Link between swearing and emotional arousal

http://ift.tt/2lDRmaL

There is a direct connection between swearing and emotional arousal. Although this may seem obvious, new findings cast new light on opinions around whether swearing may be considered to be a socially acceptable way of expressing emotion.

Keele University psychologist Dr Richard Stephens has published a new research paper which explores how experiencing emotion impacts on people swearing.

Stephens has in the past published research showing that swearing helps people to cope with pain, but now his new study focuses on how a person’s emotions can affect the fluency of swearing.

The new research, funded by a British Psychological Society Undergraduate Research Assistantship, investigated how swearing and emotion are linked. During the study psychology student Amy Zile asked volunteers to play a first person shooter video game with the aim of causing a heightened emotive response. A golf video game was used for comparison purposes.

After playing the game volunteers were asked how many different swear words they could think of in a minute, known as the Swearing Fluency Task, a procedure developed by psychologists in the US. The volunteers who played the first person shooter game had a raised state of aggression and swore more in the Swearing Fluency Task compared with the golf video game.

The findings show there is a direct connection between swearing and emotional arousal. Although this may seem obvious, this research confirms such a link objectively. The findings cast new light on opinions around whether swearing may be considered to be a socially acceptable way of expressing emotion.

In an article published in The Conversation Dr Stephens said: “We appear to have established a two-way relation between swearing and emotion. Not only can swearing provoke an emotional response [as shown in the swearing and pain research] but raised emotional arousal has been shown to facilitate swearing, or at least one aspect of it, swearing fluency.

“These psychology studies demonstrate that there is more to swearing than routine offense-causing or a lack of linguistic hygiene. Language is a sophisticated toolkit and swearing is a useful component.

“When I am giving talks on the psychology of swearing I usually end with transcripts of the final utterances of fatal air-crash pilots, captured on the black box flight recorder because, unsurprisingly, many of these feature swearing. I use it to emphasise an important point: that swearing must be important given its prominence in matters of life and death.”

The post Link between swearing and emotional arousal appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2lE4nRP

Back pain could be warning sign you will die young

http://ift.tt/2lSs1MT

Ignore your bad back at your own risk. Despite being a common problem across the world, scientists warn it could have grave consequences.  New research suggests that sufferers are actually 13 per cent more likely to die early from any cause.  And the findings could pose a significant threat, with painkillers recently found to be ineffective in treating the condition.

The findings could pose a significant threat, with painkillers recently found to be ineffective in treating the condition, experts say.

Few studies have examined the potential reduced life expectancy associated with spinal pain in an ageing population. But researchers from the University of Sydney assessed the link between death rates and spinal pain in 4,390 twins over the age of 70.

A report in the European Journal of Pain by Study author Dr Paulo Ferreria noted that it is   a significant finding as many people think that back pain is not life-threatening.

“These findings warrant further investigation because while there is a clear link between back pain and mortality we don’t know yet why this is so.

“Spinal pain may be part of a pattern of poor health and poor functional ability, which increases mortality risk in the older population.

“Policy makers should be aware that back pain is a serious issue – it is an indicator of people’s poor health and should be screened for, particularly in the elderly.”

New research suggests that sufferers of back pain are actually 13 per cent more likely to die early from any cause

Back pain should be recognised as an important co-morbidity that is likely to impact people’s longevity and quality of life.”

Back pain, ranked as the highest contributor to disability in the world, normally improves within a few weeks or months.

It is believed to affect four in five people at some point in their lifetime, with most cases being caused by lifting heavy objects or bending awkwardly.

But half see a recurrence of the problem within a year, and for some people back pain can last for years or come back in waves.

In the past most patients with back pain were prescribed some form of painkiller.

But recent research shows there are actually no effective drugs for the problem, and the only way to treat it is through stretching and exercises.

Studies have shown paracetamol or ibuprofen is ineffective against back pain, and more powerful opioid painkillers are both ineffective and highly dangerous.

Common over-the-counter drugs only provide any form of relief to one in six patients, Australian scientists discovered.

In fact, adults taking the cheap pills are actually three times more likely to suffer from stomach ulcers.

The post Back pain could be warning sign you will die young appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2lSlJNn

A mother’s sacrifice for a degree

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

By Yetunde Arebi

When I first received the news of Olaide’s convocation ceremony a couple of weeks ago, I was besides myself with joy. My happiness was not for Olaide, really. After spending five years for a four year course and all that had gone down in the past, I couldn’t really say I was enthusiastic about the news. Relief was more like it. “Finally, her poor mother can have some peace”, I concluded.

