Monday, February 22, 2016

Museveni rival Kizza Besigye arrested over protest march

besigye arrested

Uganda's main opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been taken into police custody after vowing to lead a protest march against President Yoweri Museveni's election victory.
Mr Besigye was bundled into a police van when he tried to leave his home, where he had been under house arrest.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Berlin film festival: Fire at Sea wins Golden Bear

Gianfranco Rosi accepts the Golden Bear from Meryl Streep, 20 Feb

Fire at Sea, a documentary about Europe's migrant crisis, has won the Golden Bear award for best movie at the Berlin Film Festival.
Gianfranco Rosi's harrowing movie depicts life on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa.

MWC 2016: Samsung Galaxy S7 restores expandable storage

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung's latest flagship phones restore a couple of popular features dropped from the previous generation.
The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge both accept MicroSD cards, allowing their storage to be expanded, and can also be submerged underwater.

Boy, 4, jailed for life over four ‘murders’ committed when he was one



AN EGYPTIAN four-year-old boy has been sentenced to life in jail for committing four murders when he was aged only one year old.

Banks are loaning too much to people who can’t pay it back



A WOMAN is staring down the bankruptcy barrel at just 24 and she’s not the only one.
An explosive 60 Minutes investigation, which airs on Channel 9 on Sunday, has discovered banks are irresponsibly loaning large amounts of money to people who just can’t pay it back due to a collapse in the property market.

Notorious criminal Peter Walker is back in jail



A NOTORIOUS killer is back in jail after years of living in freedom.
Crime is the one thing that Peter Walker has always known.
He started off committing petty thefts but as he grew older, his law-breaking became much more wicked.

‘Frustrated’ passenger strips off in Stansted airport in protest at flight delays



A FEMALE passenger on her way to a job interview in Barcelona became so exasperated by the slow security procedures at London’s Stansted Airport that she started to strip off — before being arrested.

Albino girl, five, kidnapped and killed by bandits who cut off her arm for 'WITCHCRAFT'

Kazungu Kassim (R), head of a Burundi albino association, listens to proceedings inside a courtroom in Ruyigi, eastern Burundi, May 28, 2009. Prosecutors in Burundi on Thursday asked for life sentences for three people on trial for allegedly murdering albinos to sell their body parts for use in witchcraft

A FIVE-year-old albino girl has been kidnapped and killed by gunmen – who cut off her arm to use in WITCHCRAFT, it is feared.

The bandits stormed into the child's home in Burundi in the early hours of Wednesday morning, attacking her parents before abducting her.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres to step down

Figueres

The UN's top climate diplomat, Christiana Figueres, has said she will leave her post in July.
Ms Figueres said she would not accept an extension of her appointment which finishes this summer.

No special centre for 2016 UTME, says JAMB

Lagos –  The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Sunday,  said it would not create any special centre for the 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The UTME, which will be Computer Base Test (CBT) mode all through, is expected to begin on Monday, Feb. 29.

World's oldest president, Mugabe turns 92

The world’s oldest leader, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe turned 92 on Sunday, with no
 plans to step down as feuding over his successors threatens to tear his ruling ZANU-PF apart. The
veteran leader will mark the day with a public celebration on Saturday. Last year’s party was a massive feast with several elephants slaughtered and seven gigantic birthday cakes,

India tribal activist Soni Sori attacked with chemicals

Soni Sori in hospital

A prominent Indian tribal rights activist has been attacked with a chemical substance in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
Soni Sori said men on a motorcycle had stopped her car, forced her to get out and thrown liquid on her face. Doctors told police it was not acid.

North Korea new army chief after Ri Yong-gil 'execution'

Photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on 21 February 21 shows Kim Jong-un (C) inspecting a flight drill of fighter pilots at an undisclosed location.

