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http://ift.tt/2rQtBlT In recent months, Assad's troops and allied fighters have retaken territory across the country, including recapturing all of Aleppo city in December after years of fighting. PHOTO:AFP Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has said the worst of his country’s six-year war “is behind us” after a string of advances by his forces backed by key ally Russia. In recent months, Assad’s troops and allied fighters have retaken territory across the country, including recapturing all of Aleppo city in December after years of fighting. “Things now are moving in the right direction, which is a better direction, because we are defeating the terrorists,” he said in an interview in Damascus with the India-based WION television station. “Unless the West and other countries and their allies, their puppets, support those extremists in… a very massive way, I’m sure the worst is behind us.” The interview was released by the Syrian presidency on Saturday. More than 320,000 ...

http://ift.tt/2sBmf1N Policemen stand guard outside a polling station in Burmarrad before the arrival of Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on June 3, 2017. Maltese voters began casting their ballots today in a general election called against a backdrop of corruption allegations that have cast a cloud over Joseph Muscat's government and the otherwise bright outlook for the island nation. Muscat went to the polls a year early after his wife Michelle Muscat was accused of being the beneficial owner of a secret Panamanian shell company used to bank unexplained payments from Azerbaijan's ruling family.Matthew Mirabelli / AFP Maltese voters flocked to the polls Saturday in an election seen as a confidence vote in Joseph Muscat’s government, which has presided over a thriving economy but been rocked by serious corruption allegations. Voting was brisk even by the standards of an island nation where more than 90 percent of the electorate generally turns out to vote. Pre-ele...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday confirmed that another Chibok schoolgirl had been found, barely 12 days after the release of the 82 abducted girls by their captors. Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, who made this known to State House correspondents in Abuja, said the recovery of the girl was announced by the acting president during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday. According to her, the affected girl has been brought to Abuja to join her colleagues who were rescued from captivity. “Yes, at the Federal Executive Council’s meeting, the Vice-President broke the cheering news to members of the cabinet and after that I have also spoken to defence people who confirmed it. “The details are yet to fully unravel . But in terms of is it true- yes, it is true. I learnt she is already being brought to Abuja, but I have not seen her The presidential aide expressed the hope that the remain...

http://ift.tt/2qsZH5S US President Donald Trump waves as he walks towards Marine One while departing the White House on May 17, 2017 in Washington, DC en route to Connecticut. / AFP PHOTO / Olivier Douliery Donald Trump gave vent to frustrations over his mounting political problems Wednesday, declaring that no president in US history had been treated “more unfairly.” During a commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy, Trump urged graduating cadets to follow his example and “fight, fight, fight. Never, ever, give up. Things will work out just fine.” “Look at the way I’ve been treated lately. Especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can’t let them get you down,” he said. The outburst came amid intensifying pressure on the president in the wake of his firing of James Comey as director of the FBI last week, in the midst of a probe into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Rwanda’s telecom industry regulator has fined MTN Rwanda, a division of South Africa’s MTN Group, 7 billion francs (8.5 million dollars) for running its IT services outside the country in breach of its licence. The regulator said in a ruling posted on its website in Kigali that MTN Rwanda was hosting its IT services hub in Uganda, which it had prohibited. “They are punished for relocating their IT services outside Rwanda, and this was deliberate,’’ Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority Spokesman Anthony Kulamba said. MTN Group said it had also received a notification about the fine. “MTN has been engaging with the regulator on this matter over the past four months. “MTN Rwanda is currently studying the official notification and will continue to engage with the regulator on this matter,” it said in a statement. In 2016, MTN, which operates in 20 countries, set aside 600 million dollars to pay a fine imposed by the Nigerian government for not disconnecting unr...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Ben Agande, Kaduna. Twelve persons were burnt beyond recognition while five others sustained various degrees of injuries when two vehicles, a Toyota bus and a Toyota Starlet car collided in the course of trying to avoid a motorcycle. The incident which occurred on Sunday evening around Kajuru Junction, Maraba Rido Kachi Road left two survivors. The head of the Federal Road Safety Commission operations in the state, Salisu Umar Galadunci, who confirmed the incidence said the charred remains of the victims as well as those who sustained injuries were taken to St. Gerald hospital. Explaining how the accident happened,  an Eye witness explained  that the vehicles were trying to dodge a motorcyclist who was crossing road. “The first vehicle in front which was on speed tried avoiding the Okada but instead ran into a ditch by the road side and the other vehicle following also rammed into the bus in front and there was fire. The two vehicles are Toyota bus A...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Nigerian from Bayelsa emerges Lincoln University best graduating student …excited Bayelsa Governor describes Perewari Victor Pere as worthy ambassador …as Apple shows interest in first class graduate Grace Udofia A Nigerian student from Bayelsa State, Perewari Victor Pere, has stunned the academic world emerging as the best graduating student at the prestigious Lincoln University in the United States of America. By that feat, Pere also takes the honour of rendering the Valedictory speech on the graduation ceremony to the admiration of fellow Nigerians and black students in the institution, giving honour to Nigeria and the African continent. An excited Governor of Bayelsa State in a congratulatory message to the student described him as a worthy ambassador of the state and urged him to keep the flag flying. The governor also described the 21 students of the state origin studying at Lincoln University as worthy ambassadors, a pride to the state and their fami...

http://ift.tt/2r8VS6A By Vincent Ujumadu   Awka- TWO hundred selected students of Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State yesterday began a five –day training programme as a prelude towards empowering them to become self-employed on graduation. The exercise was jointly organized by the Fidelity Bank Youth Empowerment Academy and Gazelle Academy, a private youth empowerment organization, in collaboration with Federal Polytechnic Oko Ventures Ltd. Each department in the institution provided four students for the programme – two from the National Diploma level and two from Higher National Diploma level. The students would be trained on fashion design, bead making, cocktail, mobile photography, fruit fountain, car wash, make up, among others, depending on their passion. Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo said at Oko during the commencement of the training that the bank decided to embark on the programme as a way of giving back to the society. Represented by region...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Vincent Ujumadu Awka- THE United Progressive Party (UPP) yesterday warned the people of the South East to be wary of All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party was a wrong platform for the Igbo. Anambra State publicity secretary of UPP, Mr. Uche Amaku said in a statement in Awka that APC would disappoint South East politicians, who defected from other political parties to join the ruling party. According to Amaku, it smacks of political gullibility for South East politicians to believe that one of them would step into the position of Secretary to Government of Federation (SGF) from which David Babachir Lawal was suspended. He said: “It is self delusion for some notable politicians from South East to hold the erroneous belief that the exit of Lawal paved the way for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to correct the lopsided appointments it sustained in the past two years. “If our brothers and sisters that rushed into APC have good sense of...