The Latest: Slain girl's schoolmates will run in her honor

The Latest on developments related to the abduction and killing of an 11-year-old girl in New Mexico (all times local):

1:10 p.m.

Schoolmates of an 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped and killed on the Navajo Nation this week are preparing to run roughly a mile in her honor as part of the Shiprock Marathon.

School and race officials say about 75 students from Ojo Amarillo Elementary School will lead the first wave of 450 children in an honor run Friday evening.

At the end, they'll release 500 yellow balloons. Yellow was one of fifth-grader Ashlynne Mike's favorite colors.

Authorities say she was abducted Monday along her school bus route in an isolated, agricultural community near Shiprock, New Mexico.

Her body was found the next day in the desert about 25 miles away. A 27-year-old man has been arrested in her death.

Local school district spokesman James Preminger says last year, Ashlynne participated in the run that's now being dedicated in her memory.

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12:20 p.m.

Mourners at the funeral of an 11-year-old Navajo girl who was abducted and killed this week wept as a video played showing support for her from across the country.

Images of people releasing balloons, holding vigils and singing in remembrance of Ashlynne Mike flashed on the screen in New Mexico's Farmington Civic Center. Ashlynne was also shown playing the xylophone.

A headstone created for Ashlynne read "our little angel in heaven."

Some 1,600 people attended the service with speeches delivered in Navajo and English and as many people waited outside watching it on monitors.

Ashlynne's parents and siblings sat on stage alongside local, state and tribal leaders.

A funeral escort to the burial site included dozens of motorcycle riders.

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11:30 a.m.

The family of a Navajo girl who was abducted this week on the reservation criticized the delay in issuing an Amber Alert for her.

Older siblings of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike told a crowd gathered for her funeral Friday that they wish the alert had gone out sooner. The audience erupted into applause.

Authorities were notified around 7 p.m. Monday that Ashlynne and a younger brother were missing. Authorities say the two had been lured into a van by a man offering to take them to a movie.

The brother was freed and showed up at the Shiprock police station around 7:15 p.m. and provided a description of the kidnapper.

An Amber Alert was issued at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Ashlynne's body was found later that day south of the monolith known as Shiprock.

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11:15 a.m.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez joined thousands of people Friday in mourning a Navajo girl who was abducted and killed this week.

During a funeral Friday, Martinez recalled Ashlynne Mike as a budding pianist and xylophone player who wanted to share her musical talents with the world. The 11-year-old girl was a fifth-grader at Ojo Amarillo Elementary School.

Authorities say she was killed after she and her brother were lured into a van near their school bus stop Monday. Her brother was freed, but Ashlynne's body was found near the Navajo Nation community of Shiprock the next day.

Martinez turned to Ashlynne's brother and thanked him for his braveness in providing authorities a description of the kidnapper and said Ashlynne would be proud.

Tom Begaye Jr. has been charged with murder and kidnapping in Ashlynne's death.

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10 a.m.

Hundreds of people lined up ahead of a planned funeral for an 11-year-old girl who was abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation this week.

More than 1,600 people were expected to pack the civic center in Farmington, New Mexico, on Friday morning to pay homage to Ashlynne Mike, who was abducted after school Monday. Her body was found a day later south of Shiprock. Those waiting outside included families with children, many wearing t-shirts that were yellow, the fifth-grader's favorite color.

Many of those waiting exchanged greetings, hugs and waves.

More than 200 miles away, suspect Tom Begaye Jr. appeared before a federal judge on murder and kidnapping charges in Albuquerque. He waived his right to a preliminary and detention hearing. A judge ordered that he remain in custody.

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2:25 a.m.

Hundreds of mourners will gather Friday to remember an 11-year-old girl who was killed after being abducted along her school bus route on the Navajo Nation.

The funeral for Ashlynne Mike, a fifth-grader who lived with her father and siblings near the eastern edge of the nation's largest American Indian reservation, is set for Friday at 10 a.m. in Farmington, New Mexico. At community gatherings in recent days, her family has remembered her as a quiet girl who loved music and played the xylophone.

Her death has led her tribal community to demand improvements in how law enforcement responds to child abductions on the vast reservation.

More than 200 miles away, suspect Tom Begaye will appear before a federal judge on murder and kidnapping charges during a preliminary hearing in Albuquerque.

US mulls selling Nigeria attack planes

The United States is considering selling Nigeria ground attack planes to help fight Boko Haram rebels, officials said Friday, despite concerns over the local military's human rights record.

