Prisoners commit suicide in Taiwan prison siege

2015-02-12 09:01
Taipei - Six armed inmates who held a warden and guards hostage in a failed bid to escape a prison in southern Taiwan committed suicide early on Thursday and all the hostages are free, a top justice official said.
The justice ministry said authorities had rejected the inmates' demands for safe exit from the prison during the hours-long standoff after the inmates seized weapons. By the pre-dawn hours, the inmates had released all hostages except the warden. They then shot themselves, and the warden was able to walk free, deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang said in a televised interview.
The ministry did not offer any video or other evidence of the reported suicides, but authorities were planning a news conference later on Thursday.
Chen said in the interview that "there was no police raid." He said four of the inmates shot themselves first and that the remaining two had fired additional shots at them to make sure they were dead before shooting themselves.

Five prison staffers were slightly injured during the standoff, Chen said.
The incident started when the inmates — serving long sentences for burglary, murder and drug crimes — took four rifles, six handguns and more than 200 bullets from the prison's armoury, the ministry said.
The ringleader, Cheng Li-te, belonged to the notorious mafia-type organisation Bamboo Union and was serving a 28 ½-year sentence for homicide, the ministry said. The other five inmates were serving sentences ranging from 25 years to life.
They demanded safe passage from the prison while holding Warden Chen Shih-chih and head guard Wang Shih-tsang after the pair offered to swap themselves for earlier hostages.
No injuries had been reported prior to the reported suicides in a standoff that lasted more than six hours, the ministry said.
Witnesses interviewed by private cable news station TVBS said gunshots were heard. Other reports said the shots were fired into the air.
Within hours of the hostage taking, armed police had surrounded the prison in the port city of Kaohsiung. Authorities also called on relatives of the inmates to plea for the release of the hostages.
The ministry said it had rejected demands that the police force be withdrawn and that two vehicles be provided to allow the prisoners to leave in exchange for the safety of the detainees.
The inmates used the need for medical care as a pretense to lure prison guards before kidnapping them, the official Central News Agency said.
The United Daily News said that in a phone call with Cheng he said the incident had been long planned and that he was prepared to die for it. The newspaper said Cheng complained about the tendency of judges to presume guilt, insufficient allowances for inmates and unfairness in granting medical paroles.
The ministry said Deputy Warden Lai Chen-jung and head guard Wang volunteered to swap with the two guards who were initially taken hostage. Later, Chen, the prison warden, offered to exchange with Lai as a hostage.

- AP

Buhari speaks on Obasanjo’s endorsement

Lagos – The All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari says the endorsement by former president Olusegun Obasanjo would boost the party’s support base.

Speaking during an interview on Cable News Network (CNN) Buhari said Obasanjo was highly respected in the country and therefore his endorsement was likely to help APC gain more support from Nigerians.

"It [the endorsement] will certainly bring more supporters to us and more confidence again to us from those who are sitting on the fence because general Obasanjo is highly respected and as far as the Nigerian nation is concerned, there is no serious issue that can be discussed without people seeking for his opinion and listening to it," said Buhari.

Obasanjo, who is a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) publicly declared his support for Buhari on Monday during the launch of his book 'My Watch', in Nairobi, Kenya.

According to Punch, Obasanjo said he was confident that Buhari would be able to effectively deal with issues of corruption and insecurity.

- News24

I'll gladly go home if I lose, says Jonathan

Lagos – President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to conduct a free and fair election, saying that he will "gladly go home" if doesn't win.

According to The Nation, Jonathan, who was speaking during the Presidential Media Chat monitored by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), rubbished suggestions that he won't handover power if he loses, saying the insinuations were "unnecessary and unfortunate".

The country goes to vote on 28 March after the elections were delayed by six weeks due to security concerns.

Early this week, Jonathan urged Nigerians to see the upcoming elections as a "contest amongst brothers and sisters".

"I want to remind us all that we have no other country other than Nigeria and as we approach the election, it is wise that we speak good and peaceful words over Nigeria," Jonathan wrote of his official Facebook page.

Jonathan said it was essential for the contenders to put the country first as they campaigned in different parts of the country.

- News24

Man falls in soakaway while trying to start generator

2015-02-12 10:03
Abuja - The Mushin area of Lagos State has been hit by tragedy after a man fell into a soakaway pit while attempting to start a generator.

The incident, which occurred on Sunday, took place when the man attempted to start a generator which was placed on top of the soakaway. The weight from the generator allegedly caused the slab covering the pit to give way, subsequently dropping both the man and the generator inside.

Officials from the Lagos State Fire Service are alleged to have taken five hours to extract the deceased's body from the pit.

According to a PUNCH report, tenants who occupied the man's residence with him often placed a generator on top of the soakaway which caused the slab above it to weaken.

Rasak Fadipe, Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, confirmed the incident and said Joshua Akindele, a fireman, descended into the pit to retrieve the man's body.

