Man fined for pirating Rihanna song

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BBC -Alain Prevost was fined 150 euros (£121) for pirating two Rihanna tracks even though his wife admitted she downloaded the songs.
The fine was levied on the 40-year-old because he paid for the web link over which the songs were downloaded.
The French government agency policing downloading in the country is preparing cases against 14 other people it suspects of pirating movies and music.
France operates a "three strikes" law which means suspected pirates get three warnings about their activity. If they ignore the warnings their net connection gets cut off and they can face further court action.
Prevost, of Belfort, in eastern France, was convicted because he admitted in court that the Rihanna songs had been downloaded by his wife via the ISP account he paid for. In his court testimony, Prevost, described as a local artisan by French media, said he was "incapable of downloading anything".
The case has been complicated by two other factors, reported French tech news site PC Inpact. First, Prevost terminated his web account after he received the first two warnings from the French agency, known as Hadopi, that seeks out pirates in France. Secondly, he is divorcing his wife.
Court plea Prevost wrote to Hadopi telling it to contact his wife about the downloads. However, it replied via email messages he could no longer receive.
For unwittingly ignoring Hadopi's messages, Prevost received a summons to visit his local police station where he wrote a statement repeating his claim that he did not download the songs.
The police asked him to have the songs removed from his PC by a local firm and he took documentary evidence of this to court when he received a summons from Hadopi.
Prevost told PC Impact that he went to court without a lawyer to represent him, believing that his honesty and co-operation would count in his favour.
For breaking the three strikes law, Prevost could have faced a fine of up to 1,500 euros (£1,200) and had his web connection cut off for a month. After making his statement in court, the 300 euro (£240) fine the prosecution sought was halved.
Marie-Francoise Marais, head of Hadopi, speaking to local French newspaper Le Pays, said the agency "was mainly a mission of education, not repression".

Rural IT Centers Abandoned

saharareporters - In 2007, Federal Government, through its National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), announced the Rural Information Technology Centers (RITC) project, the objective of which, the Government said, was to provide Internet access to underserved communities.
Most of the RITC's were opened across the country in 2008, costing massive amounts of money.  One of such multi-million sunk Rural Information Technology Centers, located in Jahun Local Government area of Jigawa State, has suffered such neglect that its expensive equipment is gathering dust and becoming rusty.
People of the Jahun Community told SaharaReporters that the multi-million Naira center, which was commissioned in 2008, has become a major hideout for miscreants in the area who turned the center into a haven for carrying out heinous plans. Residents say the C-Band Internet facility planted in the center only functioned on the day it was commissioned.
According to the residents, none of the equipment, including the expensive solar power instrument installed in the center, functioned afterwards, although the NITDA has continued to boast of it in newspapers and its official bulletins as part of its living achievements.
Adeniran Muiz, a graduate of Yaba College of Technology who was in the community when he was called up for his National Youth Service Corps, said that most of the computers and the UPS in the center failed to come up when he accessed the center.  Muiz suggested that the failure of the equipment has been caused by long years of neglect, and expressed disappointment at the infrastructural neglect by the government and its agency.
"Initially, I felt members of the community did not understand the value of the center because of their perceived level of unawareness but when I began to interact with the youths and some concerned literate elders, I realized that I had maintained a very wrong position about the whole situation", said Muiz, a university graduate.
Muiz said he was surprised at the eagerness and level of awareness of the people of the Jahun community after he engaged them in discussion regarding the benefits of the long abandoned and rusting Information Technology center in their community.  He said that instead, the youths of the community lectured him on the function of the neglected Information Technology center, stating that it had died off for lack of maintenance.  They also drew his attention to the failure of the installed solar system to supply power, and the fact that the Internet facility had no subscription.
Despite all that, the people of Jahun Community took it upon themselves to revive the center, with the help of Muiz, who was then serving in the area and the technical, expert knowledge support of other well-meaning people.
Muiz's account indicates how the aspiration of the community people helped them revive the moribund IT Center.
"With donations from concerned individuals in the community and subvention from Jahun Local Government Authorities, I was able to connect the center to electricity, get a brand new lister generator, repair the Internet facilities and computer systems and I subscribed for Internet services from Galaxy Networks in Dutse, Jigawa State. In a nutshell, that marked a turning point for an already dead RITC in Jahun. Not only was it brought back to life but was also wearing a better look and ready to admit interested students", Muiz said.
In what marks an imminent return to inactivity of the center, however, the IT center which has a capacity to admit about 90 students suffers poor management and funding. Those who volunteer or donate funds for the management of the center have begun to reduce in number.  Also, the NYSC member who coordinated the revival of the center said he has completed his Youth Service in the community and was returning to Lagos.
The agency that set up the place, NITDA, has failed to show up to ensure continuous and productive management of the center. Even when contacted about how the center is fairing, no response came, which suggests a complete lack of interest from the agency on a center it set up using huge amounts of money. The agency failed to show the will to maintain and use the centers set up in all the locations where it did to benefit the people of host communities.
Complained one of the volunteers managing the center, "The Internet service is quite expensive to run due to the nature of the C-Band subscription. By and by, the subscription we made a couple of months ago will expire and there is currently no hope for continual subscription as the community seems to have been overstressed already by the financial burden of sustaining the center. In addition, the solar facility at the center is faulty. Consequently, the center runs solely on diesel since the government cannot provide stable power for its citizens."
He said that a series of letters were sent to the Director General of NITDA, Professor Cleopas Anganye, to seek his assistance in repairing the faulty solar facility and in subscribing for at least one year of Internet service, but with no response from him.
“It is, however, disheartening, heart-rending, and worrisome that nothing was heard from them. Due to the respect I have for the DG coupled with his numerous years of proven integrity and professionalism, I would only want to believe that the letters were not delivered to his office", he said.
The RITC in Jahun is not the only place set up by the NITDA that has gulped millions of Naira, only to be abandoned by the government.
"Within Jigawa State alone, I know of at least two other centers that are not functional and [have been] abandoned by the Agency since the inception of the projects,” Muiz observed.  “ There is one abandoned in Aujara town in Jahun LGA and another one Zareku town in Miga LGA that I personally know of."

Darren Fletcher included in Man Utd Premier League squad

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(BBC)-Darren Fletcher has been included in Manchester United's Premier League squad as he pushes to return from a chronic bowel condition.

