Man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II puts roses on his tomb

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Man Who Tried to Kill Pope John Paul II Puts Roses on His Tomb

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The man who tried to kill former Pope John Paul II 33 years ago showed up at the Vatican on Saturday …

 

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The man who tried to kill former Pope John Paul II 33 years ago showed up at the Vatican on Saturday to put white roses on his tomb and said he wanted to meet Pope Francis.

Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, left John Paul critically injured after firing several shots in the failed assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

The former pope forgave Agca, once a member of a Turkish far right group known as the Grey Wolves, and went to meet him in 1983 in the Rome prison where he had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the attack.

Agca called the Italian daily la Repubblica on Saturday to announce he had arrived in the Vatican, his first visit since the assassination attempt and exactly 31 years after John Paul met him in prison.

The visit was confirmed to Reuters by Father Ciro Benedettini, the Vatican's deputy spokesman, who said Agca stood for a few moments in silent meditation over the tomb in St. Peter's Basilica before leaving two bunches of white roses.

Agca, 56, was pardoned by Italy in 2000 and extradited to Turkey where he was imprisoned for the 1979 murder of a journalist and other crimes. He was released from jail in 2010.

The attack against John Paul, who died in 2005, has remained clouded by unanswered questions over who may have been behind it. An Italian investigative parliamentary commission said in 2006 it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that it was masterminded by leaders of the former Soviet Union.

The Vatican on Saturday gave a cool response to Agca's request to meet with Pope Francis. "He has put his flowers on John Paul's tomb; I think that is enough," Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi told la Repubblica.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Stephen Powell)

PDP may lose Abia, group warns Mu’azu

A group, Abia Pro­fessionals Forum (APF) has alerted the national leader­ship of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party ( PDP) to what it called imminent loss of gov­ernorship election and other elective offices in Abia State.
In a statement signed by President of the forum, Mr. Sam Onukwe and made available to newsmen at the weekend in Abuja, the APF expressed regret that nothing had been done by the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Commit­tee (NWC) led by Adamu Mu’azu to placate aggrieved governorship aspirants, who felt cheated over the manner the party’s governorship can­didate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu emerged.

The forum declared that mere admonition by President Goodluck Jonathan that ag­grieved aspirants should not dump the ruling party was not enough and noted that some of the candidates being parad­ed for the forthcoming general elections were not popular with the Abia electorate.

“We particularly note the situation in Abia State where there seem to be total loss of confidence in the leadership of the ruling party and par­ticularly, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the controversial governor­ship candidate of PDP, who was reportedly stoned at Aba Township Stadium and had to be quickly smuggled out of the sports facility to avert the danger to his life by the police.

“We wonder how a candi­date who is so unpopular will go round the state to canvass for votes.
“It is our fear that unless urgent action is taken by the leadership of PDP at the state and the national level, the electorate may be forced to speak with their voters’ card during the election, a situa­tion which may turn out to be unpalatable for the PDP,” the group said.

The forum further sub­mitted that the fate of the party hangs in the balance, given what it called the cred­ibility of candidates that had emerged on the platform of key opposition parties in the state.

The group advised the PDP NWC to take urgent steps to save the party from the dis­mal political loss it suffered in 2007 when it lost the Abia governorship election to the Peoples’ Progressive Alliance ( PPA) which produced the in­cumbent governor, Theodore Orji.

Biafran team to AU gets warm reception

The delegation of the Supreme Council of the Elders of In­digenous People of Biafra was accorded warm reception at a five-day meeting of the African Union (AU) held in Nairobi, Kenya.
The team returned to the country at the weekend even as another group dispatched to Cote D’Ivoire to thank the government and the people for harbouring the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu during his sojourn between1970 and 1982, has also returned. The Nigerian civil war ended in 1970.
Briefing newsmen in Nnewi, Anambra State yesterday, Deputy Chairman of the group, Dr Dozie Ikedife, said the pro-Biafran group which had recently been admitted as a member of Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the AU sent its delegation for the first time since admission to be part of delebrations at the Africa’s apex body to facilitate its diplomatic approach for self-determination.
“The delegates have returned. The meeting in Nairobi, Kenya lasted between December 18 and 22. Reports showed they were warmly received and given a place of recognition and honour to participate fully as members at the ECOSOCC meeting. They met other representatives from other countries and exchanged cordialities with them,” Dr Ikedife said.

Although he did not disclose the outcome of the meeting since it did not concern the pro-Biafran group alone, according to him, there would be a stronger delegation at the next meeting for fuller and more active participation. According to him, the Bilie Human Rights Initiative was on course as a legal arm of the pro-Biafran group to handle legal matters.

The former President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo also said the group sent to Cote D’Ivoire had returned.
He said “32 years after our brother, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu returned from Cote D’Ivoire, we feel obliged that according to customary law, if somebody has done you a favour, no matter how long it has taken, you will go and say ‘thank you’. We sent a delegation of three people, comprising a medical doctor, a religious leader up to the rank of a bishop and a well articulated Biafran war veteran. They went with a thank-you letter and some gift items according to our custom. The government and people of ICote D’Ivoire received them with appreciation.

Dr Ikedife said the same thank-you visit would be paid to Gabon which he said sent relief materials to war devastated Igbo and lifted their kwashiokor stricken children to take care of them.
He also said plans had reached an advanced stage to give a befitting funeral to Igbo sons and daughters who died during the civil war. He said a group had attempted to do that but could not. He said a governor, whose name he did not mention, had agreed to organize the funeral.

We didn’t rob; we only collected our dues – Suspects

The police have arrested four suspected robbers at a Lagos market who claimed they did not steal from the traders, but only came to collect their dues.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects- Onyenge Osanie, Azuka Eboh, Ezelonwu Michael and Afolabi Shakiru- were nabbed by the police while they were looting some shops and robbing traders at the Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos.

Our correspondent gathered that the suspects, who are four members of a ten-man gang, were arrested by operatives of the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad on December 20.

According to the police, the gang, which is led by a runaway suspect identified simply as Friday, made use of locally-made guns in their operations.

Our correspondent also learnt that most of the gang’s victims were phone dealers, and the gang allegedly carted away about 70 smartphones and Ipads which were worth about N1.5m.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, 35-year-old Osanie said the gang robbed the traders and looted their shops, because they refused to ‘settle’ them. He added that they only targeted shops of traders who had ‘offended’ the gang.

He said, “We usually work with phone dealers in the market who specialise in selling stolen phones. When we steal, they sell, and they then settle us. But later on, some of them defaulted, and we attacked their shops. It was not as if we robbed them, we only came to ask for our money.

“On that day, we had taken only 10 phones before the police apprehended us. I had initially escaped, but two gang members who were caught at the scene later brought the police to arrest me.”

Osanie, a father of three, said he regretted working with the gang, adding that if he was released, he would not indulge in robbery again.

Also, 27-year-old Eboh confessed that the gang did not only burgle shops, but also vandalised some property during the operation.

He said, “What we learnt initially was that a market chairman was coming to give out money but he later failed to show up. That was when we decided to deal with the traders. When we got to the shops, we broke their glasses and carted away expensive phones.

“I joined the gang because I did not have a job. I have been living in hardship with my family.”

Meanwhile, Michael, 22, said he had also gone with the gang on three occasions, adding that they took advantage of the traders’ ‘misbehaviour’ to rob them.

“I was working as a truck driver before I met them. I had gone out with the gang on three occasions to rob in the market. We only took advantage of the commotion of the market to rob them. It was not deliberate,” he said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest of the suspects.

“Investigations are still ongoing on the matter at SARS,” he added.

