Senegalese banned from carrying arms over electoral period

Senegal's Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom on Friday banned the carrying of firearms for a period of four months which will include presidential elections, after recent violent political clashes.

"Between January 4, 2012 and April 30, 2012 the carrying of arms, ammunition and explosive devices of all categories is banned across the national territory," read a decree issued by Ngom.

"During this period, no weapon regardless of its category or nature, may be transported outside of homes or workplaces. This ban applies to nationals and foreigners holding permits to carry or hold arms," said the decree.

An interior minister official, speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that carrying a weapon under normal circumstances was permitted with special authorisation from the ministry, while another permit allowed gun-owners to keep weapons at home or in their office.

He said the measure would apply only to civilians, and not defence and security forces who use their arms as part of their work.

Senegal holds a first-round presidential election on February 26 in which President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking a controversial third term which the opposition says is unconstitutional.

Considered one of Africa's most democratic nations, Senegal has been riven by tensions in recent months and clashes between opponants and ruling party supporters left one dead and three injured on December 22.

Maryland abortion doctors charged with murder

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Two doctors have been charged with murder after an investigation into a botched abortion uncovered 35 fetuses in a Maryland clinic's freezer, authorities said on Friday, calling the case the first of its kind in the state.

The doctors, Steven Chase Brigham, 55, and Nicola Irene Riley, 46, were arrested on fugitive warrants on Wednesday, police in Elkton, Maryland said.

"They have been indicted based upon a fetal homicide statute. This is probably the first case that Maryland has ever seen with this factual scenario using this statute. It's a unique situation," Cecil County State's Attorney Ellis Rollins told Reuters in an interview.

Brigham is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, Elkton police said.

Riley is charged with one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Brigham was arrested on Wednesday in Voorhees, New Jersey, according to a statement by the Elkton Police Department.

Riley was arrested at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, without incident, according to Lt. Justin Hoyal, spokesman for the Unified Police of Greater Salt Lake.

Prosecutors were expected to seek their extradition back to Maryland.

The investigation began in August 2010, when a young woman sought an abortion from the pair.

The abortion was induced in New Jersey, and the patient was then transported across state lines into Maryland, according to the Elkton police statement.

FETUSES FOUND IN FREEZER

The operation was botched with both Brigham and Riley present, Elkton police said, although the statement did not elaborate on the nature of complications.

Riley took the woman to a nearby hospital, police said. The woman, who was not identified by authorities, survived and was later moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Rollins declined to say why he believed the frozen fetuses were being kept at the clinic or what specifically led to the murder charges, saying that his office would not comment on pending litigation.

Riley had her medical licenses suspended by the state of Maryland, according to the Maryland State Board of Physicians.

Brigham was ordered in 2010 to cease and desist from practicing medicine in the state of Maryland without a license, according to the state medical board.

Documents show that Brigham also had his license suspended by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners in October 2010 after officials found that he had performed second- and third-trimester abortions without authorization.

The board further noted that Brigham was not an obstetrician-gynecologist, and that his actions had endangered his patients.

The board's stated decision for the revocation "focused on his practice of starting late-term abortions in New Jersey, where he was not authorized to perform them, and finishing them in Maryland, where he was not licensed to practice medicine," according to a report by the state attorney general.

Brigham has performed approximately 50 such cross-state abortions, according to documents on the Maryland state medical board's website.

Officers who searched the Elkton clinic found several fetuses in a freezer, police said.

A source who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said there were 35 fetuses found in the clinic freezer.

An Elkton Police spokesman deferred further questions to Kerwin Miller, the assistant state's attorney for Cecil County who is prosecuting the case.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

Attorneys for Riley and Brigham also could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

'Synthetic' marijuana is problem for US military

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high, is hard to detect and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.

The abuse of the substance has so alarmed military officials that they've launched an aggressive testing program that this year has led to the investigation of more than 1,100 suspected users.

So-called "synthetic" pot is readily available on the Internet and has become popular nationwide in recent years, but its use among troops and sailors has raised concerns among the Pentagon brass.

"You can just imagine the work that we do in a military environment," said Mark Ridley, deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, adding, "you need to be in your right mind when you do a job. That's why the Navy has always taken a zero tolerance policy toward drugs."

