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The heads of the US and South Korean militaries discussed “military response options” after North Korea test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said Friday.
General Joe Dunford, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US military’s Pacific Command, spoke with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.
“During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance,” Dunford spokesman Captain Greg Hicks said in a statement.
“The three leaders also discussed military response options.”
While the Pentagon has long planned for the possibility of conflict with North Korea, the blunt language in the statement marked a departure from previous public reactions to missile tests.
Those earlier reactions typically decried the tests but did not emphasize military options.
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who is currently on vacation, slammed North Korea’s first test launch of an ICBM on July 4 as a “provocation,” but stressed then that the United States seeks a diplomatic solution to the standoff.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said Friday: “We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation.”
North Korea on Friday carried out what appeared to be its second test this month of an intercontinental ballistic missile, doubling down on its threat to develop a nuclear strike capability against the US mainland in the face of severe warnings from President Donald Trump.
South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japan’s maritime exclusive economic zone.
“We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the projectile travelled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.
However, the Russian military said the launch appeared to be a “medium-range” ballistic missile.
The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls “Victory Day” — the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.
Condemnation was swift with Japan’s top government spokesman, calling Friday’s test another clear violation of UN resolutions.
“Our country will never tolerate it and made a severe protest to North Korea, condemning it in the strongest words,” Suga said.
In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.
South Korean President Moon Jae-In said Seoul would respond with a “strong military show of force,” including joint South Korea-US missile tests, according to a statement from the presidential Blue House.
– Further sanctions – US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping another missile test — likely of an ICBM.
The ICBM test on July 4 had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range to reach Alaska.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who personally oversaw that launch on America’s Independence Day, described it as a gift to the “American bastards.”
It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyang’s last remaining major ally.
The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with US President Donald Trump saying he was considering a “pretty severe” response.
Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the North’s nuclear weapons programme, said Friday’s launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis.
“Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation,” Wit said on the institute’s 38 North website.
Friday’s launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang, and Japan slapped its own sanctions on two Chinese firms, including a bank accused of laundering North Korean cash.
North Korea’s accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
“It’s clear Kim Jong-Un remains undeterred by the threat of tightened sanctions, and is not listening to its one major ally, China. The longer the world waits to deal with North Korea, the more advanced Pyongyang’s arsenal will become,” said Jean Lee at the Wilson Center thinktank.
Trump has repeatedly urged Pyongyang’s chief backer Beijing to rein the Stalinist state in, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.
There remain doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
But since Kim came to power there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.
– ‘Frustrating’ – Reacting to Friday’s launch, United Nations spokesman Farhad Haq said it was “frustrating” that the UN secretary general’s calls for all sides to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula had gone unheeded.
In an apparent reference to China, Haq said it was important for all parties to “use their particular influence to help resolve this.”
In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.
Meanwhile, the US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, perhaps as soon as Saturday.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the Federal Government will not be cowed into abandoning plans to amend the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to ensure the production in Nigeria of 'Nigerian content or local content' programmes.
The Minister stated this in Abuja on Friday when he received a delegation from the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU-ECOSOC), led by its Nigerian representative, Dr. Tunji Asaolu John.
He said those who deliberately twisted his comments to allege that the Federal Government will ban the shooting of films and music videos abroad are being mischievous, and reaffirmed government's commitment to protecting local creative talents and generating employment.
"We will not be intimidated or stampeded by anybody," Alhaji Mohammed said.
He said the amendment of the Code will also encourage people to invest in the establishment of world-class studios in Nigeria to guarantee that producers get the same quality of work as obtained abroad.
"We are not going to export jobs to other countries and say our economy will grow. Most of the arguments which are being proffered, honestly, are unrealistic. One of them said where in Nigeria are we going to produce our music and our films when there are no studios.
What they don't understand is that nobody is going to invest in (building studios) in Nigeria if the law allows you to go and do the same thing outside Nigeria," the Minister said.
He said the Federal Government is consciously developing the Creative Industry in its renewed drive to diversify the economy away from oil.
