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Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Check Out MI Abaga Throwback Photos To Mark His 35th Birthday - Photos
Boko Haram Demands €5 Billion from FG to Release the Chibok Girls
Bo
ko Haram Demands €5 Billion from FG to Release the Chibok Girls on: 5 Oct 16, 10:00 AM (8 mins ago) by: bayonel3 (8254 | Hero)
Online (m)
Primary/Secondary Crusher
An additional issue was the status of the Chibok girls. Secret negotiations had been held regarding an exchange of Boko Haram prisoners for the girls. “On several occasions, prisoners were taken to Maiduguri to facilitate an exchange. But these negotiations stalled when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of €5 billion for the girls. “The dilemma for the DSS, which was handling the negotiations, was that a military assault to rescue the girls would almost certainly result in their deaths at the hands of their Boko Haram captors. “But the Nigerian government was not going to accede to Boko Haram’s extra-ordinary demand for a vast sum of money which would no doubt be used to fund future attacks. “One or two girls were able to escape their captors in May, but the rest remained captive and the impasse continued “The Chibok girls were not alone in their grim fate. Hundreds if not thousands, of persons had been captured by Boko Haram in the North-East. Buhari would need to continue degrading Boko Haram until he could tighten the noose around its Sambisa hideouts and bring a close end to this painful episode.”
The book also gave insight on why placed his ministers on lower salaries and allowances, the author said the President wanted to make ministerial appointment less attractive as a way of curbing corruption in public office.
He went on: “Buhari was trying to eliminate the allure of ministerial appointments as a means of accruing wealth either through receiving a generous salary or through exploiting power for corrupt personal gain. “Of course, the effort to combat corruption also required creating disincentives for corrupt practices strong enough to dissuade ministers from ‘chopping’ on the side. The penalty if caught would be dismissal and public shaming.”
Concerning the arrest of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the author said the ties between the President and ex-Prime Minister David Cameron made it possible. “Yet the close ties between Buhari and British (former) Prime Minister David Cameron facilitated efforts to launch a coordinated effort to bring money launderers to book, as demonstrated in the role of the London Metropolitan Police in the case of Diezani Alison-Madueke.”
ko Haram Demands €5 Billion from FG to Release the Chibok Girls on: 5 Oct 16, 10:00 AM (8 mins ago) by: bayonel3 (8254 | Hero)
Online (m)
Primary/Secondary Crusher
An additional issue was the status of the Chibok girls. Secret negotiations had been held regarding an exchange of Boko Haram prisoners for the girls. “On several occasions, prisoners were taken to Maiduguri to facilitate an exchange. But these negotiations stalled when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of €5 billion for the girls. “The dilemma for the DSS, which was handling the negotiations, was that a military assault to rescue the girls would almost certainly result in their deaths at the hands of their Boko Haram captors. “But the Nigerian government was not going to accede to Boko Haram’s extra-ordinary demand for a vast sum of money which would no doubt be used to fund future attacks. “One or two girls were able to escape their captors in May, but the rest remained captive and the impasse continued “The Chibok girls were not alone in their grim fate. Hundreds if not thousands, of persons had been captured by Boko Haram in the North-East. Buhari would need to continue degrading Boko Haram until he could tighten the noose around its Sambisa hideouts and bring a close end to this painful episode.”
The book also gave insight on why placed his ministers on lower salaries and allowances, the author said the President wanted to make ministerial appointment less attractive as a way of curbing corruption in public office.
He went on: “Buhari was trying to eliminate the allure of ministerial appointments as a means of accruing wealth either through receiving a generous salary or through exploiting power for corrupt personal gain. “Of course, the effort to combat corruption also required creating disincentives for corrupt practices strong enough to dissuade ministers from ‘chopping’ on the side. The penalty if caught would be dismissal and public shaming.”
Concerning the arrest of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the author said the ties between the President and ex-Prime Minister David Cameron made it possible. “Yet the close ties between Buhari and British (former) Prime Minister David Cameron facilitated efforts to launch a coordinated effort to bring money launderers to book, as demonstrated in the role of the London Metropolitan Police in the case of Diezani Alison-Madueke.”
Monday, 3 October 2016
Dutch journalist killed as clashes rock Sirte
Oerlemans was working in Libya for a number of organisations, including the Belgian weekly Knack magazine, which confirmed his death.
