2015-01-08 16:15
Lagos – Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has disputed
former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claims that the Goodluck Jonathan
administration squandered the country’s reserves, Premium Times reports.
Obasanjo
said in a meeting with South West women leaders in Abeokuta that $67
billion that was left in the foreign reserve account by his
administration was depleted by Jonathan’s government.
In
a statement, Okonjo-Iweala said that the present government only
inherited $43.13 billion and that part of the foreign reserves were used
by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilize the Naira, and the
balance fluctuates with the swinging of the crude oil prices.
She
also said that funds were used to pay for fuel subsidies to petroleum
marketers to ensure that there was a greater supply of fuel in the
country..
Read more at Premium Times
News, Events, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Fashion, Beauty, Inspiration and yes... Gossip! *Wink*
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Rape suspect rearrested in Lagos
2015-01-08 14:46
Lagos - A 25-year-old suspect, Hamzat Afeez who allegedly defiled a three-year-old girl, has been re-arrested by the Lagos Police Command, Punch reports.
Afeez who was initially on bail, was rearrested after the Deputy Governor of the state, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, intervened in the matter, promising to ensure justice for the three-year-old victim.
The act was committed on December 13, and by December 17, the police reportedly released the suspect on bail and also accused the father of the victim of collecting N40 000 from the suspect to settle the matter.
Following the report, the Special Adviser to the Deputy Governor on Media, Tunde Abatan, said Orelope-Adefulire had already sent a delegation to the Gowon Estate Police Station to verify the report and visit the victim.
Lagos - A 25-year-old suspect, Hamzat Afeez who allegedly defiled a three-year-old girl, has been re-arrested by the Lagos Police Command, Punch reports.
Afeez who was initially on bail, was rearrested after the Deputy Governor of the state, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, intervened in the matter, promising to ensure justice for the three-year-old victim.
The act was committed on December 13, and by December 17, the police reportedly released the suspect on bail and also accused the father of the victim of collecting N40 000 from the suspect to settle the matter.
Following the report, the Special Adviser to the Deputy Governor on Media, Tunde Abatan, said Orelope-Adefulire had already sent a delegation to the Gowon Estate Police Station to verify the report and visit the victim.
Okah tried to assassinate me- Jonathan
2015-01-08 16:15
Lagos - President Goodluck Jonathan has accused imprisoned leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) of trying to assassinate him during the October 1 Independence Day celebration bomb explosion.
Jonathan made the revelation at the flag-off of the People Democratic Party presidential campaign at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos State.
He said the militant group carried out the attacks in Abuja to kill him but did not succeed.
He said the militant group carried out the attacks in Abuja to kill him but did not succeed.
A South African court jailed Henry Okah for 24 years after he was convicted of 13 terrorism charges over twin bombings in Abuja in 2010.
Lagos - President Goodluck Jonathan has accused imprisoned leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) of trying to assassinate him during the October 1 Independence Day celebration bomb explosion.
Jonathan made the revelation at the flag-off of the People Democratic Party presidential campaign at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos State.
He said the militant group carried out the attacks in Abuja to kill him but did not succeed.
He said the militant group carried out the attacks in Abuja to kill him but did not succeed.
A South African court jailed Henry Okah for 24 years after he was convicted of 13 terrorism charges over twin bombings in Abuja in 2010.
Leaked communication between AirAsia and air traffic control surfaces
2015-01-08 10:35
An audio clip of a conversation between air traffic controllers at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya and the pilots of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has surfaced, suggesting that the flight schedule had indeed been authorised, unlike previously stated.
The leaked conversation had originally been obtained by Indonesian media company KompasTekno, Astro Awani reports, and has since also been published to YouTube.
Listen to the audio clip here
The recording calls into question the Indonesian transport ministry's statement that Flight QZ8501, which crashed into the Java Sea on 28 December with 162 people on board, was flying on an unauthorised schedule, as air traffic control can be heard granting permission for take-off.
The flight was en route from Surabaya to Singapore early on the morning of Sunday 28 December.
Indonesia's director general of air transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, said on Saturday that the plane had taken off at a flight time that had not been cleared by officials.
