Merkel thanks Germans for helping 1 million refugees

German Chancellor Angela Merkel poses after recording her New Year's speech at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP)

Merkel says in her speech which will be aired on public Television at 1700GMT Thursday: "Thank you for the overwhelming and really moving wave of spontaneous helpfulness that we experienced this year, when so many people came via often life-threatening ways to us looking for refuge."

The chancellor said that if tackled the right way, the integration of the many new arrivals would be opportunity for the country in the future. She warned that society should not become divided over the issue and made clear there's no room for those expressing hatred toward the newcomers.

Van Gaal back under scrutiny as Swansea visits Man United

Manchester United's manager Louis van Gaal arrives for the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.

That's how far a mighty club has fallen, with the stalemate with Chelsea on Monday appearing to give some breathing space for under-pressure manager Louis van Gaal. Lose to manager-less and relegation-threatened Swansea at Old Trafford on Saturday, though, and United will put Van Gaal even closer to the brink.

The record 20-time English champions are winless in their last eight games in all competitions, marking their worst run of form since 1990, and have collected only three points from their last six league games. Almost as worrying for United is that the team has scored only one goal in its last four home games.
Van Gaal may say he enjoys the backing of the United board, and has backtracked on previous comments that he could quit as manager, but there might be no way back if Swansea leaves Old Trafford with three points.
Put simply, 2016 has to start better than 2015 ended for the Dutchman. "If anything, we are all playing for our own futures as well," United defender Chris Smalling said, with the team having fallen five places adrift of the Champions League places.
On paper, Swansea looks the ideal opponent for United to get back to winning ways: No manager following Garry Monk's firing on Dec. 9, one place above the bottom three, only one away win — against last-place Aston Villa — this campaign. Yet the Welsh club has won its last three games against United, all 2-1, including a home-and-away league double last season.
What Van Gaal must ensure is that United plays the same way as against Chelsea, when his players were more positive, took more risks with their passing and looked to play more forward. United's fans could see the team was trying and seemed to warm to Van Gaal and his players. But how long will the goodwill last?
"Inside of the club, the players are willing to fight for every meter, the manager is willing to fight, the members of staff are willing to fight and the board is very confident in the staff and the manager," Van Gaal said.
Above sixth-place United, the top four is separated by just four points heading into the second half of the season. It is the most unpredictable of title races, with surely few predicting that Leicester and Tottenham would be in the Champions League positions at the turn of the year.
Here's what else to look out for this weekend, as the grueling run of matches in the festive period comes to an end:

ASSIST KING

Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil has 16 assists so far this season, and is only four off the Premier League record held by Thierry Henry. Ozil must like his chances of getting even closer on Saturday when his table-topping side hosts Newcastle at Emirates Stadium.
Henry, one of Arsenal's greatest players, set the record in the 2002-03 season and believes it will get broken by Ozil.
"The guy is just amazing," Henry said. "Finally we're starting to see what type of player he can be . It's his vision, he always puts the ball where you need it. He sees everything, and when you play with a player like that, anything can happen at any time."
Arsenal is ahead of Leicester on goal difference, with Man City three points back in third place.

DOUBLE ACT

It seems Leicester hot-shots Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have some competition as the most lethal double act in the Premier League — Watford pair Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.
Ighalo has scored in each of his last six games heading into Saturday's match against Man City at Vicarage Road, and finished 2015 with 30 league goals for the year — the best in English football.
Deeney, meanwhile, has six goals and four assists in his last 10 games.
They are the reason why promoted Watford is only two points off the European positions, and must be relishing the prospect of facing a City defense missing captain Vincent Kompany (calf).

LEICESTER REPRIEVE

Leicester's surprising title challenge was supposed to falter in a six-game run that included matches against Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Liverpool and Everton. Yet the team lost only once in that period and looks to be the real deal.
Things get slightly easier for Leicester in January, starting against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Also Saturday, it's: West Ham vs. Liverpool; Norwich vs. Southampton; Sunderland vs. Aston Villa; and West Bromwich Albion vs. Stoke. On Sunday, it's: Crystal Palace vs. Chelsea; and Everton vs. Tottenham.

