Nagaon (Assam), Jan 20 (PTI) A minor girl was allegedly gang raped in Hojai district of Assam and five people have been arrested in this connection, police said on Sunday.

The girl, a student of Class 8, was lured by the five persons on Friday evening when she went to attend a function at her village in Ejaarbari, where they allegedly raped her, a senior police officer said.

After registering a case at Kaki police station, police launched a manhunt and nabbed all the accused, who hail from the same village.

They have been sent to judicial custody, police added.

CHICAGO (AP) — Activists and others who were disappointed by the outcome of two historic cases involving the killing of black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white Chicago police officer see a way forward — by turning tragedy into political power.

A judge on Friday sentenced former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke to less than seven years in prison for McDonald’s 2014 death.

LONDON (AP) — British police have spoken with Prince Philip after the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was photographed apparently driving without wearing a seatbelt — just two days after he was involved in a serious car crash.

British media on Saturday published a photograph showing the 97-year-old royal driving a new Land Rover near the royal residence at Sandringham in eastern England.

Norfolk Police said “suitable words of advice have been given to the driver.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a bid to break the shutdown stalemate, President Donald Trump offered to extend temporary protections for young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children and those fleeing disaster zones in exchange for his long-promised border wall. But while Trump cast the move as a “common-sense compromise,” Democrats were quick to dismiss it as a “non-starter.”

Washington, Jan 20 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has launched a new plan to end a government shutdown, which has been ongoing for nearly a month, by offering protection from deportations for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for USD 5.7 billion for constructing a wall on the US-Mexico border.

The Democrats, however, rejected the deal as a "non-starter" and called on Trump to open the government before negotiations on immigration could start.

20 Jan 2019; DW: German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the importance and significance of German-French ties in a video message posted on Saturday.

After centuries of war between the two countries, the friendship that now exists between Berlin and Paris was "anything but self-evident," she said.

Her remarks come just days before she and French President Emmanuel Macron are due to sign a new friendship treaty in the city of Aachen.

20 Jan 2019; AFP: A suspected car bomb exploded in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry on Saturday, police said, with leading politicians alleging the blast was terror-related.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland tweeted a photograph of the scene outside a courthouse as it warned that evacuations were taking place due to a second suspect vehicle in the British province's second city.

"Police are in attendance at the scene of an incident in Derry/Londonderry city centre," the PSNI tweeted.

Johannesburg, Jan 19 : The US military on Saturday said it had carried out its deadliest airstrike in Somalia in months, killing 52 al-Shabab extremists after a "large group" mounted an attack on Somali forces.

The US Africa Command said the airstrike occurred near Jilib in Middle Juba region. There were no reports of Americans killed or wounded.

20 Jan 2019; DW: Tehran has rejected claims that a Bundeswehr employee, arrested last week, was passing information to the Islamic Republic. Media reports have suggested the suspect worked for Iranian intelligence for many years.

Iran's government has denied any connections to a German-Afghan national arrested this week in Germany accused of carrying out espionage on behalf of Tehran.

GENEVA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency UNHCR on Saturday evening issued a press statement saying that according to emerging reports, an estimated 170 people had either died or gone missing in two latest shipwrecks on the Mediterranean Sea.

UNHCR cited "recent information from NGO sources" as saying that some 53 people have died on the Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean, but it did not mention the exact time of the accident.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian air defenses intercepted a fresh Israeli missile strike targeting the areas in southern Syria on Sunday, state news agency SANA reported.

The Israeli strike targeted areas in the surroundings of the capital Damascus in southern Syria, said the report.

It added that all Israeli missiles were destroyed before reaching their targets.

It is the latest in a string of Israeli missile strikes targeting military bases in Syria.

Last week, Israel carried out missile strikes on military bases around the capital Damascus.

COTABATO CITY, the Philippines, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Muslim Filipinos will cast their vote on Monday to ratify the landmark Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), a law that will pave the way for wider self-rule to the Muslim minority in the Philippines and is hoped to end the decades-old conflict in southern Philippines.

The Commission on Elections of the Philippines said a total of 2.8 million voters registered for the plebiscite.