Twitter was summoned on Tuesday before an Indian Parliament panel to present its views on "safeguarding citizens' rights on social/online news media platforms."
The notice was tweeted by Anurag Thakur who heads the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology and is a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Local news outlets reported the notice was issued after a volunteer group supposedly wrote to the committee, alleging that Twitter was biased against right-wing and pro-BJP accounts.
Twitter was asked to appear before the committee on Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. local time along with representatives from India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The Head of ECOWAS Observer Mission to Nigeria and former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, today, met with the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Yakubu Mahmood at the INEC headquarters in Abuja, where she promised to help ensure a peaceful, free and fair elections in Nigeria.
Sirleaf who arrived Nigeria on Tuesday, also said that her visit was to get more pieces of information as regards Nigeria’s coming election.
She was earlier received by the Vice- President of ECOWAS Commission, Mrs Finda Koroma, at the Presidential Wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Tuesday.
“I hope to meet with political leaders, I want to be able to understand the role I have to play to make sure that I am well prepared to carry out the function.
“I am pleased that it is an ECOWAS assignment and I will be working with them (ECOWAS Commission) and they will guide me and I just expect that I will join all Nigerians to make sure that this whole process is so peaceful and successful.
“That is the purpose of my mission,” she said.
The former Liberian president also said she would share in the findings of earlier missions and consult with those who had been on ground.
“I cannot make a statement till I have had an opportunity to be able to share in the findings of earlier missions, to consult with those who have been on ground.
“At a later date, the ECOWAS Observer Mission will be fully engaged, will carry out its functions and speak when it is time to speak,” she said.
Ariana Grande has reportedly pulled out of performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony after colliding with the show’s producers.
The singer has appeared on billboards across the United States promoting the Grammys, which takes place on Sunday, 10 February.
Sources tell Variety that Grande may not even attend the ceremony after she felt “insulted” by producers, who initially refused to allow her to perform her new single “7 Rings” from the upcoming album Thank U, Next.
After coming to a compromise – allowing Grande to perform the single as part of a medley – the 25-year-old cancelled completely as producers wanted to choose the second song she would play.
The source claims that stipulations were not placed on other performers at the show.
Grande has been nominated in two major Grammy categories, including Best Pop Vocal Performance for “God is a Woman” and Best Pop Vocal Album for Sweetener.
The Duchess of Cambridge joined in a game of show-and-tell with primary school children yesterday - bringing along a photograph of her family as the object that ‘makes her happy’.
Kate, who wore a bespoke version of a £2,100 Eponine dress and £295 L.K. Bennett boots, brought with her a photograph of her family as she joined Lavender Primary School pupils sharing objects that represent 'something that makes them feel good'.
Sitting down with a table full of youngsters in Enfield, north London, the royal opened up her Mulberry clutch bag and told them: ‘I’ve got something. It’s not very big. Do you want to see it?’
She continued: ‘This is a photograph of my family. These are my children and this is my husband. And my family makes me feel happy. And we like playing outside together and spending lots of time together as a family. And that makes me feel very happy.’
The duchess was at the north London school in her role as patron of the charity Place2Be, a leading UK children's mental health charity that provides in-school support and expert training to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff.
Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries leader Walter Magaya was yesterday convicted and fined $700 by the Harare Magistrates’ Court for announcing that he had discovered an HIV and Aids cure, in contravention of the Medicines Control Act.
Magaya, one of the directors of Aretha Medical (Pvt) Ltd, which handled the Aguma medication, pleaded guilty to the charge.
He will have his property attached if he fails to pay the fine by Friday, ruled magistrate Mrs Rumbidzai Mugwagwa.
She noted that Magaya had put people’s life and health at risk by not following the laid-down procedures in handling his purported cure of the disease.
Magaya recently announced he had discovered the medicine he called Aguma, which he said could cure HIV and Aids, in the process disregarding procedures stipulated in the Medicines Control Act.
Magaya told the court that Aguma medicine was authentic and that it went through laboratory tests in India and was approved.
But Mrs Mugwagwa nailed him for his recklessness in failing to follow procedures.
“It still remained the duty of the accused to verify before making the announcement,” she said.
“There are reasons why there are stipulations put in place, one of them being to safeguard people’s health.
“The accused is hereby ordered to pay $700, which is to be paid before February 8. Failure to do so, property would be attached.
“The issue is not about the HIV and Aids cure, that issue is neither here nor there, but the issue is Aretha Medical was supposed to follow the procedures required.”
Silobela villagers, Zimbabwe are living in fear of a stray lion that is reportedly attacking and killing their livestock.