Raising Olaide had been a huge task, and aunty, as I call her may be said to have achieved an extraordinary feat by many standards. Over the last 20 years or so that I have known the family, I’ve had cause to listen to stories of Olaide’s many escapades, counselled her on many occasions and even told her poor mother off for failing to take what I described as ‘tough decisions’ that would set her daughter straight.

But aunty has her set style of reasoning, her polygamous marriage and uncaring husband her bane, like an albatross around her neck. She would always insist that her decisions were the best giving her circumstances and the goals she was determined to achieve, which was that Olaide must be a university graduate, no matter the cost. And these costs were dire, no mincing words. For Olaide was and still is a handful. I just had to join aunty in this great celebration of her daughter’s third class degree.

As I sat down watching her prance around the various tents, giggling and chatting up friends happily, oblivious of her poor grade, I could only feel sorry for her mother. For, I sometimes wonder who really has a problem here, the mother or the daughter? After the photo sessions, we sat down to eat and I was not surprised at the lavish display on offer. After all, it was all for Olaide. I asked aunty if she was happy and without looking me in the eye, she said yes. She’d achieved her goal and her two younger sons would have no excuse but to aspire to do better than their sister. Then, our discussion took us down memory lane, en route the torturous journey to moulding Olaide into a presentable woman.

Aunty, whose husband was our landlord several years back, was a civil servant and she also ran a little shop where she sold all sorts of things including soft drinks and beer, on and off licence. She was the exact opposite of her cantankerous husband who had two other wives living on the property and some others living at other locations in and out of Lagos, and which also did not stop his roving eyes from wondering.

Once, he’d had the misfortune of looking my way and my handling of the matter probably endeared his wife to me. We became close and she shared all sorts of problems with me, especially Olaide’s which in fact was her only problem from my observation. Her only flaw was that she never took to advise, and would always convince you to see things her way. At the end, there was no love lost between Olaide and I, as I was convinced that her mother was over pampering her over a flimsy excuse.

It all began when Olaide was in Junior Secondary School. Though a very wayward girl, she still had some pretence of innocence when it suited her.

In JSS2, her mother had walked into my apartment shaking like a leaf. Olaide had been impregnated by one of her customers and she was going to terminate it. I told her not to as she was going to launch her into a more wayward and carefree life style. She must be forced to have the baby to serve as a deterrent and reminder of her actions. She would enrol back into school after the baby. But aunty would hear none of such. She was only concerned about the humiliation among her co-wives, the inability of Olaide to complete secondary school, her disgrace among her siblings and some other flimsy excuses. Thus, the pregnancy was terminated and Olaide’s tantrums took a bigger dimension.

A few weeks after resumption for the third term in JSS2, her mother received a letter asking her to see the principal.

There, she was informed that her daughter had been on suspension for the past two weeks for leading a riot of sort, and that on resumption, she was supposed to come with her parents. But Olaide had showed up alone and told them that her mother had died the previous year and her father had travelled. She did not know that one of her teachers who knew her house and her mother had told the principal that it was a lie. Seeing no way out, she had brought the letter home. Yet, Olaide had been leaving the house for school every day for the whole two weeks.

How would you feel if your child were to tell people that you were dead? That day, I told aunty that she was breeding a monster but I guess she did not believe me. Anyway, the matter was settled and they were asked to pay some levies for the damages done to the school property before she could resume classes .

At the end of that year, Laide was asked to repeat the class. Indeed, she was one of the lucky few as many of them had been advised to withdraw. The school principal announced that the school had been chosen as one of the few to be upgraded into special schools by the government and they wanted only really intelligent and disciplined students. The students were being pruned across board.

Olaide could do better she said, as she had fallen short by just one subject. She only had to be more serious with her studies. When she was very angry and kept cursing some of the teachers, I suspected that something was wrong . The following month she missed her period again, this time in a most shocking circumstance. One of her male teachers was responsible.

The story had it that the teacher had told her of the impending doom to be released by the school authority and the need for her to pass his subject which she had failed already. He was willing to help her change the marks but she had to sleep with him. Aunty wept helplessly as she told me the story. She insisted that had her marriage been monogamous and she had the full support of her husband, she would have taken to my advice. I’d thought such a thing was possible only in higher institutions, not secondary schools. But as luck would have it, her periods came while aunty was making plans for the abortion.

