Monday, 20 February 2017
Nepal to hold first local election in 20 years
Nepal’s government announced the dates for the forthcoming local elections on Monday, nearly 20 years after polls were last held for municipalities and village councils in the country.
The last local elections in Nepal were held in 1997. They were due to be held again in 2002, but the country was at the peak of civil war at the time, and political infighting and frequent power struggles confounded efforts to hold local elections thereafter.
The Nepalese coalition government announced that local elections will be held on May 14, in spite of an opposition threat to launch protest following a breakdown of talks.
The decision came hours after the country’s election commissioner met with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and backed the government plan to announce the dates.
It said that the announcement had been delayed due to disagreement over the number of positions up for grabs.
Dahal, who led a 10-year Maoist insurgency that ended in a peace deal in 2006, has vowed to hold the elections, which are warranted by the constitution that was promulgated in September 2015.
The constitution, a key part of the peace deal, was delivered amid protest by Madhesis, which led to the death of over 50 people.
The opposition, led by Madhesis of the southern plains, has refused to participate in the polls without first amending the constitution.
They have announced a series of protest including a shutdown on Wednesday in the country’s southern plains.
According to the Nepalese coalition government, the term of the current parliament expires on Jan. 21, 2018.
Report says the constitution requires the government to hold elections for local bodies, provincial assemblies and new federal parliament before the end of the term
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Nigeria has no record of its oil, non-oil export activities since June 2015
By Joseph Erunke
ABUJA-THE Senate was Monday told that Nigeria has since June 2015, been exporting its oil and non-oil products without documentation.
This was just as it heard that the development has made the country lost over N23.6 billion expected to be repatriated proceeds of the export within the period.
Also, on its own, the Senate alleged discovery of over $850 billion supposedly earned by the country between 1996 and 2014 from its crude oil export proceeds which it alleged was yet to be repatriated to the country by the Joint Venture Oil Companies, a development it noted, was in total contravention of Nigeria’s Pre-shipment Inspection of Export Act and Article 26 of Export Policy Guidelines and procedures for crude oil, Gas and non-oil goods.
The various revelations were made, Monday, during an investigative public hearing organized by a Joint Committee of the Senate Committees on Finance, Trade and Investment, Gas, Petroleum Upstream, Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Customs, Excise and Tariff on the “Need to Investigate Pre Shipment Inspection of Export Activities in Nigeria.
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S.Korean woman jailed for attempted exorcism, death of cousin
A German court on Monday sentenced a South Korean woman to six years in jail for the death of her cousin who was beaten and suffocated during an attempted exorcism in a Frankfurt hotel room.
Four other family members accused of taking part in the ritual, including the female victim’s now 16-year-old son, were handed suspended sentences ranging from 18 months to two years, national news agency DPA reported.
Prosecutors said the victim, 41, named in court as Seonhwa P, was set upon after she began talking to herself and lashing out during a hotel stay in December 2015, leading the accused to attempt the “exorcism”.
The woman’s chest and stomach were beaten while she was gagged first with a towel and then a cloth-covered coat hanger during a two-hour ordeal, they said.
The victim suffered “massive chest compression and trauma to the neck” and died of asphyxiation.
Judges at the district court in the western city of Frankfurt found the victim’s 44-year-old cousin, described as the main perpetrator, guilty of inflicting bodily harm causing death.
The guilty woman, named as Doean K., had “taken it upon herself to decide over life and death”, prosecutor Nadja Boettinger said during the trial.
Also accused were her son, 22, and daughter, 19, as well as a 16-year-old cousin.
In delivering his ruling, the presiding judge said the family had acted in the belief that they were chasing away the victim’s demons, calling it “a tragic case”, according to DPA.
After finding the woman’s body at the hotel, police at the time also discovered a possible second victim in the garage of a house the group had rented in the town of Sulzbach.
The second woman, who was found alive, was badly injured and suffering from hypothermia and dehydration.
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Wednesday, 8 February 2017
The Biography Of Uriel (Big Brother Naija) [Age, Life Profile & Net Worth]
Uriel (born 1988) is a Nigerian entertainer. She was born in Hammersmith, England, Uriel was sent to Nigeria soon after birth. She has four very diverse brothers ranging from serious business man to one that’s really cool, complete with hair and beads.
