Rosabrigs Ent.

The Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly has commended the National Assembly for the successful completion of the first step toward the amendment process of the 1999 Constitution. They noted particularly, that the depth of work done would deepen democracy and improve the quality of governance at all levels in the country. In a statement by the Conference Chairman, Alhaji Ismaila Kamba, the speakers urged the National Assembly to quickly forward the items approved by both chambers to the states for expeditious deliberations and actions by the 36 States Houses of Assembly. Kamba, who is also the Speaker, Kebbi State House of Assembly, said that since the National Assembly had at different stages of the debates and discussions on the amendment process involved the Conference of Speakers, it should not be difficult for the 36 states legislative houses to vote on the issues and revert back to the National Assembly. He praised the ingenuity and innovations introduce

Afghan officials say the militants were killed after a four-hour battle. Afghan official say they killed three militants who attacked the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul Monday, an operation that highlights the precarious security situation in the Afghan capital 16 years after the U.S.-led invasion. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in which a suicide bomber detonated a device outside the entrance to the embassy. Three militants then entered the compound and engaged in a four-hour gun battle, Afghan officials said, before the militants were killed. The Afghan Interior Ministry  said  one policeman was wounded in the attack. “No embassy staff members were hurt in the attack,” the ministry said in a statement. “The security forces rescued the ambassador, deputy ambassador and other staff and took them to a safe place.” The militant operation was the latest high-profile attack in the Afghan capital this year. All have been claimed by either Taliban or ISIS. Additionally, Monday’s

This handout photograph released by the social activism NGO Narmada Bachao Andolan on July 31, 2017 and taken on July 30 shows farmers, environmentalists and social activists sitting and standing in the Narmada River as they protest against dams being built in the river that threaten the livelihoods of local residents, in the village of Chikalda on the border of the Barwani and Dhar districts in Madhya Pradesh state. The Indian Supreme Court has ordered the resettlement of people affected by the rising waters due to dam constructions by July 31, as the river threatens to submerge some 140 villages in the area. / AFP PHOTO / Narmada Bachao Andolan  Lightning killed at least 11 people in eastern India as large swathes of the country reel under the worst floods in years that have left hundreds dead and millions displaced, officials said Monday. The victims were working in fields in Odisha state when lightning bolts struck them, the state’s top disaster management official said.

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif named his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, as his successor and nominated ex-oil minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as an interim premier in a defiant speech Saturday. The announcement charts a way forward for Pakistan after the Supreme Court ousted Sharif Friday following an investigation into corruption allegations against him and his family, bringing to an unceremonious end his historic third term in power and briefly plunging the country into political uncertainty. “I support Shahbaz Sharif after me but he will take time to contest elections so for the time being I nominate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,” Sharif said in a televised speech to his party. The younger Sharif holds only a provincial seat, so must be elected to the national assembly before becoming the new prime minister. Earlier Saturday the Election Commission of Pakistan confirmed fresh elections would be held in Nawaz Sharif’s former constituency

The Ijaw Youth Cuncil (IYC) worldwide has called on the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to observe international best practices in its operations to avoid a shut down of its activities. The body wants the oil giant to comply with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) entered with its host communities to avoid conflicts. The President of IYC, Eric Omare, stated this after some communities in Bayelsa State threatened to shut down NAOC’s operations over a recent pipeline explosion. The Ayamassa-Toumo trunk line exploded and caught fire for two days until Agip contractors came and put off the fire without a word to the community. It caused damages to both farming and aquatic life, leaving the entire town of Ayamasa in Ekeremor local government area in palpable fear. Community leaders of Ogboinbiri and Azuzuama communities in Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State had protested to the IYC over ill-treatment given to them, threatening to shut down Agip operations in thei

