Boat capsizes in Lagos, driver injured

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Saturday confirmed that one person was injured as 15 others were rescued from a wooden boat which capsized at Grinaldi Port near Tin Can Island, Apapa, Lagos. 

 

This is contained in a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the agency, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, and made available to newsmen in Lagos.

According to the statement, the incident was caused by a bigger boat which destabilised the wooden boat.
“A wooden boat capsized at Grinaldi Port close to Tin Can Flyover Bridge, Coconut Bus Stop, Apapa, with 15 passengers on board.

“All passengers were rescued alive and only the driver of the boat sustained injury,” it stated.
It said the incident occurred at about 8.30 p.m. on Friday and that those rescued had gone to their different destinations.

Farinloye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the injured driver refused to be treated, opting to treat himself in a private hospital.

He said Marine Police and other stakeholders were still investigating the cause of the accident.

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Norwich dent Man City’s title push

Aguero: a disappointing afternoon

Norwich City arrested Manchester City’s push for the Premier League title on Saturday, sharing the spoils with the former champion after a goalless  at Carrow Road.

Patrick Bamford rattled the crossbar with a powerful half-volley as the home side ended the first half as the stronger side.

City failed to rally despite having the lions share of possession and rarely troubled John Ruddy in the second half, as the Canaries held on for a vital point.

Norwich played their hearts out soaking attacks after attacks and ensuring that they kept City’s frontline at bay.

Manchester City, 4th on the table with 51 points  are now nine points away from League leaders, Leicester City, who have 60 points.  Tottenham are second with 55points and Arsenal third with 52 points. There are still nine matches to go.

And there are also at least four teams in hot pursuit of the leaders for the first four slots. They are West Ham United, Manchester United, Liverpool and Stoke City.

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Giant meth lab in Delta state, 4 Nigerians, 4 Mexicans arrested

An NDLEA official in a meth lab

Operatives of Nigeria’s anti-drug agency the NDLEA have stumbled on a giant methamphetamine laboratory that can produce $2 billion worth of the drug. The laboratory was in Asaba, Delta state.

Eight persons, including four Nigerians and Mexicans were arrested with 1. 5 kilograms of the drug with street value of $ 1million .

One kilogram of Methamphetamine according to the NDLEA is valued at $600, 000 street price .
This super methamphetamine laboratory according to the NDLEA is similar to the ones found in Mexico with

 capacity to produce between 3,000 to 4, 000 kilograms in per production circles .
If the suspects had completed the production circle at the illicit factory in Asaba, the drug would have had street value of $2 billion.

NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah said the super laboratory was discovered by the special enforcement team of the agency.

He said the Nigerians arrested are believed to be joint owners of the laboratory and four Mexicans who are methamphetamine production experts hired as technical partners into the country.

The NDLEA boss gave the names of the suspects are Chief Chibi Aruh, William Ejike Agusi, Umolu Kosisochukwu and Umolu Ckukwemeka.
Others are Cervantos Madrid Jose Bruno, Rivas Ruiz Pastiano, Castillo Barraza Cristobal and Partida Gonzalez Pedro.

Abdallah described the operation as technical undercover assignment leading to the dismantling of a drug trafficking organization.

“A significant feature of this laboratory is that the production process is more technical and sophisticated because it uses the synthesis method of methamphetamine production.

All the principal actors linked to this illicit act were apprehended in a simultaneous raid on members of the drug syndicate in Lagos, Obosi in Anambra state and at the laboratory in Asaba, Delta state” Abdallah stated.

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Brazil’s ex-leader Lula faces money laundering charge

Lula da Silva

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces charges of money laundering and identity fraud for concealing ownership of a beachfront apartment, state prosecutors in Sao Paulo said on Thursday. The charges reinforce suspicions raised in a separate federal investigation that detained Lula for questioning in police custody last week, fanning a political crisis that has rattled his successor,

 President Dilma Rousseff.
State prosecutor Cassio Roberto Conserino told reporters that two dozen witnesses said that the former president was the owner of a luxury condo in the city of Guarujá, benefiting from real estate projects financed by a state bankers’ cooperative.

Lula has disavowed ownership of the apartment and denied any wrongdoing. His attorney has asked the Supreme Court to decide if the case is under the jurisdiction of state prosecutors or a separate federal probe tackling graft at state-run oil company Petrobras.

That two-year-old federal investigation has already rocked Brazil’s political and business establishment with high-profile arrests and convictions, while deepening the worst recession in decades in Latin America’s biggest economy.

The investigations now threaten to tarnish the legacy of Brazil’s most powerful politician, whose humble roots and anti-poverty programs made him a folk hero, by putting a spotlight on how members of his left-leaning Workers’ Party consolidated wealth and power since he rose to the presidency 13 years ago.
Lula’s lawyer, Cristiano Zanin Martins, said the prosecutors’ news conference on Thursday was further evidence of a “media campaign” against the former president.
“The owner of a property is the person listed in the registry. It doesn’t matter who some people think it belongs to,” he said.

Martins reiterated the former president’s account that he had invested in the real estate project, visited the unfinished apartment twice and then asked for his money back rather than receiving property.
REUTERS/NAN

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ISIS defector surrenders trove of members’ data

Baghdadi: head of ISIS

(Reuters) A disillusioned former member of Islamic State has passed a stolen memory stick of documents identifying 22,000 supporters in over 50 countries to a British journalist, a leak that could help the West target Islamist fighters planning attacks.

 Leaks of such detailed information about Islamic State are rare and give Britain’s spies a potential trove of data that could help unmask militants who have threatened more attacks like those that killed 130 people in Paris last November.