Scotland midfielder Fletcher, 28, has not played for United since November last year.
Aston Villa have selected Stiliyan Petrov, who was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in March
Clubs were required to submit 25-man squads to the Premier League on 4 September.
Players under the age of 21 are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players.
Stoke's squad will be confirmed at a later date as they are currently considering an application to register new signing Michael Owen.
Fletcher has also been included in Manchester United's squad for the Champions League.
Kolo Toure has been omitted from Manchester City's Champions League squad and Chelsea have left Florent Malouda out of theirs.
Premier League squads:
Arsenal (23): Andrey Arshavin, Mikel Arteta, Santiago Cazorla, Marouane Chamakh, Andre Santos, Abou Diaby, Johan Djourou, Lukasz Fabianski, Gervinho, Kieran Gibbs, Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny, Vito Mannone, Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Aaron Ramsey, Bacary Sagna, Sebastien Squillaci, Wojciech Szczesny, Thomas Vermaelen, Theo Walcott, Craig Eastmond.
Aston Villa (25): Gabriel Agbonlahor, Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan, Darren Bent, Ciaran Clark, Fabian Delph, Richard Dunne, Karim El Ahmadi Aroussi, Shay Given, Bradley Guzan, Christopher Herd, Brett Holman, Alan Hutton, Stephen Ireland, Eric Lichaj, Matthew Lowton, Ashley Westwood, Andrew Marshall, Charles N'Zogbia, Stiliyan Petrov, Enda Stevens, Ron Vlaar, Stephen Warnock, Joseph Bennett, Christian Benteke.
Chelsea (20): Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ashley Cole, David Luiz, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, Victor Moses, John Obi Mikel, Florent Malouda, Paulo Ferreira, Marko Marin, Ross Turnbull, Daniel Sturridge, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Ryan Bertrand, Hilario.
Everton (19): Victor Anichebe, Leighton Baines, Darron Gibson, Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville, Leon Osman, Seamus Coleman, Sylvain Distin, Marouane Fellaini, Magaye Gueye, John Heitinga, Tim Howard, Nikica Jelavic, Jan Mucha, Steven Naismith, Steven Pienaar, Kevin Mirallas, Bryan Oviedo.
Fulham (21): Mark Schwarzer, Csaba Somogyi, David Stockdale, Neil Etheridge, Sascha Riether, Stephen Kelly, Aaron Hughes, Brede Hangeland, Philippe Senderos, John Arne Riise, Damien Duff, Ashkan Dejagah, Simon Davies, Chris Baird, Steve Sidwell, Mahamadou Diarra, Bryan Ruiz, Kieran Richardson, Mladen Petric, Hugo Rodallega, Dimitar Berbatov.
Liverpool (20): Daniel Agger, Joe Allen, Ossama Assaidi, Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates, Joe Cole, Alexander Doni, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Peter Gulacsi, Jordan Henderson, Glen Johnson, Bradley Jones, Jose Enrique, Martin Kelly, Lucas Leiva, Pepe Reina, Nuri Sahin, Martin Skrtel, Luis Suarez.
Manchester City (22): Joe Hart, Micah Richards, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Joleon Lescott, James Milner, Samir Nasri, Edin Dzeko, Scott Sinclair, Aleksander Kolarov, Sergio Aguero, Gareth Barry, David Silva, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure, Richard Wright, Costel Pantilimon, Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, Maicon, Javier Garcia, Mario Balotelli.
Manchester United (24): Anderson, Bebe, Alexander Buttner, Michael Carrick, Javier Hernandez, Tom Cleverley, David de Gea, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs, Shinji Kagawa, Anders Lindegaard, Nani, Rafael, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young.
Newcastle (22): Romain Amalfitano, Shola Ameobi, Vurnon Anita, Demba Ba, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Papiss Demba Cisse, Fabricio Coloccini, Rob Elliot, Dan Gosling, Steve Harper, Jonas Gutierrez, Tim Krul, Sylvain Marveaux, Gabriel Obertan, James Perch, Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Cheik Tiote, Michael Williamson, Xisco.
Norwich (25): Leon Barnett, Sebastian Bassong, Elliott Bennett, Ryan Bennett, Mark Bunn, Jacob Butterfield, David Fox, Javier Garrido, Grant Holt, Wes Hoolahan, Jonathan Howson, Simeon Jackson, Bradley Johnson, Simon Lappin, Christopher Martin, Russell Martin, Steven Morison, Anthony Pilkington, John Ruddy, Robert Snodgrass, Andrew Surman, Alexander Tettey, Marc Tierney, Michael Turner, Steven Whittaker.
QPR (25): Robert Green, Samba Diakite, Armand Traore, Shaun Derry, Anton Ferdinand, Clint Hill, Ji-Sung Park, Andrew Johnson, Djibril Cisse, Adel Taarabt, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jamie Mackie, Nedum Onuoha, Stephane Mbia, Ryan Nelsen, Kieron Dyer, Fabio, Hogan Ephraim, Junior Hoilett, Brian Murphy, Bobby Zamora, Julio Cesar, Alejandro Faurlin, Esteban Granero, Jose Bosingwa.
Reading (25): Simon Church, Shaun Cummings, Chris Gunter, Danny Guthrie, Ian Harte, Jem Karacan, Adam Le Fondre, Mikele Leigertwood, Jobi McAnuff, Alex McCarthy, Garath McCleary, Adrian Mariappa, Alex Pearce, Jason Roberts, Hal Robson-Kanu, Nicky Shorey, Jay Tabb, Stuart Taylor, Mikkel Andersen, Adam Federici, Kaspars Gorkss, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Noel Hunt, Jimmy Kebe, Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Southampton (23): Danny Butterfield, Richard Chaplow, Jack Cork, Kelvin Davis, Steven Davis, Danny De Ridder, Ryan Dickson, Guilherme do Prado, Jose Fonte, Jonathan Forte, Daniel Fox, Jos Hooiveld, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Tadanari Lee, Emmanuel Mayuka, Jason Puncheon, Gaston Ramirez, Frazer Richardson, Jay Rodriguez, Morgan Schneiderlin, Daniel Seaborne, Maya Yoshida.
Sunderland (21): Phil Bardsley, Titus Bramble, Wes Brown, Fraizer Campbell, Lee Cattermole, Jack Colback, Carlos Cuellar, Steven Fletcher, Craig Gardner, Adam Johnson, Matthew Kilgallon, Seb Larsson, James McClean, David Meyler, Simon Mignolet, John O'Shea, Danny Rose, Louis Saha, Stephane Sessegnon, David Vaughan, Keiren Westwood.
Swansea (22): Germaine Agustien, Leon Britton, Jonathan De Guzman, Nathan Dyer, Jose Flores, Mark Gower, Danny Graham, Pablo Hernandez, Sung Yueng No Ki, Leroy Lita, Miguel Perez Cuesta, Garry Monk, Luke Moore, Curtis Obeng, Wayne Routledge, Itay Shechter, Alan Tate, Neil Taylor, Gerhard Tremmel, Michel Vorm, Ashley Williams, Angel Rangel.
Tottenham (25): Heurelho Gomes, Carlo Cudicini, Brad Friedel, Hugo Lloris, Younes Kaboul, William Gallas, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jan Vertonghen, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Sandro, Yago Falque, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Clint Dempsey, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton, Michael Dawson, Mousa Dembele, Tom Huddlestone, Scott Parker, Jake Livermore, Jermaine Jenas, Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe, David Bentley.
West Brom (24): Chris Brunt, Luke Daniels, Craig Dawson, Graham Dorrans, Yassine El Ghanassy, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Ben Foster, Zoltan Gera, Gonzalo Jara, Billy Jones, Shane Long, Gareth McAuley, James Morrison, Youssouf Mulumbu, Boaz Myhill, Peter Odemwingie, Jonas Olsson, Goran Popov, Steven Reid, Liam Ridgewell, Markus Rosenberg, Gabriel Tamas, Jerome Thomas, Claudio Yacob.
West Ham (22): Yossi Benayoun, Andy Carroll, Carlton Cole, James Collins, Jack Collison, Guy Demel, Mohamed Diame, Alou Diarra, Stephen Henderson, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Matt Jarvis, Modibo Maiga, George McCartney, Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan, Joey O'Brien, Gary O'Neil, Winston Reid, Jordan Spence, Matthew Taylor, James Tomkins, Ricardo Vaz Te.
Wigan (20): Ali Al Habsi, Antolin Alcaraz, Jean Beausejour, Mauro Boselli, Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell, Albert Crusat, Franco Di Santo, Maynor Figueroa, Jordi Gomez, David Jones, Adrian Lopez, Shaun Maloney, James McArthur, James McCarthy, Mike Pollitt, Ivan Ramis, Ronnie Stam, Ben Watson.

Michael Owen: I should have left Manchester United earlier

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(BBC)-Michael Owen says he has regrets about spending last season at Manchester United before his release this summer.

Owen was urged to stay at Old Trafford by Sir Alex Ferguson a year ago but made only four first-team appearances for United in 2011-12.
The former England forward, 32, is now with Stoke City after signing a one-year deal with the club last week

"In hindsight, probably with that extra year, it might have been better if I had moved in many ways," he said.

