Mao Zedong's Communists to Taiwan in the Chinese civil war in 1949.

   The White House said on Saturday it congratulated Tsai and said the United States maintained a "profound interest" in peace between Taiwan and China.

Poland hopes to buy U.S. Patriot missiles

   WARSAW (Reuters) --- Poland hopes to buy the American Patriot air and missile defense system, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said on Saturday, signaling a $5 billion deal may be struck despite the new conservative government's initial doubts.

   In April 2015, Poland's centrist government said it would buy Raytheon's Patriot missiles, a deal which the then opposition conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party said it would review should it come to power. 

   Following PiS' election victory in October, the new government questioned whether the "original cost and timeline assumptions, as well as those regarding the scope of (U.S.) cooperation with Polish industry," could be met, adding it might scrap the deal.

   Raytheon was ready to build the system in 65 months, but the actual delivery date would depend on inter-governmental negotiations, the company said at the time.

   "The real, long range aim of our plans is a sustainable ownership of an efficient air defense. We hope this could be the Patriot system", Macierewicz said at a joint press conference with U.S. ambassador Paul W. Jones transmitted by private broadcast TVN24.

   "We hope for effective negotiations," Macierewicz added.  

Saudi ally Comoros breaks off relations with Iran

Comoros President Ikililou Dhoinine addresses 

the United Nations General Assembly

   Moroni (Comoros) (AFP) --- Indian Ocean archipelago and Saudi Arabia ally the Comoros said it had cut diplomatic relations with Iran over what it termed Tehran's "aggression" towards Riyadh.

   A foreign ministry statement said the Comoros viewed Tehran as "interfering" in "the internal affairs of certain countries" and "not respecting diplomatic conventions".

   Comoros' foreign ministry said it had called on the Iranian ambassador to clear his desk.

   The move came a week after the Comoros, a member of the Arab League, recalled its own ambassador from Tehran judging that Iran has created a climate of "gratuitous aggression" towards Riyadh.

   Relations between majority Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia dived after the January 2 ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, Iran's second city.

   The ransacking came amid anger over Riyadh's execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent cleric from the kingdom's Shiite minority.

   Following the execution Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran.

Several Arab countries followed suit and severed or reduced relations with Iran.

   "One cannot violate with impunity the sovereignty of diplomatic missions," the Comoros foreign ministry director general Ahamada Hamadi told AFP, referring to the ransacking.

   The three islands of Anjouan, Grand Comore and Moheli that make up the Comoros have a total population of just under 800,000 people, nearly all of whom are Sunni Muslims.

   Since gaining independence from France in 1975, the impoverished archipelago has witnessed more than 20 attempted coups, four of which were successful, but it has enjoyed relative stability in recent years.

More shocking refugee rape claims emerge in Germany

   (Sunday Express) --- A TEENAGE girl was surrounded and attacked in a swimming pool in the latest of a series shocking sex assaults emerging from Germany.

   Police said they have detained migrants in three more cases - one of which was traced to an asylum centre.

   It comes as legal programmes have been launched for migrants, addressing areas of sexual equality and freedom of speech.

   The classes, launched in Bavaria, are voluntary, and officials say they were planned before widespread assaults on women were revealed.

   Tensions in the country are at breaking point as protests and counter-protests over the New Year’s Eve attacks in Kӧln spark riots.

   Yesterday, a masked group of 200 barricaded buildings and smashed shop windows as they demanded action from authorities in the city of Leipzig.

   And vigilante groups have attacked foreign migrants as 'revenge' for the sex assaults.

   Three teenagers aged 15 from Syria have been arrested for rape after a 17-year-old girl was attacked in a public swimming pool in Munich on Saturday.

   The trio allegedly surrounded the teen, with one of the boys groping her under her swimming costume and penetrating her, making the sex attack rape under German law.

   The girl's sister was also allegedly groped before they managed to flee to a lifeguard who called the police.

   Because the asylum seekers were only 15, they were not remanded in custody and were released, and will be prosecuted under juvenile law.

   Officers have also made an arrest for rape and attempted murder after a 24-year-old woman was attacked on Christmas Eve.

   The alleged attacker, aged 20 from Morocco, was traced to an asylum seeker centre.

   During the attack outside a cemetery in Gelsenkirchen the woman was approached from behind and beaten unconscious before being dragged into a cemetery and raped.

