Curator

http://ift.tt/2rRvxJF Nairobi – The Kenyan police said it arrested six men suspected of planning an attack sponsored by the al Shabaab militant group from neighboring Somalia. In recent weeks, the East African nation has lost 20 officers in various attacks, mostly on deserted roads in the vast northern region bordering Somalia, in which the militants used Improvised Explosive Devices . Joseph Boinnet, the Inspector-General Police, said in a statement that two of the suspects were Kenyans and the others were Somali nationals. Police also seized assembled explosives, four suicide vests and bomb-making materials such as TNT. “The six had been dispatched from Burhanche in Somalia by their commanders to launch attacks in Kenya,” Boinnet said. Kenyan security forces worked with their counterparts in Somalia to foil the attack and to capture the suspects. The captured men were being interrogated to establish the extent of the entire network, Boinnet said. Kenya has faced a constant se...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Sufuyan Ojeifo R ECENT political developments in the country have further accentuated our diverse fault-lines and confirmed even to the outside world that the chord of our so-called national unity is yet fragile, very fragile.  Regionalism, ethnicity, tribalism, nepotism, favouritism, religious bigotry and the provincial character of leadership have continued to conspire to exert pressure on the nation’s fragile unity as Nigerians of northern and southern extractions agitate for fair and egalitarian accommodation in the federation. Those who have been opportune to lead our nation have, thus far, carried on as if they are not seized of the facts of history.  Whereas, the vestiges and scars of the historical civil war of attrition to secede or to keep Nigeria together, depending on the angle that it is looked at, are everywhere in our body-politic.  The Igbo ethnic nationality which subscribed to the idea of separatism in order to cure the mischi...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Abdulwahab Abdulah Lagos —The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss a suit, urging it to declare that the Federal Ministry of Interior has no power  to solemnise and register marriages in Nigeria. In the originating summons filed by the plaintiffs, they are praying the court to declare that it is Local Government Areas that have the exclusive right to conduct and register marriages. Those who brought the matter before Justice Chuka Obiozor are four local government areas – Egor Local Government Area of Edo State; Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State; Owerri Municipal Local Government Area of Imo State and Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State. Their position is that by virtue of Section 1(5) Paragraph 1(i) of the 1999 Constitution, the Federal Ministry of Interior, an agency of the Federal Government, has no business registering mar...

http://ift.tt/2rTrMki English champions Chelsea received a record Premier League pay-out of more than £150 million ($190 million, 172 million euros) this season, nearly £60 million more than their predecessors Leicester, after new TV deals came into force. The broadcast deals, including a bumper domestic contract, ensured generous end-of-season payments for all 20 Premier League clubs who shared a total of £2.4 billion. Figures on the league’s website showed Leicester, who earned £93 million after their stunning title success last year, received £116 million this season, when they finished 12th. Second-placed Tottenham Hotspur earned about £145 million — slightly less than Manchester City and Liverpool owing to the difference in their “facility fees”, awarded for appearances on TV. Domestic rights to broadcast the Premier League were sold for £5.1 billion over three seasons, dwarfing the previous deal. The league shares money from its central commercial deals and overseas broadca...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J General Leader, Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Ayo Ni O, Surulere District headquarters, Lagos, Special Apostle Sunday Korode has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, restore the country to the path of glory. Making the call during the church’s 44th  Anniversary Choir Day themed: “He restores my Soul,” Korode said it was pertinent for the government to ensure that the country recovered from economic recession as soon as possible to end the hardship Nigerians were going through. He said: “Those who are in government should deliver on their mandate with integrity and not put additional burden on the people. The reason for our problem today was as a result of bad leadership, so  all elected political office holders that will not deliver the dividends of democracy to the people should be removed so that government can really uplift the lot of the people.” While speaking on the Choir Day, the cl...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Some beneficiaries of the Federal Government N-Power under the National Social Investment Programme (N-NIP), have started counting the gains of the programme after five months of empowerment. N-Power is one of the components of N-SIP, aimed at empowering Nigerians both graduates and non-graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 by paying them N30, 000 monthly over a period of two years. Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the programme had established them and taken them out of poverty. Nwanjel Alfred, a beneficiary of N-Power graduate scheme in Plateau said he was employed under the scheme and posted to a Nomadic Primary school in the state as a teacher. “I graduated in 2011, did NYSC in 2012 and I was not employed for five years; I studied Biology Education but have passion for agriculture. “There is no capital to start agric project but as soon as I started receiving my stipend in December 2016, I went into farming. “I have...

http://ift.tt/2qVdG2q French president Emmanuel Macron (2L) flanked by Secretary General of the Elysee presidential Palace Alexis Kohler (L) and Admiral Bernard Rogel (3R) attend a weekly Defense Council at the Elysee Palace in Paris on May 24, 2017, following the May 22 terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert in the British city of Manchester that killed 22 and injured dozens. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN New French President Emmanuel Macron will seek an extension of the country’s state of emergency until November 1 and wants to strengthen the power of security forces with a new law, the presidency announced on Wednesday. Before his election on May 7, 39-year-old Macron had indicated that he would ask parliament to prolong the state of emergency, which has been in place since the jihadist attacks in Paris in November 2015. It has been extended five times. A new security forces law would go further than legislation introduced by former president Francois Hollande, ...

http://ift.tt/2qbAbOp (FILES) This file photo taken on May 9, 2017 shows Jakarta's Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, arriving at a courtroom for his verdict and sentence in his blasphemy trial in Jakarta. Jakarta's jailed Christian governor on May 22 appealed his conviction for blaspheming Islam, his legal team said, as the United Nations stepped up pressure on Indonesia to overturn the controversial sentence. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Bay ISMOYO Jakarta’s jailed Christian governor Monday appealed his conviction for blaspheming Islam, his legal team said, as the United Nations stepped up pressure on Indonesia to overturn the controversial sentence. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, was jailed for two years earlier this month for insulting the Koran, a shock decision that has undermined a reputation for religious tolerance in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Lawyers for Purnama, who is currently in detention,...