Mass panic as Kenyan university stages 'terror' drill

A number of students from Strathmore were injured on Monday when they attempted to flee from the university [Twitter/@Mate_Tongola]

A security drill at a Nairobi university has caused mass panic among staff and students after security forces used what many thought was live ammunition to stage a pretend attack on the school.

Social media went into overdrive on Monday afternoon as security forces simulated an attack against Strathmore University's Madaraka campus in the Kenyan capital - with many believing the incident was real.

A number of students from Strathmore were injured on Monday when they attempted to flee from the school - with the Kenyan Red Cross confirming that at least two patients were hospitalised.

Their condition is unknown, but the AFP news agency reported that at least one of the wounded was in critical condition. 

Local media reported that some people jumped from the third storey of a building to flee what they thought was an attack on the campus, while photographs showed others perched on the ledges of a building.

Strathmore Uni students teetering on the edge about to take a leap. it was all a drill. pic.twitter.com/O5bcmPEaHK 

— James Smart (@jamessmat) November 30, 2015 

The drill comes just months after the al-Shabab armed group staged an attack against Garissa University in Kenya's east, killing at least 147 students.

Students reported hearing a number of gunshots during the incident, but it is not known whether the gunshots were from live ammunition or blanks.

In a statement provided to Al Jazeera, the university said that prior training had been provided to teams of security marshals, comprising students and staff.

"This simulation was aimed at testing the preparedness of the university community and emergency team in the event of an attack," the statement said.

"Unfortunately some students and staff panicked and got injured. The university has assured all the students, parents and stakeholders that the situation is under control and normal operations have resumed."

The statement added that the university started an "intensive assessment of key lessons learned during this simulation" and said that the medical expenses of those injured would be catered for.

That was not a drill, that was a terror attack at #Strathmore  . A terror attack carried out by Strathmore University upon it's students.

— Sam Gichuru (@SamGichuru) November 30, 2015 

Students and others in Kenya, however, voiced their anger on Twitter, saying that the university had failed to provide adequate warning.

"It's terrifying when you see your fellow classmates jumping from 3rd floor and there is nothing you can do," one user wrote.

"That was not a drill, that was a terror attack at #Strathmore. A terror attack carried out by Strathmore University upon it's students," wrote another.

In China, Able Lawyers but No Rule of Law

In late November, Ren Jianyu, once a budding civil servant in China’s southwest, received his results for China’s National Judicial Examination: a sterling score well above what he needed to pass China’s bar. The triumph was bittersweet: for 15 months, Ren, like tens of thousands of others, had been forced to undergo “re-education through labor,” as time spent in China’s gulags is known.

Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters holding pictures of detained Chinese human-rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang march to the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong on May 14, 2014, asking for his release

Ren’s offense was to have reposted on his microblog comments critical of China’s government and its leaders. He also purchased online a T-shirt emblazoned with the motto: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” For these transgressions, the now 28-year-old was never given the courtesy of a proper trial. He spent his days assembling cardboard for boxes and lived 11 people to a room in a camp filled with more than 1,000 inmates. But after a local justice board deemed his case improperly handled, Ren was released early in 2012 and later compensated less than $15,000 for his suffering. “After experiencing so many things all these years,” he says, “I am not afraid anymore.”

Despite — or perhaps because of — this injustice, Ren decided that he needed to familiarize himself with China’s legal system. After he was released, families of other legal victims came to him, asking for counsel. “At the time, I didn’t understand the law,” says Ren. “When I read the piles of materials they showed to me, I didn’t know which parts were useful, which were not.”

While the re-education-through-labor program has since been officially abolished, other legal black holes suck individuals into the netherworld of the Chinese justice system — like so-called “black jails” that operate apart from official prisons and incarceration in mental hospitals for certain individuals who dare to express dissent. Chinese law also allows citizens to be held under “residential surveillance in a designated place” for six months with no charge or visits from family or lawyers. (Despite the word residential, these detentions don’t tend to happen in individuals’ own homes, and international human-rights groups say that interrogation during these periods of lockup are often accompanied by torture.)

