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Egypt's presidency has declared a state of emergency after scores of people were killed when security forces stormed protest camps in Cairo.

The camps had been occupied by supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi, who was deposed in early July.

Security forces say 95 people have been killed, but the Muslim Brotherhood says hundreds have died.

The state of emergency will begin at 16:00 local time (1400 GMT), and last for a month.

Shortly after dawn on Wednesday morning, armoured bulldozers moved deep into the main protest camp outside the eastern Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.

Officials say the other protest camp, at Nahda Square, has now been cleared.

Graphic accounts of bloodshed emerged from the protest camps as reporters described wounded protesters being treated next to the dead in makeshift field hospitals.

The 17-year-old daughter of leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohamed el-Beltagy was among the dead, reports say. Asmaa el-Beltagy was shot in the back and chest, her brother said.

A cameraman working for Sky News, Mick Deane, has also been killed in the violence.

There were reports of unrest elsewhere in Egypt.

At least five people have been killed in the province of Suez, according to the health ministry. Witnesses say Morsi supporters attempted to storm government buildings there
Clashes have also been reported in the northern provinces of Alexandria and Beheira, and the central provinces of Assiut and Menya
Hundreds are said to have gathered outside the governor's office in Aswan in the south
Morsi supporters are reported to have blocked roads in Alexandria
State news agency Mena says three churches were attacked in central Egypt, one in the city of Sohag with a large number of Coptic Christian residents
The interior ministry said a mopping-up operation in the streets surrounding Nahda Square was under way.

Pro-Morsi activists were chased into the nearby zoo and Cairo University, Nile TV said.

Continue reading the main story
At the scene

James Reynolds

BBC News, Cairo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortly before seven in the morning, from a street corner near the Rabaa mosque encampment, I watched the raid begin.

An armoured military bulldozer drove down towards the barricades on the edges of the encampment. The bulldozer pushed its way through rows of bricks and sandbags. Pro-Morsi protesters responded by throwing stones and burning tyres.

At the same time, riot police in armoured personnel carriers advanced through nearby streets. For more than two hours I heard the crack of live ammunition. The sharp bangs were accompanied by the deeper thud of tear gas explosions.

For a while, it was hard to breathe without a gas mask. Some local residents held handkerchiefs to their faces - and watched the police deployment from their balconies.

BBC witnesses clearance
It is still unclear how many casualties were caught up in the two Cairo operations. Figures differ widely and have been impossible to verify independently.

Khaled Ezzelarab, a reporter for the BBC Arabic service, said he counted at least 50 bodies at the makeshift hospitals around Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.

Ikhwanonline, the website of the Muslim Brotherhood, which supports the protests, says that in total more than 800 were killed.

The health ministry has issued an official death toll of 95.

The interior ministry denied any deaths were caused by its forces firing live ammunition.

"Security forces used only tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters though it was heavily fired at by armed elements from inside the two protest camps, causing the death of an officer and a conscript and the injury of four policemen and two conscripts," the ministry said in a statement.

The government has meanwhile congratulated the security forces on their operation to clear the camps.

In a televised statement, a government spokesman praised their "self-restraint" and spoke of the "smaller number" of injuries among protesters.

The government would decisively confront

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23700663

This is definitely not a front page material as well.. JESUS Reigns forever.

The federal government has disclosed that it will start training about 2000 youths from the northern-east states under emergency rule as a result of Boko Haram insurgency in order to change their orientation.
The programme will start with 1000 youth each from Borno and Yobe states and will extent to Adamawa state later.
Minister of youth development, Inuwa Abdulkadir, made this disclosure yesterday in Abuja during at a press briefing to mark this year’s International Youth Day.
He explained that the ministry will start training of youths from states where state of emergency has been declared in order to prepare, re-orientate and rehabilitate them and change their mindset from what they have been facing in the last few years as a result of the insurgency.
“Speaking on the theme of this year’s Youth Day, “youth migration, moving development forward”, the minster noted that poverty; crowded and unsanitary living conditions and challenges of finding decent employment are regular features of young migration.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/news/3024-emergency-rule-fg-to-train-2000-youths-from-borno-yobe

