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Showing posts from August 18, 2014

Nasarawa Assembly suspends APC lawmaker

Nasarawa State House of Assembly suspended yesterday a lawmaker from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tanko Tunga, for six months. The motion for the suspension was moved at plenary by Baba Ibaku (PDP-Udegye/Loko) and seconded by Nathaniel Agyomesa (PDP-Lafia North), who accused Tunga of violating the Assembly’s rules. Tunga was also accused of attempting to snatch the mace and insulting his colleagues. Ibaku said Tunga should be placed on a half salary. The Speaker, Ahmed Musa Muhammed, has directed the Clerk, Ego Maikeffi, to write the National Judicial Council (NJC). It was alleged that the Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko, violated Section 188 by appointing partisan persons to serve in the panel probing allegations of gross misconduct against Governor Tanko Al-Makura. The directive followed a motion of public interest moved by the Majority Leader, Godiya Akwashiki and seconded by Yahaya Usman (PDP-Ugya/Umaisha). Francis Orogu (PDP...

Nasarawa Assembly suspends APC lawmaker

First pics of the police officer who shot and killed unarmed Michael Brown

First pics of the police officer who shot and killed unarmed Michael Brown Left is a pic of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th. Eye-witnesses said Michael was shot multiple times by officer Wilson as he turned around with his hands up. Wilson claims the teenager rushed at him full speed before he opened fire. Meanwhile a woman who claims to have witnessed the shooting has released a video showing officer Wilson pacing back and forth beside the lifeless body of Michael Brown in the street. See the screenshots from the video after the cut...

The Central Bank of Nigeria has revoked the operating licences of 766 Bureaux De Change and will no longer allow them participate in its twice-weekly sale of dollars.

CBN Revokes Licences Of 766 BDCs Godwin Emefiele The bank in a circular posted on its website on Friday announced the names of 2,442 BDCs that met the new recapitalisation guidelines. The CBN had, in a bid to reposition the foreign exchange market, in June released new capitalisation guidelines for the BDCs in the country. In the guidelines, the central bank had increased the capital base for the BDCs from N10m to N35m, and asked them to make a caution deposit of N35m, among other requirements. The 766 BDCs failed to meet the July 31, 2014 recapitaisation deadline set by the CBN. In a circular dated July 7, 2014, the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, CBN, Mr. Kelvin Amugo, had said the BDCs that failed to meet the new guidelines by July 31 would cease to be recognised and funded by the central bank. As a result of the new circular, 766 out of the total 3,208 BDCs registered by the CBN cease to be recognizing as such by the CBN. Amugo also ...

Bride set on fire and killed by groom after she slept with ex-lover on wedding night

A bride was doused with alcohol and set on fire by her new husband after she slept with an ex-lover on her wedding night, police say. Mother-of-one Veronika Filippova had sought out her former partner after her new spouse fell asleep drunk at their wedding reception. The 27-year-old had 80% burns on her body and died despite frantic efforts by doctors to save her. Continue... Ivan Kuzmin, 30, her new husband (pictured with Veronika, left, during happier times), has confessed to murder after being arrested by police in Volgograd in southern Russia, according to police, News site Life News reported that the bride took 'revenge' on her husband after he passed out at their wedding party, but was later overcome with guilt and told him everything. He responded by dousing her with neat alcohol - used to make homemade vodka - before igniting her in flames with a cigarette lighter. 'He set her on fire when she was sleeping, pouring alcohol on her and our Vero...

Passengers Sue China Airline After They Were Barred From Boarding Flight 'Because They Are HIV+'

AIT Two HIV-positive passengers are suing an airline after they were barred from boarding one of its planes. The two men and a friend are demanding £5,000 and an apology from Chinese Spring Airline after they refused entry to a flight from Shenyang to Shijiazhuang. The two passengers, along with the travelling companion who does not have HIV, were told their tickets had been cancelled after informing staff of their status. However, the three people have now issued a claim against the airline, accusing it of discrimination. A Shenyang court accepted the case, making it the first lawsuit against an airline for discriminating against an HIV-positive person in China, the Global Times said. ‘The court's acceptance of this case signalled that HIV carriers can protect their rights through legal channels,’ it quoted plaintiff Cheng Shuaishuai as saying. On its website, Spring Airlines states that it has the right to refuse passage to those with ‘infectious diseases’. According the Fazhi Ev...

2015 Election: Atiku Set To Declare Intention

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is set to declare his intention to contest in the 2015 presidential election. Atiku Abubakar,Former Vice President and APC Chieftain Atiku’s plan to declare for presidency is coming on the heels of the move by the leadership of the APC to commence consultations on the guidelines for the presidential primaries and preparatory to the party’s national convention scheduled for December. It was gathered yesterday that Atiku would soon round off his extensive consultations with stakeholders on his 2015 ambition. The national publicity secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Monhammed while explaining APC’s plan of action at the weekend said that the party’s leadership would soon meet to approve the guidelines for the party’s presidential primaries. A source said, “The former Vice –President has been meeting with diverse religious and professionals bodies. “He is gauging the pulse of the people on troubles bedevili...