I regret supporting Amaechi to become gov – Odili

of the Peoples Democratic Party through his (Amaechi) defection to the All Progressives Congress.

He explained that but for the quick intervention of a former Minister of State for Education and PDP governorship candidate in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, the party would have gone into oblivion.

The ex-governor, who spoke on Saturday during Wike’s campaign tour in Ndoni Local Government Area on Saturday, said Amaechi worked against the PDP structure put in place by the founding fathers of the party.

Odili pointed out that the PDP, in the past, supported Amaechi’s political career with good intentions, adding that he and the PDP had accepted their mistake and were poised to correct it in 2015.

It was the first time the former governor would speak publicly on the strained relationship between him and incumbent governor.

He said, “We thought we did the right thing by supporting Amaechi to become the governor of the state. We left a united state; we also left a united party. The PDP was one, Rivers State is the PDP.

“There was no other party in Rivers State other than the PDP. Whatever the party hierarchy said would happen. The secretary is here to support what I am telling you here today.

“With all the best intentions, we supported his political career and ambition. We thought we did what was best for the state. As you know, until a man has power and has money, you don’t really know him.

“One thing is clear; we have accepted our mistake and we are determined to correct it in 2015. Who would have thought that a governor who won an election on the platform of the PDP would defect with the mandate of the party to another party?

“Who would have thought that a governor elected on the platform of the PDP would abandon the PDP to join an opposition party? The elders of the party who are here can corroborate what I am saying here today. We ran a cohesive party. We had respect for the elders of the party. We had respect for party members.”

Explaining that no member of the PDP attempted to hijack the party during his reign as the leader, Odili recalled that party officials respected elders during his days as the state governor.

He, however, expressed gratitude to Wike for reuniting the PDP in the state immediately Amaechi defected to the APC, along with the former state chairman of the PDP, Chief Godspower Ake, his commissioners, his supporters and 22 out of the 23 local government chairmen.

“I want to thank the governorship candidate of the PDP for the 2015 governorship election and the next governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for miraculously rescuing the party from disintegration and working tirelessly to unite the members of the party.

“By the special grace of God in February, we are going to the polls. The first election is to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term. The second election will be the governorship election where our candidate, Wike, will emerge as the next governor of Rivers State.”

Buhari, threat to Jonathan’s re-election – PDP leader

He said, “By and large, the PDP should see the opposition party as a challenge, no matter who they project as their candidate owing to their desperation to get power. Even though we know that they have nothing to offer to Nigerians but the PDP should be wary of their desperation, because the APC is a propagandist party.

“The PDP should use the remaining one month to the elections to sensitise Nigerians to the antics of the opposition to clinch power at all costs.

“If anybody says Buhari is not a threat, that person is deceiving President Goodluck Jonathan. This is because Buhari and his party (the APC) are ready to kill and maim innocent souls in order to force themselves on Nigerians.”

The PDP leader, however, lampooned Buhari for his alleged desperation to rule the country.

He said, “The major fact that I want Nigerians to understand is that Buhari does not deserve to be President of this country, neither does he deserve to be elected by Nigerians.

“This is because Buhari has made all Nigerians to know that he is a man who wants to become President through violence or through war or bloodshed.

“He has proved it in previous elections. He had threatened Nigerians that “monkeys and baboons would be soaked in blood” if he didn’t win the 2011 presidential election. That alone is an indicting statement to, innocent Nigerians, both big and small, are being soaked in blood even up till date.”

My certificates consumed by fire, Sambo tells INEC

Ahead of the 2015 general elections, Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has told the Independent National Electoral Commission that his Bachelors and Masters degrees certificates in Architecture from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, have been consumed by fire.

Sambo, who is the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, made the declaration in the documents he filed with INEC and displayed on the commission’s office in Abuja although the details of the fire that consumed the certificates were not given.

Sambo’s papers were received and stamped in INEC headquarters between December 10 and 18, 2014.

The VP’s declaration was validated by two letters from the ABU, a copy of which was obtained by The PUNCH on Sunday.

The first letter, signed by one Alhassan Garba for the institution’s registrar under the title, “To Whom it may Concern: Mohammed Namani Sambo,” read, “I certify that the above-named person having completed an approved course of study and passed the prescribed examinations was awarded the Bachelor of Science (Architecture) with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in 1976 by the Senate of this University. His original certificate got burnt. Please treat his case in view of this certification. Thank you.”

The second letter, also signed by Garba for the ABU registrar, read, “I certify that the above-named person having completed an approved course of study and passed the prescribed examinations was awarded the Master of Science (Architecture) on May 25, 1978 by the Senate of this University. His original certificate got burnt. Please treat his case in view of this certification. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, indications have emerged that only 13 political parties would field presidential candidates in the 2015 elections.

The parties and their candidates are the People Democratic Party, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan; the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); Action Alliance, Tunde Anifowose-Kelani; Kowa Party, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya; United Progressives Party; Chief Chekwas Okorie; and National Conscience Party, Chief Martin Onovo.

Others are African Democratic Congress, Dr. Ibrahim Nani; United Democratic Party, Godson Okoye; Alliance for Democracy, Rafiu Salau; Peoples Party of Nigeria, Kelvin Alagoa; Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Alhaji Ganiyu Oseni; African Peoples Alliance, Alhaji Adebayo Ayeni; and Hope Democratic Party, Ambrose Owuru.

Ghana, Nigeria in billions of dollars debt

In Ghana the conversation in the Senate and on the media has been direct— Place a moratorium on Government borrowing for one to two years prior to any election. Nigeria is yet to have its conversation despite worse crisis. Nigeria has been borrowing aggressively in recent years. The Jonathan government borrowed 1.1 billion from China in July of 2013 for “Abuja light rail” project and airport repair. This loan was to be repaid in 20 years and came at an interest rate of 2.5%. Rewinding a bit, the Jonathan government launched into action in 2010 with an almost $1 billion  loan, a$915 million concessionary loan from the World Bank to be repaid in 40 years after 7 years loan-draw period. At this time, Nigeria’s external debt stood at $3.98 billion.

The House of Reps approved a borrowing cap of $7.3 billion for 2013-2015; while Nigeria borrowed $4.4 billion from the World bank with $1.8 billion disbursed and the rest attracting service charges, Business Eye reports. In November this year, Jonathan borrowed another almost $1 Billion from the International Development Association of the World Bank, to “diversify the Nigerian economy.” The $945 million loan repayable in 20 years at an interest rate of 1.5% and service fee of 0.75%. Nigeria has the highest borrow rate in Africa, period. According to Business Eye, Nigeria has become the largest recipient of loans from the International Development Agency (IDA) arm of the World Bank between 2009 and 2012 and currently has the largest outstanding IDA portfolio in Africa, ahead of Kenya and Tanzania.

Additional loans like the $1 Billion to supposedly fight Boko Haram, paint a picture of a nation that lives off of financial indebtedness. We also have dozens of other loans from varying counties, including the $100 million loan from the Indian Import-Export Bank in 2012 for Kaduna, Enugu and Cross River States, which is to be paid back in 10 years at 2% interest rates. He who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing they say. A unique example out of the African region which defies the need for loan dependent development is that of Kano Governor in North West Nigeria, Rabiu Kwankwaso who steered significant development in his State, one-third the population of Ghana while actually paying off past debts and keeping the State 100% debt free.
Nigeria has become loan dependent under the current administration which cannot account for the nation’s oil revenue and has financed all partial infrastructure developments on crippling loans that promise to send the nation into humiliating suffering and slavery to the colonial and Eastern financial institutions for the next 40 years.

