Modi headed for big win in key India state as counting begins…Read full details

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi/ AFP PHOTO / PRAKASH SINGH

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party was heading for a landslide in the key battleground state of Uttar Pradesh, strengthening his grip on power, early counting of votes showed Saturday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was leading in 292 seats out of the total 403 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, way above the 202 seats it needs to form a government on its own, early counting on the Election Commission of India website showed.

Home to 220 million people, Uttar Pradesh is the biggest electoral prize in the world’s largest democracy and the likely huge win for BJP will consolidate Modi’s grip on national politics two years before general elections.

The BJP was also leading in the state of Uttarakhand, according to the Election Commission, but the smaller states of Goa and Manipur were too close to call. The final results from all five states will be announced later Saturday.

The result in Uttar Pradesh would strengthen Modi’s hand in parliament’s upper house where his lack of a majority has stalled his reform agenda.

The alliance between the ruling regional Samajwadi Party and the Congress party was trailing in a distant second with leads in 67 seats in the country’s most populous state.

The beleaguered Congress was set to clinch a face-saving victory in Punjab, upsetting the apple cart of the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party, an anti-corruption party led by Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal which was tipped in some surveys to win in the state.

Since winning the first overall majority in three decades in the 2014 general election, Modi’s dominance has been largely unchallenged and he already looks well-placed for re-election in 2019.

“The poor have given a decisive verdict that Modi is our leader and is working for our welfare… women, youth and even minorities have voted for us,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP leader and the law minister.

“It is an extraordinary win for the party,” he said.

Even the major cash shortages which followed November’s shock ban on high denomination bank notes appears to have done little damage to his standing, particularly with Congress in disarray.

Celebrations broke out at BJP’s headquarters in state capital Lucknow where euphoric supporters danced to drum beats and distributed sweets.

“The state should now witness rapid development. Corruption and nepotism in governance would also come down,” one supporter, Viti Kumar, a housewife, told AFP.

Upbeat scenes also unfolded at BJP’s national headquarters in Delhi where men and women waved giant flags bearing the party’s lotus symbol and chanted “Modi, Modi”.

The multi-phase elections, which began in February, ended on Wednesday after which exit polls — that have proved unreliable in the past — were allowed to be published.

Nearly all predicted BJP to be ahead in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa.

– Congress set to seal Punjab –
The only crumb of comfort for Congress — which has led India for most of the post-independence period — was in Punjab where initial counting has given it an edge.

Uttar Pradesh has been ruled since 2012 by the socialist Samajwadi Party whose leader and current Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav went into an alliance for the election with Congress.

Yadav has been trying to tap into the pain from Modi’s cash ban, campaigning alongside Congress’ frontman Rahul Gandhi.

“The Samajwadi Party wholeheartedly accepts the verdict of the people of Uttar Pradesh. I congratulate BJP for winning the vote of the people,” Samajwadi Party spokesman Ghanshyam Tiwari told reporters in Lucknow.

The BJP fared poorly in the last UP elections, winning only 47 out of 403 assembly seats, but it clinched 73 out of 80 parliamentary constituencies in 2014 with Modi standing in the holy city of Varanasi.

A BJP win in Uttar Pradesh would have significant implications for the make-up of the Rajya Sabha — the upper house of parliament.

Several of Modi’s key reforms such as a nationwide sales tax have stalled in the chamber due to his lack of a BJP majority.

Its make-up is based on parties’ strength in the state assemblies, with the biggest states supplying the largest number of MPs.

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Turkey foreign minister insists on Netherlands visit…Read full details

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu / AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he would go to the Netherlands on Saturday to drum up support for a high-stakes referendum, despite the Dutch government’s refusal to facilitate his trip.

“I am going to Rotterdam today (Saturday),” Cavusoglu told CNN-Turk television in an interview. “We will impose heavy sanctions on the Netherlands” if the visit is blocked, he added.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders on Thursday said his country would “in no way” facilitate Cavusoglu’s planned visit.

“We will not participate in a visit by a Turkish government official who wants to conduct a political campaign for a referendum,” Koenders said.

“Therefore we will not cooperate,” he said, adding he had informed Cavusoglu.

Cavusoglu was pencilled in to address a planned rally in the port city of Rotterdam on Saturday to gather support for a referendum in Turkey next month, aimed at boosting the powers of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But Rotterdam’s mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb announced Wednesday the gathering was cancelled after an owner said the rally’s venue was no longer available.