Also see: Doomed AirAsia flight schedule unauthorised
However, during the conversation between the doomed flight's captain and air traffic control, no doubts about flight times or schedules seem to surface.
A transcription of part of the conversation was posted onto YouTube, along with the audio recording:
(Note that QZ8501's call sign is Wagon Air8501)
AWQ8501: "Tower, Wagon Air eight five zero one good morning..."
Tower: "Wagon Air 8501 good morning Juanda Tower, go ahead..."
AWQ8501: "Eight five zero one (registrasi) alpha x-ray charlie parking stand Alpha Niner (A9) destination Singapore POB (passenger on board) one six one, request push and start, wagon air eight five zero one..."
Tower: "Wagon Air eight five zero one parking stand number Alpha niner Pushback and start approved heading west runway one zero, exit sierra two...
Shortly after, at approximately minute 1:12, flight QZ8501 sought approval from ATC to proceed to the runway. ATC directed QZ8501 to runway 10 which the flight was placed on standby.
At 2:43, ATC authorised clearance for takeoff via M635 airways at the height of 24 000-feet."Wagon Air eight five zero one clear to Singapore, mike six three five level two four zero initial, RAMPY one alpha departure squawk number seven zero zero five,” a female voice from the ATC was heard.
At the 5th minute, a voice believed to be the captain of flight QZ8501 was heard - informing the ATC of its position on the runway at Juanda Airport, the total number of passengers and the purpose to Singapore.
In the meantime Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has also confirmed that the schedule from its Surabaya counterpart shows the QZ8501 flight on Sunday as authorised.
Despite this the Indonesian transport ministry has frozen AirAsia's permission to fly that route.
An audio clip of a conversation between air traffic controllers at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya and the pilots of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has surfaced, suggesting that the flight schedule had indeed been authorised, unlike previously stated.
The leaked conversation had originally been obtained by Indonesian media company KompasTekno, Astro Awani reports, and has since also been published to YouTube.
Listen to the audio clip here
The recording calls into question the Indonesian transport ministry's statement that Flight QZ8501, which crashed into the Java Sea on 28 December with 162 people on board, was flying on an unauthorised schedule, as air traffic control can be heard granting permission for take-off.
The flight was en route from Surabaya to Singapore early on the morning of Sunday 28 December.
Indonesia's director general of air transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, said on Saturday that the plane had taken off at a flight time that had not been cleared by officials.
Also see: Doomed AirAsia flight schedule unauthorised
However, during the conversation between the doomed flight's captain and air traffic control, no doubts about flight times or schedules seem to surface.
A transcription of part of the conversation was posted onto YouTube, along with the audio recording:
(Note that QZ8501's call sign is Wagon Air8501)
AWQ8501: "Tower, Wagon Air eight five zero one good morning..."
Tower: "Wagon Air 8501 good morning Juanda Tower, go ahead..."
AWQ8501: "Eight five zero one (registrasi) alpha x-ray charlie parking stand Alpha Niner (A9) destination Singapore POB (passenger on board) one six one, request push and start, wagon air eight five zero one..."
Tower: "Wagon Air eight five zero one parking stand number Alpha niner Pushback and start approved heading west runway one zero, exit sierra two...
Shortly after, at approximately minute 1:12, flight QZ8501 sought approval from ATC to proceed to the runway. ATC directed QZ8501 to runway 10 which the flight was placed on standby.
At 2:43, ATC authorised clearance for takeoff via M635 airways at the height of 24 000-feet."Wagon Air eight five zero one clear to Singapore, mike six three five level two four zero initial, RAMPY one alpha departure squawk number seven zero zero five,” a female voice from the ATC was heard.
At the 5th minute, a voice believed to be the captain of flight QZ8501 was heard - informing the ATC of its position on the runway at Juanda Airport, the total number of passengers and the purpose to Singapore.
In the meantime Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has also confirmed that the schedule from its Surabaya counterpart shows the QZ8501 flight on Sunday as authorised.
Despite this the Indonesian transport ministry has frozen AirAsia's permission to fly that route.
Cop wounded in Paris shoot-out – police
2015-01-08 10:40
VIDEO: SA newspapers pay tribute to 12 killed in Paris attack
Paris - A police officer was wounded in a shoot-out in southern Paris on Thursday, a police source told Reuters, adding that it was unclear at this stage whether there was any link to the killings at the Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Television station iTELE said two police officers were lying on the ground after the attack.