Nigeria’s external debt increased from $3.9 Billion in 2009 to a staggering $10 Billion where it is now. Our domestic debt has also shot out of proportion. The Government can simply not afford to pay contractors and even its staff. The domestic debt stands at almost $50 Billion as at November 2014. There has been a 22% yearly increase in domestic indebtedness from 2009 to 2014 and this shot up even higher in 2014. BusinessDay says that what is worrying about this worsening profile is that these debts are used for fruitless and “unproductive” ventures.

One has to ask, #WhereIsOurMoney? If all currently touted ‘development’ is based on loans to Nigeria’s detriment. Neighboring English-speaking Ghana’s predicament is quite similar. Salaries are delayed till loans come through. In the first half of 2014, the Mahama government borrowed a staggering GH¢6.3 Billion; about $2 Billion dollars to add to a cumulative debt of about $20 Billion. There has been a huge conversation on limiting Government borrowing in the West African nation of 26 million.

Both African nations bear President’s who are accidents, so-to-say; victims of the fortune of death to their bosses. Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria inherited the office when his predecessor, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua passed away in 2010. In like manner, John Dramani Mahama inherited the top job when Atta Mills, a national favorite passed in 2012. The two leaders have failed to win the hearts and respect of the people and would possibly never have occupied the seats had processes gone on naturally, as such personalities would not likely ever have been chosen candidates of any party.

Based on current oil prices, with the barrel price dropping from $111 to below $60/barrel as speculative and futuristic trade New World tools continue to deliberately send the prices plunging to punish Russia and other developing nations, Nigeria and Ghana are not just being crippled, but are going to be dragged on their faces. With corruption and lack of reasonable plans to diversify the economy, save surpluses—which always end up being looted and used to finance the billionaire private jet loving cabal—Nigeria has nothing to save itself with and cannot afford to pay the Jonathan loans based on current oil prices. According to budgiT, Nigeria is expected to have to borrow in 2015 to pay civil servant salaries due to a grossly inadequate Sovereign Wealth Fund, compared to other African nations… yes that is how bad it is looking.
The rebasing of Nigeria’s economy in 2014 has put the nation in a more dire state as this was a hallucinatory incentive to seek and be given more loans. The Jonathan administration jumped on the opportunity this created with the reduction of the debt to GDP ratio to single digits opening up access to more loans which Jonathan simply indulged in. And then came the fall in oil prices.

Nigeria devalued its currency to try to adjust to the financial catastrophe. The Ghana cedi under mismanagement faired as the worst currency in Africa this 2014, dropping 26% in value. The country is depending on an IMF bailout to save it from the impending recession courtesy of the drop in oil prices. The nation can simply not balance its budget and as is the routine, it is being governed by colonial powers by proxy due to its loan dependence, who are dictating what it needs to do to President Mahama. The drop in oil prices globally have led to reductions in pump prices by to a $1/gallon in nations across the world; the same should have been the case in Nigeria and Ghana, both refined petroleum product importers, however the Mahama government has kept the price steady because it is taxing the people an extra $0.60+ per gallon at the pump to balance its budgets. There has likewise been no reduction in pump price in Nigeria as the Goodluck Jonathan government is also illegally draining this excess in indirect tax from the citizens to help balance its budget.

The events of January 2012’s sudden removal of oil subsidy in Nigeria and Ghana as dictated by the IMF when the President Christine Lagarde visited both and other West African countries December 2011, to impose these conditions on them to assist Europe in its bailout crises, remind us of how African puppet governments typically face similar crises and sabotage their people to the benefit of the colonialists who are eager for currency devaluation, loan dependence and SAP programs developed to support Western economies to the detriment of the developing economies. The Buhari Government of Nigeria in the 80’s was likewise compelled to submit to such conditions but his government rejected to devalue Nigeria’s currency and rather embarked on trade-by-barter with more NAM (Non Aligned Movement) nations like Brazil. Likewise these challenges are not new to Ghana. The Rawlings cup of 1979 removed Hila Limann who was embattled by dependence on foreign loans and the colonial push/command to devalue the Ghanaian cedi. Rawlings declared to resist foreign dependency and promoted a policy of self dependence. His firm reforms are regarded in the shaping of what Ghana is today.

Both Ghanaian and Nigerian governments are quietly trying to save face as best they can to sprint passed the upcoming elections before their people realize the colossally disastrous situation they are in subsequent to lack of foresight, chronic corruption and stagnant-regressive economic development.
It is going to be tough in Nigeria and Ghana. If it was tough before, then hold on to your seat belts, because the ride is only just getting bumby.

- MyNews24

Mandelaism: A template for African leaders

Since the creation of man, he has for the umpteenth time found himself in a state of quandary like a lost sheep that God, in His infinite mercies has at different dispensations sent leaders to intervene for his sake. For instance, when the Israelites were being maltreated, suppressed and enslaved in the land of the Egyptians, God sent a deliverer in the person of Moses and Aaron to rescue him.

From a scriptural standpoint, Samson was divinely created to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Without mincing words, the greatest intervention which God has made in the affairs of men is that of sacrificing His Son for the sins of mankind.

Given the political labyrinth and complexity which corrupt and clueless leaders have thrown Africans into, there is no denying the fact that God, in His divine disposition as a God that cares, on 18 July, 1918 sent a deliverer, in the person of Rolihlahla Mandela to Africans through his mother, Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father, Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela.

I must confess at this juncture that we Africans, particularly the politicians among us, are yet to understand God’s purpose of sending Dr. Mandela as a leader to lead a country in an African continent and in the process leave the world with a leadership template that would be known as “Mandelaism”. However, it is sad to note that one year down the line since the late sage transited to glory that the legacy or rather the political template he left all categories of leaders is yet to be emulated by political leaders in various leadership positions across Nigeria in particular in particular and African in general.   It is never an exaggeration to say that if many political leaders are religiously adopting and implementing all the principles that made up the leadership template known as Mandelaism, one year after the exemplary leader concluded his earthly journey  to meet his creator, that Nigeria and Africa political landscapes would have by now been devoid of the sad stories that characterize them at the moment.

I must confess that this piece was inspired by the observation made  as the world remembered the late Nelson Mandela on the one year anniversary of his death on 5 December.  As observed, many world leaders still lack the leadership qualities that made the great leader what he was being remembered for. One would not be wrong to say that most leaders merely graced events that were organized to either celebrate the life or death of Mandela by the virtue of the cheap popularity they expected to gain but not the virtues or the leadership qualities the sage left for them to emulate.

Be that as it may, the underlying objective of this piece is to sensitize all political leaders and observers that consequent remembrance of the late sage should not be characterized with razzmatazz, gliterrati, backslaps, and rhetorical eulogies but  with well delivered lectures that would dwell on his sterling qualities.

It is expedient to say that I am using this piece to appeal to our leaders to adopt “Mandelaism” as a political philosophy. They should use it as their political template. Whoever wants to be a good leader should embrace and adopt all the principles that “Mandelaism” espouses.

Suffice it to say at this juncture that it is not in every generation that God blesses a particular country or continent with a personality like the late Dr. Nelson Mandela. It is against this background that one would say that the leadership template he has left behind should not be treated with ignominy or sheer laxity.
It is highly regrettable to observe that many African leaders, particularly in Nigeria, are like the biblical Aaron that was in possession of a divine and miraculous rod but was so ignorant of the value of what he was holding until he was divinely directed to do so.  Seen from this perspective, it can be said that many leaders of today are well informed of some of the sterling qualities which late Dr. Nelson Mandela exhibited as a leader but it is very obvious that they lacked the moral strength needed to implement or practice them while in service.

