Mexico wall: Trump questions talks over border dispute

Donald Trump has warned Mexico's president that he should cancel a planned visit to Washington if Mexico refuses to pay for the border wall.

It comes after Enrique Pena Nieto again rebuffed Mr Trump's assertion that Mexico would end up funding the wall.

The Mexican president made no mention of changing their 31 January meeting.

President Trump has signed an executive order for an "impassable physical barrier" and insisted Mexico will reimburse the US.

He responded to President Pena Nieto's statement by saying his counterpart should cancel the trip.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Trump suggested Mexico owed the US for the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).

"The US has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers of jobs and companies lost," he wrote.

"If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting."

Earlier Mr Pena Nieto said he "lamented" the plans for the barrier.

In a televised address, Mr Pena Nieto told the nation: "I've said time and again; Mexico won't pay for any wall.

"I regret and condemn the decision of the United States to continue construction of a wall that, for years, has divided us instead of uniting us."

He added that "Mexico doesn't believe in walls".

But Mr Pena Nieto said his country offered "its friendship to the American people and its willingness to reach accords with their government".

Earlier Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray - in Washington to lead a delegation that has held talks at the White House - told the Televisa network his country's president was still weighing up next Tuesday's visit but said "the meeting stands for now".

Mr Pena Nieto met Mr Trump - then a presidential candidate - in Mexico City in September and came under intense criticism at home. His current approval ratings remain low.

Mr Trump said in an interview with ABC News that Mexico would "absolutely, 100%" reimburse the US for his wall.

But Congress would have to approve funding for the structure, which is estimated to cost billions of dollars.

Mr Trump is next expected to announce immigration restrictions from seven countries with Muslim-majority populations in the Middle East and Africa. This could affect refugee programmes.

These countries are believed to be Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.

Saddleworth Moor mystery body identified

The identity of man whose death sparked worldwide interest after his body was found on Saddleworth Moor has finally been revealed.

David Lytton, 67, from London, was discovered at Dove Stone Reservoir on the moor on 12 December 2015.

A court has heard he flew into London Heathrow from Lahore, Pakistan, two days before his body was found. He was identified from photos from a passenger list and picked up on CCTV in London.

Police believe he took his own life.

Heywood Coroner's Court heard his body was discovered fully clothed and lying prone on the ground above the reservoir.

He had no wallet, mobile phone or other identification and remained unidentified despite numerous public appeals and the release of CCTV footage of his last known movements.

Police had previously confirmed he had died of "strychnine poisoning", which is now used primarily as a pesticide, particularly to kill rats.

The day before his body was discovered he had travelled by train from London to Manchester and later went into the Clarence pub in Greenfield, Saddleworth, and asked the landlord the way to "the top of the mountain".

The inquest was told that extensive police inquiries led to detectives concentrating on flight data from Pakistan to London.

This uncovered that Mr Lytton travelled from Lahore to London Heathrow on 10 December and appeared to have no return travel arrangements.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) told the BBC his identity was confirmed as a result of a DNA match with a relative.

His family has been informed.

An international police investigation was launched in a bid to identify the body, nicknamed Neil Dovestones by mortuary workers at Royal Oldham Hospital.

The case attracted significant media attention both in the UK and internationally.

In a statement, the force said: "After more than a year of painstaking inquiries, which included media appeals being released in the UK and Pakistan, as well as assistance from the National Crime Agency, detectives investigating the mysterious case of 'Neil Dovestones' have made a positive identification."

As mystery surrounding the case intensified, a number of theories were discounted.

There was speculation the man could have been making a final journey to the site of a plane crash in 1949 which killed his family, while a man from Northern Ireland contacted police to say he could be missing Hugh Toner, from Newry, who disappeared in 1994.

A full inquest will take place on 14 March.

Migrant crisis: Germany sees massive drop in asylum seekers

Germany says 280,000 asylum seekers arrived there in 2016, a drop of more than 600,000 on the previous year.

The German interior minister said that the decrease was due to the closure in 2016 of the Balkan route and the migrant deal between the EU and Turkey.

The record influx of 890,000 people came as migrants and refugees travelled through Greece and the Balkans.

They headed for Germany after Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered a temporary open-door asylum policy.

Her decision to suspend EU rules on registering asylum seekers in the first EU state they entered was aimed at the growing number of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country, but large numbers of people of other nationalities made the journey too.