   Violence against women is always despicable and criminal, and it is a great shame that this has been shown to be a case where the alleged attacker is from the ranks of the asylum seekers, who only a short time before were welcomed into our community here

Mayor Frank Baranowski

   Local mayor Frank Baranowski said: "Violence against women is always despicable and criminal, and it is a great shame that this has been shown to be a case where the alleged attacker is from the ranks of the asylum seekers, who only a short time before were welcomed into our community here in Gelsenkirchen. 

   “This is not only a gross disregard for hospitality but also inhumane.

   "This person will not only face the consequences of his actions if convicted, but also he has done severe damage to all those others who have fled their homes and will now be tainted because of what he has done." 

   Police said the man arrested was apparently a member of the "Casablanca" band, identified as a group of thousands of North Africans who have been committing crimes in North Rhine-Westphalia to an enormous degree in the last six months particularly.

   He will also face attempted murder charges because the injuries the woman received were so severe that she almost died.

   Another attack on a 15-year-old girl was reported by police, involving an unregistered asylum seeker who had been given accommodation in Burghausen.

   A police spokesman said that the schoolgirl was on her way home when a heavily intoxicated Afghan teenager asked if he could kiss her.

   When she refused and tried to get away, he grabbed her hand and tried to kiss that.

   She managed to break free but he then chased and grabbed her with both hands.

   She was reportedly assaulted and a 26-year-old local managed to intervene and chase him off.

   The alleged assailant was arrested a short while later.

   The legal lessons for migrants are being initiated by Bavaria's justice ministry.

   The minister in charge, Winfried Bausback, who taught parts of the first legal education class in the town of Ansbach on Monday, said it's important to give newcomers an early "understanding of our basic values."

   He added: "Many asylum seekers come from regions where justice doesn't function or is being abused by dictatorships."

   A quote from an educational film they show newcomers includes the message: "Germany is an attractive country because it respects the dignity of every human being - and it is supposed to stay that way."

   Protests have been taking place across Germany since multiple girls were attacked on New Year's Eve in Cologne and other areas.

   Women took to the streets of Kӧln earlier in the week after it emerged there were over 100 reports of sex assaults in the city on New Year's Eve.

   In 2015, 1.1 million refugees arrived in Germany from war torn countries in North Africa and Syria.

2 US Navy boats held by Iran but will be returned

   WASHINGTON (AP) --- Iran is holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two small Navy boats when the boats had mechanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters, but American officials have received assurances from Tehran that they will be returned safely and promptly.

   Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them.

   U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island, situated in the Persian Gulf. They said that some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to run aground and they were picked up by Iran. The sailors were in Iranian custody on Farsi Island at least for some time, but it's not certain where they are now.

   The semi-official Iranian news agency, FARS, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy has detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and said the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters.

   "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said.

   The incident comes amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama is set to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders.

   Secretary of State John Kerry, who has forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said.

   Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said.

   This comes on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

   The officials were not authorized to discuss the sensitive incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

   The incident also takes place just days before Iran is expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away."

Israel gets fifth German submarine

   Haifa (Israel) (AFP) --- Israel on Tuesday took delivery of its fifth German-built submarine, an advanced Dolphin-class vessel said to be capable of remaining submerged for up to a week.

Speaking at an official welcome ceremony at the northern port city of Haifa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the undersea fleet allows Israel "to deter enemies who seek to destroy us."

   "They should know that Israel can strike very hard indeed at anyone who tries to harm it," he said.

   The new arrival is named "Rahav" after a biblical sea monster.

   "Rahav will take an active part in defending the state of Israel and its territorial waters, operating deeper, further, and for longer from the very depths -- with a watchful eye," President Reuven Rivlin said at the ceremony.

   Foreign military sources say the Dolphins can be equipped with missiles armed with nuclear warheads.

   They say Israel has between 100 and 200 warheads and missiles capable of delivering them.

   Israel is the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, refusing to confirm or deny it has such weapons.

   Its five German-made submarines will be used to protect its shores and carry out spying missions against its arch-foe Iran, Israeli media say.

   Netanyahu tried in vain to block a July deal with world powers on scaling down Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, arguing it would not stop Tehran from developing an atomic weapon.

   The incoming head of Israel's Mossad spy agency said last week that the Islamic republic and its nuclear ambitions constitute "the principle challenge" for his organisation.