Nigeria's Western allies have vowed to assist the West African giant in its fight against the brutal Islamist group, but have been cautious of providing arms to troops regularly accused of extrajudicial killings.

Washington is now, however, contemplating selling Nigeria a dozen A-29 Super Tucano ground attack planes of the type US contractors have supplied to Afghanistan to help it strike Taliban guerrillas.

US officials would not publicly confirm the plan, as it has not been formally approved or explained to Congress, but said Washington is looking for ways to help President Muhammadu Buhari's government.

Washington has longstanding concerns about Nigeria's rights record and the government is prevented by law, under a 1997 amendment authored by Senator Patrick Leahy, from arming units that act with impunity.

"We are committed to implementing the letter and spirit of the Leahy Law, and will not provide assistance to any unit for which there is credible information of a gross violation of human rights," a senior administration official told AFP.

"We provide training and other assistance to numerous Nigerian security force units not implicated in human rights violations and we believe that assistance has and will have a significant impact on Nigeria's fight to defeat Boko Haram."

Buhari, a former military dictator, was elected to the Nigerian presidency last year, replacing the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, whose government was widely derided as incompetent and corrupt.

Since Buhari came to office, the United States has sought new ways to help out in the struggle against Boko Haram, but has proceeded cautiously because of the Nigerian military's reputation for brutality.

"As a matter of policy, we do not comment on proposed US defense sales or transfers until they have been formally notified to Congress," said David McKeeby, spokesman for the State Department's bureau of political-military affairs.

"Nigeria is a strategic partner of the United States and we continue to work closely together on security matters," he said.

"We provide a range of assistance to Nigerian authorities, including advisors, intelligence, training, survivor support services and advice on strategic communications."

Boko Haram's insurgency began in northeast Nigeria and has spread to parts of neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon -- where French and US forces have been more active in helping local armies fight the rebels.

More than 20,000 people have been killed since fighting began in 2009, many of them in large-scale slaughters of civilians by insurgents, but some in heavy-handed military operations.

Blood Thirsty Fulanis:Fulani gunmen attack Kaduna village, kill monarch, nephew - Liberated Minds

It will be a common fact to all Nigerians that the tribesmen of the President, Buhari are blood thirsty tribe.
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on Sunday night  invaded the Fadan Karshi village, killing its district head and his nephew.

Fadan Karshi is in Sanga Local Government Area in the southern part of Kaduna State.

Eyewitness said the District Head, Mr. Bala Madaki, 66, was killed alongside his nephew, Emmanuel Tanko, who was  taking the 2016 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate  Examination.

A community leader and pastor, Mike Makarfi, said the suspected Fulani invaders attacked the village at about 10.30pm on Sunday.

Makarfi said the Fulani gunmen went straight to the district head’s compound, shot sporadically before they entered the chief’s room and shot him and Tanko dead.

At the moment, according to the cleric, Fadan Karshi village has turned to a ghost town as residents have fled for fear of being killed.

Security operatives are said to be patrolling Karshi village and those who could not flee from the onslaught were made to stay indoors.

Nobody could give reason for the attack.

 Makarfi, however, said the district head and his nephew might have been killed as a result of personal grudge the Fulani had with the monarch.

It was gathered that in May, 2014 Fadan Karshi had come under siege when Fulani gunmen invaded the police station in the area, killing seven people but the police in an exchange of gunshot killed two of the suspected Fulani men.

The Fulani Association had  petitioned the then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) and copied the then governor where they demanded that the Fadan Karshi district head be “arrested, dethroned and prosecuted for the death of two Fulani people.”

Makarfi said the killing of the district head might not be unconnected with the May, 2014 incident where the two Fulani men were killed.

“This is unfortunate, because in the past one week, we have had some reprieve, just for the violence to turn this way,” he said.

Makarfi added, “Around 10pm, the chief moved into his house with his family. Then some gunmen who our people said were Fulani, stormed his compound and started shooting. They went into his room and shot him at close range. They also shot a small boy, Emmanuel Tanko,  who was taking his final year secondary school exams.

“Now Fadan Karshi is deserted. Shops and service centres are shut. People are either staying indoors or are leaving the town. No one knows what is coming next. Police are patrolling the streets.

“I want you to recall that this was the district head that received former Governor Mukhtar Yero on September 22, 2014 when our women protested half naked because of the scale of killings by Fulani going on at that time.

“What people are saying about the killings of our district head is that he may have been killed by Fulani who have a grudge against this community and him.

“In May, 2014 some Fulani armed men invaded the police station here and seven people were killed. As they were escaping, two of them were killed in an exchange of gun fire between them and the Police.”