Whenever one tried to advise aunty, she would insist that she was not supporting Olaide but setting her back on track. She withdrew her from the school because of that teacher, she never confronted him nor reported him just so she could save her face. The teacher would never own up to his actions, she’d insisted, adding that she would not allow him to derail her plans for Olaide.

For all her support, it was not as if Olaide appreciated or even understood what it was all about. In fact, she saw her mother more as a disturbance and then a heap dump than any other thing. But aunty would always say, “she may not appreciate what I’m doing for her now, but I know that in future, when she sits down and reflects on all that has happened, she will know what I’ve been through to make her whatever she becomes”.

One would expect a good father to ask why his daughter had to change schools, but not aunty’s husband, according to her. A mother must ensure that she protects her children to the best of her ability, she would tell me. Her husband according to her, had lost focus because of his many women. All the concoctions they were giving to him had twisted his brains and he didn’t know what his priorities should be any longer.

Everything went well in the first year in her new school, then in JSS3, aunty discovered she was pregnant again just as they were about to sit for the School Certificate Examination. I wasn’t really surprised when she refused to have it removed. She informed her mother that she was keeping it since she was almost through with her education and that the boy was going to marry her.

The boy like many young Ibo boys, was into some kind of business and was doing fine. He was showering money and attention on her and this formed the basis for Olaide’s belief that she was in love and ready for marriage. Finally, aunty had to confide in one of her nieces whom Olaide seemed to respect a lot and they finally convinced her to have an abortion.

Prior to the procedure, she told me that a colleague in the office who had a problem child like Olaide had told her what to do once the pregnancy was terminated, an IUD must be inserted. I was surprised. Can young girls have IUD installed? Would it not encourage her to be even more carefree? But aunty insisted she was sailing with it. And it did save her the headaches of unwanted pregnancies.

We moved out of their house shortly after this but still kept very much in touch. As expected, Olaide failed that year’s examination and had to retake some papers before she made it. Today, we are all happy to see her graduate, even if with a third class. That is all her mother wanted. A university degree! As we sat side by side, staring at nothing in particular, I could see her from the corner of my eye.

Was she happy or relieved, I could not tell. But her husband to whom she wanted to prove a point, was not at the ceremony. He’d failed her once again. Many things raced through my mind. Aunty was very religious, never missing church and was even an elder but I bet most of the congregants might never be able to guess what she had done to achieve her goal. What of the pregnancies and abortions? Did she not see them as sins? Was Olaide still wearing the IUD after all these years? What if all these have a negative effect on her reproductive system in the future? Who was to blame, aunty or Olaide? And for the first time in many years, I felt pity for her rather than my usual resentment. Everyone must pay a price for what they desperately desire. Yours is just different from mine.

Do have a wonderful weekend!

The post A mother’s sacrifice for a degree appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2lDWls8

CAF Elections: Regional interest will be paramount in Nigeria’s support — Sports Ministry

FG approves N120m intervention fund for FMC Asaba

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Federal Government has approved N120 million as intervention fund for the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, to assist the hospital in upgrading its facilities.

Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of State for Health, disclosed this on Friday in Asaba during his official tour of the hospital. Ehanire said the fund would go a long way in improving the lot of the hospital.

“The Federal Ministry of Health and the National Health Scheme have put together an intervention fund to the tune of N120 million for the FMC Asaba to assist the hospital.

“The FMC is expected to use the fund according to its work plan in upgrading the hospital and to enable it render improved services to the public,” he said.

The minister said his visit to the hospital was to access its facilities and working conditions at the hospital and see ways the federal government can assist in improving repositioning of the FMC for better service delivery.

He noted that paucity of funds was a major challenge facing every sector of the nation’s economy, attributing the challenge to the huge drop in oil revenue in the global market.

Ehanire said: “There is challenge everywhere in the country and this is because of the drop in global oil price which has our revenue to crash drastically.

“We are also aware that the restiveness in the Niger Delta has hampered our production capacity, causing the nation huge loss.”

The minister however noted that the FMC is facing so much pressure in service delivery, due to the failure of primary health centres across the country to discharge their responsibilities to the public.

He said the FMC was primarily established to undertake tertiary health service delivery, but regrettably, the hospital has been saddled with treatment of minor primary health cases.

“The Federal Medical Centres are not supposed to be treating cases of catarrh and cough; these minor ailments should be handled by the primary health centres.

