Mudslide danger ⚠ replaces fire threat 🔥 in Southern California❗*

*Mudslide danger ⚠ replaces fire threat 🔥 in Southern California❗*

The frightening hiss and crackle of the massive Thomas Fire in Southern California has been replaced by the loud droning of heavy equipment below the burn area.

Public work crews in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are frantically clearing out every debris basin and storm drain possible, because the fire has left behind another threat -- mudslides.

If it does rain hard, authorities would use K-rail barriers, sandbags or wooden plank fencing to keep water and debris away, and to divert the flow, said Jim O'Toussa, a geologist with the Ventura County Public Works Agency.

"We can also, depending on site characteristics, use large rocks in a series of check dams -- low mounds of large rock in channels -- to reduce (floodwater) velocity, thereby reducing erosion and storing some eroded material," O'Toussa said.

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*Israel 🇮🇱: African migrants told to leave 😱 or face imprisonment*

: *Israel 🇮🇱: African migrants told to leave 😱 or face imprisonment*

The Israeli government has issued a notice for thousands of African migrants to leave the country or face imprisonment. The migrants will be given up to $3,500 (£2,600) for leaving within the next 90 days.

A spokesperson for Israel's Population and Immigration Authority told the BBC there were currently 38,000 "infiltrators" in Israel, of whom just 1,420 were being held in detention facilities.

Many of the migrants - who are mostly from Eritrea and Sudan - say they came to Israel to seek asylum after fleeing persecution and conflict, but the authorities regard them as economic migrants.

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, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

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*🇺🇬Uganda's 👔President Museveni Signs Age Limit 📜Bill into ⚖Law*

 *🇺🇬Uganda's 👔President Museveni Signs Age Limit 📜Bill into ⚖Law*

President Museveni has signed into law the controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 2 of 2017, popularly known as the age limit bill, recently passed by Parliament. Linda Nabusayi, the President's press secretary confirmed this with the reporter saying Museveni signed the bill into an Act of Parliament on December 27 before sending the communication on December 29.

This means that Museveni, 73, can run for another term of office come 2021 presidential elections, should he choose to. The signing comes amid calls from religious leaders and political activists urging the president to return the bill to Parliament. On December 10, Parliament voted by a majority of 317 MPs against 97 to change the Constitution and remove the 75-year age limit on the presidency and to extend the term of MPs from five to seven years.

The Archbishop of Gulu, who doubles as the chairman of Episcopal conference John Baptist Odama, had, like other religious leaders, cautioned Museveni against appending his signature on the bill. Archbishop Odama had said if Museveni signed the Bill, knowing it was passed without the views of majority Ugandans, he [Museveni] would be tormented by his conscience.

Nigerians killed in New Year attack on Rivers church

: *Nigerians killed in New Year attack on Rivers church*

At least 16 people have been killed by gunmen in southern Nigeria after a New Year's Day church service, police say. The group had attended a midnight service before they were ambushed in the early hours of Monday, police told the BBC. The incident, which happened in the oil-rich region of Rivers state, has been linked to growing tensions between rival gangs, local reports say.

The gunmen are said to have fired at random, killing some at close range. The noise of fireworks that greeted the New Year celebrations in Omuku town made it difficult for residents to realise that shots were being fired and people were being killed, reports say.

Omoku, which is about 85km (50 miles) from the state capital Port Harcourt, has a history of violent crime. Correspondents say there has been an increase in violence in the past year after a government amnesty programme for former gang members was allowed to lapse. The amnesty had brought relative peace to a region which had been plagued by attacks by militants demanding that a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth be kept by the country's oil-producing regions.

Nigeria records 20,210 births on January 1

: *Nigeria records 20,210 births on January 1*

United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF reports that approximately 20,210 babies were born in Nigerian on New Year’s Day. The births represented third largest population of newborns in the world on January 1, 2018. UNICEF also said nearly 386,000 babies would be born worldwide on New Year’s Day, representing some 90 per cent in less developed regions.

The agency reported that Kiribati’s Christmas Island in the Pacific would most likely welcome 2018’s first baby, while the U.S., its last. Globally, over half of these births are estimated to take place in nine countries, according to UNICEF. These are: India, 69,070; China, 44,760; Nigeria, 20,210; Pakistan, 14,910; Indonesia, 13,370; United States, 11,280; Democratic Republic of Congo, 9,400; Ethiopia, 9,020; and Bangladesh, 8,370.

While many babies would survive, some would not make it past their first day, UNICEF regretted. Stefan Peterson, UNICEF’s Chief of Health, said on Monday that the UN children’s agency was challenging nations around the world to make sure more newborns survive their first days of life. “This New Year, UNICEF’s resolution is to help give every child more than an hour, more than a day, more than a month – more than survival,” Peterson said.
: *Migrant slavery in Libya: Nigerians tell of being used as slaves*

The European Union is working with Libyan coastguards to reduce the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. But many of those intercepted end up in detention centres in Libya, where some migrants say they are used as slaves, as the BBC's Stephanie Hegarty found when she spoke to some Nigerians who have just returned home.

As evening falls on Benin City, outside the mildewed 1960s block of one of the city's many hotels, a group of men and women are sitting on a scattering of plastic chairs, under a sign advertising "exotic cocktails" and "groovy nights".

But they are not here for drinks or dancing, they are about to start the hard work of rebuilding their lives. They have come from Libya, where most of them were held in detention centres by the Libyan authorities. And they have returned with accounts of horrifying abuse, including being leased or sold as slaves. members was allowed to lapse.

God has asked me to run for Presidency — Bakare*

God has asked me to run for Presidency — Bakare*

The Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said God has told him not to end his political career as he had earlier contemplated. Specifically, Bakare, who contested as the vice-presidential candidate on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 presidential election, said God told him to run for the Presidency.

The Lagos-based cleric spoke in the early hours of Monday during the watch night service at the Latter Rain Assembly in the Ogba area of Lagos. Giving a rundown of the 12 major things he said God had revealed to him would happen in 2018, Bakare explained that God had not told him when the “appointed time” to run for the presidency would be.

“This twelfth one is a difficult one for me. It may draw excitement or condemnation. I have tried my best to keep it (to myself) but the Holy Spirit will not allow me to do so. In my study around 4am on Sunday morning, God told me ‘you cannot bring your political career to a close; there is still more to do. Run for the Presidency. I will do it at the appointed time,” the pastor added. Bakare declared that he was unfazed by the daunting task that his aspiration might pose, expressing confidence that once the Lord had spoken, it was left for God to perform it.