Ekiti
State Governor Ayodele Fayose has called on well-meaning Nigerians to
prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop his needless foreign
trips, describing the president’s trip to the United States of America
on Wednesday for the 4th Nuclear Security Summit, while Nigerians are
suffering at home, as “joke of the year.”
The governor said, “It
remains a mystery what President Buhari that met power generation at
6,000MW and could not manage it such that power generation crumbled to
0MW yesterday, will contribute to the Nuclear Energy Summit in America.”
Speaking
through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media,
Lere Olayinka, Fayose said, “It is shameful that while President Buhari
was far away in the United States of America, attending a summit that
does not have any bearing on Nigeria and its people, the unprecedented
happened – power generation stopped completely for over three hours!”
He said the sufferings of Nigerians deserved the attention of the
president instead of him junketing around the world, wasting the country’s scarce foreign exchange.
The
governor alleged that over $50 million must have been spent on the
president’s frequent foreign trips, adding that Nigerians should ask
President Buhari whether his trip to the United States of America to
attend Nuclear Energy Summit would bring the lingering fuel scarcity
being experienced in the country to an end.
“Nigerians are
suffering; petrol has become so scarce that our people now sleep at
petrol stations to buy fuel at N200 per litre, while the president, who
should alleviate their sufferings, is in the USA, attending a summit
that he won’t even understand whatever that is discussed there.
“This
is not acceptable. Mr. President should stay at home and see to it that
at least, power generation returns to 6,000MW that he met it if he
cannot add to it.
“Mr. President should stay at home and bring
this fuel scarcity that has paralysed almost all activities in the
country to an end.
“Nigerians are saying their president should
stay at home and bring to an end the killings, raping of women and
destruction of farmlands by Fulani herdsmen.
“Most importantly,
the President should listen more to those of us who criticise him
instead of those hailing every of his wrong steps either because of what
they intend to gain or for fear of persecution,” the governor said.
The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fasoye, has described the President’s trip to the United States as needless.
Governor Fayose, in a statement, said that the President should
concentrate more on tackling the economic challenges in the country.
“It remains a mystery that President Buhari met power generation at 6,000mw but today it has dropped to 2,695mw”.
The Governor insisted that what should be of interest to the
President should be the suffering of Nigerians rather than what he calls
junketing around the world.
“This is not acceptable. Mr President should stay at home and see to
it that at least, power generation returns to 6,000MW that he met it if
he cannot add to it.
“Mr President should stay at home and bring this fuel scarcity that
has paralysed almost all activities in the country to an end.
“Nigerians are saying their president should stay at home and bring
to an end the killings, raping of women and destruction of farmlands by
Fulani herdsmen.
“Most importantly, the President should listen more to those of us
who criticise him instead of those hailing every of his wrong steps
either because of what they intend to gain or for fear of persecution,”
the Governor said.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr.
Ibe Kachikwu, appeared before the Senate Committee on Petroleum
Resources (Downstream) on Tuesday to give reasons for the acute fuel
scarcity across the country and the efforts being made by his ministry
to resolve the embarrassing situation.
He regretted the situation and
apologised to Nigerians, who he said were really going through difficult
moments, and promised that the scarcity would end on or before April 7.
Kachikwu said he would not resign from
his position as minister and instead asked those who were threatening to
stage a protest in Abuja to save their money because he took the
appointment to work for his fatherland.
The minister stated, “I will not resign.
I am here to do my job. Those who are planning to stage a protest
against me in Abuja should save their fuel money because I have a job to
do, and I am committed to doing it well.
“I share the pains of Nigerians. I feel
that pain every day. I walk the streets and those who are following my
trajectories since I resumed office would see that even on Christmas
day, I was at the refineries. On Easter Day, I was in Lagos monitoring
fuel distribution at the depots.
“I have given 24/7 attention to the
problems in this industry, which are unbelievable. I have continued to
work with one sole purpose in mind, which is that every problem will
have a solution.”
Kachikwu added, “I do apologise if a
comment I make jocularly with my friends in the press about not being a
magician offends some Nigerians; it wasn’t meant to be. It is a side
jocular issue and I did go ahead to explain what needed to be done. I
didn’t intend to create this kind of hyperbole that it did.
“Let me admit that I am not a typically
experienced politician. I am a technocrat. Some of the phraseologies
that I may use, while being acceptable in the arena in which I play,
obviously will not be acceptable in the public political arena. If
anybody’s sensitivities were offended by that, I totally apologise.”
He attributed the current petrol
scarcity to the refusal by the major oil marketers to import, diversion
of the product by marketers, pipeline vandalism, panic buying and
non-computerisation of the distribution network to monitor trucks.