Scientists in the United Kingdom (UK) and Sweden previously developed a new surgical technique to reconnect sensory neurons to the spinal cord after traumatic spinal injuries. Now, they have gained new insight into how the technique works at a cellular level by recreating it in rats with implications for designing new therapies for injuries where the spinal cord itself is severed. The brain and the neurons (nerve cells) in the rest of our body are connected in the spine. Here, motor neurons, which control muscle movement, and sensory neurons, which relay sensory information such as pain, temperature and touch, connect with the spinal cord. Where the neurons connect with the cord, motor neurons bundle together to form a structure called the motor root, while sensory neurons form a sensory root. In patients with traumatic injuries, these roots can be torn, causing areas of the body to lose neural control. Surgeons can implant motor roots at the area from which they are torn, an

One of the victims of Kogi tanker fire incident that claimed 11 lives have been identified as Chinedu David Emeyazia. Chinedu was among the many who got burnt to death in a  horrible multiple accident , in Lokoja last weekend. Friends of the deceased have already taken to Facebook to write tributes to him. Engr Lorenzo wrote; ‘Still trying to make my head believe it’s not true. JCI Chancellor Chinedu David Emeyazia, a young man with full of life, but the ungodly accident (Explosion) could not allow that even as you fought to make it but failed ( Country where there is no effective emergency response). I will cry no more because you’re gone and not even the tears of everyone in this life can bring you back. All i can do is to pray that God grant you eternal rest and forgive your sin. Life is a sickness which only death can cure. R.I.P. my JCI friend and brother. ‘ Chizzyejims wrote; ‘JC Chinedu David Emeyazia Lord have mercy on ur soul I can’t remember d last time I saw

President Vladimir Putin confirmed a previous announcement, made days after the U.S. House of Representatives approved increased sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday he will expel 755 U.S diplomats by the end of the month. Earlier this week, Putin signaled he’d retaliate against a bill Congress passed that increases sanctions against Russia for its illegal invasion of the Crimea, and for interfering in the U.S. election. Putin made the announcement  in an interview  with a Russian TV station, saying: The American side has made a move which, it is important to note, hasn't been provoked by anything, to worsen Russian-US relations. [The sanctions include] unlawful restrictions, attempts to influence other states of the world, including our allies, who are interested in developing and keeping relations with Russia. We've been waiting for quite a long time that maybe something would change for the better, we had hopes that the situation would change. B

Ten people were burnt beyond recognition while six others sustained serious injuries when a petrol tanker went up in flames in Felele area of Lokoja on Friday. The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, in Kogi State, Segun Martins, who confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lokoja, said most of the victims were passengers travelling in an 18-seater commercial bus. Also affected were one commercial tricycle operator, the driver and motor boy of the fuel tanker. He said the death toll might rise as some of those who sustained injuries were in critical situation. Mr. Martins said the dead and injured victims were moved to various hospitals in Lokoja. Witnesses told NAN that the accident was due to a head-on collision between the bus, coming from Abuja and the tanker coming from the opposite direction. They said the impact of the collision ignited the fire which spread to other vehicles while the entire area was covered by smoke for many hou

Australian airports have increased security after police arrested four men on Sunday in connection with a plot to bring down an airplane. Authorities with the counter terrorism force said the plot was “Islamist-inspired,” and because of the sophistication of the plan, it’s believed they may have had help from outside the country. Speaking to reporters Sunday, Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull said, “We face a range of terrorist threats, some of them are lone actors, who activate very quickly, with very little warning. On other occasions, you get quite elaborate conspiracies. This appears to be in that category.” Police raided five homes in the suburbs of Sydney, one of the country’s largest cities. Dozen of officers in gas masks participated in the raids, and inside at least one home they found likely bomb-making material.  The Sydney Morning Herald reported that  a kitchen mincer  was among the items taken by police, and they believe the men intended to smuggle it onto a plane to us

At least 69 people are known to have died in a Boko Haram ambush of an oil exploration team in northeast Nigeria, as three men kidnapped by the jihadists made a video appeal. Experts said the attack — Boko Haram’s bloodiest this year — underscored the persistent threat it poses, despite government claims the group is a spent force. “So far the death toll stands at 69,” said an aid agency worker involved in the recovery of bodies after the attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on Tuesday. The worker, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said 19 soldiers, 33 civilian militia and 17 civilians were killed. “The last body was recovered Friday in the bush in the Geidam district of neighbouring Yobe state, which is several kilometres from the scene of the ambush,” he told AFP. “It shows the victim, who had gunshot wounds, died after trekking a long distance. There could be more such victims in the bush.” Another source with