"I was on the bench a lot of the time, but then when the manager says 'you have a big role to play and we want you to stay for another year', it was great to hear that from someone like Sir Alex Ferguson."
As it turned out, Owen's final season with United was blighted by a thigh injury that prevented him being available from November until the final few weeks of the campaign.
Owen could make his Stoke debut against Manchester City on Saturday - a team he scored a dramatic injury-time winner against for Manchester United in September 2009.
That was probably the highlight of his injury-hit time at Manchester United and he is looking forward to making a bigger impact at Stoke.
He added: "I want to perform and I want to finish my career on a real high. I'm still only 32 and I still feel as if I have a lot left in me.
"I've always scored goals, no matter what team I have been in, so as long as I can stay fit and healthy, then I'm sure I can do that here at Stoke."
Owen was interviewed by Football Focus this week and asked if he felt he got the respect he deserved.
He has won numerous accolades and titles during his career. He helped Liverpool win League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup in 2001 and was awarded the prestigious Ballon d'Or the same year.
He is also fourth on the list of all-time England goalscorers after finding the net 40 times for his country.
"I wouldn't know what view people have of me," he said. "I don't really mind what type of view in many ways.
"I think real football people appreciate what a good player I was and hopefully think I've still got a lot to offer.
"Obviously I'm not 18 anymore and the fastest thing in the Premier League and a good finisher and everything else.
"I'm still a decent finisher but I'm obviously not at the absolute peak of my powers. I was probably that at 19 or 20 but I still feel I've got a lot to offer.
"Evidently Stoke do as well and evidently a few other Premier League teams did because they were a few teams I was in talks with."

Japan confirms disputed islands purchase plan

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(BBC) - Japan has confirmed that it intends to purchase disputed islands also claimed by China from private owners, amid tension between the two countries.
The government had formally agreed to ''obtain ownership'' of islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, the top government spokesman said.
Japan controls the uninhabited but resource-rich East China Sea islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan.
China has denounced the plan as illegal and warned it will affect ties.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the Japanese government was buying the islands to promote their stable and peaceful management.
It was not immediately clear how much the purchase would cost. But previous Japanese media reports, citing government sources, said that the government was paying 2.05bn yen ($26m, £16.4m) for three islands.
"This is just the ownership of land, which is part of Japan's territory, moving from one [private] owner to the state, and should not cause any problem with other countries," said Mr Fujimura.

"We do not want the Senkaku issue to interfere with Sino-Japanese relations," he added.

"We believe it is important to avoid misunderstandings and unforeseen circumstances between us, and have been using diplomatic channels to keep in close contact with China since they made their position on this matter clear."
Outspoken Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara had wanted the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to buy the islands and had been collecting donations from the public. He had talked of developing the islands - a plan that could have further strained ties with China.
At the Apec summit in Russia on Sunday, Chinese President Hu Jintao was quoted by state-run media as telling Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda that buying the islands was "illegal and invalid".
His point was reiterated by a foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, on Monday.
"The unilateral measures that Japan has taken on the Diaoyu islands are illegal and ineffective. China is firmly opposed to it," he said.
The islands, which lie south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan, sit in key shipping lanes and are thought to lie close to gas deposits.

China ships sail in waters near disputed islands

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(BBC)-Six Chinese surveillance ships briefly entered waters around islands claimed by both Japan and China, amid a bitter territorial dispute.

China said the ships were carrying out "law enforcement" to show jurisdiction over the islands, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.
Three vessels left after a short time and the other three have now also left, the Japanese coast guard said.
The move came after Japan sealed a deal to buy three of the islands.
Japan controls the uninhabited but resource-rich East China Sea islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan.
Three were in the hands of a private Japanese owner but the Japanese government bought them earlier this week.
'No force' The Japanese Coast Guard said the first two Chinese boats entered Japan's territorial waters at 06:18 local time (21:18 GMT Thursday), followed by another fleet of four other ships just after 07:00.

Three ships moved away from the islands about 90 minutes later, amid warnings from the Japanese coast guard, followed hours later by the other three, NHK reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda established a task force to address the issue, local reports said, and the government also summoned the Chinese ambassador to lodge a protest.
"We understand that the dispatch of six ships is surely an unprecedented case, considering past incidents," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.
He added that Japan asked China to "secure the safety" of its nationals after a report from its Shanghai consulate that a Japanese group was "assaulted by Chinese" at a restaurant.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed early on Friday that its ships were there.
"These law enforcement and patrol activities are aimed to demonstrate China's jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islets and ensure the country's maritime interests," a statement said.
Trade fears The US has called for ''cooler heads to prevail'' as tension intensifies between China and Japan over the islands, which lie south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is due to visit both Japan and China from this weekend as part of a tour of the region.
The dispute has seriously marred diplomatic relations between China and Japan and threatens to damage the strong trading relationship, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing.
The row has also generated strong nationalist sentiment on both sides that observers say now makes it very difficult to be seen to be backing down, says our correspondent.
The Japanese government says it is buying the islands to promote their stable and peaceful management.
Its move followed a bid by right-wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara to buy the islands using public donations - an action that would likely have provoked China even more.
China, on the other hand, says the islands have historically been its territory and fishing grounds.
Meanwhile Japan's newly-appointed ambassador to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, remains in hospital in Tokyo after he was found unconscious near his home in Tokyo on Thursday.
No details have been given on his condition. He was appointed on Tuesday to replace Uichiro Niwa, who has been criticised for his handling of one of the worse diplomatic rows between Japan and China in recent years.

Federal Reserve to buy more debt to boost US economy

(BBC)- The US central bank has moved to kick-start economic recovery by restarting its policy of pumping money into the economy via quantitative easing.

The Federal Reserve said it will buy "additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40bn (£25bn) per month".
Stock markets in the US and Asia jumped on the news, with European markets also expected to open higher on Friday.
The US economy is a pivotal issue in this year's US presidential election.
Interest rates in the US have been close to zero for several years now, and the Fed again kept them at below 0.25% on Thursday.
'Matter of time' Fed chairman Ben Bernanke also lowered the Fed's growth forecast for the US economy to 2% this year, down from the 2.4% it predicted in June. But it expects growth to rebound in 2013 to as much as 3%.
"The committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labour market conditions," said the Fed.

The US central bank has tried to support the economy by quantitative easing - buying $2.3tn (£1.4tn) in bonds in two rounds.

For some analysts, the latest measures - dubbed "QE3" - were less than expected. But Q3 is to be an open-ended move, continuing until the employment market improves.
However, Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, said: "We doubt it will be enough to get the economy on the right track. It's only a matter of time before speculation begins as to when the Fed will raise its purchases from $40bn a month."
The Fed's move sparked a jump on Wall Street markets, with the Dow Jones index closing up 1.55%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.5%.
The central bank calls its QE measures "asset purchases", where the central bank buys bonds to keep the long-term cost of borrowing down. The last round of asset purchases ended last year.
Mortgage-backed securities are debt backed by loans made to homeowners.
The unemployment rate in the US has been above 8% since January 2009, but the current 8.1% is down from the recent high of 10% in October 2009.
"To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the committee expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens," the Fed said.
The Fed also confirmed that its $267bn (£170bn) programme to reduce long-term borrowing costs for firms and households would continue for the rest of the year.
In a move dubbed "Operation Twist", the central bank buys longer-term bonds from retail lenders and swaps them for shorter-term bonds.

Global stock markets rise on US Fed stimulus plan

(BBC)-European share markets have jumped after the US Federal Reserve moved to kick-start recovery by pumping more money into the economy.