Read more on Europe's migrant crisis:

• A Syrian's struggle to become German
• Turkey and the EU: End of the affair?
• Record numbers opt to leave Germany
• Special report

Migration has become a heavily politicised issue in Germany ahead of federal elections in the autumn. As voters punished her CDU party in regional polls last year, Mrs Merkel acknowledged that the migrant crisis could have been handled better.

"This shows that the measures that the federal government and the EU have taken are taking hold," said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. "We've been successful in managing and controlling the process of migration."

He was referring to the EU's deal with Turkey to halt the influx of migrants and refugees into Greece, as well as the decision by Balkan countries to close off the route towards Western Europe.

The total number of asylum applications in 2016 was in fact almost 270,000 higher than 2015, at 745,545, the interior ministry said. However, the majority of claims involved people who had arrived the previous year.

German asylum seekers 2016

280,000

new arrivals asking for asylum

610,000

fewer than in 2015

• 745,545 applied for asylum
• 268,866 are Syrian
• 55,000 migrants went home
• 25,000 were deported

Source: Federal Ministry of the Interior

AFP

Syrians made up 36% of the asylum claims in 2016, followed by Afghans, Iraqis, Albanians, Iranians and Eritreans.

---

More challenges ahead, by BBC Berlin correspondent Jenny Hill

It's tempting to imagine the German government breathing a collective sigh of relief.

This is a significant reduction in the number of people seeking asylum in Germany. It brings the figure much closer to the upper annual limit of 200,000 asylum seekers demanded by some of Angela Merkel's critics.

Nevertheless, ministers admit Germany still faces numerous challenges. There are still hundreds of thousands of outstanding asylum applications.

Angela Merkel's government must convince a nervous electorate that it can successfully integrate those who are allowed to stay. And any sense of triumph is tempered by the knowledge that the reduction has little to do with domestic asylum policy, although the government has gradually toughened its stance.

The numbers dropped largely as a result of countries along the so-called Balkan route closing their borders to refugees and, in effect, sealing off a major route to Germany. And keeping those numbers low means ministers must continue to rely on the fragile migrant deal between the EU and Turkey.

---

Germany has rejected asylum requests from Albania, describing it as a "safe country", and has been deporting Afghan arrivals. The government said late last year that increasing numbers of asylum seekers were returning to Iraq as well as Afghanistan.

Of the record 695,733 asylum decisions made by the interior ministry last year, 256,136 (36.8%) were awarded refugee status under the Geneva Conventions and a further 153,700 given subsidiary protection, which means their status in Germany is initially temporary.

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, whom governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

Trump denies Russian 'leverage' amid claims of compromising material

US President-elect Donald Trump has reacted furiously to claims that Russia has "compromising" material on him, saying Moscow has "never tried to use leverage on me".

Mr Trump condemned intelligence agencies for allowing "fake news" to "leak" into the public, asking: "Are we living in Nazi Germany?"

The claims say his election campaign communicated with Moscow and also contain suggestions of prostitute use.

Russia also angrily denied the claims.

Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said the allegations were "pulp fiction" and a "clear attempt to damage relations".

In a series of tweets, Mr Trump said: "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!

"I win an election easily, a great "movement" is verified, and crooked opponents try to belittle our victory with FAKE NEWS. A sorry state!

"Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?"

Last week, US intelligence agencies released an unclassified report saying Russia ran a hacking campaign to influence the US presidential elections.

Now separate reports circulating in US media say Russia has damaging information about the president-elect's business interests and salacious video evidence of his private life.

Mr Trump is due to hold a news conference on Wednesday.

Israeli soldier Elor Azaria convicted over Hebron death

An Israeli soldier filmed shooting dead a wounded Palestinian attacker after he had been disarmed of a knife has been convicted of manslaughter.

Sgt Elor Azaria, 20, shot Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, in the head while he was lying immobile on a road.

The incident happened in Hebron in the occupied West Bank last March, after another soldier was stabbed.

Sgt Azaria said he thought Sharif might have an explosive vest, but prosecutors said his motive was revenge.

The high-profile trial has proven extremely divisive in Israel, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Tel Aviv.

There have been rallies to support the soldier and some senior politicians backed Sgt Azaria. However, top military figures were quick to say that his actions did not reflect the values of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

In the incident on 24 March, Sharif and another 21-year-old Palestinian, Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before troops opened fire on them, wounding Sharif and killing Qasrawi.

Footage of the scene several minutes later, filmed by a Palestinian and released by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, shows Sharif alive.

A soldier, identified as Sgt Azaria, is then seen cocking his rifle and fatally shooting Sharif from several metres away.