English teams seek new inspiration as transfer window opens

Manchester United's manager Louis van Gaal leaves at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.

Lagging behind in the race for Champions League qualification, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool could be the most active of the country's major powers as they look for a strong finish to arguably the most unpredictable season in the Premier League's 24-year history.

Then there's the scramble to avoid the costliest-ever relegation from England's top division. Next season ushers in the start of the Premier League's new three-year TV deal worth a record $8 billion, and no club will want to miss out on a share of that bounty.
So, count on England being the place where most deals are done over the next month, as usual. Last January, English clubs were easily the biggest spenders, splashing out about 130 million pounds (then $213 million) to shatter the record for the season as a whole at 760 million pounds (then $1.25 billion).
Top teams operating strategic transfer plans rarely do major deals in this period. Likely targets can be ruled out of the Champions League and managers can be scared off by inflated prices. This season could be different.
Chelsea is in 14th place, three points above the relegation zone, in the most woeful title defense that the Premier League has seen. A top new signing by caretaker coach Guus Hiddink could inspire a revival, and the striker department needs refreshing.
"The window is wide open," Hiddink said Wednesday. Just as it will be at Man United, where Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney are the only two strikers at a club struggling to score goals. A world-class striker could make all the difference for under-pressure United manager Louis van Gaal, who is likely to add to the $375 million he's already spent in his 18 months in charge.
It is Juergen Klopp's first transfer window since becoming Liverpool manager. Will he return to his old hunting ground of Germany to bolster Liverpool's squad? It will also be interesting to see whether Leicester, remarkably in second place after half of the Premier League campaign, splashes out to stay in the title contention. And if the team manages to keep hold of striker Jamie Vardy.
On Wednesday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said it would be a "busy" month for his club, with a midfielder needed to solve an injury crisis. Here is a look around the continent:

SPAIN

Barcelona has been unable to register new players until January because of a FIFA-imposed transfer ban, so 2015 signings Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal have spent the last six months training away from the squad.
Turan joined Barcelona from Atletico Madrid in July and is expected to reinforce the club's left flank. Vidal arrived from Sevilla and likely will be the back-up for Dani Alves at right back.
Real Madrid made a mess of trying to sign goalkeeper David de Gea from Manchester United at the end of the last transfer window and embattled club president Florentino Perez may try to make amends.
However, Spanish clubs don't usually spend big on January acquisitions and there has been no major speculation about any major signings.

GERMANY

In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are likely to give up some rarely used players rather than bring in major new signings.
Bayern's situation is made more complicated by the upcoming departure of coach Pep Guardiola, so any new players would probably have to be cleared by incoming coach Carlo Ancelotti, who will try hard to stay out of the limelight and not to seem to be interfering in Guardiola's job.
Dortmund has already given up attacking midfielder Jonas Hofmann to Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Many top German coaches don't like signing new players in mid-season, considering them expensive and risky.

FRANCE

Defending French champion Paris Saint-Germain has fielded questions about the possible departures of Argentina forward Ezequiel Lavezzi and Italy goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu, who has played only two matches this season following the arrival of Kevin Trapp from Frankfurt.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc dismissed talk of transfers during PSG's winter training camp this week in Qatar, noting that none of his players are out of contract in January.

AP Sports Writers John Leicester in Paris and Nesha Starcevic in Frankfurt, and Associated Press writer Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

Belgium: New searches, detentions in holiday plot probe

Tourists make pictures as an armed policeman guards the Grand Place in Brussels on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. Two people have been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of planning attacks in Brussels during the holidays, the federal prosecutor's office said Tuesday. A source close to the investigation said the Belgian capital's main square, thronged this time of year with holiday shoppers and strollers, was one of the suspected targets.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office said Thursday the police searches were executed in the morning in various Brussels-area locations. It said a magistrate will decide whether arrest warrants should be issued against six people brought in for questioning.

Two men have already been arrested in connection with the suspected plot, both members of a motorcycle club. On Thursday, a judge ordered them held for another month.

