Jonathan Narrowly Escapes Death In Bayelsa

Goodluck Jonathan, the immediate past president of Nigeria, has narrowly escaped the death in Bayelsa state today, November 30.

Some suspected men accused of working for the All Progressives Congress in the state drove into Jonathan’s convey.

The militants, who stopped and drove into a short motorcade transporting the former leader of the nation from the Julius Berger bridge area of the state capital Yenagoa, trailed and chased the motorcade to the entrance of the private house of Jonathan in the Kpansia area of the town, before they were crushed and detained by a combined team of security operatives attached to the ex-president.

Celebrities Who Are Aging Terribly

Hollywood is renowned not only because of the blockbuster movies and TV series but also because of their exquisite actors, actresses, musicians and popular personalities who have captured the hearts of the entire world. Glitz and glamour – surely, these stars are the epitome of good looks that many are envious about. Because of their demanding line of work, they usually incline themselves into several physical improvements to keep their youthfulness, elegance and grace. Unfortunately, as the cliché goes, “Beauty is not forever.” These celebrities have lost their captivating looks and some have even lost the spotlight as they grow old.

Facebook and Jumia inspire Nigerian entrepreneurs with growth ideas

Facebook and Jumia Nigeria partnered to host the first ‘Boost Your Business’ recent event in Nigeria at the Landmark Event Centre with more than 500 Nigerian entrepreneurs gathered to network, hear about marketing best practices, and learn about how they can use Facebook and Jumia to grow their businesses.

The event provided Nigerian entrepreneurs and business owners with best practices and advice from top business owners, illustrating how using Facebook and Jumia can help them maximise sales on Black Friday, thisFriday 27th of November. The first 200 people that registered each received a N5,000 voucher for Facebook Ads.

“We enjoyed sharing our ideas at last week’s workshop about how effective, easy to use, and mobile social media solutions can help Nigerian entrepreneurs accelerate the growth of their businesses.

“SMEs are the backbone of Nigeria’s economy and encouraging entrepreneurial activity is critical to its growth and development. As of May this year, more than half the people on Facebook in Nigeria were connected to an SME,” Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Facebook Africa said.

On his part,  Jeremy Doutte, CEO of Jumia Africa said: “Jumia is proud to partner with Facebook in Nigeria for the very first time. We are delighted to host an event for the booming Nigerian business community and our sellers in particular, providing them with a better understanding of how they can use Jumia and Facebook to grow their businesses exponentially. Black Friday is also around the corner and we have been witnessing already 100 times more traction on our website than the traction we had last year for this sale. This event was thus an opportunity for us to bring our sellers together, and coach them on how to make the most of Black Friday”

With more than 15 million monthly active mobile users, 16 million total monthly active users, and 7.1 million daily active users in Nigeria, Facebook is the mobile solution for Nigerian businesses of all sizes. Facebook is where customers spend their time.

“SMEs are the engines for job growth in the world economy, accounting for 80% of jobs worldwide. As a platform that democratises marketing, Facebook can help small businesses to reach their full potential.

“We give them a platform to advertise where customers already spend their time and make it easy for small businesses to communicate with people anytime, anywhere,” Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s Head of Public Policy for Africa.

Nigerian start-ups and small businesses are already benefitting from the way that Facebook helps them to talk to customers in an affordable, personalised manner.

Jay Osbie Clothing, a seller on Jumia for example, is using Facebook to promote its brand for fashion-forward men and bring interested customers back to his shop on Jumia.

“Facebook is significantly cheaper than other channels. Actually, it’s not even comparable,” Jay Osbie, the founder of Jay Osbie Clothing said.

His Facebook page has 6,500 fans and his Instagram page has 1,800 followers. Jay produces strong visual content and reached an Average Relevance score of 7 out of 10. He also recently ran link ads and paid $260 for 14k clicks ($0.02 per click).

Chinma Nwaozuzu, Founder Girly Essentials, a one-stop shop for affordable and unique women’s products, said it  has 176,000 fans on Facebook and 3,200 followers on Instagram, adding that “It’s all about building a community. People ask how I’ve grown my business – I say Facebook – ads on Facebook.”

Chinma does not have a team of people; “it is only Chinma!”

She added that she has grown her business by building trust through building a community first.

