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http://ift.tt/2qIoswb Bill Cosby and his attorney leave Allegheny County Courthouse after the third day of jury selection in his sexual assault trial on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Jury selection continues for the sexual assault trial of disgraced US megastar Bill Cosby, accused of plying a woman with pills and wine before assaulting her in 2004. / AFP PHOTO / Donald EMMERT AND Nate Smallwood Megastar turned pariah Bill Cosby, who goes on trial Monday for allegedly drugging and assaulting a woman in 2004, joins a growing list of famous men charged with a sex crime. Here are five other prominent men whose careers have been shattered or tainted by charges of sexual assault. – Dominique Strauss-Kahn – Former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, once a Socialist frontrunner for the presidency, was forced to resign as IMF chief in 2011 after a hotel chambermaid accused him of sexual assault in New York. The charges were ultimately dropped and the affair ended with a confident...

http://ift.tt/2sd3gLG Philippine marines patrol a deserted street in Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on May 30, 2017.<br />Philippine authorities on May 30 warned Islamist militants occupying parts of a southern city to surrender or die, as attack helicopters pounded the gunmen's strongholds where up to 2,000 residents were feared trapped. / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE Philippine troops have killed 89 Islamist militants during more than a week of urban battles but a final showdown is expected to be fierce as the gunmen protect their leaders and hold hostages, authorities said Wednesday. Attack helicopters fired rockets on Wednesday morning into parts of Marawi, a Muslim city in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines, that were still controlled by the militants fighting under the black flag of the Islamic State (IS) group. President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the entire southern region of Mindanao in response to the crisis, which he described ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Enugu Coalition of Business and Professional Associations (ECOBPA) has lauded the Federal Government for various provisions in the 2017 Budget meant to facilitate the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Coordinator of the group, Chief Emeka Okereke, gave the commendation in an interview with the Newsmen in Enugu on Friday. Okereke commended the Federal Government for using the SMEs as a tool to boost the economy and get the nation out of recession. “The Federal Government budgeting N15 billion for the recapitalisation of the Bank of Industry (BoI) and Bank of Agriculture (BoA) is highly commendable, especially as the two institutions are the major financiers of SMEs with marginal interest rate. “Also, the additional 1.3 billion dollars for the commencement of the Development Bank of Nigeria is a welcome development as this will strengthen the SMEs, manufacturing sector as well as the agricultural sector,’’ he said. The coordinator also said tha...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Samuel Oyadongha M any residents of Yenogoa, the Bayelsa State capital, especially those living in low marshy areas, were sacked from their homes, yesterday, in an early morning downpour that lasted for over seven hours. The rain started at about 3.30a.m. and continued till about 10.30a.m  yesterday, forcing civil servants and school children to stay at home. While some families were seen draining water from their homes using pumping machines, others resorted to scooping with containers. In some areas, residents were overwhelmed by the volume of the surging water and watch helplessly not knowing which of their valuables to salvage. Some residents, who spoke to Vanguard , expressed sadness over the development, lamenting the havoc wreaked by the flood. “It was the cry of my children that woke me up,” lamented Edaere, a widow whose two bedroom apartment was flooded. She said her children were sleeping on the floor when they noticed an unusual coldness...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J O N assumption of office on November 11, 2015, as the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello met a staggering workforce of 28,000 and an administration immersed in humongous debts running into several billions of naira. In addition, the new administration had to contend with low productivity among workers, flagrant abuse of due process, indiscipline, the burden of several abandoned projects and dilapidated infrastructure. Rather than bemoan the situation he met on ground, Mallam Musa Bello took the challenges head-on and mapped out strategies to put the city back on track inline with the “change agenda” of President Muhammad Buhari administration. Realising that good governance is at the centre of delivering quality services to the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, the minister ensured that the Secretariats, Departments and Agencies started complying with extant rules, adherence to due process and observance of public servi...

http://ift.tt/2pfMZno People touch specially woven Project Jacquard fabric being used in new ' smart' Levi denim. PHOTO: Geo.TV A young man in a white t-shirt pulls on a dark blue denim trucker jacket, tucks his smartphone in an inside pocket and puts in-ear headphones in his right ear. He mounts a fixed-gear bike with flat, slightly curved wide handlebars. Riding through the streets of San Francisco, he occasionally taps or swipes his right hand over the left cuff of his jacket, as the directions he’s listening to continually pop up on the screen of this advertisement. It’s an ad from iconic US jeans maker Levi Strauss for Project Jacquard, an initiative with Google that the companies started two years ago for so-called “smart” denim. The future of the popular fabric was the focus at a recent international fashion fair in Paris — after all most believe the word denim derives from the French “serge de Nimes”, a serge from the city of Nimes. The fair featured many w...