French police are carrying out manhunt for two brothers suspected of killing 12 people on Wednesday at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in a presumed Islamist militant strike.
On Thursday, authorities released photos of the two French nationals still at large, calling them "armed and dangerous".
Seven people have already been arrested in the ongoing investigation, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.
Reuters
Paris - A police officer was wounded in a shoot-out in southern Paris on Thursday, a police source told Reuters, adding that it was unclear at this stage whether there was any link to the killings at the Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Television station iTELE said two police officers were lying on the ground after the attack.
French police are carrying out manhunt for two brothers suspected of killing 12 people on Wednesday at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in a presumed Islamist militant strike.
On Thursday, authorities released photos of the two French nationals still at large, calling them "armed and dangerous".
Seven people have already been arrested in the ongoing investigation, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.
Reuters
Several attacks against French Muslim targets
31 minutes ago
Paris - Muslims places of worship in two French towns were
fired upon overnight, leaving no casualties, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Three blank grenades were thrown at a mosque shortly after midnight in the city of Le Mans, west of Paris, and shots were fired in the direction of a Muslim prayer hall shortly after evening prayers in the Port-la-Nouvelle district near Narbonne in southern France.
An explosion at a kebab shop near a mosque in the eastern French town of Villefranche-sur-Saone on Thursday morning also left no casualties.
"It is a criminal act," a local official told AFP, adding that a police investigation has been opened.
No link was suggested with the deadly attack on Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo a day earlier.
AFP
Three blank grenades were thrown at a mosque shortly after midnight in the city of Le Mans, west of Paris, and shots were fired in the direction of a Muslim prayer hall shortly after evening prayers in the Port-la-Nouvelle district near Narbonne in southern France.
An explosion at a kebab shop near a mosque in the eastern French town of Villefranche-sur-Saone on Thursday morning also left no casualties.
"It is a criminal act," a local official told AFP, adding that a police investigation has been opened.
No link was suggested with the deadly attack on Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo a day earlier.
AFP
Stunned France mourns after Paris massacre
31 minutes ago
VIDEO: SA newspapers pay tribute to 12 killed in Paris attack
Paris - A stunned and outraged France began a national day of mourning on Thursday, as security forces desperately hunted two brothers suspected of gunning down 12 people in an Islamist assault on a satirical weekly, the country's bloodiest attack in half a century.
The massacre triggered poignant and spontaneous demonstrations of solidarity around the world, with outraged people rallying in their tens of thousands under the banner "I am Charlie", in support of press freedom and the controversial Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Declaring a national day of mourning - only the fifth in the last 50 years - President Francois Hollande called the bloodbath "an act of exceptional barbarity" and "undoubtedly a terrorist attack".
Nearly 24 hours after the brazen daylight assault, the masked, black-clad gunmen - who shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is greatest") while killing some of France's most outspoken journalists as well as two policemen - were still on the loose.
Search-and-seizure operations
Police issued arrest warrants for Cherif Kouachi, 32, a known jihadist convicted in 2008 for involvement in a network sending fighters to Iraq, and his 34-year-old brother Said. Both were born in Paris.
The two men were likely to be "armed and dangerous", authorities warned.
The frantic manhunt stretched into the night with search-and-seizure operations in Strasbourg and towns near Paris, while in north-eastern Reims, police commandos raided a building later scoured by white-clad forensic police.
Hamyd Mourad, an 18-year-old suspected of being an accomplice in the attack, handed himself in, with police sources saying he had seen his name "circulating on social media".
The bells will peal
Hollande ordered flags to fly at half-mast for three days in France and was due to convene an emergency cabinet meeting at 08:30.
A minute's silence will be observed across the country at midday, after which the bells of Paris's famous Notre Dame cathedral will sound out across the capital.
"Nothing can divide us, nothing should separate us. Freedom will always be stronger than barbarity," said the president, calling for "national unity".
Even before the attack France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim population, was on high alert like many countries that have seen citizens leave to fight alongside the radical Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
"Several terrorist attacks had been foiled in recent weeks," Hollande said.