The Minister pledged the ministry's support for the African Festival of Arts and Culture, to be hosted in Nigeria in November.
Earlier, Dr. Asaolu said the AU is currently implementing Agenda 2063, which is a framework to promote growth and social development in Africa.
"Out of this Agenda 2063, Aspiration No. 5 talked about Africa with strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics. Sir, even this aspirations alone if you put it out to the market it can solve the problems that we are facing in Africa," he said.
The AU-ECOSOC, which is the AU's platform for the Civil Society, used the opportunity of the courtesy visit to confer the Distinguished Fellowship of African Arts and Culture on the Minister.
The Imo Governor, Mr Rochas Okorocha, has called on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members to always defend the unity and progress of the country.
Okorocha gave the advice on Friday at the official opening of the orientation course for the 2017 Batch 'A' Stream (11) corps members deployed to Imo at the NYSC Permanent Camp, Eziama Obaire, Nkwerre Local Government area.
Chief Rochas Okorocha
He said the NYSC epitomised the true symbol of the nation's unity, brotherhood and integration.
Okorocha, who was represented by Mr Basil Aharanwa, the Permanent Secretary in the Deputy Governor's Office, said that government considered corps members as important stakeholders in the country's quest for a better life for the people.
"The nation is ours; we must do everything possible to defend its unity for our own good.
"I implore you, as you join the scheme today, to reach out to the people of your host community in your little way to promote the unity and well being of the people you will be exposed to," he said.
The governor called on them to avoid hate speeches, divisive comments, unnecessary bickering and rumour mongering, but to remain disciplined, focused, steadfast and law abiding.
He congratulated the corps members on their deployment to serve in the state, noting that the government would not hesitate to reward corps members that would distinguish themselves in the service year.
Earlier, the State NYSC Coordinator, Mr James Olugbodi, said that the orientation course had been structured to adequately prepare the corps members for the task ahead, particularly against the rigours of the service year.
NAN quotes the coordinator as saying that the training programme encompassed lectures, para-military drills, man 'o' war, language studies, games, cooking, environmental sanitation, skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development, among others.
He said that 1,515 corps members were posted to the state comprising 777 males and 738 females.
Olugbodi expressed deep appreciation to the Imo Government for the things done for the NYSC in the state, particularly the construction of water borehole and the ongoing construction of additional hostels in the orientation camp.
The corps members later swore to oath of allegiance administered to them by the Chief Judge of Imo, Justice Pascal Nnadi, represented by Justice Fred Njemanze.
He charged the corps members to always bear in mind the laudable objectives of the scheme as enshrined in the NYSC Act, 1973, adding that the scheme is a veritable instrument for national unity and self actualisation.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammedsays in spite all the challenges, the Federal Government is making very positive impact on the economy.
The minister stated this in Abuja on Friday when he received a delegation from the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU-ECOSOC), led by its Nigerian representative, Dr. Tunji Asaolu. According to the minister, the Federal Government is confident that very soon, the country will exit recession.
"As we all know for the fifth month consecutively, the inflation index has come down.
"For two quarters consecutively, the manufacturing sector has recorded positive growth.
"We have been able to add over seven billion dollars to our external reserve and 250 million dollars to Sovereign Wealth Fund,'' he said.
The minister said that the government was committed to its avowed objectives of revamping the economy, making Nigeria safe and putting the nation on the path of probity.
Mohammed reaffirmed government's commitment to protecting local creative talents and generating employment. He said that the government would not be stampeded into abandoning its ongoing efforts to amend the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to ensure local production of programmes with Nigerian content.
He said those who deliberately twisted his comments to allege that the Federal Government would ban the shooting of films and music videos abroad were being mischievous.
"We will not be intimidated or stampeded by anybody,'' he said.
The minister said the amendment of the Code would also encourage people to invest in the establishment of world-class studios in Nigeria to ensure that producers got the same quality of work as obtained abroad.
"We are not going to export jobs to other countries and say our economy will grow.