In the UK, Germany and France stock markets opened about 1.5% up, following rises on Wall Street and in Asia.
Banks led the markets higher, with RBS up 3.8% and Barclays up 4.5%. Other European banks made similar advances.
It followed the Fed's decision on Thursday to inject $40bn (£25bn) a month into the US economy.
The plan to buy up mortgage debt will continue until further notice, the Fed said. The central bank also kept interest rates at below 0.25%.
The aim is to reduce long-term borrowing costs for firms and households. On Wall Street on Thursday, the Dow Jones index closed up 1.55%. On Friday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.7% and Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.8%.
Investors hope the Fed's measures will revive growth in the US economy, the world's biggest and a key market for Asian and European exports.
The Fed's promise that the quantitative easing programme was open-ended and would continue until the US economy showed signs of recovery has bolstered confidence, said analysts.
"They're saying that the punch bowl, the fuel for the economy, isn't going away - it's going to be here as long as you need it," said Tony Fratto, managing partner at Hamilton Place Strategies, a policy consulting firm.
'Obstacles removed' In a research note from HSBC, analysts said that the Fed "is trying to convey to financial market participants that they can count on low interest rates and accommodative monetary policy for a long time and not to expect a reversal of policy in reaction to modest improvement in GDP growth or in the unemployment rate".
Yields on Spanish and Italian bonds also fell, easing pressure on borrowing costs for the two heavily-indebted nations.
On Friday, Italy's 10-year borrowing rate fell under the 5% mark for the first time since March.
"With a few obstacles removed this week, the context should be even more favourable for bonds of the most fragile countries," Credit Agricole analysts said in a commentary.
However, the depth of Spain's problems were underlined on Friday with official data showing that public debt has reached a record 75.9% of gross domestic product, fuelling doubts over the country's ability to manage its finances.
There was fresh speculation in the European media that the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund may discuss a bailout for Spain during a meeting of finance ministers due to take place in Cyprus later on Friday.
There are also suggestions that the meeting may discuss whether to allow Greece more time to repay its international loans.
'Across the board' There have been growing fears about the global economy, with a weak recovery in the US and the continuing debt crisis in the eurozone.
US unemployment, which has topped 8% for three years, is likely to be a key battleground in the upcoming presidential elections.
The slowdown in China's economy, the world's second-largest and one of its biggest drivers of growth since the global financial crisis, has fanned those fears.
Prompted by these concerns, policymakers in these regions have been taking measures to try to spur a fresh wave of growth.
The Federal Reserve's announcement came days after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its latest plan.
Last week, the ECB said that it would buy bonds from the bloc's debt-ridden nations in an attempt to bring down their borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, China has cut its interest rates twice since June to bring down borrowing costs for businesses and consumers. Beijing has also lowered the amount of money that banks need to keep in reserve three times in the past few months to encourage further lending.

U.S. Embassy Warns of “Threat Situation” In Northern Nigeria Tied To Benghazi Attack

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(Saharareporters) - Following the outbreak of violent anti-American protests across the Muslim world, sparked by a highly-offensive U.S.-made anti-Muslim film that went viral on the internet, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria has issued emergency warnings to U.S.  citizens who may be traveling in Northern Nigeria or the Federal Capital City of Abuja.

“The U.S. Mission in Nigeria issues this emergency message to update U.S. citizens on the current threat situation in Nigeria,” the warning read. “The U.S. Mission reminds citizens of the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations, and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas.

“Violent and deadly demonstrations and attacks occurred in Cairo, Egypt, and Benghazi, Libya, during the past 24 hours, including a lethal attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Extremists may attempt to target U.S citizens and other Westerners in Nigeria. The U.S. Mission in Nigeria strongly urges U.S. citizens in Nigeria to consider their personal security and to keep personal safety in the forefront of their planning.

The film popped up on YouTube dubbed in Arabic, stirring outrage. In response, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said it deplored "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims - as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."

The statement made reference to last week’s attack on cell phone towers allegedly by extremists. Over 30 towers were damaged and cellular phone and internet service was affected.  “Additional attacks could further weaken the ability of citizens to communicate through cellular telephones and the internet. Land line telephone communications in Nigeria remain limited. U.S. citizens should attempt to arrange for multiple means of communication during emergencies,” advised the official document.

“This year, extremists have threatened  churches, mosques, media houses, police stations, immigration and customs offices, financial institutions, large hotels, shopping malls and markets, state government offices, communications centers, beer gardens, and nightclubs,” the embassy noted.” Attackers have also burned and destroyed several public and private schools in Borno, and targeted several educational institutions in Kano and churches in Plateau, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno states. Additionally, extremists continue to target westerners for abduction. As such, the situation in the country remains fluid and unpredictable.”

“All U.S. citizens should use caution and discretion when deciding to attend large functions or visit establishments identified as potential targets, and respond appropriately if they detect suspicious activities. Because of ongoing security concerns within the Federal Capital Territory, U.S. citizens should continue to expect heavy traffic congestion, road blocks, and significant police/security force deployments. All U.S. citizens should remain vigilant, pay attention to their surroundings, limit exposure to large crowds, and keep their cellular telephones in close proximity for use in cases of emergency.

“U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Nigeria are strongly advised to enroll in the Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). U.S. citizens without Internet access may enroll directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. By enrolling, you make it easier for the U.S. Mission in Nigeria to contact you in case of emergency.

Nigerian Newspaperman Falls Under Wheels Of Oil Minister Diezani’s Convoy, Killing Him

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(Sahararaporters)-James Momoh, an Abuja-based media worker, died a gruesome death after he was run over by a convoy belonging to the Oil Resources minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke.
Momoh was reportedly on his way back from work at Nicon Junction, Maitama area of Abuja late Wednesday, when the tragedy occurred.

A PM News report indicated that Momoh, employed by the Abuja-based Pilot Newspapers, was taken to the NNPC hospital where hospital workers were not able to save his life.

Momoh’s death was hushed up from the media until the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT council learned of the incident and issued a statement today expressing their condolences to his survivors.

A PM News report indicated that Momoh was taken to the NNPC hospital where he later died after the incident.

A statement by the Chairman of Council, Comrade Chuks Ehirim, described the death of Momoh, a production staffer with the newspaper, as avoidable and unfortunate.

According to Ehirim, the death of Momoh brings to fore the recklessness of government convoys and their absolute disregard for traffic rules and other road users.

The NUJ FCT chairman accused the oil minister, who just returned to the country after an extended trip abroad, of failing to show any concern or human feeling for the dead man by reaching out to his relatives. He said she was rather more bothered about protecting her image.

Ehirim warned that the union will not fold its arms and watch government officials treat human lives with levity and called for proper investigation into the matter as well as proper compensation for the bereaved family.

Mrs. Allison Madueke arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday morning on a British Airways flight after Saharareporters revealed that she was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness. She denied the report on her Facebook page, cut short her trip by one week and quietly returned to Nigeria on Tuesday only for her convoy to kill the newspaper man on Wednesday night.

It was not known at press time whether Mr. Momoh had a family or what memorial services are planned.

NNPC: Diezani’s Convoy Did Not Kill Newspaperman-PM News, Lagos

(Saharareporters) - The Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Mr. Fidel Pepple has described as untrue reports that the convoy of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was involved in a deadly car crash which killed Mr. James Momoh, a staff of the Nigerian Pilot Newspaper in Abuja.
Mr. Pepple however confirmed that a shuttle vehicle belonging to the Corporation was involved in an accident which eventually led to the death of the Pilot Newspaper staff.
“I want to state categorically that the unfortunate event of last night has nothing to do with the convoy of the Honourable Minister as speculated.
The accident involved one of our shuttle buses which regrettably knocked down a pedestrian in the Mabushi area of Abuja and was immediately rushed to the NNPC Medical Centre for attention. But sadly the young man gave up the ghost,’’ he said.
The NNPC spokesman stated that the Minister’s convoy was not involved in the crash in any way noting that the vehicle in question is not part of the minister’s pilot vehicles.
He said the Management of the NNPC has taken steps to meet with the family of the deceased as well as the Management of Pilot Newspapers

Female robber nabbed in Abuja

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She led a team of robbers in a car to rob a female passenger like her, luck ran out of her as probing eyes watched for a distance her operation and sympathisers swooped on them rescuing the victim who was later Identified as Obiageli.This lady was apprehended out of the five of them as she could not escape thinking phonetics would save her while others ran away. Inside the ash coloured Nissan Sunny were loads of ATM cards, Passports of various persons, her bag contained “many phone” an eyewitness said.