At around 11:30 on Wednesday, the killers stormed the central Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo during an editorial meeting and picked off some of France's best-known cartoonists in cold, military-style executions.
Freedom of expression
Outside the building, chilling amateur video footage showed the attackers calmly approaching a wounded policeman as he lay on the pavement and then shooting him at close range.
Many witnesses said the scene was "like a movie" and some described "rivers of blood" flowing in the streets of the City of Light.
One witness said: "I saw them leaving and shooting. They were wearing masks. These guys were serious.
"At first I thought it was special forces chasing drug traffickers or something," said the man, who declined to give his name.
The attack stunned local residents.
"It's awful, it's awful," said Anne Pajon, a Scot who has lived in Paris for 20 years, as she waited at the busy Saint Lazare train station.
"It's scary. What's worrying is that we can't do anything. That's terrorism - it hits whatever we do. We cannot prevent it."
More than 100 000 people across France poured out into the streets, many brandishing "jesuischarlie" banners and holding aloft pens to voice support for freedom of expression.
Charlie Hebdo has long provoked controversy, mocking many religions with provocative drawings, a practice that has outraged some Muslims whose religion forbids depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.
'Abominable, never justified'
US President Barack Obama led the global condemnation of what he called a "cowardly, evil" assault. Pope Francis described it as a "horrible attack" saying such violence, "whatever the motivation, is abominable, it is never justified".
Visiting the scene, the imam of the Drancy mosque in the northern suburbs of Paris, Hassen Chalghoumi, called the shooters "barbarians".
"They want terror, they want fear. We must not give in. I hope the French will come out in solidarity and not against the Muslim minority in Europe," he told AFP.
Meanwhile, cartoonists reacted as they know best, composing biting and mocking satirical drawings against what editorialists said was an attack on the very foundations of democracy.
Among the cartoons that went viral online was one by Australia's David Pope: a picture of a gunman with a smoking rifle standing over a body, bearing the caption "He drew first".
France's media erupted in fury at the massacre of their colleagues, with the daily Liberation running the headline 'We are all Charlie" - a line repeated in many other papers and echoed online with the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie.
Cartoons
Business daily Les Echos urged people to face up to "barbarism", publishing the last cartoon written by one of those killed in the attack.
"The hooded bastards declared war on France, on our democracy, on our values," the paper said in an editorial.
Charlie Hebdo gained notoriety in February 2006 when it reprinted cartoons of the Prophet that had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.
Its offices were fire-bombed in November 2011 when it published a cartoon of Mohammed under the title "Sharia Hebdo".
Even being dragged to court under anti-racism laws did not stop the publication, which in September 2012 again drew the Prophet, this time naked.
Death threats
The attackers on Wednesday shouted "we have avenged the prophet, we have killed Charlie Hebdo", according to prosecutors.
The assault took place on the day the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo was published.
It featured a cartoon of an armed militant noting "Still no attacks in France. Wait! We have until the end of January to send greetings". That was a reference to France's tradition of wishing someone a Happy New Year before 31 January.
Editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb and who had lived under police guard after receiving death threats, was among those killed, along with the police officer assigned to protect him.
Other victims included Jean Cabut, known across France as Cabu, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac, better known as Tignous.
AFP
Paris - A stunned and outraged France began a national day of mourning on Thursday, as security forces desperately hunted two brothers suspected of gunning down 12 people in an Islamist assault on a satirical weekly, the country's bloodiest attack in half a century.
The massacre triggered poignant and spontaneous demonstrations of solidarity around the world, with outraged people rallying in their tens of thousands under the banner "I am Charlie", in support of press freedom and the controversial Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Declaring a national day of mourning - only the fifth in the last 50 years - President Francois Hollande called the bloodbath "an act of exceptional barbarity" and "undoubtedly a terrorist attack".
Nearly 24 hours after the brazen daylight assault, the masked, black-clad gunmen - who shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is greatest") while killing some of France's most outspoken journalists as well as two policemen - were still on the loose.
Search-and-seizure operations
Police issued arrest warrants for Cherif Kouachi, 32, a known jihadist convicted in 2008 for involvement in a network sending fighters to Iraq, and his 34-year-old brother Said. Both were born in Paris.