Power tussle among officials has compounded the crisis rocking the N3.85 billion management contract given to Canadian company Manitoba to run the electricity Transmission Company of Nigeria, Daily Trust has learnt.
The Federal Government handed over TCN to Manitoba Hydro International in a $24 million contract that is expected to run for three years, aimed at improving the electricity transmission system.
TCN is one of the successor companies of the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), and Manitoba is to take over its functions of a transmission services provider, system operator and market operator.
Due to the controversy that heralded the process, the contract could not take off until March when the Schedule of Delegated Authority (SODA), a document which states the general and specific terms and conditions of the contract, was released to Manitoba.
But even after that, the crisis persisted as some of the contract conditions were ignored by both the Ministry of Power and Manitoba, sources told Daily Trust.
In one of such infractions, Manitoba assumed sole control of TCN bank accounts and day-to-day running of the company but this has not translated into better electricity transmission so far. The country experienced nine system collapses in the last six months, further worsening electricity supply.
Daily Trust learnt that part of the crisis bedevilling the contract is that the TCN board chairman Hamman Tukur and Power Minister Chinedu Nebo have not been operating on the same page. Tukur prefers to report directly to President Jonathan while the minister insists on exercising control over the board.
There is also confusion as to the composition of the board. Secretary to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim on December 20, 2012 named one set of nine board members while Nebo on March 12, 2013 inaugurated a separate set of seven people into the board.
Both boards are chaired by Tukur, but the Nebo-appointed set included Manitoba CEO and excluded “essential” members such as the representatives of the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), power generating companies and distributing companies.
“This development brought about confusion and the TCN board raised objections during a meeting with President Jonathan on the inclusion of Manitoba into the board. A contractor can’t be part of the board that supervises his work,” a source in TCN told Daily Trust.
The source said the board also questioned Nebo’s directives that the Manitoba team “is to take control of TCN which includes major functions such as market operator and system operator, etc.”
“The implication of this is that as market operator, Manitoba - a private limited liability company - will have all government revenues from the power sector routed through it, thereby undermining national security,” the source said. Daily Trust gathered that when all these issues were raised with President Jonathan, he convened a stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the issues.
“The president agreed to reconstitute the TCN board and expand its membership to accommodate stakeholders like representatives from Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), among other critical stakeholders,” the source said.
But more than two months after, the board is yet to be reconstituted “because some elements in the Ministry of Power and the Presidency are not comfortable with Hamman Tukur, because they know him as someone who would insist on doing the right thing,” the source said.
“To be fair to President Jonathan, he actually wanted Hamman Tukur to sanitise the system, but this goes contrary to the wishes of some powerful people close to the president who are benefitting from the status quo. That is why the board has never taken up.”
Meanwhile, Manitoba, according to inside sources, has been running the affairs of the TCN without the supervision of the board.
Though the contract document says all payments to Manitoba should be approved by the board, official documents seen by Daily Trust show that Manitoba has so far received about 49 per cent of the contract sum without the board’s approval.
But in its reaction, the Ministry of Power said that there is only one board. Nebo’s spokeswoman Kande Daniel said in a text message: “Information available to me indicates that there’s only one TCN Supervisory Board, as approved by President Goodluck Jonathan.”
“Manitoba cannot be said to be ‘running affairs’ in that sense. The management contract was signed only last year. They were only given the Schedule of Delegated Authority (SODA),” she added.
Power over funds
Documents seen by Daily Trust show that Nebo has instructed the handing over of TCN accounts to four officials of Manitoba even though contract documents specify that TCN accounts signatories shall comprise two Manitoba and two Nigerian counterparts.
In a letter dated 26 March, 2013, the minister asked TCN managing director “to ensure change of signatories to all the accounts of the TCN. Furthermore, the formal handover of all financial matters to the management contractor for effective operations should also be effected.”
Subsequently, a change of mandate was sent to the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank, Union Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Central Bank of Nigeria with the names of only four Manitoba staff as the new signatories.
When contacted, Managing Director of TCN/Manitoba Hydro International in Nigeria, Mr. Don Priestman, said although the schedule of delegated authority has been given to Manitoba, it was still not enough as control of key TCN bank accounts was yet to be yielded to the company.
“We do not have control of the market fund and this is not ideal. The contract was designed to take over management control of TCN not certain parts. It didn’t include something and exclude something,” he told Daily Trust.
“Up till now, the entire fund made available to TCN is not enough. We have a grid which is primarily radio. It will take time to fix it but we have a plan; more revenue and capital needed to change that. The government is working very hard to get the fund for that. Some fund expected from China, World Bank, Africa Development Bank, government etc.”
Asked to explain why a huge amount of the contract sum has so far been paid, he said, “We are not investing in TCN. We are just to provide expertise, manage and introduce necessary reforms. There are other aspects that also require attention.”
He said Manitoba brought in a team of 32 experts from Canada, and they travelled round the entire grid network, observing and studying the problem and filing reports.
“The day we take over does not mean a miracle that the system becomes healthy. It requires a lot of investments, it requires a lot of looping, parallel lines, and it requires maintenance, training and skills transfer. It requires new systems, computers, and expenditures of huge amount of money. That doesn’t happen overnight,” Priestman said.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/top-stories/3052-e-x-c-l-u-s-i-v-e-crisis-rocks-n3-85bn-manitoba-power-deal