This incident happened at the AREA 11 TRAFFIC LIGHT where they were held by trafic as they were been chased. It happend today, at about 2:00pm.

Facebook friends network 'quadruples voting behaviour'

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A banner message on Facebook showing users' friends who had voted drove a third of a million more voters to the poll booths, research shows.

Sixty-one million Facebook users in the US were shown the message, while 600,000 others simply saw a message imploring them to vote.
A report in Nature shows the message drove about 60,000 extra votes in the 2010 US Congressional elections.
But the message appearing on friends' pages drove a further 282,000 votes.
The work was led by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, whose prior work has shown, among many other things, that the friends we choose may in part be down to genetics.
For the current work, he and his colleagues were interested in examining the oft-cited claim that online social networks influence offline decision-making - a claim that has until now been difficult to pin down.
"There's been a lot of work in online social networks showing that app adoption can spread from person to person, and there's been a lot of work in the real world showing that things like obesity and drinking and smoking can spread from person to person," Prof Fowler told the Science In Action programme on the BBC World Service.
"But there hasn't been any work that showed what happens online affects the real world."

To look into that question, the team arranged for Facebook to post a non-partisan "social" message along the top of 61 million users' pages, including a reminder that it was voting day, a clickable "I voted" button, a link to information about nearby polling places, and a list of up to six of the users' friends who had already clicked the button.

About 600,000 users were shown an alternate, "informational" message, identical except for the absence of the friends data. A further 600,000 were shown no message at all.
The data on which users sought polling station data or clicked the "I voted" button could then be cross-correlated with publicly available data on who actually went to cast a vote.
The results showed to a high statistical significance that those who received the "social" message were more than 2% more likely to report having voted and 0.4% more likely to actually vote than those shown the "informational" message.
And users were 0.22% more likely to vote for each "close" friend - as measured by the degree of Facebook interaction - who received the message.
By correlating the findings with polling data and comparing with the "no-message" case, the team estimate that the message resulted in more than 340,000 extra votes being cast.
Prof Fowler conceded that the results represented a small fraction of the voting public, but that it was enough to sometimes make a large difference.
"I doubt it changed the outcome of the overall election, but it's posssible it had an impact on local elections," he said. "There are certainly circumstances in our history where a far smaller number of votes would have mattered: in 2000 in the US the presidential election was decided by just 537 votes in Florida."
Peer to peer The findings are intriguing from a political point of view, but the study is also finally shedding light on the thorny problem of extracting these "peer influence" effects from the factors that drive the network's formation in the first place.
What confounds that problem is what is called homophily - we tend to befriend people in real life or online with whom we share significant similarities.
"If we were just going to do an observational study where we just looked at the network to see whether or not people who voted tend to be connected to others who voted, we wouldn't know if that was because they tended to become friends because they both like politics or if one friend influences another," Prof Fowler said.
But the random selection of friends to show to users in the "social" message - some close friends, some only peripheral - should sidestep issues of homophily, Prof Fowler explained.
"The beauty of this experiment is that we can rule that out as an explanation for what we found," he said.
And the scale of peer influence they found was notable.
"The 'friend' vote is really critical," he said. "In this experiment we were able to show that if you just looked at the users and whether or not the message directly affected them you'd be missing the whole story; for every user that changed their behaviour, there were four friends who changed their behaviour.
"In other words, the network quadrupled the effect of the 'get out the vote' message."

Russia to build biggest nuclear-powered icebreaker

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(BBC)-The new ship is meant to be more efficient at breaking ice and able to navigate in deep Arctic waters as well as shallow Siberian rivers.
This could attract more foreign commercial ships, says Matthew Willis of defence think tank Rusi.
Russia is the only country with a nuclear icebreaker fleet.
The state nuclear power corporation, Rosatom, signed a contract for the construction of the new generation icebreaker LK-60 on 23 August.
The vessel will be built at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St Petersburg, and is planned to be completed by the end of 2017.
It will be 173m (568ft) long and 34m (112ft) wide, about 14m longer and 4m wider than the current biggest icebreaker, and will operate on the Northern Sea Route.
Territorial claims 
"It is the best channel in the Arctic because the transpolar route and the North West Passage aren't practicable," said Mr Willis from the Royal United Services Institute.
"Any shipping into the Arctic is probably going to go into the Russian Arctic, so the Russians are trying to make it more attractive to ships.
"It's going from China or Japan to a point in Russia and then out again, carrying natural resources, to delivering them somewhere, and returning for another load."
One-quarter of the world's resources of oil and gas are believed to lie beneath the Arctic Ocean.
Russia, Norway, Canada, Denmark and the United States have already laid claim to territory in the region.
Although the new icebreaker will not have any effect on oil and gas exploration, and is primarily meant for shipping routes, it is another attempt by Moscow to demonstrate its supremacy in the region, says international ecological organisation Bellona.
But the Arctic is not the best place for nuclear ships, it warns.
"The amount of diesel you need to burn to advance through the Arctic ice is enormous, leading to lots of CO2 discharge," Anna Kireeva of Bellona told the BBC.
"So using a nuclear reactor is a big advantage, but there's a risk, because there's nothing in the Arctic to repair a nuclear ship in case of an incident."

A new species of monkey has been identified in Africa, the second one in 28 years, say scientists.

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(BBC)- The primate was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo where it is known locally as a "lesula".
The species is separated from its nearest cousins by two rivers: the Congo and the Lomami.
Conservationists say the discovery highlights the need to protect the diverse wildlife of the Congo basin.
The discovery was published in the online journal Public Library of Science.
The first contact scientists had with the monkey was when they encountered a juvenile female, kept in a cage by a primary school director in the town of Opala.

He referred to the animal as a "lesula", a common name among local hunters, and it was taken into care and monitored by scientists.

During investigations in the local area the team found further captive monkeys and six months later they finally observed the long black limbs of the species in the wild.
"When we started our inventories in the [Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba] landscape we knew it was essentially unexplored but we did not imagine how important the biological discoveries would be," said Dr John Hart of the Lukuru Foundation, who led the project.
"We did not expect to find a new species, especially in a group as well known as the African guenons."
In the paper, the formal description of the species detailed their distinctive facial features: "A mane of long grizzled blond hairs frames a protruding pale, naked face and muzzle, with a variably distinct cream-coloured vertical nose stripe."
After genetic analysis identified the species as a member of the guenon group of Old World monkeys, scientists named it Cercopithecus lomamiensis after the nearby Lomami River
Researchers estimated the monkeys' range at around 6,500 sq miles in central DR Congo but voiced concerns that this relatively small distribution could make the animals vulnerable to human pressures, such as bushmeat hunting.
"The challenge for conservation now in Congo is to intervene before losses become definitive," said Dr Hart.
"Species with small ranges like the lesula can move from vulnerable to seriously endangered over the course of just a few years."
Biologists suggested that the previously unexplored forest could be home to more unidentified species.
"This discovery may be only the first from this remarkable but poorly known forest, located in the central DRC [DR Congo]," said anthropologist Andrew Burrell from New York University who was also involved in the study.
"Recent surveys have shown that the forest also harbours okapi, bonobos and elephants, as well as 10 other primate species or subspecies."
Dr Hart added that the region is now in the final stages of being declared a protected area: the Lomami National Park.
"The discovery of the lesula has extended our knowledge of the evolution and ecology of African monkeys, and in particular has confirmed the importance of a previously little-known region for primate diversity," he told BBC Nature.