"Most of the arguments which are being proffered, honestly, are unrealistic.
"One of them said where in Nigeria are we going to produce our music and our films when there are no studios.
"What they don't understand is that nobody is going to invest in (building studios) in Nigeria if the law allows you to go and do the same thing outside Nigeria," he said.
He said the Federal Government was consciously developing the Creative Industry in its renewed drive to diversify the economy away from oil.
The minister pledged the ministry's support for the African Festival of Arts and Culture to be hosted in Nigeria in November.
Earlier, Asaolu said the AU was presently implementing Agenda 2063, which was a framework to promoting growth and social development in Africa.
"Out of this Agenda 2063, Aspiration No. 5 talked about Africa with strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics.
"So, even this aspiration alone if you put it out to the market it can solve the problems that we are facing in Africa," he said.
The AU-ECOSOC, which is the AU's platform for the Civil Society, used the opportunity of the courtesy visit to confer the Distinguished Fellowship of African Arts and Culture on the minister.
as Nigeria Makes Progress in TI Corruption Index By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor Although vilified by the Nigerian Legislature and some powerful government officials, leading industrial countries of the world have thrown their weight behind Ibrahim Magu, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.Magu
The approval of Magu by the developed countries comes as Nigeria's Corruption Perception Index, CPI, also improves in a decade, showing signs that the work of the Nigerian anti-corruption agency has been recognised worldwide even as some lawmakers detest Magu and his work at home.
This recognition of Magu's work, according to a statement by the commission made available to Saturday Vanguard last night by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, flows from an opinion poll conducted by United Kingdom-based Global Peace Movement International.
The poll result is coming a week after Transparency International released its latest transparency index in which Nigeria, for the first time in over a decade, moved up in the global anti corruption and transparency ranking, a move analysts said is directly related to the efforts of the EFCC.
According to the report by Transparency International, the corruption perception index ranked 176 countries on a scale of 0 (perceived to be corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be clean). In the report released, Somalia was ranked the most corrupt country in the world for the tenth straight year.
Speaking on the poll, President General of Global Peace Movement International, Dr Mike Uyi, said the decision to conduct the poll was based on the need to ascertain global opinion on the work of the EFCC, pointing out the EFCC Chairman secured more than 96 percent endorsement by respondents, with the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Canada, China and Belgium all commending the work of the Commission.
According to the report of the survey, the United States of America led the list of countries that endorsed the EFCC chairman with 92 percent responding in favour of the work Magu was doing, while 7 percent responded in the negative.
The United Kingdom returned a 96 percent affirmative and France 85.
Other results of the poll showed 90 percent Germans voting in favour of the EFCC chairman, while 9 percent disapproved.
Russia had 62 percent in favour of Magu, while 29 percent disapproved. Greece was 73 percent in favour, with 22 percent going the other way.
Malta had 80 percent in favour with 17 percent disapproval; Sweden, 85 percent approval, and 7 percent disapproval; Belgium, 85 approval and 8 disapproval; Switzerland had 76 approval, and 11 percent disapproval; Norway, 85 approval and 8 percent against; Austria, 81 percent approval and 6 percent disapproval, while India had 53 percent approval and 26 percent against.
Others are Brazil with 65 percent approval and 27 percent disapproval, same with China having 65 percent approval rating for the EFCC chairman while 22 percent disapproved, Denmark had 84 percent approval and 4 percent disapproval, while Canada had a 91 percent approval and 3 percent disapproval.
Japan was 92 percent approval and 3 disapproval, Luxembourg, 83 percent approval and 4 disapproval, Mexico, 83 percent approval and 7 disapproval, Portugal, 68 percent and 22 percent, South Korea, 74 percent and 16 percent, Principality of Monaco had 80 percent approval and 11 percent disapproval, The Netherlands, 82 percent approval and 5 percent disapproval, while Lithuania had a 72 approval and 13 for the EFCC chairman. Dr Uyi, said the results of the survey on other public elected or appointed officials in Nigeria will soon be released to the public.