A man calling himself Abu Hamed, a former member of Islamic State who became disillusioned with its leaders, passed the files to Sky News on a memory stick he said he had stolen from the head of the group’s internal security force.

On it were enrolment forms containing the names of Islamic State supporters and of their relatives, telephone numbers, and other details such as the subjects’ areas of expertise and who had recommended them.
One of the files, marked “Martyrs”, detailed a group of IS members who were willing and trained to carry out suicide attacks, Sky said.

Richard Barrett, a former head of global counter-terrorism at Britain’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service, said the cache was “a fantastic coup” in the fight against Islamic State.
“It will be an absolute goldmine of information of enormous significance and interest to very many people,

particularly the security and intelligence services,” Barrett told Sky News.
Sky said it had informed the British authorities about the documents which were passed to its correspondent, Stuart Ramsay, at an undisclosed location in Turkey.

Western security sources said that if genuine, the files could be gold dust as they could help identify potential attackers and the networks of sympathisers behind them, and give insight on the structure of the group.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the documents, given their provenance. A selection of them was published in Arabic.

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and the Oct. 31 downing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai region that killed 224. They have promised more attacks on the West and Russia.

SUICIDE BOMBERS

Western leaders say Islamic State, which has proclaimed a caliphate in the parts of Syria and Iraq it controls, now poses a greater danger to the West than al Qaeda. It uses a militant interpretation of Islam to justify attacks on its foes and the use of extreme violence, including rape and beheadings, against those it sees as infidels.

The defector, a former Free Syrian Army fighter who switched to Islamic State, said the group had been taken over by former soldiers from the Iraqi Baath party of Saddam Hussein, who was ousted in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Some of the defector’s Arabic documents, posted on the Zaman Al Wasl Syrian news website, were forms issued by “Islamic State in Iraq and Sham, the General Directorate of Borders” and displayed personal details of each fighter, according to a review of some of the documents by Reuters.

The forms included answers to 23 questions such as assumed name, birthplace, education level, extent of Sharia learning and previous jobs, as well as details about the individuals’ journey to Islamic State and whether they were potential suicide bombers or more traditional fighters.

When asked for his view of the documents, Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at London’s Royal United Services Institute, said in an emailed response: “It seems a bit dated.”
“Very interesting though and a real gift for researchers into understanding the group more,” he added. “The key for me in many ways is how this highlights the bureaucracy of the organisation once again – kinda like al Qaeda in fact.”

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Israel shuts Palestinian TV station

Israeli soldiers at the Ramallah station

Israel shut down the Ramallah office of a Palestinian television station early on Friday, the broadcaster said.
This happened after the security cabinet approved measures to close West Bank broadcasters that Israel accuses of incitement.

A statement by Palestine Today TV, affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement, said that Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah and seized broadcast equipment before posting a notice on the door indicating that the office was shut down.

The army arrested two employees who were at the office during the raid and office manager Farouq Ilyat after raiding his home in nearby town of Birzeit, the station said.
Cameraman Mohammad Amro said that soldiers also raided the office of Trans Media, which provides satellite services to Palestine Today and other television stations.

“The soldiers took everything in the office including all the broadcast equipment,” he said.
Israel accuses the Palestinian media, including the official Palestine TV, of inciting against it through live broadcasts of demonstrations and clashes with the Israeli soldiers around the West Bank.

It had shut down three radio stations in the West Bank in recent months on the same charges.
The move against broadcasters comes after a new wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem and other places left one U.S. citizen and the assailant dead as well as many injured. (Isreal/NAN)

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Chinese polluters fined $654mln

Pollution: Residents of Beijing, wearing nose and mouth masks weeks ago

Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining on Friday said environmental authorities across China fined polluters 4.25 billion yuan (654 million dollars) in 2015, an increase of 34 per cent over 2014.

Chen told newsmen on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), that the authorities delivered more than 97,000 punishment notices to polluters.

“They also worked with police and judicial agencies so that serious offenders not only faced administrative punishment but also criminal penalties,” he said.

He said that polluters involved in 2,079 cases were placed under police detention and those in 1,685 cases were prosecuted.

“About 1.77 million enterprises were inspected, with 191,000 of them punished, 20,000 closed and 34,000 suspended production.

“I would like to stress that severe punishment is not an end but a means to have enterprises understand the importance of abiding by the law,” Chen said.
The ministry also stepped up supervision of local governments, inspecting 33 cities and interviewing 15 chief city officials.

Meanwhile, China’s revised environmental protection law took effect in January 2015.

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Ciara engages to Russell Wilson three years younger

Russell Wilson and Ciara: engagement news dominated Twitter

Ciara and Russell Wilson have announced their engagement and the announcement mirrors the age: the couple made known the engagement via a video, showing both at the beachside, with Russell kneeling and slipping the engagement ring in her finger.

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback posted the video on Instagram on Friday while on a romantic getaway.
He wrote: ‘She said yes!!! Since Day 1 I knew you were the one. No Greater feeling… #TrueLove @Ciara’

Ciara then followed up by sharing a sweet photo of the magical moment when Russell proposed on bent knee as the sun went down in a riot of colours, writing: ‘I feel complete.’
Ciara was born 30 years ago in Austin, Texas, United States. Her full name is Ciara Princess Harris, but known mononymously as Ciara. She is multi-talented: a singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress and fashion model.

Russell is three years younger.
Born as Russell Carrington Wilson, he is an American football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He was born in Cincinnati Ohio on 29 November, 1988, while Ciara was born on 25 October, 1985.

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Protesters now dog Donald Trump

Donald Trump: rallies disrupted by protesters

U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump canceled a campaign rally in Chicago on Friday night amid security concerns.

