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http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A Pakistani court on Friday delayed the extradition hearing of a Pakistani-American man accused of plotting attacks in New York City for Islamic State without fixing a new date, the man’s lawyer said. Talha Haroon, 19, was arrested in Pakistan in 2016 after U.S. authorities identified him as one of three men, along with a Canadian citizen and a man from the Philippines, planning attacks on Manhattan’s Times Square and the city’s subway. His lawyer and family deny the charges. Haroon’s lawyer termed the investigation a sting operation carried out by an investigating officer motivated by career advancement. “The FBI projected this as a high-level story, but these people don’t have the qualifications to kill a monkey,” said the lawyer, Idrees Ashraf. Ashraf said his client was only in contact with the investigating officer but never directly spoke with the co-accused, raising serious doubts about the nature of the investigation. “According to the criminal compl...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The United Nations’ cultural agency will elect a new chief on Friday, seeking someone who can revive UNESCO’s fortunes after the United States and Israel pulled out. Whoever gets the job will need to restore relevance to the agency whose mission to protect the world’s cultural and natural heritage has been hobbled by regional rivalries and a lack of money. After four days of secret balloting at UNESCO’s Paris HQ, Qatar’s former culture minister Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari qualified for the final vote, scheduled for Friday evening. He will face off against either Moushira Khattab, an Egyptian diplomat and politician, or Audrey Azoulay, a former French culture minister, whichever woman wins a ballot on Friday afternoon. “More than ever UNESCO needs a project that rallies the member states, re-establishes trust and cuts through the political divisions for the sake of UNESCO,” French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said ahead of the vote to rep...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Bauchi State Office, is to partner with the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) to train staff and inmates in the state on vocational skills. The State Controller of the Ministry, Mr Taddy Yusuf, made this known in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the NPS, Bauchi Command, Mr Abubakar Algwallari, on Friday. Yusuf was on a courtesy visit to the Controller of Prisons, Bauchi State Command, Mr Sulaiman Sulaiman. He said that the ministry offered various skill acquisition programmes which  include: building, carpentry, computer operations, electrical installation, motor vehicle mechanic and welding. He said that others include: satellite dish installation, pipe fitting and plumbing, tailoring and dressmaking as well as catering and hotel management. Yusuf said that inmates stood a better chance of gaining a lot after undergoing courses of their choice. He said that the ministry’s certificate of co...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Thirteen children were hospitalised on Friday after hydrochloric acid was spilled during a science experiment in a class in an elementary school in Fukuoka, south-western Japan, local media reported on Friday. According to the reports, the local board of education said that 13 pupils in the sixth grade felt ill following the accident, with some of them complaining of sore eyes and headaches. At around 11:20 a.m. local time, one of the students at Nagazumi Elementary School in Minami Ward, Fukuoka Prefecture, accidentally spilled around three milliliters of hydrochloric acid from a test tube onto a table. The post 13 elementary school children in Japan hospitalised after acid spill appeared first on Vanguard News . Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2ygTjAu

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Gov. Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has appointed Mr Abari Aboki as the new Head of Service (HoS) of the state, replacing Mr Thomas Ogiri who retired recently. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, announced this in statement made available to newsmen in Lafia on Friday. Before his appointment Abari served as the Permanent Secretary (PS) in various ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Abdullahi stated that the new head of service would also double as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Establishment and Industrial Matters. “The new Head of Service and the Special Adviser would be sworn in by His Excellency, the Governor, on Tuesday 17th October, 2017 at 11am at the Government House, Lafia,” he said. The SSG said also that Mr Musa Aloko had been appointed as the Executive Secretary of the Nasarawa State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board to take o...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Mr Godson Okoye, National Chairman, United Democratic Party (UDP), has advocated the adoption of Pidgin English as Nigeria’s national language to promote unity in the country. Okoye, who made the call in an interview with the Newsmen on Friday in Abuja, stated that 60 per cent of Nigerians understand Pidgin English. He said that a common language will bring about national cohesion harmony and unity in the country as well as ensure sustainable development. “We need to have a common language and pidgin can be picked and polished for that purpose. “If we have a national language then you can be sure there will be national interest and corruption, nepotism and favoritism will be eradicated from our society. “If there is a national interest that people are attached to, it will water down regional and personal interests. “Most of these African countries do better than us because they have a common language, national language followed by national interest which hel...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Onozure Dania T he Police Special Fraud Unit, SFU, yesterday, charged a 45-year-old man, Adeleke Isiaka, before a Federal High Court in Lagos over N8.5 million fraud. The accused is standing trial on a three-count charge of conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence and stealing. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The prosecutor, Mr. Sylvester Azubuike, told the court that the accused committed the offence sometimes in March 2013, at Abdul Oladejo Avenue, Mokore Town Wawa Bus Stop, off Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. He alleged that the accused obtained 50,000 dollars (N8.5 million) from one Ismail Abdul, adding that the money was obtained by inducement under false pretence of praying for Allah’s blessings on the money, to enable the complainant purchase two trucks and for business to be free from all encumbrances. According to Azubuike, the accused bolted with the sum. The offence is said to have contravened the provisions of Sections 1(1) (a), and 8(a) ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Prince Okafor T he Minister for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu has granted Lekoil Limited consent to complete the transfer of the original 17.14 percent participating interest that the company acquired in Oil Prospective License, OPL 310, in February 2013, to Mayfair Assets and Trust, a subsidiary of Lekoil. OPL 310 is an offshore license that contains the Ogo discovery, which is located in shallow water offshore Lagos. Lekoil’s acquisition of Afren’s stake in the license brings its total holding in OPL 310 to 40 percent. Lekoil’s acquisition of Afren’s remaining 22.86 percent participating interest in OPL 310, as announced on December 1, 2015, remains conditional upon receiving ministerial consent. According to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Lekan Akinyanmi, “We are delighted to have received ministerial consent on our original 17.14 percent participating interest in OPL 310. “This is an asset with tremendous potential and I am delighted ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Kingsley Adegboye with Agency report AGAINST the backdrop of   the huge capital expenditure involved in mass housing development, housing experts have said the sector requires appropriate finance, insisting that finance is a critical ingredient in housing development. This is the submission of the experts who spoke at various forums. Recently, the Managing Director,Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria FMBN, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, an architect, disclosed in Abuja that meeting the affordable mass housing needs of Nigeria remains a major challenge, with estimated 17 million housing deficit in the country, which is anticipated to cost about N60 trillion. Dangiwa added that the present administration will develop a well functioning mortgage finance market that is able to attract large, long-term local and foreign investments needed to promote a vibrant, competitive, innovative and sustainable housing market driven primarily by private sector and public-private partn...