A Chief, Ruya confirmed that there is a lion, suspected to have strayed from the nearby Chirisa Game Park, which is wreaking havoc in Gobo area and has so far devoured two beasts.
“The lion was first spotted by a man who was fishing at Arda Fair Acres Dam on Friday while it was drinking water on the opposite side,” he said.
“He ran and alerted neighbours, but people were afraid to go to the dam.”
Chief Gobo said they alerted the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks), which sent rangers to the dam, but they failed to locate the lion.
“They only saw its footprints. Later that night, it devoured a cow near the dam. We also learnt it had devoured another cow,” said Chief Gobo.
Enlightened Christian Gathering Church leader prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary have been granted R100,000 bail each when they briefly appeared at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria today.
After being granted bail, they wore huge smiles on their faces and gave their defence team firm handshakes. Oscar Pistorius’ lawyer, advocate Barry Roux represented the controversial pastor.
The couple is restricted to Gauteng and has to inform the investigating officer if they want to leave the province. They have to surrender their travelling documents and are not allowed to have any direct or indirect contact with employees of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), a branch of the National Prosecuting Authority.
In his plea of innocence, Bushiri said he is a “happily married” and not involved in money laundering, organised crime or fraud. That was the thrust of his affidavit, read out in the Specialised Crimes Court in Pretoria where he and his wife Mary applied for bail today.
Indian actor, Naga Jhansi has killed herself at her home in Hyderabad today, according to police. The 21-year-old was found in her flat in an apartment complex in Sri Nagar colony in the city.
According to the police, the actor was alone in the flat at the time of the incident.
Her brother Durga Prasad alerted the neighbours when she did not respond to repeated knocks on the door. They broke open the door and found her dead.
Her body was moved to government-run Gandhi Hospital for an autopsy and a case was registered in the Punjagutta police station.
Jhansi acted in different serials including Pavitra Bandhan on MAA TV. She had gained popularity in a short period of time because of the show.
Media reports suggest that Jhansi's relatives told the police that she was in love with a man, who was a distant relative, and her family did not approve of the relationship, which left her depressed.
Jhansi's mobile phone has been seized and police are examining the call data and chat records to ascertain more details. The police said that a case has been registered and further details were awaited.
Pink received her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on Tuesday afternoon.
But the 39-year-old Just Give Me A Reason singer did not enjoy the ceremony alone as she was seen with her husband of 13 years Carey Hart as well as their two children Willow Sage, aged seven, and Jameson Moon, aged two.
The musician, born Alecia Beth Moore, was also joined by talk-show host Ellen.
There is tension at the School for the Deaf and Dumb in the Kuje area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as suspected occultists have invaded the premises and allegedly molested some pupils.
It was learnt that the parent of a six-year-old pupil of the school first raised the alarm after she reportedly noticed signs of abuse on her child.
The number or identities of the assailants could not yet be determined as of press time, but police detectives had visited the school and commenced investigations.
Parents of some of the victims reported the matter to the Federal Ministry of Education, which also contacted the FCT Administration.
A parent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said, “Some yet-to-be-identified occultists have devised a means of sneaking into the school to molest the pupils, who in their estimation, cannot talk to anyone. They abduct some of them and molest them – both boys and girls. The attackers are said to be conniving with some insiders.
“There is serious brutality and sodomy going on in the school. We informed the Ministry of Education over two weeks ago but no serious action was taken since then. The school management is aware of the ugly incident, but it has failed to bring the matter to the attention of the authorities.”
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, who led other government officials to inspect the school, on Tuesday, confirmed that investigation into the incident had since commenced.
He said, “We are here on a preliminary report; we have been carrying out the investigation for more than a week. There are certain things we have been doing here without talking about them. Our investigation is now at the final stage. A lot has been done by the Ministry of Education, the FCT Administration and the police.
“We will address Nigerians on what has been found out. The issue has to do with national security, rights of children and child abuse. Let me appeal that if there is any parent, whose child has disappeared or died in mysterious circumstances, or could not find the body of their child, please let us know.
“On the case of the six-year-old child, this is a special case and we have concluded that there was definitely an abuse of that child. What we don’t know at this stage is when, where and how that child was abused.”
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has commended persons he described as “the leadership of respected voices of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities” for endorsing the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
He described the regional leaders’ endorsement as an incontrovertible validation of the scientific polls by the London Economist intelligence unit and the William and Associate team.
Saraki, who is the director-general of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, also described the results of the scientific polls as the true reflections of the wish of the electorate.