Ren’s career choice — he is now working in the legal department of a construction company in Chongqing, the southwestern Chinese metropolis — is a risky one. China’s lawyers, especially those who specialize in “rights defense” or weiquan, are under siege. While Beijing is currently pushing a rule-of-law campaign in state media, the situation on the ground can contradict such lofty aims. In recent months, hundreds have been detained by the state for trying to hold China accountable to its own constitution, which enshrines “ruling the nation in accordance with the law.” Constitutionalism, a term once bandied about in state media, has itself transformed into a dirty word. Government officials rail against the notion of “universal human values” as being a decadent and destructive Western import.

The campaign against China’s lawyers is part of an overall crackdown on civil rights defenders that has gained momentum in recent months. Journalists, academics and civil-society activists have all been targeted in what some call the most chilling crusade against freethinking in decades. Some dissenters have disappeared into black jails or residential surveillance. Others have been sentenced to years of jail for such nebulous crimes as “picking quarrels and inviting trouble” and “gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place.”

On Nov. 27, writer and legal advocate Guo Feixiong (the pen name of Yang Maodong), was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on both of those charges. He had protested, along with two others who were given lesser prison terms, against press censorship back in 2013. Since then, all three have been detained. Amnesty International alleges that they were tortured, with two of the three barred from any time outside for more than 800 days. “These three activists were simply exercising their human rights and making legitimate calls for Chinese citizens to have a greater say in their country’s future,” says Roseann Rife, East Asia research director at Amnesty International. “The chilling answer from the authorities is, yet again, anyone perceived to be challenging the government will be severely punished.”

Hours before their sentencing, a 71-year-old investigative journalist, Gao Yu — who in April was sentenced to seven years in jail for “leaking state secrets abroad,” another commonly used charge against prisoners of conscience — was released on medical parole. Her freedom is still curtailed.

The plight of China’s lawyers, journalists and other professionals hasn’t dissuaded Ren. His determination to become a lawyer was strengthened by the fate of one of China’s top human-rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, who was once named lawyer of the year by a respected Chinese magazine. Pu had acted as Ren’s lawyer, and his intervention likely catalyzed Ren’s release from the labor camp. After his client was freed, Pu served as Ren’s witness at his wedding.

But in May 2014, Pu too was detained and later accused of “picking quarrels and provoking incidents” and “inciting racial hatred.” He remains locked up, with a court in Beijing this month ordering an extension to his pretrial detention. A lawyer once celebrated by the Chinese press was now considered too subversive by the state. In response to his lawyer’s detention, Ren stepped up his legal studies. “[I thought] if I could become I lawyer in the future, I could also defend people in court,” he says. “Whether my efforts are successful or not, at least I can solve problems within the scope of rule of law.”

But with little sign that this crackdown on dissent will ease, what can Ren and others accomplish? Even this newly minted lawyer is realistic. “Social progress depends on the rule of law,” Ren says. “I am kind of pessimistic about rule of law in China.”

Abortion Clinic Shooting Victims Identified

Ke'Arre Stewart, 29, was an Iraq War veteran who had recently left the military and was accompanying someone to the Planned Parenthood centre when he was killed, according to his family.

The father-of-two reportedly ran inside the building after he was shot to warn people to take cover and then rang 911 to alert authorities.

Mr Stewart was stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs until last year, when he was discharged from the US Army.

The second victim was accompanying a friend for a procedure at the clinic when she was shot and killed.

Jennifer Markovsky, 36, was the mother of two children and has been described as kind-hearted.

Her father, John Ah-King, wrote on his Facebook page: "To my daughter Jennifer I'm going to miss so much, I lost you in a senseless shooting in Colorado Springs.

Robert Lewis Dear will appear in court on Monday

"Life was too short my beloved daughter, I was waiting to see you soon.

"I'm going to miss you, my memories of you will love on in my heart and mind! Missing you!!!"

The third victim has been identified as University of Colorado police officer Garrett Swasey, 44. He also had two children.

His widow, Rachel Swasey, said in a statement on Sunday that "his last act was for the safety and well-being of others".