The famous American actor SYLVESTER STALLONE has made a very important decision in his life. Did he film another movie? NO. He has surrendered his life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and announced it to the public several days ago. However, there's hardly been any information about it. If he had announced he was GAY, the TV shows and all the media and newspapers would have given it full coverage. Why hasn't this announcement -accepting Jesus as Saviour- not hit the news? Because it has no rating, it pays no publicity and it is politically dangerous. I have therefore decided to announce it here, in Facebook, because there was a great celebration that took place in Heaven. Let's all share this and celebrate it! MY LOVE TO YOU, DEAR BROTHER SYLVESTER!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=311930545617723&set=a.204923612985084.62948.140441629433283&type=1&theater

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's housing minister on Sunday gave final approval for building nearly 1,200 new settlement apartments on lands the Palestinians want for their state, just three days before U.S.-sponsored talks on the borders of such a state are to begin in Jerusalem.

The Palestinians said they would complain to the U.S. and Europe. Negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh said Israel's latest announcement on promoting settlement plans, the third over the course of a week, "is clear proof that the Israeli government is not serious about the talks."

The announcement by Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel came just hours before Israel was to announce the names of 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners to be freed later this week. In all, Israel has promised to free 104 such prisoners in four stages over the course of nine months of negotiations.

The release of the prisoners is part of a U.S.-brokered deal that brought the two sides back to the table after a five-year freeze. Sunday's new settlement announcement and the expected decision on choosing the prisoners slated for release highlighted the apparent tradeoff: Israel releases some prisoners, but gets to keep building in settlements during the negotiations.

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967. Since the 1967 war, Israel has built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem that are now home to some 560,000 Israelis.

View gallery."FILE -- In this Thursday, March 15, 2012 file photo, …
FILE -- In this Thursday, March 15, 2012 file photo, Palestinian workers cross a section of a separa …
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had long insisted he would not resume negotiations without a building settlement freeze, arguing that their expansion pre-empts the outcome of such talks. Most of the international community deems settlements illegal.

Abbas dropped his demand for the building freeze after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry won Israel's agreement to release inmates serving long sentences, including those involved in the killing of Israelis who otherwise would likely have spent the rest of their days in prison.

Palestinian officials said Kerry also assured them that the U.S. views Israel's pre-1967 lines as a starting point for border talks, even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to endorse the idea.

Any prisoner release is highly controversial in Israel, particularly of Palestinians involved in killing Israelis. Abie Moses, whose pregnant wife and son were killed in a Palestinian firebomb attack in 1987, sharply criticized the government's choices.

For the government, "it's easiest to free those murderers," Moses told Israel TV's Channel 10. "We don't have the energy to scream like the (political) right who (protest) freezing settlements or talking about the 1967 borders."

View gallery."FILE -- In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 file photo a …
FILE -- In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 file photo a Palestininan boy sits in the yard of his house, …
Netanyahu presides over a coalition government with vocal advocates for continued settlement building, including in his own Likud Party.

In Sunday's settlement announcement, the Housing Ministry said 1,187 apartments had been given final approval, the last stage before issuing tenders to contractors. Of those, 793 will be built in neighborhoods for Jews in east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel shortly after the 1967 Mideast war. Most of the international community does not recognize the annexation.

In addition, 394 apartments are to be built in several large West Bank settlements, including Maaleh Adumim, Efrat and Ariel. The latter sits in the heart of the West Bank, and its expansion could be particularly problematic for negotiators trying to carve out a viable Palestinian state.

The housing minister, a leading member of the pro-settler party Jewish Home, said construction would continue.

"No country in the world takes orders from other countries where it can build and where it can't," Ariel said in his statement. "We will continue to market housing and build in the entire country ... This is the right thing at the present time, for Zionism and for the economy."

View gallery."FILE -- In this Friday, Feb. 17, 2012 file photo, a …
FILE -- In this Friday, Feb. 17, 2012 file photo, a protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of I …
Sunday's announcement is the third by Israel in a week that pushes forward settlement plans. A week ago, Israel expanded its list of settlements eligible for special government subsidies. Several days later, the government promoted building plans for more than 1,000 settlement homes.

Also Sunday, an Israeli military official said troops shot dead a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night. The official said the Palestinian was spotted "meddling with the ground" in an area in which explosive devices have been planted in the past, and was then seen crossing the Israeli border fence carrying a suspicious object.

The official, speaking anonymously in line with military protocol, said soldiers fired warning shots and then, when the suspect did not stop, shot him.

