Ban Ki-Moon called on the Security Council to consider imposing travel bans and asset freezes on armed groups who had taken over northern Mali. He cited a list of reported human rights abuses carried out by local extremists, and he warned that an
influx
of international ji-hadists could turn the territory into a safe haven for terrorists and criminals. An envoy of the West African bloc Ecowas, Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, said no country in Africa would be safe if that happened. Ecowas is pushing the UN to approve the deployment of an African force to help secure Mali's politically volatile south and take back the north from the rebels.
The Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has signed into law a controversial bill that boots the status of the Russian language in Ukraine. It is now an official regional language in the predominantly Russian speaking areas in eastern and southern Ukraine. Although Ukrainian remains the sole state language, Mr. Yanukovych, himself is a native Russian speaker. And the opponents have accused him of
pandering to
Russian voters.
Two people were killed in the Nigerian capital Abuja when two unfinished buildings in the city collapsed. Construction has been stopped by the authorities because the buildings do not meet local regulations, but hundreds people have moved in and were living there illegally.
Colombian police have arrested one of the country's main drug lords, Erikson Vargas alias Sebastian. He was a head of an