2016 Newcastle Knights season, Representative honours
The following players appeared in a representative match in 2016.


2016 Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council election
The 2016 Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2016 to elect members of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The 2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the women's provincial curling championship for Newfoundland and Labrador, was held from January 28 to 30 at the Re/Max Centre (the St. John's Curling Club) in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The winning Stacie Curtis team represented Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Grande Prairie, Alberta.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Round robin standings
No playoff was necessary, as Team Curtis went through the round robin undefeated.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Tankard
The 2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Men's Curling Championship (also known as the Tankard), the men's provincial curling championship for Newfoundland and Labrador, was held from January 28 to 31 at the Re/Max Centre (the St. John's Curling Club) in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The winning Brad Gushue team represented Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier in Ottawa.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests
The 2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests were a series of protests in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The protests were in opposition to the provincial budget proposed by Finance Minister Cathy Bennett which will implement tax-hikes and cuts to many public service jobs. The protests were a major part of the financial crisis in Newfoundland and Labrador.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Context
Newfoundland and Labrador is one of Canada's oil-producing provinces and oil revenues account for a significant amount of the province's GDP. During the premiership of Danny Williams, oil prices were high and government spending increased. The province's public sector doubled in size while provincial government spending was 20-36% higher than most other provinces.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Context
The recent drop in the price of oil has caused a deficit for the province and the government does not expect to see another surplus until 2022. The most recent provincial budget was unveiled by Finance Minister Cathy Bennett on April 14, 2016. More than 400 public-sector jobs will be cut, tax on gasoline will be doubled, sales tax will be increased and a "deficit-reduction levy" will be introduced. This levy is an additional tax that will be imposed on residents with an annual income between $49,500 and $72,000.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Context, Lower Churchill Project
One of the most notable mega-projects by the province under Williams is the Lower Churchill Project, a hydroelectric project in central Labrador on the Churchill River. During Williams's premiership the project received lots of support from Newfoundlanders however it was much more controversial among Labradorians. The position on the project taken by the Nunatsiavut government was even supported by Amnesty International. The project is being developed by Nalcor Energy and Emera. Nalcor is a provincial crown corporation based in St. John's.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Context, Lower Churchill Project
The project is currently behind schedule and despite the province's financial situation and the high costs of the project, it is expected to continue development.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Reaction to the budget
Many notable people from the province have spoken out against the budget. Former Liberal Premier Roger Grimes criticized the introduction of the levy.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Reaction to the budget
Several public and independent groups have formed in the province. These groups are motivated by the cyclical abuse, lack of democracy and mismanagement of the province ever since it joined the Confederation.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Reaction to the budget
The highly organized and functional groups or entities include;-Coordinated Approach-Mutual Aid-Free NL-Golden Arrow Community-Peoples Union -Peoples Assembly-Newfrownland.ca


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Protests
Many protests by various organizations have taken place since April 2016.


2016 Newfoundland and Labrador budget protests, Protests
Many former cabinet ministers under the Progressive Conservative government from 2003-15 have appeared at some protests (including former Premier Paul Davis) where they have often not been well received.


2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250
The 2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250 is the first race in the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. It was held at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on February 19, 2016.


2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250, Report, Background
Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, USCC, SCCA, and Motocross. It features multiple layouts including the primary 2.5 miles (4.0 km) high speed tri-oval, a 3.56 miles (5.73 km) sports car course, a 2.95 miles (4.75 km) motorcycle course, and a .25 miles (0.40 km) karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.


2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250, Report, Background
The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. Lights were installed around the track in 1998 and today, it is the third-largest single lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004 and the track repaved twice — in 1978 and in 2010.


2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250, Report, Background
On January 22, 2013, the track unveiled artist depictions of a renovated speedway. On July 5 of that year, ground was broken for a project that would remove the backstretch seating and completely redevelop the frontstretch seating. The renovation to the speedway is being worked on by Rossetti Architects. The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, and it costed US $400 million, placing emphasis on improving fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors") as well as wider and more comfortable seating with more restrooms and concession stands. After the renovations, the track's grandstands include 101,000 permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000. The project was completed before the start of Speedweeks 2016.


2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250, Report, Practice and qualifying, First practice
Timothy Peters had the fastest lap at a 47.612 (189.028 mph). Ben Rhodes had the fastest 10 lap average. Scott Lagasse, Jr. did not finish a timed lap during the session.


2016 NextEra Energy Resources 250, Report, Practice and qualifying, Second practice
Spencer Gallagher had the fastest lap, a 47.838 (188.135 mph). Timothy Peters had the best 10 lap average.


2016 Nicaraguan general election
General elections were held in Nicaragua on 6 November 2016 to elect the President, the National Assembly and members of the Central American Parliament. Incumbent President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) was re-elected for a third consecutive term amid charges he and the FSLN used their control of state resources to bypass constitutional term limits and hamstring political rivals. The FSLN benefited from strong economic growth and relatively low levels of crime compared to neighbouring countries.


2016 Nicaraguan general election
According to the official results, Ortega was reelected with more than 70% of the votes. However, the election was questioned by the opposition due to the dismissal of sixteen opposition deputies months prior to the election, the lack of international observers and the complaints of both electoral fraud and voter intimidation.


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Background
Four months before the elections, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court removed the disputed Independent Liberal Party (PLI) leader Eduardo Montealegre from office, decreeing that Pedro Reyes was the leader of the PLI. After 16 deputies from the PLI and its Sandinista Renovation Movement ally objected, the Supreme Electoral Council ordered them removed from the National Assembly and empowered Reyes to select their replacements.


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Electoral system
The President of Nicaragua was elected using first-past-the-post voting system.


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Electoral system
The 90 elected members of the National Assembly were elected by two methods; 20 members were elected from a single nationwide constituency, whilst 70 members were elected from 17 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 2 to 19 seats. Both types of election were carried out using closed list proportional representation with no electoral threshold. A further two seats were reserved for the runner-up in the presidential election and the outgoing president (or their vice president).


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Electoral system
Lists of candidates to the National Assembly and to the Central American Parliament had to be composed of 50% male and 50% female candidates.


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Conduct
In June 2016 Ortega announced international observers would not be allowed to oversee the elections. The Carter Center termed this "an attack on the international community... We...lament this decision to ignore a key portion of Nicaragua's own electoral law." However, less than two weeks before the elections, the Organization of American States accepted an invitation to send a delegation "to meet with experts and state bodies involved in the electoral process" from 5–7 November.


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Conduct
According to the official results, Ortega was reelected with more than 70% of the votes. However, the election was questioned by the opposition due to the dismissal of the opposition deputies, the lack of international observers and the complaints of both electoral fraud and voter intimidation.


2016 Nicaraguan general election, Results, President
Ortega was widely expected to win due to the popularity of his social programmes and because he faced no obvious political challenger.


2016 Nice truck attack
On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in France. The attack ended following an exchange of gunfire, during which Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot and killed by police.


2016 Nice truck attack
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Lahouaiej-Bouhlel answered its "calls to target citizens of coalition nations that fight the Islamic State". On 15 July, François Molins, the prosecutor for the Public Ministry, which is overseeing the investigation, said the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.


2016 Nice truck attack
On 15 July, French President François Hollande called the attack an act of Islamic terrorism, announced an extension of the state of emergency (which had been declared following the November 2015 Paris attacks) for a further three months, and announced an intensification of French airstrikes on ISIL in Syria and Iraq. France later extended the state of emergency until 26 January 2017. The French government declared three days of national mourning starting on 16 July. Thousands of extra police and soldiers were deployed while the government called on citizens to join the reserve forces.


2016 Nice truck attack
On 21 July, prosecutor François Molins said that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel planned the attack for months and had help from accomplices. By 1 August, six suspects had been taken into custody on charges of "criminal terrorist conspiracy", three of whom were also charged for complicity in murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise. On 16 December three further suspects, allegedly involved in the supply of illegal weapons to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, were charged. The attack has been classified as jihadist terrorism by Europol.


2016 Nice truck attack, Background
On the morning before the attack, French President François Hollande said the national state of emergency, put in place after the November 2015 Paris attacks, would end after the 2016 Tour de France finished on 26 July 2016. France had just finished hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament, during which the country had extensive security measures in place. Some matches were played in Nice, ending with the England–Iceland match on 27 June.


2016 Nice truck attack, Background
On the evening of 14 July in Nice, the Bastille Day celebrations on the waterfront Promenade des Anglais, dubbed "Prom'Party" by the city of Nice, drew crowds of 30,000 and included an aerial display by the French Air Force.