A Dutch journalist was killed by sniper fire Sunday while covering clashes in Libya's coastal city of Sirte, as unity government forces battled Islamic State group holdouts in the jihadist bastion.
Dr Akram Gliwan, spokesman for a hospital in Misrata where pro-government fighters are treated, told AFP that photographer Jeroen Oerlemans was "shot in the chest by an IS sniper while covering battles in Sirte" 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli.
Gliwan said his body had been transferred to Misrata, 200 kilometres west of Sirte.
Oerlemans was working in Libya for a number of organisations, including the Belgian weekly Knack magazine, which confirmed his death.
A message on Knack's website said Oerlemans was shot on a reporting assignment and that the publication "wishes his family much strength".
Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders also mourned his death.
"Oerlemans is a journalist who went where others would not go. He was driven to bring us the news through his pictures especially from the world's trouble spots," Koenders said in a statement.
A fighter loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord aims his weapon towards Islamic State group positions in District 3 while his comrade uses a broken mirror to observe their movement on the western frontline in Sirte on October 2, 2016 (AFP)
"That he has now paid the highest price is incredibly sad. I wish his wife, children and family every strength at this great loss. A great photographer is gone."
Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord launched an assault against the jihadists in Sirte in May.
IS fighters holed up in the town, birthplace of ousted Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, responded with suicide bombings and sniper fire, slowing the government-backed advance.
Fighting on Sunday killed at least 10 IS fighters and eight pro-government fighters around the jihadist bastion, the unity government in Tripoli said.
Pro-government forces said they were "progressing" in Sirte, where they have surrounded IS militants, prompting some to try to escape.
They said loyalist fighters had recovered the bodies of at least 10 jihadists and were chasing another group that had fled Sirte.
Loyalist casualties
Eight soldiers loyal to the GNA were killed, according to the Facebook page of a field hospital set up by their forces in Sirte.
Fifty-seven members of the pro-GNA forces were wounded and transferred to the main hospital in Misrata.
IS said on Twitter that it had killed or wounded 64 members of the pro-GNA forces.
play
The fighting has left more than 450 GNA fighters dead and 2,500 wounded. The IS death toll is not known (AFP/File)
On Saturday, GNA aircraft conducted six sorties in preparation for an advance on the jihadists' hideout in the city's east, said the GNA statement.
American aircraft have also carried out some 177 air strikes since early August in support of GNA forces, according to US Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The fighting has left more than 450 GNA fighters dead and 2,500 wounded. The IS death toll is not known.
An IS defeat in Sirte would be a serious blow to the group, which has faced major setbacks in Iraq and Syria in recent months.
Libya was plunged into chaos following the NATO-backed ouster of Kadhafi in 2011, and the control of the country -- as well as access to its vital oil wealth -- is divided between rival governments and militias.
The GNA was formed following a UN-backed deal in December 2015, but it has struggled to impose its power across a country.
Oerlemans was the second journalist to be killed in the Sirte offensive, after Libyan journalist Abdelqader Fsouk was killed there in July.
British war photographer Tim Hetherington was killed in April 2011 in a mortar attack in the western Libyan city of Misrata.
He died alongside Chris Hondros, a 41-year-old US photographer for Getty, as the pair covered intense fighting between Kadhafi's forces and rebels
A Dutch journalist was killed by sniper fire Sunday while covering clashes in Libya's coastal city of Sirte, as unity government forces battled Islamic State group holdouts in the jihadist bastion.
Dr Akram Gliwan, spokesman for a hospital in Misrata where pro-government fighters are treated, told AFP that photographer Jeroen Oerlemans was "shot in the chest by an IS sniper while covering battles in Sirte" 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli.
Gliwan said his body had been transferred to Misrata, 200 kilometres west of Sirte.
Oerlemans was working in Libya for a number of organisations, including the Belgian weekly Knack magazine, which confirmed his death.
A message on Knack's website said Oerlemans was shot on a reporting assignment and that the publication "wishes his family much strength".
Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders also mourned his death.
"Oerlemans is a journalist who went where others would not go. He was driven to bring us the news through his pictures especially from the world's trouble spots," Koenders said in a statement.