   A sixth submarine is to be delivered in two to three years although defence analyst Yossi Melman, writing in Maariv newspaper, has said it is likely to be cancelled for budgetary reasons.

   The current model costs about 500 million euros ($540 million) to build, Israeli media say. Berlin is paying one third of the cost itself.

NATO cannot limit missile defenses to please Russia, U.S. says

   BRUSSELS (Reuters) --- NATO allies cannot agree to Russian demands to limit their missile defenses because of the threat posed by North Korea, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

   North Korea's claim last week to have tested a hydrogen bomb, which would represent an advance in its capability to strike Japan and the United States, has underscored Washington's determination to enhance the defenses that Russia opposes.

   "We are not going to agree to limitations on our systems because we need to have the flexibility to deal with the dynamic and evolving threat," Frank Rose, deputy assistant secretary of state for arms control, told reporters at NATO in Brussels.

   "North Korea has large numbers of ballistic missiles and they test them often," Rose said, adding North Korea could already reach South Korea and most of Japan and potentially the United States.

   While there is considerable doubt over the veracity of Pyongyang's assertion that last week's explosion was a full-fledged test of a hydrogen device, Washington already warned last February that North Korea is seeking a long-range, nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

   NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last week called on North Korea to end its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

   NATO's ballistic missile defense, in place since 2010, has been a source of tension between Russia and the U.S.-led alliance even before Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, although NATO says it is not designed against Moscow.

   Russia threatened last year to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships if Denmark joins NATO's missile defense system, arguing that it could reduce the effectiveness of its own nuclear arsenal.

   "The key Russian concern ... is that in the future, absent legally binding constraints, we will develop systems that could potentially negate their strategic deterrent," Rose said.

   While the United States provides much of NATO's missile shield, the alliance in 2012 agreed to develop its capabilities in Europe.

   Romania has agreed to host a defense system, while Turkey already has a missile defense radar in place. The United States sent a destroyer to Spain in September, one of four ships that make up part of the shield. Poland is also due to host defenses from 2018, with construction on a site starting this year.

   "These capabilities are designed to defend NATO Europe against threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area. They are not directed against Russia," Rose said.

   Rose said Russian officials had voiced concern about the kind of technology that the United States did not have, such as a sea-based missile defense interceptor capable of speeds of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) a second.

Russia to deploy new divisions on Western flank, form nuclear regiments

   MOSCOW (Reuters) --- Russia will create three new military divisions on its Western flank in 2016 and bring five new strategic nuclear missile regiments into service, Sergei Shoigu, the country's defense minister, was quoted as saying by news agencies on Tuesday.

   Shoigu's announcement was consistent with a multi-billion dollar overhaul of Russia's military, which is currently carrying out air strikes in Syria after helping annexe Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014.

   Shoigu did not explain the motivation for forming the new divisions, but said it would be one of the most important tasks for the defense ministry this year. He said every military district should also expect to undergo spot checks in 2016.

   "Our main effort should go into strengthening the potential of our strategic nuclear forces and of fulfilling the space defense program," the RIA Novosti agency quoted Shoigu as telling a meeting.

   "Five rocket regiments, equipped with modern rocket complexes, will enter active service in 2016."

   It was also necessary to steadily improve the infrastructure supporting the nuclear forces, he said, singling out the facilities where the country's nuclear-armed submarines and long-range nuclear bombers were based.

Air strike kills 12 schoolchildren in Syrian town

   AMMAN (Reuters) --- Bombs dropped by Russian warplanes killed at least 12 Syrian schoolchildren on Monday when they hit a classroom in a rebel-held town in Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

   The air strike hit the town of Injara some 15 km (9 miles) west of Aleppo city. A teacher also died and there were reports of others wounded, some critically, the monitor said.

   Social media footage released by opposition activists showed a classroom with destroyed benches and textbooks lying on the floor stained with blood. The footage could not be independently verified.

   There was no immediate from the Russian defense ministry.

   In Geneva, a spokesman for the U.N. children's fund UNICEF said it was looking into the reports of the raid.

   The Kremlin launched air strikes over Syria in September saying it wanted to help President Bashar al-Assad, its main Middle East ally, defeat Islamic State and other militant groups.

   Rescue workers and rights groups say the bombings have killed scores of civilians at busy market places and in residential areas away from the frontlines. Russia denies this.

   Amnesty International said last month that Moscow's actions had violated humanitarian law. U.S. officials say Russia used fewer precision-guided munitions than the United States and its allies.