The minister lamented that since the
payment of N600bn subsidy arrears, which the current administration
inherited from the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan,
oil marketers had stopped fuel importation.
The development, he said, had forced the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to overstretch its capacity,
human resources and facilities in order to bridge the gap, but that the
corporation lacked the immediate capacity to handle the task.
Kachikwu said, “Let me put the reasons
for the scarcity in three categories. First, when we came in August,
this country had arrears of unpaid subsidy claims that were in excess of
N600bn, which were not paid for over a year.
“Progressively, over a period of eight
months, prior to my coming on board, people had been staying away from
importation not at a heavy level, but by about 10 to 15 per cent of
allocations were not being met.
“There was hope that ultimately, if the
subsidy regime continued, they would get paid; so, some people continued
to import, but by the time we came in, people had reached a breaking
point and most of the companies didn’t have the liquidity even to go to
the banks and open letters of credit, and that became a major issue.”
He said it was obvious that having
cleared the N600bn subsidy claims, the country could no longer continue
with the subsidy regime owing to dwindling oil revenue and the fact that
monumental frauds were being uncovered in the system.
As of January 1 this year, the minister
stated that the country was no longer paying subsidy, saving a
cumulative amount of over N1tn in a one year period.
Kachikwu noted, “The second major issue
was that once the N600bn subsidy money was paid, the ability of the
marketers to import the product became a challenge, because they could
not raise letters of credit, and up to this point, that still remains a
major issue.
“So, even if they wanted to import, they
needed letters of credit and adequate foreign exchange cover. Some of
them were owing arrears of liabilities as a result of the commitment I
had made on petroleum importation.”
As part of efforts to ensure a lasting
solution to the problem, he stated that the nation was setting up for
the first time strategic reserves of about two million tonnes to provide
products always.
He said these would be operational as from May and would contain between five and seven cargos of fuel per reserve.
Kachikwu said, “Once we do that, we should be away from the incessant fuel crisis that we have.
We expect that between now and about the
6th to the 7th of April, the fuel queues will disappear, the DSDP will
begin and the foreign exchange allocation will see us smoothly through
the track.
“The refineries will be working and the
volumes they will be producing will be sent to the strategic reserves to
address difficult times. In April, we are expected to get 150 per cent
of the volumes that will be needed. A lot of that will go to storage
tanks. Hopefully, that should sort out the problem.”
He said privatisation of the refineries remained the best solution to end the fuel crisis in the country.
Security
concept: computer keyboard with word Cyber Crime, selected focus on
enter button background
Nigeria loses about N89.55bn ($450m) annually to computer and
internet-related frauds; consultant to National Information Technology
Development Agency, Mr. Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola, has said.
Ajijola said this in an opening remark at the NITDA Public Sector
Cyber Security Hands Capacity Building Workshop for IT officers in
Ministries, Departments and Agencies organised by NITDA which opened in
Abuja on Wednesday.
Quoting the United States Centre for Strategic and International
Studies and information security firm McAfee, a subsidiary of Intel
which puts Nigeria’s loses to cybercrime at 0.08 per cent of the
nation’s Gross Domestic Product, Ajijola said the country’s annual
losses to cybercrimes was equivalent to the its booming cement industry.
He said, “As technology becomes increasingly pervasive and our
dependency on it grows, our economic losses will grow exponentially
unless pre-emptive measures are taken to mitigate and eliminate the
capacity of cybercriminals to take advantage of our environment.
“This does not preclude major disruptions by cybercriminals to
critical national infrastructure like oil and gas; telecommunications;
banking and finance, national security and government. For example, in
January 2016 the infamous “Anonymous hacker collective has started a
cyber-campaign against the government of Nigeria, accusing it of
corruption, greed, and theft.
“The Nigerian Communications Commission indicates that, as at
September 2015, over 97 million Nigerians used the Internet on a daily
basis. According to a 2015 survey by Kaspersky Lab, 45.3 per cent of
the internet users in Nigeria suffered attack in the third quarter of
2015. By implication either you or the person next to you was hacked in
some way.”
Speaking at the ceremony, Acting Director General of NITDA, Dr.
Vincent Olatunji, said Nigeria, like other countries, was facing many
challenges such as network design, security, and prevention, as well as
cyber-attacks as a result of increasing use of the internet.
“The need for effective security measures to create trust and
confidence in our various platforms can therefore not be
overemphasised,” he added.
Arsene
Wenger has confirmed he is not thinking about stepping down from the
Arsenal job, as he revealed his intention to stay for at least another
season.
The manager’s position has been questioned by some fans,
with banners appearing at the Emirates Stadium calling for the
long-serving Frenchman to step down following exits from the FA Cup and
the Champions League as well as poor Premier League form.
But
Wenger insists that he will be back to fight again next season as he
enters the final year of his three-year deal with the club.