The cancellation came just hours after the Republican front-runner earned the endorsement of a former rival who said the billionaire’s pugnacious campaign style is belied by a more thoughtful, private side.

“There are two different Donald Trumps: there’s the one you see on the stage and there’s the one who’s very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully,” Ben Carson said Friday as he became the second former Republican candidate to back Trump in the White House race.

The soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon, who dropped out of the race last week, said the American people would be “comforted” when they discover Trump’s gentler side.

But the thousands of protesters who showed up for Trump’s rally Friday evening at the University of Illinois at Chicago – along with thousands of supporters – showed little indication they had noticed anything but the candidate’s combative campaign style.

The university arena turned into a chaotic scene as the two warring sides amped up their positions. A half hour after the rally was slated to begin, a Trump campaign staffer announced it was being postponed for safety reasons, unleashing competing chants of “We dumped Trump!” and “We want Trump!” throughout the packed venue.

“We made a great decision not to have the rally,” Trump told CNN after meeting with law enforcement and making the call.

“I am not a person that wants to see violence,” he added.
Trump blamed protesters for creating disturbances at his campaign events and said it is a “love fest” among his supporters.

Friday’s event in Chicago stood out because the huge number of protesters virtually matched the number of Trump supporters, as opposed to other Trump campaign events where protesters have been a very small, albeit vocal, minority.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a public event in St. Louis, Missouri, Trump was interrupted repeatedly by protesters who were led out of the event by police and security, an increasingly common occurrence at his raucous rallies.

“He’s all mouth, get him out,” Trump shouted as one of the protesters was led out. “Go back to mommy,” he said as another protester was led away.

In St. Louis, Trump’s speech was interrupted more than a half-dozen times by protesters. Scuffles between Trump supporters and protesters have become more frequent, and a protester was punched in North Carolina on Wednesday by a Trump supporter who has been charged with assault.
“The officers are being very gentle,” Trump advised, telling the crowd later, “It adds to the flavor, makes it more exciting, isn’t this better than listening to a long boring speech?”

The latest endorsement for Trump followed a Republican debate in Miami on Thursday night at which Trump and the remaining three candidates in the Republican race struck a markedly more civil tone.
Carson shot to the top of the Republican pack last year but faltered in the early nominating contests. His endorsement is unlikely to dramatically shift the Republican race, but it gives Trump a boost as the Republican establishment cranks up attacks, and comes just days before crucial nominating contests in the battle to be the party’s presidential candidate for the Nov. 8 election.
Carson’s endorsement of Trump followed that of another former candidate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who announced his backing last month.

The Republican primaries to be held on Tuesday in five states will be critical for Trump to cement his lead, and to determine whether U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich, whose home states are among those holding contests on Tuesday, will be able to continue with their increasingly long-shot candidacies. Trump’s nearest rival in the race is U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

Next Tuesday’s voting will be a pivotal point as candidates chase the 1,237 delegates from primary contests and caucuses needed to win the Republican nomination. Trump has 459 delegates, followed by Cruz at 360, Rubio at 152 and Kasich at 54, according to the Associated Press.

The primaries in Florida and Ohio on Tuesday have the potential to be game-changers because both states award Republican delegates on a winner-take-all basis, meaning that the winner of the popular vote in each state will be awarded the state’s entire slate of delegates. Many states award delegates proportionate to the popular vote.

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Pilot aborts Lagos bound flight after fire alarm

Air Peace Airlines: flight aborted

A Lagos-bound Air Peace plane on Saturday made an air return some minutes after taking off from the Port Harcourt International Airport, according to an official.

 Mr Sam Adurogboye, the General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Adurogboye said an alarm was raised about fire in the cabin which forced the pilot to make the air return.
“The flight crew did the right thing by returning to base to check the situation,’’ he said.

The NCAA spokesman, however, said the aircraft did not crash land, adding that there was no panic as the pilot properly briefed the passengers before landing safely.

“Air return is a precautionary flight safety procedure that must be adopted in the event of a snag.
“The pilot acted according to Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs),’’ Adurogboye said.

He also reiterated the NCAA’s commitment to safety of Nigeria’s aviation sector.
NAN leant that another aircraft was later provided to convey the passengers to Lagos.

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Zuma begins Nigerian visit today

They are good pals

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma begins a two-day state visit to Nigeria on Tuesday, which observers see as an attempt to mend fences between the continent’s largest economic powers.

He arrived Nigeria on Monday night and to reflect the camaraderie between the two countries, he was received by his good friend,  former vice-president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

It is expected that Zuma will formally present himself at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he will be accorded all the protocol of a visiting head of state.

Welcome to Nigeria: Atiku Abubakar receiving Zuma Monday night

Atiku Abubakar and Zuma

Key events on the trip include an address to the National Assembly in the capital, Abuja, and a meeting with the South Africa-Nigeria Business Forum, Zuma’s office has announced.

Pretoria is putting a positive spin on the visit, talking up the pair’s “good bilateral political, economic and social relations” and potential new business opportunities.

 But neither presidency made mention of tensions between the two countries, including most recently the massive fine imposed by Nigeria on South African telecoms giant MTN.

MTN’s Nigeria operation was handed a $3.9 billion penalty in October last year for failing to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

The company, which is trying to negotiate a settlement, has so far paid out $250 million but its headline earnings for last year have taken a hit as a result.

Other South African firms in Nigeria have reportedly complained of being targeted. There have also been official criticisms of Nigeria’s response to a deadly building collapse in Lagos in 2014.
Eighty-one of the 116 victims were South African nationals. Pretoria said their bodies were not repatriated quickly enough.