“If tensions will increase because of my visit, let them be,” Cavusoglu said Saturday, adding: “What could be the harm of my visit?”

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Gal Taan Bandi by Honey Sarkar [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Gal Taan Bandi by Honey Sarkar Mp3 download

Album: Gal Taan Bandi

Singer: Honey Sarkar

Music: Jassi X

Lyrics: Kabal Saroopwali

Label: T-Series

Released: 10 Mar,2017

Duration: 03:28

Description: Gal Taan Bandi Honey Sarkar Mp3 New Punjabi Song. Music Given by Jassi X And Songs Lyrics Given by Kabal Saroopwali Company Of This mp3 songs T-Series. Gal Taan Bandi Song Read Lyrics.

Download and enjoy below…

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Lorde – Liability [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Lorde upcoming Melodrama album, was released this Thursday (Mar. 9).Not that the song is particularly experimental or innovative, necessarily — an exceedingly emotional and bare-bones piano ballad, the song wouldn’t sound tremendously out of place in the catalog of Adele, Sia or any number of other pop powerhouses. But coming from Lorde, with this particular lyric and delivery, the thing is an absolute jaw-dropper. Here are seven reasons why.Serving as the follow up to her visual for “Green Light” and the latest record off her forthcoming Melodrama LP, Lorde unloads her new single, “Liability.”

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Young Dolph Ft Gucci Mane – That’s How I Feel [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Young Dolph keeps his Gelato campaign moving by releasing the Iconick-directed visual for the project’s title track, which was produced by Izze The Producer. Perpetuating his current beef with fellow Memphis native Yo Gotti, the clip finds the “That’s How I Feel” rapper Featuring Gucci Mane posted in his nemesis neighborhood with some choice eye candy

We have to give that Young Dolph Gelato album a few more spins, but this new “Yeezy” video is gonna have us putting the song on our rap playlists. The track finds Dolph in the backseat with a few shortys turning up and smoking that good as they ride out. It looked like the whole crew had a good night

Take A Listen Below

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Shatta Wale – Ayoo (Prod. Possi Gee) [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Shatta Wale – Ayoo Mp3 Download

The Dancehall King Shatta Wale drops another fresh single and he titled this “Ayoo” produced by PossiGee.

Download & enjoy below

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North Korea holds Malaysians ‘hostage’ in Kim spat…Read full details

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A television screen shows news coverage of a North Korean rocket launch at Seoul station on March 7, 2017.<br />North Korea on March 7 banned Malaysians from leaving the country, prompting an immediate tit-for-tat response from Kuala Lumpur and dramatically escalating an already-heated diplomatic row over the murder of Kim Jong-Nam. / AFP PHOTO / Ed JONES

North Korea banned Malaysians from leaving the country Tuesday, triggering a tit-for-tat response from Kuala Lumpur which said its citizens were effectively being held “hostage” in the row over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam.

Pyongyang’s extraordinary move came as it faced growing international condemnation for a volley of missiles it fired into the Sea of Japan, defying stringent global sanctions aimed at halting its weapons programme.

Tuesday’s developments marked a dramatic heightening of tensions with Malaysia three weeks after the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was murdered at an airport with the banned VX nerve agent.

The North decided to “temporarily ban the exit of Malaysian citizens in the DPRK”, the official news agency KCNA said, citing the foreign ministry and using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The prohibition would remain in place “until the safety of the diplomats and citizens of the DPRK in Malaysia is fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case that occurred in Malaysia”.

The Malaysian foreign ministry said 11 of its citizens were currently in North Korea, including three embassy staff, six family members and two others who work for the UN’s World Food Programme.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the bar, and said he was ordering a similar ban on the movement of “all North Korean citizens in Malaysia”. Analysts said they could number around 1,000.

The home ministry had previously indicated the ban only affected diplomats and embassy officials.

“This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms,” Najib said, according to a statement.

“As a peace-loving nation, Malaysia is committed to maintaining friendly relations with all countries.

“However, protecting our citizens is my first priority, and we will not hesitate to take all measures necessary when they are threatened.”

– Weapon of mass destruction –
Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur had unusually strong links for years, but ties have rapidly degenerated in the weeks since Kim Jong-Nam was attacked at a Malaysian airport by two women who wiped a deadly chemical on his face.

An autopsy revealed that to be VX nerve agent, a substance so dangerous it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN.