According to an African proverb, “If the pig truly understands how many people appreciate and value its meat, it would loathe eating from nauseating and mucky environment.” Seen from the perspective of the foregoing proverb, it would not be out of place to paraphrase it to read, “If African leaders truly understands how valuable Mandelaism is, as a political philosophy, they would not be wallowing in abject political poverty.”

All Mariah Carey wants is a happy family

2014-12-26 08:59

Los Angeles - Mariah Carey is still devastated over her split from Nick Cannon.

The 44-year-old singer, who separated from the America's Got Talent host over the summer after six years of marriage, is reportedly suffering from severe insomnia because she's a ''mess.''

A source close to the Beautiful hitmaker, who has three-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan with Nick, is frustrated that she no longer has the happy family unit she wants and ''can't sleep."

The couple have yet to file for divorce and friends believe Mariah is eager for a reconciliation.

The insider told Us Weekly magazine that she isn't ready to "give up the idea of a happy family."

The Hero singer broke down in tears while performing at the Beacon Theatre in New York City last week.


Nick recently insisted he and the blonde beauty would always be family despite reports their split was getting contentious.

Asked about their plans for Christmas, he said: "Always focus on family. We'll forever be family.

"At the same time, we're there for our children, making them the No. 1 priority and understanding they're loved and can have an amazing holiday."

- BangShowBiz

Sony hackers target pop stars

2014-12-29 07:11

Los Angeles - Pop stars including One Direction and Adele have had their emails hacked.

Their private conversations have reportedly been stolen by the same hackers who targeted Sony's Hollywood film studios and delayed the release of The Interview.

Details of the stars' contracts and demands are believed to be among the information stolen by the hackers - who have been traced to Pyongyang, North Korea by the FBI - and it could cause "embarrassment" for the singers.

Media analyst Mike Raia said: "The potential embarrassment and turmoil would be as devastating as that which has crippled Sony's movie-making arm and effectively killed the general release of The Interview."

There is also a worry about the early release of music from some of the biggest artists at Sony Music - who own major record labels including Columbia, RCA and Epic - including David Bowie, 67, right, Rita Ora, 24 and Beyoncé, 33.

Mike added to the Daily Star on Sunday: "Music files intended for release at a later date could be released on the net where fans would download them for free.

"We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. It could end up as a financial disaster so enormous that the company, at least in its present form, might not even survive."

Meanwhile, a senior executive at Sony Music has claimed that bosses at the firm are "in complete panic" over the hacking.

The executive said: "We don't even know the extent of exactly what they have. We know it's a lot.

"There are skeletons in everyone's cupboard, only nobody ever expects a bunch of robbers to smash down the door and steal everything inside."

7 ways to ring his sex bell

Spice things up over the holidays and have him jingling in pleasure with these fun and festive sex positions!
The Sneeze-y Way Out

How to do it: Warn him about this in advance, or he'll think you've gone nuts. Keep a pepper-shaker by the bed and as you approach the brink of bliss, get him to sprinkle a dash of pepper under your nose. If you can time your sneeze to coincide with your orgasm, you'll be blown away in more ways than one. That's because, according to experts, sneezing releases the same endorphins as an orgasm and also causes a rapid alteration of your oxygen level that intensifies your climax.
Tip: Don't be too generous with the pepper or you'll be sneezing all night!
The Christmas Box

How to do it: Fill a box with slips of paper, each with a sexy idea written on it. (Make sure you contribute equally.) Take turns to select an idea, and then do what it says. The only rules are that you mustn't write something you know your partner hates, or is injurious to health (such as abandoning safe sex). How about dressing up, trying unusual positions or watching a really raunchy film together?

Tip: Instead of a Christmas present, give your partner an IOU slip promising a sexual favour to be redeemed at a later date.
The Jolly Jigsaw

How to do it: You lie on your side. He lies down facing you and then straddles your bottom leg and rests your top leg around his waist. You should fit together like two puzzle pieces, hence the name of the position.
Tip: To maximise momentum, he should grab your thigh like the oar of a slave galley and pull you against him when he thrusts.
South Pole Position

How to do it: He lies flat, arching his back and holding his penis so that it points south towards his feet. You straddle his thighs with your back to his face, and reverse into pole position. The result? His penis is bent down, but straining to go in its natural direction. This new angle makes you feel fuller by putting pressure on different areas of your plumbing.
Tip: He should be sure to hold his penis while you're riding him so he can maintain his aim and avoid a snap-and-crackle before he pops!
Bonkarama Special

How to do it: You lie on your stomach, keeping your legs together. He straddles you. To make his grand entrance easier, he holds your bottom up in the air so that your belly is pressed into the mattress. He slips into you, leaning on his forearms for support.
Tip: If you can't get the right angle, slide a big pillow under your lower body so that you're sloped in the right direction.
Cherry on the Fruitcake

How to do it: He should slide about 8cm up from the missionary position, but with his legs on the outside. He then cups his arms around your shoulders and lies flat against you. You tilt your pelvis up, which creates a more erotic up-and-down motion.
Tip: If you want him to fish in deeper waters, you can spread your inner thighs wider and wrap your ankles around his calves.
Under the Table

How to do it: He should sit at the edge of the table. You sit on the side next to him that's the opposite of your dominant hand – to his right if you're left-handed, and vice versa. He slouches down, slips his penis out of his pants and you gently rub it up and down under the table. This will drive him so crazy, you'll probably find yourselves skipping desserts and heading for home after the first course.
Tip: Giving him a hand job under the table at a restaurant is tricky because you both have to maintain your composure and armchair rests may obstruct your access. That's why you should always choose your location carefully, with armless chairs and extra-long tablecloths. Try not to grin too broadly at passing waiters, or they'll come and start chatting!

- Women24

Libyan govt conducts air strikes on Misrata

2014-12-29 11:15 Tripoli - Forces loyal to Libya's recognised government staged air strikes on targets in Misrata on Sunday in the first such attacks on the city allied to an armed group that seized the capital earlier this year, officials and residents said.

The North African country, a major oil producer, has been engulfed in fighting between the two sides, each with its own government and parliament.

The internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni has been forced to run a rump state in the east since a group known as Libya Dawn took control of Tripoli in August, setting up a rival government and parliament.

Mohamed El Hejazi, spokesperson for armed forces loyal to Thinni, said his air force had attacked Misrata's port, an air force academy near the airport and Libya's biggest steel plant, which is located in the western city.

Ismail Shukri, spokesperson for forces allied to Libya Dawn, confirmed that air strikes had taken place but said they caused no damage.

"The airport at Misrata is still working normally. A flight has just taken off," he said.

Misrata, 200km east of Tripoli, is linked to Libya Dawn and home to a major sea port and free trade zone. The city had so far escaped the fighting that has threatened to break up Libya.

The air strikes came two weeks after a force allied to Libya Dawn moved east in an attempt to seize the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports.

Since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011, Libya has failed to attain stability. Former rebel brigades who once fought side by side have now turned on each other, aligning themselves with rival political factions in a scramble for control.

- Reuters

Govt focus is on education - Shekarau

2014-12-29 11:15 Abuja - Education Minister Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau has declared that no government in the past 20 years has put as much emphasize on education as the administration of current President Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking in Kano on Sunday, Shekarau admitted that although this is the case, the education sector is still plagued by numerous problems, Nigerian Tribune.


According to the Minister, at his assumption of office he summoned all stakeholders to brainstorm ways of tackling issues facing the sector. The alleged meeting concluded with all stakeholders agreeing not to down tools but seek more effective ways of dealing with challenges.