Ri Myong-su has been named army chief in North Korea, days after unconfirmed reports that his predecessor, Ri Yong-gil, had been executed.
State news agency KCNA mentioned his new role in its reporting on activities of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Cyclone Winston wreaks destruction in Fiji

A service station lays in ruin after Cyclone Winston swept through the town of Ba on Fiji's Viti Levu Island

Authorities in Fiji are assessing the damage after the most powerful storm left at least five people dead.
Cyclone Winston brought winds of over 320km/h (200mph), torrential rain and waves of up to 12m (40ft).
It destroyed hundreds of homes and cut electricity lines. There are reports of entire villages flattened.

CAR presidential election: Faustin Touadera declared winner

Central African Republic second round presidential winner Faustin Touadera in Bangui (14 February 2016)

Former Prime Minister Faustin Touadera has been elected president of the Central African Republic in a run-off contest seen as an important step towards restoring peace.

Australia relents over mother and child deportation

Protesters outside Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, 21 February

The Australian government has announced that a baby being treated for burns in a Brisbane hospital will not be sent back to an asylum seekers' detention camp on the Pacific island of Nauru.

Syria conflict: Homs car bombings kill 46, says monitor

Wrecked cars in Homs, Syria following a double car bombing

At least 46 people have been killed in a double car bombing in the Syrian city of Homs, a monitoring group has said.
Most of the dead appear to be civilians, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

CBN recovers N6.2bn excess charges from banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Saturday said it has recovered about N6.2bn from Deposit Money Banks as excessive charges imposed on their customers in 2015.
The apex bank in a statement issued by the Director,Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Alh Muazu Ibrahim warned banks against imposing illegal charges on their customers.

EU referendum: Cameron sets June date for UK vote

Vote Leave

The UK will vote on whether to remain in the EU on Thursday 23 June, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
The prime minister made his historic announcement in Downing Street after briefing the cabinet.

Babies exposed to paracetamol are more likely to develop asthma, new study suggests



WOMEN who take paracetamol during pregnancy may be putting their baby at risk of developing asthma as a child, a new study suggests.

Zika virus: Pregnant women in Latin America beg for abortion pills



PREGNANT women in Latin America scared of giving birth to babies disabled by the mosquito-borne Zika virus are clamouring for abortion pills — which are mostly illegal in their countries.

California board rejects measure specifying condom use in porn



ONE after another, scores of people who make porn films for a living pleaded their case to California workplace safety officials: Don’t force condoms or safety goggles or other devices designed to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases on them because those devices will simply stop people from watching porn films and soon they’ll have no jobs at all.

Why are America’s most privileged teens killing themselves?



WHEN the teen suicide toll hit five times the national average for the second time around, Palo Alto, finally, knew it had a problem.
Now, the powerful US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has sent a team into the one of America’s wealthiest suburbs to find out why it’s brightest, most privileged teens are killing themselves.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Pope Francis questions Donald Trump's Christianity

Donald Trump family photo

The Pope has questioned US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's Christianity over his call to build a border wall with Mexico.
Pope Francis said "a person who thinks only about building walls... and not of building bridges, is not Christian".

Letter from Africa: How to insult a politician

Jacob Zume

In our series of letters from African journalists, Ghanaian writer Elizabeth Ohene, a former government minister and member of the opposition, explains how a politician should be insulted.
We are not quite sure here in Ghana what to make of the drama that President Jacob Zuma faces when he goes to parliament to deliver his State of the Nation Address.

Barack Obama imposes new North Korea sanctions

President Obama

President Obama has signed off new expanded sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear programme, weeks after it launched a long-range rocket.
The country has refused to stop its nuclear programme and the bill was easily passed last week by Congress.

India top court refuses to hear bail plea of JNU student leader

An Indian activist wearing the mask of Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh along with other Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students and their supporters participate in a protest march in New Delhi, India, 18 February 2016.

India's top court has declined to hear a bail plea of a student leader charged with sedition, saying that to do so would send the message that lower courts were "incapable".
However, it transferred Kanhaiya Kumar's bail plea to the Delhi high court, saying that the atmosphere in the trial court was "not proper".