2016 Nice truck attack, Background
The Promenade des Anglais had been closed to traffic and, as in preceding years, a long section including the large hotels had been converted into a pedestrian zone. The customary Bastille Day fireworks display took place between 22:00 and 22:20.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack
On 14 July in Nice, at approximately 22:30, just after the end of the Bastille Day fireworks display, a white 19 tonne Renault Midlum cargo truck emerged from the Magnan quarter of Nice turning eastward on to the Promenade des Anglais, then closed to traffic, near the Fondation Lenval Children's Hospital.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack
Travelling at close to 90 kilometres per hour (56 mph) and mounting onto the pavement as if out of control, it hit and killed numerous bystanders before passing the Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, where it was first reported by municipal police. 400 metres (1,300 ft) from the children's hospital, at the intersection with Boulevard Gambetta, the truck accelerated and mounted on to the kerb to force its way through the police barriers—a police car, a crowd control barrier and lane separators—marking the beginning of the pedestrianised zone.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack
Having broken through the barrier, the truck, driving in a zigzag fashion, knocked down random members of the crowd milling about on the pavement and in the three traffic lanes on the seaward side of the Promenade. The driver tried to stay on the pavement—returning to the traffic lanes only when blocked by a bus shelter or pavilion—thus increasing the number of deaths.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack
After reaching the Hotel Negresco, the progress of the truck, already travelling more slowly, was further slowed down by a passing cyclist, whose attempts to open the cabin door were abandoned after being threatened with a gun through the window.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack
This was followed by a motorcyclist, in pursuit from the Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, who threw his scooter under the front wheels of the truck at the intersection with rue Meyerbeer, mounted the truck and struck blows at the driver from the running board before being hit with the butt of the driver's gun, suffering moderate injuries as he fell off the truck's side. The driver fired several shots at police from his 7.65 mm firearm, close to the Hotel Negresco, as police arrived; they returned fire with their 9mm Sig Sauer handguns, gave chase to the vehicle and attempted to disable it.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack
The truck travelled a further 200 metres (660 ft) until, in a badly damaged state, it came to halt at 22:35 next to the Palais de la Méditerranée approximately five minutes after the start of the attack. There, two national police officers shot and killed the driver.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack, Immediate aftermath
Multiple bullet holes were seen in the windscreen and cab of the truck. The entire attack took place over a distance of 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi), between numbers 11 and 147 of the Promenade des Anglais, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and creating high levels of panic in the crowds. Some were injured as a result of jumping onto the pebbled beach several metres below the Promenade.


2016 Nice truck attack, Attack, Immediate aftermath
In addition to the firearm used during the attack, an ammunition magazine, a fake Beretta pistol, a dummy grenade, a replica Kalashnikov rifle, and a replica M16 rifle were found in the cabin of the truck. Also recovered were a mobile phone and personal documents, including an identity card, a driver's licence, and credit cards. There were several pallets and a bicycle in the rear of the truck.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Personal life
French police identified the perpetrator as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old man of Tunisian nationality, born in Tunisia, with a French residency permit and living in Nice. His parents live in Tunisia and rarely heard from him since he moved to France in 2005. His father said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel underwent psychiatric treatment before he moved to France. He married a French-Tunisian cousin, living in Nice, with whom he had three children. According to his wife's lawyer, he was repeatedly reported for domestic violence and the couple separated.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Personal life
After this separation, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had a wild sex life according to the prosecutor, and had had sexual relations with both men and women, according to an unnamed source. He was known to French police for five prior criminal offences; notably for threatening behaviour, violence, and petty theft. Neighbours reported that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rarely spoke to them.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Personal life
François Molins, the prosecutor leading the inquiry into the possible involvement of organised Islamist terrorism, announced on 18 July that information gathered since the attack suggested that, except for a short period leading up to the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was "a young man completely uninvolved in religious issues and not a practising Muslim, who ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sex life."


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Personal life
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel sent small sums of money regularly to his family in Tunisia, according to his brother. However, days before the attack, in a surprising move, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel persuaded some friends to smuggle bundles of cash worth 100,000 euros illegally to his family.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Motives
The investigation suggested that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel became radicalised shortly before the attack. Prosecutor Molins said that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had a "clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement". Newspapers reported, on the authority of investigators, that evidence found on Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's cellphone showed he may have been in contact with individuals in his neighborhood who were known to the French intelligence agencies as Islamic radicals. However, an intelligence source cautioned that this "could just be a coincidence, given the neighbourhood where he lived. Everyone knows everyone there. He seems to have known people who knew Omar Diaby", a known local Islamist believed to be linked with Al Nusra Front.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Motives
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's computer showed he had carried out Internet searches on the topics "terrible fatal accidents", "horrible fatal accidents", and "shocking video, not for sensitive people"  and consulted news articles on fatal accidents, including on 1 January 2016 an article or a photo from a local newspaper about a car crash with the caption: "He deliberately crashes onto the terrace of a restaurant".


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Motives
According to French authorities, friends of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel said he began attending a mosque in April 2016. Prosecutor Molins said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had expressed admiration for ISIL to one of the now-interrogated suspects. A few months before the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had shown friends an ISIL beheading video on his phone, and had said to one of the now-arrested suspects, "I'm used to seeing that". Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's computer contained photos of ISIL fighters and ISIL beheadings, of dead bodies, of Osama bin Laden, Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Islamic State flag, a cover of Charlie Hebdo, and images linked to radical Islamism.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Motives
In the weeks before the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel consulted many websites with treatises on Quranic Surahs, sites with Islamic religious chants, and sites of ISIL propaganda. He also expressed extremist views, friends told the police. An uncle of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel in Tunisia said that his nephew had been indoctrinated about ten days before the attack by an Algerian ISIL member in Nice. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel grew a beard only eight days before the attack, which he told friends was for religious reasons.


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Motives
An eyewitness interviewed by the newspaper Nice-Matin recounted hearing, from his balcony, "Allahu Akbar" being shouted three times during the attack; similar claims were circulated on social media and in the press. Officials have not confirmed the shouting of "Allahu Akbar", while the BBC reported that the rumours about it on social media were "fake".


2016 Nice truck attack, Perpetrator, Preparations
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's mobile phone, found in the truck after he was shot by police, gave police information about his preparations. On 12 and 13 July 2016, Bouhlel returned several times to the Promenade des Anglais, the site of the attack, surveying the area in the rented truck. On 12 July, he took some selfies on the Promenade, as Molins confirmed on 18 July. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's brother said he received images of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel laughing among the holiday crowds in Nice hours before the attack.


2016 Nice truck attack, Victims
The attacker killed 84 people and injured 434, 52 critically; 25 remained on life support the next day; an 85th person died from injuries three weeks after the attack, and an 86th just over a month after the attack. On 17 July 65 injured were still in hospital, 18 in critical condition. Fourteen of the dead were children. The figure of 434 indicates the total number of people admitted into hospital with injuries due to the attack; some of whom were not admitted immediately. Of the 86 dead, 43 were French nationals and the remaining 43 were foreign nationals of eighteen countries. It was also reported that some of the victims were Muslims. A regional Islamic association claimed "more than one third" of the victims were Muslims.


2016 Nice truck attack, Victims
By 19 July, French authorities had formally identified the then 84 victims, with detailed lists published by Agence France-Presse. Two days later, the Hôtel de Ville in Nice was draped with two long black banners recording the names of these 84 victims.


2016 Nice truck attack, Investigation
Late on 14 July, the ministère public of Paris, which has national responsibility for combating terrorism, opened an inquiry into "murder and attempted murder by an organised gang connected to a terrorist organisation" and "criminal terrorist conspiracy". The investigations for the inquiry were assigned to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).


2016 Nice truck attack, Investigation, Arrests
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's estranged wife was arrested on 15 July, but was then released two days later. Also, a man was arrested on 15 July. On 16 July, three more men were arrested. On 17 July, a man and a woman, both Albanians, were arrested in Nice following a police raid the previous day.


2016 Nice truck attack, Investigation, Arrests
On 25 July, two more men were arrested after photographs of them were found on Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's mobile phone. One was released after five days, while the other was charged with conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise, just like five of the people arrested on 15–17 July.


2016 Nice truck attack, Investigation, Alleged accomplices
By 21 July, three men with Tunisian origins and an Albanian couple, all previously unknown to the French intelligence agencies, had been charged by the ministère public with "criminal conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise". The three men were also charged with complicity in murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise. A sixth male suspect was later charged with conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 15 July
French President François Hollande said that he had consulted his Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve, and was returning to Paris from Avignon, expecting to arrive in the French capital at 01:15h to have an emergency Interior Ministry meeting regarding the attacks.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 15 July
At 00:59h, Cazeneuve initiated the ORSEC plan, the French emergency plan for disasters.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 15 July
At 03:47h, Hollande addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast from Paris. He assessed that "the terrorist nature of this attack can't be denied" and linked the attack to Islamic terrorism: "all of France is being menaced by fundamentalist Islamic terrorism". He announced a three-month extension of the state of emergency, previously due to end on 26 July, announced an intensification of the French military attacks on ISIL in Syria and Iraq, and announced that more security personnel would be deployed.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 15 July
Prime Minister Manuel Valls later that day announced three days of national mourning on 16–18 July.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 15 July
Valls said in the France 2 television's evening news programme at 8:00 p.m. on 15 July, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was "probably linked to radical Islam one way or another". Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, on the coinciding television news of TF1: "We have an individual who was not known to intelligence services for activities linked to radical Islam",  when asked whether he could confirm the attacker's motives were linked to jihadism he replied: "No".