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for the assassination, and Kuala Lumpur wants to question several North Koreans, although the only one it arrested was released last week for lack of evidence.

The North has never confirmed the dead man’s identity, but has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear it.

Kuala Lumpur announced the expulsion of the North’s ambassador over the weekend. He flew to Beijing on Monday, after launching a final verbal assault on his hosts.

Kang Chol slammed what he called a “pre-targeted investigation by the Malaysian police”. Photographs later showed him sitting in the economy section of the plane.

Pyongyang retaliated by formally ordering out his counterpart — who had already been recalled for consultations.

According to KCNA, the foreign ministry expressed hopes that the Malaysian government would solve the issue “as early as possible” from a position of “goodwill” and “setting store by and developing the bilateral relations”.

Malaysian diplomats and nationals in the North “may work and live normally under the same conditions and circumstances as before” while the travel ban is in place, it added.

The escalating row comes as the United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting to coordinate the global response to the North’s latest missile launches, which KCNA said Tuesday were trial runs at hitting “the bases of the US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan”.

Three of the four projectiles fired Monday came down provocatively close to Japan, in what observers said was a test of US President Donald Trump’s inchoate North Korea policy.

In phone calls to his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Trump reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to its allies.

The US will demonstrate to Pyongyang that there were “very dire consequences” for its actions, the White House said in a statement.

Under UN resolutions, Pyongyang is barred from any use of ballistic missile technology, but six sets of sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006 have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.

New US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Japan, China and South Korea later this month, a weekend report said, with North Korea expected to top his agenda.

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Zealandia (continent) [Profile, History, Facts, Wiki, Population & Size]

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BY: Michael Uzoma Michael

Below is the full history, facts, profile, population, size of Zealandia, the new and 8th continent on Earth!…

Zealandia also known as the New Zealand continent or Tasmantis, is a nearly submerged continental fragment that sank after breaking away from Australia 60–85 Ma (million years) ago, having separated from Antarctica between 85 and 130 Ma ago. It may have been completely submerged about 23 Ma ago, and most of it (93%) remains submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean.

How strongly Bollons Seamount (south of the Chatham Islands) remains connected to Zealandia is unknown. With a total area of approximately 4,920,000 km2 it is the world’s largest current microcontinent, more than twice the size of the next-largest microcontinent and more than half the size of the Australian continent. As such, and due to other geological considerations (such as crustal thickness and density), it is arguably a continent in its own right.

Zealandia supports substantial inshore fisheries and contains New Zealand’s largest gas field, near Taranaki. Permits for oil exploration in the Great South Basin were issued in 2007. Offshore mineral resources include iron sands, volcanic massive sulfides and ferromanganese nodule deposits.

Geology

Zealandia is largely made up of two nearly parallel ridges, separated by a failed rift, where the rift breakup of the continent stops and becomes a filled graben. The ridges rise above the sea floor to heights of 1,000–1,500 m (3,300–4,900 ft), with infrequent rocky islands rising above sea level. The ridges are continental rock, but are lower in elevation than normal continents because their crust is thinner than usual, approximately 20 km (12 mi) thick, and consequently they do not float as high above the Earth’s mantle.

About 25 Ma, the southern part of Zealandia (on the Pacific Plate) began to shift relative to the northern part (on the Indo-Australian Plate). The resulting displacement by approximately 500 km (310 mi) along the Alpine Fault is evident in geological maps. Movement along this plate boundary has also offset the New Caledonia Basin from its previous continuation through the Bounty Trough.

Compression across the boundary has uplifted the Southern Alps, although due to rapid erosion their height reflects only a small fraction of the uplift. Farther north, subduction of the Pacific Plate has led to extensive volcanism, including the Coromandel and Taupo Volcanic Zones.

Associated rifting and subsidence has produced the Hauraki Graben and more recently the Whakatane Graben and Wanganui Basin.

Volcanism on Zealandia has also taken place repeatedly in various parts of the continental fragment before, during and after it rifted away from the supercontinent Gondwana. Although Zealandia has shifted approximately 6,000 km (3,700 mi) to the northwest with respect to the underlying mantle from the time when it rifted from Antarctica, recurring intracontinental volcanism exhibits magma composition similar to that of volcanoes in previously adjacent parts of Antarctica and Australia.