Arrest in Kashmir in India IC-814 hijack case

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(BBC)-
Merajuddin alias Javed Ahmad was arrested from the south-eastern Kishtwar district.
Police said he returned recently from Pakistan via Nepal and was "recruiting youth for militant attacks".
The state-run Indian Airlines jet was hijacked en route to Delhi from Kathmandu with 180 people on board.
It was flown to Kandahar in Afghanistan, from where the hijackers negotiated the release of militants fighting in Kashmir.
India released three Kashmiri militants in exchange for the passengers. None of the five armed hijackers was caught.
Senior police officers in Kishtwar said Javed comes from Sopore, Kashmir's apple-growing town 50km (31 miles) north of Srinagar city.
He was also believed to have been involved in the 1996 bombings at Delhi's busy Lajpat Nagar market, they said.
"He crossed over to Pakistan in 1992. Now, he had returned via Nepal and was planning militant activities and was recruiting youth," a top police official who did not wish to be named told the BBC.
Scores of former militants have recently returned from Pakistan via Nepal under a government "rehabilitation policy".
The flight IC-814 was hijacked on 24 December 1999. The hijackers seized the plane 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu.
The BBC's Riyaz Masroor in Srinagar says the arrest takes place days after Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna visited Pakistan and signed a pact to normalise relations.
Militant activity in Kashmir has receded to its lowest levels in many years and the Himalayan valley is witnessing a significant boom in trade and tourism, our correspondent adds.

Apple iPhone 5 unveiled with taller screen and 4G

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After months of hype and speculation Apple has unveiled a taller, 4G-enabled iPhone at an event in San Francisco.
The device's new size allows it to display an extra row of app icons on its home screen. The firm said it was 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S.
However, it does not feature an NFC (near field communication) chip to allow it to make touchless payments, and competition is intensifying for Apple. While its margins may be wider, Samsung's handset sales are growing at a faster pace.

Police on Red Alert Nationwide

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(Sahara reporter)-The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, has placed all Police Formations in Nigeria on red alert, and ordered water-tight security around embassies and foreign missions.
This confirms an earlier SaharaReporters story that security in Northern Nigeria has been beefed up.
A press statement by Frank E. Mba, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, said the move is to ensure that no violence takes place anywhere in the county similar to what has been experience in some parts of the world on account of a recent US film believed to have offended some religious faithful.

“In this regard, the IGP has directed all Zonal AIGs and Command Commissioners of Police to ensure a 24-hour water-tight security in and around all Embassies and Foreign Missions in Nigeria as well as other vulnerable targets,” the statement said. “In addition, the AIG in charge of Intelligence and Commissioners of Police in charge of the various Police Special Squads such as the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Special Protection Unit (SPU) have been directed to ensure that their personnel are strategically deployed  to prevent and nib all potential crisis in the bud.”

The IGP also warned potential trouble makers to stay off the streets as security agencies will bring to bear the full weight of the law on all laws breakers, and advised parents and guardians to monitor their wards closely.

U.S. Ambassador To Libya, 3 Others Killed In Rocket Attack-CNN

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(CNN) -- The United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in a rocket attack on the American Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday, a contractor working at the mission said Wednesday after seeing Stevens' body.
Three American security staff were also killed, said the contractor, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
He said he saw all four bodies on the street Wednesday morning. The bodies are now in the Central Hospital in Benghazi, he said.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur appeared to confirm that the envoy had been killed, saying that Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi."
Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls
"I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Abushagur said on Twitter.
The contractor in Benghazi said he could hear rocket-propelled grenade attacks last night.
Libyans were also killed, the contractor said, saying the victims were shot on the spot.
The deaths came as protesters attacked U.S. diplomatic compounds in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, angry about an online film considered offensive to Islam.
The United States has not confirmed the deaths.
Stevens was the American envoy to the Libyan rebel movement that overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year, based in the rebel capital of Benghazi.
A speaker of Arabic and French, he was among the first American diplomats sent to Libya in 2007 when the United States resumed ties with the Gadhafi regime.
The last time an American ambassador was killed by terrorists was in 1979, when the envoy to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped and killed during an attempt to rescue him, according to State Department records.

Security Beefed Up In Northern Nigeria Over Movie On Prophet Mohammed

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Unlimitedlink has learned that security measures have been strengthened in volatile Northern Nigerian cities in order to guard against the kind of violence in Libya last night which claimed the life of the United States ambassador to that country.
Reports said that Ambassador J Christopher Stevens and four other Americans were killed when militants, incensed about a US-produced film seen as having insulted Prophet Muhammad, attacked the Consulate with bombs and guns.
A top security chief in Northern Nigeria said that the heads of military and police commands in Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Borno, Bauchi, Plateau, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Kebbi, Niger and Katsina States have been put on red alert against any protests that could generate into violence.
It was also gathered that they were instructed to bar any open demonstrations by religious groups, or political activities that could provide an opportunity for hostilities.
The source added that the latest development coincides with warnings of attempts by an unknown terrorist group to wage terrorist attacks in Sokoto.  Speculations to that effect have been rife in the area.
  Unlimitedlink has also exclusively gathered that all United States citizens on official assignments in troubled parts of Northern Nigeria have been alerted to be security conscious, and to take precaution.  A source in Abuja said the measure was taken as a means of making sure all US citizens are safe.
A diplomatic source who did not want to be identified said that other embassies in Nigeria, particularly those of the Western countries, have also taken similar measures.

Flood On The Banks Of River Benue

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As I first got to the scene, I had to hide my emotions and do the job, a very terrible and pathetic situation I found myself reporting from banks of River Benue
Where I first stood, I could count more than 10 plots already submerged in the water coming slowly but steadily from the River Benue, one of the largest Rivers in Nigeria.
A residence affected by the floods wearing wet boxer shorts with a bare chest just returned with his household items swimming with one hand in the dirty water, he told me a boat was conveying goods for about N5, 000 within a distance of 200 meters and "some of us can't afford this, you are facing a lot of problems and people are charging that much".
He said, he was told the Governor came and promised "taking it up" but that was yet to be.
Another family were seen packing their belongings in pool of waist-level water from their house, the middle aged woman hanging her bag looked as if life was lost, and I could understand.
Children between the ages of 7 and 10 were happily swimming and some even cast nets to catch fish right in their compounds, which is temporarily a river.
For awhile, I thought about the health hazards including skin infections and other water borne diseases...
Blames And Counter Blames
Many of the people affected in this flood who spoke to me blamed the Government for allowing the Cameroonian authorities to release water from its dam to cause damage to them in Nigeria, they blamed the government for negligence but the Special Assistant to Gov. Suswam on Emergency Management, Joseph Wende told me it's a natural disaster and the Benue State Government is making sure the affected people get relieve and are safe. "if anyone blames the government, maybe the person did not have the knowledge of what is happening on the ground, because there was a warning, there was early warning messages sent to people on the radio for people to be alert that this was going to happen, we gave enough warning to people on the banks of the river to be ready for this, so if only they have taken measures, this wouldn't have happened the way it has happened...".
He said, the Federal Government is building a dam to contain subsequent waters released from dams in Cameroon.
I asked Wende the speed the water was coming at, he wasn't sure but said the speed was "slowly and minimal" and that was why there were no casualties, he however advised people living near the River to evacuate before it got too late.
What's So Different Now?
Honorable Samuel Dam Ayari who has spent over 20 years in this area told me this damage is so different. He said, they had a similar problem in 1992 but this year's surge has taken an alarmingly different level reaching distances the previous ones never even got close to.
He wondered why same dams released in Cameroon never caused this much damage. Hon. Ayari told me no lives were lost and I asked if he was satisfied with Government's effort so far, and he said, with the Governor's visit and promise alone, they were a bit relieved.
Base But No Means
Hon. Dam Ayari said, even though people were warned, they never had enough finances to move their property.
Me: so the Government has provided a temporary base but they've not provided any means to evacuate people?
"No", Dam Ayari answered. He added that they were asked to compile names which they did earlier in the day around 1 o'clock but nearly 3 hours later, they were yet to see action taken.
Another residence, Barrister Iyange Ipeven whose house has been "totally submerged" said, he was waiting to see water come through the door, but alas, it penetrated his floor tiles and he had to run for his life and appealed to government to provide immediate relieve.
Nema Quick & Equipped?
Mohammed Suleiman who represented NEMA's Director General together with others was seen heavily kitted in reflective orange coloured life jackets tagged 'marine pool' with long rubber booths. I asked him what immediate relieve NEMA was giving people, but he told me they were here "for on-the-spot-assessment to know the level of damage and the needs of the displaced persons it's only you know the level of damages done by the flood, after assessments now, we go back and write our report before knowing what to bring, so that you can relieve the displaced persons".
Me: but from experience, don't you know what people need immediately when such disasters happen?
Mohammed told me (suddenly stuttering), that they can identify some needs "but at least we want to have a comprehensive assessment, we want a situation whereby whatever we bring suffice the needs of the displaced persons".
My Observation: I expected to see the NEMA officials with rescue and testing equipment to save lives and possibly test water samples for infections, but that was only in my head.
I asked Engr. Simon Chianson (whose one storey building was half way in water) if he was satisfied seeing NEMA officials around? He told me it was good from a psychological point of view but he wasn't sure their presence made sense, since they never came with any equipment to rescue people or animals if they were threatened, he wants them to be prepared (as a relief Agency) to always come to disaster scenes "quick enough to take such measures to ameliorate the situation for people"
Safety Of Lives And Property
Another issue I noticed with people who stay behind in such emergency situations is, the Government is saying 'we have provided a place for displaced persons', but no security arrangements were made (atleast yesterday) to protect the property some people leave behind.
What Lies Under And What Lies Ahead?
As the water keeps crippling in even from under people's beds, and as I hear rumours of more releases of water from the Dam in Cameroon, Taraba State has already recorded deaths, what is Benue State Government and NEMA doing to ensure people are safe?