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 16–17 July
On 16 July French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "I remind you that Daesh's ideologue, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, has for several weeks repeated calls to attack directly, even individually, Frenchmen, in particular, or Americans, wherever they are, by any means necessary ... It is murder, and Daesh's claim of responsibility comes later, as has happened in other recent events".


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 16–17 July
Bernard Cazeneuve on 16 July, after ISIL had claimed the attacker as one of its soldiers, said: if Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was radicalised, "It seems that he was radicalised very quickly —  in any case these are the elements that have come up from the testimony of the people around him."


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 16–17 July
Cazeneuve on 16 or 17 July announced plans to increase security in response to the attack by calling 12,000 police reservists to add to the 120,000 person force. He urged "all patriotic citizens" to join the reserve forces to boost security following the attacks.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 18 July and later
On 18 July, France observed a one-minute silence in remembrance of those killed in the attack. In Nice, as the Prime Minister arrived to observe the silence, the crowd booed him and some shouted for his resignation, with some calling him a murderer. President Hollande was similarly booed by crowds when visiting Nice the day after the attack. The booing was described by BBC as "unprecedented", who commented that it was "a stark warning of how the mood in the country has changed" in comparison to public responses after other recent major terrorist attacks in France.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 18 July and later
On 21 July, the state of emergency was formally extended until 31 January 2017.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 18 July and later
A week after the attack, the anti-terror directorate of the National Police (SDAT) requested that the local authorities in Nice destroy CCTV footage of the attack, arguing that leaked images would compromise the dignity of victims and could be used as propaganda by terrorist organizations. The request has been refused by local authorities who have argued that the CCTV footage might provide evidence that the National Police had placed inadequate security measures on the Promenade des Anglais on 14 July.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 18 July and later
On 26 July 2016, three Nice residents who had chased the truck during the attack were presented with medals for bravery by the local authorities in Nice.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French government, 18 July and later
On 14 July 2017, president Macron said during a remembrance ceremony in Nice "This rage, I know, many of you still carry it in the pit of your stomach, ... Everything will be done in order for the republic, the state and public authorities to regain your trust.”


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, French public ministry
François Molins, prosecutor of the ministère public (le parquet) in Paris – the authority ('public ministry') responsible for defending French society with regard to terrorism – stated on 15 July that the Nice attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism. On 18 July, Molins said the attack could be described as "terrorism" as defined by French law.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, The Republicans
On 15 July, Alain Juppé, former prime minister of France and one of the final two candidates to become the Republican candidate for the April–May 2017 presidential election; and Christian Estrosi, former Nice mayor, raised the question of whether more could have been done to prevent the attack.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, The Republicans
In September 2016, François Fillon, the other Republican candidate in the French presidential election, published a book titled "Defeating Islamic Totalitarianism" (Vaincre le totalitarisme islamique), in which he advocated a stricter state surveillance on the Muslim community and more attention to the French identity. He also wrote that France was "at war" with radical Islam.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, National Front
Marine Le Pen, president of the National Front party and candidate for the April–May 2017 presidential election, said in a Le Figaro interview, "I'm furious, because I hear the same words, notice the same reflexes in the political class, but see no action that contributes one ounce of supplemental security". She judged it "urgent to attack the ideology that is the basis of this terrorism" and regretted that "nothing" was decided for the closing down of the salafist mosques.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, International
Leaderships of 49 countries and five supranational bodies expressed abhorrence of the attack and condolences for families and for France. US President Barack Obama labelled the attack as possible terrorism, as did German Chancellor Angela Merkel.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Claim of ISIL responsibility
On 16 July, the Amaq News Agency, called Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "a soldier of the Islamic State." It cited an "insider source" which said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "executed the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations, which fight the Islamic State".


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Claim of ISIL responsibility
Later that same day, ISIL's official al-Bayan radio station said the attacker executed a "new, special operation using a truck" and "the crusader countries know that no matter how much they enforce their security measures and procedures, it will not stop the mujahideen from striking."


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Islamic and Christian responses
The first Islamic funeral ceremony of victims of the attack took place on 19 July in the Ar-Rahma (The Mercifulness) mosque, the oldest in Nice and the largest in Alpes-Maritimes. Last honours of the Islamic community were rendered to a 23-year-old Tunisian woman, her 4-year-old child, and a young man. Rector and imam Otmane Aïssaoui said in his sermon, "The sole frontier for which one should halt is this: the respect for a man, for a woman, irrespective of their colour of skin, their origin. A truth one can find in the Gospel, in the Torah, even in Buddhism!" Citing a Quranic verse, he said, "At the Last Judgment, [Lahouaiej-Bouhlel] will be asked: 'why did you kill that little child of four years old?'"


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Islamic and Christian responses
Also invited to speak was the priest of the nearby Catholic church Saint-Pierre d'Ariane. Father Patrick Bruzzone said, "My brothers ... I say 'my brothers' because, today more than ever, when one man is hurt, the whole of humanity is hurt."


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Islamic and Christian responses
On 21 July, a commemoration was held for "people of all religions and even beyond that" in Catholic church Saint-Pierre d'Arène, located near the area where the attack had taken place. The priest and the vicar called for "the calming down, necessary for taking at hand our common future in this torn city and in the whole country. To contemplate together, in order to solidly reconstruct the social ties that now are increasingly crumbled and largely ruined".


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Islamic and Christian responses
On 24 September, Pope Francis met 800 family members of the victims of the attack in Rome.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Social media
Immediately after the attack, while it still remained unclear whether the threat had ended, people used social media, particularly Twitter, to help others find shelter, using the hashtag #PortesOuvertesNice (Open Doors Nice), a variation of a hashtag used in other recent attacks in France.


2016 Nice truck attack, Reactions, Social media
On 14 and 15 July, the French government urged social media users to only share reliable information from official sources, while false rumours circulated that hostages had been taken, that the Eiffel Tower had been attacked and set on fire, and that Cannes had also been attacked.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Cultural
Organisers of the 20th Nice Jazz Festival, scheduled to begin on 16 July, cancelled the event in the wake of the attack. Rihanna cancelled a concert scheduled as a part of her Anti World Tour for 15 July at Nice's Allianz Riviera. At London's Royal Albert Hall on 15 July, the opening night of the 2016 Proms Festival paid tribute to the people of Nice, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing a rendition of La Marseillaise. In December 2016, an American musician faSade, who witnessed the attack, published a music video of a song that paid tribute to the victims, featuring images of the attack's aftermath.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Cultural
In August, the European Cycling Union decided to move the 2016 European Road Championships, which were to be hosted on 14–18 September in Nice, to Plumelec in the northwest of France, due to security concerns in Nice after the 14 July attack.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Financial markets
European stocks opened lower and then closed mixed on Friday 15 July (the day after the attacks) as investor sentiment was dampened by the attack in France. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down by 0.38%, the French CAC 40 by 0.4%, and German DAX by 0.4%. The British FTSE 100 fell by 0.2% before closing up by 0.22%, down at 0.32% in STOXX 600, 0.6% in CAC 40, and 0.01% in DAX. Airlines, along with other travel share, were some of the hardest hit companies, with Flybe and EasyJet down by around 3.7 per cent and three per cent respectively.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Tourism
Cancellations and last-minute changes to European holidays rose in the summer, with travellers increasingly concerned about the threat of terrorism. Other terrorist attacks in Belgium and Turkey prompted holidaymakers to cancel their bookings or seek out other destinations perceived to be safe. The Nice attack, along with the recent failed coup in Turkey, were expected to add to the pressure. "This is not going to be a good year," European Tour Operators Association chief executive Tom Jenkins said. "There is a real suppression of demand for destinations like Belgium and France."


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims
On the week after 14 July, some Nice inhabitants noticed and deplored increasing anti-Muslim and racist rhetoric in their quarters. Some non-Muslims said that their view on Muslims had changed. "We're in Europe and I think some of the oriental rites are somehow incompatible," a local man said.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims
Before the attack, on 8 June, the carcass of a pig had been found in front of a mosque in Nice. Two suspected men were charged and the court's judgement was expected to be filed on 12 October. On the morning of 11 October, the imam of that same mosque found the head and pelt of a pig mounted before the mosque's entrance.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Raids and house arrests under state of emergency
As of August 2016, under the state of emergency put in force since November 2015 and extended after the Nice attack, around 3,600 houses had been raided. The raids resulted in six terrorism-related inquiries, only one of which led to prosecution. Most raids were reportedly connected with narcotics, not with terrorism, implying misuse of the new powers of emergency. Previously, as of May 2016, under the emergency law, house arrest had been imposed on 404 people, mostly Muslims of North African descent. Many French citizens that were placed under house arrest allegedly lost jobs or employment opportunities as a result. By mid-November 2016, some people had been under house arrest for nearly a year during which no judicial inquiry against them had been started.