http://ift.tt/2tfsWHv By Dayo Adesulu LAGOS— The fate of students in the 104 Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria is hanging in the balance, as staff, yesterday, embarked on an indefinite strike over the non-payment of salaries and allowances. Union chairmen of many of the Unity Schools who spoke with Vanguard, vowed to proceed on indefinite strike until the Federal Ministry of Education acceded to their demands. Zonal Director, South-West, Unity Schools, Dr Ganiyu Adeniyi, told Vanguard on telephone: “As we speak, there are schools that are being owed salaries, unpaid arrears since 2007,  and a host of other arrears.” He said since there was no remarkable commitment on the part of the government, the strike would continue indefinitely. Adeniyi, who dismissed the circular from the Federal Government that the strike had been put on hold, added that the government did not call the strike and could not, therefore, call it off. Chairman, Federal Government College, Idoani, Ondo Sta...

http://ift.tt/2shKC7M By Tare Youdeowei IBUSA—Ibusa Professional Women Association, led by Dr. Ifeoma Utomi, has stressed the need for all, especially those in the rural areas, to be health conscious and go for regular checks to avoid health hazards. She gave the charge during a one day sensitisation and health awareness programme for men, women and the girl child held at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, Ibusa, Delta State. The association, Dr. Utomi said, carried out the health programme to contribute its quota to the community as well as assist the government. She said: “The association seeks to create an enabling relationship amongst all.  As an NGO we will continue to engage not only in health programmes but other facets of life that affect women and children.” The Ibuza Professional Women Association had earlier paid a courtesy visit to the Obuzor of Ibusa, Obi Prof. Louis Nwoboshi, who commended the group and urged other well meaning people of the community emulate the ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Chioma Obinna N igerian Radiographers weekend in Lagos rejected what they described as ‘ill-conceived’ proposed bill to establish the National Council of Radiology and Radiation Medicine, NCR, by a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Patrick Asadu. The bill in question which has passed 2nd reading on the floor of the House, is seeking  marriage between one regulated profession on one hand (radiology) and others accommodated in regulated profession (medicine and possibly nursing and engineering). The radiographers however said the proposed bill is unnecessary as radiography already has a regulatory board. At a joint press conference of the Association of Radiographers of Nigeria, ARN, and Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals, NUAHP, in Lagos, the President of ARN, Mrs. Elizabeth Balogun said radiographers were not consulted and have no knowledge or inputs into the said bill. Balogun who said already they have taken their case to the Mi...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J kaduna—THE Kaduna State government yesterday sacked 4776 district and village heads as well as their staff as it began the implementation of the recommendations of the committee it set up to review the number of such personnel in the state. According to the government, the essence of the sack is to shore up the finances of local government councils in the state. Addressing the press in Kaduna yesterday, Commissioner  for Local Governments, Alhaji Jafaru Sani said the move was to reduce the burden that a bloated payroll imposed on local councils to enable them undertake capital projects and deliver public goods. With the implementation of the report, 4766 district and village heads will be dropped as the state government said it would now recognize only the 77 districts and 1,429 villages that existed in the state prior to 2001. The number of districts in the state increased to 390 with the 313 created, while village units increased to 5,882  from.1,42...

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http://ift.tt/2smJGA7 Aliru Momoh, the Otaru of Auchi Kingdom, in Edo State, yesterday,  announced the arrest of 24 suspected Boko Haram members in the community by the Nigerian Army. The monarch disclosed this in an interview at his palace in Auchi, headquarters of the Estako-West Local Government Area of the state. He said that the commandant of the Nigeria Army School of Engineering, near Auchi, informed him of the arrest of the suspected insurgents in his palace. “Shortly before you came, I had audience with the commandant.  He informed me about what they are doing and the arrest of some 24 suspected members of Boko Haram operating under the guise of Fulani herdsmen in the community,” he said. The Otaru said: “The commandant also informed me that the suspects would be transferred to Benin.” He commended the commandant for taking proactive steps to fight the suspected insurgents in the forest, saying that the “issue of security needs careful planning and execution.” ...

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