NATO interception of Russian planes in Baltics rise

Lithuania says Russian incursions into the airspace of countries in the Baltics has increased 14 percent.

A typhoon fighter of Britain's Royal Air Force
(bottom) intercepts a Russian Air Force plane
off the coast of Lithuania. RAF photo

   VILNIUS, Lithuania, Jan. 11 (UPI) --- NATO fighters scrambled 160 times last year to intercept Russian aircraft violating the airspace of alliance members in the Baltics, which used to be part of the Soviet Union.

   The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense said the number of interceptions in 2015 were a 14 percent rise from the previous year.

   "The number of times jets were scrambled last year was up on the 140 occasions in 2014," the ministry said. "Russian military aircraft activity over the Baltic Sea has significantly increased since 2014 amid a heightening of tensions between Moscow and Western countries over Russia's annexation of the Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine."

   NATO's Baltic members -- Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia -- have no air forces of their own. Other NATO countries fill the defense vacuum by sending aircraft in rotating four-month deployments to the region. Aircraft from Spain and Belgium take up station in the Baltics this week, relieving those from Hungary and Germany.

Russia ready to arm Balkan ally Serbia

   BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Russia is ready to arm its Balkan ally Serbia with sophisticated weapons, the Russian deputy prime minister said Monday, which could be at odds with Belgrade's desire to join the European Union.

   Dmitry Rogozin said in Belgrade that "we are ready to directly support our Balkan ally" in the purchase of weapons, including the S300 surface-to-air missile system.

   "We will consider (Serbia's) request in the shortest possible period," Rogozin said.

   Serbia and Balkan rival Croatia, a NATO member, have recently clashed over alleged Croatian plans to acquire long-range missiles that could strike Serbia. The two neighbors were at war in the 1990s.

   Serbia's prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, told a joint news conference that Serbia will remain militarily neutral, but won't allow itself to become "an easy target."

   Serbia, traditionally a Russian ally, has officially sought EU membership, but has been struggling to overcome strong opposition from pro-Kremlin nationalists. So far, Serbia has resisted pressure from the EU to join in sanctions against Russia.

   Many Western officials fear that increasing Russia's political, economic and military role in Serbia and a Serb-controlled part of Bosnia could destabilize the Balkans, which is still reeling from wars in the 1990s. Serbs are seen as the last true Russian allies in the southeastern European region.

   Rogozin, who presented Vucic with a model of S300 at the news conference, said that if Serbia had the air defense system in 1999, it would have avoided destruction from the three-month NATO air campaign launched against it over Belgrade's bloody crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists.

US bomber flies over S. Korea as show of force against North

   Seoul (AFP) --- A US long-range heavy bomber flew over South Korea on Sunday, the US military said, days after North Korea conducted its first alleged hydrogen bomb test in defiance of international sanctions.

   The B52 Stratofortress, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, briefly roared over the Osan Air Base, some 72 kilometres (45 miles) south of the inter-Korean border, the military and an eye-witness said.

   It was escorted by a South Korean jet and an American jet.

   The B52 circled once over the base before heading back to Andersen Air Base in Guam, where it is stationed.

   The aircraft are known to have taken part in joint annual US-South Korea military exercises that have enraged Pyongyang, but their flights over South Korea are rarely publicised.

   The last time such a flight was made public was in 2013, after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test.

   At that time, the US dispatched both a B52 and the more sophisticated B2 stealth bomber to South Korea in a show of military muscle against the North.

   Pyongyang on Wednesday conducted its fourth nuclear test, angering the international community and raising tensions across the inter-Korean border.

   Lieutenant General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, commander of the US 7th Air Force and Deputy Commander of the US Forces Korea, said the United States maintains an "ironclad" commitment to the defence of South Korea.

   This commitment includes "extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella", he said in a press statement.

   "B52 missions reinforce the US commitment to the security of our allies and partners, and demonstrate one of the many alliance capabilities available for the defence" of South Korea, he said.

   "As demonstrated by today's mission, the combined US and Republic of Korea air forces work and train together closely every day, and we are totally prepared to meet any threat to our alliance."

   The annual US-South Korea joint military exercises regularly spark angry reactions from North Korea, which brands them "nuclear war drills" against it.

   The next such iteration of the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises is expected to take place in March.