2016 Nice truck attack, After-effects, Raids and house arrests under state of emergency
On 15 November, President Hollande announced his intention to prolong the state of emergency until the French presidential elections on 23 April and 7 May 2017.


2016 Nicholls State Colonels football team
The 2016 Nicholls State Colonels football team represented Nicholls State University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonels were led by second-year head coach Tim Rebowe. They played their home games at Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium and were a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 5–4 in Southland play to finish in a tie for fourth place.


2016 Nicholls State Colonels football team, Previous season
The Colonels finished the season 3–8, 3–6 in Southland play to finish in a three-way tie for eighth place.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup
The 2016 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 12th staging of the Nicky Rackard Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. The competition began on Saturday 23 April 2016 and ended on Saturday 4 June 2016.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup
Roscommon were the 2015 champions and were promoted to the Christy Ring Cup.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup
On 4 June 2016, Mayo won the Nicky Rackard Cup following a 2-16 to 1-15 defeat of Armagh. It was their first Nicky Rackard Cup title.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup
Tyrone's Damian Casey was the championship's top scorer with 2-40.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup, Format
The 2016 Nicky Rackard Cup is played in a double-elimination format. For clarity, the draw details are detailed in each round below.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup, Quarter-finals
The two losers of round 2A (who won a match and lost a match) play the two winners of round 2B (who lost a match and won a match). These two matches are referred to as quarter-finals.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup, Semi-finals
The winners of round 2A play the winners of the two quarter-finals.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup, Christy Ring/Nicky Rackard Relegation/Promotion
The bottom team in this year's Christy Ring Cup (tier 2) plays the winner of this year's Nicky Rackard Cup (tier 3).


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup, Nicky Rackard/Lory Meagher Play-offs, Bottom play-off
Contested by the two losers from round 2B. Both these teams lost their first two matches.


2016 Nicky Rackard Cup, Nicky Rackard/Lory Meagher Play-offs, Relegation/Promotion play-off
The bottom team in this year's Nicky Rackard Cup (tier 3) plays the winner of this year's Lory Meagher Cup (tier 4).


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships
The 2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It is the 25th edition of the tournament which is part of the 2016 ATP Challenger Tour. It will take place in Winnetka, United States between 4 and 10 July 2016.


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player received entry into the singles main draw with a protected ranking:


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships – Doubles
Johan Brunström and Nicholas Monroe were the defending champions but chose not to defend their title.


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships – Doubles
Stefan Kozlov and John-Patrick Smith won the title after defeating Sekou Bangoura and David O'Hare 6–3, 6–3 in the final.


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships – Singles
Somdev Devvarman was the defending champion but chose not to defend his title.


2016 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships – Singles
Yoshihito Nishioka won the title after defeating Frances Tiafoe 6–3, 6–2 in the final.


2016 Niger Delta conflict
The 2016 Niger Delta conflict is an ongoing conflict around the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in a bid for the secession of the region, which was a part of the breakaway state of Biafra. It follows on-and-off conflict in the Christian-dominated southern Niger Delta in the preceding years, as well as an insurgency in the Muslim-dominated northeast.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Background
Like most other African countries, British Nigeria grouped people together for governance without respect for their religious, linguistic, and ethnic differences. The region became part of a Niger Coast Protectorate in the 1890s when communities of Niger Delta signed an agreement with the British colonial agents. It was subsumed into the Southern Nigeria Protectorate in 1900 without consultations with the people of the region. Southern Nigeria was then merged with the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914 despite the political and cultural differences between the various ethnicities. Nigeria, which gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960, had at that time a population of 60 million people consisting of nearly 300 differing ethnic and cultural groups.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Background
Nigeria's oil, which became its primary source of income after independence from the British Empire, was located in the south of the country. The Igbo-dominated secessionist state of Biafra that came into existence in 1967 acquired the oil-rich region which played a key role in the Nigerian civil war. Despite this, the region's development was ignored by successive governments. As a result, the region remains the poorest and most backward region of the country. The region's waters have also become highly polluted due to millions of tons of oil being spilled. Due to these reasons, the region has become afflicted with militancy.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Background
People of the region have protested against the negative impact of the oil industry, corruption and lack of development. In recent years, militant groups seeking to control the resources have indulged in oil theft and violence which sometimes has been claimed as retribution for mistreatment of the locals by the oil industry. A violent insurgency was carried out under the banner Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) until an amnesty agreement in 2009 by Late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Background
The election of Goodluck Jonathan (a Christian) as President of Nigeria was a significant factor in the ceasefire as he hailed from the region and was considered to be sympathetic to it. The conflict reignited after the election of Muhammadu Buhari (a Muslim) as president in 2015. This was due, in part, to rumours that Buhari was considering scrapping the amnesty agreement and, more generally, the traditional northern–southern and Muslim–Christian divide.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A spate of bombings on oil installations started in February 2016. The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) then publicly announced its existence in March 2016. The NDA's declared aims are to create a sovereign state and they have threatened to disrupt Nigeria's economy to achieve their goals. The group has also criticised President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari for never visiting the region as well as for his detention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, who said he was not affiliated with either MEND or the NDA.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A militant group calling itself Red Egbesu Water Lions later emerged in May 2016 and demanded his release, as well as that of former National Security Advisor Sambo Dasuki. It also demanded that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission de-freeze the bank accounts of Government Ekpemupolo, as well as unconditional compensation to the victims of the Bonga oil spill and Chevron gas explosion. It further threatened to shut down all oil exploration activities in the region of its demands were not met.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
Another group calling itself Egbesu Mightier Fraternity emerged in the same month, demanding the release of Kanu and Dasuki in 14 days and that the Nigerian military leave the Gbaramatu Kingdom and stop harassing Ekpemupolo. It also threatened to blow up all offshore facilities in the region if the government did not meet its demands.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A group calling itself Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force emerged in early June 2016 and vowed to launch six missiles in the Niger Delta on 7 June. It further warned that it will bring down any helicopter deployed in the area and that it might shut down the Nigerian satellite orbit within a week so that telecommunications within the country would be cut off. It also demanded that the Nigerian military leave the Ijaw communities. On 7 June, it renewed its threat claiming that it was going to target national buildings and infrastructure of oil companies in Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna, as well as all military formations in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Benue.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A dispute then developed between the militant factions as one of the groups calling itself Reformed Egbesu Boys of the Niger Delta unilaterally announced a ceasefire on 13 June. Although the group agreed with other groups over cessation of hostilities, it was opposed to demands regarding Kanu and Dasuki.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A group calling itself the Niger Delta Red Squad declared its existence in late June 2016. The group claimed that it had blown up two pipelines belonging to Shell in the Asa/Awarra axis and also threatened to attack major oil pipelines in Oguta Council area, as well as shutdown all oil wells in Imo State.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A few days later, another group calling itself Adaka Boro Avengers emerged, threatening to destroy oil producing facilities and warned all oil companies to leave the Niger Delta within a week In July, the group announced that it would declare an independent state on 1 August and warned all northern Nigerians to leave the region. It however abandoned its bid on the same day it was supposed to declare an independent state.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
A group calling itself Asawana Deadly Force of Niger Delta also emerged in late June 2016 and demanded independence for the region within a few days while threatening to shut down oil production in the region if it failed to achieve its goal.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
On 8 July, a new group called Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders (NDRC) bombed the Brass Creek Manifold in Bayelsa State. On 13 July, the group then declared a two-week ceasefire. On 1 August, the group released a statement in which it accused northern Nigerians of plotting to Islamisise the region in order to take control of its oil. After the new Boko Haram leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi threatened to increase attacks on Christians and destroy churches, the NDRC, on 6 August, threatened to kill Muslims and destroy mosques if Boko Haram carried out its threats.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016
On 9 August, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate declared its existence and threatened to destroy refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri within 48 hours, as well as a gas plant in Otu Jeremi within a few days. The next day, the group reportedly blew up a major oil pipeline operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) in Isoko On 12 August, the group warned that it would blow up more oil installations in the future. On 19 August, the group was reported to have blown up two pipelines belonging to NPDC in Delta State.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, February - August 2016, Ceasefire
In late August 2016, the NDA declared a unilateral ceasefire and agreed to negotiations with the Nigerian government. After the declaration of a ceasefire by the Niger Delta Avengers, the Reformed Egbesu Fraternities comprising the three militants groups Egbesu Boys of the Niger Delta, Egbesu Red Water Lions and Egbesu Mightier Fraternity also announced a 60-day ceasefire.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, Operation Crocodile Smile (August 2016-September 2016)
Nigeria's Army launched "Operation Crocodile Smile" in late August to get rid of all criminal activities in Niger Delta. On 26 September, five militants were killed in clashes while 23 were arrested. On 30 August, NDGJM blew up the Ogor-Oteri oil pipeline in the Delta state and declared the launch of "Operation Crocodile Tears" in response to the military's operation. On 1 September, the Nigerian Army captured Gabriel Ogbudje, a supposed ex-militant who they claimed had now become leader of a new militant group Otugas Fire Force. 14 oil workers and their driver on their way to Port Harcourt were kidnapped by unknown gunmen on 2 September after the vehicle transporting them was hijacked on Omoku-Elele road.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, Operation Crocodile Smile (August 2016-September 2016)
On 4 September, NDGJM claimed it had rigged all the marked oil and gas facilities with explosives and warned residents living nearby to evacuate. Chief of Army Staff Tukur Yusuf Buratai officially launched the operation on 5 September. Niger Delta Avengers mocked the operation on 8 September claiming 20 soldiers were killed in it and also claimed that the Nigerian military was harassing citizens of Niger Delta. The operation concluded on 11 September. During the operation, 23 militants were killed while 38 militant camps, 91 illegal refineries and bunkering sites were destroyed during the operation.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, Continued insurgency (September 2016-present)
The oil workers kidnapped in early September were released by 18 September after the police engaged in a shootout with the kidnappers. On 13 September, NDGJM stated they had blown up the Afiesere-Iwhrenene pipeline belonging to NPDC in Ughelli North. On 19 September, the group stated they had blown up a crude oil pipeline belonging to NPDC near Ekuigbo in Ughelli North. On 20 September, Abraham Suru, one of the suspected leaders of NDA was arrested.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, Continued insurgency (September 2016-present)
On 24 September, Niger Delta Avengers claimed they had blown up the Bonny pipeline. On 27 September, a militant group calling itself Niger Delta Volunteers (NDV) warned the government that it will cripple all its infrastructure that generated income, describing the bombing by Avengers on Bonny pipeline as a "child's play". It also warned oil companies to evacuate their staff and suspend their operations, adding that their next strike will be deadly. Meanwhile, Niger Delta Justice Defence Group (NDJDG) blew up an oil pipeline in Gokana. On 28 September, NDJDG warned Buhari that they will destroy any national asset he tries to sell. Meanwhile, a militant was killed in clashes between NDA and Imo Security Network in Owerri. On 29 September, NDGJM claimed it had blown up the Unenurhie-Evwreni pipeline belonging to the NPDC.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Conflict, Continued insurgency (September 2016-present)
On 9 November, Niger Delta Avengers said  it was behind an attack on Shell's Forçados crude pipeline a day earlier.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Reactions
MEND had condemned the ensuing militancy in its early days. However, by September it abandoned the negotiating position with the government and sought a unified voice for the Niger Delta, even proposing to work with the NDA.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Reactions
The NDA announced its intention for a declaration of independence on 1 October, which gained the support of IPOB despite the group saying it was unaffiliated with the former as Powerful said: "We have nothing to do with MEND, but our philosophy aligns with that of Niger Delta Avengers who bravely called for the release of our leader and had maintained it till date. Avengers and IPOB are one in pursuit of freedom for all the peoples of Biafra. IPOB is in total support of the proposed independence declaration proposed by Avengers on the 1st of October."