On the Nigerian side there have been complaints about South African visa restrictions while in April last year the pair got into a spat about the recall of Nigeria’s two top diplomats.

The return of the high commissioner to Pretoria and consul-general in Johannesburg came in the wake of anti-immigrant attacks about which Nigeria said it was “deeply concerned”.

Zuma will be accompanied to Nigeria by his ministers of trade and industry, international relations, defence, home affairs, and mineral resources, as well as captains of industry.

Observers have taken the presence of a strong ministerial delegation as a sign of a desire to resolve mutual complaints and possible deals to help Nigeria diversify its economy away from oil.
Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan became Africa’s leading economy after a re-basing exercise of GDP.

But the global fall in oil prices has slashed government revenues, severely weakening the naira currency and driving up the cost of living.

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US missionary jailed 40 years for serial raping of Kenyan kids

Matthew Lane Durham, with some of the kids he probably sexually assaulted

A former missionary from Oklahoma was sentenced in U.S. federal court on Monday to 40 years in prison for sexually molesting children at a Kenyan orphanage.

Matthew Lane Durham, 21, was accused of molesting eight children at the Upendo Children’s Home in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in 2014.

Durham, of Edmond, Oklahoma, claimed he did not molest the children, but during a preliminary hearing prosecutors said Durham told Upendo personnel that he thought he had been possessed by an “evil spirit” because he did not remember committing the crimes.

A live-in caretaker at the orphanage said that the children said Durham either touched them sexually or told them to touch themselves while he watched, prosecutors said during the same preliminary hearing.
When confronted by the founder of Upendo and several church members, Durham is alleged to have confessed to several instances of rape and sexual abuse of children, according to a criminal affidavit.

Last June, a federal jury found Durham guilty on seven counts including engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. However, in January U.S. District Judge David Russell acquitted him on three of the counts because the judge felt the prosecutors had failed to establish Durham engaged in a sexual act with the victim alleged in those counts.

Durham, who was also fined $15,863, had previously pleaded not guilty to 17 charges.
Prosecutors argued that Durham used his position as a missionary to prey upon young victims, but Durham’s attorney claimed the man’s handwritten and taped confessions were coerced. Officials with the orphanage reported Durham to authorities after they sent him home, according to court records.
“Judgment from God is central, not the judgment of man,” Durham said in court in Oklahoma City on Monday. “I do not fear God’s judgment.”


Russell on Monday called Durham a serial rapist and “kids’ worst nightmare.”
Durham volunteered at the orphanage, which helps care for neglected and disabled children, according to previous records released by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

From April to June of 2014, prosecutors allege that Durham engaged in sexual acts with multiple children, male and female, aged between 4 and 10 years, according to the affidavit.

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In Pictures: Buhari, Zuma begin talks

President Muhammadu Buhari formally welcomed his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma to Nigeria this morning at Aso Villa, Abuja. Both leaders after photo ops retired into the villa for bilateral talks.
Photos by Sunday Aghaeze:

Buhari receives Zuma

Zuma inspects the guards of honour

Zuma introduces Team South Africa

Zuma and Buhari pose for cameramen

Buhari and Zuma retire into the inner chambers for talks

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Nigerian loot under probe in South Africa, says Zuma

Zuma and Buhari in Abuja

The South African President, Jacob Zuma said today that his country  is carrying out  investigations to ensure that anything that was illegally taken by Nigerians  to South Africa is returned to Nigeria.
He  made this known on Tuesday while addressing journalists after the bilateral talks with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to him, the Nigerian and South African governments have joined efforts on the matter and that the relevant structures were already recovering some of the loot.

He said that his government will ensure that the monies confiscated by South African government during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan are returned to Nigeria.

Zuma described the xenophobic attacks in his country as unfortunate, promising to address it once and for all. Africans should realise that they are the same and should avoid conflicts and attacks on each other”

Zuma giving the address at the National Assembly

In an address at the National Assembly later, Zuma  called for unity between Nigeria and South Africa to drive economic growth in Africa.

He  said that both countries must assume their roles as big brothers in Africa to advance growth of the continent.

He said that collaborations in the areas of economic diversification, electricity generation and supply, agriculture and agro-processing, tourism development, mining, banking, infrastructure development, aviation, manufacturing and the automotive sectors should be encouraged.

Zuma, Buhari at the National Assembly. Senate president Bukola Saraki looks on

“We must strive for the diversification of our economies so as to cast the net wide enough to create more job opportunities for our people, to improve their living conditions and grow our economies.

“In doing this, we would break away from the colonial legacy that turned Africa into providers of primary commodities and recipients of processed goods.

“This is important because the current state of affairs makes Africa vulnerable to the volatilities of the international economy that sustains the uneven terms of trade.
“This diversification will go further to improve the impact that Africa can have in the global economy and to reconfigure the terms of trade.

“The current global economic climate, as the previous global economic crisis, has exposed the vulnerability of our economies and currencies and thus calls for concerted efforts toward South-South and intra-Africa cooperation.

“Economic cooperation between our two countries can therefore serve as bedrock of the continent’s economic cooperation and intra-Africa trade. This is the kind of leadership Africa expects South Africa and Nigeria to provide,” he said.

On Nigeria’s epileptic power supply, Zuma offered to assist the country with the experience of South Africa in tackling the challenges.

He said that Nigeria and South Africa should lead other African countries in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to him, both countries must be at the fore front of the struggle because we are the biggest economies on the continent.

“We should strive not to be left behind in the fourth technological revolution.
“We need to take into consideration the need to be sensitive to new environmental dynamics such as those of global warming and alternative energy sources,” he said.

In his remarks, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara said that Zuma’s visit would reinforce the brotherhood and collaboration between the two countries.