He further disclosed that a committee had been set up by Federal Government to investigate problems in universities. The findings exposed that institutions are in need of no less that N1.3 trillion in order to tackle numerous problems.

Based on the findings, President Jonathan has allegedly approved the disburdement of N220 billion to institutions, the sum of which will be spread over a period of 5 years.

While commenting on the TETfund, Shekarau lamented the fact that many universities have not come forward to access the fund, saying that relevant processes were vital to the assessment of the funds.

Dokubo declares Jonathan winner of 2015 polls

2014-12-29 11:15 Abuja - Niger Delta People's Salvation Front (NDPSF) Leader Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo has declared President Goodluck Jonathan the winner of Nigeria's February 2015 polls and says he owes nobody an apology for saying so.

Speaking during the burial service of his grandmother at the weekend, Dokubo announced the result ahead of the election and said that it was not possible for the incumbent President to lose, no matter who his contender is, The News Nigeria has reported.

Dokubo emphasized that he does not know how it would happen but President Jonathan's success at the polls is certainly assured.

Commenting on governorship race within the state, the ex-warlord lamented the high level of injustice within the River State and insisted that their should be a rotation of power.

Dokubo put emphasis on equality and justice among the different ethnic groups within the area.

160 still trapped on Greek ferry as 49 reach land

2014-12-29 13:26 Bari - A cargo ship with 49 people evacuated from a Greek ferry that caught fire in the Adriatic Sea arrived in the Italian port of Bari on Monday, the first big group to reach land.

More than 160 people remained trapped on the smoke-filled vessel adrift in rough seas between Italy and Albania.

One person was killed in the risky rescue operation and two others were injured as Italian and Greek rescue ships and helicopters plucked passengers off the stricken vessel and brought them to safety aboard the 10 or so mercantile ships nearby.

Those evacuees were to be brought to shore later after the rescue was completed, Greek officials said.

One of the cargo ships, the Spirit of Piraeus, docked in Bari just after 07:30 on Monday with 49 survivors aboard. The first to disembark was an injured man wrapped in a yellow striped blanket and wearing bandages around his bare feet, helped down the ship's ladder by two rescue workers.

Other evacuees, many wrapped in blankets, made their way slowly down the ladder with assistance, some thrusting their hands in a victory sign as they waited their turn. Among them were four children. TV crews and relatives gathered on the docks below in near silence.

The evacuees then boarded bright red fire department buses. Officials have said hotels have been booked for them around town.

The ship came ashore in Bari after first trying to dock overnight down the coast in Brindisi. Rough seas forced a change in plans.

Struggling to breathe

The fire broke out before dawn Sunday on a car deck of the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, carrying 422 passengers and 56 crew members. All day and night, passengers huddled on the vessel's upper decks, pelted by rain and hail and struggling to breathe through the thick smoke.

By early Monday, 316 people had been evacuated, leaving 161 more on board, Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said.

Helicopters rescued passengers throughout the night, completing 34 sorties with winds over 75km/h.

"Notwithstanding the weather and the darkness, which is another factor, we persisted throughout the entire night," Italian coast guard Admiral Giovanni Pettorino told Sky TG24.

Those remaining on board were given thermal blankets and found places to wait protected from the elements "even if the conditions remain very difficult," Pettorino said.

- AP

APC banks on divine intervention in Rivers poll

By: Okoro Chinedu 2014-12-29 13:26
Lagos - The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is hopeful divine intervention would enable the party retain power in the state in next year’s governorship election.

Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside, will represent the party in the eagerly-anticipated poll to succeed Chibuike Amaechi.

“We have no doubts at all that while we play our own part as humans, Almighty God himself will lead the fight for Dr Peterside’s emergence as the next Governor of our dear Rivers State,” Rivers APC Chairman, Dr Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said in a statement from Port Harcourt.

“What Dr Peterside did on Sunday, December 21, by dedicating his gubernatorial candidature at the Dr. Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt to God Almighty in the midst of top clergymen, politicians and other stakeholders is unprecedented in the annals of electioneering campaigns in Nigeria. It is a unique demonstration of his strong belief in God’s ability to fight for him,” he added.

Dakuku claimed the dedication was already “working wonders” as could be seen in the “huge success recorded during the official flag-off of APC’s State-wide governorship campaign the next day at Port Harcourt.”

“This election is now simply between the Devil and Almighty God, who is leading APC’s campaign. The choice between the good people of Rivers State is between light and darkness. It is because of the seriousness we attach to the emancipation and development of Rivers State that we are presenting the very best in the person of Dr Dakuku Peterside to continue the great works which our visionary leader, Chibuike Amaechi, will stop in 2015,” he added.

– CAJ News

- CAJ News

No South Africans on missing plane - govt

Johannesburg - The South African government is not aware of any South Africans on the AirAsia plane which went missing at the weekend, the international relations department said on Monday.

"We have not been alerted to any South Africans on that plane," spokesperson Clayson Monyela said.

AP reported AirAsia Flight QZ8501 vanished on Sunday morning in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

After the search expanded on Monday, Jakarta's Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto said an Australian Orion aircraft had detected "suspicious" objects near Nangka island, about 160km south-west of Pangkalan Bun, near central Kalimantan, or 1 120km from where contact with the plane was lost.

It was not clear whether the objects were part of the missing plane, he said.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has since confirmed that the objects were not part of the missing AirAsia plane.

"It has been checked and no sufficient evidence was found to confirm what was reported," Kalla told a press conference at Surabaya airport from where the ill-fated plane departed.

Earlier on Monday, Indonesia search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said it seemed certain the plane had crashed.

The last communication from the cockpit to air traffic control was a request by one of the pilots to increase altitude from 9 754m to 11 582m because of the rough weather.

Air traffic control was not able to immediately grant the request because another plane was in the airspace, said Bambang Tjahjono, director of the state-owned company in charge of air traffic control.

By the time clearance could be given, Flight QZ8501 had disappeared, Tjahjono said, AP reported.
SAPA

Enyeama Makes African Footballer of the Year Top 3 Shortlist

Super Eagles Captain, Vincent Enyeama, has made the final top 3 short-list for the CAF African Player of the Year Award.

Apart from starring for Nigeria at the World Cup, the 32-year-old was impressive in a Lille side that finished third in Ligue 1 last season, helping the club to the UEFA Champions League preliminary stages.
Enyeama kept 21 clean sheets in the last league season.

Current holder; Yaya Toure and Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are the other two contenders for Africa’s biggest individual honours.

The winner will be unveiled on January 8 in Lagos.

The Super Eagles captain had earlier failed to win the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) organised African Footballer of the Year Award, having been shortlisted among players to vie for its 2014 edition.
Algeria and Porto forward, Yacine Brahimi won the BBC honours.

Orits Wiliki: “I Married My Kid Sister, My Mother’s Last Born”

  

In what is considered a taboo in almost every culture in the world, veteran reggae superstar, Orits Wiliki claims with pride.

The veteran singer who celebrated his 30 years on stage as a musician in Lagos opened up to Punch the secret behind his marriage to popular actress and singer, Becky.
He said: –
“I married my kid sister – my mother’s last born. We are as close siblings can be. That is why we have stayed together for this long.”