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Reactions
However, later IPOB and the Renegade Indigenous People of Biafra (RENIPOB), a faction from the Kanu-led IPOB, decided to re-unite and would surrender to the Nigerian government on 15 January 2017. As a consequence its intention for the burning of the flag of Biafra on 1 October was then replaced by an intention of surrender to the government.


2016 Niger Delta conflict, Reactions
Following Kanu's arrest, IPOB spokesman, Comrade Emma Powerful said of Nigeria that it was a "contraption done by the former British colonialists which is no longer working, hence the quest of the Biafrans to opt out of the incompatible marriage – the 1914 Amalgamation."


2016 Niger flood
Heavy rains during the months of June, July and August 2016 resulted in extreme flooding of various rivers throughout Niger, particularly the Niger River, where the floods caused material damage and loss of life in Niger and other countries along the river's path.


2016 Niger flood
Since 2000, flooding in Niger has intensified, with the most serious threats concentrated in the southwestern part of Niger and along the banks of the Niger River.


2016 Niger flood, Hydrological and meteorological observations
The worst affected regions were the desert areas of Tahoua in the west and Agadez in the north, and to a lesser extent, the region of Maradi. Extremely fast rise of the river levels were recorded. Within a week, a rise of 1.90 m was recorded in the Sirba station in Garbé Kourou. A station on the Gorouol River, a tributary of the Niger River, measured a rise of 2.9 m over a two-week period at the end of July, the highest river level recorded in over 50 years of the station’s operation. Water levels continued to rise, reaching their highest mark on 6 September since 1964 in the Inner Niger Delta.


2016 Niger flood, Hydrological and meteorological observations
The high river levels could have been exacerbated by uncommon extreme rain events throughout the Niger river basin, such as rainfall exceeding 200mm per day on May 23rd in Niger, lengthy rainy period in Guinea and Mali from August 9th to August 27th, and unusual rains in the Azawagh region, exceeding 200mm on August 13th, and around 50mm on both August 27th and 29th.


2016 Niger flood, Impacts
The sub-Saharan region has seen an increase in the occurrence and intensity of floods during the past two decades, with the consequence of destabilizing food supply and health in an area already affected by extreme poverty and rapid population growth.


2016 Niger flood, Impacts
According to estimates, the 2016 flood resulted in the loss of at least 38 lives and destroyed around 9.000 homes, leaving thousands of people homeless. Approximately 26.000 livestock were lost. The floods provoked substantial displacement, exacerbated by ongoing attacks by Boko Haram, as well as increasing competition over agricultural land.


2016 Niger flood, Impacts
As of the end of September 2019, no cases of cholera had been reported, whereas floods in 2014 had affected more than 1,400 people.


2016 Niger flood, Response
Prior to the flood, much of the international humanitarian aid in Niger was concentrated in the Diffa region, due to the high number of Nigerian refugees. Groups like Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF joined the local and federal government response to the floods, primarily in the most-affected states of Maradi, Tahoua, Agadez, and Zinder.


2016 Niger flood, Response
Initial responses focused on limiting the spread of infectious and communicable diseases such as malaria and diarrhea, and providing mental support.


2016 Niger flood, Response
UNICEF was the sole provider of ready-to-use therapeutic foods in the country, distributed water treatment tablets to some regions, and helped rehabilitate wells affected by floods. The agency also supported the Niger government’s response by providing non-food item kits, which were distributed by government authorities under coordination of the UN’s Coordinating Committee on Health.


2016 Niger flood, Response
Doctors Without Borders put mobile clinics out into the field where they could promote hygiene practices, monitor outbreaks of disease and distribute non-food items like blankets, mosquito nets, hygiene supplies, and domestic utensils. They also helped dig basic latrines as a stopgap measure for people sheltering in community schools.


2016 Niger flood, Response
The local government distributed food rations and cooking oil as well as money (2,000 Central African Francs).


2016 Niger flood, Response
After years of repeated flooding, in 2012, the Niger government, with support from the World Bank, launched the PGCR-DU (Projet de Gestion des Risques de Catastrophes et de Développement Urbain). By 2016, the PGRC-DU has begun retrofitting numerous protective dikes and developing tools to better predict areas most susceptible to flooding and weigh various flood mitigation measures in those areas.


2016 Nigeria Entertainment Awards
The 2016 Nigeria Entertainment Awards is the 11th edition of the Nigeria Entertainment Awards. Hosted by Richard Mofe Damijo and Ebbe Bassey, the event was held on September 4 at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City, U.S.


2016 Nigeria Entertainment Awards, Winners and nominees
The awards were categorized into three categories: Music category, Film/TV category and Other category. Below is the list of nominees and winners for the popular music categories. Winners are highlighted in bold.


2016 Nigeria Professional Football League
The 2016 Nigeria Professional Football League (referred to as the Nigerian Glo premier league for sponsorship reasons) is the 45th season of the Nigeria Premier League, the top Nigerian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1972, and the 26th since the rebranding of the league as the "Professional League".


2016 Nigeria Professional Football League
Enugu Rangers won their seventh league title and first since 1984. Giwa, Heartland, Ikorodu United and Warri Wolves finished as the bottom four teams in the standings and will be relegated to Nigeria National League for the 2017 season.


2016 Nigeria Professional Football League, Clubs
A total of 20 teams will contest the league including 16 teams from the previous season and four teams promoted from the Nigeria National League. The four promoted teams replace Bayelsa United, Kwara United, Sharks and Taraba who were all relegated to the National League at the end of the previous season


2016 Nigeria Women Premier League
The 2016 Nigeria Women Premier League was scheduled to start in February 2016, but was moved to 21 May, 2016. A total of 18 teams were registered for the season. The teams are divided into two groups of nine each. The winner of each abridged league will meet at the end of the season to determine the overall winner of the league. The Nigeria Women Premier League is one of the league competitions administered by the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) board.


2016 Nigeria Women Premier League
Rivers Angels F.C. came to the season as defending champions after winning the super six tournament in Abia State in the previous season. On 30 October 2016, Nasarawa Amazons F.C. and Rivers Angels F.C. were confirmed winners of group A and B respectively. Rafiat Sule and Paulinus Ifeoma of Bayelsa Queens F.C. and COD United Ladies F.C. respectively led the scorer's chart with nine goals, with the former edging Ifeoma with superior assist record (5). This is the second consecutive year of Sule being top scorer as she was also the goal king in 2015 season.