The Senate President in a statement issued in Abuja said that with the latest developments, Nigerians had taken a position that the false claim of integrity and anti-corruption fight by President Muhammadu Buhari was nothing but an election gimmick.
“The economy has been thoroughly mismanaged. Insecurity has become more widespread and beyond their control, while the government encourages and nurtures corruption from within,” he stated.
He also expressed confidence that Atiku would win the election in a free-and-fair contest based on the scientific forecasts by the two groups and the support for Atiku by the electorate.
Saraki urged Nigerians to take a cue from the gale of endorsements and predictions by credible groups in favour of Atiku and vote wisely.
He said, “The endorsements are like tonic to the work of the campaign organisations to intensify our efforts as it is a testament that we are employing the right approach and techniques to market our candidate to Nigerians.
“We have been able to change the narratives. We have debunked a lot of lies and rumours being peddled around against our candidate and Nigerians are now better informed.
“Leaders of the ruling party know they could no longer deceive Nigerians because we have allowed the people to know that they are all pretenders with their claim of integrity and anti-corruption posture.”
He added, “The fact that Nigerians expressed favourable opinions while credible private agencies were conducting their research showed that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would defeat the incumbent, President Buhari, next week Saturday.”
A 25-year-old man, Peter Nkwuda, who hails from Ishieke village in the Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, has been stabbed to death by his 50-year-old neighbour, Cyril Oko.
The incident took place in the deceased’s residence at Oroke Onuoha, Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state on Monday.
It was gathered that trouble started when the deceased raised the volume of his sound system to the discomfort of his neighbours.
To stop him from further causing public nuisance in the compound, the suspect was said to have asked Peter to turn down the volume but he reportedly refused the request.
Thereafter, a heated argument ensued between them and Oko from the Afikpo South Local Government Area of the state was said to have angrily entered his room, brought out a knife and allegedly stabbed his neighbour in the chest.
Peter was reported to have slumped and died in the presence of other neighbours, who made frantic efforts to stop the bleeding but to no avail.
The wife of the deceased Mrs Chisom Nkwuda, reported the incident to the Kpiripkiri Police Station, which dispatched operatives to the scene of the incident to arrest Oko.
Enugu State police command has arrested a notorious kidnapping ring, specialized in abducting children especially from schools.
Sources said the two ladies, one Nkeiruka Odo from Imilike Agu village in Udenu council area of Enugu State and Precious Chukwuemeka Chineneye from Aguleri, Anambra State have continued to terrorize residents with their nefarious attitude.
They were said to have enticed children with beautiful dresses, Biscuits, Chin-Chin, and Candies among others. They had last month abducted one Ugwu Levi Chiagozie from a Nursery school located in Imilike Ani, Udenu and whisked him away to Anambra State where they handed him over to a nurse for sale.
They were however, arrested Monday, when they attempted to abduct a child at a certain Primary school located at Imilike Ani, Udenu area.
Police Public Relations Officer in Enugu State, Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the development, said their arrest followed intelligence received on the activities of the syndicate.
“Following their arrest, suspects had revealed how they carried out abduction of a 4-year old school boy identified as one Ugwu Levi Chiagozie from another Nusery/Primary school last month, which they handed over to a nurse in Anambra State for sale.
Recovered from the suspects are children’s dresses, Biscuits, Chin-Chin, Candies and other items that can be used to entice little children”, he stated.
He said the police have commenced full-scale investigations into the incident.
Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano State Governor, on Tuesday ordered the immediate closure of two major stadiums in the state for renovation. The Cable reported that the governor’s action was coming five days to the campaign rally of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Atiku’s rally is scheduled for February 10 while the renovation is expected to end on February 18.
The proposed general renovation reportedly included the installation of the new scoreboard, the running track and provision of sources for steady water supply to all parts of the stadiums.
A government official, who spoke off the record told The Cable that the shutdown of the two stadiums – Sani Abacha Stadium situated at Kofar Mata and Kano Pillars Stadium at Sabon Gari – was intended to frustrate the campaign rally of the PDP. Hmm!
The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has accused the federal government of plotting to crumble the farmland of Walter Onnoghen, suspended chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), in Nasarawa state.
CUPP’s spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, made this allegation in a statement on Tuesday.
“We have credible intelligence that the visitors to the farm were arranged by the government, all to ensure the farm is crumbled and every other source of income of the CJN is blocked,” he said.
They CUPP alleged that workers in the farm of the suspended CJN located in Uke in Nasarawa state have been threatened by persons who disguised as herdsmen to leave their place of work.
“The legal team of the CJN has written to the appropriate security agencies complaining of the warning and threats by the herdsmen.”