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-approves-nearly-1-200-settlement-homes-101832821.html

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, has expressed concern over what he described as the increase in crime rate within the barracks, charging the chaplain services of the force to work towards cleansing the system.
Ihejirika told Catholic priests working for the force to work towards ensuring that vices within the barracks are eradicated.
The Army chief who spoke during the annual seminar and retreat held by Catholic Chaplaincy of the Nigerian Army said, “The chaplain must ensure that vices are fought from outside and within”.
Ihejirika added, “We all know how much of a task this has become in recent times because of the incessant intrusion of threats of corruption, nepotism, negative tribalism and ethnic tendencies and what is worse, the new wave of terrorism. As we battle these from without, we cannot overlook the fact that there are still traces of gross misconduct, rape, drunkenness, social dichotomy and other related crimes from within.”
Ihejirika, who was represented by the commandant of the Nigerian Army Signal School, Major General Donald Oji, urged the chaplain to see themselves as prime collaborators in eschewing vices from within the barrack and outside.
He told them to utilize the period of the retreat and seminar to pray for peace and the general well being of the country.
Earlier, the Director, Chaplain Services of Catholic Churches of the force, Colonel Charles Iroegbu, said the theme of the seminar which was anchored on Pope Benedict XVI, declaration of the Year of Faith, is aimed at furthering the role of the chaplain in realizing the Chief of Army Staff’s vision in building an enlightened and committed workforce at the grass root level.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/news/2930-ihejirika-laments-crime-in-barracks

Former head of state General Muhammadu Buhari has said he will run for president again as the race for 2015 general elections begins to pick up momentum.
It is “a must obligation on me,” he told a political group, the Kano State Political Movement (KSP), whose members paid him sallah homage at the weekend in Kaduna.
Buhari ran three times in the presidential contest and lost to candidates of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
But his party, the CPC, has just merged with two other opposition parties to challenge the dominance of the ruling PDP.
Buhari told his visitors he is being propelled to run again in the election “because of the continuous and excessive exploitation and degradation of the common man by the powers that be in this country.”
He said the struggle for the emancipation of Nigerian masses from the clutches of what he called bad leaders and bad governance “is a matter of life and death.”
General Buhari added that his knowledge of the vast wealth Nigeria is endowed with and the enormous embezzlement and extravagance by the powers that be make him to be ever resilient in looking for ways to the position of presidency, “for us to try and remedy things so that Nigerians can live well and enjoy their wealth”.
He said what is needed most under the new party, APC, is large scale enlightenment and awareness of the majority of Nigerians who are ignorant of the situation, and they are being exploited.
He said however, that the people have begun to learn through experience, due to lack of basic amenities of life, which are supposed to be provided by the government.
Speaking earlier, the KSPM chairman Alhaji Bello Isa Bayero said they were at Buhari’s residence, in order to pay Sallah homage as well as to congratulate him for the success in registering APC as full pledged political party. He re emphasized the support of Kano people to Buhari, whom he said are the foremost in supporting him and will forever remain so.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/top-stories/2947-buhari-contesting-in-2015-is-an-obligation

Thank God the Bible did not make an obligation that one must drink.