Amazon Is Giving Away Unlimited Cloud Storage For $5.00

Amid a slew of deep discounts appearing on the web today as a part of the shopping holiday Black Friday, Amazon has introduced one deal that’s sort of a no brainer. The company is giving away unlimited online storage on its cloud servers for just five dollars. The normal price for this is $60 per year, so this – 92% off – represents a significant savings.

The deal is aimed at promoting Amazon’s Cloud Drive service – an online storage site that competes with similar services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft’s OneDrive, and more. Cloud Drive allows you to store documents, music, photos, videos and other files in the cloud, which you can access from any web-connected device, including smartphones and tablets by way of Amazon’s Cloud Drive mobile applications.

However, be aware that if you’re planning to use the now $5 service primarily for photo backups, you may already have that option enabled. Amazon Prime currently offers free, unlimited photo backup as one of its benefits, so you may not need to sign up for Cloud Drive if you don’t need to archive other file types, as well.

What’s also great about this deal is that it’s not just being offered to newcomers, as a way to incentivize them to try out Amazon Cloud Drive for the first time. Some current customers* can take advantage of discount, too, says Amazon – you’ll be given a prorated refund on your current plan after you buy the $5.00 deal.
But be aware that the $5.00 is not a one-time fee. Cloud Drive is sold as an annual subscription, which means when the service comes up for renewal, you may be again paying full price (unless the company runs a similar promotion, of course.)

For Amazon, giving away storage space – basically a commodity at this point – is not much of a burden. The company introduced the option for unlimited cloud storage earlier this year, with the simplified pricing to make it competitive with tiered-based services that charge more than Amazon’s $5 per month to host so many files.

But at the end of the day, consumers may not choose their storage service based solely on price – user experience, including ease-of-use and feature set, will also come into play. While Amazon’s software has gotten better over the past months, it’s still not as developed or as polished a service as those from rivals like Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, Box and others. Competitors’ cloud drives tie into their other services – like their software for collaborate document editing in the cloud, for example, among other things.

But for $5.00, there’s really not much reason not to grab a huge chunk of online storage space for yourself – at least for the year ahead.

Biafra: SSS seeks transfer of Nnamdi Kanu’s case to higher court

The State Security Service on Monday asked an Abuja magistrate court to discontinue its case against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.

Mr. Kanu was arraigned for criminal conspiracy, engaging in unlawful society and criminal intimidation, which violate Section 97, 97B and 397 of the penal code.

The presiding magistrate, Usman Shuaibu, had issued an order for the bail of Mr. Kanu on the condition of presenting a surety of Grade Level 16 with a landed property in Garki or Wuse areas worth N20 million.

On resumption today, the prosecution counsel, Moses Idakwo, told the court the accused person was yet to fully meet the requirement for his bail.

He explained that the reason for Mr. Kanu’s continued detention in the custody of the SSS was his inability to fully meet the requirement for bail.

He told the court that although the service had confirmed the office of the surety presented by the accused, the location of the surety’s plot was yet to be ascertained.

Counsel to the defense, Vincent Obete, however informed the court about the affidavit before it, noting that the prosecution refused taking the necessary step to confirm the location of the surety’s plot of land.

“If it takes this long to confirm a mere location of a plot that is just next door to us in Abuja here, then we are in trouble,” said Mr. Obete.

Mr. Idakwo however told the court that the SSS had stumbled upon fresh information that had made the case outside the jurisdiction of the magistrate court.

He therefore made an application based on section 108 sub section 1 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, that the case be discontinued and taken to a more appropriate court.

In response, another defense counsel, Jude Abojeh, said the court had given several orders to the SSS to release Mr. Kanu on bail to no avail.

He noted that “whoever wants to come to justice should do so with clean hands”, saying since the SSS was asking for the discontinuation of the case, they should first comply with the orders of the court.

He also told the court that Section108 referred mainly to a directive by the Attorney General.

“Your Lordship, there is no such order from the AGF before the court,” he countered.

He argued that an order was pending before the court to be obeyed by the prosecution counsel, hence the prosecution could not bring an application before the same court it had disobeyed.

Mr. Idakwo however argued that the section made a provision for an alternative if an order was not made to the AGF.

He said his client did not compulsorily need to get a directive from the AGF.