   South Korea hosts 28,000 US troops as the two Koreas technically remain at war because the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

Merkel gets tough on migrant lawbreakers as Köln assaults soar

   Köln (Germany) (AFP) --- German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed stricter laws to expel convicted refugees, as clashes erupted at far-right protests in Köln over a rash of sexual assaults blamed on asylum seekers.

   Köln police said they have now recorded 379 cases of New Year's Eve violence -- ranging from groping to theft to two reported rapes -- with asylum seekers and illegal migrants making up the majority of suspects.

   With anger growing at the scale of the attacks, supporters of the xenophobic PEGIDA movement marched in protests that briefly turned violent in the western city.

   Police used tear gas and water cannon to clear the rally of far-right supporters after protesters flung firecrackers and bottles at officers they said had failed to prevent the New Year's attacks on women.

   Vowing tough action, Merkel declared that any refugee handed a jail term -- even if it was a suspended sentence -- should be kicked out of the country.

   "If the law does not suffice, then the law must be changed," she said, pledging action to protect not just German citizens, but innocent refugees too.

   Witnesses described terrifying scenes of hundreds of women running a gauntlet of groping hands, lewd insults and robberies in the mob violence.

   Of the cases reported so far, 40 percent related to sexual violence, Köln police said in a statement.

   "Those in focus of criminal police investigations are mostly people from North African countries.

The majority of them are asylum seekers and people who are in Germany illegally," police added, confirming witness accounts.

   The allegations have stoked criticism of Merkel's liberal open-door policy -- which brought 1.1 million new asylum seekers to Germany last year.

   As questions grew over the country's ability to integrate the newcomers, it emerged late Saturday that a man who was killed trying to attack a police station in Paris on Thursday had lived in an asylum seeker shelter in Germany.

   Revealing that they had raided the man's apartment, German police did not specify if he was an asylum seeker, but a source close to the matter told AFP that the man was indeed registered as one.

   In Tunisia, a woman who claimed to be the man's mother confirmed that he had been living in Germany but denied he had any links to extremist groups.

- 'Köln changed everything' -

   In Köln, hundreds of PEGIDA supporters waved German flags and signs saying "Rapefugees not welcome", as they shouted "Merkel raus" (Merkel out).

   The rattle of a helicopter circling in the skies and the occasional bang of a firecracker added to tensions as counter-protesters, separated from the PEGIDA crowd by police, chanted "Nazis raus".

   The populist right-wing Alternative for Germany party, which polls show as having 10 percent support ahead of state elections this year, claimed the violence gave a "taste of the looming collapse of culture and civilisation".

   Playing on popular fears about Europe's migrant influx, the mob violence threatens to cloud what had been a broadly welcoming mood in Germany where crowds cheered as Syrian refugees arrived by train in September.

   "Köln has changed everything, people now are doubting," said Volker Bouffier, vice president of Merkel's CDU party.

- Asylum seekers among suspects -

   Details remain hazy of what happened in the frenzied crush on what was supposed to be a night of New Year's celebration.

   It was unclear how many of the suspects had been in Germany long-term or belonged to a scene of drug dealers and pickpockets known to lurk around the railway station, and how many were newly-arrived asylum seekers.

   On Friday, the interior ministry said Germany's federal police had identified 32 suspects, 22 of whom were asylum seekers, in connection with 76 offences, 12 of which had a sexual nature.

   Merkel has so far refused to abandon her welcoming stance towards war refugees but on Saturday had tough words for law breakers.

   "If a refugee flouts the rules, then there must be consequences, that means that they can lose their residence right here regardless of whether they have a suspended sentence or a prison sentence," she said after a meeting with the top ranks of her party in the southwestern city of Mainz.

   Under current laws, asylum seekers are only deported if they have been sentenced to jail terms of at least three years, and if their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.

Russia blocks transit of Ukrainian goods

   Kiev (AFP) --- Russia has blocked the transit of Ukrainian goods heading to other countries, Kiev officials said Saturday after the two neighbouring nations imposed food embargoes in their mutual trade war.

   "The transit of Ukrainian goods has not yet begun", having been blocked since the start of the new year, the spokeswoman for Ukraine's infrastructure ministry, Kristina Nikolayeva, told AFP.

   The ministry said that since January 1, under new Russian regulations, Ukrainian goods headed for Central Asia or China can only enter Russia via Belarus. They must also be sealed to prevent them from being unloaded in Russia.