“During
the season, [that criticism] was not very welcome when you fight for
the championship, especially after the Tottenham game, when we were a
bit unlucky,” he told beIN Sports.
“I give my best to the club I
love and if I can share that love with the supporters it’s even better. I
want to make sure that I give my best and that I put my knowledge at
the disposal of the team.
“I am committed and have no doubt I will be there next season.”
Despite
the pressure, Wenger insists that he is only thinking about his own
team’s performances as they look to keep up a distant title bid over the
last stretch of the season.
“I don’t worry too much about the rest – what people say,” he affirmed.
“All the rest is judgement, opinions and that is linked with belief from the last disappointment or result.
“In
my job I focus on how we perform. In life, it’s very important you
focus on what you are appointed for – and I am appointed to perform and
do the best for my club.
“My future is my future, I don’t master that.”
Hear the actor's first single and see its music video.
“If I hear about an actor doing a music project, my eyes are the first to roll,” Sutherland told Rolling Stone.
“It’s been done before and, on some levels, not very well. A lot of
actors make records but won’t tour to support them or make videos, and
it ends up not being serious. I felt strongly that this was something I
wanted to do.”
According to Rolling Stone, Sutherland financed the single-take “Not Enough Whiskey” clip himself.
In March, Sutherland also announced that, in addition to the 11-track Down in a Hole, he’ll hit the road for a string of concerts in April and May.
Marissa Mayer's tenure at Yahoo could be wrapping up soon. But if she plays her cards right, she could make out like a bandit.
Rumors are heating up about a deal to sell Yahoo. If there is a sale,
Mayer could get ousted. In that case, she would take home about $37
million, according to the terms of her employment contract.
This would trigger the release of all her stock awards. In virtually
any other scenario, Mayer would have needed to stay at Yahoo for a
certain period of time in order to cash out those rewards.
She
would get to take home three years salary ($3 million), roughly $9.5
million in stock awards that are scheduled to vest over the course of
2016 and about $24.5 million worth of awards that are scheduled to vest
down the road.
But Mayer could get fired before Yahoo is sold, in which case her payout would be significantly less.
In that case, Mayer would take home $12.5 million: $1 million in
salary, a $2 million cash bonus and $9.5 million in stock that would
vest in 2016. In either scenario, her golden parachute will be worth significantly less now than it was a year ago. Yahoo's(YHOO, Tech30)
stock price has fallen 23% over the past 12 months. She was granted a
huge chunk of stock awards as a kind of signing bonus at the beginning
of her employment in July 2012, the bulk of which have already been
released into her account.
A year ago, Mayer would have taken home $110 million had she lost her job because of Yahoo's sale and $26 million if she was fired without a sale.
Though Yahoo says it is actively exploring a sale of the company, it is
currently fighting a battle on two fronts. Activist hedge fund
Starboard Value called for the removal of Yahoo's entire nine-member board last week -- including Mayer, who also serves as a director.
That wouldn't necessarily impact Mayer's job as CEO, but Starboard has
expressed strong dissatisfaction with Mayer's efforts to turn around the
company.
Mayer's hefty pay package has been the subject of shareholder ire. She made $42 million in cash and stock in 2014,
despite being docked $13 million for the company's poor performance.
Mayer's 2015 compensation is due to be reported next month.
CNBC reported Monday that Yahoo is in the early stages of negotiating a sale with an unnamed bidder. Verizon(VZ, Tech30) and private-equity firm TPG Capital are rumored to have expressed interest. Microsoft(MSFT, Tech30)
isn't interested in buying Yahoo outright anymore (it made an
unsolicited $45 million takeover offer in 2008), but it would like to
help back a potential deal, in an effort to salvage its lucrative search
and advertising deal with Yahoo, according to Re/code.
A spokeswoman from Yahoo declined to comment on the rumors or on Mayer's potential golden parachute.
A
Nigerian belonging to an international drug racket which employs postal
services to smuggle contrabands and illegal drugs has been arrested by
the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau, NCB, in collaboration with the
Anti-Narcotics Cell, ANC, of the Mumbai police.
Frank Williams, the Nigerian man was arrested with 600 grams of
cocaine worth between Rs. 4 crore and Rs. 4.8 crore ($640,000 –
$719,500).
The hard drug was detected in the axle of a vehicle which wa sen via post from Latin America.
Leading up to the arrest, the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau
received a tip off and therefore worked in collaboration with the Postal
services and the Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Mumbai police.
The Joint effort trailed the parcel as it crossed over three
countries and made the arrest when the parcel reached a post office at
Khoparkhairane, Navi in Mumbai.
