Briefly

UNITED STATES

1 dead, 4 injured in Houston shooting

One person was killed and four others injured in a shooting following an altercation outside a Houston club on Sunday, authorities said. After the shooting at about 3 am local time, one man tried to run away to a service road "where he collapsed from his wounds", Houston Police Assistant Chief Megan Howard said at a press conference. The man, identified by family as Isaiah Paker, in his 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene with several gunshot wounds, Howard said. Parker worked as a handyman who just attended an early Christmas Eve party with 14 of his siblings hours before the shooting, local media outlet ABC13 reported, citing the victim's family.

NIGERIA

16 killed as herders and farmers clash

Some 16 people have been killed in a clash between herders and farmers in the village of Mushu in north-central Nigeria, according to media reports on Sunday. The attack occurred around midnight Saturday and the investigation was underway to determine the cause of the bloodshed, said an AFP report citing a Nigerian army officer. Police and security forces rushed to the scene to prevent further clashes in the area, where ethnic and religious conflicts are common, it said. State Governor Caleb Mutfwang condemned the latest attack as "barbaric, brutal and uncalled for "and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, his spokesman Gyang Bere told reporters.

UNITED KINGDOM

Home secretary under fire for joke remarks

British Home Secretary James Cleverly was under fire on Sunday for joking about date rape just hours after announcing plans to crack down on what he had dubbed a "perverse" offense. Cleverly, who oversees national security and law enforcement in England and Wales, faced a call to step down after he reportedly joked at an event at the prime minister's home about drugging his wife. He told women guests at a Dec 18 reception that the secret to a long marriage was having a spouse who "is always mildly sedated so she can never realize there are better men out there", the Sunday Mirror newspaper reported. Jemima Olchawski, the chief executive of the women's rights group the Fawcett Society, said the remarks were "sickening".

Agencies - Xinhua