New power tariff for residential consumers to take effect in June 2015

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC has frozen the newly-approved tariff for residential consumers till June 2015.A statement issued on Thursday and signed by NERC’s Head of Media, Mr. Michael Faloseyi, said that the tariff was a review of the Multi Year Tariff Order, MYTO 2, to factor the losses that were now different.
It explained that the new price of gas was usually part of the minor review done every six months and that the review had raised the cost of distributing power supply nationwide by the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos).
According to the statement, the tariff is expected to affect all electricity consumers.
“But because of the commitment that NERC to ensure that consumers are not further disposed to increased cost until there are improvements in supply, which we expect shortly, we have frozen the increment for six months for Residential consumers (R2).
“We approved an amendment to the MYTO tariff basically which means a new tariff order that continues with the existing framework but now shows a different figure for the remaining five year tariff structure,” it said.
It said with the commencement of MYTO 2.1, NERC would hold electricity distribution, transmission, generation companies and other market operators to the terms and conditions of their licences.
The statement said the measures were being put in place to ensure that the new owners fund their operations and improve electricity supply.
It said the rationale behind the adjustment was to shield ordinary Nigerians from possibility of rates shock that could have accompanied the review.

22 State Governments Still Owe Workers Over 3 Months Salaries – NLC

The Secretary General of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, has decried the non-payment of workers’ salaries by 22 state governments in the country, saying the development is unacceptable.

In a statement he issued in Kaduna on Thursday, Aremu, who is also the vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, described the development as a wage theft, wage robbery and economic crime.
The NLC vice president noted that the same governors, who had failed to pay workers their salaries for more than three months, were able to come up with funds to pay their delegates during the just concluded party primary elections across the states.

He, therefore, urged governors of the affected states to devise the same means they used to source for funds to pay delegates, to settle the workers’ salaries without further delay.

He said: “We see that delay in payment of salaries as wage theft, wage robbery. It is actually an economic crime because Nigeria Labour law says thou shall pay the worker as and when due. In fact by 22nd of every month you must have paid the workers fully.

“We never heard of any delegate being owed a single penny during the primary elections, but they cannot get money to pay the workers. In fact, some of the delegates even bought new cars and properties after the primaries because the money they got in just few days is much more than what workers earn in many months”.

Comrade Aremu further noted that it was time for the Federal Government to review upward the national minimum wage in order to reflect with emerging economic challenges and also warned against any attempt by government to further impoverish the Nigerian workers with reduction in pay or loss of jobs on account of the recently announced austerity measure by the Federal government.

He also pointed out that the $65 per barrel of crude oil as captured in the 2015 budget confirmed that Nigeria is an oil dependent economy contrary to the claim by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the budget is projected on a non-oil revenue basis.
Instead, the labour leader believed that sustainable budgets were the ones based on revenue arising from real sector of the economy such as domestic manufacturing and exportation of finished goods.

Mr Aremu said that the National Assembly, while debating the budget proposal, should put policies that will grow the real sectors of the economy and also ensure that the Central Bank of Nigeria lowers the interest rate and stop the free fall of the Naira which will undermine purchasing power of working class Nigerians.
He also asked the National Assembly to make sure the budget captured practical measures on reducing cost of governance, which must begin with drastic reduction of pay and allowances of the Executive and Legislature.

Police arrest 3 armed robbery suspects in Edo

2014-12-27 08:09
Benin - The Edo Police Commandhas arrested three armed robbery suspects along Uwa Street, in the Oredo Local Government Area of the state.

A statement signed by the Edo Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Edoigiawerie, said the trio are Samson Obi, Terry Ekokota and Esther James.

It said they ‎were arrested by the command at their hideout, following a tip-off.
"A search conducted on them led to the recovery of two locally-made guns, two live cartridges and some charms from the suspects,’’ the statement said.

The suspected armed robbers were also said to have confessed that they were planning an operation before they were apprehended.

Meanwhile, the command has recovered one locally-made single-barrel gun, 13 live cartridges, one Army camouflage cap and three wraps of weeds, suspected to be Indian hemp.

The statement said the items were recovered from the vehicle of two fleeing suspects.
The suspects, both male, were said to have abandoned the car on sighting some officers of the command, who were on a routine patrol in the Oluku area of Benin.

"The policemen on routine patrol at Oluku were informed about the suspicious movements of two men seated in a Cordoba car with registration number AG 678 AKA‎,’’ Edoigiawerie said in the statement.
The state police command, while appreciating the public for providing useful information to it, however said in the statement that efforts "are in progress to fish out the fleeing suspects’’.

- NAN

We’ve mobilised 70,000 members to PDP – Group

A group within the All Progressives Congress, Justice Forum, says 70,000 of its members in the South-West have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party.

About 3,000 defectors who converged on the Salvador Towers in Surulere, said they left the APC because the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had abandoned them after they helped his party to win elections.

Speaking with journalists at the event, the leader of the group, Chief David Abidakun, explained that the members were from across the South-West and not Lagos alone.

He noted that the group was one of the major founding groups of the Alliance for Democracy and later became the most populous group in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria that merged to form the APC.

He said, “We are not counting the number of people here but our membership. We have a membership of over 70, 000 in the South-West and all of us will join the PDP in our various states in the South-West after the formal ceremony

“We believe that the PDP is the place to be and so we have decided to be part of the winning team.”

The Deputy Chairman of the PDP in Lagos, Chief Sikiru Apena, who received the defectors, promised to treat them like old members of the PDP.

When contacted, however, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the defection was meaningless, describing it as the biggest joke of 2014.

Igbokwe, who said the crowd at the venue was rented by the PDP, described the event as a charade.

He said, “It is of zero consequence. Those that defected have no weight. They have no strength, no finance and no training to make an impact. It is the biggest joke of 2014. It is a rented crowd. You know when you give people about N2, 000 each, they will come for any event.

“No serious person will be in that group. Tell me, where could they get 70,000 members from? In law, such an action is called ‘Brutum Fulmen.’ It has zero consequence.”

North Korea calls president Obama a monkey after blaming US for shutting down its internet

North Korea blamed the US for its internet outtage (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

North Korea has compared president Barack Obama to a monkey and blamed the United States for shutting down its internet after it was accused of hacking Sony Pictures over The Interview movie.
The communist regime said the US president was behind the release of the film and described the movie as illegal, dishonest and reactionary.
‘Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest,’ an unidentified spokesman at the commission’s Policy Department said in a statement carried by the country’s state news service, Korean Central News Agency.
In May, the news agency published a dispatch saying Obama had the ‘shape of a monkey.’
MORE: Pictured: West Sussex couple found dead in apparent Christmas suicide pact

President Barack Obama, with first lady Michelle Obama (Picture: AP)

North Korea had denied involvement in the crippling cyberattack, but expressed anger over the comedy, which depicted the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Sony Pictures initially called off the release of the film, citing threats of terror attacks against US movie theatres, but following widespread criticism of the decision, including from Obama, the movie opened this week.
MORE: Brain-dead woman’s life support machine can be switched off despite pregnancy, court rules

The Interview opened this week (Picture: Reuters)

North Korea’s defence commission also blamed Washington for intermittent outages of its websites this past week, which happened after the US had promised to respond to the Sony hack.
The US has so far declined to say if it was behind the shutdown.

Wike accuses Amaechi of funding Buhari’s campaign with N30bn

campaign of the All Progressives Congress.

Wike explained that the development had made it impossible for the state government to pay workers’ salaries, adding that the governor was using state resources to fund the APC with the hope that he would be picked as the running mate to the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.

The PDP governorship candidate pointed out that Amaechi was being deceived by the leadership of the APC to continue to fund the party, adding that the APC leadership had never been interested in selecting the governor as Buhari’s running mate.

Speaking during his thank-you visit to Ikwerre Local Government Area on Thursday, Wike noted that the future of Nigerians was in the PDP and not the APC.