A man wielding a large kitchen knife stormed into a supermarket in the German city of Hamburg on Friday, killing one person and wounding four others before being detained by police.
“There is no valid information yet on the motive” of the man, who “entered a supermarket and suddenly began attacking customers”, said police.
German daily Bild published a picture of the attacker in the back of a police car with a white, blood-soaked bag over his head, and reported that he cried “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) in the supermarket.
Knife stab
A female witness standing in line at the supermarket till also told NTV rolling news channel that “as he was running out… he held up his arms and shouted ‘Allahu Akhbar’.”
She said she was “afraid of dying,” as she was “queuing for the till and couldn’t get away”.
A police spokeswoman said the “Allahu Akhbar” accounts could not be confirmed.
The suspect, who has not yet been identified, fled the supermarket after the attack.
But witnesses gave chase and overpowered the man, who was slightly injured.
“It was definitely a sole attacker. The first reports about a possible motive of a robbery have not been confirmed,” Hamburg police tweeted.
Police have blocked off the lively and diverse high street dotted with cafes and shops in the northeast of the port city, Germany’s second largest and host of the G20 summit of world leaders in early July.
Anti-terror police have also been deployed to the scene, according to Bild.
Homicide investigators are leading the probe, said police, adding that they were pursuing “all leads” for a motive.
There was no information immediately available about the dead person. Police said that one of the four injured was in a serious condition.
– High alert – Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack, especially since last December’s truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in which a Tunisian rejected asylum seeker and ex-convict, Anis Amri, 24, ploughed the stolen truck through a crowd.
It was Germany’s deadliest attack by an Islamist militant, but not the first.
In 2016, the IS group also claimed a suicide bomb attack in the southern city of Ansbach which wounded 15 victims, and an Afghan man’s axe rampage on a train in Bavaria that hurt five, before the perpetrator was shot dead by police.
Public fears about more extremist violence have grown amid Germany’s mass influx of refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan as well as several African countries.
More than one million asylum seekers have arrived in Germany since Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s borders in 2015.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service estimates there are about 10,000 radical Islamists in the country, including 1,600 who are considered potentially violent.
In one case of a homegrown attacker, a German teenager identified as 16-year-old Safia S. was in January sentenced to six years of juvenile detention for stabbing a police officer in 2016 “to support the Islamic State group”.
Authorities were also investigating an IS claim of the stabbing death of a teenage boy in Hamburg last October.
The 16-year-old boy was fatally wounded in the knife assault on the banks of the Alster river but a 15-year-old girl who was with him escaped unharmed after the attacker shoved her into the water.
Germany is a target for jihadist groups, particularly because of its reconnaissance and refuelling missions to support the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and because it has deployed troops in Afghanistan since 2001.
North Korea test fired what appeared to be another intercontinental ballistic missile Friday, just hours after the US and Japan moved to step up sanctions against Pyongyang following its first ICBM test earlier this month.
South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japan’s maritime exclusive economic zone.
“We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the rocket travelled about 1,000 kilometers before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.
The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls “Victory Day” — the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.
Condemnation was swift with Japan’s top government spokesman, calling Friday’s test another clear violation of UN resolutions.
“Our country will never tolerate it and made a severe protest to North Korea, condemning it in the strongest words,” Suga said.
In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.
– Further sanctions – US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping for another missile test — likely of an ICBM.
The ICBM test on July 4 had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range that could reach Alaska.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who personally oversaw that launch on America’s Independence Day, described it as a gift to the “American bastards.”
It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyang’s last remaining major ally.
The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with US President Donald Trump saying he was considering a “pretty severe” response.
Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the North’s nuclear weapons programme, said Friday’s launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis.
“Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation,” Wit said on the institute’s 38 North website.
Friday’s launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang, and Japan slapped its own sanctions on two Chinese firms, including a bank accused of laundering North Korean cash.
North Korea’s accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
Trump has repeatedly urged Pyongyang’s chief backer Beijing to rein the Stalinist state in, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.
