Police Report Describes Cologne Attacks Mayhem

The document, made public by German newspapers, came amid allegations that officers struggled to cope with the large crowds of disorderly revellers - as "several thousand males with a migrant background" hurled fireworks and bottles.

It recounted how policemen were met by "anxious citizens with crying and shocked children" as numbers swelled at Cologne's main train station in the minutes before midnight.

Jens Floeren, a federal police spokesman, has confirmed the authenticity of the report - but stressed it was the "subjective assessment" of one officer who was at the scene.

In total, 121 criminal complaints of sexual assault and robbery during the 31 December festivities in the city centre have been filed, including two accounts of rape.

Investigators have identified 16 young men, largely of North African origin, who could be suspects - and earlier in the week, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere warned that any asylum seekers who committed a serious crime "must reckon with being deported from Germany".

Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a "fundamental" debate on how to integrate the 1.1 million refugees who were registered in the country last year, and described the assaults as "repugnant criminal acts that Germany will not accept".

She added: "The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well.

"We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of deportations from Germany in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order."

Cologne's police chief has said he will respond to widespread criticism of how his force handled the incident when he appears in front of the state legislature's home affairs committee on Monday.

In Switzerland, local police have said several women were also robbed and sexually assaulted in Zurich on New Year's Eve in attacks which seemed "a little bit similar" to those reported in Cologne.

Officers in Finland have also confirmed that there were a higher-than-average number of sexual harassment complaints in Helsinki as revellers welcomed in 2016, with officials claiming they were tipped off about groups of asylum seekers who were planning to assault women.

Members of Cologne's Muslim community, including some who have lived in the city for decades, have joined other Germans in condemning the attacks.

One woman said: "Everywhere it says this has something to do with Muslims. What I read and learned in the Koran is completely different.

"I've been here for 30 years myself and I've never seen anything like this."

A German-Tunisian lawyer has described the assaults as inexcusable, but criticised the police for identifying some of the attackers as North African before making any arrests.

Mehdi Labidi said: "Germany is a tolerant country but I find this really strange that an entire ethnic group is being branded as criminals.

"If far-right extremists attack North Africans then we are going to file a criminal complaint against police for incitement."

Cambodian leader's love-hate relationship with Facebook

Last week, he warned social media users to cease insulting him online or face arrest. The seeming anonymity of the internet would offer no shield, he said.

"If I want to take action against you, we will get [you] within seven hours at the most," Hun Sen said in speech, naming the Facebook user he was warning, local media reported.

A few days later, Hun Sen issued another warning to "extremists" in the opposition party, accusing them of altering a photograph of his wife and posting it to Facebook. Those responsible will face the law, he said.

Facebook has emerged as a serious political force in Cambodia since the country's 2013 national election, which Hun Sen almost lost. That year, young, social media-savvy voters rallied to the opposition party, using the site to share news and information, and coordinate their campaigns.

After TV, the social network has become the second most important platform for Cambodians to access information.

Hun Sen's near debacle in the election - his party lost 22 seats in parliament - forced a strategy rethink, which included learning from the opposition's use of social media.

He has now launched a digital counter offensive.

In September, Hun Sen revealed that a Facebook page that had long borne his name - though he denied operating it - was, in fact, his official page. He admitted ownership only after the page garnered one million likes.

The timing may have had something to do with Hun Sen's arch rival, opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, who has close to two million likes on his page.

A latter-day social media zealot, Hun Sen now delivers live addresses on Facebook, posts selfies, and uploads all manner of documents and photos, from images of his grandchildren to a recent shot of an old comrade ill in bed.

He has also launched a new personal website and his own Hun Sen app for Android phones - (iOS follows soon). And his Facebook page has 1.7 million likes and counting.

Hun Sen has adopted social media, but he has not embraced the culture of free speech often associated with a digital landscape, said Ou Ritthy, a political blogger and commentator. 

"Hun Sen said very clearly he knows immediately, within seven hours, whoever criticizes him using bad words."