“But because our primary healthcare centres are not functioning well as they are supposed to do, many of these cases now come to the FMC,” Ehanire noted.

He said that the federal government would revitalise and reposition primary health centres in all political wards across the nation to discharge their primary responsibilities to the public.

Earlier, the acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the FMC Asaba, Dr Victor Osiatuma, highlighted some of the achievements of the hospital, including the improvement from a 30-bed facility at inception to 274 beds.

He also said the hospital has achieved remarkable improvement by the Residency Training programme which it commenced in 2010 with the accreditation of the Family Medicine department.

On challenges facing the FMC, Osiatuma pointed out that the incessant strike actions in the FMC was hampering efficient service delivery, and called for government action plan to address the challenge.

“These incessant strike actions have not helped the image of the health sector and patient attendance in the hospitals. Many of the agitations of the health sector are already in the public domain.

“It is our view that government should quickly come out with definite guidelines/measures, even if temporary, which will be of uniform application to all the hospitals in the country,” Osiatuma said.

Newsmen report that highpoint of the minister’s visit was the inauguration of the newly-built Accident and Emergency department and the newly-renovated Utility block, which accommodates the Physiotherapy department.

The post FG approves N120m intervention fund for FMC Asaba appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2lSiLbG

Police to recruit 10,000 personnel annually -IGP

Islamic State car bomb kills more than 50 in northwest Syria

http://ift.tt/1epEzUo

An Islamic State car bomb killed over 50 people on Friday in a Syrian village held by rebels, a day after jihadist group was driven from its stronghold within the area, a war monitor said.

The blast which occurred in the village of Sousian, hit a security checkpoint controlled by rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor of the war based in Britain, said more than 50 people died including over 30 civilians. Two rebels contacted by Reuters put the total death toll at least 40.

One of the two, a fighter with the Sultan Murad Brigade near al-Bab, said: “it was done on a checkpoint, there were a lot of families there gathered and waiting to get back to al-Bab’’. “Therefore, we have many civilian casualties.”

The Turkey-backed rebels drove Islamic State from the town of al-Bab on Thursday, following weeks of street battles near where Ankara wants to establish a safe zone for civilians.

Turkey’s military said that Syrian rebels had taken full control of all of al-Bab, and that work to clear mines and unexploded ordnance was under way.

Sousian is behind rebel lines about 8 km northwest of al-Bab, around which Ankara has long supported the formation of a security zone it says would help to stem a wave of migration via Turkey into Europe.

A second blast took place 2km south of Sousian later, but it was unclear whether it was from a vehicle bomb or a planted device such as a mine.

There were reports of casualties, but no immediate details, the Observatory said.

The post Islamic State car bomb kills more than 50 in northwest Syria appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2mlEZQX

Ex-Media aide of Former Abia Governor Theodore Orji assassinated

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Unknown gunmen on Sunday night shot dead Mr Ben Onyechere, the former Media Adviser to former governor of Abia, Chief Theodore Orji.

Onyechere was kidnapped at about 8 p.m. in Ikenegbu axis of Owerri where he had gone with his driver to do some shopping.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said “the gunmen numbering five trailed Onyechere to a popular super market in Ikenegbu and forced his driver out of his car before they sped off with Onyechere.

“The following day the lifeless body of Oncheyere was found a few streets away from Maris Junction, Ikenegbu Owerri, after he was shot several times. It is sad’’.

The source added that the deceased’s driver, who put up initial resistance was shot twice on the legs before Onyechere was kidnapped.

The detail of the assassination are still sketchy.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Imo command, DSP Andrew Enwerem, said that he was informed of the incident, but could not confirm the identity of the victim.

 

The post Ex-Media aide of Former Abia Governor Theodore Orji assassinated appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2jOisu9

NiMet predicts sunny, hazy, partly cloudy weather for Tuesday

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted sunny and hazy weather conditions over the central States of the country on Tuesday.

NiMet made the prediction in the Weather Outlook issued by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Monday.

It said that the region would have day and night temperature of 31 to 37 degrees Celsius and 14 to 21 degrees Celsius respectively.

The agency predicted that the southern states would experience partly cloudy conditions over the inland cities within the next 24 hours and cloudy morning over the entire coast.

It also predicted prospects of localised thunderstorms over Port Harcourt, Yenegoa, Lagos, Akure and Ijebu-Ode later in the day with day and night temperatures of 32 to 36 and 22 to 25 degrees Celsius respectively.