Former figure skating champion Nancy Kerrigan, who grew up with Mr Swasey skating in Melrose, Massachusetts, described him as a loyal and true friend.

Before he became a police officer, Mr Swasey was a junior national couples ice dancing champion.

The alleged gunman, 57-year-old Robert Lewis Dear, gave himself up after a five-hour standoff with police at the clinic.

Dear, from South Carolina, will make his first court appearance on Monday.

Police have not said why the Planned Parenthood centre was attacked, but Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers said people could make "inferences from where it took place".

Dear is reported to have said "no more baby body parts" when he was arrested.

The facility has repeatedly been targeted by anti-abortion protesters and was hit by claims it sells aborted foetal tissue for profit in a series of videos earlier this year.

Facebook's St Andrew's Day Flag Muddle

The Scottish flag

Facebook encourages users to update their status to show that they are celebrating national holidays and other events.

But for several hours on Monday Scottish users could only mark their day with a status update featuring the red, yellow and blue Romanian flag.

St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Romania, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and other countries.

One user, Kevin Gilmartin, wrote on Twitter: "Oh Facebook, random Wednesday gets a camel for humpday and you can't manage a wee Saltire for St Andrew's Day?"

Stephen Blythe added: "Well done Facebook. Romanian flag for St Andrew’s day. May have been an idea to let us Scots have a Saltire, no?"

Kathryn McBain wrote: "I think Facebook may be a little confused."

Facebook now appears to have fixed the problem, with St Andrew's Day status updates now accompanied by the Scottish flag.

Sky News has contacted Facebook for a comment.

Everything You Need to Know about Cyber Monday Sales

Nowadays it’s difficult to tell when Black Friday ends and Cyber Monday begins. But it’s probably not that important to differentiate among them anyway. Regardless of when you’re shopping during the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you won’t be able to swing a smartphone without hitting a sale—or, more likely, three dozen sales and special offers, inundating your in-box.

Here’s some essential information for finding the best discounts on Cyber Monday, and for understanding how this traditional day for online deals fits into the grand scheme of the holiday shopping season. (One last note: We’ll update this post through Monday morning as new trends and deals emerge.)

Many Cyber Monday deals launched before Monday. We live in a world when Black Friday deals begin on the Wednesdaybefore Thanksgiving, if not even earlier. It’s no surprise, then, that lots of sales marketed as “Cyber Monday” specials were available before Monday.

All 2,000 Cyber Monday deals at Walmart were available for purchase as of 8 p.m. the night before. Meanwhile, Toys R Usintroduced the first of many rounds of its Cyber Monday deals at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, including 50% off a Thomas & Friends railway set ($80, normally $160) and buy-one, get-one-free WWE packs. Amazon’s Cyber Monday deals, on the other hand, basically blurred into the weeks of deals that came before it—and that will continue into Cyber Monday and beyond. L.L. Bean began a 10% off everything sale starting before Thanksgiving (use code THANKS10 at checkout) that’s valid through Tuesday, December 1, and customers get a $10 credit for every $50 spent on orders now through December 24 too.

But most sales went live Monday morning. Despite a few outliers jumping the gun on Cyber Monday sales, the vast majority of retailers waited until it’s Monday to make its online sales live. (Not to say that other online deals won’t be available sooner, but there will special e-retail sales arriving specifically for Monday.) Head to deal-tracking sites like dealnews, RetailMeNot.com, Offers.com, Bargainist, and Buxr.com for the latest on sales. Or just head to your preferred retailer’s website, where you’ll surely find deals galore.

Look for sitewide discounts.Like in the past, major retailers are offering sitewide discounts of 40% or 50% off on Cyber Monday. This goes especially for apparel retailers, seeing as the original prices on clothing is often subjected to absurd markups, so it’s easier for them to be dramatically marked down. If you have a preferred retailer—Land’s End, American Eagle, Ann Taylor, Barnes & Noble, and so on—now’s the opportunity to scoop up an item you’ve had your eye on but just hasn’t gone on sale yet. Even Target is doing the sitewide discount thing this year, with 15% off everything on Monday.