President Goodluck Jonathan says those predicting that Nigeria will disintegrate by 2015 will be disappointed.
Speaking at the State House in Abuja yesterday while receiving a delegation led by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo on Sallah homage, Jonathan maintained that the nation would rather continue to remain one indivisible entity.
He said a Nigeria without Muslims and Christians is unimaginable, adding that the nation’s religious diversity would enhance her development.
Jonathan, who asserted that Nigeria was not yet exploiting her diversity because of the myopic views of the elite about the nation’s situations, said as brothers and sisters, Muslims and Christians must live together.
Describing yesterday as a unique day, the president called on the Muslim faithful to continue to pray for peace, not just in Nigeria, but all over the world.
According to him, for Nigeria to develop and move forward, there must be peace and security as no investor would go to an unsecure environment.
The president, who reassured that his administration would do its best to reposition the country, noted that the youth could only develop mentally and use their brains to turn around the economy only in a peaceful environment.
His words: “Let me congratulate all our Muslim brothers and sisters from Nigeria and indeed all over the world for going through this tempting period in the holy month of Ramadan that the Qur’an was revealed to humans. Sometimes when you’re not involved in fasting, you’ll think it’s an easy thing to go through.
“Let me use this opportunity once again to reassure Nigerians including Muslim brothers and sisters that the VP and myself and our entire team will do our best to reposition the country. For us, we can’t imagine a Nigeria without Muslims and Christians. You can call it another name, but not Nigeria. So, it’s a blessing that this is one country where we’ve significant population of Muslims and Christians, and this religious diversity will enhance our development because we can get across the whole world and be accepted. That helps us in so many ways,” he stressed.
The president bemoaned that Nigeria is not even exploiting her diversity because of the myopic views of the elite about situations.
According to him, Christians and Moslems are brothers and sisters and must live together and those who are predicting that the nation will break-up by the turn of the century when Nigeria will be celebrating its centenary anniversary, will be disappointed because Nigeria will continue to remain one indivisible entity.
Vice President Sambo described Jonathan as a good leader and father of the nation, and prayed for the sustainability of his transformation agenda while urging Nigerians to continue to support him.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/top-stories/2851-2015-those-predicting-nigeria-s-break-up-will-be-disappointed-jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan says the activities of the Boko Haram sect and its tactics of terror took the nation by surprise.
Jonathan was speaking at the State House in Abuja late Tuesday night during the breaking of Ramadan fast with Muslim members of the diplomatic community.
The president regretted that attacks by the sect had resulted in the death of innocent Nigerians including security operatives.
He, however, noted that with the Federal Government’s commitment and prayers by Nigerians, the insurgency had been significantly contained.
Jonathan expressed optimism that the Ramadan period had imbued the peoples of the world with compassion and forgiveness to enable them surmount the challenges of global conflicts and wars.
Meanwhile, the president, in what appeared to be a surprise to the audience, assumed the role of an Islamic preacher, educating them on the significance of Ramadan as stated in the Qur’an.
According to him, “For all believers, the holy month of Ramadan is a time for reflection, self denial, spiritual rejuvenation and re-commitment to righteousness. It’s the time when people of the Muslim faith turn to their creator with a profound sense of piety, total submission and commitment to their faith.”
Leader of the diplomatic community, Cameroon’s Ambassador Sallahdeen Ibrahim, commended Jonathan for his continuous participation in the breaking of fast exercise and prayed God guide him to continue to provide good governance in Nigeria.
Also, President Jonathan has warned all elected officials in the country against overheating the polity with what he called unnecessary ethnic and political intrigues.
The president yesterday gave the warning in his congratulatory message to the Muslim faithful over the completion of this year’s Ramadan fast.
Jonathan, in a statement by his spokesman, Reuben Abati, said all elected leaders at all levels of governance should rather give the highest priority to fulfilling their promises of better living conditions for the electorate first before turning their minds to plans and permutations for future elections.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/news/2779-police-arrest-suspected-robber-near-court-premises

Security forces yesterday imposed a 24-hour curfew on Potiskum, Yobe State, as they went after suspected Boko Haram insurgents thought to have slipped into town with large quantity of explosives.
Members of the Joint Task Force cordoned off a part of the town and began a house-to-house search for the insurgents said to be planning to unleash terror on residents during the Eid-el-Fitr festival.
Spokesman of the JTF Captain Eli Lazarus, disclosed this after issuing a statement declaring a 24-hour curfew in Potiskum, the largest town in the state.
The development followed intelligence report that suspected insurgents had sneaked into the city with explosives they allegedly stole from a Chinese construction firm during a night raid.
“The Joint Task Force announces the imposition of 24-hour curfew commencing from today (Monday) 5 August 2013. Residents of Potiskum town are enjoined to remain calm and cooperate with security agencies by remaining indoors until the curfew is lifted,” spokesman Lazarus said in the statement. He later disclosed to our correspondent that the curfew followed an intelligence report of a planned attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents ‘who sneaked in with Improvised Explosive Divices (IEDs) to create panic in the town during the Eid-el-Fitr celebration’.
He said security operatives had already cordoned off suspected areas of the town where search operation is ongoing.
Just last week, the JTF issued an alert warning residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital that insurgents were planning massive attacks to coincide with the end of the Ramadan fasting.
Daily Trust also reports that the GSM communication had begun to cease in Potiskum as at the time of filing this report.
GSM services only returned about three weeks ago after they were cut in May shortly after President Jonathan declared state of emergency in three states including Yobe.
The latest curfew came exactly one year after similar one was imposed on Potiskum and the Yobe State capital, Damaturu, which was partly responsible for the successful military operation that led to some level of peace in the last several months.
Last year’s dusk to dawn curfew which lasted for over 48 hours subjected residents to severe hardships and grounded both government and other business activities.
Motorists that usually passed through Potiskum on their way to or from Maiduguri and Kano were caught in between, forcing many of them to return home or to take alternative routes which are longer and very difficult to drive on.
Following Monday’s curfew, most residents expressed fear that their perishable goods would spoil because the restriction of movement will prevent them from selling.
Speaking to Daily Trust on telephone, Malam Hassan Maidankali who sells Irish potatoes at Potiskum central market appealed to the JTF to allow them to visit their shops to properly store perishable items.
“We left our shops hoping that we would go back early in the morning for sales but today we are asked to stay indoors. Our concern is that our vegetables and fruits will go bad due to intense heat because the shops are too stuffy. When it happened last year no trader received compensation or assistance from government,” he recalled.
Malam Abubakar Inusa who also spoke to our correspondent said majority of residents depend on daily businesses to fend for their families .“Very few people in Potiskum have stored what they could eat for more than two days and even those with that kind of capacity may not have made preparations due to the short notice,” he said.
But Hajia Aisha Abubakar said she is ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of security and peace.
“It’s only when there is peace that people talk about business and job; go to Syria and see if people care about business,” She said. She appealed to residents to sacrifice their comfort during the few days of the operation. The military has been in fierce battle with the Boko Haram insurgents since it launched an operation that pushed them out of territories they ‘captured’ and hoisted their flags.


