Bombs laid by Islamic State hamper Iraqi troops in Ramadi after victory

Islamic State militants left Ramadi's streets and buildings boobytrapped with bombs, hampering efforts to rebuild the city two weeks after Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces claimed victory against the militant group there, officials said.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was touted as the first major success for Iraq's army since it collapsed in the face of Islamic State's lightning advance across the country's north and west 18 months ago.
The militants have been pushed to Ramadi's eastern suburbs, but almost all of the city, which was battered by U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State, remains off-limits to its nearly half a million displaced residents, most of whom fled before the army advance.

"Most areas are now under the security forces' control," Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on Saturday at a temporary government complex southeast of the city.

"Most of the streets in Ramadi are mined with explosives so it requires large efforts and expertise," he said.
Specialized bomb disposal teams from the police and civil defense force would begin work "soon", he said.
The counter-terrorism forces which spearheaded the city's recapture are securing only main streets and tactically important buildings, security sources said.

They have built up earth banks at the entrance of central neighborhoods deemed clear of militants but still laden with explosives, and marked buildings' exteriors as "mined", the sources added.


Snipers have also slowed progress. Iraqi forces clear them by calling in devastating air strikes - more than 55 in the past two weeks, according to the coalition.

On Saturday they routed militants from the Mal'ab neighborhood, adding the last major district in Ramadi's city center to their control, said commander Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi.

Iraqi forces withdrew from Ramadi in May last year, allowing Islamic State to take control, the group's biggest gain since sweeping across the Syrian border a year earlier and declaring it was establishing a caliphate.

Islamic State fighters are still holed up in a roughly 10 kilometer (6 mile) stretch east towards Husaiba al-Sharqiya using agricultural lands to evade detection, security sources said. It could take at least 10 days to clear those areas.

PATH OF DESTRUCTION
Hundreds of air strikes since July, combined with Islamic State sabotage, have reduced much of Ramadi to rubble.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is still waiting for the green light from the Iraqi government to enter the city and start work to rebuild it, the deputy head of its Iraq program, Lise Grande said.

UNDP has prepared 100 generators and mobile electrical grids to provide a temporary power grid as soon as that happens. An assessment of the damage to the rest of Ramadi's infrastructure will dictate other areas of focus.
The city will require around $20 million immediately for emergency humanitarian response and billions more for long-term reconstruction, said Grande.

"Restoring infrastructure is hugely important, but the decisive factor in getting people to return is when they think security is in place," she said.

After Ramadi, there remains the bigger challenge of Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad. As many as 3,200 Islamic State fighters are there, more than three times the number that held Ramadi, according to the coalition.

It is also more densely populated. Most of Mosul's pre-2014 population of about two million have not left.
The destruction in Ramadi has sparked criticism including from powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, which were kept out of the battle for fear of stirring sectarian tensions in Anbar's Sunni heartland.

Despite accusations of human rights abuses, groups like Asaib Ahl al-Haq claim they have could have retaken Ramadi more "neatly".

Iraqi security forces stand with an Islamist State flag which they pulled down at the University of Anbar, in Anbar province July 26, 2015.

Reuters/Stringer

Woman raped by five men in New York City park, police say

Five men took turns raping a woman in a Brooklyn park after forcing her father at gunpoint to flee the scene, New York City police said.

The 18-year-old woman was with her father in a park just after 9 p.m. on Thursday night when five men approached them, police said. One pointed a gun at the father and told him to leave.

After the father left, the men each assaulted the woman, police said. They fled when her father returned a short while later to the park, accompanied by two officers.

The woman, whose name was not made public, was treated at a local hospital and released, police said.
Police released surveillance video taken in a nearby bodega that they said showed the five suspects prior to the attack. The video depicts a group of black men in jackets and sweatshirts talking and laughing inside the store.