But don’t assume Cyber Monday always has the best deals. Gap got an early start on across-the-board discounts, offering 50% off everything in stores and online as of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, via the promotional code EARLY. On Cyber Monday itself, however, Gap’s sitewide discount was “only” 40% (via code BESTCYBER). Sport Authority, meanwhile, is enticing shoppers to buy sooner by offering discounts that get smaller as the day progresses. The sports retailer’s site was offering 30% off everything from 10 p.m. Sunday night through 6 a.m. on Monday morning, then 25% off your entire purchase from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, and finally 20% off from 6 p.m. to midnight. 

Toys and clothes are particularly cheap. After reviewing the deals on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday over the past few years, the experts at dealnews have concluded that Thanksgiving generally sees the best discounts on TVs, tablets, laptops, and movies, while Black Friday is tops in terms of iPhones, video games, and headphones. Cyber Monday, on the other hand, tends to feature standout prices on clothing (see those sitewide discounts mentioned above) and toys. Bear in mind, however, that in previous years, toys have been even cheaper, on average, during the two weeks prior to Christmas.

Free shipping is a gimme.While some retailers will stick with a minimum purchase requirement in order for customers to get free shipping, most understand that consumers today demand free shipping before biting on Cyber Monday. For that matter, many shoppers demand free shipping throughout the entire holiday season. That’s what’s prompted Best Buy and Target, among others, to offer free shipping on all orders, no minimum purchase required, for the duration of the holidays.

Putin: Turkey shot down jet to protect ISIL oil supply

Turkish authorities claim the Russian jet crossed into Turkey's airspace prior to being shot down - a claim Russia denies [AP]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ankara of shooting down a Russian warplane to protect supplies of oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group to Turkey.

"We have every reason to think that the decision to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to protect the oil supply lines to Turkish territory," Putin said during a news conference on Monday on the fringes of UN climate talks near Paris.

"We have received additional information which unfortunately confirms that this oil, produced in areas controlled by [ISIL] and other terrorist organisations, is transported on an industrial scale to Turkey."

Putin's strongly worded statement came hours after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu again refused to apologise for the downing of the plane near the Syrian border last Tuesday.

Moscow and Ankara have been at loggerheads over last Tuesday's incident when Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border.

Turkish authorities claim the Russian jet crossed into Turkey's airspace prior to being shot down, while Russian authorities vehemently denying those claims.

Turkey has released a number of recordings which it claims prove that the warplane was warned repeatedly prior to being shot down.

Turkey has been backed by its allies NATO and the United States, with the US state department reiterating on Monday that its data "corroborated" Turkey's version of events.

But Russia has hit back hard, slapping Turkey with a series of sanctions over the weekend - including bans on Turks' labour contract extensions, chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and tourism packages to Turkey.

Despite the sanctions, however, Davutoglu said on Monday that Turkey would not apologise for "protecting its borders".

"No country should ask us to apologise," Davutoglu told reporters following a meeting with NATO's secretary-general at alliance headquarters in Brussels.

"The protection of our land borders, our airspace, is not only a right, it is a duty," he said. "We apologise for committing mistakes, not for doing our duty."

Monday was not the first time that Putin has claimed that Turkey buys oil from ISIL. 

Last Thursday, the Russian leader said ere was "no doubt" oil from "terrorist-controlled" territory in Syria was making its way across the border into Turkey - a claim immediately denied by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Moscow's surprise intervention in the nearly five-year-old Syrian civil war in September wrong-footed the West and put Turkey, which shares a long border with Syria, directly at odds with Russian support for the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The downing of the Russian warplane has wrecked both Turkish-Russian relations and the French-led diplomatic effort to bring Moscow closer into the fold of nations seeking to destroy ISIL through military action in Syria.

While Russia says it is targeting ISIL, many of its air strikes have been against other Assad opponents, including groups actively supported by Turkey.

Should new calls for Biafra worry Nigerians?

The last few weeks have seen thousands of young people trooping to the streets of southern Nigeria to protest about the continued detention of a leading Biafra activist, Nnamdi Kanu.

