A gunman has killed at least five people and wounded more than a dozen others at a nightclub in the Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen, police in Mexico said.
The shooting occurred in the early hours outside the Blue Parrot nightclub, which was hosting an event that was part of the BPM electronic music festival.
Rodolfo Del Angel, director of police in the state of Quintana Roo, where Playa del Carmen is located, confirmed five people were dead and said 15 were injured.
Mr Del Angel said that the shooting was the result of „a disagreement between people inside“ the nightclub and said security guards had come under fire when they tried to contain the dispute.
The BPM Festival posted a statement saying people had been killed and injured in an attack that involved „a lone shooter“.
BPM wrote that „the violence began on 12th street in front of the club and three members of the BPM security team were among those whose lives were lost while trying to protect patrons inside the venue“.
The Blue Parrot is one of the venues at the 10-day festival in Playa del Carmen, a tourist destination just south of the resort of Cancun that has largely been spared the violence that has hit other parts of Mexico.
AP

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7:00 AM PST 1/16/2017
by
the Associated Press
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to clog the nation’s capital for Donald Trump’s inauguration and a major demonstration the day after, but how many will actually arrive to party or protest is an open question.
Officials estimate that 800,000 to 900,000 people will be present Friday for the inauguration, a celebration that takes over the city, closing roads, taxing the city’s Metro transit system and making getting around difficult. Trump himself has promised „massive crowds“ but just what that will mean is unclear.
Hundreds of thousands of others are expected Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington.
Trump showed he could draw crowds during the campaign, but his supporters weren’t so quick to make plans to be in Washington for his inauguration.
Elliott Ferguson, the president of Destination DC, the city’s convention and tourism bureau, said that before Election Day hotels had more events tentatively planned for a Hillary Clinton victory than a Donald Trump one. And when Trump won, the „level of enthusiasm“ and demand for hotel rooms did not immediately reach that of past recent inaugurations, he said.
„No one’s phones were ringing“ on the day after the election, he said.
Things started to pick up after New Year’s but some hotels have cut back minimum-night stays from four to two. Some hotels are only 50 percent full, though higher-end hotels apparently have more bookings, he said.
„It’s been much, much slower than anyone would have anticipated for a first-term president,“ he said.
Saturday’s march has helped drive more reservations, he said.
„The moment it was confirmed it was happening in the city our hotels were seeing reservations take place,“ he said.
City planners are betting that Trump’s inauguration is more like President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, which drew more than 800,000, rather than Obama’s first in 2009, which drew 1.8 million people. But while officials have experience and historical data to draw on to estimate crowds for Friday, guessing how many people will show up for Saturday’s demonstration is harder. Women’s March on Washington organizers said in applying for a demonstration permit that they expected 200,000 people.
Christopher Geldart, the District of Columbia’s homeland security director, thinks the march will draw more than that. Some 1,800 buses have registered to park in the city Jan. 21, which would mean nearly 100,000 people coming in just by bus, Geldart said. Amtrak trains into and out of the city are also fully booked on that day, Geldart said.
„Usually when I look at things like that, that tells me we’ve got a pretty substantial crowd coming in. That leads me to believe we’re definitely above the 200,000-person mark,“ Geldart said.
In contrast, approximately 400 buses have registered to park in the city on Inauguration Day, said Terry Owens, a spokesman for the District Department of Transportation, though he said that number is growing daily.
For their part, march organizers are trying to get a head count by asking people who plan to participate to fill out a questionnaire on their website. That will help ensure they have the right number of things like portable toilets, medical tents and food trucks, said Janaye Ingram, who is handling march logistics. More than 100,000 people have already registered using the form, Ingram said.
Rally, a New York City-based transportation company that connects people with bus rides to events, has organized many of the buses coming to Washington for Saturday’s march. The tally includes buses from more than 200 cities in 26 states. The company’s president and co-founder Siheun Song said the northeastern portion of the United States has „largely become sold out of motor coaches“ for the day. Demand is so great the company is using school buses to bring people to the march from Maryland, she said.
„In six years of doing business we’ve never seen buses get sold out so quickly,“ she said.
For its part, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the city’s rail and bus system, is planning an all-day effort to move people on Inauguration Day. The system is opening at 4 a.m. — an hour earlier than normal — and running rush hour service for 17 hours until 9 p.m. But the system hasn’t seen a need to change its usual Saturday operations. The rail system will open at 7 a.m., its normal time for the day, and run on a regular Saturday schedule.

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Monday, 16 January 2017 07:59
In final verdict, Egyptian court rules against government agreement to hand over Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
A top Egyptian court has issued a final ruling rejecting a government plan to transfer two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a deal that had provoked outrage among Egyptians and prompted rare protests.
Cheers broke out in the Cairo courtroom as the judge read out the verdict confirming Egyptian sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir and saying that the government had failed to provide evidence that the islands were Saudi.
The islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba control the narrow shipping lanes running north to the Red Sea port cities of Eilat and Aqaba, in Israel and Jordan.
The fate of the two islands has been at the heart of friction between Riyadh and Cairo over a string of regional issues, including Syria and Yemen.

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It’s good to be home. My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes we’ve received.
Lee Jae-yong. (File, AP)
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Seoul – Prosecutors requested the arrest Monday of the de facto head of Samsung, South Korea’s biggest company, on bribery and other charges in the influence-peddling scandal that led to the impeachment of the country’s president.
Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesperson for the special prosecutors investigating the scandal, said that Lee Jae-yong, the 48-year-old Samsung Electronics vice chairperson, faces allegations of embezzlement and of lying under oath during a parliamentary hearing in addition to offering bribes.
He said Samsung is suspected of giving 43 billion won (R488 million) to Choi Soon-sil, a long-time friend of the impeached president, Park Geun-hye, while seeking the government’s help with a leadership succession within the company to Lee Jae-yong’s from his father, who has been hospitalised for over two years.
Part of the money given to Choi allegedly was embezzled by the Samsung vice chairman, the spokesman for the prosecutors said. He declined to disclose the exact amount.
Choi has been jailed and is facing trial for meddling in state affairs.
A Seoul court said it will review the prosecutors‘ arrest request on Wednesday.
Samsung Electronics is South Korea’s biggest and most valuable company. Samsung’s Lee has been serving as its de facto head since his father suffered a heart attack in 2014.
Prosecutors also indicted ex-health minister Moon Hyung-pyo on charges he abused his power to compel the national pension fund to support a contentious Samsung merger in 2015. The health ministry oversees the national pension fund and the merger was a crucial step in Samsung’s leadership succession.
Lee earlier denied the allegations. Samsung had no comment when asked about the arrest warrant.
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