“Do you know why workers’ salaries have not been paid? Amaechi spent N30bn in funding the presidential campaign of the APC. They (the APC leadership) allowed him to spend the money and later, they called him mugu (fool).

“They (the APC leadership) said we will not make this ‘boy’ who does not respect the President (Goodluck Jonathan) the vice president. We should know that our future is in the PDP and not the APC,” Wike stressed.

The former minister also decried the statement credited to the APC governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, that he (Peterside) would build on Amaechi legacy.

According to him, some of the governor’s actions on the state judiciary, monorail project were not worth continuing as a legacy.

Reacting to Wike’s allegation, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the PDP governorship candidate spoke without fact, even as she challenged him to show any proof that Amaechi was funding the APC.

“It is unbelievable that a man who wants to be the governor of this state can make such an unbelievable statement without any proof. We challenge him (Wike) to show proof that Governor Amaechi spent N30bn to fund the APC campaign.”

Sudan orders senior UN officials to leave

2014-12-26 08:59
Khartoum - Sudan has ordered two senior United Nations officials to leave, a UN spokesperson said on Thursday, after a recent spike in tensions between Khartoum and the peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator Ali Zaatari and the UN Development Programme country director Yvonne Helle were asked by the government to leave, a UN staffer said.
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN has protested the expulsions.

"The UN has filed a protest with the government of Sudan following their decision to request the departure of two senior UN officials from the country," Dujarric told AFP.

It was unclear clear why the UN officials were asked to leave, or when they would have to exit the country.
The UN staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to provide further details.
The UNDP and Sudanese foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Zaatari, a Jordanian national, had been in Sudan for nearly two years, and Helle, who is from the Netherlands, had spent about a year heading the UNDP's office in the country.

Also Read: Sudan rights group's office raided

The expulsions come as Sudan's government is locked in a dispute with the hybrid UN-African union mission in Darfur.

Ties between the two have frayed over Khartoum's anger at Unamid's attempts to investigate a report that government troops raped 200 women and girls in a village in the war-torn western region on 31 October.
Sudan demanded Unamid form an "exit strategy" from Darfur, where they have been deployed since 2007 and ordered it to shut a human rights office in Khartoum last month.

Zaatari and Helle's expulsion are the latest in a string of incidents with foreign aid and humanitarian workers in Sudan.

In April, the government told the American chief of the UN Population Fund in Sudan to leave for "interfering" in internal affairs.

The UN and international NGOs provide aid to some of the areas of Sudan worst affected by the conflicts wracking its peripheries.

The government is battling an insurgency in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, as well as a protracted conflict in Darfur.

Ethnic insurgents rebelled against Khartoum in 2003 complaining they were being marginalized, and in the intervening 11 years, the UN says some 300 000 people have been killed and two million displaced.

- AFP

Father asks ISIS to treat captured son as guest

2014-12-26 08:59
Amman - The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State fighters after his plane crashed in Syria said he did not consider his son a hostage and called on his captors to treat him as a "guest".

Jordan is one of several Arab countries participating in the US-led military mission to bomb fighters from the Islamist group, which holds territory in both Syria and Iraq.

First Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh, 27, was captured after his jet crashed in northeast Syria on Wednesday during a bombing mission against the militants. The US military, which commands the operation, said enemy fire was not the cause of the crash.

Kasaesbeh, who comes from a prominent Jordanian Sunni Muslim family, is the first pilot from the international coalition known to have been captured by Islamic State.

The Sunni Muslim jihadist group has a history of killing enemy soldiers that it captures on the battlefield and beheading Western civilians that it takes hostage. Many of the captives it has killed are Shi'ites or non-Muslims, but the group has also executed Sunnis for fighting alongside its enemies.

His family has pleaded for mercy.
"I do not want to describe him as a hostage. I call him a guest," his father, Saif al-Kasaesbeh, told Reuters Television.
"He is a guest among brothers of ours in Syria Islamic State. I ask them - by the name of God and with the dignity of the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him - to receive him as a guest of his hosts and treat him well," he said.

- Reuters

Girl: My father gave me to Boko Haram

2014-12-26 08:59 Kano - A 13-year-old girl says her father gave her to Boko Haram extremists and that she was arrested after refusing to explode a suicide bomb at a market in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city in the north.

She says she told her captors she did not want to be a suicide bomber but allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives because they threatened to bury her alive.

She says she was taken to Kano's textile market where two other girls detonated their bombs. Police said four people were killed in the 10 December attack.

Police presented the girl at a news conference on Tuesday night.

Nigeria has suffered numerous bombings carried out by girls and young women.