He said government has been going after the lawyers defending Onnoghen who is standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over alleged false assets declaration.
“Some of the Senior Advocates on the team of the CJN have been trailed, their offices and homes being circled and monitored, their telephones bugged and most of them have had reports from their bankers that their account statements have been obtained by the security agencies and certain instructions placed on some types of transactions,” he said.
“Also, subtle threats of arrest have been handed down in a puerile attempt to intimidate, harass, scare and force them to abandon the professional job they have undertaken as provided in law.
“Neighbours near the Wuye office of one of the Senior Advocates are already apprehensive due to the activities of the security agencies.”
Ugohinyere added that the government had also been encouraging the spread of fake news against Onnoghen.
He said the presidency had alleged that the suspended CJN hid billions of naira, dollars, pounds and euros in his various accounts, yet has been unable to file any of such in court.
“The Presidency encouraged the spread of the fake news that the CJN owns 55 choice properties in several plum areas of Abuja, Lagos, Calabar and other cities in and out of Nigeria, yet till date, has not disclosed the address of any of such houses because the houses only exist in their imagination."
Businesses in Lagos State, the nation’s commercial capital, have been hard hit by the poor condition of roads in many parts of the state, leaving stakeholders such as the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry worried.
Last week, a petrol tanker was reported to have fallen at a bad portion of
the Lagos-Badagry Expressway at Ojo Barracks Bus-Stop, leading to an explosion that killed two persons and destroyed six vehicles, including a truck conveying generators to the Alaba International Market.
Stakeholders, who spoke with The Punch in separate interviews on Tuesday, lamented that many roads had worsened in the state despite the high internal revenue generated by Lagos.
In May last year, the Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Akinyemi Ashade, said based on the first quarter results, the state achieved an average monthly Internally Generated Revenue of N34bn in 2018, compared to monthly averages of N22bn, N24bn and N30bn in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively.
“Lagos’ IGR, when compared with other states, is relatively high. Her IGR as of the end of 2016 was N287bn, higher than its 2015 level of N268.2bn,” BudgIT said in the 2018 edition of its ‘State of States’ report.
It said Lagos accounted for approximately 35.86 per cent of the total IGR collected by states in 2017.
The National President, Association of Small Business Owners, Dr Femi Egbesola, said the bad roads in the state had negative impacts on business activities.
He said, “Lagos roads these days have become so deplorable that where you usually spend 30 minutes, you can spend one and a half hours now. That is a massive waste of time and human capacity.”
“The government needs to put more than usual attention to infrastructure. Some people are very reluctant to pay tax because they believe that the government is not doing anything that is worthy of paying taxes. We have a lot of abandoned road projects in Lagos and other states in the country.”
According to him, the Mainland, especially the interiors, has a lot of deplorable roads.
“Apart from the IGR, the state has got a lot of loans for roads and other infrastructures. Lagos needs to remember that it is already a metropolitan state and must set the pace for others,” Egbesola added.
The Director-General, LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf, described road infrastructure as a major issue in the cost of operation of businesses.
He said, “This economy, whether it is at the state or national level, is dependent almost 90 per cent on roads for logistics – moving of persons and goods. So, to that extent, the shortcomings with our road infrastructure, whether they are bad, inadequate or have a capacity problem, affect the cost of operation.
“Transportation cost is a major component of the costs of many products in the country; and once your cost begins to go up, it affects your competitiveness, profit margin and capacity to sustain your business. It can affect your sales because if you want to transfer the cost to the consumers and your price is too high, the consumers will resist, depending sometimes on the kind of products that you are selling.”
According to Yusuf, many densely-populated areas in Lagos such as Badagry and Abule-Egba are contending with the issue of quality of roads.
He said, “It is tedious going to and coming out of those places. So, those areas require the government’s attention. Some of the roads are not maintained properly, while some have gone bad.
“I think the bigger issue with Lagos is not so much about the state of the road, but the capacity of the roads vis-à-vis the volume of vehicles, especially at peak period.”
An economist and Senior Lecturer, Lagos Business School, Dr Bongo Adi, said, “The major constraint to doing business in Lagos, apart from electricity, is logistics, which includes transportation and connectivity.”
He, however, noted that over the years, there had been some progress in terms of maintenance of roads in Lagos, with some roads currently undergoing repairs.
Adi said, “But we haven’t seen much in terms of expansion. It is not just the problem of bad roads; even if you fix all the roads in Lagos today, we will still be having a transportation issue.”
