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http://ift.tt/2tc0GFB Nigerian Army spokesman Brigadier-General Sani Usman Troops have rescued nine minors at Jarawa village in Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno after they neutralised a large number of suspected Boko Haram terrorists. A statement by Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the Army Spokesman, on Monday, noted that one notorious terrorist, Abu Nazir, the Amir (Leader) of the Boko Haram in Jarawa, was killed during the clearance operation in the area. Usman stated that the nine minors rescued were undergoing training at the terrorists’ training camp in the village. He added that “the minors have been evacuated and are being given preliminary humanitarian assistance in preparation to handing them over to Kala Balge Internally Displaced Persons Camp Management Committee.” The army spokesman stated that the troops also recovered many weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, one double barrel gun, one primed heavy Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and one motorcycle. He noted that...

http://ift.tt/2r4kXAt Waves of foam and seawater crash into Three Anchor Bay in Cape Town on June 7, 2017, as an intense storm hits South Africa's west coast. The ferocious storm killed eight people as it pummelled South Africa's west coast on Wednesday, forcing the closure of Cape Town harbour, triggering flash floods and causing extensive damage, authorities said. The weather system which struck on June 6 has damaged buildings, felled trees, left 46,000 homes without electricity and caused travel chaos as flights and rail services were hit by gale-force winds and flooding. / AFP PHOTO / RODGER BOSCH Up to ten thousand people were evacuated from their homes as fires continued to ravage South Africa’s Western Cape region on Thursday, fanned by a ferocious winter storm. Knysna, a town of 77,000 people 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa’s famed Garden Route, was worst hit as firefighters battled to quell 26 fires along the tourist trail. High winds...

http://ift.tt/2qVzhqv Ivanka Trump (C) listens as her father, US President Donald Trump, speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on June 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski Activists detained while investigating working conditions at a Chinese factory making Ivanka Trump-branded shoes could face up to two years in jail, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The United States has urged Chinese authorities to release the three men, who were investigating two plants owned by footwear producer Huajian Group when they were detained last month. China confirmed this week that they were being investigated on suspicion of using “spying and other monitoring equipment”. A Chinese media report on Wednesday cited police as saying the men, who worked on behalf of New York City-based China Labor Watch, had confessed to using watch-like recording devices to collect “business secrets” at the factories. But Amnesty In...

http://ift.tt/2q5BFuG The launches, and a threatened sixth nuclear test have fuelled tension with the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has vowed that such an ICBM launch "won't happen".<br /> North Korea Sunday test-fired a ballistic missile which travelled some 500 km, just a week after a previous launch sparked international condemnation and threats of tougher UN sanctions. South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-In called a National Security Council meeting in response to the latest launch, Yonhap news agency reported. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it could not yet identify the type of missile fired from Pukchang in South Pyongan province but it travelled about 500 km (311 miles). “Our military is closely monitoring signs for additional provocation by the North Korean military and we are keeping a full military readiness,” a statement said. The Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missile fired on May 14 flew some 700 km — further than...

http://ift.tt/2hKN7Yu A Nigerian, identified as Eneh Wilfried Amobi, has been arrested in India for allegedly possessing cocaine worth $1.4m at a suburban railway station in Mumbai. The Indian newspaper, The Hindustan Times said a team from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) caught him after a tip-off by a ticket checker. According to an official, Wilfried Amobi , 47, was caught with a large quantity of contraband. “Wilfried said he was as a tourist and as he wanted $200 to return home, he offered to smuggle the drug,” Kumar Sanjay Jha, NCB zonal director, Mumbai and Goa region told HT. The drugs weighing 1.3kg was to be delivered to someone in the city, an official said. The drugs were concealed in courier packets and were in his bag. “As foreign nationals are asked to show passports even for domestic flights, couriers prefer trains,” said Jha. The agency said Amobi was one among the many couriers entrusted by a city-based cartel to smuggle the drugs into the city. “We suspect...

http://ift.tt/2pAV3BV Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has advised the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, to “sleep easy” if he is not involved in looting. Spokesman of the commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, gave the advice in a statement on Wednesday night. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Uwujaren was reacting to an allegation by Ekweremadu that the anti-graft agency was plotting to frame and arrest him. According to reports, the lawmaker had alleged during Wednesday’s plenary that the EFCC was plotting to raid and plant incriminating materials in his Enugu home to justify his arrest. He said the plot was being sponsored by a cabal in the Presidency to ensure his detention and indictment with the aim of tarnishing his political career. The senator read a two-page letter purportedly from a source close to the commission who he said tipped him off on the alleged plot. However, the EFCC spoke...

http://ift.tt/2pX5CAo (FILES) This file photo taken on April 7, 2017 shows US Ambassador to the UN and current UN Security Council president, Nikki Haley at the UN headquarters in New York. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, on April 24, 2017 called the detention of a US citizen by North Korea a display of muscle-flexing by the country's "flailing" leader. Kim Sang-Duk, or Tony Kim, was arrested Saturday at Pyongyang's airport as he was about to leave the country after a teaching stint at a university founded by evangelical Christians. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMAD North Korea on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of a US professor for trying to “overturn” the regime, as tensions spike between the isolated nuclear-armed nation and Washington. Kim Sang-Duk, or Tony Kim, became the third American held in the North when he was detained at the capital’s airport on April 22 as he tried to leave the country, after teaching for several weeks at an elite unive...

http://ift.tt/2oSZysR This general view shows the Seoul Central District Court where will be held trials of ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye, in Seoul on May 2, 2017. Lawyers for ousted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye denied all the charges against her at a hearing on May 2 before she goes on trial. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je Lawyers for ousted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye denied all the charges against her at a hearing Tuesday before she goes on trial. Park, 65, was sacked by the country’s top court in March over a wide-ranging corruption scandal and has been held in custody for more than a month. She faces 18 criminal counts — five of bribery and 11 of abuse of power, plus one each of coercion and leaking government secrets. “We deny all the charges,” Park’s top lawyer Yoo Young-Ha told the Seoul Central District Court. Park’s attendance at the hearing was not mandatory and she stayed away from the court. In South Korea, a preliminary hearing is ...