An official said; “We could have stopped the parcel at the Foreign
Post Office as all post parcels are routed through it. We played along
so we could reach the recipient,”
Explaining the Modus Operandi of the drug cartels, the Zonal Director
of NCB, Sanjay Jha, explain that the illegal drugs whose demand is on
the high in India is sent through postal services or courier companies
and addressed to a wrong or non-existent location which will mean return
to the postal office.
He added; “They then track the parcel online. When it reaches its
destination city, it lies at the post office as the address is wrong.
The recipient then picks it up from the post office,”
A
41-year-old woman, Antinlola Adeyemi, declared missing for about four
days by family members, has been found dead in a deep well on Monday in
Lagos.
The Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Fadipe Rasaq, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Rasaq said that the family had been looking for her for about four days before she was discovered on Monday.
“The
family had been looking for her. She was discovered in the well and we
were informed at about 9.30 a.m.; when we got there, she was already
swollen.
“It
was only her back we were seeing. It was difficult to bring her out. At
the time we brought her out, the corpse was handed over to Isheri
Police Division police officers.
“The well is situated in front of
the houses along the power lines where illegal buildings and other
structures were demolished in Ikotun area not too long ago,’’ Rasaq
said.
"Many people feel that they
do not have the power to make major changes in their own lives, and for
that reason could not possibly be creating their own reality. What they
don't realize is that their thoughts, feelings and beliefs simply provide
the energy to send a signal out into the Universe. It is the Universe which
amplifies this signal by adding all the energy required to rearrange a
personal reality and manifest a new life experience.
If people
only knew that they have the power to ask the Universe to change their
reality, they would understand that they are not weak and helpless victims
of circumstances, but empowered Children of Light exercising their
birthright as Creator-Beings. A Being of Light is empowered to ask the
Universe because the Universe is itself made of Light. So in a sense, when
you send a signal out in the Universe, you are sending a signal into the
essence of your own being, and it is because the Universe recognizes you as
a Child of Light, as being one with itself in essence, that it obeys your
request. Thus, manifesting a reality is fundamentally you and the Universe
being as one, and moving as one, and this is the real secret of your own
nature and your own power."
- Angel Alariel (Channeled in the
book "Beyond Limitations - The Power of Conscious Co-Creation")
Barcelona
talismanic forward, Lionel Messi has put the blame of the constant
comparison to Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo on the media, saying
he doesn’t care about it.
He said this in an interview with MBC, adding that he is only concerned with helping his team and becoming a better player.
Messi and Ronaldo have dominated world football’s most prestigious
awards in recent times, combining to win the last eight editions of the
FIFA Ballon D’Or award.
He said: “The press is always looking for comparisons and those kinds of things.
“The only thing I care about is helping my team and to keep on improving each season.
“I am not comparing myself to Cristiano Ronaldo or to anyone else. I
am only thinking about myself and my team-mates and winning games.”
The two players are due to meet in the el clasico, where both players
will have a chance to compete against each other for the second time in
the current season.
Extolling the talent in the rival team, Messi said: “Real Madrid have
some great players. They have always had some impressive stars and are
one of the best teams in the world.”
"You see, the only way you can
guarantee what you want for yourself is to keep your vibration purely on
what it is you want. When you finally understand that you will be free.
What appears in your life experience is solely and only a function of your
thoughts and beliefs. Otherwise, others could create in your experience and
that simply cannot happen. Others creating in your experience is a
violation of universal law. The universe is set up so that each and every
one may receive what is wanted no matter what the others are doing.
Life is a win–win situation. People receive what they are
focused upon. Your thoughts and beliefs precisely establish the content of
your vibration, to which all things in the universe respond. Those who
choose to focus in a disconnected way will live lives of disconnection.
Those who are focused in a positive way will live lives in a positive
condition, connected to the flow of universal energy. The parameters of
your existence may change if others change; but it will still be a positive
existence IF you keep your focus on what you want! It is simply up to you
what you choose; the universe has the capacity to respond. You may live
exactly as you choose to live. That’s the wonderful thing about this
universe –– the desires of everyone may be satisfied.
We want to say to you that you cannot lose, you are always and will
always receive a precise vibrational match to your desires no matter
whether you are a physically focused consciousness in a body, or whether
you are completely in ‘non–physical.’ Whatever you choose
as your place of vibration (thought, belief, and feeling) you will have a
matching experience. That is just the way it is! If you choose abundance
and prosperity you can experience it, in whatever form you envision.
As we have said over and over, you are the molder of your own
experiences! You are in charge, you are the writer and director of your own
life. Our message is 100% empowering because that is the way the universe
is set up. You are focused consciousness, an aspect or extension of
universal consciousness, which created and designed the universe. We want
you to know that the set–up for all life experience is a
win–win. There is no lose; unless, of course, you want to experience
that way.