Ballots counted after pivotal C. African Republic election

A election official writes as people cast their ballots during elections in Bangui, Central African Republic, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015. Thousands in Central African Republic's capital voted Wednesday in national elections with hope that a new president will lead to greater stability after years of violence.

The National Electoral Authority said lines were moving until polling stations closed in Wednesday's vote. No violence was reported. The African Union observation mission head said that no major issues were seen. However, voters and candidates remarked that names were missing from ballots and some materials were not available.

Voters are choosing a government to replace the transitional leaders put in place in 2014. More than 1.8 million people were registered to vote at more than 500 polling stations nationwide. United Nations peacekeepers and national security forces provided security at polling stations.
The nation has been rocked by unrest since March 2013.

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Benteke scores again as Liverpool beats Sunderland 1-0

Liverpool's Christian Benteke, right, celebrates his goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Liverpool at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015.

The striker pounced on a flicked pass from Adam Lallana to place a low finish into the bottom corner, just 22 seconds into the second half. Benteke earned Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Leicester on Saturday, too.

Liverpool climbed to seventh in the standings, tied for points with Manchester United but behind its great rival on goal difference, and five points off the top four with exactly half the season gone.
Sunderland stayed next to last with its fifth straight loss in December, and fell seven points from safety as recently hired manager Sam Allardyce struggles to turn around the fortunes of the perennial relegation contender. Sunderland's home game against last-place Aston Villa on Saturday assumes even greater significance.
It was Benteke's sixth goal in seven career games against Sunderland — more than he has scored against any other club — and another step in the right direction for a player who hasn't been a regular since joining from Aston Villa for 32.5 million pounds (then $50.7 million) in July.
"I came to Liverpool to try to score a lot of goals, I'm in good shape," said Benteke, who has six league goals this season. "I hope I can keep it up." Some have questioned whether the tall, imposing Benteke fits into the high-tempo, high-energy style of play favored by Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, and he said this week that he has been told by the German coach to "run more."
Benteke prodded in a scrappy winner against Leicester on Saturday, but this one was more clinical, pouncing on Lallana's flick of Nathaniel Clyne's forward pass to find space behind Sunderland's defense and locate the far corner with a low finish. Lallana later acknowledged he didn't intend for the ball to reach Benteke.
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South South Not Part Of The New Biafran Joke - Kokori

Chief Frank Kokori, a human rights activist and former labour union leader, has said the south-south is not part of the struggle for the creation of a Biafra Republic.
He condemned the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra for saying the south-south was a part of Biafra, The Punch reports.
Kokori was reacting to  that anybody who says that Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River states were not part of Biafra was deceiving himself.
MASSOB said Biafra comprises all the states of the former eastern region, including the Anioma community in Delta state.
Kokori, who is an indigene of Delta state wondered how the south-south region could be part of the struggle for Biafra when most Igbo people had refused to abandon their businesses outside the south-east to join the Biafran agitation at home.
He said: “So, we in Delta State have never been part of Biafra. Anything that is Biafran today is purely in the South-East which does not include Rivers, Bayelsa , Cross River and Akwa Ibom.

“These states are not part of this new Biafran joke. To me, it is a joke. The Biafra of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was a serious issue. What people like Ralph Uwazuruike of MASSOB and Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB are doing is trivialising the serious struggle of Ojukwu.
“They are not even serious; they don’t know what they want. What they want is not viable and so they are just trivialising. Is Biafra today possible with five landlocked South-East states?”
According to him, MASSOB and other pro-Biafran agitators were jokers trying to exploit the oil-rich Niger Delta and to deceive Nigerians.
He noted that the creation of a Biafra Republic could spell doom for the south-east as the geopolitical zone is landlocked and not strategic for international commerce.
The human rights activists therefore, called on Igbo leaders to caution the pro-Biafran agitators who had no idea of the implication of their demand.
He also asked the federal government to release Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services, for the sake of peace with a stern warning not to toy with treason again.
Meanwhile,  by operatives of the DSS despite court rulings.