According to NiMet, northern states will experience sunny and hazy conditions with day and night temperatures of 32 to 36 and 14 to 21 degrees Celsius respectively.

“The northern part of the country will be under sunny and hazy conditions while the coastal regions should expect isolated thunderstorms in the next 24 hours,” the agency predicted.

The post NiMet predicts sunny, hazy, partly cloudy weather for Tuesday appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2jLDKLv

Woman allegedly stabs staff of Ikeja Electric over epileptic power

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Ikeja Electric (IE) on Monday decried the increasing number of violent attacks on its staff while performing their lawful duties.

Mr Felix Ofulue, the Head, Corporate Communications Unit of the company, expressed the company’s concern in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos.

He said that the company was shocked at the level of violence, citing a recent incident at Akowonjo, Lagos, where an aggrieved woman allegedly stabbed a staff of IE.

“It is quite disheartening that a customer will resort to such levels of violence under any circumstance, to express her grievance without even considering the enormity of the action, which could have easily resulted in murder if the staff had died.

“This is appalling and totally unacceptable,” Ofolue said.

He said that field staff were often attacked by aggrieved customers on matters which were completely beyond their control as workers of a distribution company.

“The company has created several channels for aggrieved customers to present their complaints, but rather, some chose to vent their anger on the workers, which is criminal.

“Some of the issues they are complaining about are beyond our control.

“For instance, there is poor power supply, which is as a result of certain known challenges that cut across the value chain and we are the last arm of the chain.

“These challenges are beyond our control, so there is no point directing your anger at any of our staff because they are also customers of a network where they reside,” he said.

Ofolue said that the aggression by the customers was misdirected since the company could only distribute the allocation it gets from the national grid.

He warned that any customer who attacks any IE staff would be made to face wrath of law.

“We are appealing to customers to exercise patience and restraint.

“We are also appealing to community leaders to sensitize their people,” he said.

 

The post Woman allegedly stabs staff of Ikeja Electric over epileptic power appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2jOjPsX

20 feared dead as Boko Haram opens fire on motorists in Maiduguri

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

More than 20 people were feared dead after Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a convoy of motorists travelling under military escort in northeast Nigeria, witnesses told AFP on Monday.

The exact toll from the ambush on the main road between Maiduguri to Damboa on Saturday was unclear, with numbers varying from two to as high as 15 and 24.

But according to travellers who survived the attack and local rescuers, at least 15 trucks laden with food were seized when the Islamists struck at the Korowaso forest on Saturday.

“The attackers appeared from the bushes as the convoy slowed down at a part of the road riddled with potholes and opened fire on the vehicles,” said one of the drivers, Idrissa Kyari.

“They killed 15 people and injured nine while many passengers fled into the bush after subduing the military escorts. They also took away 15 trucks carrying food into the bush.”

Two students from of University of Maiduguri were killed in the attack with three others injured, said a teacher at the university on condition of anonymity.

Masida Umar, a civilian vigilante assisting the military against Boko Haram, said: “We evacuated 24 dead bodies and several injured to hospital.

“Many people fled into the bush and have not been seen despite deployment of a search team.”

Umar said there were fears Boko Haram may have captured those who fled.

The militia member said the rebels were believed to have launched the attack from Sambisa forest, which connects with Korowaso.

– Supply lines cut –
Last month Nigeria’s military claimed to have dislodged Boko Haram from their last stronghold in the former game reserve after a months-long offensive.

But residents in the area have said fighters were still hiding in areas on the edge of the forest.

Military and police authorities declined to comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

The 90-kilometre (55-mile) Maiduguri-Damboa road was nominally reopened last February, allowing motorists to ply the highway but only under military protection.

It had been closed in 2013 following a spate of deadly attacks on motorists, as Boko Haram seized swathes of territory in Borno and two neighbouring states.

In the last two years a coordinated fightback against Boko Haram involving Nigerian troops and soldiers from Cameroon, Chad and Niger has successfully clawed back lost territory.

That has put pressure on Boko Haram, substantially cutting its food, fuel and weapons supplies.

As a result Boko Haram has carried out raids on farming communities as well as highway ambushes in its search for food and fuel.

Last Thursday, at least three Nigerian soldiers were killed when Boko Haram fighters on camels raided a military post near the home of the country’s army chief in Borno state.