There are still doubts about whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for it to survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
But since Kim came to power there have been advances including three nuclear tests and multiple rocket launches.
– ‘Frustrating’ – Reacting to Friday’s launch, UN spokesman Farhad Haq said it was “frustrating” that the Secretary General’s calls for all sides to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula had gone unheeded.
In an apparent reference to China, Haq said it was important for all parties to “use their particular influence to help resolve this.”
In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.
Meanwhile, the US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, perhaps as soon as Saturday.
That test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system had been scheduled before Friday’s developments.
The United States has layers of missile defense capabilities comprising several components designed to take down different types of missile at different phases of flight.
Russian patience on sanctions imposed on it by the former Obama administration, snapped on Friday, after another round of sanctions imposed by the US Congress.
In a reaction, the Kremlin ordered the United States to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff in and said it was seizing two U.S. diplomatic properties.
Moscow's decision, which had echoes of the Cold War, was announced by the Foreign Ministry a day after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved new sanctions on Russia. The bill now passes to President Donald Trump for final approval.
Russia had been threatening retaliation for weeks. Its response suggests it has set aside initial hopes of better ties with Washington under Trump, something the U.S. leader, before he was elected, had said he wanted to achieve.
Putin and Trump
Relations were already languishing at a post-Cold War low after U.S. intelligence agencies accused Russia of trying to meddle in last year's U.S. presidential election to boost Trump's chances, something Moscow flatly denies.
The new sanctions were in part a response to the agencies' findings that Russia did meddle in the election, and to further punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The Russian Foreign Ministry complained of growing anti-Russian feeling in the United States, accusing "well-known circles" of seeking "open confrontation".
President Vladimir Putin had warned on Thursday that Russia would have to retaliate against what he called boorish U.S. behavior, and Dmitry Peskov, his spokesman, told reporters on Friday that the Senate vote was the last straw.
A top White House aide said on Thursday that Trump might veto the legislation in order to push for a tougher deal. But the bill is expected to garner enough support in both chambers to override any veto.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the United States had until Sept. 1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the number of Russian diplomats left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December.
"Extreme Aggression"
It was not immediately clear how many U.S. diplomats and other workers would be forced to leave either the country or their posts, but the Interfax news agency cited an informed source as saying "hundreds" of people would be affected.
A diplomatic source told Reuters that it would be for the United States to decide which posts to cut, whether occupied by U.S. or Russian nationals.
An official at the U.S. Embassy, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said the Embassy employed around 1,100 diplomatic and support staff in Russia, including Russian and U.S. citizens.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement said the passage of the bill confirmed "the extreme aggression of the United States in international affairs".
"Hiding behind its 'exceptionalism', the United States arrogantly ignores the positions and interests of other countries," it said.
"Under the absolutely invented pretext of Russian interference in its domestic affairs, the United States is aggressively pushing forward, one after another, crude anti-Russian actions. This all runs counter to the principles of international law."
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met outgoing U.S. ambassador John Tefft on Friday to inform him of the counter measures, Russian news agencies reported. The U.S. Embassy said the ambassador had expressed his "strong disappointment and protest".
Most U.S. diplomatic staff, including around 300 U.S. citizens, work in the main embassy in Moscow, with others based in consulates in St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was also seizing a Moscow dacha compound used by U.S. diplomats for recreation, from Aug. 1, as well as a U.S. diplomatic warehouse in Moscow.
Face-to-Face Meeting
The former Obama administration seized two Russian diplomatic compounds – one in New York and another in Maryland – at the same time as it expelled the Russian diplomats in December.
Putin said at the time that he would wait to see how Trump handled the issue before responding, and Trump praised his restraint.
The two men met for the first time at a G20 summit in Germany this month in what both sides described as a productive encounter, but Russian officials have become increasingly convinced that Congress and Trump's political opponents will not allow him to mend ties, even if he wants to.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the Federal Government will not be stampeded into abandoning its ongoing efforts to amend the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to ensure the production in Nigeria of ‘Nigerian content or local content’ programmes.