Two years ago, only 29 Marines and sailors were investigated for Spice. This year, the number topped 700, the investigative service said. Those found guilty of using Spice are kicked out, although the Navy does not track the overall number of dismissals.

The Air Force has punished 497 airmen so far this year, compared to last year's 380, according to figures provided by the Pentagon. The Army does not track Spice investigations but says it has medically treated 119 soldiers for the synthetic drug in total.

Military officials emphasize those caught represent a tiny fraction of all service members and note none was in a leadership position or believed high while on duty.

Spice is made up of exotic plants from Asia like Blue Lotus and Bay Bean. Their leaves are coated with chemicals that mimic the effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, but are five to 200 times more potent.

More than 40 states have banned some of its chemicals, prompting sellers to turn to the Internet, where it is marketed as incense or potpourri. In some states, Spice is sold at bars, smoke shops and convenience stores.

Sellers based in the United States and Europe advertising the incense on the Internet did not respond to emails or calls seeking comment.

The packets often say the ingredients are not for human consumption and are for aromatherapy. They are described as "mood enhancing" and "long lasting." Some of the sellers' Web sites say they do not sell herbal mixes containing any illegal chemicals and say they are offering a "legal high."

Service members preferred it because up until this year there was no way to detect it with urine tests. A test was developed after the Drug Enforcement Administration put a one-year emergency ban on five chemicals found in the drug.

Manufacturers are adapting to avoid detection, even on the new tests, and skirt new laws banning the main chemicals, officials say.

"It's a moving target," said Capt. J.A. "Cappy" Surette, spokesman for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

The military can calibrate its equipment to test for those five banned chemicals "but underground chemists can keep altering the properties and make up to more than 100 permutations," Surette said.

Complicating their efforts further, there are more than 200 other chemicals used in the concoctions. They remain legal and their effects on the mind and body remain largely unknown, Navy doctors say.

A Clemson University scientist created many of the chemicals for research purposes in 1990s. They were never tested on humans.

Civilian deaths have been reported and emergency crews have responded to calls of "hyper-excited" people doing things like tearing off their clothes and running down the street naked.

Navy investigators compare the substance to angel dust because no two batches are the same. Some who smoke it like a marijuana cigarette may just feel a euphoric buzz, but others have suffered delusions lasting up to a week.

While the problem has surfaced in all branches of the military, the Navy has been the most aggressive in drawing attention to the problem.

It produced a video based on cases to warn sailors of Spice's dangers and publicized busts of crew members on some of its most-storied ships, including the USS Carl Vinson, from which Osama bin Laden's was dropped into the sea.

Two of the largest busts this year involved sailors in the San Diego-based U.S. Third Fleet, which announced last month that it planned to dismiss 28 sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

A month earlier, 64 sailors, including 49 from the Vinson, were accused of being involved in a Spice ring.

Many of the cases were discovered after one person was caught with synthetic pot, prompting broader investigations.

Lt. Commander Donald Hurst, a fourth-year psychiatry resident at San Diego's Naval Medical Center, said the hospital is believed to have seen more cases than any other health facility in the country.

Doctors saw users experiencing bad reactions once a month, but now see them weekly. Users suffer everything from vomiting, elevated blood pressure and seizures to extreme agitation, anxiety and delusions.

Hurst said the behavior in many cases he witnessed at first seemed akin to schizophrenia. Usually within minutes, however, the person became completely lucid. Sometimes, the person goes in and out of such episodes for days.

He recalled one especially bizarre case of a sailor who came in with his sobbing wife.

"He stood their holding a sandwich in front of him with no clue as to what to do," he said. "He opened it up, looked at it, touched it. I took it and folded it over and then he took a bite out it. But then we had to tell him, 'you have to chew.'"

An hour later when Hurst went back to evaluate him, he was completely normal and worried about being in trouble.

"That's something you don't see with acute schizophrenic patients," he said. "Then we found out based on the numbers of people coming in like this, that OK there's a new drug out there."

Hurst decided to study 10 cases. Some also had smoked marijuana or drank alcohol, while others only smoked Spice.

Of the 10, nine had lost a sense of reality. Seven babbled incoherently. The symptoms for seven of them lasted four to eight days. Three others are believed to now be schizophrenic. Hurst believed the drug may have triggered the symptoms in people with that genetic disposition. His findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in October.