   A Russian embargo on Ukrainian food imports took effect on January 1, with Kiev issuing mirror sanctions in response.

   Moscow has also barred Ukraine from a free trade zone linking numerous ex-Soviet countries.

   Russia introduced the latest measures on transit of goods without explaining how they should be implemented, with officials absent during public holidays lasting until Monday, said Nikolayeva.

   "They brought in these transit rules but didn't prepare a mechanism for how exactly this will work: what kind of seals are needed, what kind of control measures are needed. As a result Russia is not letting Ukrainian trucks across its border," she said.

   At present, "we are recommending our carriers not to send anything in that direction," Nikolayeva added.

   Ukraine's trade representative Natalia Mykolska has complained that the transit problem is holding up trade with partners such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Mongolia.

   Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Wednesday discussed the problem with his Kazakh counterpart Karim Massimov, the government press service said.

   Yatsenyuk said he would inform the World Trade Organisation of the "unlawful actions of the Russian Federation regarding the transit of Ukrainian goods" and would ask the global trade body to "respond to such actions."

   Kiev meanwhile is seeking alternative transit routes for its goods that bypass Russia.

   Ukraine intends to ship a test delivery to China on Friday across the Black Sea and then via Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the infrastructure ministry said.

   Russia and Ukraine are experiencing an unprecedented crisis in relations after a pro-Western government took power in Ukraine in 2014 followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Köln police chief dismissed over New Year's Eve assaults

   BERLIN (AP) — The police chief of the German city of Köln was dismissed Friday amid mounting criticism of his force's handling of a string of New Year's Eve sexual assaults and robberies blamed largely on foreigners.

   Wolfgang Albers had faced mounting criticism for the police response to New Year's Eve attacks on women by groups of men within a 1,000-strong crowd described by police as predominantly Arab or North African in origin.

   Albers' dismissal comes amid a flurry of disconcerting allegations over the behavior of foreigners at time when large groups of migrants, mostly from Syria, are flooding into Europe.

   Government spokesman Georg Streiter said the chancellor wants "the whole truth" about the events in Köln and "nothing should be held back and nothing should be glossed over."

He said the trouble in Köln "doesn't just harm our rule of law but also the great majority of completely innocent refugees who have sought protection."

   Reports of the harassment have fueled calls for tighter immigration laws in Germany, particularly from politicians opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy that allowed nearly 1.1 million people fleeing war and poverty to enter the country last year.

   The German government said 31 suspects were briefly detained for questioning after the New Year's Eve trouble, among them 18 asylum-seekers. The 31 included nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

   None of the 31 has been accused of specifically committing sexual assaults, the aspect of Köln's disturbances that attracted most public outrage at home and abroad. Köln police say they have received 170 criminal complaints connected to the New Year's festivities, 120 of them sexual in nature.

   Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said those detained were believed to have been members of the crowd in front of the Köln railway station on New Year's Eve.

   Plate said authorities were investigating whether the assaults were connected to reports of similar offenses in other German cities.

   Police in other European nations reported cases of similar trouble in public places, particularly near train stations, fueling speculation the events might have been coordinated.

   In Sweden, police said at least 15 young women reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar. Police spokesman Johan Bruun said two men, both asylum-seekers, have been told via interpreter that they are suspected of committing sexual assaults. He said police are trying to identify other suspects.

   In Finland, police said they received tipoffs on New Year's Eve that about 1,000 predominantly Iraqi asylum seekers were intending to gather near the main railway station in Helsinki and harass passing women. Police there said they received three complaints of harassment and detained several asylum-seekers at the scene for alleged inappropriate behavior.

   Police failed to mention the attacks around Köln's main train station in their initial morning report on New Year's Day, describing overnight festivities as "largely peaceful."

   Albers, the former police chief, acknowledged that mistake earlier this week, but he dismissed widespread criticism that his officers reacted too slowly in response to reports of assaults and harassment of women.

   However, an internal police report published in German media Thursday characterized Köln's police as overwhelmed and described how women were forced to run through gantlets of drunken men outside the station.

   Köln Mayor Henriette Reker suggested Friday that police had withheld information from her, including on the origin of suspects. She said that her "trust in the Köln police leadership is significantly shaken."

Indonesia, South Korea sign $1.3bn fighter jet development deal

   Seoul (AFP) --- Indonesia signed a $1.3 billion deal with South Korea Thursday to jointly develop Seoul's next-generation fighter jets, the South's aircraft manufacturer said.