Kenya hunts for escaped Nairobi lions

A lion looking towards Nairobi, Kenya

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is hunting for at least four lions which have escaped from Nairobi National Park bordering the capital, Nairobi.
They escaped not long after midnight and were spotted on main roads in the city by morning.

Apple apologises for iPhone 'error 53' and issues fix

Apple has now issued a software update that will restore disabled phones

Apple has said sorry to iPhone customers whose phones were disabled after third-party repairs, and issued a fix for the problem.
Some users found that their iPhone stopped working following servicing by a non-Apple technician and saw an "error 53" message in iTunes.

Ghana bus crash near Kintampo kills at least 71

Site of crash

The number of people killed when a bus crashed into a truck in northern Ghana has risen to 71, medical officials say.
The Metro Mass Transit coach reportedly collided head-on with a cargo truck carrying tomatoes near the town of Kintampo on Wednesday evening.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Canada man missing for 30 years found after remembering identity

Artists depictions of missing Canadian man Edgar Latulip

A Canadian man who disappeared 30 years ago is set to be reunited with his family after remembering his identity, Canadian media reported.
Edgar Latulip was 21 when he went missing from a home for disabled people in Ontario province.

Giulio Regeni: Funeral held for Italian student killed in Cairo

Pall bearers carry the coffin containing the body of Giulio Regeni during the funeral service in Fiumicello (Udine) (12 February 2016)

The funeral of an Italian student found dead in Cairo has been held in his home town in north-eastern Italy.
Giulio Regeni, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, went to Egypt to research the country's trade union movement, which is viewed with suspicion by the authorities.

At least three dead in 50-vehicle Pennsylvania pile-up

Emergency personnel work at the scene of a crash near Fredericksburg, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016

At least three people have been killed and scores injured in a motorway pile-up involving more than 50 vehicles in Pennsylvania, authorities say.
The crash, 120km (75miles) north-west of Philadelphia, left trucks and cars strewn across three lanes of traffic and the central reservation.

Ehud Olmert jail term: Israel ex-PM begins sentence for bribery

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (right) leaves Tel Aviv District Court, in this 2014 file picture

Ehud Olmert has begun a 19-month jail sentence, becoming the first former Israeli prime minister to go to prison.
Olmert was handed a six-year sentence in 2014 after being convicted of bribery charges relating to his time as Mayor of Jerusalem.

Egypt: Retrial for policeman accused of killing Shaimaa el-Sabbagh

Activist Shaimaa al-Sabbagh holds up a poster at a protest in Cairo shortly before her death (24 January 2015)

Egypt's highest court has annulled a 15-year jail sentence for a policeman accused of shooting dead a protester.
A retrial has been ordered over the death of Shaimaa el-Sabbagh in January last year.
Images of the frail figure dying on a Cairo street after being hit by birdshot sparked outrage in Egypt and around the world.

‘Madman’ arrested with 22 ATM cards, phones, others

The man, who identified himself as Lanrewaju Jaiyeola, 39, was intercepted by the police after the suspicious manner he carried a backpack along Ozumba Mbadiwe Road. A reliable police source said 22 assorted credit cards, one Nokia phone, a blackberry, a power bank, several bank tellers of recent bank transactions and lots of invoices, amidst numerous pieces of papers, were found on him. He added that they discovered that eight of the credit cards were still valid. Out of these, three would expire in 2018, another three would expire in 2017,

Friday, February 5, 2016

Cologne Carnival: Police record 22 sexual assaults

Policemen arrest a man during Weiberfastnacht celebrations as part of the carnival season on February 4, 2016 in Cologne, Germany.

Police in Cologne have said that 22 incidents of sexual assault occurred in the city on the first night of the traditional Carnival street party.
They have 190 people in custody and officials have described them as "a cross section of the general public".

'Wrong type of trees' in Europe increased global warming

oak tree

The assumption that planting new forests helps limit climate change has been challenged by a new study.
Researchers found that in Europe, trees grown since 1750 have actually increased global warming.