‘Expert’ UK soccer tips

Cape Town - Each round of the 2014/15 English Premiership season, a panel of Sport24 staff and occasional guest tipsters have a crack at predicting the results - do the exercise yourself, if you like, and see how you compare afterwards.
Compiled by Rob Houwing (Newcastle-partial), the others are Garrin Lambley (Everton), Herman Mostert (Chelsea), Earl Haupt (Liverpool) and a pesky new trio of Manchester United devotees in Tashreeq Vardien, Wade Pretorius and Maano Nekhavhambe.
Three points are awarded for an entirely correct scoreline, and one for right result.
THE PRIME ATTRACTION
TOTTENHAM v CHELSEA
Thursday, January 1, 19:30
Last season, Tottenham were denied a possible, spirited victory by John Terry’s 75th-minute equaliser in an engrossing clash at White Hart Lane. Mind you, Spurs then had one of their notorious off-days in the away meeting, conceding all four goals after the break in a 4-0 victory for the Blues (including two very late Demba Ba strikes). So you can never be sure what to expect from the home side in this one, and I just fancy that Jose Mourinho will find sufficient ways to dismantle them. That’s the most popular pick, although Garrin believes the leaders will be curtailed to a point, and Maano goes rather left-field to tip a particularly Happy New Year for Spurs fans ... 
Rob: Tottenham  0 Chelsea 2 
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-2
Earl: 0-2
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 1-3
Maano: 1-0
Last season: 1-1                          
THE GRUDGE MATCH
WEST HAM v ARSENAL
Sunday, December 28, 17:00
There are a few London derbies over the festive season, and here’s another goodie. The Hammers continue to punch gleefully above their weight – still in fourth as this was penned – and two slots ahead of  the normally more fancied Gunners. Our gurus are confused about which way to go, offering you all outcomes, so I thought I’d shrewdly nip into middle ground and predict a tight 1-1 draw. Fickle Arsenal did win the equivalent fixture 3-1 last season, with Theo Walcott netting twice in a come-from-behind effort.
Rob: West Ham 1 Arsenal 1
Garrin: 1-2
Herman: 1-2
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 2-2
Tashreeq: 1-0
Maano: 1-2
Last season: 1-3                          
THE DESPERATE DUEL
HULL v LEICESTER
Sunday, December 28, 17:00
Easy one to install, this: at the time we did our predictions, hosts Hull lay second from bottom ... with these very opponents the only outfit in more humble real estate. So don’t expect any special post-Christmas goodwill from either protagonist in what may be a grim, feisty battle. It’s also another game where our panel are all over the place; never accuse us of crooning from the same carol sheet! 
Rob: Hull 1 Leicester 1
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-2
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 1-0
Maano: 0-1
Last season: Not applicable                    
THE OTHERS
TOTTENHAM v MANCHESTER UNITED
Sunday, December 28, 14:00
Rob: Tottenham 1 Manchester United 2
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 2-3
Tashreeq: 1-1
Maano: 1-4
Last season: 2-2                   
SOUTHAMPTON v CHELSEA
Sunday, December 28, 16:05
Rob: Southampton 0 Chelsea 2
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-2
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 1-1
Maano: 1-0
Last season: 0-3            
ASTON VILLA v SUNDERLAND
Sunday, December 28, 17:00
Rob: Aston Villa 1 Sunderland 1
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 2-1
Wade: 1-1
Tashreeq: 1-2
Maano: 1-1
Last season: 0-0                   
MANCHESTER CITY v BURNLEY
Sunday, December 28, 17:00
Rob: Manchester City 2 Burnley 0
Garrin: 3-0
Herman: 3-0
Earl: 4-1
Wade: 3-0
Tashreeq: 3-0
Maano: 2-0
Last season: Not applicable             
QPR v CRYSTAL PALACE
Sunday, December 28, 17:00
Rob: QPR 1 Crystal Palace 1
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 2-0
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 1-1
Last season: Not applicable                   
STOKE v WEST BROM
Sunday, December 28, 17:00
Rob: Stoke 1 West Brom 1
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-0
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 1-0
Last season: 0-0 
NEWCASTLE v EVERTON
Sunday, December 28, 18:15
Rob: Newcastle 1 Everton 1
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 2-1
Wade: 1-1
Tashreeq: 1-1
Maano: 0-1
Last season: 0-3             
LIVERPOOL v SWANSEA
Monday, December 29, 22:00
Rob: Liverpool 2 Swansea 1
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 2-1
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 1-0
Maano: 1-0
Last season: 4-3                   
STOKE v MANCHESTER UNITED
Thursday, January 1, 14:45
Rob: Stoke 1 Manchester United 1
Garrin: 1-2
Herman: 1-2
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 1-2
Maano: 0-1
Last season: 2-1            
ASTON VILLA v CRYSTAL PALACE
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: Aston Villa 1 Crystal Palace 0
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 0-0
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 1-0
Maano: 1-0
Last season: 0-1                   
HULL v EVERTON
Thursday January 1, 17:00
Rob: Hull 0 Everton 0
Garrin: 1-2
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-2
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 1-3
Maano: 0-0
Last season: 0-2             
LIVERPOOL v LEICESTER
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: Liverpool 3 Leicester 0
Garrin: 2-0
Herman: 2-0
Earl: 2-1
Wade: 2-0
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 2-1
Last season: Not applicable                   
MANCHESTER CITY v SUNDERLAND
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: Manchester City 2 Sunderland 0 
Garrin: 3-0
Herman: 2-0
Earl: 3-0
Wade: 3-0
Tashreeq: 3-1
Maano: 1-0
Last season: 2-2 
NEWCASTLE v BURNLEY
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: Newcastle 1 Burnley 0
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 3-0
Wade: 3-1
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 1-0
Last season: Not applicable             
QPR v SWANSEA
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: QPR 1 Swansea 1
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 0-1
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 2-3
Maano: 3-1
Last season: Not applicable                   
SOUTHAMPTON v ARSENAL
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: Southampton 0 Arsenal 2
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-2
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 1-1
Maano: 1-2
Last season: 2-2
WEST HAM v WEST BROM
Thursday, January 1, 17:00
Rob: West Ham 2 West Brom 0
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 2-0
Wade: 2-0
Tashreeq: 3-1
Maano: 2-1
Last season: 3-3            
*LEADERBOARD (ahead of Boxing Day games, for which our tips were published recently)
140 Wade (13 points in last round)
132 Garrin (8)
131 Herman (8)
116 Rob (7)
110 Tashreeq (7)
109 Earl (7)
96 Maano (6)
Sport24

UN: Nigerian peacekeeper recovers from Ebola

2014-12-24 06:55
United Nations — The United Nations says a Nigerian peacekeeper with Ebola who had been evacuated to the Netherlands for treatment has recovered and has returned to the mission in Liberia.

The spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters Tuesday that the peacekeeper will resume duties while undergoing monitoring and psychological counseling.

The unidentified man arrived in the Netherlands earlier this month. The Netherlands has followed Germany, France and Switzerland in taking on Ebola patients at the request of the World Health Organization.

The health organization on Monday said the world's worst Ebola outbreak has killed more than 7,500 people, the overwhelming majority in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

- AP

First conviction in Sierra Leone under Ebola laws

2014-12-24 08:29
Freetown - A village chief has become the first person in Sierra Leone to be jailed under laws aimed at preventing the spread of the Ebola virus, court officials and lawyers said on Tuesday.

Amadu Kargbo was sentenced to six months in jail by a court in the south-western city of Moyamba for secretly burying the dead and failing to report a sick patient, court official Foday Fofanah told AFP.
He was also fined $235 and ordered to spend 21 days in quarantine before going to jail.

Lawyers in the capital Freetown said it was the first known conviction under the country's Ebola laws.

Fofanah said the chief had pleaded guilty to secretly burying his daughter, who had died of Ebola.

He added that Kargbo's wife had also died after attending the funeral of another family member, although it was not clear if any of the charges related to his wife's death and burial.

Ebola has killed more than 7 500 people, almost all of them in west Africa and Sierra Leone recently overtook Liberia as the country with the highest number of Ebola infections.

Authorities have banned public gatherings as well as New Year celebrations as part of sweeping efforts to stem the spread of the virus.

- AFP

PDP urges APC to focus campaign on issues, not attack on persons

2014-12-24 08:29
Abuja - The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised the All Peoples Congress (APC) to base its campaign on issues as the nation moves toward the 2015 general elections.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, gave the advice in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
The PDP spokesman assured the APC that the PDP remained committed to campaigning on issues.
He added that “we will campaign on our record of verifiable achievements; we will campaign on the fact that Nigeria can never go back to the past.”

“We will campaign on issues and ideas built around our continuing agenda to transform our nation going into the future.”

Metuh said that PDP’s reference to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the APC presidential candidate as “semi-literate jackboot” did not amount to the party’s renege on commitment to issue-based campaign.
The PDP national publicity secretary, however, acknowledged that the PDP National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, referred to Gen. Buhari as “semi-literate jackboot.”

“In the PDP, we occupy the moral high ground as far as our commitment to issues-based campaign is concerned.”

“Our word remains our bond. Since we made that commitment, we have focused on issues.”
“There has never been any instance that we have maliciously attacked the characters of those on the presidential ticket of the APC.”

“Rather, we have been alive to our responsibility of offering public service, so that Nigerians will not be deceived.”

He added that the statement by Oladipo, referred to by the APC, did not compare to instances of vicious, malicious and provocative attacks on the person and office of President Goodluck Jonathan by the APC.

He said that in the face of vicious attacks on the President, PDP had remained committed to engaging in decent campaign ahead of the 2015 general elections.

“It is on record that a few days after the commitment alluded to by the APC, Gov. Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and of the APC attacked the person of President Jonathan, describing him as an incompetent commander-in-chief.”

“No personal attack could be more vicious and unconscionable.”

“Similarly, the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, had consistently prosecuted a hate campaign against President Jonathan, describing him as an enemy of Rivers people.”

“To worsen the entire matter, the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, is complicit in the propagation of personal attack over and above issues.”

“It was insulting for Buhari to say, as he did in Sokoto on December 21, that no right-thinking Nigerian will vote for Jonathan.”

Metuh said President Jonathan had never, whether before or after he became the PDP presidential candidate for 2015 election, attacked the character or person of Gen. Buhari.

He assured that PDP was however, fully prepared, ready, willing and able to defend all personal attacks on President Jonathan and the party`s leadership.

- NAN