http://dailytrust.info/index.php/top-stories/2656-24-hour-curfew-imposed-on-potiskum-soldiers-search-house-to-house-for-explosives

At least 170 Nigerian pilots are without employment, the Patron of Nigerian Professional Pilots, Capt. Noggie Megison has said.
Megison disclosed this when he led his group on a courtesy visit to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Fola Akinkuotu in Lagos.
Megison further explai-ned to our correspondent exclusively that he was worried about the growing numbers of jobless indige-nous qualified pilots hence his decision to gather all indigenous unemployed pilots under the auspices of Nigerian Professional Pilots (NPP).
He said “I set up this platform for young pilots who haven’t found jobs as common pool where employers can tap from. It also provides them the opportunity to come together and get acquainted with developments in the aviation sector so they don’t lose sight of changes in the sector rather than just sit at home and do nothing.”
According to him, 170 pilots, with Nigerian license have registered as members of the NPP and meets regularly adding that he believes there could be more unemployed pilots who haven’t registered with NPP.
Captain Megison who has spent over three decades in the aviation sector noted that it is critical these young pilots are engaged. “I can’t employ all of them so I advised them to come together so they can collectively put forth their plight to relevant stakeholders in the industry. Going forward, we will be creating awareness about the young pilots’ predicaments. The awareness will also tell industry operators there is a pool of young pilots they can draw from rather than engaging expatriate pilots alone” he explained.
He said “If we don’t address ingenious pilots’ unemployment, soon we would be shocked with what has hit us. As we speak, Kano State alone is training 100 pilots in Jordan, the Niger Delta Development Commission is training 74 in South Africa, the Aviation School in Zaria should graduate about 125 by December next year, in addition to the several others being trained in Ilorin. We should have about 500 pilots joining the market in about a year; where would they work?, “ he asked.
He noted they can’t go work for America or Britain, they should work in Nigeria.
“So we are looking at opportunities of engaging the government on how best we can reduce pilot unemployment, one of which is to create a better aviation environment for local skills. We must create a conducive environment for our young pilots to grow” he said. .
He said currently expatriate pilots dominate the market to the detriment of local pilots.
Capt Megison further estimated that there are a minimum 800 expatriates’ pilots flying in Nigeria; “yet we have just about 200 Nigerian pilots out of job.”
“There must be deliberate transfer of technology and skills to the younger generation. Nigerian pilots should have a fair share of the jobs in the Nigerian aviation industry. For instance, there is nothing wrong in giving us 300 slots form the 800 the expatriates are enjoying. Though I don’t blame the expatriates, we opened our doors for them to enter feely” he said.
He also explain further that, if the statistics of 150 private jets operating in Nigeria by the minister of aviation is anything to go by, those 150 jets could be employing at least 600 pilots, saying most of them, if not all, are expatriates

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/news/2617-unemployment-hits-nigerian-pilots-170-jobless

so unfortunate... thanks Mod..

EFCC Arrests Man With 30 ATM Cards, 8 Signed Cheques

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested one Kingsley Mudi over alleged ATM fraud. He was picked up at about 11 pm on August 2, 2013 at Fidelity Bank ATM on Airport Road, Warri, Delta State following an intelligence report.

At the point of arrest, 30 ATM cards of different banks with which he allegedly withdrew a total sum of five hundred and fifty thousand naira (N550, 000) were found in his possession. Eight signed UBA cheques belonging to sundry persons were also found on him.
Kingsley Mudi, who claimed to be a Disc Jockey and an operator of a barbing salon, has volunteered useful information.