2016 Nigeria Women Premier League
On 10 August 2016, Tokas Queens and Capital City Doves were expunged from the league for failure to honour three consecutive matches. The number of expelled team was increased to seven a few weeks later after Nasarawa Amazons, Martin White Doves, F.C Robo, Confluence Queens and Adamawa Queens were also evicted for similar reasons. The NWFL board explained that their commitment to improving professionalism in female football in Nigeria was reason for the strict adherence to the prior rules of the competition. The economic recession in Nigeria has been highlighted as the reason for failure of teams to meet the financial demands of games. The clubs were later reinstated to the league after the League Management Company gave ten million naira to alleviate the running of the league.


2016 Nigeria Women Premier League
On 21 January 2017, at the Abuja National Stadium, Rivers Angels defeated Nasarawa Amazons on penalties after playing goalless. This is the second trophy won by the club after winning the 2016 Nigeria Women's Cup.


2016 Nigeria Women Premier League, Format
Eighteen teams in two groups of nine each competed for the league title. Each team plays with every team in her respective group. Unlike 2015 season, where the top 3 teams from each group contested in a super 6 mini-tournament in Abia State to determine the overall winner, this season title decider involves only the winner of group A and group B. This two seasons are in contrast with the 2014 season where a complete round robin system was used. Rivers Angels and Nasarawa Amazons are to contest in a winners final to determine the overall winner of the league.


2016 Nigeria Women Premier League, Awards, Player of the month
The NWPL player of the month is sponsored by futbalgalore.com.


2016 Nigerien general election
General elections were held in Niger on 21 February 2016, with a presidential run-off held on 20 March. A total of 15 candidates ran for the presidency, with incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou running for re-election for a second term. There were two main opposition candidates also vying for the top post, Seyni Oumarou of the MNSD, who lost to Issoufou in 2011, and Hama Amadou of MODEN/FA, who has been campaigning from prison since November 2015. Most of the opposition agreed to align for the second round to back the second-placed candidate against Issoufou.


2016 Nigerien general election
Niger faced a string of attacks by various insurgents, most notably Boko Haram in the preceding months, and security and poverty alleviation were central to most candidates' campaigns. Various observers predicted minor violence from the opposition who accused the president of rigging the elections.


2016 Nigerien general election
Issoufou placed first in the first round, but fell just short of an outright majority, necessitating a second round vote in which he faced Hama Amadou. The opposition boycotted the second round, and Issoufou was re-elected with an overwhelming majority (92.49%).


2016 Nigerien general election, Electoral system
The President of Niger was elected using the two-round system.


2016 Nigerien general election, Electoral system
The 171 members of the National Assembly were elected by two methods; 158 members were elected from eight multi-member constituencies based on the seven regions and Niamey by party-list proportional representation. Additionally, eight seats are reserved for national minorities and five seats (one per continent) for Nigeriens living abroad, all elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.


2016 Nigerien general election, Presidential candidates
On 9 January 2016, it was announced that the Constitutional Court had cleared 15 candidates to run. All of the major candidates were approved, including Hama Amadou, who was still in jail over charges that he alleged were politically motivated, and Abdou Labo, who was not imprisoned but was also facing charges related to the baby-trafficking investigation. One minor candidate, Abdoul-Karim Bakasso, was barred from running on the grounds that he had not submitted a medical certificate.


2016 Nigerien general election, Presidential candidates
An appeals court refused Amadou's request to be released on 11 January. Speaking through his lawyer, Amadou said afterward that he was a political prisoner and would not pursue any further appeal.


2016 Nigerien general election, Results, President
Provisional results released on 26 February 2016 showed President Issoufou with about 48% of the vote, falling just short of a first round majority. Imprisoned opposition leader Hama Amadou placed second with 17.8% of the vote. With no candidate winning an outright majority, a second round was planned to be held on 20 March 2016. Although Amadou received a much smaller percentage of the first round vote, most of the other major opposition candidates were expected to support him in the second round.


2016 Nigerien general election, Results, President
Speaking on behalf of COPA 2016, the opposition coalition supporting Amadou, Seyni Oumarou (who placed third and backed Amadou for the second round), announced on 8 March that the coalition was boycotting the vote and withdrawing its representatives from the electoral commission. Hassoumi Massaoudou, the Minister of the Interior, said in response that the second round vote would be held regardless of whether the opposition participated. Noting that some of the first round candidates had backed Issoufou, Massaoudou argued that the opposition "withdrew to avoid being beaten". Nevertheless, Amadou's lawyer said on 11 March that he would still be a candidate.


2016 Nigerien general election, Results, President
Subsequent events were dominated by Amadou's health problems. After a medical crisis in which he was said to have briefly lost consciousness, he was moved from the prison in Filingue to Niamey; he was then taken to Paris for treatment on 16 March. COPA again called for a boycott on 18 March.


2016 Nigerien general election, Results, President
The second round was held on 20 March 2016 amidst an opposition boycott. Given the boycott, results announced on 22 March showed an unsurprisingly large victory for President Issoufou, who was credited with 92.5% of the vote. Turnout was placed at 60%. Meanwhile, on 22 March COPA denounced the election as fraudulent and rejected the results, saying that Niger would "have no legitimate president" after Issoufou's first term ended.


2016 Nigerien general election, Results, National Assembly
In the parliamentary election, parties supporting Issoufou won a majority, with 118 out of 171 seats in the National Assembly.


2016 Nigerien general election, Reactions, Domestic
Opposition parties rejected the partial election results released by the electoral commission, claiming discrepancies between the declared results and their own tallies. Amadou Cissé, the Union for Democracy and the Republic candidate, challenged the results and accused the government for creating "thousands of polling stations" to skew the outcome.


2016 Nigerien general election, Aftermath
When the National Assembly began meeting for its new term on 24 March 2016, the opposition deputies boycotted it. Ousseini Tinni, a PNDS Deputy, was elected as President of the National Assembly on 25 March 2016. With the opposition absent, Tinni received 109 votes in favor and six against, with three abstentions.


2016 Nigerien general election, Aftermath
The Niamey Court of Appeal issued an order for the "provisional release" of Amadou on 29 March 2016, although by that point he had already been out of the country for nearly two weeks.


2016 Nigerien general election, Aftermath
On 30 March 2016, the Constitutional Court validated the results and formally declared that Issoufou was re-elected for a second term. Final results showed Issoufou with 92.51% and Amadou with 7.49%, while turnout was placed at 59.80%. On 2 April 2016, Issoufou was sworn in and reappointed Brigi Rafini as Prime Minister.


2016 Nigerien general election, Aftermath
The composition of the new government was announced on 11 April. Although Issoufou had previously called for the opposition to join a national unity government, ultimately no one from the opposition was included in the government, which continued to be dominated by members of the PNDS. Three minor presidential candidates who had backed Issoufou for the second round were appointed to the government: Ibrahim Yacoubou as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Moctar Kassoum as Minister of Lands and Urban Development, and Magagi Laouan as Minister of Humanitarian Action and Disaster Management.


2016 Nigerien general election, Aftermath
The opposition deputies eventually took their seats in the National Assembly. In late April they formed two parliamentary groups and put forward candidates for the posts in the Bureau of the National Assembly which had been reserved for the opposition and therefore left vacant, enabling those posts (Second Vice-President, Third Vice-President, Quaestor, and two Parliamentary Secretaries) to be filled.


2016 Ningbo Challenger
The 2016 Ningbo Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the fourth edition of the tournament (for men) and part of the 2016 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Ningbo, China.


2016 Ningbo Challenger, Singles  entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2016 Ningbo Challenger – Doubles
Dudi Sela and Amir Weintraub were the defending champions but chose not to defend their title.


2016 Ningbo Challenger – Doubles
Jonathan Eysseric and Sergiy Stakhovsky won the title after defeating Stefan Kozlov and Akira Santillan 6–4, 7–6(7–4) in the final.


2016 Ningbo Challenger – Singles
Lu Yen-hsun was the defending champion and successfully defended his title.


2016 Ningbo Challenger – Singles
Lu won the title after defeating Hiroki Moriya 6–3, 6–1 in the final.


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft
The 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on 20 October 2016 at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB. It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. with official naming rights. The draft was officially called "The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D".


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, Summary
Only the first round picks were allowed to be contested with all picks from the second round onward being based on table placing in the 2016 NPB season in a waiver system. Waiver priority was based on inter-league results. As the Pacific League teams came out on top against Central League opposition, Pacific League teams were given preference. From the third round the order was reversed continuing in the same fashion until all picks were exhausted.


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, Summary
Due to Tokyo Yakult Swallows manager Mitsuru Manaka's mistake at the 2015 edition of the draft, losing tickets in the lottery were made blank as to avoid confusion with winning tickets emblazoned with "Negotiation Rights Acquired."


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, Summary
87 new players were drafted with a further 28 development players selected.


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season
The 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 67th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950.