Uriel is spontaneous, passionate with a nurturing nature too! She loves to cook, but hates cleaning up after cooking. She likes to think of herself as a master of organised mess!.
Uriel is one of the housemates in the 2017 Big Brother Naija television shows.
- An Uzomedia Biography
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Monday, 6 February 2017
Pro, anti-Buhari protesters jam in Abuja
Two opposing groups on Monday demonstrated in Abuja about governance in Nigeria.
While one group expressed support for the actions of the Federal Government in the areas of security and anti-corruption campaign, the other demanded improved quality of life for Nigerians.
The pro-government group came under the banner “#I stand with Buhari.”
Some of the group’s placards read, “I stand with Buhari”; “We are happy with your policies, especially the anti graft war”, “Nigerians are fully with you”, “We believe in President Muhammadu Buhari making Nigeria great again,” among others.
Mr Amos Adaka, one of the conveners of the pro-government gathering, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his laudable achievements since assuming office.
Adaka said the president had recorded huge milestones in the area of security and anti-corruption and also doing so much to ensure that the country was on sound footing.
He added that the president could not have reversed what past administrations destroyed within two years of his administration and asked Nigerians to give government more time to correct the anomalies.
The other group, “#I stand with Nigeria” carried placards that read “We demand the change you promise,” “Where are the recovered monies?’ “Exchange rate madness,” “Emiefele must go,” among others.
The anti-government group, led by Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, said Nigerians should have better deal under Buhari and should be treated fairly.
Nwagwu said “Nigerians would no longer fold their arms and watch government.”
He added that the era of waiting for Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other civil society groups to fight for the citizenry was over, and urged Nigerians to come out and
demand for their rights.
He said “our government needs to hear directly from us those things we say in our
offices, markets, schools, Churches, Mosques and cabs about how bad things are, not through NLC or TUC.”
While the protests lasted at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, the police monitored the situation.
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Leaked emails tarnish golden-boy Beckham
David Beckham’s squeaky-clean image as a British cultural icon has taken a battering following the leaking of expletive-strewn emails in which he apparently raged about not receiving a knighthood.
The former England football captain is said to have sworn in emails to his PR team after being told he would not be made “Sir David” by Queen Elizabeth II because of concerns about his tax affairs.
A spokesman for the 41-year-old said the emails, released by the Football Leaks website, were “hacked and doctored” to give a “deliberately inaccurate picture”.
But there has been a backlash against Beckham from sections of Britain’s tabloid media.
Monday’s Daily Mail spoke of the “Shame of Saint Becks”, with a columnist pronouncing him “a foul-mouthed, determined egotist” who had used charity work as part of an “increasingly desperate” bid for a knighthood.
Reports which emerged on Friday said the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star refused to put his own money into his humanitarian 7 Fund and tried to obtain reimbursement from the UN children’s agency UNICEF for expenses met by his sponsors.
Outspoken television host Piers Morgan told his 5.47 million Twitter followers the revelations were “sickening” and exposed Beckham as a “fraud”.
Beckham has not spoken publicly since the story broke, although he was pictured cradling his five-year-old daughter Harper on the Instagram account of his son, Brooklyn.
Cynics said even that was a crass attempt to show his best, fatherly side at a time of bad headlines.
– Miami project –
For a man who takes such care of his public image, it is likely to be a deeply distressing situation.
Beckham has maintained a high profile since retiring from the game in May 2013 following a brief stint with French side Paris Saint-Germain.
He continues to carry out charity work and fronts several advertising campaigns.
He has faced problems finding a stadium deal for the football club he plans to launch in Miami, but Major League Soccer chiefs confirmed recently that the team remains in line to become the league’s 24th franchise.
He has managed to shake off previous scandals, both on and off the pitch.
He became a national pariah after his dismissal against Argentina was unfairly blamed for England’s elimination from the 1998 World Cup, but fought back to become England captain.
Reports of an extra-marital affair in April 2004 were dismissed and did not tarnish Beckham’s image as a loving husband to pop star turned fashion designer Victoria Beckham and father to their four children.
Beckham received an OBE from the queen in 2003, a lower honour than a knighthood.
His wife also received an OBE in the 2017 New Year Honours list despite her label being threatened with closure after failing to file company accounts.