When contacted, the Kaduna State Police spokesman Zubairu Abubakar, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.

Abubakar , however, said he had  yet to get the details of what transpired at the Fadan Karshi village.

As of the time of filing this report, the police spokesman said he was still awaiting reports from the Divisional Police Officer from Karshi.

“I don’t have the details yet. When I do, I will surely give you,” he said.

But, till press time, he did not come up with any information.

Meanwhile, the state Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has   condemned the killing of the traditional ruler and his relation.

While commiserating with the family of the victims, the governor urged the people of Sanga Local Government Area to be calm and support the security agencies to investigate the attack and apprehend the perpetrators of the brutal act.

Speaking at a meeting with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress from the eight local government areas of Kaduna South Senatorial District, el-Rufai said security agencies were investigating the attack, and were working to apprehend the culprits.

A classic love tail: Man rescues dog. Dog rescues man.

It's a classic love tail: Broken man meets broken dog and together they make life good again.

Colin Campbell was a regular guy living a regular life in 2008. He had a nice job, a nice house and a beautiful wife until, as heartache often happens, he returned from a business trip to learn his beautiful wife didn't want to be married anymore.

"I really struggled" is Campbell's short description of what went down. "I was shocked. There were no second chances. No discussion about it."

Living in Toronto, working hard as he always had, Campbell's friends grew concerned, suggesting he do something that he had never done before: get a dog.

Rambling around his house alone and depressed, he went online to a pet rescue site and found about as much dog as any human might bargain for, the kind-faced George, a 140-pound Landseer Newfoundland, though he was a mere pup, just over a year old, at the time.

George, too, was in need of saving. He had been abandoned. There was evidence of abuse and neglect. He was wary of men in particular, including Campbell, and had trouble with trust.

Together the two healed, and a move a year later to Los Angeles worked some magic of its own.

Newfoundlands are water dogs, though George had never had the opportunity to experience the ocean. When Campbell went surfing, George swam right out and hopped on his board, earning accolades over the next three years from the surf crowd at Hermosa Beach and competing a couple of times in a doggie surf competition that raises money for pet rescue.

"I don't think he had ever swam before, but he just instinctively knew how to do it," Campbell said. "He had balance and he had an affinity for it and he did really well. So George went from homeless in Canada to surf champ in California."

All of this, it turns out, made for a great book, "Free Days with George," out this month from Anchor Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The title, Campbell said in a recent interview — with the fluffy, white George at his side — comes from something Campbell's grandfather used to say, having saved from drowning three Allied comrades on D-Day as they stormed Juno Beach at Normandy.

He, Seymour Wylde Howes III, considered all good days spent doing something you love, with people who love you, free days. "That's a good day," he'd say. "That's a free day on Earth."

That's how it felt for Campbell, surfing with George, loving George, sharing George with all of his admirers.

"He went out of his way to try and make things good," Campbell said of his gentle giant of a friend. "As he moved on and got better, he really taught me how to do the same. We were both at a really dark place. When we moved to California and he swam in the ocean, it was like a baptism. Like he really discovered his purpose and all the DNA for Newfoundlands who were bred to save people in the water, he figured it out. He came out of the water and he goes, I know what I'm supposed to do. He had a confidence that he never had before."

George continues to be a feel-good ambassador for all who meet him. Campbell and George are on a cross-country bus tour promoting their book, stopping at animal shelters along the way to drop off donated bags of food and help raise awareness of the need to rescue homeless pets.

Over six weeks, starting from New York this week, the two will visit 26 cities in their tricked-out luxury bus, the title of the book and George's black face and mostly white fluff across each side.

They hope to return to California for a little surfing later this month. By Newfoundland standards, George is up in years at 8. Campbell wasn't sure whether he'd be quite as enthusiastic about a surfboard.

Looking back, the 54-year-old Campbell recalled how helping George took some time. A meandering bus trip seemed fitting.

"It was a rocky start at first," Campbell said. "I had to take him through obedience and gradually socialize him. It took about a year for him to trust and to recognize that I was somebody who was helping him."

The takeaway, for Campbell and George, is an obvious one.

"I really credit him for saving my life," the human said.

As for George, he did what dogs do, as the two began their media tour Monday. He licked the face of one new fan, rolled over for a tummy rub by another. There was no surfboard on this visit, but as Campbell said:

"He's a little older. I'm a little older. That's OK."

Leicester stand to gain up to $365 million windfall

Leicester City have the chance of making anything between 150 million pounds ($220 million) and 250 million pounds ($365 million) from their sensational Premier League triumph, according to sports marketing experts.