http://ift.tt/2pxdg1C Chelsea's Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta (R) jumps in to join the celebration after Chelsea's Brazilian-born Spanish striker Diego Costa scored their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Swansea at Stamford Bridge in London on February 25, 2017. Adrian DENNIS / AFP Antonio Conte warned Chelsea not to take the Premier League title for granted after the leaders cleared a major hurdle with a 3-0 win at Everton. Conte’s side consolidated their position on top of the table thanks to a steely display at Goodison Park on Sunday, but second placed Tottenham remain hot on their heels. Pedro’s brilliant strike and goals from Gary Cahill and Willian secured Chelsea’s fourth win in their last five league games, sparking jubilant celebrations from Conte and his players. Cavorting in front of Chelsea’s travelling fans, Conte had the look of a man who felt his team had just delivered a decisive blow in the title ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Dennis Agbo ENUGU- FORMER commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Enugu state, Chief Joe Mammel has apologized to the people of the state, particularly to his native Ezeagu local government area for what he said was a disappointing outing of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 16 years. Mammel who also was the Chairman of Ezeagu local government council said he was sorry to have participated in what he called PDP’s disappointing 16 years outing. He tendered the apology at his country home, Aguobu-Owa, when a businessman from his community, Kingsley Ubenyi joined the APC at Eke Ozom market square. Mammel said: “I am now in APC because of change. Change is that you have to think before you leap, I have thought about it. One thing happened, like what passes through my local government, the Enugu-Onitsha express road. For 16 years I had been in government and my people have suffered, linking themselves to the commercial city was impossible and I am married t...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Perez Brisibe UGHELLI – UNIDENTIFIED gunmen, weekend, abducted an Ughelli based medical doctor at Ughelli. It was gathered that the victim, Dr Felix Ukpeteru, a medic attached to the Pediatric ward of the Ughelli Central Hospital and a father of two, was abducted along Isoko road by Otovwodo Primary School, Ughelli. Giving details of the incident, a senior police officer at the Ughelli ‘A’ Division police station, said: “He was abducted on Friday night and whisked in another vehicle suspected to driven by the hoodlums. “We recovered his light brown Toyota SUV jeep with registration number UGH 184 AE which was left at the scene of the incident and efforts are already in motion towards rescuing him and bringing the perpetrators to book.” Confirming the incident, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim said: “We were able to confirm that he had closed from his place of work at the Central Hospital, Ughelli at about 4pm before he was kidnapped and ...

http://ift.tt/2oXyeFz Members of Nigeria Labour congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) during a protest in Abuja. PHOTO: LADIDI LUCY ELUKPO The organised labour on Saturday said it would mobilise workers across sectors of the Nigerian economy to protest moves to remove minimum wage from the exclusive to concurrent legislative list. Mr Joe Ajaero, the President, United Labour Congress (ULC) said at the pre-2017 May Day seminar organised by ULC, in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the concurrent list stipulates that powers are shared jointly by both the central and regional or state governments as stipulated in the Constitution, even though both governments can make law on matters that fall under the concurrent list, the central government is supreme. This means that in case there is a conflict of law made by both governments, the law will supercede that of the regional or state government. Subject matter on concurrent list includes health, agricul...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Vincent Ujumadu, Awka IT was testimony galore for Sir Samuel Anyanwutaku, a Lagos –based Anambra businessman, when he held the congregation of St. Andrews Anglican Church, Ogidi, in Idemili North local government area of Anambra State, spellbound with the story of how he survived being drowned in a river during the  civil war and lived to build a multi-million church for his community. Anyanwutaku, who could not pursue his education due to lack of funds, also told the congregation how he started business with 30 kobo as a boy and was able to increase it to N1460, which he used to seek for greener pastures in Lagos in 1976. He revealed how every adversity that came his way eventually turned out to be something to glorify God, adding that building the church for God was not even enough to thank God for what had happened in his life. “In 1969, during the civil war, I fell into the river called Oyi Nsugbe. That was supposed to be the end of my life since I ...