Active Zika found in saliva and urine

Crying baby
Active Zika virus has been detected in saliva and urine, Brazilian scientists say.
The finding does not mean the virus can be readily transmitted through these bodily fluids.
Meanwhile, the US has advised men to abstain from sex or use condoms after visiting affected countries, if their partner is pregnant.

Spared by the hitmen with principles

Noela Rukundo

One year ago a group of gunmen in Burundi was hired to kill a woman visiting from Australia. But the hit did not go as planned, leaving her with a chance to turn the tables on the man who wanted her dead.
"I felt like somebody who had risen again," says Noela Rukundo.

Google AI to play live Go match against world champion

Demis Hassabis

Google's artificial intelligence (AI) software will go head-to-head with the world's highest ranked Go player Lee Sedol, the firm has said.
It comes a week after the search giant announced that AlphaGo had beaten French Go champion Fan Hui.

Theatre hanging: Raphael Schumacher declared brain dead

Raphael Schumacher seen in an image from his Facebook page

Raphael Schumacher, the Italian actor who was accidentally hanged during a live theatre performance, has been declared clinically dead.
Schumacher, 27, was re-enacting a hanging scene during an interactive performance in Pisa, when a spectator realised the stunt had gone wrong.

New York crane collapse kills at least one person

Emergency crews survey the collapsed crane

A large construction crane has collapsed in lower Manhattan in New York City, killing one person and injuring at least two others.
The Fire Department of New York confirmed the fatality and is on the scene responding to the accident.

Rescue under way for South Africa miners after building collapse

rescue operations at lily mine

A major rescue operation is under way after a building collapsed at the surface of a gold mine in South Africa, blocking off the main entrance.
Three people, thought to have been in the building at the time, are still missing after the incident at the mine near the north-eastern town of Barberton, emergency services say.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Rapper P Diddy hired hitmen to kill Tupac Shakur, former LAPD police officer sensationally claims

p-diddy-tupac-biggie-m

AP star P Diddy hired hitmen to kill Tupac Shakur, a former LAPD police officer has sensationally claimed.
Shakur, 25, was murdered in a drive-by shooting in 1996 in the middle of a feud between rival rap groups from the East and West Coasts of US.

My search for Gaddafi's golden gun

Man in blue T-shirt and baseball cap holding golden gun

When Libyan rebels celebrated the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the colonel's gold-plated pistol was held up as a symbol of their victory - I watched as they passed it among themselves. Four years on, I've been back to Libya to find the man with the golden gun.

Hackers targeted 20 million Alibaba customer accounts

Alibaba says Taobao has over 300 million customers

Hackers tried to access over 20 million active accounts on the Taobao shopping site, Chinese state media has said.
Inputting login details from a stolen database of 99 million, they found nearly 21 million of the usernames were also being used for Taobao accounts.

Facebook and Instagram ban private gun adverts

A customer looks at a SIG Sauer hand gun at a gun show held by Florida Gun Shows, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, in Miami

Private individuals will no longer be allowed to advertise guns on Facebook and Instagram, the photo-sharing service owned by Facebook.
Facebook had already banned the sale of guns without identity checks, but the new rules aim to stop all gun trade between individuals on the sites.

Somalia plane: Daallo Airlines confirms passenger missing

Daalo Airlines

A passenger on the flight forced to land at Somalia's Mogadishu airport after a large hole appeared in the fuselage has been confirmed missing by the airline.
Daallo Airlines had previously said that all the passengers had been accounted for.
It is thought that the man fell out of the hole, which appeared shortly after take-off from Mogadishu on Tuesday.