While acknowledging the role Nigeria played as a front-liner in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Dogara stressed that the need for high level commitment in bilateral relations between both countries.

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Car bomb kills 3 policemen in Mogadishu

Islamist militants in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, set off a vehicle packed with explosives next to a cafe near a police building on Wednesday, killing at least three police officers.

The Islamist al Shabaab group, which wants to topple the Western-backed government, claimed responsibility. A spokesman for the group told Reuters that 10 police officers were killed, a figure that was higher than the three deaths police reported.

Al Shabaab often cites a higher death toll than the figure given by officials.
“Three police officers died in this car bomb,” Ali Mohamed Hirsi, the commander of Mogadishu police, told reporters at the scene, where blood was visible near the tea shop frequented by officers. “The police officers were among police being trained.”

Police said a second device went off, but caused no casualties after police spotted it beforehand and caught two men in the small, three-wheeled vehicle.

In the past two weeks, al Shabaab has launched mortar bomb attacks near the presidential palace, blown up a car bomb near a busy park in Mogadishu, and set off twin blasts in a town northwest of the capital. Dozens of people have been killed.

U.S. air strikes targeted an al Shabaab facility on Saturday and U.S. officials said more than 150 fighters were killed. Al Shabaab confirmed an attack on an area they controlled but said the U.S. casualty figure was exaggerated without giving their own number.

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Killer of South Africa’s hero Chris Hani, to be freed on parole

Janusz Walus

The convicted killer of South African anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani will be freed on parole in two weeks after more than 20 years in prison, a Pretoria court ruled on Thursday.

 Janusz Walus was serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of Hani, a charismatic activist and politician who was both a senior member of the African National Congress (ANC) and the head of the South African Communist Party (SACP) when he was gunned down.

The decision to free him is likely to be contentious in a country still dealing with the legacy of the brutality meted out by the white-minority regime that prevailed from 1948 to 1994.
Hani’s murder threatened to derail South Africa’s transition to multi-racial democracy, leading to nationwide riots and triggering fears of a civil war.

Walus, a Polish immigrant, shot Hani dead outside his Johannesburg home.
“Yes, he got parole,” his lawyer, Roelof du Plessis, told online service News24.
Walus was sentenced alongside Clive Derby-Lewis, a right-wing politician who provided the murder weapon.

Both men were originally sentenced to death, but that was commuted to life in prison after South Africa abolished the death penalty in 1995. Derby-Lewis was freed on medical parole last year.
Hani’s wife, Limpho, criticised the decision to free Walus.

“It’s very, very sad for South Africa. It’s a very sad day,” she told Talk Radio 702.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha had blocked a parole board decision to release Walus, leading to his legal challenge in the Pretoria court.

“We received the judgment with great disappointment,” SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo said.
Apartheid death-squad leader Eugene de Kock, dubbed ‘Prime Evil’ for his role in the torture and murder of scores of black activists in the 1980s and early 1990s, was freed on parole last year after serving more than 20 years in prison. His current whereabouts are unknown.

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Kenya’s Corrupt Mafia steals $6 billion out of budget yearly

President Kenyatta: corruption a national security threat

Kenya is losing a third of its state budget – the equivalent of about $6 billion – to corruption every year, the country’s new anti-graft chief said on Thursday.

 Philip Kinisu, a retired auditor, said in an interview in Nairobi that his agency was badly short of staff and modern equipment to tackle the problem.

Kinisu said that he wanted to build on Kenyans’ discontent with corruption but the real drive to stamp it out had to come from public pressure for change.

The finance minister, however, disputed Kinisu’s estimate of the losses, blaming instead poor paperwork.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has acknowledged corruption had reached levels that threaten national security.
Kenya has a history of multi-million dollar scandals that have failed to result in high-profile convictions.
This has angered the public, who accuse top officials of acting with impunity and encouraging graft by those in lower posts.

Businesses also often cite pervasive corruption as one of the biggest obstacles to investment.
Kinisu, who became chairman of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in January, noted that the total state budget was close to the equivalent of $20 billion.
“Kenya’s budget is now approaching 2 trillion shillings; a third of it is being wasted through corruption,” said Kinisu, whose predecessor resigned last year.

Were such a sum not lost, it would be enough to cover most day-to-day state spending before investment items such as development projects.

“Six hundred billion shillings can finance the bulk of the government’s recurrent expenditure so that the services can reach all corners of the republic,” said Kinisu,

Kinisu retired from international accountancy and advisory firm PwC in 2014 after a three-decade career.
Finance Minister Henry Rotich denied that so much was being lost to corruption but said poor documentation at times fueled the perception that funds were being squandered.

“It is not that the money is lost, it is probably the documentation is not provided on time,” the minister said.
Faced with a growing public outcry last year, Kenyatta promised to root corruption out of the government.
Five ministers stepped aside in 2015 after they faced corruption investigations and then lost their jobs in a reshuffle. Two former ministers now face trial proceedings.

Kinisu, who rose from junior auditor to regional chief executive and senior partner, said he was undeterred by any hazards of the job even after a shot was fired into his private office last month.
No one was hurt and the case is being investigated.

“This is an institution that needs to be supported …, an institution that we need to work through in order to improve our country,” he said.
“I will continue doing what I’m doing.”

The anti-graft unit, EACC, is an independent state-funded institution, whose head is nominated by the president and vetted by parliament.
Former chairman Mumo Matemu had faced allegations of incompetence.
Matemu denied this but said he was resigning for the sake of the campaign against corruption.

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Ambode cancels Mecca, Jerusalem sponsorship

Abdulhakeem Abdullateef reporting back to Ambode on the last pilgrimage

No more free ride to Mecca and Jerusalem for Muslim and Christian pilgrims from Lagos State.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode says he has banned the age-long practice as it amounts to waste of taxpayers’ money.