Defining what constitutes an insult in Hun Sen's books is impossible to guess, he says, adding that the prime minister's warnings have caused many to think twice about what they post.

On a more positive note, Hun Sen could have shut down all social media after it contributed to his party's near election loss in 2013, said Ou Ritthy. He chose not to do that. Instead, he is trying to control the digital debate.

"On one hand, Hun Sen tries to engage [on social media]. But, on the other, he tries to dilute, he tries to weaken other users who seem to disagree with him."

And there are serious consequences for stepping over the prime minister's social media line.

Last August, a 25-year-old political science student was jailed on charges of incitement after writing on his Facebook page that he wanted people to participate in a "colour revolution" to change society.

The same month, Hun Sen ordered the arrest of an opposition party senator for posting a video clip on Facebook featuring a falsified government document. 

Arrest warrants have also been issued for Sam Rainsy, already in self-imposed exile, and two senior members of his social media team, who have already fled Cambodia, over the senator's Facebook post. 

Sok Eysan, spokesman for the ruling party, said Hun Sen's warnings were simply to "encourage" social media users to be constructive in their criticism and to prevent defamation, which is punishable as a crime.

With more than one million people liking her Facebook page, high school student Thy Sovantha became Cambodia's first social media star during the 2013 election.

Posting plucky video reports to her Facebook page along with cutting commentary on the government, Sovantha became a symbol of youth support for political change after three decades of Hun Sen's rule.

Sovantha said she does not intend to temper her commentary following Hun Sen's latest warnings, explaining that she only engages in "strong, constructive criticism", and does not use "rude words".

"In 2013, Facebook changed society," she said. "More and more people use Facebook and they are more active." 

"Now it's not only young people, but also old people… I have looked at the comments on my page, the public are not scared."

Beyonce to Perform at Super Bowl Halftime Show

Evan Agostini—Invision/APBeyonce Knowles arrives at Barclays Center in New York, Oct. 20, 2015

Beyonce is returning to the Super Bowl halftime show.

Pepsi confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that the 34-year-old singer will perform at the Feb. 7 show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Last month, Coldplay announced it would perform at the halftime show.

Beyonce headlined the 2013 Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans at the Superdome, where she was joined by her Destiny Child’s bandmates, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Beyonce and Coldplay recently collaborated on the band’s new album, “A Head Full of Dreams.”

Katy Perry, who performed at last year’s Super Bowl, had the most-watched halftime show in history with 118 million viewers. Other past halftime headliners include Bruno Mars, Prince, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and the Rolling Stones.

Kim Jong-un celebrates birthday in week of 'hydrogen bomb' tests

Millions of people living in North Korea will be expected to join forces to celebrate the birthday of the man who leads the country, Kim Jong-un.

Still, little is known about the elusive leader, including exactly when he was born. 

Just days before the occasion was marked, the regime made an as-yet unproven claim that it had successfully carried out its first underground hydrogen bomb test.

That triggered a global outcry and fears that the state, which has few allies, had acquired a more advanced nuclear capability than previously known.

White House Responds To Making A Murderer Petition

Netflix/APThis image released by Netflix shows Steven Avery in the Netflix original documentary series "Making A Murderer."

Sorry, Steven Avery: President Obama can’t help you.

The White House responded to a petition calling for a pardon of Avery, a convicted murderer from Wisconsin who is the subject of Netflix’s Making a Murderer. More than 100,000 viewers called upon the president to spring Avery, who continues to deny his involvement in the 2005 death of Teresa Halbach. The petition also seeks a pardon for Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted of her murder.

“Thank you for signing a We the People petition on the Teresa Halbach murder case, currently featured on the Making a Murderer documentary series,” reads the statement, which goes on to explain that Obama only has the ablility to pardon federal prisoners.

“A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities,” the statement says.

The petition was created on Dec. 20 after Netflix began streaming the 10-part docuseries. “There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriff’s department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey,” it reads, in part. “This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as such, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible.”

