Monday, 14 April 2014
NIGERIA:Abuja bus blasts
Abuja bus blasts
14 April 2014 Last updated at 13:01
More than 70 people have been killed in two blasts that rocked a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, an official says.
The blast happened as commuters were about to board buses and taxis to go to work in central Abuja, the BBC's Haruna Tangaza reports.
Eyewitnesses say there are dead bodies scattered around the area.
This may have been another attack by the Islamist militant group known as Boko Haram, correspondents say.
Abbas Idris, head of the Abuja Emergency Relief Agency, told the BBC that so far they have confirmed 71 people dead and 124 injured.
Eyewitness Badamasi Nyanya said he had seen 40 bodies being evacuated; other eyewitnesses say they saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts.
The blast ripped a hole four feet deep (1.2 metre) in the ground of Nyanya Motor Park, some 16km (10 miles) from the city centre, and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Ambulances have been taking the dead and injured to nearby hospital.
Victims have been taken to nearby hospitals, including the Asokoro General Hospital seen here
The explosions were powerful, destroying a number of vehicles at Nyanya Motor Park
'Terrible'
Eyewitness Mimi Daniels, who works in Abuja, said: "I was waiting to get on a bus when I heard a deafening explosion then smoke," she told Reuters.
"People were running around in panic."
Another eyewitness told the BBC: "I have never seen [anything] like that in my life. It was just terrible... We were just running helter-skelter. So somehow I think that they planted something inside one of the buses there.
"So there are many dead shot down at the scene of the accident. And as you can see now some of these casualties... we are hoping, we are praying they will be ok. We saw some ambulances bringing corpses to other hospitals."
He added it was difficult to estimate how many had been killed in the attack, but that there were many.
This year, Boko Haram's fighters have killed more than 1,500 civilians in three states in north-east Nigeria, says the BBC's Will Ross in Lagos.
Boko Haram has hit Abuja several times before, including an attack on the United Nations building in 2011.
The Nigerian government had said the violence was now contained in a small area of the north-east.
14 April 2014 Last updated at 13:01
More than 70 people have been killed in two blasts that rocked a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, an official says.
The blast happened as commuters were about to board buses and taxis to go to work in central Abuja, the BBC's Haruna Tangaza reports.
Eyewitnesses say there are dead bodies scattered around the area.
This may have been another attack by the Islamist militant group known as Boko Haram, correspondents say.
Abbas Idris, head of the Abuja Emergency Relief Agency, told the BBC that so far they have confirmed 71 people dead and 124 injured.
Eyewitness Badamasi Nyanya said he had seen 40 bodies being evacuated; other eyewitnesses say they saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts.
The blast ripped a hole four feet deep (1.2 metre) in the ground of Nyanya Motor Park, some 16km (10 miles) from the city centre, and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Ambulances have been taking the dead and injured to nearby hospital.
Victims have been taken to nearby hospitals, including the Asokoro General Hospital seen here
The explosions were powerful, destroying a number of vehicles at Nyanya Motor Park
'Terrible'
Eyewitness Mimi Daniels, who works in Abuja, said: "I was waiting to get on a bus when I heard a deafening explosion then smoke," she told Reuters.
"People were running around in panic."
Another eyewitness told the BBC: "I have never seen [anything] like that in my life. It was just terrible... We were just running helter-skelter. So somehow I think that they planted something inside one of the buses there.
"So there are many dead shot down at the scene of the accident. And as you can see now some of these casualties... we are hoping, we are praying they will be ok. We saw some ambulances bringing corpses to other hospitals."
He added it was difficult to estimate how many had been killed in the attack, but that there were many.
This year, Boko Haram's fighters have killed more than 1,500 civilians in three states in north-east Nigeria, says the BBC's Will Ross in Lagos.
Boko Haram has hit Abuja several times before, including an attack on the United Nations building in 2011.
The Nigerian government had said the violence was now contained in a small area of the north-east.
Saturday, 12 April 2014
NIGERIA: 70-year-old HIV positive man allegedly rapes 13-year-old girl
Andrew Ajijah - 35 mins agoNATIONAL, NEWS
The suspect reportedly admitted to the crime and disclosed his HIV status.
A 70-year-old man, Thursday, allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl in Barkinladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Chris Olakpe, confirmed this on Saturday to journalists in Jos, the state capital.
Mr. Olakpe said the suspect, who is HIV positive, was arrested, following a tip off by neighbours; and brought to the state headquarters of the command.