He will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.

http://saharareporters.com/press-release/efcc-press-release-efcc-arrests-man-30-atm-cards-8-signed-cheques

Chris Beck spent 20 years operating in secret behind enemy lines as an elite US Navy Seal. But the highly-decorated serviceman was always hiding a deeper, personal secret - since early childhood, he felt he was a female born into a male body.

As a Navy Seal, Chris Beck's world was tough, macho, sometimes violent. He took part in covert missions from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East and fought alongside members of Britain's SAS on the Shatt al-Arab waterway near Basra during the 2003 war in Iraq.

But in February, more than a year after retiring from the US Navy, he replaced the photograph on his LinkedIn profile with one of a tall brunette in a white blouse smiling in front of the Stars and Stripes and wrote "I am now taking off all my disguises and letting the world know my true identity as a woman." Chris had become Kristin.

US Navy Seals are sent on some of the most difficult and dangerous military operations in the world. One of Kristin Beck's former units, the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group - also known as Seal Team 6 - went on to carry out the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.

The Navy Seal code demands that fighters uphold the unwavering values of loyalty, integrity and trust. Kristin feared some fellow Seals would accuse her of dishonouring that code by coming out as transgender.

While some did find the decision difficult to accept, the response was overwhelmingly positive. "A lot of them said 'Kris - I really don't understand what you're going through but I know where you've been,'" she told the BBC.

"My Seal team brothers said, 'you stood the watch in the field for 20 years and you did a great job. I don't understand it one bit but I support you 100% and I hope I can learn more about this and see you at the next reunion.'"

As she awaited the reaction from her former brothers-in-arms, Kristin knew there was no going back from her decision to go public.


Knowing the news would eventually spread beyond the tightly-knit Navy Seal community, Kristin decided to tell her story before someone else did.


She co-wrote a book, Warrior Princess: A US Navy Seal's Journey to Coming Out Transgender, with Anne Speckhard, a professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University in Washington DC. It charts her childhood in a religious and socially conservative household, her attempts to suppress her gender identity by secretly buying and then discarding women's clothes, and her two failed marriages.

"I was trying to live three lives," Kristin says. "I had a secret life with my female identity, I had my secret life with the Seal teams and then I had my home life and what I would show my wife and children or parents and friends.

"People would see snippets of the real me but for the most part nobody really got to know me."


The rapid and aggressive tempo of special forces operations following the attacks of 11 September 2001, combined with an emotional life which she says was "totally squashed", took its mental toll on Kristin and she developed post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

She says that for years she dealt with the psychological impact of "so much death, so much pain" through "beer, motorcycles, more beer".

Yet she says coming out as transgender has had a "dramatic impact" on her PTSD symptoms. "I'm not as angry and I sleep better just because I'm happier," she says.

"So many people have said, 'Kris, for the first time in my life I've actually seen you smile.'"

The repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in 2011 ended the ban on openly gay men and women in the US military. That shift doesn't apply to transgender individuals, however, who can still be discharged if they are found out.

Kristin Beck believes that policy could, and should, change. She proposes allowing transgender service personnel to undergo gender reassignment in a military setting in return for extending their time in uniform once the process is complete.

"It's a human condition," she says. "The military needs to get past gender and look at people like me as a person, not just as a male or female, and understand that I can still do a great job. I may not be able to do all the jobs I was doing before but I can do something else. I could be an intelligence analyst or a security officer at a checkpoint.

"None of us are perfect. I'm not Conan the Barbarian and I'm not Barbie. We're all different."

Kristin says she would have preferred to go through her continuing gender transition in private, rather than in the glare of attention that has inevitably followed the publication of her book.

She says, however, that she is approaching her new role as an unofficial spokeswoman for the transgender community with the same "warrior spirit" - a sense of leadership and commitment to duty despite the odds - that defined her military career.

"I think I've saved some lives. I've had some heart-wrenching emails from people who are caught up in pain and prejudice and that does make it worthwhile," she says.

"I've also had emails from straight men who have said 'thank you for your service for our country. I never understood what this was but now I do.'"

"Fear of the unknown is the biggest problem and I think reading my book has helped break down that fear for many people," Beck says. "I'm not going to hurt anyone and I'm not contagious. I'm just me."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23464947

Members of Uruguay's House of Representatives have passed a bill to legalise marijuana.

If it goes on to be approved by the Senate, Uruguay will become the first country to regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana.


The measure is backed by the government of President Jose Mujica, who says it will remove profits from drug dealers and divert users from harder drugs.

Under the bill, only the government would be allowed to sell marijuana.

The state would assume "the control and regulation of the importation, exportation, plantation, cultivation, the harvest, the production, the acquisition, the storage, the commercialisation and the distribution of cannabis and its by-products".