The magistrate therefore said he had taken note of all the proceedings concerning the disregard of his orders by the prosecution counsel when he asked for the confirmation of the location of the surety’s plot of land.

He added that he had already signed the affidavit from the defense counsel noting his refusal to confirm the location of the surety’s plot.

He said the court would look critically into the various applications and counter applications before coming up with its ruling.

The case was therefore adjourned till December 1 for ruling.

Uefa punishes Dynamo Kyiv over racist behaviour of fans during Chelsea match

UEFA has ordered Dynamo Kyiv to play their next two European home games in an empty stadium as punishment for offences including racist behaviour by fans during their Champions League match against Chelsea last month.

Football’s European anti-discrimination body, Football Against Racism in Europe, passed footage to Uefa of an apparent attack on four black fans at the match in Ukraine on 20 October, which ended 0-0. Charges were brought against Dynamo for racist behaviour, crowd disturbances and blocked stairways.

The club has also been fined €100,000, with an closed-doors order for a third match suspended for three years and only applied if further offences are committed.

Piara Powar, executive director of Fare, told the Guardian last month: “This terrible incident reflects many of the continuing realities of football in central and eastern Europe.”

Thousands march against climate change in Madrid

Tens of thousands of people packed the streets of the Spanish capital city of Madrid at lunchtime on Sunday as they formed part of the worldwide Global March for Climate.

The march was organized by organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and many other organizations, on the eve of the Paris climate change talks.

These talks, in which China is expected to play a major role, are considered vital for the battle to stop climate change and protect the very future of the planet. That importance was reflected with marches held in around 2,000 different cities worldwide.

“The climate change talks are the most important event this year and there has to be an agreement between countries to reduce emissions… China is one of the main players at these talks and that is important for all of us as they are part of the solution,” Maria Pastor of a Spanish green party told Xinhua at the Madrid march.

As well as the estimated 20,000 people in the streets of Madrid, thousands more also took to the streets in Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valladolid, La Coruna, Murcia and other Spanish cities.

In the Spanish capital people marched in good humor between the emblematic Plaza de Cibeles to the aptly named Puerta del Sol and marchers were welcomed with a huge banner hung from the Madrid Town Hall, stating ‘Madrid is Marching for the Climate.”

The year 2015 has seen Spain suffer the warmest average temperatures since records began, with averages temperatures in July over 2 degrees centigrade above the norm, a clear sign of what is to come unless climate change is halted, while Spain is the European country which has seen the third highest increase in emissions since 1990.

Israel suspends EU role in peace process with Palestinians

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said on Sunday it was suspending contacts with European Union bodies involved in peace efforts with the Palestinians after the bloc started requiring the labeling of exports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the foreign minister, ordered the ministry to carry out “a reassessment of the involvement of EU bodies in everything that is connected to the diplomatic process with the Palestinians”, a ministry statement said.

“Until completion of the reassessment, the Prime Minister has ordered a suspension of diplomatic contacts with the EU and its representatives in this matter.”

The ministry added that contacts with individual EU countries – it named Germany, France and Britain – would not be affected.

A ministry official said Israel would cease assisting EU sponsored projects intended for the Palestinians but no specific instances or bodies were named.

Drawn up over three years by the European Commission, the guidelines mean Israeli producers must explicitly label farm goods and other products that come from settlements built on land occupied by Israel if they are sold in the European Union.

The EU’s position is that the lands Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war – including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – are not part of the internationally recognized borders of Israel.

As such, goods from there cannot be labeled “Made in Israel” and should be labeled as coming from settlements, which the EU considers illegal under international law.

The development of settlements has been one of the obstacles to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. U.S.-backed peace talks stalled in April 2014.

Israel’s economy ministry estimated the impact of the decision at about $50 million a year, affecting fresh produce such as grapes and dates, wine, poultry, honey, olive oil and cosmetics made from Dead Sea minerals.

That is around a fifth of the $200-$300 million worth of goods produced in settlements each year, but a drop in the ocean next to the $30 billion of goods and services traded between Israel and the European Union each year.

Russian air strikes kill at least 30 in stepped up raids in northwest Syria

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Air strikes believed to have been carried out by Russian jets killed at least 30 people in the town of Ariha in northwestern Syria on Sunday, rescue workers in the rebel-held area said, part of an escalation of Russian strikes near the Turkish border.