Police have asked for the public's help in identifying the suspects.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Reuters

U.S. flies B-52 over South Korea after North's nuclear test

SEOUL - The United States deployed a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight over its ally South Korea on Sunday, a show of force following North Korea's nuclear test last week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un maintained that Wednesday's test was of a hydrogen bomb and said it was a self-defensive step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war.

North Korea's fourth nuclear test angered both China, its main ally, and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt the North's claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.

The massive B-52, based in Guam and capable of carrying nuclear weapons, could be seen in a low flight over Osan Air Base at around noon (0300 GMT). It was flanked by two fighter planes, a U.S. F-16 and a South Korean F-15, before returning to Guam, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Osan is south of Seoul and 77 km (48 miles) from the Demilitarised Zone that separates the two Koreas. The flight was "in response to recent provocative action by North Korea", the U.S. military said.

In Washington, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonald said on Sunday the flight underscored to South Korea "the deep and enduring alliance that we have with them."

"Last night was a step toward reassurance in that regard and that was important," McDonough said on CNN's "State of the Union."

He said the United States would continue to work with China and Russia, as well as allies Japan and South Korea, to isolate the North until it lives up to its commitments to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

"Until they do it they'll remain where they are, which is an outcast unable to provide for their own people," he said.

After the North's last test, in 2013, the United States sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea. At the time, the North responded by threatening a nuclear attack on the United States.
The United States is also considering sending a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to waters off the Korean peninsula next month to join a naval exercise with Seoul, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported without identifying a source. However, U.S. Forces Korea officials said they had no knowledge of the plan.
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and the United States has about 28,500 troops based in South Korea.

An editorial in the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday called for a peace treaty with the United States, which is the North's long-standing position. "Only when a peace treaty is concluded between the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. can genuine peace settle in the Korean Peninsula," state news agency KCNA quoted it as saying.

The United States and China have both dangled the prospect of better relations, including the lifting of sanctions, if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Sunday, KCNA quoted Kim as saying no one had the right to criticize the North's nuclear tests.
"The DPRK's H-bomb test ... is a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the U.S.-led imperialists," it quoted Kim as saying.

The North's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticize," he said.

TIMING OF TEST
Kim's comments were in line with the North's official rhetoric blaming the United States for deploying nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula to justify its nuclear program but were the first by its leader since Wednesday's blast.

The United States has said it has no nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea.
Kim noted the test was being held ahead of a rare congress of its ruling Workers' Party later this year, "which will be a historic turning point in accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche," according to KCNA.
Juche is the North's home-grown state ideology that combines Marxism and extreme nationalism established by the state founder and the current leader's grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

KCNA said Kim made the comments on a visit to the country's Ministry of the People's Armed Forces.
South Korea continued to conduct high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the border into the North on Sunday.

The broadcasts, which include "K-pop" music and statements critical of the Kim regime, began on Friday and are considered an insult by Pyongyang. A top North Korean official told a rally on Friday that the broadcasts had pushed the rival Koreas to the "brink of war."

Daily life was mostly as normal on the South Korean side of the border on Sunday. A popular ice fishing festival near the border attracted an estimated 121,300 people on Saturday and another 100,000 on Sunday, Yonhap reported.

Reuters

JUST IN!!! Security Operatives Arrest Buhari’s Nephew in Port Harcourt Over Crude Oil Fraud

Nigerian authorities have arrested one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephews, Salisu Mamman, and have detained him and his gang at the Federal Prison in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over allegations of fraud, name-dropping, forgery and attempt to swindle some unsuspecting businessmen reports say.

Our reporter gathered that the gang led by Mamman obtained money from the individuals on the pretext that he will introduce them to the President and use his very close relations with him and purported ties with Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who doubles as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, to help them secure crude oil allocations as well as licences to import petroleum products. The scam blew up when the businessmen’s companies were not amongst those awarded oil contracts by the NNPC.

Confirming this development, impeccable presidential sources who opted to remain anonymous over the tricky nature of the matter said, “Mr. President has been briefed on the involvement of his nephew in the alleged crime.