This volcanism is widespread across Zealandia but generally of low volume apart from the huge mid to late Miocene shield volcanoes that developed the Banks and Otago Peninsulas. In addition, it took place continually in numerous limited regions all through the Late Cretaceous and the Cenozoic. However, its causes are still in dispute. During the Miocene, the northern section of Zealandia (Lord Howe Rise) might have slid over a stationary hotspot, forming the Lord Howe seamount chain.

Zealandia is occasionally divided by scientists into two regions, North Zealandia (or Western Province) and South Zealandia (or Eastern Province), the latter of which contains most of the Median Batholith crust. These two features are separated by the Alpine Fault and Kermadec Trench and by the wedge-shaped Hikurangi Plateau, and are moving separately to each other.

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Akinwunmi Ambode targets 3000MW 24-hr power generation for Lagos

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– …Says FG Can’t Solve Nation’s Energy Sector Challenges Alone

– …32 Communities In Badagry To Be Connected To National Grid By March

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday said the quest by the country to achieve energy security can no longer be left for the Federal Government to address alone, just as he revealed plans by the State to attain 24-hour power supply through generation of 3000megawatts of electricity by 2022.

Speaking at Lagos House in Ikeja after receiving the report of the Embedded Power Technical Committee constituted by the State Government with representatives from the public and private sector, Governor Ambode said while the Federal Government continues in its efforts to resolve the power crisis, the sustainable solution going forward would be the pulling together of commitment and resources of all stakeholders in the power value chain.

While explaining the rationale behind the embedded power initiative of the State Government, Governor Ambode said the major bane of the power situation in the country has always been with transmission, adding that the initiative was designed to permanently resolve power crisis in the State and by extension in the country.

He said:

“The reason why we embarked on this initiative is that we believe strongly that if the power problem is solved in Lagos, it is technically solved in the whole of the country and so because Lagos has more or less tested a solution that works, we can scale this up and also address it on a national scale.

“The problem of power in Nigeria is the problem of transmission and that is the truth. Yes, we have generating companies and we have distributing companies and they say power is in the hands of the private sector but we know technically that that is not totally true.

“We also know that transmission is hundred per cent owned by government but we have tested here in Lagos and we have been able to provide 48 kilowatts of power without transmitting it which means that we generate and then distribute.

“So, if that works for 48 kilowatts, can we put Lagos into clusters and actually use embedded power initiative to drive the business of Lagos? That is what this initiative is all about and I want to thank all the stakeholders for submitting their business template into what government sees as the right step to take so that we can join hands together to say in the next two to five years, we can actually power Lagos and then grow our GDP.”

Governor Ambode said the target of the State Government is to generate up to 3,000MW of power through accelerated deployment of various embedded power plants in strategic locations in the State within three to five years.

Out of the 3000MW, the Governor said 350MW would be delivered by Q1 2018, additional 850MW by Q4 2018, and the balance of 1,800MW not later Q3 2022, while the State Government will support the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to be signed between the Distribution Companies and the embedded power providers, to enhance bankability of the projects.

He said the embedded power will be distributed off-grid within Lagos State through the network of Eko and Ikeja Distribution Companies, while the State Government will support the Distribution Companies in upgrading their distribution infrastructure and installation of smart prepaid meters in the areas where embedded power is deployed.

Other areas of collaboration, according to the Governor, would include support for collection, appropriate legislation and enforcement of power theft laws.

Besides, Governor Ambode said his administration will collaborate with operators of oil blocks in the Lagos area to accelerate the extraction of gas feedstocks for power generation, adding that alternative sources of fuel would be explored to sustain uninterrupted power supply in the medium to long term, including partnerships on investments in gas pipeline infrastructure through the State’s owned oil and gas Corporation – Ibile Oil and Gas.

While recalling the success of the Light Up Lagos Project with installation of over 47,000 poles of street lights, and connection of about 67 communities in the Ibeju Lekki axis to national grid after about six years off grid under the rural electrification project, Governor Ambode said another 32 communities in Badagry which have not had access to electricity for over sixteen years would be connected to the grid within the next 21 days.

Responding on behalf of Distribution Companies (DISCOS), Chairman of Eko Distribution Company, Mr. Charles Momoh commended Governor Ambode for the embedded power initiative, saying it was the best thing that has happened to Lagos State in recent times.

He also expressed the confidence of DISCOS in the ability of the Governor to see to the success of the initiative.

Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Wale Oluwo, said he was confident that the implementation of the report holistically would address electricity problem in the state.