In separate air strikes closer to the frontier with Turkey, jets believed to be Russian hit a truck depot that was also struck on Thursday, destroying 10 trailers and killing five people, a rebel in the area said.

Officials at the Russian defense ministry could not immediately be reached for comment. Syrians in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria near the Turkish frontier have reported intensified air strikes in the days since Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the border.

The air strike on Ariha in Idlib province wounded dozens more people, striking a market place, the rescue workers said. Mohamed Queissi, a rescue worker with the Civil Defense service which operates in rebel-held areas, said the bodies of 31 people had been identified, with 12 more awaiting identification.

“The vendors were shouting loudly as people were buying and selling and suddenly we heard the sound of the planes and in less than a second the jets struck and there was deadly silence.

“I saw people thrown in the street, strewn corpses and terrified children crying and shouting for their parents,” said Mohamed Amine Qurabi, 25, a second Civil Defense worker.

Both were contacted by Reuters and spoke from Ariha.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on the war, gave an initial death toll of 18 people including four children and “a leading opposition” member. It said the toll was likely to rise, with a total of 60 killed and wounded.

Ariha fell to rebels in May during an advance that resulted in the whole of Idlib province falling to the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad. Rebels in Idlib include the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. The province is not a stronghold of the Islamic State group that controls wide areas of eastern Syria.

Russia began a major aerial campaign on Sept. 30 to help its ally Assad, who suffered a series of setbacks earlier this year including the loss of Idlib province and areas near the coast which is of crucial strategic importance.

Moscow says its target is Islamic State but the overwhelming majority of its strikes have been against other opponents of Assad.

The Syrian army, backed by Iranian and Hezbollah fighters, have in tandem launched ground offensives across areas of western Syria that are mostly controlled by insurgents other than Islamic State, including groups backed by Assad’s foreign enemies, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

One of these offensives is south of Aleppo, around 50 km (30 miles) east of Ariha, where government forces backed by Iranian fighters are seeking to advance westwards toward the main Damascus-Aleppo highway. Ariha is located on the main road linking Aleppo to the coast.

Residents and rebels say warplanes believed to be Russian have stepped up raids on residential areas in several major cities in northwestern Syria that are within a radius of 10 to 30 km from the Turkish border.

More than 20 missing after boat capsizes on Congo’s Lake Kivu

More than 20 people are missing after a government-operated speed boat capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, the provincial governor said.

“The boat capsized with about 44 people. We don’t have the exact numbers …. About 20 have been rescued from the water,” governor Julien Paluku

Remains of Russian pilot flown from Turkey to Russia on Monday: Turkish military

The remains of the Russian pilot killed last week when his jet was shot down by Turkey left Ankara bound for Moscow on Monday morning, the Turkish military said in a statement.

The repatriation followed a military funeral service attended by the Russian ambassador and other military officials, the military said.
The downing of the jet has prompted a major rupture in relations between the two countries, with Putin this weekend signing off on a raft of sanctions against Turkey.

Italian doctor working for children’s charity killed in Kenya

An Italian doctor working for a children’s charity in Kenya was killed and three other Italians, including her parents, were injured in an armed robbery on the house they were staying in, officials said on Monday.

Rita Fossaceca, 51, was a volunteer with the For Life Onlus charity, which supports an orphanage in Mijomboni, 30 km (18 miles) inland from the tourist resorts of Malindi and Watamu.

Italian media reported the doctor had been shot dead on Saturday after trying to defend her mother from a machete attack. The other people injured were reported to be her parents and another relative.

“I am appalled and horrified by the senseless criminal attack on an Italian NGO (non governmental organization) in Watamu,” Kenya’s Tourism Minister Najib Balala said in a statement.
“They were here in our country supporting disabled children and their families and I am devastated to hear that they have been targeted in this way.”

He described Saturday’s attack as an isolated incident.

Kenya’s tourism industry has been hard hit in recent years by attacks carried out by the militant Islamist group al Shabaab and officials had hoped that a visit from Pope Francis last week, which passed without incident, would bring more visitors.

Fossaceca, a radiologist from Novara in northern Italy, had been in Kenya for only a few weeks on her latest trip to the country. In her final post on the NGO’s website she described buying a cow for the orphanage.