Only NUC can approve courses for Varsities

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has said only the National Universities Commission is empowered by law to approve programmes for the nation’s universities.

This clarification was sequel to misgivings over an earlier announcement of plans by JAMB to conduct supplementary admissions into recently approved programmes for the University of Agriculture, Makurdi.

Spokesperson for the JAMB Registrar, Prof. ’Dibu Ojerinde, Mr. Timothy Oyedeji made the clarification in Abuja, on Friday.

He said, “What the JAMB Registrar said in Makurdi was that JAMB would immediately begin the process of ensuring that qualified candidates are offered admission to the five newly approved courses thus increasing the carrying capacity of the institutions.

“We did not approve these courses, we don’t have the powers to do so. Ours is to conduct tests and examinations to determine those suitable to be admitted. These courses have been approved by NUC which is the statutory body which enjoys such powers.This clarification became necessary to avoid any misgivings.”

Oyedeji noted that JAMB and the NUC enjoyed a cordial working relationship which was based on mutual respect and understanding.

The five new courses approved for admissions at Uni-Agric Makurdi are in the College of Management. They are: B.Sc. Marketing and Co-operatives; Accounting; Banking and Finance; Business Management; and Entrepreneurship.

He also explained that Ojerinde had expressed his delight for the opportunity given to him to address the university’s council. He said the proposed Computer-Based Testing scheduled to take off next year, i.e. 2013, will entail that the university as an e-Examination centre must improve its ICT facilities to meet the required standard.

Police recovered the corpse of murdered graduate

The police in Bayelsa State have recovered the body of one Mr. Athur Kpe, a  28-year old graduate of the Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science.

Our correspondent gathered that the victim was beaten to death by unknown persons who later dumped his corpse along the Alameiseigha Road, Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.

It was learnt that the body was discovered by the Patrol team of the special police squad codenamed, Operation Door Akpoo.

The police were said to have recovered a mobile telephone and some cash from the pocket of the victim.

Our correspondent learnt that the deceased was a cousin to the late former Commissioner of Sports, Elder Bethel Amababe.

He was said to have hailed from Otuan in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

Some friends of the deceased suspected that he might have died in the hands of a gang of criminals that specialised in abducting and dispossessing their victim  of their belongings under the guise of operating a taxi.

But some of his family members claimed that the mobile telephone of the deceased was tampered with and that his received call log was deleted by his killers.

It was further gathered that the victim left home on Saturday at about 5pm but that nobody sighted him until his coprse was recovered by the police.

A brother to the decease, Mr. Asiere Amababe,told our correspondent that all efforts of his family members to contact him through his mobile telephone proved abortive.

“A call put through by a neighbor known as Stephine at about 7am on Sunday was picked by a male voice but we later discovered that the voice  was a policeman”, he said.

He added, the voice asked me to come to the Federal Medical Centre’s mortuary. When I got to the place, I saw the corpse of my brother with a blood-soaked singlet and a fatally bruised body.His trousers were pulled down midway and cotton wool already used in blocking his mouth and nose.”

When contacted on the development, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr.Fidelis Odunna, said he would make enquiries and get back to our correspondent.

Oluwafemiayo, wins silver

Team Nigeria has continued to win medals at the London 2012 Paralympics as Folashade Oluwafemiayo and Victoria Nneji won silver and bronze medals respectively on Monday.

Oluwafemiayo broke the world record twice before setting a new one at 148kg to better Chinese Taoying Fu’s 147kg in the women’s powerlifting -75kg class.

Oluwafemiayo and Fu lifted 146kg in their third attempts respectively but the Chinese was awarded the gold medal because she weighed 2kg less than the Nigerian. Fu weighed 72.53kg, while Oluwafemiayo weighed 74.17kg. Tzu-Hui Lin of Chinese Taipei won the bronze medal with her 137kg lift.

Their fourth attempts where Fu lifted 147kg and Oluwafemiayo 148kg were not to determine the winner but to have a new world record in the category.

Nneji, who earlier in the day had a poor start in the women’s powerlifting -67.5kg class, attributed her failure to win gold to a shoulder injury she sustained during camping for the Games in Korea.

She lifted 125kg to finish behind France’s Souhad Ghazouani (gold) and China’s Yujiao Tan (silver). Ghazouani had lifted 146kg in her first attempt but failed to complement in the subsequent attempts, while Nneji was only able to lift 125kg in her third attempt.

“My bronze is like gold to me because I didn’t enter the competition very fit. The injury I sustained from the camp actually hindered me from making a better attempt,” Nneji, who lifted 132.5kg to win silver at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, said on Monday.

“I knew I was a medal prospect but I was not sure how I would end up in the competition because of the injury. I was not able to train very well due to the pain.”

Cristiano Ronaldo coming back o England

MANCHESTER CITY are preparing a sensational world record £95m bid to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to England.

Superstar Ronaldo has told Real Madrid president Florentino Perez he is unhappy at the club and wants to leave in a shock move which has stunned the Spanish giants.

Now, City are working on an eye-watering four year contract offer to bring the former Manchester United star back to the Premier League.

Buying Ronaldo would mean boss Roberto Mancini having to sell players to clear space on City’s wage bill for the 27-year-old, who is paid around £250,000 a week in Madrid.
So it is unlikely to happen until next summer, when they feel Real could be forced to cash in on one of world football’s top talents for much less than his rumoured 1bn euro buy-out clause.

They feel the chance to sign a player of his class is too good to refuse – and hope to make some of it back in shirt sales and commercial tie-ups.

Ronaldo is about to take a massive hit on his salary when new laws come into force in Spain raising income tax by seven per cent to a whopping 52 per cent for high earners.

He has been trying to renegotiate his contract – which has three years to run – but talks have stalled and Real boss Jose Mourinho faces losing him. It has opened the door to City, who have sounded out his agent .

Ronaldo scored twice in Real’s 3-0 win over Granada on Sunday but refused to celebrate either goal, and revealed his frustration after the match.

