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U.N. Urges Nigeria To Restore Law And Order, Probe Mass Killings

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United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations urged Nigeria on Tuesday to restore law and order in the northeast and investigate “mass killings” of civilians blamed on Boko Haram insurgents.

Nigeria’s military said on Monday that at least 150 people had been killed in clashes with Islamists in the northeastern town of Baga, but the U.N. human rights office noted that there were “wildly differing” accounts with some reports putting the toll this year at 2,000.

“While the exact details remain unclear, what appears fairly certain is that mass killings and mass forced displacement have occurred,” U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.

“We urge the government to act swiftly to restore law and order while ensuring that security operations are conducted in line with international law and full respect for human rights.”

Nigeria’s military is battling to reclaim Baga from the militants, who want to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

Some 11,320 Nigerian refugees have fled the violence by crossing into neighbouring Chad since the start of the year, the U.N. refugee agency said.

“Some of them are stranded on an island on Lake Chad, called Kangala Island, there are about 2,000 of them there,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said, adding that the agency was transferring them to the Chad mainland.

U.N. aid agencies have not been able to verify the number of people displaced within Nigeria because of a lack of independent access to the areas affected, but stand ready to provide humanitarian assistance, OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said.

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January 13, 2015 |

Nigeria Central Bank Limits Interbank Dollar Holdings To 72 Hours

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CBN

Nigeria’s central bank said on Tuesday that dollars bought from the interbank market can be held only for up to 72 hours, after which they must be sold back to the central bank at its own day rate, a circular seen by Reuters showed.

The move is intended to curb speculation on the naira, which has been hit hard in the past few months by falling oil prices.

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January 13, 2015 |

ECOWAS Condemns Sporadic Attacks By Boko Haram In Nigeria

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ECOWAS

The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, had continued to monitor with grave concern, the activities of Boko Haram in the north-eastern part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The sect’s incessant attacks have led to the death of several citizens while seriously injuring others and damaging properties.

The President of the commission said that it is particularly saddened by the recent attack and destruction carried out by the sect in Baga town where over 2,000 people were reported dead.

While strongly condemning these despicable acts and wanton disregard for human life and property, the President, on behalf of the ECOWAS community extended solidarity and heartfelt sympathy to the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and sincere condolences to the bereaved families.

ECOWAS reiterated its commitment to work with the government of Nigeria, member states and all stakeholders to halt the incessant attacks that continue to pose threats to the peace, security and stability of the region.

It also welcomed efforts by the African Union, the Lake Chad Basin Commission and others in this regard.

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January 13, 2015 |

Divers Retrieve Crucial AirAsia Cockpit Black Box

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Indonesian divers pulled out the cockpit voice recorder from the sunken wreckage of an AirAsia passenger jet on Tuesday, a key step towards determining the cause of the crash that killed all 162 people aboard.

The cockpit voice recorder, which retains the last two hours of conversation between the pilots and air traffic controllers, was found close to where the flight data recorder was recovered from the bottom of the Java Sea on Monday.

“Today we have completed searching for the main things that we have been looking for,” Rear Admiral Widodo, the commander of the navy’s western fleet, told reporters after handing over the cockpit voice recorder to investigators on Tuesday.

“But the team will still try to find the body of the plane in case there are still bodies inside.”

Together the black boxes, which are actually orange, contain a wealth of data that will be crucial for investigators piecing together the sequence of events that led to the Airbus A320-200 plunging into the sea.

The cockpit voice recorder is expected to be sent to the capital, Jakarta, for analysis.

A total of 48 bodies have so far been recovered from the sea, some of them still strapped into seats. But that leaves more than 100 missing.

The overwhelming majority of the people on Flight QZ8501 were Indonesian. There were also citizens of Britain, France, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

Government officials sought to reassure victims’ families that divers would continue to search for bodies.

“Our main task is to find the victims,” Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters in Jakarta before heading to Surabaya to meet families of the victims.

“Even if both (black boxes) are found, it doesn’t mean that our operation is over.”

Relatives of the victims urged authorities to continue to search for the remains of their loved …read more      

January 13, 2015 |

Charlie Hebdo First Cover Since Terror Attack Shows Prophet Muhammad

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charlie-hebdo

The front cover of Wednesday’s edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the first since last week’s attack on its Paris offices that left 12 people dead, is a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.