HARSH ECONOMIC POLICIES: ABUJA RESIDENTS AUCTION CARS TO RAISE MONEY

The cash crunch in Nigeria, particularly in Abuja, has made many owners of exotics cars to put up some of their vehicles for sale in a bid to raise cash, car dealers in Abuja have said.

According to the dealers, this was despite the fact that the sale of vehicles in the Federal Capital Territory has dropped drastically.

Different dealers who spoke with our correspondent in separate interviews explained that politicians and civil servants were affected by the development.

It was learnt that the aides of many politicians in the city who purchased vehicles and agreed to effect payments based on instalments had not been able to do so, even when dealers forced them to comply.
Ehiremhen Patrick, a car dealer whose business outlet is located close to the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Herbert Macaulay Way, Abuja, stated that the car sales business in the city had slowed down tremendously.

When asked if residents were returning their cars in order to raise cash, he said, “People are returning their vehicles in order to raise funds. It was reported in Saturday PUNCH that some people had started selling their houses and lands to raise funds for the school fees of their wards. It is same for cars, people are looking for money too by offering up their vehicles for sale. But where are the buyers?

“The fact is that there is no money in the country. You can even go to where we sell our cars and you will notice that a lot of vehicles there have remained unsold. I have some cars that have been there for almost six months and nobody is asking how much we are selling. Even when the prices are reduced, nobody is willing to buy.”

Patrick said many potential buyers did not even have the cash to pay.

He added, “In fact, for some, it may take up to a year before they can make complete payment going by what is on ground at present. For instance, in December we didn’t sell anything, our sale was zero, unlike what we recorded in December 2014.

“So sales have dropped drastically in Abuja. You know those who live in Abuja, it is either you are a politician or a civil servant and when civil servants are not paid salaries and all the leakages have been blocked, where then do you expect them to get money? For the politicians, many of them are afraid of even buying luxury cars.”

Patrick went on to state that “Some of their (politicians) aides that bought cars from us are still owing us and despite making it installment payment, many of them still can’t meet up. In fact, there are some payments that were supposed to be completed in December but as I speak to you now they’ve not been able to conclude the payments. Even when you drag them they don’t have the money.”

Another dealer, who’s showroom is located around the Gwarimpa axis of the Kubwa/Zuba expressway in Abuja, Mr. Yahaya Yakubu, said there was “serious cash crunch in Abuja and virtually everyone in this city is lamenting.”

He said, “There is no money and this has contributed to the drastic fall in car sales. It is a serious matter.”
When asked to explain how car sales used to be before the present era of cash crunch, Yakubu said the poor patronage for cars in Abuja started in January 2015 while the country was preparing for the general elections.

He said, “This started towards the preparation for the election. I remember, in December 2014, I sold more than 10 cars. But by January 2015 when we started preparing for elections, people became apprehensive and started to hoard money. When the country started getting close to the election, we (car dealers) started noticing serious drop in patronage.”

Another car dealer at the same Gwarimpa axis, who simply gave his name as Suleiman, said although many residents were putting their vehicles up for sale, there were still few or no buyers.

“Many exotic cars you see here were bought as brand new by their owners, but they can’t continue maintaining them when there is cash crunch. That is why they put them up for sale, but the irony is that there are no buyers because people don’t have money like before,” Suleiman said.

Fake Buhari’s Security Aides arrested in Ekiti for impersonation, attempt to defraud Fayose

Two men, who claimed to be President Mohammadu Buhari’s private security aides, were on Saturday, arrested at the Afao-Ekiti country home of the Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose for presenting themselves as staff of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), with influence over the report of the military panel set up to investigate alleged involvement in partisan politics by some soldiers and officers during the 2014/ 2015 gubernatorial election conducted in some states such as Ekiti, Osun, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom.