The city of Leicester in England's Midlands should also expect to enjoy a huge commercial boost after its hometown team wrote the unlikeliest of sporting success stories, one that has captured headlines around the world.

Yet though the club known as the Foxes will gain this substantial windfall, they still have a long way to go to join the true big-money elite of world soccer.

The club that had never won the top-flight crown in its history will cash in through the 90 million pounds in prize money from the Premier League, and money from competing in Europe's Champions League next season, as well as increased TV and match day revenue.

With Leicester's increasing attraction to sponsors as the champions of the Premier League, which possesses remarkable global appeal, it could all be worth as much as 150 million pounds to the club, said the sports and entertainment intelligence firm, Repucom, on Tuesday.

Other experts have put the estimates much higher with some British media reports suggesting that the figure could be much nearer 250 million pounds, particularly if Leicester's success proves to be more than a one-season wonder.

Leicester's TV audiences have soared by over 23% globally this season and because of the excitement inspired by their run to the title, audiences in the UK have grown from 785,000 to over one million per game.

In Italy, the numbers watching Leicester's games have doubled, largely thanks to the interest generated by the club being managed by Italian coach Claudio Ranieri.

"Leicester's media values have jumped by 30 percent globally whilst in the U.S. they have grown by over 70 percent, showing first-hand the increase in value to current and potential sponsors," Repucom said.

Leicester's first appearance in the lucrative Champions League will also make a vast difference to their coffers in the region of 36 million pounds.

As well as increased TV exposure, it will generate increased revenues from group stage fees, a proportion of the competition's market pool and a participation bonus, totaling 33 million pounds, as well as 3 million pounds performance bonus.

A story which had echoes of Leicester's triumph was Atletico Madrid's breaking of the Barcelona-Real Madrid duopoly to win La Liga in 2014.

Based on the increased match day and commercial revenues that unlikely champions Atletico gleaned, Leicester can expect to see between 10 to 15 million pounds boost in that area.

"Leicester City FC's real commercial potential will become clearer in the season break as brands vie to associate themselves to the club," Spencer Nolan, head of consulting at Repucom, said.

So, much will depend, in the mid to long-term on how successful the club, owned by Thailand billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, are in developing their fan base.

Though their victory was greeted enthusiastically in Thailand, where Srivaddhanaprabha's family runs the duty-free empire King Power, their fan base is still not in the same league as the historic elite of the English game like Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Leicester itself hopes for an economic boon, with the local newspaper, Leicester Mercury, reporting that financial experts believe the overall economy in the city could benefit to the tune of 49 million pounds.

The numbers of visitors to the city have grown rapidly since the discovery of the remains of King Richard III in 2012 and now tourism chiefs hope that being the home of England's soccer champions will prove a draw card for Leicester too.

Islamic State kills U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq

Islamic State militants killed a U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq on Tuesday after blasting through Kurdish defenses and overrunning a town in the biggest offensive in the area for months, officials said.

The elite serviceman was the third American to be killed in direct combat since a U.S.-led coalition launched a campaign in 2014 to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State and is a measure of its deepening involvement in the conflict.

"It is a combat death, of course, and a very sad loss," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters during a trip to Germany.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the dead serviceman was a Navy SEAL. The SEALs are considered to be among the most able U.S. special operations forces and capable of taking on dangerous missions. The serviceman's identity and rank were not disclosed.

A senior official within the Kurdish peshmerga forces facing Islamic State in northern Iraq said the man had been killed near the town of Tel Asqof, around 28 kilometers (17 miles) from the militant stronghold of Mosul.

The Islamic State insurgents occupied the town at dawn on Tuesday but were driven out later in the day by the peshmerga. A U.S. military official said the coalition had helped the peshmerga by conducting more than 20 air strikes with F-15 jets and drones.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Navy SEAL was killed "by direct fire" while on a mission to advise and assist local forces in Iraq.

Carter's spokesman, Peter Cook, said the incident took place during an Islamic State attack on a peshmerga position some 3 to 5 km behind the forward line.

SNIPERS AND SUICIDE BOMBERS

In mid-April the United States announced plans to send an additional 200 troops to Iraq and put them closer to the front lines of battle to advise Iraqi forces in the war against the Islamic State militant group.

Underscoring the complicated nature of the U.S. role in Iraq, the White House told reporters that even though the serviceman died in a combat situation, he was not on a combat mission.

"He was not on the front lines. But he was two miles away, and it turns out that being two miles away from the front lines between Iraqi forces and ISIL is a very dangerous place to be," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Last month, an Islamic State attack on a U.S. base killed Marine Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin and wounded eight other Americans providing force protection fire to Iraqi army troops.