Top IS commanders 'taking refuge' in Libya

Members of forces loyal to Libya's Islamist-backed parliament General National Congress (GNC) prepare to launch attacks as they continue to fight Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on the outskirts of Libya's western city of Sirte on March 16, 2015

Senior commanders from so-called Islamic State (IS) have moved to Libya from Iraq and Syria recently, a top Libyan intelligence official says.
The official told BBC Newsnight that increasing numbers of foreign fighters had arrived in the city of Sirte.
Representatives from 23 countries met in Rome on Tuesday to discuss the growing threat from IS in Libya.
IS took control of Sirte, the hometown of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, last year.
Disagreements between rival administrations in the country have hampered efforts to fight IS.
The Islamist group is believed to have received support from some loyalists of the former regime.
But Ismail Shukri, the head of intelligence in the city of Misrata, told Newsnight there had been an influx of foreign fighters in recent months.

More about Islamic State in Libya:


"The majority [of IS fighters in Sirte] are foreigners, around 70%. Most of them are Tunisians, followed by Egyptians, Sudanese and a few Algerians.
"Add to that the Iraqis and the Syrians. Most of the Iraqis come from Saddam Hussein's disbanded army."
Mr Shukri said senior IS commanders were taking refuge in Libya, under pressure from international airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.
"Some of their members, especially those with long-term importance to IS, are taking refuge here. They view Libya as a safe haven."Authorities in Misrata say they are preparing an offensive against Islamic State militants in Sirte.
But in the town of Abugrein, 120km (75 miles) south of Misrata, the BBC saw little evidence of an imminent confrontation.
Abugrein represents the final line of defence against IS. Beyond that, IS controls the road east.
Commanders in Abugrein told Newsnight that their forces, loyal to the government in Tripoli, numbered around 1,400 - less than half the estimated strength of IS.

Find out more


Mohammed al-Bayoudi, a commander with Battalion 166, acknowledged that, without international help, they would not be able to defeat IS.
"Certainly we would welcome Nato support. But air strikes alone cannot defeat IS. What the army really needs is logistical support."
The prospect of international military involvement in Libya is a vexed topic. The United States has acknowledged that it has sent in small numbers of special forces on at least one occasion in recent weeks.
Similar groups from other Nato countries are also understood to be exploring potential local allies on the ground for a looming battle with IS.
Libyans gather at a checkpoint after it was hit in a bomb attack at Msillata, near Khoms, 120 kilometres from Tripoli in November 2015Image copyrightGetty Images
But fighters in Abugrein said they did not want to see Western boots on the ground.
"We Libyans will fight. There is no need for foreign troops," said Mr al-Bayoudi.
Western governments, including the UK, are becoming increasingly concerned, and impatient.
A proposed Italian-led training force, with up to 6,000 troops from a number of Nato countries including the UK and France, has yet to be agreed.
A major stumbling block is a lack of consensus from Libya's rival parliaments.
A UN-brokered deal to create a unity government has stalled, amid opposition from both the Islamist-backed authorities in Tripoli and the internationally recognised government in Tobruk in the east.
Map of control

India arrests over Tanzanian student attack in Bangalore

The mob beat up the Tanzanian students and set fire to their car

Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore say they have arrested five people in connection with an attack on a Tanzanian student.
A mob assaulted and partially stripped the 21-year-old woman after a Sudanese student's car ran over and killed a local woman on Sunday night.

Body of Italian student Giulio Regeni found in Egypt

Mortuary in Cairo where the body of Giulio Regeni was brought (4 February 2016)

The body of an Italian student who disappeared last week in Egypt's capital Cairo has been found and shows signs of torture, officials said.
Giulio Regeni, 28, disappeared on the evening of 25 January, after leaving his home in Giza to meet a friend.
His body was found on a road on Cairo's western outskirts on Wednesday.

Gary Neville should apologise and resign, says Canizares

Gary Neville



Gary Neville should have apologised and resigned as Valencia coach after their humiliating Copa del Rey defeat, says former goalkeeper Santiago Canizares.
Valencia were thrashed 7-0 by Barcelona in a semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
Former Manchester United captain Neville described the loss as "one of his worst experiences" in football.

"mungo park" by Coredo Bello