State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Alhaji Abdullateef Abdulhakeem disclosed this when the House of Assembly Committee on Home Affairs paid him a visit in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Thursday.

According to Abdulhakeem, the Islamic scripture did not compel anybody to go for hajj if he did not have money to do so, saying that it is most irresponsible to waste taxpayers’ money on pilgrimage.

“Part of our mandate is the supervision of the Pilgrims Welfare Board. Recently the governor and the State Executive Council approved a policy for the state to stop sponsorship of pilgrimages and that is line with the policy thrust of the government and what the state House of Assembly also speaks to.

“In this day and time when we are talking about paucity of funds coupled with inhibiting challenges that the government has to take care of. We can no-longer afford to spend the sum of one million on one single individual to go on pilgrimage when the scripture did not compel anyone to do so.

“So it is most irresponsible way of spending tax payer’s money. That is why the government has taken a solid decision that we will be accountable and responsible for every kobo that the tax payers pay to the government. It is an injustice for the government to be spending millions on group of people when millions of Lagosians are yearning for government’s attention,” he said.

Abdulhakeem also said state government has commenced the process of gathering data of religious organizations and their locations in the state to be able to set standards, give orientation and provide security for them.

According to him, there is a symbiotic relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government in the state, while thanking the assembly for the quick passage of the 2016 Budget.
Chairman, House of Assembly Committee on Home Affairs, Olayiwola Olawale said the decision was laudable, saying the Assembly was ready to back the decision with the necessary legislation.

He stated that the visit of the committee to the ministry was homecoming, adding that the commissioner was a man of integrity and that the committee would work hand-in-hand with the ministry.

“The Speaker of the House and other Principal Officers send their greetings. We are here to perform our oversight functions and we are ready to work with the ministry to achieve success,” he said.

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Switzerland reopens consulate in Lagos

Mr. Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister

The Swiss Government on Tuesday night inaugurated its new Consulate-General’s Office in Lagos, 55 years after it was closed.

 Switzerland’s Federal Counsellor and Head of Foreign Affairs, Mr Didier Burkhalter, said before declaring the office officially opened, that it was currently his government’s second Consulate-General’s Office in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“The opening of this second Consulate-General of Switzerland in Sub-Saharan Africa, after Cape Town, marks a very special day for us. Switzerland is officially returning to the place where its long-standing

 friendship with Nigeria started 55 years ago: the exciting city of Lagos!
“Ever since the opening of our embassy, Nigeria has been at the heart of our foreign policy on Africa,’’ he said.

According to him, Nigeria has not lost her importance in his country’s foreign policy.
Burkhalter also said that the economic significance of Nigeria could not be “overstated’’, adding that it was “one of the main reasons’’ that the Consulate-General had been reopened.
The Swiss government official said that Swiss businesses and people attached much importance to Nigeria, especially Lagos.

“As the biggest economy in the continent, Nigeria not only plays a major role in shaping developments in Africa, this position also enables Nigeria to contribute to economic growth worldwide.
“Lagos is to Nigeria what Nigeria is to Africa, as an economic heart, with a variety of business manufacturing, trading, cultural exchanges, fashion and entertainment.

“This is the reason why Swiss companies are establishing themselves in Lagos and expanding their operations here and in this country as a whole,’’ he added.

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WHO’s Zika vaccine too late for Brazil

A baby born with defect, caused by zika virus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the first tests of Zika vaccines on humans are expected to start only at the end of the year.

The health agency noted that it would therefore not be able to help fight the current outbreak in Brazil.
WHO’s Chief Innovation Officer, Marie-Paule Kieny, said the agency convened international experts in Geneva to discuss strategies to develop the right vaccine and diagnostic tools, as well as methods to fight mosquitoes.

WHO has made it an urgent task to drive this research forward because of strong indications that the virus causes neurological defects in unborn babies.
“There are currently 18 research projects on vaccines against the virus, which usually causes only mild flu symptoms.

“The most advanced of them are still a few months away from first human clinical trials.
“They might come too late for the current outbreak in Brazil,’’ Kieny said.
Brazil has had the largest share of infections amid the outbreak in Latin America.
Brazilian authorities have estimated up to 1.5 million infections, but they have stopped counting due to the rapid spread of the virus.

The virus is mostly transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also spread very similar viruses including the one that causes dengue fever.

“However, insecticides have not had a significant impact on dengue transmission and might therefore also not help against Zika,’’ WHO cautioned.

Kieny said that Aedes aegypti is the cockroach of mosquitoes.
Latin American countries are considering alternative techniques, such as sterilising insects in laboratories, infecting them with certain bacteria, or using genetic engineering.

WHO said that extreme rigour was needed for evaluating such novel tools.
According to WHO, developing a medicine against Zika is not a priority because it would be difficult to test new products on pregnant women.

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Breaking news: 5 shot dead at US backyard party

Wilkinsburg shooting: a police official gives a briefing at the scene

Two gunmen ambushed a backyard party near Pittsburgh on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring several, media and police said.

Four women and one man were shot and killed, and three more were wounded in the attack at a residential neighborhood in Wilkinsburg, about 8 miles (13 km) east of the city, news station WPXI said.

“I heard at least 20 shots,” a witness, Kayla Alexandra, told WPXI.
The shooters fled after the ambush and were still at large, the news station added.

The attack in Wilkinsburg, a borough of about 16,000 people, is the latest in a series of mass shootings that have elevated gun control as an issue in the U.S. presidential elections.
Four people were declared dead at the scene of Wednesday’s attack, said Lieutenant Andrew Schurman of the Allegheny County Police Department.