The post 20 feared dead as Boko Haram opens fire on motorists in Maiduguri appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2jLxBi8

Agriculture: Osun requests expression of interest for competent aggregators

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The state government of Osun has requested for Expression of Interest for competent aggregators to activate market-driven agricultural value chain in the state. Recall that Governor Rauf Aregbesola had, two weeks ago, travelled to Germany to seek partnership in the agricultural value chain.

The Osun Agricultural Value Chain Activation initiative is an initiative of the state government to partner with competent aggregators to spur private sector-led and market-driven agricultural value chain development. It is designed to use the aggregator and out-grower model, in a way that is innovative, sustainable and scalable.

Sharing boundaries with five (5) other south western states, Osun is strategically located to be the center of trade and commerce for agriculture and other commodities.

More so, the state enjoys favourable climate, fast-growing economy, 70% agrarian population, and a vision to be the Mid-Regional Hub for agriculture and agro-allied products.

The vision is to facilitate the activation of a minimum of 10 market-driven value chains that will empower 50,000 sustainable smallholder farmers/MSME, increase income and create jobs for 300,000 people using the aggregator and out-grower model.

A statement signed by the Project and Economic Team (PET)

in the Governor’s office, states that selected aggregators will identify and establish sustainable and competitive markets in any of the Plantain, Rice, Cassava, Yam, Maize, Tomatoes, Soybeans, Cocoa, Rice, Oil Palm, Poultry, Aquaculture, Small Ruminant, Goats, Piggery, and forestry value chains.

The aggregators will secure sustainable market linkage and organise Osun Small businesses to produce in commercial quantities. The initiative will connect competent aggregators to qualifying small businesses leveraging on the abundance of MSME funds at the National and Sub-Nation levels to support small businesses. The initiative will also partner relevant financial and development institutions.

The post Agriculture: Osun requests expression of interest for competent aggregators appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2jnpOZA

Buhari’s health: APC condemns attacks on President

Trump deflects as backlash mounts over travel ban…Read full details

http://ift.tt/2iBoosc

President-elect Donald Trump / Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

A defiant President Donald Trump lashed out at protesters, lawmakers and even Delta Airlines Monday as he struggled to defuse a mounting backlash over a controversial US ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

After a weekend of chaos at airports, mass protests in major American cities and a diplomatic outcry, the embattled Republican leader went on the offensive over the temporary measure.

“We actually had a very good day yesterday in terms of homeland security,” Trump insisted as he met with small business leaders.

In remarks at the White House and on Twitter, Trump hammered Congress for not confirming his cabinet nominees and accused Capitol Hill’s top Democrat of shedding “fake tears” over immigrants detained at US airports.

Trump variously tried to play down the impact of the order he signed Friday and defended the White House’s decision not to give advance warning to border guards, diplomats and travelers.

The new president also moved up a decision on his pick of Supreme Court justice to Tuesday — two days earlier than planned — as he sought to change the topic.

“Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,” Trump claimed.

“Where was all the outrage from Democrats and the opposition party (the media) when our jobs were fleeing our country?” Trump asked.

The order — which affects nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — caused confusion among US officials and led to at least four federal court injunctions, requiring new Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly to step in.

“If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the ‘bad’ would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad ‘dudes’ out there!” Trump claimed.

– ‘I’m stuck here’ –

Eltirmizy Mohamed, a 34-year-old Sudanese doctor, was traveling back to the United States when the order was rolled out.

After three years training at the Atlanta Medical Center, he was returning to Georgia to take up a full-time post, but was stopped while trying to catch a connecting flight in Qatar.

“I have served many homeless and poor Americans,” he told AFP in Khartoum. “My plans were to work in a rural area of Georgia where there are many such Americans in need of a doctor. But now I’m stuck here.”

Trump, a property tycoon who has never previously held elected office, sees the ban as making good on a promise to subject travelers from Muslim-majority countries to “extreme vetting.”

Around 48 percent of Americans support a freeze on immigration from “terror prone” regions, even if it means turning refugees away, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Monday.

Counterterrorism experts warn that the ban would inflame public opinion in the Middle East and make essential cooperation with governments in Muslim-majority countries more difficult, while doing little to prevent attacks.

Iraq’s parliament backed reciprocal restrictions if Washington does not change course.

“I think the order is going to make the threat worse” said former CIA acting director Mike Morell, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump.

“It’s going to be a recruitment boon for ISIS,” he said, referring to the Islamic State group.