“A son of the landlord of the suspect, suspected the act of the 70-year-old man, and alerted the neighborhood,” the police chief said, saying that led to the suspect’s arrest.
The suspect reportedly admitted to the crime and disclosed his HIV status. He then pleaded for mercy.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that residents of the area had gathered to lynch the suspect, but for the intervention of the police.
The Police Commissioner said the suspect was being interrogated by the police; while the victim has been taken to a hospital in the state for treatment.
Mr. Olakpe, who spoke via a telephone conference, said the suspect would be prosecuted after investigations.
There have been increased rape cases in Barkinladi.
About two weeks ago, a mobile police officer attached to the Special Task Force on Jos crisis was dismissed from the Police Force, for allegedly raping a 4-year-old in Barkinladi.
NIGERIA: Woman lynched
Female kidnap suspect lynched in llorin
Agency Report - 11 hours agoNATIONAL, NEWS
A woman suspected to have abducted eight children was lynched by mob in llorin on Friday.
The incident took place on Emir Road when the suspect tried to escape.
She was stripped by the mob who attempted to set her on fire while inflicting machete cuts and beating her with clubs and stones.
The arrival of some policemen prevented the mob from setting the suspect ablaze. The mob hurled stones and other missiles at the police who retreated.
The police team later returned with reinforcement and had to fire several tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd.
The woman died while being taken to the hospital by the police.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect died on the way to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.
He said seven persons had been arrested by the police in connection with the incident.
(NAN)
Friday, 11 April 2014
NIGERIA RANKS THIRD AMONG POOR COUNTRIES WITH EXTREMELY POOR PEOPLE
Nigeria ranks third among countries having extremely poor people, World Bank says
Bassey Udo - 37 mins agoBUSINESS
The report said Nigeria and four other countries are home to nearly 760 million of the world’s poor.
Nigeria is third among countries with the highest population of extreme poor or people with abject poverty in the world, the World Bank has said.
In its latest report on the world’s poverty index, titled ‘Prosperity for All – Ending Extreme Poverty’, the World Bank listed the top five countries, in terms of numbers of poor, as India (with 33 percent of the world’s poor), China (13 percent), Nigeria (7 percent), Bangladesh (6 percent) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (5 percent).
The report said the five countries are home to nearly 760 million of the world’s poor.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, puts the population of Nigerians in poverty at about 112 million, representing about 67 per cent of the country’s 167 million population.
Nigeria’s recently released per capita GDP stands at $1,555 per annum. South Africa, which is rated the second largest economy in Africa, behind Nigeria, has a per capita GDP of $7,336 per annum.
Last week, the World Bank President, Jim Kim, said that two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor are concentrated in these five countries.
Mr. Kim said if five other countries, namely Indonesia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya, are added, the total number of countries with extreme poverty grows to 80 per cent of global population.
He said a sharp emphasis on these countries would be central to ending extreme poverty in the world.
But, in its latest report released during the ongoing Spring Meetings 2014 on Thursday, the World Bank noted that while economic growth remains vital for reducing poverty, growth has its limits.
Governments, the Bank said, need to complement efforts to enhance growth with policies that allocate more resources to the extreme poor by promoting more inclusive growth or conditional and direct cash transfers.
While it was imperative to end extreme poverty, the World Bank said it was even more important to ensure that, in the long run, people do not get stuck just above the extreme poverty line due to lack of opportunities that impede progress toward better livelihoods.
“Economic growth has been vital for reducing extreme poverty and improving the lives of many poor people,” Mr. Kim said at the report presentation.
“Even if all countries grow at the same rates as over the past 20 years, and if the income distribution remains unchanged, world poverty will only fall by 10 per cent by 2030, from 17.7 per cent in 2010,” the report said
This, the bank chief said, underlined the need to focus on making growth more inclusive and targeting more programmes to assist the poor directly if the drive to end extreme poverty was to succeed.
To end extreme poverty, the World Bank President said the vast population of those with abject poverty – those earning less than $1.25 a day – would have to be cut by 50 million people each year until 2030.
The implication, he said, is that about one million people each week would have to be lifted out of poverty for the next 16 years.
“Growth alone is unlikely to end extreme poverty by 2030,” the World Bank President said. “As extreme poverty declines, growth on its own tends to lift fewer people out of poverty.
“This is because, by this stage, many of the people still in extreme poverty live in situations where improving their lives is extremely difficult.”
He noted that increased income inequality was capable of dampening the impact of growth on reducing poverty, pointing out that in countries with rising income inequality, the effect of growth on poverty has been dampened or even reversed.