Lighten up! Life is not supposed to be
‘serious,’ at least that was not what you intended before you
came here. As you lighten up and relax into your connection you will find
(as you have found) that life becomes simpler and more joyful and more
exciting!"
- Conversations with My Higher Self (A book
channeling the same entity known as "Abraham Hicks")
People living in South Asia have DNA from Denisovans, an early hominin, new research finds
The genes we borrowed from ancestor cousins may have helped us adapt to new environments but reduced our fertility
(CNN)Your ancestry can reveal a lot about you, including how related you are to cave men.
If
you have Chinese heritage, you might have slightly more Neanderthal in
your genome, while a new study finds that people from South Asia have
more Denisovan, another type of early human, in their DNA.
Evidence
started to emerge in 2010 that our distant ancestors interbred with
Neanderthals, the Stone Age hominins who populated Europe until around
40,000 years ago. We can all, with the exception of African people,
credit Neanderthals for around 2% of our genome. (Our ancestors
apparently started hooking up with their stocky cousins after moving out
of Africa.)
Now it seems
Neanderthals were not the only interbreeding game in town. The new study
finds that Denisovans interbred with the distant ancestors of people
living in what is now South Asia, including India, Bangladesh and
Pakistan. Previously the only people known to have detectable traces of
Denisovan DNA were in Papua New Guinea, Australia, China and other parts of East Asia.
The inter-hominin mating, both with Neanderthals and Denisovans, seemed to bestow our ancestors with advantageous traits, such as thicker hair (thanks, Neanderthals) and ability to live at high altitudes
(courtesy of Denisovans). However the new study suggests that there
could also have been evolutionary downsides to interbreeding, such as
reduced fertility.
"The
South Asia finding was a bit of a surprise. It is not explainable by
what we know about human history," said Sriram Sankararaman, assistant
professor of computer science and human genetics at the University of
California-Los Angeles. Sankararaman is the lead author of the study, which was published Monday in Current Biology.
Researchers
had been thinking that our ancestors could have picked up Denisovan DNA
just once, when one population of our ancestors intermingled with one
population of Denisovans, and then the descendants moved to East Asia
and the Pacific Islands. Although that still could have happened,
Sankararaman said these findings also raise the possibility that Homo
sapiens made babies with Denisovans in three different areas, including
South Asia.
The current study and
previous research suggest that we can no longer think of our ancestors
as interbreeding with other hominins only once, said John Hawks,
professor of anthropology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. "It is
happening repeatedly, wherever modern humans are coming into contact
with these archaic people," said Hawks, who was not involved in the
current study.
Of all the
nationalities today, Papua New Guineans and Australians can claim the
most Denisovan DNA, about 5% of their genome, followed by South Asians,
and then East Asians and Native Americans, all at around 2%. Europeans
have no detectable Denisovan DNA.
What's in your caveman genes?
Looking
at the kind of Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA we possess "is a first step
to understanding the (genomic) regions which might have been important
for modern humans," Sankararaman said. We can also learn a lot from the
regions of our genome where cave man DNA is glaringly absent.
The current study found some of the most prevalent Neanderthal genes are associated with thicker skin and hair, just as previous research concluded.
"You
have humans that lived in Africa, and now they are going into different
environments in the world and there are already populations (of
Neanderthals and Denisovans) that adapted to those environments. And so,
for the modern humans it almost makes sense that they borrow the genes
from them," Sankararaman said.
The
study also found evidence that our ancestors may not have passed on
certain parts of the genome from their hominin cousins, such as a less
evolutionarily advanced version of the FOXP2 gene, which is thought to
play a role in language and speech.
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"We
all agree there has been positive and negative selection. ... It is
interesting that similar regions in both Neanderthal and Denisovans,
like FOXP2, had negative selection," said Rasmus Nielsen, professor of
evolutionary biology at University of California-Berkeley, who was not
involved in the current research.
Another
group of genes that seems to be avoided by early humans, from an
evolutionary standpoint, is involved in reproduction. This finding
suggests that the offspring of an early human and Neanderthal or
Denisovan pairing could have been less able to procreate and pass on
their genes. If interbreeding reduces fertility, Hawks said, "that
creates the expectation that maybe (these three hominins) were different
species," which has been a matter of debate.
How she exits the Planalto, the presidential palace, matters greatly.
We continue to believe that, in the absence of proof of criminality, Ms
Rousseff’s impeachment is unwarranted. The proceeding against her in
Congress is based on unproven allegations that she used accounting
trickery to hide the true size of the budget deficit in 2015. This looks
like a pretext for ousting an unpopular president. The idea, put
forward by the head of the impeachment committee, that congressmen
deliberating Ms Rousseff’s fate will listen to “the street”, would set a
worrying precedent. Representative democracies should not be governed
by protests and opinion polls.