Former Tuareg rebels operating in northern Mali took control of the key town of Menaka on Saturday, two days after clashes elsewhere in the region with pro-government forces, sources said. “They entered Menaka very early this morning and they are there now,” an official in the governorate of the town, one of five regional capitals in north, told AFP. “They didn’t fire a single shot.” On Thursday, the ex-rebels — gathered in a group called the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) — clashed with pro-government forces in the town of Kidal further north, inflicting heavy losses. The two sides signed a 2015 peace deal on curbing violence in northern Mali and limiting the reach of jihadists, but the United Nations says fighting between them has escalated in recent weeks. A source in the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, said: “The situation is calm in Menaka. Elements presenting themselves as CMA fighters are in the town and in the surrounding dunes. They say the

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Saturday said he was not stepping down nor dying and that there was no one with his political stature who could immediately take over from him. The 93-year-old leader has been in charge in the former British colony since independence in 1980. His health is closely watched by Zimbabweans, who fear the country could face chaos if he dies without anointing a successor. Mugabe told tens of thousands of supporters at a rally in the town of Chinhoyi, in his home province, that doctors were recently surprised by his “strong bone system.” He has traveled to Singapore three times this year for what officials say is routine medical treatment. “There is the issue that the president is going. I am not going,” Mugabe told supporters on the grounds of a local university, 100 km west of the capital Harare. “The president is dying. I am not dying. I will have an ailment here and there but bodywise, all my internal organs … very firm, very strong,”

PATIENCE and her husband had been married for five years when they moved into a posh bungalow on a better side of Lagos. As they both showed guests round during the house-warming ceremony, they looked the perfect couple and took in the ooh and aah gasps of admirers. The guests thought that Luke, the husband, must have made some appreciable progress in his job for him to be able to afford a pad like this. Three years after, Luke was out of the house, the bitter feud that’d been brewing for a couple of years had now boiled over. One day, Luke came home from an all-night outing and found his suitcases neatly packed and waiting for him by the door. In the rain! Four fierce-looking men stood guard at the door, menacing looking cudgels in their hands. “I was shocked and I guess the shock will never wear off,” Luke said a few months after the incident. “That’s what comes with marrying a rich man’s daughter. I can’t see my children now and my wife thinks I’m dirt, and it’s all thanks to my

     The question now is how to convince it not to use its weapons. Strategic milestones don’t come along everyday. Today was one of those days. On Friday, North Korea tested a missile than can deliver a nuclear weapon to almost any target in the continental United States, marking a major accomplishment for a state than many thought was on its last legs in the early 1990s. But far from dead, North Korea has managed to evade every political, military, and economic barrier that five successive U.S. presidents put in its way. Now, the United States under President Donald Trump has a massive but surmountable challenge on its hands—deterring a nuclear-armed North Korea and preserving and strengthening America’s alliances with South Korea and Japan, countries currently questioning whether Kim Jong Un’s new capabilities might prevent the United States from coming to their defense. In recent years, America’s North Korea debate has focused on whether Washington should talk to Pyongya

Campari in company of its brand ambassador and multiple award winning act, 2baba stormed the city to share a thrilling experience with fun seekers. Residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had more than they bargained for last weekend as premium international whiskey, Campari in company of its brand ambassador and multiple award winning act, 2baba stormed the city to share a thrilling experience with fun seekers. The premium drink, which is known for its unique invigorating bitter taste and vibrancy, provided exciting moments at two separate events held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, which the Unstoppable and Implication singer headlined and performed to the delight of everyone in attendance. Tagged as ‘3Kings with 2Baba’ the concert afforded fun lovers in the city the opportunity to enjoy live music and stand-up comic performances from the African Queen crooner, who shared the stage on the night with other music acts including Ycee, Reekado Banks, and comedians Acap