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http://ift.tt/2rZKvf2 (From L) EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, Germany’s Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scott Pruitt, Canada’s Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Italy’s Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti, France’s Environement expert at the Ecology Ministry, Virginie Dumoulin, PG4AG Britain’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Therese Anne Coffey, Japan’s Environment Minister Koichi Yamamoto and EU Environment commissioner Karmenu Vella pose for a group photo during the G7 Environment summit on June 11, 2017 in Bologna. Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP The United States’ partners in the G7 club of wealthy democracies vowed Sunday to pursue efforts to curb climate change despite a rift caused by the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris accord. “G7 countries have crucial roles and responsibilities to our own public opinion, to developing ...

http://ift.tt/2rZKvf2 (From L) EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, Germany's Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scott Pruitt, Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Italy's Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti, France's Environement expert at the Ecology Ministry, Virginie Dumoulin, PG4AG Britain's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Therese Anne Coffey, Japan's Environment Minister Koichi Yamamoto and EU Environment commissioner Karmenu Vella pose for a group photo during the G7 Environment summit on June 11, 2017 in Bologna. Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP The United States’ partners in the G7 club of wealthy democracies vowed Sunday to pursue efforts to curb climate change despite a rift caused by the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris accord. “G7 countries have crucial roles and responsibilities to our own public...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A 23-year-old Indian law student has, Friday, cut off a man’s manhood after he allegedly tried to rape her at her house in the southern state of Kerala, police said. The law student was at her residence in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram late Friday when, according to her, she was attacked by the 54-year-old man who had claimed to her family to be a religious guru. “She used a knife in her defense and cut off his penis,” district police chief G Sparjan Kumar told AFP by phone. “The man, Hari Swami, was rushed to the nearby government hospital in a serious state,” he added. Police said the girl’s parents, who live at the same house, were unaware of the assaults by Swami. “The woman told us that her parents blindly trusted this Swami, and he used to get frequent invites to perform special ceremonies and stay over at their house, where he assaulted her,” Kumar told AFP. The post 23-year-old law student cuts off rapist’s manhood appeared...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By CALEB AYANSINA ABUJA – The Methodist Church Nigeria, Saturday, condemned in strong term the use of health issue or misfortune to play dirty politics in the country. The Bishop of Kubwa Diocese (Methodist Church), the Right Rev. Chikwendu Igwe warned politicians against heating up the polity over their 2019 ambitions. Igwe stated this while delivering his Bishop’s Address to the 5th Annual Synod of the Diocese tagged: “God’s Word; My Guide”, in Kubwa, Abuja. He said the socio-economic challenges currently facing the country should be the priority not the politics of 2019 presidential race. “While it is wrong and condemnable to use health issue or one misfortune to play dirty politics, in other climes leaders have been bold to acknowledge their limitations and capacities and taken appropriate decision the given circumstances in the overall interest of Nation. “It is not in the interest of Nigerians that the politics of 2019 presidential race should be in th...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Friday denied rumour of deductions in candidates’ marks in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). It advised the candidates to disregard the rumour. Dr Fabian Benjamin, the Head of JAMB Information and Media, denied the reports in a statement in Abuja. According to Benjamin, the rumour is false, devilish and a ploy to cause disaffection among candidates who participated in the 2017 UTME. “It is no longer news that all our centres have CCTV camera and we have watched all proceedings at the Computer Based Test (CBT) centres across the nation. “Those involved in any infraction will be sanctioned in accordance with the provision of the Examination Malpractice Act. “The board has not deducted any marks from any candidate and is not contemplating doing that as it is not a condition for sanction in any of the provisions of the law against malpractice. “Again, we call on all candidates to be mind...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Ikole-Ekiti, (Ekiti State) – A 44-year-old wife, Modupe Alegbeleye, on Thursday told an Ikole-Ekiti Customary Court in Ekiti that she denied her husband, Ebenezer Alegbeleye, sex because of the cigarette odour from him. Modupe said this while replying to a statement by her husband that she denied him sex for three months. According to her, my husband likes smoking cigarettes but I do not like its odour. “So, whenever he smoked and demanded sex; I was always turning down his demand as I hated cigarette’s odour. “Although, I knew that my husband was a cigarette smoker before we started our relationship, I was always advising him to stop it. “I was also praying so that he would quit it, but to no avail. “That is why, sometimes, I would ask him to take his bath before making love to me. “1 also denied him sex because I did not want more children based on the experience I had when I was to give birth to our second child. “I lost the baby due to lack of proper c...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A group, Coalition of Civil Societies and Media Executives for Good Governance (COCMEGG), has warned politicians, power seekers and political jobbers to desist from soliciting the assistance of soldiers to carryout acts capable of causing chaos and disharmony in the country. Recall that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai had, few days ago, raised an alarm that some politicians where approaching some soldiers for undisclosed reasons. This was sequel to some rumours that some politicians may have been planning a coup with some soldiers to allegedly topple the government. Lt.-Gen. Buratai however, warned his troops of serious consequences should any of them be caught not being apolitical. He also urged soldiers to desist from politicking or resign and join politics if that is their interest. Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the civil society group in Abuja on Thursday, it warned those it said are power jobbers to desist forthwith in the interest o...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The residents of Eiyenkorin area of Kwara State capital, Ilorin, have accused suspected officials of the Nigerian Air Force base in Ilorin of allegedly brutalising them and sacking innocent workers from different building sites in the area, claiming the land belongs to the air force. According to a source, there was no prior warning for these workers and site owners to evacuate the site. The officials caught them unaware, attacked the community. “They even threatened to kill them all claiming the whole community land belongs to them and this is a land that was duly approved for building by Kwara state town planning authorities,” the source said. “When this occurred On the 17th November 2016, the community yelled out to a few people who pushed and made the incidence a trending topic on all social media platforms last year and all government officials were duly mentioned to come to the aid of these innocent people. “Today, the 4th of May, 2017, we have rece...

http://ift.tt/2qDj89y China's President Xi Jinping / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Nicolas ASFOURI China vowed to remain a good neighbour to North Korea on Thursday, despite a rare and stinging critique in Pyongyang’s state media of its main diplomatic protector and economic benefactor. Beijing offered a measured response to a signed commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which lashed out at China and said it should be grateful to Pyongyang for its protection. The bylined article warned of of “grave consequences” if North Korea’s patience is tested further. China’s Global Times newspaper retorted that the nuclear-armed North was in the grip of “some form of irrational logic” over its weapons programmes. But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang took a conciliatory tone when asked about KCNA’s commentary at a press briefing, saying Beijing has a consistent position of “developing good neighbourly and friendly cooperation” with North Korea. Geng, how...

http://ift.tt/2p8vCop Eight migrants, five of them children, have died of thirst in the Niger desert while making their way to Algeria, a key destination for would-be migrants to Europe, a security source told AFP. AFP PHOTO / HOCINE ZAOURAR Eight migrants, five of them children, have died of thirst in the Niger desert while making their way to Algeria, a key destination for would-be migrants to Europe, a security source told AFP. “These migrants died of thirst on the way to Algeria,” the source, who asked not to be identified, said late Tuesday. The group, a man, a woman and five children aged between six and 12, “were abandoned by a smuggler” and “all died of thirst”, he added. Online news site Air-info, which is based in northern Niger, said the eight were part of a larger group headed for Algeria, and that four men who had been rescued were found “completely dehydrated”. Last June the bodies of 34 migrants were found in the desert, while in late 2013 a group of 92 Nige...