– Mounting problems –

Moral outrage over the ban has been amplified by criticism of the White House’s competency — a potentially much more damaging charge for Trump’s reputation as CEO-in-chief.

Firms from Goldman Sachs to Google voiced their concern and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost one percent — below the 20,000-point threshold lauded by the president just days ago.

“This is not a policy we support,” Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein told staff. “If the order were to become or remain effective, I recognize that there is potential for disruption to the firm, and especially to some of our people and their families.”

“I want to assure all of you that we will work to minimize such disruption to the extent we can within the law and are focused on supporting our colleagues and their families who may be affected,” Blankfein added.

Google also warned of the impact on staff and the potential to create “barriers to bringing great talent to the US.”

“We’ll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere,” the firm said in a statement.

Starbucks said it planned to hire 10,000 refugees worldwide over the next five years, while Airbnb said it would offer free accommodation “to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US.”

Although the White House put on a united front in public, behind the scenes, Trump’s allies were quick to point blame toward influential aide Stephen Miller.

Miller — the author of many of Trump’s biggest speeches — is considered a hardliner on immigration and is said to have supported the ban including green card holders and dual nationals.

Those provisions now look set to feature prominently in a case that could make it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2jngPHW

Chadian Moussa Mahamat elected AU Commission’s Chairman

Why I kidnapped oga’s son – Apprentice

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

“I kidnapped my Oga’s son because he refused to settle me,’’ a 20-year-old suspect, Emmanuel Blessing, told newsmen in Lagos on Monday.

The suspect made the confession on the sidelines of a briefing by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Mr Fatai Owoseni, on criminal activities in the state.

The suspect admitted being the mastermind of the alleged abduction of his boss’s son.

Emmanuel, who claimed to be a trader at the Mandilas market, Lagos Island, was arrested along with one other, while on their way to collect a N5 million ransom demanded for the release of their victim.

The suspect claimed that he singlehandedly abducted the 10-year-old boy at Alafia area of Orile-Iganmu, on his way to school, as a way of paying his master back for refusing to settle him, after working for him for four years.

“I started staying with my Oga since 2013. He took me from my parents to stay with him so that I can learn how to sell clothes. In the agreement he had with my parents before he took me, he promised to settle me after four years.

“He started to count my apprenticeship from 2014. In 2016, when he was supposed to settle me, instead he opened another shop and asked me to be paying him N20, 000 monthly.

“I could not cope because of the recession in the country, so I asked him to settle me as agreed but he refused. Rather, he sent me back to the village.

“I came back early January and I stayed in a hotel. It was then that the idea of how to kidnap his son came to me. Last week Monday, around 7.30 a.m., I stayed along the route where his son normally passed to school at the Alafia area of orile.

“The boy emerged around 7.45 a.m. He came to me when I called him and I took him away,” the suspect confessed.

The suspect further explained that he kept the young boy in his hotel room for four days, until he was arrested around Apapa Road.

“Throughout the four days, the boy stayed with me in my hotel room at Oyingbo. I called my Oga on phone the next day to pay N5 million into my account, if he hoped to see his son again. I sent him my account number.

“I was on my way to collect my ATM card from the bank along Apapa Road when I was arrested. I never knew that the police was on my trail,” he added.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, while briefing newsmen on the arrest, said that the suspect, along with one other, kidnapped the 10-year old boy.

He said after kidnapping their victim, the suspects demanded for N5 million as ransom for the release of the boy.

 

The post Why I kidnapped oga’s son – Apprentice appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2k9Jq0l

Justice Ademola’s trial: Witness escapes assassination attempt

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

…..as court orders IGP to protect all the witnesses
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA – The Federal Government, Monday, narrated before an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama, how eight armed gunmen attempted to assassinate one of the key witnesses billed to testify against Justice Adeniyi Ademola who is facing corruption charges.

It told the court that the gunmen, around 2am on Monday, stormed Abuja residence of the witness, Dr. Sani Teidi, who was to testify how the embattled Judge, while presiding over his trial, allegedly demanded N25million bribe to grant him bail.

According to the prosecution counsel, Mr. Shegu Jegede, it took quick intervention of the Police to rescue the witness who he said hid in his bedroom upstairs while his family were held hostage by the assassins.

Jegede told the court that Ademola’s trial “has progressed to a very dangerous dimension”, adding that the witness is currently under police protection while the matter is being investigated.

The post Justice Ademola’s trial: Witness escapes assassination attempt appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2jnrEtx