The two men, Benedict Ola Idega and Abdulsalami Leader H. claimed that they already have the preliminary report of the military panel and that with the cooperation of the governor, they could manipulate the final report if necessary. They also said the army panel report was targeted at some top army officers that the Federal Government wanted to punish.

Governor Fayose, who was suspicious of the men’s real intentions, had informed the State Commissioner of Police and Director of the State Security Service, with the Police Commissioner already putting men of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on standby.

The two men, in a meeting with the governor presented what they called photocopy of page three of the preliminary report to show that they meant business. The purported copy of the page three bore the logo of the Nigerian Army.

After turning copy of the page three of the purported preliminary report, the governor gave the impression that he was satisfied with all that they said and asked them to wait at his waiting room for him to show appreciation. He then called in the Commissioner of Police and SSS Director, who in turn asked their men to move in and arrest the two men.

The identity card found on Abdulsalami Leader H bore “GMB SECURITY” and it was stated at the back that he (Abdulsalami) is the security of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari with Number 34, Lobitto Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja as issuer’s address and 088133636478 and 08057010255 as telephone numbers. Benedict Ola Idega was with identity card bearing Federal Capital Development Authority.

The two men, who lodged at a popular hotel along Bank Road, Ado Ekiti are now being detained at the Police Headquarters, Ado Ekiti alongside another suspected accomplice, who was found in their hotel room when policemen visited the hotel for a search.

Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, who confirmed the incident said even though it has been established that they were impersonators, the real intention of the men were yet to be ascertained.

He said; “We don’t want to pre-empt the security agents that are already investigating the incident. But it is certain that they have ulterior motives. We are also not ruling out the possibility of an attempt to set-up the governor, obtain money from him under false pretence or even harm him.

“Therefore, we expect that the security agencies will do their job thoroughly by ascertaining their real motives and their other accomplices.

“However, we must say that anyone thinking that report of any military panel can be used to upturn an electoral victory already upheld by the Supreme Court, which is the final destination for dispute on governorship election must be thinking of committing judicial coup d’état, which by all standard is treason.”

WE’VE BEEN EXONERATED : GODWIN ADINDU BEHIND THE DSS ORDEAL OF HON. EZIUCHE UBANI

On Tuesday January 5 2016, Men of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Army raided the residence of Hon. Eziuche Ubani, a former federal lawmaker and a Serving commissioner for works from Abia State for reason yet to be said by the DSS. The DSS is yet to disclose their findings during the raid. From the reaction of Hon. Eziuche Ubani, he claimed on live telecast that DSS acted on ordinary anonymous facebook petition against him which accused him of stockpiling arms (150 guns bought in Abala Ngwa) to use for kidnapping and assassination of opposition party members. 

He said that the petition came from anonymous source and spread by Abia Facts News and others. Even before the alleged facebook petition, Barrister Ahamdi Nweke who is the star witness of Dr. Alex Otti in the ongoing electoral tribunal raised alarm through his facebook page that Eziuche Ubani and others are planning to assassinate him because of his support for APGA and Dr. Alex Otti. Nweke pointed that he called Eziuche Ubani on phone to inform him that he has already known their plans. He also calls for commissioner of police Abia state to come to his aid and investigate the matter before they execute their plans. But during the time of making his complains against the raiding of his house by DSS on media and time of addressing the press, Eziuche did not even mention the incident between him and Ahamdi which he has not denied but mainly pointing accusing finger on Abia Fact Newspaper an Abia base investigative online platform which has been updating the general public on ongoing activities in Abia State especially on the electoral tribunal.
He said that Abia Facts News was behind his ordeal with DSS pointing out that the facebook petition was stage-managed by ABIA FACTS NEWS and since then he has been making calls for the online media to block including other major online News that deals with the issue of Abia State activities which include Abia Facts News, PUO Reports, IgbereTV, Aba City Blogs etc. In response to the calls to clampdown these Abia base online Medias, the editors of the Medias have issued a collective statement under Abia State chapter of the Association of Online Practitioners of Nigeria (AMPON) criticizing Eziuche and Abia government of their plans to clampdown their sites in order to deny them their right of freedom of expression. They swear that they will do everything within the law to resist every attempt to shut down their medias platform since they are not using their platform to witch hunt anybody but only using it to be updating Abians and the general public. We have been exonerated: In a new development, the information receives has disclosed how the petition came about. The informant said that it was Hon. Godwin Adindu the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the ousted Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu that masterminded the ordeal. The informant exposes that Adindu has not been happy with Hon. Eziuche Ubani who is using his radio station Magic FM Aba – 102.9 FM Aba to take over media contracts from the government house and for almost taking over his function as CPS to the governor. The ongoing anger has made Adindu not to make any meaningful statement since Ikpeazu was sacked until calls starts coming from different quarters for him to be replaced for not been spontaneous and proactive.