There are three ways of removing Ms Rousseff that rest on more
legitimate foundations. The first would be to show that she obstructed
the Petrobras investigation. Allegations by a PT senator that she did so
may now form the basis of a second impeachment motion, but they are so
far unproven and she denies them; Ms Rousseff’s attempt to shield Lula
from prosecution may provide further grounds. A second option would be a
decision by Brazil’s electoral court to call a new presidential
election. It may do that, if it finds that her re-election campaign in
2014 was financed with bribes channelled through Petrobras executives.
But this investigation will be drawn out. The quickest and best way for
Ms Rousseff to leave the Planalto would be for her to resign before
being pushed out.
Her departure would offer Brazil the chance of a fresh start. But the
president’s resignation would not, of itself, solve Brazil’s many
underlying problems. Her place would initially be taken by the
vice-president, Michel Temer, leader of the Party of the Brazilian
Democratic Movement. Mr Temer could head a national-unity government,
including opposition parties, which, in theory, might be able to embark
on the fiscal reforms needed to stabilise the economy and close a budget
deficit that is close to 11% of GDP.
Sadly, Mr Temer’s party is as deeply enmeshed in the Petrobras
scandal as the PT. Many politicians who would join a unity government,
including some from the opposition, are popularly seen as
representatives of a discredited ruling class. Of Congress’s 594
members, 352 face accusations of criminal wrongdoing. A new presidential
election would give voters an opportunity to entrust reforms to a new
leader. But even this would leave the rotten legislature in place until
2019.
The judiciary, too, has questions to answer. Judges deserve great
credit for holding Brazil’s mightiest businessmen and politicians to
account, but they have undermined their cause by flouting legal norms.
The latest example is Mr Moro’s decision to release recorded telephone
conversations between Lula and his associates, including Ms Rousseff.
Most jurists believe that only the supreme court may divulge
conversations in which one of the parties has legal immunity, as the
president does. This does not justify the claim from government
supporters that the judges are staging a “coup”. But it makes it easy
for lava jato suspects to divert attention from their own misdeeds to the blunders of their pursuers.
Brazil’s war of parties and personalities obscures some of the most
important lessons of the crisis. Both the Petrobras scandal and the
economic crash have their origins in misconceived laws and practices
that are decades old. Getting Brazil out of its mess requires wholesale
change: controlling public spending, including on pensions; overhauling
growth-crushing tax and labour laws; and reforming a political system
that encourages corruption and weakens political parties.
These can no longer be put off. Those chanting “Fora Dilma!” on the streets would claim victory if she was ousted. But for Brazil itself to win it would be just the first step.
When
Aston Martin releases a limited-run of a production car, they make sure
it’s special. From the Bond-themed DB10 auction they’re hosting, or
their highly customizable ‘Q by Aston Martin’ line, they make sure
buyers are treated to a unique automotive experience.
Aston Martin’s latest luxury car twist pays homage to The Blades,
Britain’s acrobatic aircraft display team made up of former RAF fast-jet
pilots, and former members of the Red Arrows.
The aircraft-inspired V8 Vantage S Blades Edition will be extremely
exclusive – just five will go to production. Each car is distinct with a
unique badge linking it directly to one of The Blades’ Extra 300SC and
Extra 300LP aircrafts.
Aston Martin is all about the experience though, so when the $170,000
cars are given to buyers in March, they’ll spend the full day with The
Blades team. British car and aviation hobbyists should act fast; there’s
only one model left for sale.
The details of Luis Suarez’s transfer from Liverpool to Barcelona have been leaked online.
The deal, worth £65 million, took place in July 2014 after the
Uruguayan won the European Golden Shoe, having netted 31 league goals
for Liverpool in the 2013/2014 season.
According to documents leaked online by Football Leaks, the Catalan
club still owe Liverpool the final instalment of the transfer payment.
The European and domestic champions have been paying £13 million
pounds every six months, which is a common practice in transfer deals in
football.
The documents also show that the Anfield side did not ask for any
performance-based add-ons, which is a common practice in the transfer of
high-calibre players such as the 29-year-old.
This is believed to have been caused by the furore generated when
Suarez bit Italian defender, Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup,
which earned him a four-month ban.
The Merseysiders were said to have been relieved to let him go after
the incident, following a series of incidents that also pitched him
against the club.
Football Leaks have on previous occasions leaked transfer documents
of many players in the Spanish league, many of whom are Real Madrid
stars.
Most Christians are unaware that Easter is a pagan festival surreptitiously merged with Christianity.