The Minister stated this in Abuja on Friday when he received a delegation from the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU-ECOSOC), led by its Nigerian representative, Dr. Tunji Asaolu John.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (middle), with a delegation of African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU-ECOSOC) when they visited him in Abuja on Friday
He said those who deliberately twisted his comments to allege that the Federal Government will ban the shooting of films and music videos abroad are being mischievous, and reaffirmed government’s commitment to protecting local creative talents and generating employment.
“We will not be intimidated or stampeded by anybody,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
He said the amendment of the Code will also encourage people to invest in the establishment of world-class studios in Nigeria to guarantee that producers get the same quality of work as obtained abroad.
“We are not going to export jobs to other countries and say our economy will grow. Most of the arguments which are being proffered, honestly, are unrealistic. One of them said where in Nigeria are we going to produce our music and our films when there are no studios. What they don’t understand is that nobody is going to invest in (building studios) in Nigeria if the law allows you to go and do the same thing outside Nigeria,” the Minister said.
He said the Federal Government is consciously developing the Creative Industry in its renewed drive to diversify the economy away from oil.
The Minister pledged the ministry’s support for the African Festival of Arts and Culture, to be hosted in Nigeria in November.
Earlier, Dr. Asaolu said the AU is currently implementing Agenda 2063, which is a framework to promote growth and social development in Africa.
“Out of this Agenda 2063, Aspiration No. 5 talked about Africa with strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics. Sir, even this aspirations alone if you put it out to the market it can solve the problems that we are facing in Africa,” he said.
The AU-ECOSOC, which is the AU’s platform for the Civil Society, used the opportunity of the courtesy visit to confer the Distinguished Fellowship of African Arts and Culture on the Minister.
APC governorship aspirant, Mr Tony Nwoye has commended members of the House of Representatives for supporting his proposal to boost education in Anambra State through the establishment of a Federal University of Education in Nsugbe.
The legislator, who is one of the leading aspirants on the platform of the APC made the legislative move on the floor of the House of Representatives when he presented the motion. He was backed by a number of legislators including the former speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Ossai Ossai. The bill to establish the school is titled "A bill for an Act to establish a Federal University of Education, Nsugbe to provide Training and Teaching Instructions in every aspect of Education and such other Fields of Applied Learning relevant to the needs of the development of education in Nigeria, Matters of Administration and Discipline of Students and for Related Matters."
Presenting the bill during consideration for Second Reading, Nwoye said that the institution when established would help to improve the standard of education in the country. "It will upgrade the standard of learning, refocus our education, establish the issue of postgraduate studies. It will help engender and improve the educational system." Supporting, Ossai said: "We need the school to be upgraded to a university; they have the necessary manpower. I support the bill."
The 'Mega Coalition', an electoral alliance of 15 registered political parties has announced its decision to field consensus candidates in the Anambra, Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections.
This was even as the alliance expressed its readiness to work with either of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC or the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and any registered political party that presents good candidates in future elections in the country.
Reacting to the newly formed Coalition for New Nigeria CNN, another coalition of several political parties which Monday pledged to dislodge the APC from government in 2019, leader of the Mega Coalition Chief Perry Opara said his coalition was not in enmity with APC, PDP or any political party in Nigeria.
"Ours is a friendly coalition, an electoral alliance for the sole purpose of winning elections. We are not averse to any political party. We are ready to work with APC, PDP or any party that presents good candidates that will provide dividends of democracy and maintain peace and unity in Nigeria.
"At Mega Coalition, we see political parties as vehicles while candidates are passengers. The Mega Coalition is the motor park with many vehicles (political parties).
Every election is unique and has different peculiarities. Mega Coalition gives more attention to candidates than to political leaning.”
We have robust ideas on how to win 2019 elections and we shall try it first with Anambra elections", Opara said.
According to him, the coalition will soon announce the consensus governorship candidates for Anambra elections and do same for Ekiti and Osun elections.
The candidate of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, Chief Godwin Ezeemo, has appealed to the electorate to shun money bags and focus on the antecedence of candidates while making the choice of who emerges the next of governor of the state.