Four more victims were taken to nearby hospitals, but one died from her wounds. The other three were in critical or stable condition, Schurman said.

Dozens of shell casings littered the pavement of an alleyway near the site, where police were gathering evidence and talking to witnesses, media reports said.
Wilkinsburg has many lower- and middle-income residents, demographic data shows.

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North Korea fires missiles into sea, Japan protests

Kim Jong Un: Japan protests missiles fired into sea

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, Seoul said, as South Korea and the United States conducted massive war games.

The North also announced it has scrapped all agreements with the South on commercial exchange projects and would “liquidate” South Korean assets left behind in its territory.

North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental missiles as well. The missiles fired on Thursday flew about 500 km (300 miles) off its east coast city of Wonsan and were likely from the Soviet-developed Scud series,

 South Korea’s defence ministry said.
Japan, which is within range of the longer-range variant of Scud missiles or the upgraded Rodong missiles, lodged a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.

North Korea often fires short-range missiles when tensions rise on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang gets particularly upset about the annual U.S.-South Korea drills, which its says are preparations for an invasion.
The U.S. and South Korea remain technically at war with the North because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement.

Around 17,000 U.S. military personnel are participating alongside some 300,000 South Korean troops in what South Korea’s Defence Ministry has called the “largest-ever” joint military exercises.
North Korea on Sunday warned it would make a “pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike” in response to the exercises.

After the short-range missile launches on Thursday, North Korea announced it would “liquidate” South Korean assets left behind in the Kaesong industrial zone and in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone.
Seoul suspended operations in the jointly-run zone last month as punishment for the North’s rocket launch and nuclear test.

Mount Kumgang was the first major inter-Korean cooperation project. Thousands of South Koreans visited the resort between 1998 and 2008. Seoul ended the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who wandered into a restricted zone.
North Korea is also livid about stepped up United Nations sanctions following its recent nuclear test and long-range missile launch.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has miniaturised nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, state media reported on Wednesday, and called on his military to be prepared to mount pre-emptive attacks against the United States and South Korea.

Mugabe abandons Indian festival, heads home

Mugabe: leaves India for Harare

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has headed home, after suddenly cancelling his participation at a cultural festival in India on Thursday.

 Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba told newsmen that the sudden cancellation was due to poor security

“The cancelation follows communi
cation from organisers of the festival acknowledging substantial inadequacies in protocol and security arrangements around the event,’’ Charamba said.

Mugabe, who left Zimbabwe on Monday, was scheduled to be guest of honour at the World Culture Festival held in India by the Art of Living, a private educational and humanitarian organisation that advocates for peace.

Report says the event is a celebration of peace in multiculturalism and ecumenicity.
Charamba said that the security inadequacies had resulted in several invited heads of state and government, including the Indian president, withdrawing their participation at the event.

He noted that the event was not organised by the Indian government, but by a private organisation and that President Mugabe had intended to use the occasion to further diplomatic ties with India.

“This is not a state event, the president was then going to take advantage of that private event to further develop relations with the Indian government,’’ he said.

The opposition in Zimbabwe has often criticised Mugabe for his numerous foreign trips and urged him to cut on foreign travel to save money for the cash-strapped government.

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Taliban on Taliban fight leaves 200 dead, many wounded

Four days of clashes in western Afghanistan between two rival Taliban groups have left at least 200 militants dead, an official said on Thursday.

Several other Taliban members, as well as civilians, have been wounded in the fight that erupted since Monday in the Shindand District of Herat province, said Jilani Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The casualty figures could not be independently verified.
Farhad accused both sides of looting houses and killing civilians in areas the other side previously controlled.
A ceasefire agreed to by rival Taliban factions in January had been repeatedly broken in recent days.
Shindand district was the sight last year of at least two other major firefights between rival Taliban groups.

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Mexico’s teenage pregnancies now an epidemic

Mexico: a young mom and her child

Teen pregnancy has reached an epidemic level in Mexico, with about 400,000 cases each year accounting for 20 percent of pregnancies around the country, an expert has said.

 “It’s no exaggeration to say that we have an epidemic of adolescent pregnancies in Mexico,” Carlos Welti was quoted by El Universal newspaper as saying on Wednesday.

Welti, an expert from the Institute of Social Research at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, said teen pregnancy is also spreading from traditionally poor rural communities to wealthier urban areas, and from Mexico’s poorer southern states to the richer northern ones.

“Mexican culture sanctifies maternity and gives it social status,” he said.
El Universal highlighted a pregnant 13-year-old girl named Joanna, who said: “I was very excited to find out

I was going to be a mom, because not every woman can have a child.”
Joanna also said that she is planning to continue schooling and that her mother is going to take care of the baby.

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38,000 soldiers for Rio Olympics: Brazil’s defence minister

Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil’s Defense Minister, Aldo Rebelo has announced that 38,000 military personnel will be deployed to carry out security operations during the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Twenty thousand of them will be based in Rio de Janeiro.

The other 18,000 military personnel will ensure safety in five other cities where soccer matches will take place and the capital city Brasilia is one of the five.
The security budget for the Games, both for the preparation and during the event, is 704 million reais (190 million dollars).

 Out of this amount, 240 million reais (65 million dollars) will be invested in deploying troops.
Combining the military personnel and security agents, a total of 85,000 men will be available in operations when they are required. This figure will double the security personnel number at the London Olympic Games.
Rio de Janeiro will receive around 10,500 athletes from 206 countries and regions and security will be the joint responsibility of the Defense and Justice Ministries and the Brazilian Intelligence Agency.
“The national surveillance and intelligence system will work together before and during the Olympic Games,” said Rebelo.