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Incidents
A gambling scandal involving members of the Yomiuri Giants was reported in October. Pitchers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara, and Ryuya Matsumoto were found to have bet on both NPB games and Major League Baseball games, as well as high school baseball.


2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Climax Series
Note: In each league's stepladder playoff system (Climax Series), all games in that series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advanced if the round ended in a tie.


2016 Nippo–Vini Fantini season
The 2016 season for the Nippo–Vini Fantini cycling team began in January at the Tour de San Luis. The team participated in UCI Continental Circuits and UCI World Tour events when given a wildcard invitation.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize
The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos "for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people." The conflict is the longest running war, and last remaining guerrilla struggle, in the Americas.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". The announcement was made on 7 October at a press conference at the Nobel Peace Center, and the formal award ceremony took place on 10 December at the Oslo City Hall.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize
The award was conferred only five days after the government's narrow defeat in the Colombian peace agreement referendum to ratify the final agreement on the peace process. The committee Chair Kaci Kullmann Five emphasized the effort and good intentions of Santos at the announcement press conference and also in the award citation:


2016 Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasizes the importance of the fact that President Santos is now inviting all parties to participate in a broad-based national dialogue aimed at advancing the peace process. Even those who opposed the peace accord have welcomed such a dialogue. The Nobel Committee hopes that all parties will take their share of responsibility and participate constructively in the upcoming peace talks.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize
Santos was first informed of the prize by his son in the pre-dawn of the day of the announcement. In his first public statement he declared, This honourable distinction is not for me, it is for all the victims of the conflict. Together we will win the most important prize of all: PEACE. In the days following he also announced that the 8 million SEK prize (approximately 2.7 billion Colombian pesos) would be donated to support victims of the conflict.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Nominations
376 candidates received nominations for this year's prize included 228 individuals and 148 organizations - the largest ever number of nominees, the previous record being 278 in 2014.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Nominations
Notable other nominees included the "White Helmets" of the Syrian Conflict (who received several editorial endorsements from western newspapers); representative "Greek islanders", particularly those from Lesbos, for their response to the related refugee crisis; Nadia Murad for her work in refugee advocacy; and Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege for work with victims of rape.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Nominations
Still further nominations included Svetlana Gannushkina, Ernest Moniz and Ali Akbar Salehi, and Edward Snowden. Gannushkina and Syrian Civil Defense had been jointly awarded the 2016 Right Livelihood Award in the weeks prior.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Nominations
Six other Colombians, five of them victims of the Colombian armed conflict, had also been nominated.


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Reactions
In a press release statement, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said that this year's prize "pays tribute to the audacity and perseverance of President Santos and all those who seek to build peace every day, step by step to heal the wounds of the country, in their families and communities."


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Reactions
Media coverage characterised the announcement as a surprise since the national referendum on October 2 was narrowly defeated. Initial reports also expressed surprise that the prize was not awarded jointly with FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño, Santos' main negotiating partner. Londoño, under the name Timoleon Jimenez, tweeted his reaction to the announcement: "The only award we want is peace with social justice for Colombia without paramilitarism, without retaliation or lies."


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Reactions
Syria Civil Defence, tweeting as "The White Helmets", congratulated Santos and wished for peace for the people of Colombia, An hour later the Twitter account shared an image of a destroyed building with the text "At the time of the @NobelPrize announcement, @SyriaCivilDef center targeted in Hama. Back to work."


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Reactions
Álvaro Uribe, the leader of the movement to oppose the referendum and Santos' predecessor as Colombian president, congratulated him but also stated “I want him to lead to change these democracy-damaging peace accords.”


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Reactions
Ciarán Norris, writing in The Guardian, argued that awarding the prize solely to Santos, not to the White Helmets nor shared with a FARC leader, was a deliberate choice to lend its power in a way that might have the greatest direct impact in achieving peace. "The Nobel prize committee had an opportunity today, just days after a hard-fought peace risked being lost in the Colombian jungle, to provoke peace and kickstart that process. In so doing, they have demonstrated that where the international community may not always lend its support to securing peace in every conflict – Syria chief amongst them – they can sometimes provide the necessary momentum to see it through."


2016 Nobel Peace Prize, Committee
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee:


2016 Nobel Prize in Literature
The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition". The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy on 13 October 2016.


2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, Laureate
Bob Dylan is a songwriter and singer whose songs are rooted in the tradition of American folk music and are influenced by the poets of modernist literature and the beatnik movement. He has also written books in prose.


2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, Reactions
The 2016 choice of Bob Dylan was the first time a musician and songwriter won the Nobel for Literature. The award caused some controversy, particularly among writers arguing that the literary merits of Dylan's work are not equal to those of some of his peers. Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine tweeted that "Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars." The French writer Pierre Assouline described the decision as "contemptuous of writers". In a live webchat hosted by The Guardian, Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård said that "I'm very divided.


2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, Reactions
I love that the Nobel committee opens up for other kinds of literature – lyrics and so on. I think that's brilliant. But knowing that Dylan is the same generation as Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, makes it very difficult for me to accept it." Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh said "I'm a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies."


2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, Reactions
Dylan's songwriting peer and friend Leonard Cohen said that no prizes were necessary to recognize the greatness of the man who transformed pop music with records like Highway 61 Revisited. "To me," Cohen said, "[the Nobel] is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain." Writer and commentator Will Self wrote that the award "cheapened" Dylan whilst hoping the laureate would "follow Sartre in rejecting the award".


2016 Nordic Futsal Championship
The 2016 Nordic Futsal Championship, was the sixth edition of the Nordic Futsal Championship hosted by Gothenburg, Sweden.


2016 Nordic Futsal Cup
The 2016 Nordic Futsal Cup will be held from 30 November to 4 December 2016 in Skövde and Jönköping,  Sweden.


2016 Nordic Golf League
The 2016 Nordic Golf League was the 18th season of the Nordic Golf League, one of four third-tier tours recognised by the European Tour.


2016 Nordic Golf League, Schedule
The season consisted of 26 events. With the exception of a four-event Winter Series held in Spain, all official tournaments were held in Norway, Sweden, Finland, or Denmark. Although the ranking was calculated in euros, many prize funds were set in Danish krone or Swedish krona.


2016 Nordic Golf League, Graduates
The top five players (not otherwise exempt) on the Nordic Golf League Ranking earned Challenge Tour cards for 2017. Since the third-place finisher earned Challenge Tour status in a higher category by making the cut in the final stage of Q School, the sixth-place finisher received the fifth card.


2016 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships
The FIS Nordic Junior and U23 World Ski Championships 2016 took place in Râșnov, Romania from 22 February to 28 February 2016. It was the 39th Junior World Championships and the 11th Under-23 World Championships in nordic skiing.


2016 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships
Due to weather conditions, the 5km and 10 km classic interval start cross-country skiing events were moved one day forward. 10 km and 20 km skiathlon were replaced by 10 and 15 km freestyle mass start. Both relays were moved forward by two days.


2016 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships
Nordic combined 10 km/normal hill was moved one day forward, while 5 km/normal hill was moved three days earlier than scheduled.


2016 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships
Individual ski jumping events were arranged two days earlier than scheduled, the mixed team event two days earlier, and the men's team event three days ahead of schedule.


2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger
The 2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 29th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2016 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Aptos, United States between 8 and 14 August 2016.


2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger – Doubles
Chris Guccione and Artem Sitak were the defending champions but chose not to defend their title.


2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger – Doubles
Nicolaas Scholtz and Tucker Vorster won the title after defeating Mackenzie McDonald and Ben McLachlan 6–7(5–7), 6–3, [10–8] in the final.


2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger – Singles
John Millman was the defending champion but chose not to defend his title.


2016 Nordic Naturals Challenger – Singles
Daniel Evans won the title after defeating Cameron Norrie 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2016 Nordic Opening
The 2016 Nordic Opening or the second Lillehammer Triple was the 7th edition of the Nordic Opening, an annual cross-country skiing mini-tour event. The three-day event was the second competition round of the 2016–17 FIS Cross-Country World Cup.


2016 Nordic Opening, World Cup points distribution
The winners of the overall standings were awarded 200 World Cup points and the winners of each of the three stages were awarded 50 World Cup points.


2016 Nordic Opening, World Cup points distribution
A total of 350 points was possible to achieve if one athlete won all three stages and the overall standings.


2016 Norfolk State Spartans football team
The 2016 Norfolk State Spartans football team represented Norfolk State University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Latrell Scott and played their home games at William "Dick" Price Stadium. They were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They finished the season 4–7, 3–5 in MEAC play to finish in a three way tie for seventh place.


2016 Norfolk mayoral election
The Norfolk mayoral election of 2016 took place on May 3, 2016. Voters elected the Mayor of Norfolk. It saw the election of Kenny Alexander.


2016 Normandy church attack
On 26 July 2016, two Islamist terrorists attacked participants in a Mass at a Catholic church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, northern France. Wielding knives and wearing fake explosive belts, the men took six people captive and later killed one of them, 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel, by slitting his throat, and also critically wounded an 86-year-old man. The terrorists were shot dead by BRI police as they tried to leave the church.