In contrast, he said, research has also revealed that in countries where inequality was falling, the decline in poverty for a given growth rate was greater.
He said the World Bank Group’s goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity were closely linked, with lasting progress in ending extreme poverty also requiring continued attention to what was happening to the bottom 40 per cent of the population.
The Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank, Kaushik Basu, expressed dismay that despite the picture of a prosperous world, over one billion people live in extreme poverty.
Pastor, 49, in court for allegedly raping 2 under-aged sisters
Premium Times - 1 min agoNATIONAL, NEWS
The victims were aged 10 and 11 years.
A 49-year-old man, Friday Arthur, was on Friday charged before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly raping two under-aged sisters (names withheld) aged 10 and 11.
Mr. Arthur, a Beninoise, who resides at No. 856, Ikota Housing Estate, Lekki, Lagos, is facing a charge of defilement.
The Prosecutor, Victor Eruada, told the court that Mr. Arthur committed the offence between March 28 and April 6 at the Ikota Housing Estate, Lekki, Lagos.
Mr. Eruada, a police sergeant, said the accused was a pastor and had at various occasions, lured the minors into his room and raped them.
He said that the offence violated Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Section 137 prescribes life imprisonment for anyone convicted of the offence of defiling a child.
The victims and their female guardian were in court.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The Magistrate, Linda Balogun, granted the accused N500,000 bail with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till May 27 for trial.
(NAN)
Thursday, 10 April 2014
CHINA:Woman celebrates by wearing a wedding dress every day for the past 10 years
Woman celebrates love, freedom, and joy by wearing a wedding dress every day for the past 10 years
In celebration of the happiness her wedding day brought, 47-year-old Xiang Junfeng wears a wedding dress every day and has been for the last ten years. As reported by the Daily Mail, Xiang said, “My wedding day was the happiest day of my life and I never wanted it to end, and that was when I decided I wanted to not only keep wearing my wedding dress, but actually bought four other wedding dresses as well.” In another quote in the Daily Mail, Xiang said she, “bought one and made the other three.” Point is, she likes wearing her wedding dresses.
A bride’s sentimental feelings about her wedding day are not unusual, but Xiang’s was especially significant to her because of her tragic past. The woman from Jimo in the Shandong province of China, said that she was kidnapped at the age of 18, then sold and forced to marry an elderly man in Linyi. Reportedly, the man used Xiang as a slave to work the fields.
After 15 years in captivity she took an opportunity to escape to Liujiazhuang village. There she found the help of a kind woman who would eventually become her sister-in-law. Xiang was introduced to the woman’s brother, the two hit it off, and were married in 2004. The bride recalled, 'I had only ever known a violent and abusive man and I avoided men until I met my new partner who brought me truly out of my shell, and treated me so differently…I couldn’t believe it when he asked me to marry him.”
The smiling woman says that the only upsetting thing about her marriage is that it cannot be officially registered because she lacks the correct paperwork due to her first marriage. Local police have said that they are thinking about helping Xiang register the marriage.
Xiang is known in the town as, ‘Sister Wedding Gowns’ and rotates the dresses she wears, ignoring the locals who think she’s strange. Her attire doesn’t disturb her husband, who knows that it makes his wife happy. Xiang proclaimed, “I don’t care what people say about me. My wedding dresses are part of my life and I will continue to wear them regardless.”
CHINA:Woman celebrates by wearing a wedding dress every day for the past 10 years
Woman celebrates love, freedom, and joy by wearing a wedding dress every day for the past 10 years
In celebration of the happiness her wedding day brought, 47-year-old Xiang Junfeng wears a wedding dress every day and has been for the last ten years. As reported by the Daily Mail, Xiang said, “My wedding day was the happiest day of my life and I never wanted it to end, and that was when I decided I wanted to not only keep wearing my wedding dress, but actually bought four other wedding dresses as well.” In another quote in the Daily Mail, Xiang said she, “bought one and made the other three.” Point is, she likes wearing her wedding dresses.
A bride’s sentimental feelings about her wedding day are not unusual, but Xiang’s was especially significant to her because of her tragic past. The woman from Jimo in the Shandong province of China, said that she was kidnapped at the age of 18, then sold and forced to marry an elderly man in Linyi. Reportedly, the man used Xiang as a slave to work the fields.
After 15 years in captivity she took an opportunity to escape to Liujiazhuang village. There she found the help of a kind woman who would eventually become her sister-in-law. Xiang was introduced to the woman’s brother, the two hit it off, and were married in 2004. The bride recalled, 'I had only ever known a violent and abusive man and I avoided men until I met my new partner who brought me truly out of my shell, and treated me so differently…I couldn’t believe it when he asked me to marry him.”