In their indictment, prosecutors said Sgt Azaria "violated the rules of engagement without operational justification as the terrorist was lying on the ground wounded and represented no immediate threat for the accused or others who were present".

Delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the panel of three military judges rejected Sgt Azaria's defence that he shot Sharif because he continued to pose a threat.

He had told the court that he believed there might be a suicide belt under the Palestinian's jacket.

The judges, who took two-and-a-half hours to deliver their verdict, noted that Sgt Azaria's company and battalion commanders had testified that he did not mention the same concerns when they questioned him immediately after the shooting incident.

The judges also said there was no dispute regarding the veracity of the statements made by another soldier, who testified to military investigators that Sgt Azaria had told him during the incident: "They stabbed my friend and tried to kill him - he deserves to die."

Sgt Azaria told the court that he did not recall having any such conversation, but the head of the judging panel, Col Maya Heller, described him as an "unreliable witness".

"His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die," she said.

Prosecutor Lt Col Nadav Weissman said: "This is not a happy day for us. We would have preferred that this didn't happen. But the deed was done, and the offence was severe."

Court 'detached'

A spokesman for Sgt Azaria's family said evidence proving his innocence had been ignored. "It was like the court was detached from the fact that this was the area of an attack," he said.

The soldier's mother, Oshra, shouted at the judges: "You should be ashamed of yourselves."

The defence team has said it will appeal against the verdict. Sentencing is expected in the next few weeks. Manslaughter in Israel carries a maximum 20-year term.

Sharif's father Yusri was quoted as saying Sgt Azaria deserved a life sentence. Sharif's uncle, Fathi, told Haaretz that the decision to try him for manslaughter rather than murder was "a perversion of justice and of the court".

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who expressed support for Sgt Azaria before taking office in May, said the verdict was "difficult" and that the defence establishment would "do everything it can to assist the soldier and his family".

But he also called on the public to respect the court's decision.

Sari Bashi, Israel advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, described the verdict as "a positive step toward reining in excessive use of force by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians".

The shooting happened during a wave of knife, gun and vehicle ramming attacks by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs in Israel and the West Bank that has killed at least 42 people since September 2015, according to the Israeli authorities.

Human Rights Watch said on Monday that video footage or witness accounts raised serious questions about many of the more than 150 instances in which Israeli forces have fatally shot Palestinians during attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis.

Iraqi refugee finds love with Macedonian border guard

Bobi Dodevski wasn't supposed to be working on the rainy March day when he met his future wife. Mr Dodevski, a 35-year-old Macedonian border guard, had agreed to cover for a colleague.

Among the thousands of refugees hoping to cross the border that day was Noora Arkavazi, a young woman who had travelled with her family from Iraq.

Ms Arkavazi, 20, left her home in Diyala, an eastern province of Iraq beset by violence, early in 2016. Alongside her parents, brother, and sister, she followed a well-trodden path west - crossing the border from Iraq into Turkey, taking a boat to the Greek island of Lesbos, and eventually entering Macedonia.

There, as the family waited to learn if they would be allowed to cross into Serbia, she met Mr Dodevski. He saw something special in her eyes. "It was destiny," he told the BBC.

'Someone has stolen your brain!'

When the couple met, the fate of the refugees in Macedonia was hanging in the balance, as Balkan countries closed their doors to migrants.

"I had a simple dream to live with my family in Germany," Ms Arkavazi told the AFP news agency.

She speaks six languages, and when she arrived at the border unwell she was directed to Mr Dodevski because of his English skills.

She told the BBC World Service's Newsday: "The first time I went through the border I had a very high fever and I had fallen down many times. Bobi immediately sent the Red Cross to save me."

Mr Dodevski attempted to remain professional, he said, but a female colleague quickly spotted the signs of cupid's arrow.

As Ms Arkavazi remembered it, his co-worker chided his lack of focus and told him: "Oh, I think you're in love and someone has stolen your brain here on the border!'"

"After that I talked with him, and I felt like something lit me," she said. "I wanted to talk with him more."

Mr Dodevski put it bluntly: "I see many, many girls - maybe [more beautiful], a little, than Noora. But I see something special in Noora's eyes, and I say: 'This is it. I must have Noora here to be my wife!'"

10 proposals

When she had recovered from her illness, Noora began helping the local Red Cross.

Her fellow refugees in the Tabanovce transit camp could only wait for news about their status, but on the sidelines Noora and Bobi were quietly getting to know one another.

He took her and her mother to nearby markets to buy clothes and food. She was struck by the way he would play with the migrants' children, unlike his more serious colleagues.