   Under the deal signed with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Indonesia's defence ministry will invest about 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) programme.

   The programme is aimed at producing new, homegrown fighter jets to replace the South's aged fleet of F-4 and F-5 fighters imported from the US.

   A consortium of KAI and the US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin last March won a 8.6 trillion-won contract to provide 120 fighter jets to Seoul's air force.

   The investment from Indonesia will account for about one fifth of the total cost of the project, with up to 100 Indonesian workers taking part in development and production, KAI said in a statement.

   Indonesia will be given one prototype plane and gain access to some technical data and information involving the project, it added.

   The South Korean military plans to put the new fighter jets into service by 2025 to guard against threats from the nuclear-armed North Korea.

Russia and China scaling up their presence in Antarctica

   Russia and China are both drastically scaling up their presence in Antarctica in a bid to increase their influence in the last unclaimed part of the globe, The New York Times reports.

   For Russia, operations in Antarctica are continuing along the lines first put in place by the Soviet Union.

   Building off of Soviet bases already in place, Russia is expanding its development of a global positioning system meant as a rival to American GPS.

   Moscow has so far constructed a minimum of three satellite monitoring systems in the Antarctic, the Times reports, with future bases planned.

   Russia also has more long-term ambitions in the region. Moscow, for example, was the lone country to oppose the creation of an Antarctic sanctuary that would have protected regions around the pole from fishing.

   It is in terms of fishing and future access to resources that Russia and China's ambitions in the Antarctic converge. Although Beijing did not establish its first Antarctic research base until 1985, Chinese efforts to expand its influence across the continent have intensified and are now outpacing other nations' plans. As this map from 2013 shows, at the time China only had three bases in Antarctica.

   Now, China's plans to open a fifth base in Antarctica are proceeding on schedule, after Beijing opened its fourth base last year. The bases, unlike Russia's holdovers from the Soviet Union, are brand new and reflect the country's growing international ambitions and power, the Times reports.

   Beijing claims that its bases are for scientific research. However, it also admits that its push for Antarctic influence plays into future operations aimed at ensuring access to resources, including plentiful fishing waters and mineral and hydrocarbon wealth.

   A current ban on commercial drilling of resources in Antarctica is due to expire in 2048, unless the Protocol on Environmental Protection is re-ratified by consensus. If the accord does expire,    Antarctica could become the next major source of hydrocarbons on earth. The region is believed to have an approximate 200 billion barrels of oil, in addition to being the largest single repository of fresh water on the planet.

   China's current investments could place it in an unrivaled position to take advantage of any resources on the continent in 2048.

   "China's exploration of the continent is like playing chess. It's important to have a position in the global game," Guo Peiqing, a law professor at the Ocean University of China told The Guardian. "We don't know when play will happen, but it's necessary to have a foothold."

North Korea says conducted 'successful' H-bomb test

   Seoul (AFP) --- North Korea said Wednesday it had carried out a "successful" hydrogen bomb test, a claim that -- if true -- massively raises the stakes over the hermit state's banned nuclear programme.

   International condemnation was swift with neighbours South Korea and Japan decrying a gross violation of UN Security Council resolutions, while the White House said it was still studying the precise nature of the apparent test and vowed to "respond appropriately".

   "The republic's first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10:00 am (0330 GMT)," North Korean state television announced.

   "With the perfect success of our historic H-bomb, we have joined the rank of advanced nuclear states," it said, adding that the test was of a miniaturized device.

   A hydrogen, or thermonuclear bomb, uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion than the fission blast generated by uranium or plutonium alone.

   Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un suggested Pyongyang had already developed a hydrogen bomb.

   The claim was questioned by international experts and there was continued skepticism over Wednesday's test announcement.

- Scepticism over H-bomb -

   "The seismic data that's been received indicates that the explosion is probably significantly below what one would expect from an H-bomb test," said Australian nuclear policy and arms control specialist Crispin Rovere.

   "So initially it seems to be that they've successfully conducted a nuclear test but unsuccessfully completed the second-stage hydrogen explosion," Rovere said.

   Bruce Bennett, a senior defence analyst with the Rand Corporation, was equally unconvinced.

   "This weapon was probably the size of the US Hiroshima bomb but this was not a hydrogen bomb," Bennett told the BBC.

   "The bang they should have gotten would have been 10 times greater than what they got," he added.