The smiling woman says that the only upsetting thing about her marriage is that it cannot be officially registered because she lacks the correct paperwork due to her first marriage. Local police have said that they are thinking about helping Xiang register the marriage.
Xiang is known in the town as, ‘Sister Wedding Gowns’ and rotates the dresses she wears, ignoring the locals who think she’s strange. Her attire doesn’t disturb her husband, who knows that it makes his wife happy. Xiang proclaimed, “I don’t care what people say about me. My wedding dresses are part of my life and I will continue to wear them regardless.”
USA: Sleep-walking girl drove a car to multiple accidents
It was a frightening scene early Monday morning when residents of a Toledo, Ohio neighborhood found a young, crying girl behind the wheel of a car. The 10-year-old girl, who has a developmental disability, had taken off in her family’s car and crashed into four vehicles all while sleepwalking. As WTOL News 11 reports, there were no serious injuries.
CHINA: China official says Islamists seek to ban laughter and crying
Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists.
Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home.
China's nervousness about Islamist extremism has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.
Beijing blamed Xinjiang militants for both.
Writing in the official Xinjiang Daily, Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri said that acts of terror had been made possible by extremists taking advantage of people's faith, especially "young people who have seen little of the world".
"In order to incite fanaticism and control believers, religious extremists have blatantly distorted religious teachings, making up heresy such as 'jihadist martyrs go to heaven,' 'killing a pagan is worth over 10 years of piety,' and 'one gets whatever one wants in heaven'," he wrote.
"They use this to bewilder believers into what they believe is 'jihad' in the form of suicide terrorist attacks or other violence," Bekri added.
People who do not follow the strictures of the Islamists are condemned by them as "traitors" and "scum", he said.
China's ruling atheist Communist Party has issued similar warnings in the past about extremism, accompanied by a harsh crackdown on suspected militants.
Uighurs have traditionally followed a moderate form of Islam, but many have begun adopting practices more commonly seen in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, such as full-face veils for women, as China has intensified a security crackdown in recent years.
Bekri, an Uighur himself, accused the militants of ignoring the region's own traditions and of wanting to enforce a strict theocratic society.
"They ... push the banning of watching television, listen to the radio, reading newspapers, singing and dancing, not allowing laughter at weddings nor crying at funerals," he added. "They force men to grow beards and women to wear the burkha."
Extremists are also demanding that not only food, but also cosmetics, medicine and clothing be halal, and push the idea that government-subsidized housing is not halal and to be avoided, Bekri wrote.
"Resolutely eliminate the tumor of religious extremism," he added.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
CHINA: China official says Islamists seek to ban laughter and crying
Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists.
Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home.
China's nervousness about Islamist extremism has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.
Beijing blamed Xinjiang militants for both.
Writing in the official Xinjiang Daily, Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri said that acts of terror had been made possible by extremists taking advantage of people's faith, especially "young people who have seen little of the world".
"In order to incite fanaticism and control believers, religious extremists have blatantly distorted religious teachings, making up heresy such as 'jihadist martyrs go to heaven,' 'killing a pagan is worth over 10 years of piety,' and 'one gets whatever one wants in heaven'," he wrote.
"They use this to bewilder believers into what they believe is 'jihad' in the form of suicide terrorist attacks or other violence," Bekri added.
People who do not follow the strictures of the Islamists are condemned by them as "traitors" and "scum", he said.
China's ruling atheist Communist Party has issued similar warnings in the past about extremism, accompanied by a harsh crackdown on suspected militants.
Uighurs have traditionally followed a moderate form of Islam, but many have begun adopting practices more commonly seen in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, such as full-face veils for women, as China has intensified a security crackdown in recent years.
Bekri, an Uighur himself, accused the militants of ignoring the region's own traditions and of wanting to enforce a strict theocratic society.
"They ... push the banning of watching television, listen to the radio, reading newspapers, singing and dancing, not allowing laughter at weddings nor crying at funerals," he added. "They force men to grow beards and women to wear the burkha."
Extremists are also demanding that not only food, but also cosmetics, medicine and clothing be halal, and push the idea that government-subsidized housing is not halal and to be avoided, Bekri wrote.
"Resolutely eliminate the tumor of religious extremism," he added.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
NIGERIA: Gunmen Bomb Police Station, Court, Bank in Jigawa
APRIL 10, 2014 BY TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI , GODWIN ISENYO AND ENYIOHA OPARA WITH AGENCY REPORTS
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