The government expects the Olympic Games to go ahead without political demonstrations, like what happened in the 2014 soccer World Cup, according to Rebelo.
“I think there won’t be any public protests like in 2013 or in the World Cup. The Olympics will take place in a much calmer atmosphere,” added the minister.

Regarding the government’s strategy to prevent the spread of Zika, Rebelo explained that around 5,000 military personnel are carrying out operations against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito that spreads the disease.
The Rio Olympics will take place between Aug. 5 and 21 and the Paralympics will be between Sept. 7 and 18.

It is hoped that the number of international tourists entering the country during the Games will increase by 20 percent.

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Man v Machine: Google AlphaGo beats Korean champ again

Lee Sedol: loses again

Google’s computer program AlphaGo on Thursday again defeated South Korea’ Lee Sedol, the world human champion of the ancient Chinese board game Go in the second of a historic five-match game. The result stunned the world about the computer’s ever-increasing abilities to surpass human skill, also fueling an upsurge of interest as well as concerns over such questions as: Will the brain of the CPU eventually outsmart that of humans? Will artificial intelligence (AI) replace humans one day?

It certainly has a number of top tech and science minds worried. But China’s Go grandmaster Ke Jie has made it clear: “AlphaGo is not in my match now.”

“I have to say I underestimated the mind power of AlphaGo prior to the first match,” said Ke, who holds a head-to-head record of eight wins and two losses against South Korean grandmaster Lee Sedol.
“Now facing AlphaGo, I do not feel the same strong instinct of victory when I play a human player, but I still believe I have the advantage against it. It’s 60 percent in favor of me.”

Ke is confident in himself for the moment regarding the human vs. machine duel, but he conceded AlphaGo may outsmart human players in the future.

“According to the pace of AI’s progress, it won’t be long before AlphaGo beats all human players, it may happen a few years later, even a few months later,” Ke said.

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Serena applauds Sharapova’s courage on drug test

Serena Williams

Serena Williams says Maria Sharapova “showed a lot of courage” in taking responsibility for her failed drug test.

On Monday, the Russian star revealed she tested positive the day she lost to Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals in January. At a news conference Tuesday to promote an exhibition at Madison Square Garden, Williams didn’t want to talk about the fact she had faced an opponent with a banned substance in her system.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion said that like the rest of the sports world, she was “surprised and shocked” to hear the news about Sharapova.

“I think most people were happy she was upfront and very honest and showed a lot of courage to admit to what she had done and what she had neglected to look at in terms of the list at the end of the year,” Williams said.

Sharapova announced she tested positive for meldonium, a blood flow-promoting drug she said she had been taking for 10 years for various health issues. Meldonium was banned because it aids oxygen uptake and endurance, and players were notified of the changes in the WADA banned substances list in December. Sharapova claimed she simply neglected to click on the link.

She could face a long ban from the International Tennis Federation, possibly ending her season and preventing her from competing at the Olympics.
“It’s just taking responsibility, which she admitted that she was willing to do and ready to do,” Williams said. “Just hope for the best for everybody in that situation.”

Sharapova and Williams have had some barbed words for each other in the past off the court, but on Tuesday, Williams was fully supportive. While Sharapova is one of her biggest rivals based on the Russian’s results and five major titles, Williams has dominated the head-to-head series, winning the last 18 meetings over more than a decade.

“As Maria said, she’s ready to take full responsibility,” Williams said. “She showed a lot of courage and a lot of heart. I think she’s always shown courage and heart in everything she’s done, and this is no different.”
A fellow Nike endorser, Williams declined to comment on the shoe company’s decision to suspend its relationship with Sharapova.

Two-time Grand Slam finalist Caroline Wozniacki, who faces Williams in the exhibition Tuesday night, agreed with her good friend’s assessment of Sharapova’s announcement. Wozniacki acknowledged, though, the lengths elite athletes typically go through to ensure they don’t accidentally ingest banned substances.

“Any time we take any medication, we double, triple and quadruple check, because sometimes even things like cough drops or nasal sprays can be on the list,” Wozniacki said. “I think as athletes we always make sure to really make sure there’s nothing in it.”

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin, who was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Tuesday, said many questions needed to be answered before she could judge Sharapova’s case.
“I think we’re all a little bit sad and disappointed about the situation,” she said on a conference call. “It’s never good for the game.”

Marat Safin, who on Tuesday became the first Russian elected to the Tennis Hall, agreed, noting that it’s not uncommon for players to miss that a substance has been added to the banned list. He said he believed that Sharapova did not intend to cheat, but then quickly added: “I want to believe so.”

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Ocholi’s burial 18 March, FG sets up burial committee

James Ocholi : burial 18 March

Nigeria’s Federal Government has inaugurated a 13-man burial committee for the final rites for James Ocholi, the minister of state for labour and employment, who died on Sunday, along with his wife and son.
The committee comprises ministers, Ocholi’s family members and his church members.

Government Secretary, Babachir David Lawal stated that burial arrangements had been concluded in collaboration with the late minister’s family, as directed by the President.

“As soon as we got his directive, we set up a burial committee comprising 13 people, drawn from government, the family of the deceased and his church.

“After series of meetings, the burial rites will hold from March 16 to 18 March.
“On the March 16, there will be a service of songs at the International Conference Centre Abuja by 7:00 p.m. the corpses will leave Abuja on Thursday.

“A wake keep will be held in his hometown in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi by 6:00 p.m. same day while the internment will hold by 12:00 p.m. on Friday 18 March.”
President Buhari later signed the condolence register, as the ministers took their turns to pay tributes to their departed colleague.

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