Apple’s Only Female Executive Makes More Money Than Tim Cook

Ilya S. Savenok—Getty Images

Senior Vice President of Apple Retail at Apple Inc, Angela Ahrendts speaks onstage during the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York City on Nov. 9, 2015.

Angela Ahrendts, the only woman on Apple’s executive team, makes more money than her male counterparts—including CEO Tim Cook.

According to a proxy statementfiled by the tech giant on Wednesday, Cook earned about $10 million last year. The other five named members of the executive team received more than twice that figure— $5 million in salary and $20 million in stock awards. While all the top execs’ packages are quite similar, Ahrendts ended 2105 with the largest total: $25, 779,229. (CFO Luca Maestri is nipping at her heels with $25,337,977.)

This isn’t the first time Ahrendts, Apple’s SVP of retail and online stores, has come out on top of the pay pile. She was the highest-paid woman on Fortune‘s 2015 list of Most Powerful Women and is the highest-paid female executive in the U.S., according to Bloomberg‘s Pay Index.

The former CEO of Burberry spearheaded the retail launch of the Apple Watch, which received mixed reviews. Her other focus has been integrating Apple’s AAPLonline and retail divisions, as well as expanding the company’s retail presence in China.

Last September, Cook spoke to Fortune senior editor Jennifer Reingold about how Ahrendts was fairing 16 months into her job. “It felt like she’d been here a decade the first day,” he told Reingold. “I knew she was going to be off the charts, but she’s even more off the charts than I thought. She came in so fast. There was no [learning] curve.”

While Apple may have achieved pay equity at the tippy top of the company, it’s not clear how women at lower levels of the organization are fairing. One thing is for certain: Apple, like fellow tech giantsFacebook and Google, is still heavily skewed towards men. According to its latest diversity report, less than a third (31%) of its global workforce is female. this number gets even smaller at the top, with women comprising only 28% of its leadership team as of June 2015. Still, the company is making progress: According to head of human resources Denise Young Smith, more than 11,000 women have been hired worldwide in the past 12 months, a 65% increase from the previous year.

Dakota Meyer says he's the biological father of Bristol Palin's baby

Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer is looking to gain joint custody of his child with Bristol Palin, according to his attorney in a complaint filed Wednesday.

Kimberlee Colbo, Meyer’s attorney, filed a complaint in Alaska Superior Court saying that Meyer believes he is the biological father of Palin’s daughter Sailor Grace Palin, according to the Marine Corps Times.

“Meyer and Palin had a relationship and were engaged to be married until May 2015,” the complaint said. “Meyer believes that he is the biological father of the minor child.”

The complaint also insists that it is in the baby’s best interest that both Palin and Meyer share joint legal custody of her, according to the Marine Corps Times.

“Dakota couldn’t be more excited to be a new father and be the best dad that he can be,” Colbo said in a statement to the Marine Corps Times. “To him, that means being a big part of his daughter’s life. Beyond that he’d really appreciate and thank his friends, supports and the news media for respecting the privacy of each family in this very personal matter.”

Bristol Palin gave birth to Sailor on Dec. 23. It is the second child out of wedlock for the 25-year-old daughter of 2008 Republic vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Bristol Palin has not publicly identified the father of her second child, but announced she was pregnant shortly after her engagement to Meyer ended.

Meyer was ecstatic when he learned of the birth tweeting that day: "Best Christmas present ever!! I couldn't be more proud of this little blessing." He also posted a photo of a sleeping infant held by someone wearing a hospital gown with the same pattern as the one shown on Bristol Palin's Instagram post.

The complaint in Alaska court calls for awarding child support, but Colbo iterated that Meyer isn’t seeking any form of compensation.

“At this point, no one is seeking child support,” Colbo told the Marine Corps Times. “Mr. Meyer simply seeks to be a part of his daughter’s life.”

Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2011. At the time he was the only living Marine to receive the military’s highest valor award since the Vietnam War. Meyer was honored because of his heroic efforts in 2009 when he went into an Afghanistan kill zone five times and recovered the bodies of three Mariners and a Navy corpsman, who was surrounded by the Taliban.