Easter is not a Christian holiday. The word Easter is not even
scriptural; it does not exist in true translations of the bible. Easter
was smuggled into the King James Bible in Acts 12:4, where it was
substituted for the original word; “Passover:” “When (Herod) had
apprehended (Peter), he put him in prison, and delivered him to four
quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him
forth to the people.
As a matter of fact, the word Easter only appears in the King James
Version of English bible translations. It does not exist in any other
English bible translation. Even the King James Version was forced to
remove it from its revised version, known as the New King James Version.
Queen of Heaven Most Christians are unaware that Easter is a pagan
festival surreptitiously merged with Christianity.
Noah’s son, Ham, married a woman called Ashtoreth. In some cultures,
Ashtoreth is called Ishtar, which is transliterated in English as
Easter. Ashtoreth made herself “the Queen of Heaven;” the goddess of
fertility and became an object of worship. This idol worship of
Ashtoreth, later camouflaged in Christendom as Easter, is specifically
forbidden in the scriptures. God says:
The women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and
they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to
anger. Do they provoke me to anger? Do they not provoke themselves, to
the shame of their own faces? Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold,
my anger and my fury will be poured out on this place.” (Jeremiah
7:17-20).
God punished Israel for succumbing to the worship of Ashtoreth
(Ishtar): “They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And
the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So he delivered them into
the hands of plunderers who despoiled them.” (Judges 2:13-14).
Accordingly, Samuel counselled Israel to forsake Ashtoreth (Ishtar)
worship:
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, ‘If you return
to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the
Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and
serve him only; and he will deliver you from the hand of the
Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7:3). Sun worship Ham and Ashtoreth gave birth
to a son called Nimrod. After Ham’s death, Nimrod married Ashtoreth; his
own mother, and became a powerful king of ancient Babylon.
When Nimrod was also killed, Ashtoreth deified him as sun-god or
life-giver. Indeed, Easter means “movement towards the rising sun.” It
pertains to the religious rites of people who worship the sun and the
signs of the heavens.
Sun worship is expressly forbidden in the scriptures. Ezekiel says:
“I was then led into the temple’s inner courtyard, where I saw about
twenty-five men standing near the entrance, between the porch and the
altar. Their backs were to the LORD’s temple, and they were bowing down
to the rising sun.
God said, ‘Ezekiel, it’s bad enough that the people of Judah are
doing these disgusting things.’” (Ezekiel 8:16-17). Nevertheless,
following this pagan tradition, “Sunrise Services” are conducted on
Easter Sunday mornings in many Christian denominations. Hot crossed buns
In Western Europe, it is traditional to eat hot-crossed buns on Easter
Sunday morning. This is where we get the limerick: “Hot crossed buns;
hot crossed buns. One a-penny, two a-penny, hot cross buns.
These small sweet buns are usually decorated with solar crosses made
of white icing. They were consecrated in ancient Greece to the goddess
of the sunrise. In ancient Babylon, the buns were offered to the Queen
of Heaven; the goddess of Easter. Pagan Lent After the death of Nimrod,
Ashtoreth (Ishtar) gave birth to Tammuz, a son she claimed was Nimrod
reborn.
When Tammuz was killed by a wild boar, Ashtoreth instituted an annual
ritual of 40 days of mourning for Baal worshippers, when no meat was
allowed to be eaten. This pagan tradition of “weeping for Tammuz” is
specifically proscribed in the scriptures. God said to Ezekiel: “Turn
again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.
So he brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’S house;
and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.” (Ezekiel
8:13-14). Nevertheless, weeping for Tammuz has been absorbed into
Christianity by the institution of Lent; a 40-day period of fasting and
prayer observed in some Christian denominations as a prelude to Easter.
Just like Easter, Lent is not scriptural. Neither the word nor the
custom exist in the bible. Lent begins, according to Christian
tradition, on Ash Wednesday; which is also pagan. The ashes were said to
be the seed of the Indian fire god, Agni, deemed to have the power to
forgive sins. Easter egg Because of their prolific nature in
reproduction, rabbits were associated with Ishtar, the goddess of
fertility. This is where Christians borrowed the tradition of the Easter
bunny.
Ancient Babylonians believed an egg fell into the Euphrates River
from the moon. Queen Ishtar was apparently “hatched” from this egg. This
moon egg was called Ishtar’s egg; which became in Christendom Easter
egg. Shifting date Have you noticed that your birthday falls on
different days from year to year? So how come the celebration of Easter
always falls on Friday and on Sunday? Moreover, unlike your birthday,
the date for Easter changes from year to year.
Sometimes it is in March; sometimes in April. Easter moves from year
to year because the date has nothing to do with the death and
resurrection of Jesus but with the changing cycles of the moon. Easter
is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first Vernal Equinox full
moon; which is consecrated by pagans as Ishtar’s Sunday. This signifies
the astronomical arrival of spring. The pagan belief is that the sun
dies at winter (Christmas) and is reborn at spring (Easter).