“In terms of IGR, Lagos ranks the highest in Nigeria. In terms of fiscal sustainability, I think it is only Lagos that can sustain itself; but that has not translated into adequate infrastructure generally.”
Adi stressed the need for political will to expand the road network and ensure standard roads in the state.
When contacted, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Adebowale Akinsanya, told The Punch that the government had embarked on rehabilitation of the major and inner roads across the state.
“We just finished the first phase, and we are now embarking on the second phase. That is a comprehensive work ongoing,” he added.
The All Progressives Congress member representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Kabir Marafa, on Tuesday lamented the death of his sister who was killed along with about 14 others on Monday in Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The state police spokesman, SP Muhammad Shehu, on Tuesday confirmed the killing of 15 persons and kidnap of some residents by gunmen.
Shehu said there was an attack on Monday on Wonaka, Ajja, Mada, Ruwan Baure, Doka, Takoka and Tudun-Maijatau; villages of Mada district in the Gusau area, NAN reports.
He said a woman was among those killed, adding that the attackers also kidnapped six women and a man.
However, Marafa in a telephone interview with our correspondent said his sister was killed, while her husband was abducted.
He added that more than 50 people in communities in the Gusau LGA had been killed in the past three days.
The senator said, “I have been able to establish that the killings have been going on in the community where my sister was living in the last three days.
“The killers have been parading the areas, killing people and burning down villages. The town is a district headquarters and when the bandits invaded the place, they went straight to her (sister) home, killed her and abducted her husband.
“The first day they killed nine people in one village; the second day, they killed about 16 in another village and set the village ablaze afterwards.”
The senator said that his in-law had not been found as of Tuesday evening.
But Shehu said calm had been restored to the area. The police officer said, “With the efforts of the police and other security agencies, the abducted women have regained their freedom and have re-joined their families.
“Calm has been restored to the affected villages, with improved deployment of the PMF, CTU, special forces and military teams in the area to forestall further attacks.”
The World Bank has announced the death of Haruna Mohammed, Executive Director for Nigeria, Angola, and South Africa. Mr Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Group’s Vice President, Human Resources, said in a statement that Mohammed passed away on Friday at Georgetown Hospital in Washington, DC.
“Before being appointed Executive Director in October 2018, Mohammed was serving as the Alternate Executive Director of his constituency. He was on the job from January 2017 till October 2018, when he rejoined the Board.
“He had previously represented his home country of Nigeria as both an Adviser and Senior Adviser between 2001 and 2006,” Diagana said.
Mohammed was born in Katsina, and before joining the Board of the World Bank, he had a long and distinguished career in the Federal Ministry of Finance where he started as an Economic Planning Officer in 1983 and rose to the positions of Chief Economist and Director of International Economic Relations. May his soul rest in peace.
A history of smoking cannabis even just once has unexpectedly been linked to greater fertility in men, even if they don't still use the drug.
The result came as a surprise to Harvard University scientists measuring the sperm counts of more than 600 men from couples attending a fertility clinic.
They expected cannabis to have a detrimental effect on sperm count and fertility. Instead, those participants who admitted ever taking the drug turned out to have higher sperm counts than non-users.
The finding does not necessarily mean that smoking cannabis increases the chances of fatherhood, the study authors and other experts were quick to point out.
They suggest that the association may not show any cause-and effect relationship, but rather reflect the influence of the male hormone, testosterone, on both sperm count and risk-taking behavior, such as smoking cannabis.
Dr Jorge Chavarro, from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said: 'These unexpected findings highlight how little we know about the reproductive health effects of marijuana, and in fact of the health effects of marijuana in general.
'Our results need to be interpreted with caution and they highlight the need to further study the health effects of marijuana use.'
Previous research involving animal experiments or men with histories of drug abuse has suggested that cannabis impairs male reproductive health.
For the new study, investigators collected 1,143 semen samples from 662 men between 2000 and 2017.
On average, the men were 36 years old, mostly white and college educated. All of them belonged to couples seeking help with conception from a fertility clinic. Participants were asked to fill in questionnaires detailing their history of cannabis use.
More than half (55 percent) of the men reported having smoked cannabis at some point.
Of those, 44 percent said they had taken the drug in the past, and 11 percent classified themselves as current users.
Analysis of the semen samples showed that men who had smoked marijuana had average sperm concentrations of 62.7 million sperm per milliliter (million/mL).
Those who had never smoked a joint had an average count of 45.4 million/mL. Only five percent of cannabis users had sperm counts below 15 million/mL, the World Health Organization's (WHO) threshold for 'normal' levels, compared with 12 percent of men who had never smoked cannabis.