He said there are countless questions that still need answering, including the designer drug's effects on people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or traumatic brain injuries.

What the research has confirmed, he said, is: "These are not drugs to mess with."

Islamic school attack in Nigeria's south wounds 7

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Attackers threw homemade explosives inside an Islamic school in a predominantly Christian city where some 50 children had gathered for an Arabic class, wounding six pupils and a teacher, authorities said Wednesday.

The rare attack in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta comes just days after radical Islamist militants launched a series of explosions across the country on Christmas, leaving at least 39 dead and dozens wounded.

Analysts say it is too early to speak of retaliation following the attacks by Boko Haram, but worry about what such violence could mean. The school was attacked Tuesday in Sapele, Delta State police spokesman Charles Muka said.

"Sapele just seems like the most unlikely place for a retaliatory attack to take place," criminologist Innocent Chukwuma said. "But if it is, this would play right into Boko Haram, which has been looking to escalate the conflict to make the country ungovernable."

Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous nation, is largely divided into a Muslim north and Christian south, though members of the two faiths live everywhere across the country, do business together and intermarry.

Thousands, though, have died in recent years in communal fighting pitting machete-wielding neighbors against each other. Earlier this year, at least 800 were killed across Nigeria's north in postelection violence after a Christian candidate was elected president.

Tensions are particularly high in the nation's "middle belt," where the two regions meet. On Tuesday night, authorities say assailants shot a Christian couple and their 1-year-old child Tuesday night, said Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba.

Authorities believe the attack in a village near the city of Jos was carried out by Muslim herdsmen.

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

While initially targeting Islamic and Christian clerics, politicians, policemen and soldiers via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.

Senegal presidency appeals for calm ahead of polls

Senegal's presidency said Wednesday that deadly political clashes in the capital last week should lead to soul-searching and called for calm with presidential polls only two months away.

Clashes between the ruling party and opposition last Thursday which left one dead were "a sign that must lead us to reflect and realise that violence does not solve any problem," said presidential spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye.

Ndiaye said "panic" had gripped the country ahead of February 26 elections but all efforts were being taken to ensure the day after the vote "we shake hands and return to work."

The clashes erupted on the eve of rival rallies by supporters of President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, and opposition protesters angered by his bid for a third term.

According to opposition Socialist Party spokesman Abdoulaye Wilane, five vehicles filled with armed Wade supporters attacked a local council in a Dakar neighbourhood.

The party's youth wing leader, Barthelemy Dias, returned fire and fatally shot one man, but was acting in self-defence, Wilane said.

Wade's third term bid has raised tensions in the capital of a country long considered one of Africa's most democratic nations.

Wade's first term lasted seven years, and he was reelected in 2007 for five years after a constitutional reform shortened presidential terms.

The seven-year stint was reintroduced in another constitutional amendment in 2008, prompting the opposition to argue that Wade's fresh bid was illegal and that he had exhausted the two-term limit.

U.S. Fifth Fleet says won't allow disruption in Hormuz

DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it will not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the strategic oil route.

"The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity," a spokesperson for the Bahrain-based fleet said in a written response to queries from Reuters about the possibility of Iran trying to close the waterway.

"Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated."

Asked whether it was taking specific measures in response to the threat to close the Strait, the fleet said it "maintains a robust presence in the region to deter or counter destabilizing activities," without providing further detail.

Nigeria: Boko Haram Militants Strike on Christmas Day

Nigeria's Christmas from hell began around 7:30 a.m. at St. Theresa's Church in Madalla, a suburb of the capital Abuja, just as worshippers spilled outside from the popular service. "A man with a motorbike dropped a bag just outside the church," a church member told TIME. "One of our officials went to check what was in the bag and at the same time he reached it -- that was when there was an explosion. Everybody started running. You can imagine how many people were running around. We thought the explosion was from one car that was parked outside, but we now discover it was actually the bag that my colleague went to check." The blast partially destroyed the church roof and shattered glass in nearby buildings. It turned out to be part of a wave of bomb blasts striking packed churches and towns across Nigeria as Islamist militants launched a Christmas Day bombing spree that left at least 39 dead and scores more wounded in Africa's most populous nation.