Such Islamic State incursions are rare in northern Iraq, where the Kurdish peshmerga have pushed the militants back with the help of coalition air strikes and set up defensive lines that the militants are rarely able to breach.

The leader of a Christian militia deployed alongside peshmerga in Tel Asqof said the insurgents had used multiple suicide bombers, some driving vehicles laden with explosives, to penetrate peshmerga lines.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said at least 25 Islamic State vehicles had been destroyed on Tuesday and more than 80 militants killed. At least 10 peshmerga also died in the fighting, according to a Kurdish official who posted pictures of the victims on Twitter.

The peshmerga also deflected Islamic State attacks on the Bashiqa front and in the Khazer area, about 40 km west of the Kurdish regional capital Erbil, Kurdish military sources said.

The Islamist militants have been broadly retreating since December, when the Iraqi army recaptured Ramadi, the largest city in the western region. Last month, the Iraqi army retook the nearby region of Hit, pushing the militants further north along the Euphrates valley.

But U.S. officials acknowledge that the military gains against Islamic State are not enough.

Iraq is beset by political infighting, corruption, a growing fiscal crisis and the Shi'ite Muslim-led government's fitful efforts to seek reconciliation with aggrieved minority Sunnis, the bedrock of Islamic State support.

Lake Chad countries warned over Boko Haram 'victory' claims

Countries hit by Boko Haram violence were warned on Wednesday not to make premature claims of victory, despite the Islamist group being pegged back by a sustained military counter-insurgency.

"Though the military response to Boko Haram has become more cogent, the Lake Chad states should not too quickly proclaim 'mission accomplished'," the International Crisis Group said.

"Even if they are made to abandon all territorial pretensions in Nigeria's northeast and the Lake Chad area, or are forced to abandon their guerrilla war, some Boko Haram militants at least are likely to seek to continue their insurgency in some form, probably through terror attacks," the security analysts added.

Nigeria and its neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger are due to hold a security summit in Abuja on May 14 with international partners including Britain, France and the United States.

The ICG said the meeting -- two years after the first in Paris -- was "an opportunity to consolidate regional and wider international cooperation" as well as review current policies.

Closer ties beyond military support were vital to address key drivers of the conflict, as well as its effects, to prevent sustained support for the Islamists and similar, future threats.

These include addressing the humanitarian situation for the more than 2.8 million people made homeless by the violence since 2009, and re-establishing the rule of law and governance in the region.

Also key was treatment of detained Boko Haram suspects and even more moderate fighters willing to be rehabilitated, the ICG wrote in a briefing paper, "Boko Haram on the back foot?"

"How governments treat and distinguish Boko Haram ideologues from those who joined from other motives will be vital," the report said.

"Dealing appropriately with ex-members is the first step to lessen recruitment."

Nigeria's military on Tuesday said dozens of Boko Haram fighters were now at a rehabilitation camp in an undisclosed location and undergoing a "deradicalisation" programme.

- 'Difficult to eradicate' -

President Muhammadu Buhari, who has made defeating Boko Haram a priority since taking power last year, in December declared that the Islamic State group affiliate was "technically" defeated.

Armed service chiefs have in recent days also been talking up operations in Boko Haram's Sambisa Forest stronghold, indicating a final push was under way.

But the rebels have still been able to deploy suicide bombers in northeast Nigeria, and particularly northern Cameroon, even if attacks have decreased in Chad and Niger.

The ICG recommended winding down the use of civilian militia forces who have helped the military maintain security but also been accused of abuses against civilians.

A failure to do so could increase the risk of local, communal violence, it warned, adding: "Many could become tools for local politicians to misuse."

Boko Haram, whose push for a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has left more than 20,000 people dead since 2009, has come to resemble a marauding criminal gang in recent months.

The ICG, however, cautioned that its reduced capacity to operate beyond hit-and-run raids for resources should not be under-estimated.

"Much like other jihadist groups, such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), it may become less a guerrilla force attached to a specific territory and more a terror group with a longer reach," the report added.

"Even if it may be on its back foot, Boko Haram is likely to be difficult to eradicate, because it originates from Nigeria's deep structural challenges."

These include deep-seated corruption and poor governance, as well as perceived regional inequalities, abject poverty and lack of opportunity that Boko Haram was able to exploit for support.

A failure to tackle these, combined with uncertainty and weakness in neighbouring countries, could prolong Boko Haram's existence in a different form or even create a new security threat, the ICG added.