Chief Ezeemo, who made the call shortly after he emerged winner of PPA primary election, decried the manner at which some politicians brazenly compromise voters in the name of winning election, lamented, "that is the reason we are stuck."
The businessman turned politician, who, however, declared his resolve to unseat the incumbent Governor Willy Obiano, said history would repeat itself as the incident of the 2003 election when an incumbent seeking for re-election lost to an opposition candidate in the poll in the state.
Opposition candidate
According to him, "The electorate should now choose their candidate, who they want to vote for according to who that candidate is and not according to what his political party is.
Because we have followed this routine in the past and that is the reason why we are shucked, that is the reason why we are held up in the forest."
"But in our own, we are not buying the electorate. We appeal to the conscience of the electorate for them to make a choice between us and some other persons that are in the race. So, they know that their association is not based on the money they have collected. Do you understand that?
"My appeal to the electorate is for the electorate to start to look at candidates now from the point of view of their antecedence, from the point of view of what they have done in the past, from the point of view of who they are, what they have been able to do in the society at large."
All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship aspirant George Moghalu has dismissed insinuations of a zoning arrangement for the office of governor saying that consecutive terms by Governors Chris Ngige and Peter Obi distorted it.
Moghalu who spoke in a session with newsmen, however, admitted that an attempt was made towards zoning in 2003 when former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju from Anambra South was about to be returned for a second term in office, but the formula was disorganized when Dr. Chris Ngige from Anambra Central took over the seat.
He said the formula was further disorganized when Peter Obi from the same Anambra Central with Ngige, took over from Ngige after a whole three years and instead of doing only one term to complete Ngige's tenure two for Anambra Central and leave the seat for Anambra North in 2010, Obi extended his own tenure till 2014, thereby giving Anambra Central three consecutive tenures (from 2003 to 2014) before handing over to Anambra North in 2014.
Moghalu insisted that from the look of things, no one can say that the formula has been arranged in such a way that after Anambra North it will be the turn of Anambra South, after which it will now be the turn of Anambra Central or vise versa or that each zone whose turn it is at a particular point in time must govern for only one tenure or two before handing over to the next zone.
He stated that it was based on the fact that there is no existing zonal formula on ground and based on the fact that the state is still under-developed and requires a vibrant person to develop it, that he decided to offer himself for the stewardship, adding that if allowed to step in, he would not look back in transforming the state into an enviable status.
ABUJA- Chairman, National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Friday escaped unhurt as his vehicle collided with others along the busy Abuja/ Kaduna Highway.Ahmed Makarfi
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the PDP said neither Makarfi nor other occupants of the vehicle sustained any form of injury in the course of the collision.
“Earlier today, July 28, 2017, a vehicle conveying the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, CON, was involved in a multiple collision with other vehicles along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway.
“However, we are happy to report that fortunately, the Distinguished Senator and all other passengers in his vehicle came out unhurt. This is to allay the fears of our party members, teeming supporters as well as wishers who heard of the accident and have been making frantic calls; as well as those who may stumble on half-baked information,” the statement reads.
Senator Makarfi was on his way to Kaduna from Abuja when the accident occurred. As at the time of going to press, the identity of the other occupants could not be established.
The Lagos State Government on Friday expressed excitement over the release of six students of Igbonla-Epe Model College who were abducted on May 25, 2017 in their school premises.
In a press statement, the State's Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde congratulated the parents of the students and all concerned stakeholders over the development, just as he said the students would undergo series of medical tests and trauma therapy before they are reunited with their families.
"This is a welcome development and the State Government has always believed that the students would be released unhurt. The news of their release is therefore a confirmation of that belief and we are glad that they would be reuniting with their families," Ayorinde said.
He said the State Government remains resolute in its commitment to ensure the safety of lives and property of residents in the State and has already beefed up security in schools to prevent a re-occurrence.
"It is on record that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration has invested massively on equipment and welfare of security personnel so as to ensure that the State remains safe for residents and investors.