She was criticised in British tabloid newspapers for telling her family she would be receiving the award before the official announcement.
– Brand Beckham –
Born in Leytonstone, east London, Beckham was a member of the fabled “Class of 92” crop of young players who emerged at United, along with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville.
Blessed with an extraordinarily accurate right foot, Beckham was renowned for his dead-ball prowess and his seemingly limitless stamina, as well as his ever-changing hairstyles.
He won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the 1999 Champions League with United, creating both injury-time goals as Alex Ferguson’s side stormed back to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the final.
After his relationship with Ferguson deteriorated, he joined the Real Madrid “Galacticos” to great fanfare in 2003, but would win only one league title during his time in Spain.
Beckham moved to Los Angeles Galaxy in a trailblazing trans-Atlantic move in 2007 and won two MLS Cup titles, whilst also spending time on loan at European giants AC Milan and PSG.
He captained England for six years and played at three World Cups, his 115 caps making him his country’s third most-capped player behind Peter Shilton and Wayne Rooney.
“If you had told me as a young boy I would have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club, Manchester United, proudly captained and played for my country over one hundred times, and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I would have told you it was a fantasy,” he said in 2013.
Beckham’s global celebrity turned him into a one-man marketing phenomenon with a glut of lucrative endorsements.
He is the face of firms including Adidas, fashion chain H&M and Haig Whisky and his shared fortune with Victoria, dubbed “Brand Beckham”, is believed to exceed £500 million ($624 million, 582 million euros).
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It’s difficult to Islamise Nigeria – Lai Mohammed
By Emmanuel Elebeke
The Federal Government has declared that it is difficult to Islamise Nigeria by any government, saying that it has no hidden agenda to achieve such plan.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed made declaration on Monday at the North-Central Edition of Town Hall Meeting held in Ilorin, Kwara state.
He said that the alleged Islamisation of Nigeria under the current Administration is totally false and should be perceived in its entirety as a campaign of calumny, saying that the secular nature of Nigeria’s Constitution makes the issue of religious dominance and impunity improbable.
Mohammed who condemned the action of those preaching religious intolerance stressed that it was difficult to Islamise Nigeria and those claiming the current Federal Government was plotting to Islamise the country were not only political but were also working towards diverting attention from the ongoing anti-corruption crusade.
‘‘The media has been increasingly awash with incendiary statements that seem designed to pitch the adherents of the two prominent religions in the country, Christians and Muslims against
one another.
‘‘Such fallacies like the Islamization of Nigeria, the killing of Christians by Muslims, the labelling of Nigeria as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world can only serve one purpose: trigger a religious war.
‘‘Needless to say that no nation ever survives a religious war. Those who are making these allegations know that they are not true, but they have found in religion another tool to demonize the government of the day, divert attention from the government’s anti-corruption stance and create undue tension in the polity.
‘‘It is also important to note that the underlying principle of religious conflict may not be purely religious, but more often than not coloured with political connotations as vividly depicted in the case of the terrorist group Boko Haram.
‘‘And more often than not, conflicts between Muslims and Christians are fuelled by political motivations, ethnic differences, extremism, intolerance and terrorism.’’
On achievements of the administration, the Minister said, “a lot has been achieved by this administration, despite the challenges that we have faced since assuming office.
“But whatever has been achieved in all spheres will pale into insignificance if there is no peace in the country. And there is no bigger threat to the peace and unity of our country today than religion-coated incendiary messages, which are being carelessly sent out there by some religious, political and opinion leaders.
“Make no mistake about it, there have been conflicts between adherents of the two major religions in certain parts of the country. To now extrapolate from that to say Nigeria is the most dangerous place for Christians in the world is a disservice to Nigeria and an overkill.
‘‘What those who are pushing this negative narrative about Nigeria do not know is that if they succeed in giving Nigeria a bad name in the comity of nations, they too will not escape the consequences that will result therefore,’’ he warned.
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Osinbajo speaks with Buhari, says not under pressure to resign
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA- Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said he is not under any kind of pressure to reign, saying he ran on the same electoral ticket with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Osinbajo spoke with State House correspondents shortly after a closed door meeting with the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Oyegun, his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Sen. Babafemi and the Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Matters, Hon. Abike Dabire at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.
Details coming
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