2016 Normandy church attack
The attackers, 19-year-olds Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which claimed responsibility for the attack.


2016 Normandy church attack, Attack
At about 9:45 am on 26 July 2016, two men wielding knives and a handgun entered the 16th-century church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray as Mass was being held. Hamel, three nuns, and two parishioners were taken hostage and ordered to sit together in a group. One attacker wore a fake explosive belt and the other wore a backpack made to look like it carried a bomb. The handgun was later described as an "old, non-functioning pistol".


2016 Normandy church attack, Attack
A hostage said the attackers filmed themselves and "did a sort of sermon" at the altar in Arabic. On the recording, which was later found by police, the attackers also shouted "you Christians are eliminating us".


2016 Normandy church attack, Attack
The attackers forced Hamel to kneel at the foot of the altar and then slit his throat while screaming "Allahu akbar". Hamel had tried to resist, pushing his attackers away with his feet while saying "go away, Satan". Another hostage, an 86-year-old parishioner, was ordered to photograph or film the priest after he had been killed. The attackers then knifed him, leaving him critically wounded. The other hostages were largely unhurt. After the killing, the two men talked with the nuns about the Koran. One also warned "as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks".


2016 Normandy church attack, Attack
During the killing, one nun hostage ran outside without the perpetrators noticing. She stopped a passing motorist, who alerted the police. After police arrived at the church, they tried to negotiate with the two men through a small window opening on to the sacristy. Armed police then tried to enter the church and end the siege, but the attackers had lined the hostages up in front of the door, as human shields. At about 10:45 am, the hostages fled the church, followed by the two attackers. One wielding a handgun, they charged at police shouting "Allahu akbar" and were shot dead by officers from Rouen's Research and Intervention Brigade.


2016 Normandy church attack, Attack
Within hours of the attack, the ISIL-linked Amaq News Agency said that the attack was carried out by two "soldiers" from the group, in response to ISIL's general call to attack countries of the coalition fighting it. On 27 July, Amaq published a video of the two perpetrators pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.


2016 Normandy church attack, Jacques Hamel
Jacques Hamel (born 1930 in Darnétal) was named a vicar at the St.-Antoine church in Le Petit-Quevilly in 1958, a vicar at the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church in Sotteville-lès-Rouen in 1967, a parish priest at Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf in 1975 and a parish priest in Cléon in 1988. He joined the church at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in 2000 and assumed his role as the parish's auxiliary priest in 2005. With Mohammed Karabila, the president of Normandy's Regional Council of the Muslim Faith, he worked on an interfaith committee.


2016 Normandy church attack, Perpetrators
One of the attackers was identified as Algerian-born 19-year-old Adel Kermiche. Kermiche, who lived in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, had twice in 2015 attempted to travel to Syria. He was once returned by Germany, and once turned back by the authorities at the Turkish border. As a result, he spent time in a French jail before being released in March 2016. Kermiche was released after writing to the judge "I am a Muslim based on the values of mercy, kindness (...)


2016 Normandy church attack, Perpetrators
I am not an extremist," and insisting that he recited his prayers twice a day and "wanted to see his friends and marry". The prosecutor opposed his release. Upon his release, he was electronically tagged and a curfew was placed on him, requiring him to live at his parents' home, which was near the church, and to leave his house only between 08:30 to 12:30 and 14:00 to 18:00. Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France, said the release of Kermiche was a "failure" of the French justice. Kermiche's writings were found after his death, in which he spoke of meeting his "spiritual guide" in a French prison, he called this guide his "sheikh," who "gave him ideas". Kermiche's fiancée was Sarah Hervouet, a "convert to Islam," and one of the Paris bomb plot conspirators.


2016 Normandy church attack, Perpetrators
On 28 July, the second attacker was named by investigators as French-born 19-year-old Abdel Malik Petitjean. He had been "on the radar of the police since June 29", after he also tried to enter Syria from Turkey. French intelligence had received his picture four days before the attack, but they were not given a name or description at that time the prosecutor's office said. He was born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, in Lorraine and grew up in Aix-les-Bains, southeast France. He was a student of commerce and finance who converted to Islam a few years before the attack. His mother told reporters that he had been visiting a cousin in northeast France before the attack and that she did not know how he had ended up in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray.


2016 Normandy church attack, Investigation
Police raided a house in the suburb after the attack and arrested one person. The incident is being investigated by anti-terrorism judges.


2016 Normandy church attack, Investigation
Police were said to be trying to identify members of a closed channel on the messaging app Telegram, on which Kermiche had posted, as part of an effort to establish how the perpretators had met. According to French daily Le Parisien, citing sources close to the investigation, Kermiche and Petitjean met on Telegram 4 days only before the attack. Petitjean then travelled to Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, 700 km from his hometown Aix-les-Bains, the following day. A 29-year-old French ISIS fighter from Roanne was suspected of having influenced, if not controlled, the two perpetrators from his base in Iraq or Syria, also via Telegram.


2016 Normandy church attack, Investigation
Two men, suspected of having been aware of Kermiche and Petitjean's plans, were charged with conspiracy and taken into custody in the weeks following the attack. One was a 30-year-old cousin of Petitjean, and the other a 21-year-old who had travelled from Toulouse to meet the perpetrators in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray two days before the attack.


2016 Normandy church attack, Background
Mass is scheduled for each weekday at 09:00 at the church; Hamel celebrated that day acting as a substitute for the parish priest.


2016 Normandy church attack, Background
Andrea Tornielli, writing for the Vatican Insider, says "this is the first time a priest has died inside a European church". The same journal cites other deaths of Catholic priests in the West at the hands of common thieves or anti-religious people, as well as attacks by Islamists in Africa and Asia.


2016 Normandy church attack, Background
Sid Ahmed Ghlam, who allegedly planned to attack a Villejuif church in April 2015, was reported to have had a list of churches which included Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray church.


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said on Twitter, "the whole of France and all Catholics have been hurt. We will stand together".


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that Pope Francis was being kept up to date with developments and that he felt pain and horror at the "absurd violence".


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was attending the World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland, said in response to the attack: "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry. The Catholic Church cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men". Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, archbishop of Kraków asked the participants of the WYD to pray for all the victims of the recent terrorist attacks, especially for Jacques Hamel ″who was murdered today while celebrating the Eucharist in France.″


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, who was also attending the World Youth Day, was asked whether Hamel could be declared a martyr and confirmed that "it was a question of hatred of faith". The interview explained that "the Church requires that the individual was killed for such a reason" in order to become a martyr. Speaking of the response by Catholics to Muslims, Cardinal O'Malley added "To demonise Islam that's always the great danger …  we have to be very clear we are not painting everyone with the same brush.


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
The BBC reported that the attack sparked a wave of "prayer, solidarity and Christian imagery" on social media. and according to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, "the selection of a church by the attackers … … crosses a new red line in the grim history of recent attacks on continental Europe".


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
Mohammad Karabila, President of Normandy's Regional Council of the Muslim Faith and imam of a local mosque said of Kermiche, "We're not going to taint Islam with this person" and "We won't participate in preparing the body or the burial". The mayor's office will decide whether the body is buried in the town. On 30 July, Muslims attended Mass in churches across France and in Italy, as a sign of respect for the murdered priest.


2016 Normandy church attack, Reactions
On 31 July, several copies of the Quran at the multi-faith room of Mater Dei Hospital in Malta were desecrated when slices of pork were laid inside the books. The perpetrators also left a photo of Jacques Hamel with the caption "Victim of Islam".


2016 Normandy church attack, Similar attacks
In February 2017, The New York Times reported that the 2016 Normandy Church attack was part of a group of at least other four knife attacks in France in a span of 13-months, including the Louvre machete attack of 2017 and the 2016 Magnanville policeman's family stabbing.


2016 North African Tri Nations
The 2016 North African Tri Nations was the firsth annual North African Tri Nations rugby union tournament held between the national rugby union teams of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The 2016 tournament was held in Oran between 17 and 24 December 2016. Morocco wins this first edition


2016 North Alabama Lions football team
The 2016 North Alabama Lions football team represented the University of North Alabama during the 2016 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by head coach Bobby Wallace, who was in his 15th season at North Alabama. The Lions played their home games at Braly Municipal Stadium and were members of the Gulf South Conference.


2016 North Alabama Lions football team, Schedule
North Alabama announced its 2016 football schedule on February 9, 2016. The schedule consists of both five home and away games in the regular season. The Lions will host GSC foes Shorter, Valdosta State, West Florida, and West Georgia, and will travel to Delta State, Florida Tech, Mississippi College, and West Alabama.


2016 North Alabama Lions football team, Schedule
The Lions hosted both non-conference games against Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference and North Greenville which is independent from a conference.


2016 North American Soccer League season
The 2016 North American Soccer League season is the 49th season of Division II soccer in the United States and Canada, and the 6th season of the modern North American Soccer League.