Buyers would have to be registered on a database and be over the age of 18. They would be able to buy up to 40g (1.4oz) per month in specially licensed pharmacies or grow up to six plants at home.

Foreigners would be excluded from the measure.


Political tussle
The bill was approved by 50 of the 96 MPs in the lower house following a fierce 13-hour debate in the capital, Montevideo.

The supporters of the measure argued that the fight against drugs and drug trafficking had failed, and the country needed "new alternatives".

"The regulation is not to promote consumption; consumption already exists," said Sebastian Sabini of the governing centre-left Frente Amplio (Broad Front) coalition, which has a majority of one in the lower house.

Marijuana use has reportedly doubled in Uruguay over the past year. An estimated 22 tonnes of marijuana are being sold in the country annually, according to Uruguay's National Drugs Committee.

But Gerardo Amarilla of the opposition National Party said the government was "playing with fire" given the health risks he said were linked to marijuana use.

All eyes were on Dario Perez, a member of the governing coalition but a strong opponent of the bill, whose vote could have scuppered the bill.

During his 20-minute speech, Mr Perez reiterated his belief that the issue should be put to a referendum and not have been "imposed" by the government.

But to applause by supporters of the bill in the public gallery, he finally concluded that as long as he was a member of the coalition, he would vote with it, despite his personal misgivings.

The bill is now expected to be approved by the Senate, where the left-wing government has a bigger majority.

But opposition politicians said that even if the law made it through the senate, they would launch a petition to have it overturned.

A survey carried out before the vote by polling organisation Cifra suggested 63% of Uruguayans opposed the bill.

Papal opposition
The progress of the bill is being watched closely across the region, says BBC regional analyst Ignacio de los Reyes.

For decades, drug trafficking has caused tens of thousands of deaths throughout Latin America.

Uruguay may have not experienced the bloodshed caused by drug trafficking, but the proposal could be seen as a test for violence-torn nations looking for an end to their drug wars, our analyst adds.

The vote also comes just days after Pope Francis criticised drug legalisation plans during a visit to neighbouring Brazil.

The pontiff said it was "necessary to tackle the problems which are at the root of drug abuse, promoting more justice, educating the youth with the values that live in society, standing by those who face hardship and giving them hope for the future".


source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23516966

The explosion took place @ a popular drinking joint opposite Ado Bayero square in Sabon gari.... pictures and info later.

The numbers of casualities is above 10. The area has been condoned off by the Police anti-bomb squards and men of the JTF..

The numbers of casualities cannot be ascertain as @ this time... more details later.

The sound of the explosions was heard 4-5km away from the epicenter..... details later

The successive explosions took place around New road/Enugu road in Sabon gari around 9pm... more details later

Three successive explosion took place in Sabon gari... more info later

I don't know if Nairaland has a section for local travel? if not l am suggesting it should be created by so doing we ll be promoting our image too.

So we've NIA is Nigeria? American version of CIA? wow... they must be dumb heads... After many precious lives were lost here comes the NIA..Naughty Intelligence Agency

The Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday read for the first time a bill for a law to prohibit rape and sexual harassment at work places and other related acts.

The bill is sponsored by the deputy leader of the House, Mrs. Lola Akande, representing Ikeja Constituency II.
Under Section 7 of the bill, if passed, anyone found guilty of sexual harassment shall be dismissed from work, fined N250,000 or jailed for six months. It also states that any employer who fails to take necessary action to curb or punish sexual harassment when reported to him and confirmed by the employer shall be liable and on conviction compensate the victim as the court may determine.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/news/1451-bill-on-rape-coming-in-lagos

Pandemonium broke out at the privately owned Hill College of Education, Gwanje, in Akwanga of Nasarawa State after a male student died from suspected poisoning, Daily Trust learnt. Reuben Elijah, a final year student of Economics and Political Science, was said to have been found dead in his room.

Family members and friends of the deceased had rushed him to the General Hospital where he was confirmed to be poisoned, some of them told newsmen yesterday.
They alleged that the deceased ate an apple believed to have been poisoned by his girl friend of the same class.
Persons spoken to on phone told newsmen that the deceased and his girlfriend had a misunderstanding after he informed her of his family’s decision to withdraw from marriage arrangements between them because she is believed to be older than her fiancé.`
They alleged that she bought apple for her boyfriend, after they managed to settle their misunderstanding.
They also explained that the said lady, who is also a working class, had invested in the planned marriage and had gone ahead to purchase a motorcycle for his boyfriend.
Acting Registrar of the school, Pastor John Amodu did not confirm nor deny the incident in his school, when he spoke to newsmen on phone.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/news/1377-nasarawa-student-dies-after-eating-apple