Good Saturday Good Friday is also a misnomer. Jesus was not crucified
on a Friday. The week in which he was crucified contained two Sabbaths
and he was crucified on a Wednesday. The following Thursday was a high
Sabbath day; the first day of unleavened bread. Jesus did not resurrect
on a Sunday. He resurrected on a Saturday, which was a regular weekly
Sabbath day different from the high Sabbath of the preceding Thursday.
Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb on Sunday morning, while it was
still dark.
Christians should realise that from Friday evening to Sunday morning
does not constitute three days and three nights in the grave, but one
day and two nights. The decision to change the day of the resurrection
to Sunday was simply a continuation of the Babylonian tradition. Nimrod
was ostensibly resurrected on a Sunday; a day devoted to worshipping the
sun.
By AD 321, Constantine established Sunday as part of the official
state religion, and the Sabbath was statutorily changed from Saturday to
Sunday. Christians should desist from celebrating Easter: “Thus says
the LORD: ‘Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the
signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the
customs of the peoples are vanity.’” (Jeremiah 10:2-3).
Emeka
Ike, the President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria has voiced out on the
condition of his opposition and past president of the body, Ibinabo
Fiberesima.
In a chat with Saturday Beats, the AGN President warned that the
Actress who has surrounded herself with the wrong set of people could be
back in jail yet again for contempt of court.
Clearing the air on issues, Emeka Ike said; ”My victory at the court
has nothing to do with Ibinabo’s predicament. This case is different and
if Ibinabo is going to go to jail for my own case, they should come and
beg me. Instead of them to come and beg me, they are still going to the
press to say all sorts of rubbish about me. There is still a second
jail term for Ibinabo. It is called contempt of court and it would also
include Segun Arinze. People have threatened to kill me but I am not
scared of them. I am waiting for them and I would look them in the face
and tell them that they are evil and I am righteous.
“I did not take the issue to the police but straight to the court and
I am happy that justice has been served. Anyone that ties Ibinabo’s
plight to my victory is only trying to blackmail me and I know they
would not stop blackmailing me. How can anyone say that I sent Ibinabo
to jail? Am I the Giwa family or the government?
“How can I be happy that Ibinabo has been sentenced to jail? I feel
very bad. The people saying that I am happy about the sentence are
actually Ibinabo’s enemies.
This is a lady that was used because of the powers she could garner
and control. Some people were using her and now that they have messed
her up, they are still using her in prison. Ibinabo would never say that
Emeka Ike sent her to jail, it is impossible.because she knows why she
is there. What I was only telling Nigerians is that people of Ibinabo’s
status do not contest for any public office. Should we stop telling the
truth? She had a criminal issue in court.
“Let’s leave sentiments, we have to be realistic. I cannot be happy
about her predicament because it is rather unfortunate that she is
surrounded by the wrong people and advisers; she was surrounded by
sycophants. Instead of them to tell her how to solve her problem, they
were pushing her to jail and now that she is in jail, they will not
leave her alone.
“Why did they not advise her to form a team and go to Giwa’s family
house and roll on the floor for forgiveness? They could have sent her
away for days but they would not send her away forever. We are a
cultural people, I am sure that after going repeatedly, an elder in the
family would plead on her behalf and say something like, ‘our son is
dead and nothing can bring him back, let us just forgive her.’ She
should have been very remorseful but she wasn’t. We told Nigerians that
some of us would not agree but they began to call us names because we
took the matter to court,”
Apostle
Johnson Suleiman, President of the Omega Fire Ministries, during a
sermon called out the Governor of Kaduna state, stating that his days
were numbered and that he would die.
The Pastor it seems, is taking exception to the proposed bill in
Kaduna that will make it compulsory for preachers to get licences before
they can preach.
A lot of people have already reacted unfavourably to El-Rufai’s plans, with many calling it a plot to Islamize Nigeria.
The pastor took it further in his impassioned sermon, calling the
Governor names, arguing that he was not only against the will of God but
also against the constitution and even referencing the rumor that he
was slapped by his Deputy Barnabas Bantex.
Sex
Doll? Yes Sex Doll, this Chinese man married the sex doll after being
diagnosed with cancer. In a couple of romantic wedding photographs, you
would think the bride is a real person, the man claimed that he doesn’t
want to leave a bereaved widow after his death.
The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fasoye, has described the President’s trip to the United States as needless.
The aircraft-inspired V8 Vantage S Blades Edition will be extremely
exclusive – just five will go to production. Each car is distinct with a
unique badge linking it directly to one of The Blades’ Extra 300SC and
Extra 300LP aircrafts.
