SABINEWS MIDDAY NEWS UPDATE FOR JANUARY 11, 2015
Edo: Rising Storm in APC Over Oshiomhole’s Choice Of Obaseki
Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is in the eye of the storm over Godwin Obaseki, as his choice of successor, ahead of this year’s governorship election in the state.
This has heightened political tension in state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with political stakeholders and governorship aspirants kicking and strategizing to woo or arm-twist delegates to the party’s primaries billed for March. Read more
Mob attacks migrants in Germany
A group of Pakistanis and a Syrian were violently attacked by about 20 unknown assailants late Sunday in the German city of Cologne, police said.
With tensions running high over more than 300 reported assaults against women on New Year’s Eve in the western city blamed on migrants, police said Monday that the mob attacked six Pakistanis, two of whom had to be hospitalised. Read more
Lassa Fever: Another National Threat
The Lassa Fever re-emergence mortality rate has increased to 43.2 per cent and has claimed the lives of 40 people out of 86 reported cases. Also, laboratories have confirmed 17 cases which are indicative of a new round-trip of the fever outbreak as 80 per cent of human infections are asympomatic while the remaining cases have severe multi-system disease, where the virus affects several organs such as the liver, spleen and kidneys. Read more
Federal Lawmakers And The Burden Of Public Aversion
For many years, the annual budget of the National Assembly stood at a stinking N150 billion. This went for an assembly that consists just 469 lawmakers in total. This staggering sum made it possible for the lawmakers to indulge themselves with cash, regularly creaming away enviable chunks from the budget as personal allowances. With this budget, the lawmakers cumulative wardrobe allowance, translated to N8.64 billion, which equalled to N17.5 million each for the 360 members of the House of Representatives, and N21.5 each for each of the 109 senators. Read more
Ballon d’Or final lists
The Ballon d’Or for 2015 will be awarded on Monday with Lionel Messi tipped to win the prize for a fifth time.
AFP Sports looks at the finalists in all the categories:
Ballon d’Or:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Real Madrid) 2. Lionel Messi (ARG/Barcelona) 3. Neymar (BRA/Barcelona)
Women’s Ballon d’Or:
1. Carli Lloyd (USA/Houston Dash) 2. Aya Miyama (JPN/Okoyama Yunogo Belle) 3. Celia Sasic (GER/FFC Frankfurt)
NUFBTE calls for forex policy review on tomato paste
The National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) has called on the presidency to prevail on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review the forex policy listing of triple concentrate tomato paste among the 41 items banned from accessing foreign exchange from the official window. Read more
Egypt: schools without violence
In 2006, the Egyptian government has established a National Plan for the Elimination of Violence against Children. However, almost ten years later, the phenomenon remains widespread. Indeed, many studies show that Egyptian children continue to face worrying violence rates in particular in environments where they are supposed to be safe: home and school. Given the persistence of the phenomenon, Terre des hommes (Tdh) has set up a new project to improve the protection of children in schools located in Asyut governorate in Upper-Egypt. Read more
European values need not be threatened by migrant influx -pope
Pope Francis warned on Monday that the recent huge influx of migrants risked overwhelming European values and traditions, but he said he was sure the continent could resolve the crisis and emerge strengthened by the new arrivals.
“The present wave of migration seems to be undermining the foundations of that ‘humanistic spirit’ which Europe has always loved and defended,” the pope said in an annual address to diplomats at the Vatican City. Read more
German state minister says foreigners behind Cologne violence
People of foreign descent were responsible for virtually all of the violence on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, a German state interior minister said on Monday, adding that this included migrants that arrived in Germany over the past year. Read more
Suspected case of low risk bird flu found at Scottish farm
A suspected case of avian flu has been discovered at a Scottish farm, Scotland’s government said on Monday, adding it was believed to be a low risk form of the virus.
A temporary 1 km (0.6 mile) control zone has been put in place around the farm in Fife north of the Scottish capital Edinburgh after a strain of H5 avian influenza was detected, the government said. Read more