Adindu was embittered that Eziuche Ubani who is the owner of a radio station is from behind transferring the major media activities in the state to his radio house thereby dominating major media contracts that should handle by the state owned radio house BCA. More revelation has it that Adindu was angry, questioning why Eziuche should leave his ministry of works and hijacking his own activities. Adindu believes that Hon. 
Eziuche is behind previous calls for him to be sack to replace with one of his Magic FM staff to smoothen his intending plans of totally hijacking the media contracts from the government. Therefore he decided to use the said petition for Eziuche to be tamed using a lady to forward the petition of stockpiling arms against Ubani. Adindu who has been having this grudges decided to use this opportunity that Barrister Ahamdi Nweke raised alarm to strike Hon. Eziuche Ubani so that it will leave no trace that it comes from an insider. 

It was said since there is already feud between Nweke of APGA and Hon. Ubani that Ubani will direct every accusation on the opposition party APGA and Barrister Nweke. One of the reasons why Hon. Adindu refuses to make statement on the Appeal Court verdict that sacked his master was because accumulated grievances he had against Hon. Eziuche Ubani who he said was waiting to issue statement since he decided to take over his function as CPS to the governor. It was after criticism from various quarters that Adindu has to issue statement just to fulfil all righteous but the informant said that Adindu is planning more attacks until Ubani leaves his department alone and concentrate on his ministry of works. If Ubani wants to find out this exposition, he should try to find out what Adindu has been saying about Magic FM. It was revealed that Adindu said that BCA is schedule for 69 Million monthly subventions but Magic FM is making more than BCA. He further cried out that Ubani might shut down BCA and render them useless if something is not done to avoid transferring BCA jobs to him. Adindu who is not mincing words often complains that Ubani is using Magic FM Aba to loot the state that he even charges the government on things that shouldn’t be charged. The informant said that Adindu has been told by friends that if he allows Ubani to take over his functions through his Magic FM that his job will render useless and will be sacked. So Adindu is doing everything to save his job and to stop the state governor Dr. Ikpeazu from seeing Hon. Ubani and Magic FM Aba as more important than the state radio house.

It was said that Adindu and some senior staffs of BCA are not happy with Ubani and looking for every means to cause disparity between them and Ubani. It was further revealing that they are afraid that the government might decide to be giving more subventions to Magic FM Aba than BCA radio. It was said that the commission of information knows about this situation but he decided to keep quite because he is making his own gain through BCA monthly subventions. It was said that though government gives BCA monthly subvention of 69 Million but what gets to BCA is only 29-33 Million while the remaining 30 Million will be shared between the commission of information and his cliques. The culture of diverting part of BCA subventions has been there since the time of T.A. Orji which led BCA to be owning taxes amounting to over 100 Million Naira because they check off taxes to be able to pay workers salaries with the little left over given to them. Abians and the general public should now see how Dr. Ikpeazu men are fighting themselves internally and pointing accusing fingers on opposition and online Medias in order to gain public sympathies.
St Jude writes from Awka