Fadipe has warned citizens to avoid using septic tanks as passageways storage facilities for generators.
Read more at PUNCH

NNPC insists no money is missing

2015-02-12 10:03
Abuja - The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday said that the report of the forensic audit carried out on its books by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) did not indict it in anyway.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Joseph Dawha, said at a news conference in Abuja that the report, rather, absolved NNPC of culpability on all counts.

The managing director, who was clarifying the highlights of the PwC forensic audit report, expressed joy at the successful completion of the exercise.

He said the report had laid to rest the 15-month long controversy over the allegation of missing 49.8 billion dollars.

"The report has clearly vindicated our long held position that the alleged unremitted crude oil revenue was a farce from day one,” he said.

On the issue of the outstanding 1.48 billion, he explained that the amount was the balance of the book value of the divested assets that were transferred to NNPC upstream subsidiary.

Dawha said the amount transferred to its subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), excluded taxes and royalties.

“This does not constitute indictment; rather this value is still being reconciled with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

"It is pertinent to note that the 1.48 billion dollars is not part of the alleged unremitted revenues from crude oil sales,” Dawha.

He explained that what the DPR sent to NNPC as the estimated value of the assets was 1.847 billion dollars.

He said out of this, the corporation paid over 300 million dollars as a token to indicate its commitment to acquiring the assets pending resolution and reconciliation by NNPC and DPR.

On remittances of proceeds from crude oil sales into the Federation Account from January 1, 2012 to July 31, 2013, he said the PwC forensic audit report was clear on this.

He stated that NNPC remitted 50.81billion out of a total of 69.34billion dollars.
He added that the report acknowledged that the balance was spent on petrol and kerosene subsidy as well as the corporation’s operation costs.

He explained that both the Senate Finance Committee probe report and the PwC forensic audit report corroborated the corporation’s position on kerosene subsidy.

He said that subsidy on kerosene was still in force as the presidential directive of October 19, 2009 was not gazetted in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Act of 1969.

Dawha explained that though the forensic audit report recommended a review of the laws to stop NNPC from deducting its costs and expenses from crude oil sales proceeds, they were not illegal.

He, however, stated that the management of NNPC fully supported the ongoing process of reviewing the laws governing its operations.

He said the corporation had commenced internal transformation ahead of the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which was currently undergoing legislative processes at the National Assembly.

He called on the media to eschew sensationalism and help disseminate the facts regarding the alleged missing money as contained in the reports of the various probes.

He urged Nigerians to shun malicious reports linking the corporation with missing or unremitted oil revenue.
He said that the various probe reports, including the latest PwC report, had clearly stated that "no oil money is missing”.

- NAN

Missouri man executed for killing neighbor in 1990

2015-02-11 10:01
St. Louis — A Missouri man convicted of breaking into his neighbor's home and slitting her throat 25 years ago has been executed.

Walter Timothy Storey was put to death early Wednesday for killing 36-year-old special education teacher Jill Frey in February 1990 in a St. Louis suburb. It was Missouri's first execution this year after a state-record 10 in 2014.

Storey lived in a St. Charles apartment with his mother and was drinking beer and angry about a pending divorce. When he ran out of beer, he broke into Frey's apartment to steal money for more beer.

Storey beat Frey and slit her throat so deeply that her spine was damaged.
Storey twice had convictions thrown out due to court errors. He was sentenced to death a third time in 1999.

- AP

US to withdraw troops from Ebola mission in West Africa

2015-02-11 08:57
Washington - The US military plans to pull out most troops from West Africa that were deployed to help stem the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, ending a five-month mission.
A force that at one point reached 2 800 has been scaled back to about 1 300 troops and "nearly all will return by 30 April," Pentagon spokesperson Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.
The announcement came as the epidemic has begun to recede.

President Barack Obama will on Wednesday declare a next phase in fighting the disease.
"We have bent the curve of the epidemic and placed it on a much improved trajectory," the White House said.

A small team of about 100 US troops will remain in the region to strengthen "disease preparedness and surveillance capacity" of local governments, Kirby said.

At the height of the Ebola outbreak, President Barack Obama approved plans in September for more than 3 000 troops to head to Liberia and Senegal.

But the full contingent never had to be ordered in as the tide began to turn in the effort to contain the virus.
The US forces, most of whom were stationed in Liberia, constructed Ebola treatment units, trained health workers, provided logistical support for aid agencies and set up labs to test blood samples, Kirby said.

When an American who travelled to Liberia died from the virus last year, public fears spiked in the United States and Washington officials scrambled to take measures to prevent any possible outbreak.

Although US troops in Liberia and Senegal had no contact with patients, the Pentagon placed all military personnel returning from West Africa in temporary quarantine as a precaution.

Officials so far have not detected the virus in any US soldier that worked in West Africa.
About 9 000 people have died from Ebola since the outbreak began 13 months ago, with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone the hardest hit.

A massive international effort has been underway to rid the three West African nations of the Ebola virus, and a drop in new cases had sparked hopes that the worst was over.

But the weekly number of new Ebola cases registered in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone rose in the last week of January, marking the first increase in 2015, the World Health Organisation said last week.

During the seven days leading up to February 1 124 new cases were confirmed across the three west African countries that have the vast majority of infections.

- AFP