NMA protests resident doctors’ sack

•Open further talks with union, Ajimobi tells Fed Govt Nigerian doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), protested yesterday at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Federal Government’s sack of over 16,000 resident doctors. NMA is also asking the government to lift the ban on doctors’ residency training. It noted that the sack would retard medical practice because “it is the building-block of medicine”. Lagos State NMA chairman Dr Tope Ojo said the solution was for the government to dialogue with the doctors and an “unconditional” reverse the sack order. The union leader said the government should recall the sacked doctors to hasten discussions on an amicable solution. Ojo said this would save the Health sector from imminent collapse. He added: “Doctors should not be threatened with sack.” According to him, sacking the resident doctors means shutting down the hospitals because “an injury to one is an injury to all”. Ojo...

Experimental drugs see action as Ebola breaks

For the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, many experimental drugs will still stay in the laboratories for years, writes Forbes The World Health Organisation said last Thursday that the scope of the Ebola outbreak may be vastly underestimated, and will grow worse before they are able to get the epidemic under control. Amid these dire warnings, and facing a virus with no proven remedies, treatments, or vaccines, a panel of WHO ethicists approved the use of experimental therapies in stricken patients. It was the right decision for a host of reasons. In fact, it shouldn’t have been ethicists who reached such a conclusion. Drug regulators should have taken this decision. Patients facing a deadly virus with no proven treatments deserve access to experimental drugs that have already established some basic proof of safety, and where there is plausible reason to believe that the drugs could provide some benefit. But there’s another reason to forward deploy these exp...

Ribadu joins Adamawa governorship race

… Picks PDP nomination form The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday picked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship nomination form to contest the Adamawa governorship election. The form, with serial number 0000060, was obtained at the party’s national secretariat through a proxy, Alhaji Hamidu Mahmud, at a cost of N10 million. Speaking with reporters shortly after obtaining the form, Mahmud said Ribadu had applied to the leadership of the PDP for a waiver and that he was awaiting the response from the party leaders. Mahmud expressed the confidence that Ribadu would get the waiver, saying that the PDP constitution did not insert the waiver clause in anticipation that the former EFCC boss would join the race. According to him, there is no reason why the party should deny him the opportunity to vie for the ticket. Besides Ribadu, others in the race for the party’s ticket include a former poli...

Pope Francis urges inter-Korean reconciliation

The Pope has called for reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, on the final day of his visit to South Korea. Koreans, Pope Francis said, should reject a “mindset of suspicion and confrontation” and find new paths to build peace. He spoke at a Mass in Seoul’s main cathedral attended by President Park Geun-hye and North Korean defectors. The service coincided with the start of major US-South Korea military exercises. The annual drills, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, last for 12 days and involve some 80,000 US and South Korean service personnel. The exercises always enrage North Korea, which has in recent weeks conducted a series of short-range missile tests – including one as the Pope arrived. It has threatened a “merciless” retaliatory strike in response to the drills.

Suspected Suicide Bomber arrest at Lagos airport

(LAGOS) There was panic Monday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, following the arrest of a physically challenged man suspected to be Boko Haram suicide bomber at CENTREX, an annex office of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency(NAMA) by private security men. An eye witness, who spoke to reporters , said that the suspected bomber was about to gain entrance to the annex when he was accosted and subsequently arrested by private security guards of the agency. He added that the suspicious movement of the suspect drew the attention of the security guards. He said the physically challenged man was found with an item suspected to be Improvised Explosive Device(IED) strapped around his waist and that immediately he was arrested, the police dispatched men from the Anti Bomb Squad (ABS) of the command to the scene. The suspect, he said was handed over to the Police and whisked to the Airport Police Command Headquarter at Beesam, where he is...

Pope Francis backs Western alliance against Islamic State

(ROME, Italy) Pope Francis delivered a mixed verdict on US airstrikes in Iraq on Monday, saying that while it’s morally legitimate to stop an unjust aggressor, as America says it’s doing with regard to the radical Islamic State in northern Iraq, a single nation shouldn’t decide for itself when the use of force is warranted. In light of the Vatican’s recent history of vigorous opposition to virtually any American intervention in the Middle East, the pope’s language is likely to strike observers as a cautious yellow light. The pontiff revealed that he has considered travelling to Iraq in the near future to demonstrate his concern over the crisis, including its impact on the country’s Christians, and that doing so remains an option. For now, however, Francis said, such a journey is “not the best thing to do.” As he has already done indirectly, Francis...