   The test, which came just two days before Kim Jong-Un's birthday, was initially detected by international seismology centres as a 5.1-magnitude tremor next to the North's main Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast of the country.

   Most experts had assumed Pyongyang was years from developing a thermonuclear bomb, while assessments were divided on how far it had gone in mastering the technology to miniaturise a warhead so that it fits on a ballistic missile.

   Whether an H-bomb or not, it was North Korea's fourth nuclear test and marked a striking act of defiance that flew in the face of enemies and allies alike who have warned Pyongyang it would pay a steep price for moving forward with its nuclear weapons programme.

- Challenge to UN, Obama -

   The three previous tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013 triggered waves of UN sanctions. Their failure to

prevent a fourth detonation will place the Security Council under intense pressure to take more drastic action this time around.

   It throws down a particular challenge to US President Barack Obama, who, during a visit to South Korea in 2014, lashed North Korea as a "pariah state" and vowed sanctions with "more bite" if Pyongyang went ahead with another test.

   White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said he could not confirm the H-bomb claim, but promised the US would "respond appropriately to any and all North Korean provocations".

   South Korea "strongly condemned" the test and warned Pyongyang that it would be made to "pay the price" for ignoring international opinion.

   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called it a "serious threat" to Japan and a "grave challenge" to nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

- China key player -

   The response of China, North Korea's economic and diplomatic patron, will be key. Beijing has restrained US-led allies from stronger action against Pyongyang in the past, but has shown increasing frustration with its refusal to suspend testing.

   But China's leverage over Pyongyang is mitigated, analysts say, by its overriding fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border.

   China has been pushing for a resumption of six-party, aid-for-disarmament talks on North Korea, insisting that engagement with Pyongyang is the only way forward.

   The six-party process, involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, has been in limbo since 2007 and Pyongyang's decision to move ahead with a fourth test has almost certainly hammered the final nail in its coffin.

   After its last nuclear test in 2013, the North restarted a plutonium reactor that it had shut down at its Yongbyon complex in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord.

   The Yongbyon reactor is capable of producing six kilograms (13 pounds) of plutonium a year -- enough for one nuclear bomb.

   Pyongyang is currently believed to have enough plutonium for as many as six bombs, after using part of its stock for at least two of its three atomic tests to date.

   It is still unclear whether the 2013 test used plutonium or uranium as its fissile material.

Polish Defense Minister Wants to Almost Double Size of Army

Poland's defense minister Antoni Macierewicz

   Poland’s minister of defense says the country should increase its army to 150,000 soldiers, almost double its current size, Polish weekly military magazine Polska Zbrojna reported on Monday.

   Speaking about his assessment of the armed forces since stepping into the office late last year, Antoni Macierewicz said there needs to be a move to strengthen Poland’s military. According to Macierewicz, Polish parliament allows for a military force of 100,000 but in reality the country’s ground forces number less than 80,000.

   “For over 200 years we have not had a 100,000-strong army,” he said. “I believe that in effect the Polish army should comprise of 150,000 soldiers. This is the minimum which is necessary to respond to military threats.”

   Macierewicz said Poland plans to create three new brigades for territorial defense on its eastern borders and reinforce the region with existing units currently deployed elsewhere.

   “We don’t want our military to be focused on the western border, as it was in 1989,” Macierewicz added, referring to the Polish military’s dated layout, which still uses some of the networks and facilities designed during its allegiance with the Soviet Union. Poland’s western territory was crucial in Soviet strategy, as it shared a large border with the heavily policed East Germany.

   The defense minister called the conflict in eastern Ukraine the biggest threat to European security and offered to support France’s airstrikes in Syria, provided France supports the deployment of NATO troops to Poland.

   “I am very impressed with the efforts of the Ukrainian state, its defense ministry and the army have made since the start of the Russian aggression,” Macierewicz said. “Undoubtedly, there was a great mobilization, not only patriotic, emotional, but also organizational and political.”

   He said Warsaw would never “accept” Russia’s annexation of Crimea but added that despite Kiev being a “strategic partner,” there are chapters of Polish-Ukrainian history that still complicate relations.

   One of those is the Volyn massacre, when around 40,000 Polish civilians were killed during World War II, allegedly at the hands of Ukrainian partisans, in Nazi-occupied southeastern Poland. The two countries are investigating the tragedy, which is named after the area where it took place.