Both new and old media are full of views and reports on the renewed agitation for the short-lived Biafran republic.

If it is not the report of the latest city to host the noisy protest by the mainly ethnic Igbo young men under the banner of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), it may be some hot exchanges on social media about the different interpretation of the event.

The Nigerian military's warning of dire consequences for anyone who tries to carry out what they refer to as treasonable acts, has also been getting attention.

Many Nigerians, with the deadly Boko Haram insurgency in their minds, are trying to understand what is going on, asking why now and what does it all mean?

The latest protests were triggered by the detention of Mr Kanu, the UK-based leader of the IPOB. 

He came to Nigeria last month and was arrested by the authorities, accused of treason.

Security sources say he was arrested for broadcasting hate speech both on the internet and through a banned London-based radio station called Radio Biafra, which he has been using to promote his call for the creation of a Biafran nation.

He has already appeared in court but is still under detention as his trial is yet to get off the ground. 

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Biafra at a glance:

• First republic of Biafra was declared by a Nigerian military officer Odumegwu-Ojukwu in 1967
• He led his mainly ethnic Igbos into a deadly three-year civil war that ended in 1970
• More than one million people lost their lives, mostly because of hunger
• Decades after Biafra uprising was quelled by the military, secessionist groups have attracted the support of many young people
• They feel Nigeria's central government is not investing in the region 
• But the government says their complaints are not particular to the south-east

Still dreaming of Biafra

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One of the most viewed items recently by people trying to understand what is going on is a video uploaded to YouTube showing Mr Kanu soliciting arms at a meeting of the World Igbo Congress in the US city of Los Angeles in September.

He said to his audience:

"We need guns and bullets from you people in America...

"In 1967, before the war started, there was a blood moon... and there is blood moon this year because we are going to be free - no matter what happens."

Now with raucous protesters calling for Mr Kanu's release, the security services are getting even more concerned.

A military chief said: "The Nigerian army would like to send an unequivocal warning to all and sundry, more specifically to all those threatening and agitating for the dismemberment of the country, committing treasonable felony and arson as well as wanton destruction of lives and property."

It is not only the security services who are concerned about the resurgence of sentiment for Biafra.

Many Nigerians cannot understand its logic because, as one commentator put it: The Igbo community, more than any other in Nigeria, has settled and is doing business in all parts of the country. 

'Misunderstanding history'

Even at the conference where Mr Kanu made his incendiary call for arms, there were sceptics who pointed to recent events in South Sudan to show why secession may not be the answer to problems of disaffection and neglect.

A columnist with the Vanguard newspaper, who has made a career out of defending Igbo causes, Ochereome Nnanna, said in a recent article: "I see the agitators as people who do not understand the history of the defunct Biafra.

"I see them as people who misapprehend the Biafra they are asking for... Kanu and his multitude of blind followers must be told that they are playing into the hands of their enemies and dragging millions of other unwilling Igbos along."

This appears to be the position of most educated middle-class Igbos and other Nigerians who are hoping that common sense will prevail.

Community leaders in the Niger Delta where protests have also been taking place, have already disassociated themselves from the agitation, warning the protesters to stay clear of the oil-producing region.

Within Igboland, state governors met for the second time last weekend to agree a common approach to the matter. 

But their effort was hampered by the refusal of some members of the pan-Igbo group Ohanaeze Ndigbo to attend the meeting.

However, they did set up a committee of elders to meet the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue. 

They said they would ask the federal government to find ways of addressing the region's lack of infrastructure and development.

Mr Buhari, a former military ruler who fought in the civil war, will be watching the Igbo leaders' response to the issue with concern.

He has less than a month to go to meet his own deadline to end the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency that has devastated the north-east.

Many would argue that that conflict was not born out of religion, but by those disaffected by lack of opportunities and unemployment - precisely the issues that commentators believe are driving the young pro-Biafra protesters. 

Members of the Igbo establishment now face the tricky task of trying to rein in the youthful protesters, none of whom experienced the trauma of the original Biafra, but who are so convinced that it represents their best hope of a better future.