Credit: Vanguard

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The Biography Of DJ Jimmy Jatt [Age, Life Profile & Net Worth]

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Jimmy Adewale Amu (born October 15) popularly known as DJ Jimmy Jatt, is a Nigerian music producer, audio engineer and DJ. He was born in Lagos State.

He was named after an incident in his grandfather’s life. His growing years were not untowardly eventful, almost typical of children born after the civil war. Little is said about the circumstances concerning his birth: he was one of five children of his mother and his father was a polygamist.

What was important was that his father, a successful sound equipment dealer, had set up a music studio which would become a watering hole for his sons, Jimmy Jatt and his elder siblings.

At a young age, he developed interest in the music industry by listening to a lot of blues, soul, jazz and indigenous genres, like juju, highlife, R&B, disco and hip pop. He was a collector of early rap albums from the 70s and 80s, and he subsequently developed an interest in hip-hop and rapping.

He was a sickly child with food fads. Quiet, reserved and conservative–personality traits he would exhibit in adulthood. The role of his elder siblings in inculcating the love of music and the Hip-Hop culture is of importance. Jimmy Jatt grew up in the 80s when the Hip-Hop movement had begun to spread like wild fire. Break dancing was his first love. Even before he was old enough to go to clubs, he played the role of entertainer accompanying his brothers to gigs where he danced before the real dance began.

Jimmy Jatt began his entertainment career as a rapper, and he was known by the stage name Master J. He made a lot of demos and after a fruitless search getting a record label to support him, he started work of a DJ, with the support of his brothers. Jimmy Jatt’s brothers’ helped him establish a studio called JATT studio and he eventually changed his stage name to DJ Jimmy Jatt, in honour of his brothers. The studio was located on strategic Odo street, which helped him reach an eager audience who took to his “deejaying” skills and hip- hop in general. He has been a radio DJ for Ray Power and still does radio shows on a low-key.

DJ Jimmy Jatt is revered for his role in setting the pace for hip hop music across his country; Nigeria, dating back from the early 90s when he jumped on the scene in Lagos up on till this moment. In 1989 and 1990, he was pronounced Africa’s number one DJ, till today, he is one of the most sought-after by corporate organizations like Coca Cola, Rothmans, St Moritz, Benson and Hedges, Nigeria Breweries, MTN, Globacom, Guinness, etc

Dj Jimmy Jatt rocked and bopped heads at a lot of nite clubs and gigs dropping the latest hit on vinyl. At a point in Nigeria the only accepted forum for hip hop artistes to have themselves groomed, whilst engaging in lyrical battle was the Road Block street Canival pioneered by Dj Jimmy Jatt. Setting up speakers, turntables, amplifiers and microphones, young lads swarmed his studio like bees unto nectar begging for a life-line. The likes of Junior and Pretty, Daddy Fresh, Daddy Showkey, DJ Abdullah, El Cream, Ruff, Rugged and Raw and Aladin (Formerly known as Chuck Da Bone), all grabbed the microphones, lighting up the stage, entertaining the crowd and basically having fun. No one had the slightest idea that Rap music was just on the brink of blowing up in Nigeria.

He was popular for ‘Road block’, a street carnival which involved lyrical battles between aspiring artists. As time went on and Jimmy Jatt visited various parts of the country and displayed his musical prowess, and he became synonymous to hip-hop in Nigeria.

He finally dropped his debut album, “The Definition” in 2007 it was more of a mix tape featuring over 50 of Nigeria’s best artists. The album which featured Tuface Idibia, Mode 9,Elajoe and several others was heavily successful earning him awards such as Channel O Africa music video award, ,Hip hop World Award, Sound City Music Video Award, Nigerian Music Video Award, Nigerian Music Award nominations to mention a few.

The DJ whose signature look includes a beret has been a DJ for 20 years and headlined at various musical shows in Nigeria and shared the stage with several international artists like Akon, 50cent, Sean Paul, LL Cool J, Usher and others.

Jimmy Jatt has made such an impact that several events have been held in honour of him like the Remy Martin VIP party held in October 2013 to celebrate him. Red Bull Nigeria appointed him to be the country’s ambassador at the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy holding in Tokyo in 2011.

Jimmy Jatt uses his musical skills for a good cause as he is the official DJ for the Play Safe national campus tour in Nigeria, poised at warring against unprotected sex. He also has a T.V programme called ‘Jimmy’s Jump Off’.

He has been married for about 20years and have two daughters.

• An Uzomedia Biography

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