He said: “I’m sad. When I don’t celebrate goals, it’s because I’m not happy.

“It’s a professional thing. Real Madrid know why I’m not happy.”

Ronaldo – who scored 46 league goals last season – is in Portugal preparing for their World Cup qualifier in Luxembourg on Friday.

Sources close to the player said: “This is a situation that has been brewing for a long time.”

City last night denied they are ready to move for Ronaldo, suggesting his agent Jorge Mendes is using the speculation to get his client a new deal in Madrid. But sources in Spain and Portugal insist their interest is real.

Paralympics Sport for today, September 4, 2012

• Athletics - David Weir follows up his thrilling 5,000m win as he goes for a second gold of the Games in the 1500m (21:42). Northern Ireland's rising star Sally Brown and visually impaired sprinter Tracey Hinton, in her sixth Paralympics, begin their 100m campaigns in the heats (from 10:00), while Bev Jones aims for success in the shot put (10:45).
• Swimming - Ellie Simmonds tries for another gold in the 50m freestyle along with fellow Briton Natalie Jones (17:50). Jonathan Fox could be going for a second gold in the 50m freestyle (20:11), while Beijing 100m backstroke champion Heather Frederiksen aims to defend her title against American rival Jessica Long (17:37).
• Archery - Danielle Brown, who made history in 2010 when she became the first Paralympian to compete at a Commonwealth Games for England, is back in Paralympic action as she defends her individual compound title (semi-final 15:30, final 16:00).
• Wheelchair Fencing -Britons Simon Wilson and Vivien Mills will hope for individual foil medals as the fencing competition gets under way at the ExCel Centre (heats 09:30, finals 18:30). Hungary's Pal Szekeres is one to watch as the only athlete to win medals at an Olympics, in Seoul, and then, after suffering a bus crash, at a Paralympics (Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing).
• Boccia - Nigel Murray is ranked number one in the world and heads into his fourth Paralympic Games having already won two golds and one silver. The Briton is expected to feature (final 17:50) as the first medals are won.

Raul Meireles leaves Chelsea for Fenerbahce

Turkish side Fenerbahce have completed the signing of Raul Meireles from Chelsea on a four-year deal.

Fenerbahce were able to buy the midfielder after the British transfer deadline because the Turkish window is open until midnight on Wednesday.
Meireles scored six goals in 38 games for the Blues after arriving from Liverpool on last August's transfer deadline day.
Istanbul side Fenerbahce reportedly paid £8m for the 29-year-old.
Meireles struggled to force his way into Chelsea's starting XI this season and manager Roberto Di Matteo deemed the Portuguese player surplus to requirements.
On Friday, Chelsea allowed midfielder Michael Essien to join Real Madrid on a season-long loan.

United were forced to Neutralise rebels

The Democratic Republic of Congo has called for boosting the UN peacekeeping force in the central African country to "neutralise" a rebel group known as M23, and accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing the group.
Raymond Tshibanda N'tunga Mulongo, Congo's foreign affairs minister, on Friday called on the Security Council to impose sanctions on those named in a UN report in July that accused high-ranking Rwandan officials of helping to create, arm and support the M23 rebel group within the country - as well as the rebel movement's leaders.

He held a news conference after discussions this week with the Security Council and the panel that wrote the July report.

"We believe that all the consequences must be drawn from the conclusions in the report of the group of experts and that sanctions should eventually be envisaged," Tshibanda told the news conference at the UN on Saturday.
Mulongo said there was still a "war situation" between the two neighbours over the rebellion even though tensions have eased.
The report accused Rwanda's Defence Minister James Kaberebe; Chief of Defence Staff Charles Kayonga; and General Jacques Nziza, a military adviser to President Paul Kagame, of being "in constant contact with M23".
Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda's foreign minister, who has denied the accusations, was also at the UN headquarters this week meeting with the panel and council members to protest the report's findings.
M23 rebels, who have links to Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, have been fighting government soldiers in North Kivu province since April, displacing some 470,000 civilians.
Upsurge in violence
The fighting escalated in Congo's mineral-rich east when army deserters calling themselves the M23 Movement launched a rebellion to demand better pay, better armaments and amnesty from war crimes.
Rwanda blames Congo for the upsurge in violence, but Mulongo said the evidence in the panel's report clearly points to Rwanda's involvement.
The conflict in the east is a spillover from the 1994 genocide. Hundreds who participated in the mass slaughter escaped into Congo and still fight there. The M23 rebels are an embodiment of a group of Congolese Tutsi set up to fight Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo.
Mulongo said that all of Congo's borders are quiet except for the border with Rwanda.
Instead of trying to introduce a second foreign force to help bring peace to the volatile east, he said his government wants the Security Council to beef up the mandate of the 22,000-strong UN peacekeeping force to address the escalating violence.
'Eradicating negative forces'
Kigali has repeatedly rejected the allegations and accused the UN report's authors of failing to verify their information or consult Rwandan authorities.
Major donors the US, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany have all suspended some of their financial aid to Rwanda over its alleged backing of the rebels.
Rwanda has repeatedly backed armed movements in its eastern neighbour during the last two decades, citing a need to tackle Rwandan rebels operating out of Congo's eastern hills.
Tshibanda also echoed earlier calls by Joseph Kabila, Congo's president, for a new mandate for the country's UN peacekeeping mission that would include stamping out the armed groups that have destabilised the east for nearly two decades.
The UN mission, known as MONUSCO, has more than 17,000 troops, but the force is stretched thin across a nation the size of Western Europe and already struggles to fulfill its current mandate of protecting civilians.
"It is important that the mandate of MONUSCO be amended and be strengthened," the foreign affairs minister told reporters.
"Right now it does not have the mandate of monitoring and protecting the border, it does not have the mandate of neutralising, eradicating the negative forces," he said.
UN helicopter gunships frequently back up outgunned government forces but even that firepower failed to prevent rebels from taking several towns last month.

Rigged car targets eastern Libyan city

A bomb explosion has killed at least one person in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, officials say.
The person killed was the driver of the car carrying the explosive device, a security spokesman said on Sunday.
A passenger in the car was wounded and taken to hospital.
"The driver of the car was carrying a home made bomb when it exploded while he was leaving the vehicle. It went off killing the driver and critically injuring one passenger," Abdel Moneim al-Hurr, a Supreme Security Committee spokesman, told the Reuters news agency.
The remains of the driver were visible inside the wrecked car. After the explosion, the street was closed off by dozens of police and military officials.
Gamal Abdel-Nasser street is the largest and busiest street in Benghazi, home to many shops, cafes and restaurants. It is also close to one of the city's busiest hotels, the Tebesty.
Hurr said that the identities of the driver and the passenger were not known.
Benghazi has been hit by several bombings this year and attacks on international convoys and organisations including the British and US missions and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Libyan government has been struggling to control a number of armed individuals and militias that gained power during an armed conflict that ousted Muammar Gaddafi last year.
Benghazi was the birthplace of the revolt

Portugal seeks European Union help to fight forest fires

Portugal is seeking European Union help as the country's firefighters struggle to contain forest blazes blamed on high temperatures and strong winds.
Dozens of fires are raging in the centre and north of the country, with 1,700 firefighters being deployed.
Portugal is asking for four water-dumping aircraft, after a helicopter being used in the operations crashed.
Officials say one man died while trying to protect his farm from one of the largest blazes, at Ourem about 150km north of Lisbon.
Media reported two people were hurt when a firefighting helicopter crashed in the same area.
Much of Portugal is in severe drought, and hot, windy weather is forecast for most of the week.
Patricia Gaspar, a civil protection service official, said Portugal has asked other European countries to provide at least four water-dumping aircraft.
Neighbouring Spain has also been battling fires this year, with some 153,000 hectares of land scorched since January.
Over the weekend, thousands of people fled homes along the southern Costa del Sol, home to a large British expatriate community and one of Spain's most popular holiday destinations.