The two men were likely to be "armed and dangerous", authorities warned.
The frantic manhunt stretched into the night with search-and-seizure operations in Strasbourg and towns near Paris, while in north-eastern Reims, police commandos raided a building later scoured by white-clad forensic police.
Hamyd Mourad, an 18-year-old suspected of being an accomplice in the attack, handed himself in, with police sources saying he had seen his name "circulating on social media".
The bells will peal
Hollande ordered flags to fly at half-mast for three days in France and was due to convene an emergency cabinet meeting at 08:30.
A minute's silence will be observed across the country at midday, after which the bells of Paris's famous Notre Dame cathedral will sound out across the capital.
"Nothing can divide us, nothing should separate us. Freedom will always be stronger than barbarity," said the president, calling for "national unity".
Even before the attack France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim population, was on high alert like many countries that have seen citizens leave to fight alongside the radical Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
"Several terrorist attacks had been foiled in recent weeks," Hollande said.
At around 11:30 on Wednesday, the killers stormed the central Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo during an editorial meeting and picked off some of France's best-known cartoonists in cold, military-style executions.
Freedom of expression
Outside the building, chilling amateur video footage showed the attackers calmly approaching a wounded policeman as he lay on the pavement and then shooting him at close range.
Many witnesses said the scene was "like a movie" and some described "rivers of blood" flowing in the streets of the City of Light.
One witness said: "I saw them leaving and shooting. They were wearing masks. These guys were serious.
"At first I thought it was special forces chasing drug traffickers or something," said the man, who declined to give his name.
The attack stunned local residents.
"It's awful, it's awful," said Anne Pajon, a Scot who has lived in Paris for 20 years, as she waited at the busy Saint Lazare train station.
"It's scary. What's worrying is that we can't do anything. That's terrorism - it hits whatever we do. We cannot prevent it."
More than 100 000 people across France poured out into the streets, many brandishing "jesuischarlie" banners and holding aloft pens to voice support for freedom of expression.
Charlie Hebdo has long provoked controversy, mocking many religions with provocative drawings, a practice that has outraged some Muslims whose religion forbids depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.
'Abominable, never justified'
US President Barack Obama led the global condemnation of what he called a "cowardly, evil" assault. Pope Francis described it as a "horrible attack" saying such violence, "whatever the motivation, is abominable, it is never justified".
Visiting the scene, the imam of the Drancy mosque in the northern suburbs of Paris, Hassen Chalghoumi, called the shooters "barbarians".
"They want terror, they want fear. We must not give in. I hope the French will come out in solidarity and not against the Muslim minority in Europe," he told AFP.
Meanwhile, cartoonists reacted as they know best, composing biting and mocking satirical drawings against what editorialists said was an attack on the very foundations of democracy.
Among the cartoons that went viral online was one by Australia's David Pope: a picture of a gunman with a smoking rifle standing over a body, bearing the caption "He drew first".
France's media erupted in fury at the massacre of their colleagues, with the daily Liberation running the headline 'We are all Charlie" - a line repeated in many other papers and echoed online with the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie.
Cartoons
Business daily Les Echos urged people to face up to "barbarism", publishing the last cartoon written by one of those killed in the attack.
"The hooded bastards declared war on France, on our democracy, on our values," the paper said in an editorial.
Charlie Hebdo gained notoriety in February 2006 when it reprinted cartoons of the Prophet that had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.
Its offices were fire-bombed in November 2011 when it published a cartoon of Mohammed under the title "Sharia Hebdo".
Even being dragged to court under anti-racism laws did not stop the publication, which in September 2012 again drew the Prophet, this time naked.
Death threats
The attackers on Wednesday shouted "we have avenged the prophet, we have killed Charlie Hebdo", according to prosecutors.
The assault took place on the day the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo was published.
It featured a cartoon of an armed militant noting "Still no attacks in France. Wait! We have until the end of January to send greetings". That was a reference to France's tradition of wishing someone a Happy New Year before 31 January.
Editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb and who had lived under police guard after receiving death threats, was among those killed, along with the police officer assigned to protect him.
Other victims included Jean Cabut, known across France as Cabu, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac, better known as Tignous.
AFP
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