The cover shows the prophet shedding a tear and holding up a sign reading “Je suis Charlie” in sympathy with the dead journalists. The headline says “All is forgiven”.

Richard Malka was among the first to call for the magazine to continue functioning after nine of its contributors, including famed cartoonists Cabu and Wolinski and its publishing director, Charb, were gunned down last Wednesday by Chérif and Saïd Kouachi

When asked whether that meant more cartoons of Mohammed, which have been a regular feature in the magazine until last Wednesday’s attack, he replied: “Naturally.”

“We will not give in otherwise all this won’t have meant anything,” he told France Info radio on Monday, which broadcast from the magazine’s heavily guarded temporary offices at Libération newspaper.

“Humour without self-deprecation isn’t humour. We mock ourselves, politicians, religions, it’s a state of mind you need to have.”

“The Charlie state of mind is the right to blaspheme,” he went on.

The edition will appear on Wednesday in 16 languages, including Arabic, and will be sold in 25 countries.

Liberation published the Charlie Hebdo cover online late on Monday night, showing a man in a white turban holding a sign reading “Je suis Charlie.”

Charlie Hebdo’s past caricatures of the prophet appear to have prompted last week’s attacks, which left a total of 17 people dead.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, told the Today programme that Charlie Hebdo had no choice but to print the cover it had.

“You cannot have a march through the streets of Paris attended by 46 world leaders, 4 million people, climaxing with a shout of ‘We are not afraid’ and then not print …read more      

January 13, 2015 |

Obasanjo Insists On Issue Based Campaign As Buhari Visits

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Buhari

A former Nigerian President, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, has stressed the need for politicians to focus on the issues needing solutions in Nigeria in their campaigns.

The former president made the request in Abeokuta on Tuesday in a meeting with a former military Head of State and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari.

General Buhari’s visit was barely hours after the President and the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, visited the former president.

At the meeting with Buhari were other top leaders of the APC, who sought Mr Obasanjo’s support for the party’s candidate in the February 14 presidential election.

Mr Obasanjo is a member of the PDP and he had told members of the APC in a previous meeting that he was a card carrying member of of the PDP.

While the APC candidate called for Mr Obasanjo’s support despite his party colouration, the former president called for issue based campaigns, emphasising that he had always had the interest of the nation, Nigeria, at heart above any party concern.

The APC team was led by the national chairman of the party Mr John Oyegun.

Others at the meeting were a former governor of Lagos State, Senator Ahmed? Bola Tinubu and the Vice Presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo amongst others.

On Saturday, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, a spokesman for the campaign team of President Goodluck Jonathan, said General Buhari was not qualified to contest in the election that is less than 34 days away, insisting that General Buhari had not provided his primary school leaving certificate to the electoral body.

The APC insisted that their flag bearer had his credentials, describing Mr Fani-Kayode’s claims as preposterous and an attempt to destroy the image of the military, an institution that had been built over the years.

The electoral body had …read more      

January 13, 2015 |

State Counsels Plan Strike Over Salary Implementation

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High_court

The Law Officers Association of Nigeria, a trade union organisation for state counsels in the Federal Ministry of Justice, has issued the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to implement the circular on harmonisation of salaries and wages for state counsels 24 years after it was issued.

Briefing reporters in Abuja on Monday, the union said that while the various state governments had implemented the circular as directed by the Federal Government, the Federal Government, which issued the circular, had refused to implement it.

Besides the implementation of the harmonised salaries structure, they are also demanding the immediate payment of the outstanding balance of the 2013 and 2014 robe allowances and other outstanding allowances owed to all state counsels.

The first National Vice Chairman of the association, Mr Yusuf Abdulkadir and the Secretary General, Godwin Iheabunike, warned that Failure on the part of government to implement the harmonised salary will lead to industrial action.

The state councils ultimatum came weeks after judiciary workers embarked on strike, requesting for the autonomy of the judiciary.

The post State Counsels Plan Strike Over Salary Implementation appeared first on Channels Television.

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January 13, 2015 |
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