"With my own two eyes, I saw a whole family, five of them, perish in their car which was next to the explosion," Idriss, a 43-year-old truck driver, told TIME over the phone. "I counted 27 bodies. Not only in the church, outside there were two drivers dead on top of their okadas [the local motorcycles used to navigate the area's choked streets]." Among the dead were three policemen stationed to guard the church, the police area commander told TIME. Security has been beefed up in churches nationwide amid repeated threats from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. (See photos of Boko Haram's August bombing in Nigeria.)

Angry Christian youths, furious over the attack, initially refused to let the dead bodies be cleared away from the smoldering rubble, demanding that President Goodluck Jonathan personally see what had taken place. Officials from the National Emergency Management Agency struggled with a shortage of ambulances. Policemen eventually cordoned off the area and dispersed the mob by reportedly firing live rounds into the air.

It was not the first bombing in the capital region. Boko Haram members allegedly detonated Nigeria's first ever suicide bombing in August at the U.N. compound, killing 24. The group, which draws inspiration from Afghanistan's Taliban movement, is fighting for a strict interpretation of Shari'a across Nigeria's 160 million–strong population, which is roughly split between Muslim and Christian. Boko Haram (which -- in Hausa, a language in northern Nigeria -- roughly means Western Education Is Sacrilege) is believed to have been behind four subsequent explosions.

On Christmas Day, a person claiming to speak on behalf of Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the Madalla church attack and another attempted explosion that struck the central city of Jos -- an ethnic and religious melting pot that has borne the brunt of Nigeria's sectarian violence. "A police patrol car sighted three men on a motorbike. There was exchange of gunfire and the men threw the bomb into the church compound," a Jos state official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the policeman died on the way to hospital, but no other casualties were reported. In Jos, traditional celebrations and planned family reunions had already been scrapped in the run-up to Christmas amid painful memories of a Christmas Eve bomb that killed some 32 people last year, residents said. "The streets are so empty it's like it's not even Christmas. Nobody wants to go out even to buy cigarettes because of all this fear," said Chidi Emweku, 31, a university student.

Meanwhile explosions struck two other towns in Yobe, one of the impoverished northeastern states where Boko Haram traditionally operates. One was in a church in Damaturu, according to residents. The police commissioner said details were not immediately available. (See why Boko Haram is al-Qaeda's new friend in Africa.)

Earlier in the week, the Nigerian chief of army staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, said three soldiers were killed when police raided a suspected Boko Haram bombmaking factory in Damaturu. "There was a major encounter with the Boko Haram in Damaturu," Ihejirika said. "In the encounter, we lost three of our soldiers, seven were wounded. But we killed over 50 of their members." Hospital and morgue workers who spoke to TIME said almost all the 50 bodies they saw were civilians. Critics say the army's frequent incursions into areas where Boko Haram has popular support has fueled the cycle of violence. The group's fierce antigovernment rhetoric has also earned support in the arid, predominantly Muslim northeastern states of Yobe and Borno, where unemployment and poverty far exceed that in the oil-rich south, where Christians abound.

Experts are anxiously monitoring Boko Haram's ability to strike regularly beyond Yobe and Borno, amid claims from the group that its members have traveled to neighboring Chad and as far east as Somalia for training and financing. A December 2011 report from the U.S. Congress said the organization -- along with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates just north of Nigeria's Sahel desert -- posed a growing threat to American interests.

Activist Shehu Sani, president of Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, said several attempts to broker a cease-fire between the group and the government collapsed amid mutual mistrust. "The only option is dialogue. For as long as the group has foot soldiers willing to use their bodies, using force will not work against them," he said. The violence prompted condemnations from around the world, including a statement from the White House, which called the attacks "senseless" and pledged to work with Nigerian officials to bring those responsible to justice.

President Jonathan said there was "no reason" for what he called "an ugly incident." "This is one of the challenges of this Administration. This will not be forever, it will end one day," he said in a statement. But many Nigerians wonder when it will end. Idriss, standing amid the wreckage in Madalla, said he had fled Jos earlier in the week after news of gun battles day after day in the north of the country filtered through. "I just wanted to be somewhere safe, but look what happened," he said as sirens wailed in the background.