A fighter loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord aims his weapon towards Islamic State group positions in District 3 while his comrade uses a broken mirror to observe their movement on the western frontline in Sirte on October 2, 2016 (AFP)
"That he has now paid the highest price is incredibly sad. I wish his wife, children and family every strength at this great loss. A great photographer is gone."
Forces allied with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord launched an assault against the jihadists in Sirte in May.
IS fighters holed up in the town, birthplace of ousted Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, responded with suicide bombings and sniper fire, slowing the government-backed advance.
Fighting on Sunday killed at least 10 IS fighters and eight pro-government fighters around the jihadist bastion, the unity government in Tripoli said.
Pro-government forces said they were "progressing" in Sirte, where they have surrounded IS militants, prompting some to try to escape.
They said loyalist fighters had recovered the bodies of at least 10 jihadists and were chasing another group that had fled Sirte.
Loyalist casualties
Eight soldiers loyal to the GNA were killed, according to the Facebook page of a field hospital set up by their forces in Sirte.
Fifty-seven members of the pro-GNA forces were wounded and transferred to the main hospital in Misrata.
IS said on Twitter that it had killed or wounded 64 members of the pro-GNA forces.
play
The fighting has left more than 450 GNA fighters dead and 2,500 wounded. The IS death toll is not known (AFP/File)
On Saturday, GNA aircraft conducted six sorties in preparation for an advance on the jihadists' hideout in the city's east, said the GNA statement.
American aircraft have also carried out some 177 air strikes since early August in support of GNA forces, according to US Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The fighting has left more than 450 GNA fighters dead and 2,500 wounded. The IS death toll is not known.
An IS defeat in Sirte would be a serious blow to the group, which has faced major setbacks in Iraq and Syria in recent months.
Libya was plunged into chaos following the NATO-backed ouster of Kadhafi in 2011, and the control of the country -- as well as access to its vital oil wealth -- is divided between rival governments and militias.
The GNA was formed following a UN-backed deal in December 2015, but it has struggled to impose its power across a country.
Oerlemans was the second journalist to be killed in the Sirte offensive, after Libyan journalist Abdelqader Fsouk was killed there in July.
British war photographer Tim Hetherington was killed in April 2011 in a mortar attack in the western Libyan city of Misrata.
He died alongside Chris Hondros, a 41-year-old US photographer for Getty, as the pair covered intense fighting between Kadhafi's forces and rebels
Sunday, 2 October 2016
Ay Z Rap star wins in lawsuit over Roc-A-Fella logo
The logo includes a superimposed "R," and has been used on items generating hundreds of millions of dollars of sales.
A federal judge has dismissed a $7 million lawsuit accusing Jay Z of breach of contract and copyright infringement against a Bronx, New York clothing designer who claimed to have created the logo for the rap star's Roc-A-Fella record label.
In a decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan said Dwayne Walker was not entitled to royalties under a contract allegedly signed two decades ago by Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon "Dame" Dash.
Walker plans to appeal, his lawyer Gregory Berry said.
The
plaintiff claimed in his July 2012 lawsuit to have created artwork in
1995 depicting a vinyl record that became the basis for the Roc-A-Fella
logo.
Jay Z, Dash, Roc-A-Fella and its parent
Universal Music Group Inc, a unit of France's Vivendi SA, countered that
a Roc-A-Fella art director created the logo.
The logo includes a superimposed "R," and has been used on items generating hundreds of millions of dollars of sales.
In a 32-page decision, Carter found a lack of evidence that the contract even existed.
He said only two people other than Walker claimed to have seen it, and their testimony was not strong enough to be used.
"This
leaves only plaintiff's own self-serving testimony that he drafted the
contract, that he and Dash signed it, and that he lost track of it in
1998," the judge wrote. "This testimony alone is not enough."
Carter
also said Walker took too long to bring his copyright claim, having
waited five years rather than three to sue after learning, by his
account, that he was owed royalties.
"The decision is quite startling," Berry said in an email.
"Walker made the logo in 1995," he continued. "Then
in 2013, in response to this suit-never before-the defendants find a
guy who is willing to claim now that HE made the logo.... Sound like a
factual question for trial? We agree."
Jay Z's given name is Shawn Carter. He is not related to the judge.
Cynthia Arato, a lawyer for several defendants, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is Walker v Carter et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-05384.
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