One day in April, the pair were enjoying dinner in a restaurant and he was visibly nervous - shaking and drinking lots of water.

"I told him no, you're joking," Noora said, "but maybe 10 times he repeated this, 'will you marry me?'"

Won over, she agreed to be Mrs Dodevski.

The couple, who are Kurdish Muslim and Orthodox Christian respectively, married in the north Macedonian town of Kumanovo. They were joined by 120 guests of all faiths, including her Red Cross colleagues.

Asked about their rapid engagement, Noora said it was love at first sight. "This is what has happened between me and Bobi."

Though her family successfully made it to Germany, Noora stayed in Macedonia with her husband and his three children. The five of them live together in Kumanovo.

And they will soon be six. "I am pregnant, four months!", said Noora, laughing with joy.

Spain Ceuta: Migrants found hidden in car and suitcase

Police have detained two Moroccans who tried to smuggle migrants into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta - two hidden in a car and one in a suitcase.

When police checked a car on Monday one person was found hidden in the dashboard and another in the hollowed-out back seat.

The man and woman, thought to be Guineans, received first aid as they had had little air to breathe.

Separately, a young African man was found hidden in a woman's suitcase.

That incident happened on 30 December and again the man - believed to be from Gabon - required urgent medical attention.

A 22-year-old Moroccan woman had tried to smuggle him into Ceuta, but customs officers ordered her to open the case, which was tied to a trolley.

The incidents coincided with a mass attempt by sub-Saharan Africans to storm the 6m (20ft) border fence separating Ceuta from Morocco.

Fifty Moroccan and five Spanish border guards were injured when 1,100 migrants tried to get over the fence on Sunday.

None managed to get through, but two people were injured scaling the fence and were taken to hospital in Ceuta. One guard lost an eye, officials said.

Brazil prison escape: Fugitive posts selfies on the run

A Brazilian man who broke out of a prison in the northern city of Manaus has been posting photos of himself on Facebook, bragging of his escape.

In the picture, Brayan Bremer, who is serving a sentence for robbery, can be seen amidst dense vegetation giving the thumbs up.

Behind him is another fugitive who police say has since been captured.

The men are among dozens who escaped on Sunday from two prisons in Manaus.

'Escape artist'

Bremer was among 72 inmates to escape from Antonio Trindade jail on Sunday in the northern state of Amazonas.

Hours later another 112 prisoners broke out of the nearby Anisio Jobim jail amidst a deadly riot which left 56 people dead.

• Search for fugitives after Brazil riot
• Brazil prison riot kills at least 56

Bremer was active on Facebook during his time in jail, despite a ban on prisoners using the internet.

But it was his posts after his escape which went viral in Brazil.

The first post shows Bremer in a Bayern Munich football shirt covered in mud alongside a fellow fugitive with the message: "On the run from jail."

Another showed Bremer with four others in a similar jungle location eating fruit.

Image copyright

They show Bremer and his fellow escapee as the heroes in a variety of films such as prison escape drama The Shawshank Redemption, TV series Prison Break, and The Cold Light of Day, the Portuguese title of which translates as Ruthless Escape.

Trump criticises new Republican Congress over ethics vote

President-elect Donald Trump has criticised Republicans who have voted to gut the independent body that investigates congressional misconduct.

Republicans voted in secret to close the Office of Congressional Ethics, against the advice of party leaders.

"Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!" Mr Trump said in a tweet.

Mr Trump made cleaning up corruption in Washington a key theme of his campaign.

He ended his tweet with "#DTS", which is an acronym for "drain the swamp", his campaign slogan.

Democrats reacted with outrage to the vote, which could be passed later in the first session of the new Congress.

---

Trump v Republicans - who wins? Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Members of Congress have only just arrived back in Washington, and already there is a dispute brewing between president-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled legislative branch.

The move on Monday night by House Republicans was already prompting condemnation by Democrats, good-government watchdogs and political commentators.

But given that Republicans will control all levers of power in the federal government and a public uproar seemed unlikely, the change appeared to be a fait accompli.

Then Donald Trump demonstrated just how quickly his itchy Twitter finger can alter the political dynamic. Because the president-elect weighed in against the move, Republicans in the House will now have to decide whether they want to cross their new standard bearer before he even takes the oath of office.

This has become an early test of Mr Trump's power of political persuasion. Can he use the presidential bully pulpit, magnified through social media, to bend members of his own party to his will? Or will the man who campaigned on metaphorically draining the Washington swamp find his first steps mired in the muck?