"This Government has already taken giant steps to secure all our schools especially those in the suburbs and riverine areas and we are confident that the steps taken so far will go a long way in nipping a repeat of such in the bud," Ayorinde said.
The Commissioner also quoted Governor Ambode as commending the efforts of security agencies who worked tirelessly to ensure the safe release and return of the students.
Istanbul giants Galatasaray have agreed terms to sign Brazilian midfielder Fernando from Manchester City and Algerian international Sofiane Feghouli from West Ham United, Turkish media reports said on Friday.
Fernando and Feghouli
Both English Premier League players would arrive in Istanbul on Monday at the latest and then join Galatasaray’s pre-season camp in Austria after medical tests and a signing ceremony, the NTV Spor website said.
It said City would receive 5.25 million euros (£4.7 million, $6.2 million) for Fernando and the Hammers 4.5 million euros for Feghouli.
The Fanatik sports daily carried the same report, saying that Feghouli had agreed a three-year deal and had already left West Ham’s pre-season camp.
Galatasaray are seeking to regroup after finishing fourth in the domestic Super Lig last season, well behind champions and Istanbul rivals Besiktas.
For the new season, the club have already signed French international striker Bafetimbi Gomis and Moroccan international midfielder Younes Belhanda.
But Croatian manager Igor Tudor still has to convince fans he is the man for the job.
Galatasaray’s season started in the worst possible way with the side knocked out by Swedish outfit Ostersund in the the Europa League second qualifying round.
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And in this article I would outline these 3 major causes of weak erection and quick ejaculation
You would also get to know 3 foods you need to completely reduce or remove from your diet,these foods weakens your erection.
s
Now lets get down to it .
The Root Cause of Your Sexual Problems:
When a man suffers from sexual problems like – Weak erections, premature ejaculation, Low sexual energy etc, these problems are USUALLY caused by the following
1.Poor diet and lack of exercise.
2.Stress and psychological problem
3.Excessive masturbation and pornography.
Lets get into them indepth.
Poor diet and lack of regular exercise routine;
Incase you don't know, erection is a result of blood flowing into your manhood.
Most men confuse going to work and stress with exercise, they think just because they leave home to work 8-5 that is enough exercise. Spending 10-15minutes everyday doing simple exercise at home can help your blood flow properly.
Speaking of diet.
The 3 foods below should be reduced or total removed from your diet if you must get harder and stronger erection.
Processed Carbohydrate
Sugary foods/drinks
Fried foods.
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The Super Eagles are set to renew rivalry with the Black Stars of Ghana in the West African Football Union (WAFU) Nations Cup.
Super Eagles
The Draw Ceremony for the tournament meant for senior national teams in the sub –region took place at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra on Thursday.
The competition has been scheduled for Sept. 9 to Sept. 24, and teams are expected to feature wholly home –based professionals.
Nigeria's Super Eagles have been drawn in Group A alongside host nation Ghana, Gambia Siera Leone, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania Mali and Guinea.
The tournament involves a unique format that will see teams play single games before proceeding to the quarter finals.
Ghana and Nigeria have seven African titles between them, with the Super Eagles and the Black Stars featuring in the last two FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa (2010) and Brazil (2014).
All the teams in Group A will play in Takoradi, the twin city of Sekondi that also hosted matches during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Super Eagles are drawn to play their first match against Sierra Leone.
Group B will compete in Cape Coast. 2015 African champions Cote d'Ivoire headline the pool that also has Senegal, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic, with Liberia, Niger Republic, Togo and Cape Verde also involved.
NFF's Director of Competitions, Ayobola Oyeyode, represented Nigeria at the Draw Ceremony.
THE DRAW
GROUP A Ghana Vs The Gambia Nigeria Vs Sierra Leone Mali Vs Mauritania Guinea Vs Guinea Bissau
GROUP B Senegal Vs Liberia Burkina Faso Vs Niger Republic Cote d'Ivoire Vs Togo Benin Republic Vs Cape Verde.(NAN)
