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The Theatre Command of Operation Lafiya Dole operating in the North East of Nigeria is set to reopen some major roads in Borno after over three years. The roads to be opened are Konduga – Bama, Bama – Banki and Bama – Gwoza roads. The theatre command is expected to officially open the road first week of March. The roads to be reopened are among the major and most strategic roads in Borno, linking the state to Adamawa and other borders markets and towns of the state. Throughout the period of closure, motorists take several hours and days to access the local governments via Damboa. With this development, almost all major roads in the state are reopened. Two years ago, in July 2016, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. TY Buratai who was with his men on the front lines of the war against Boko Haram just last Saturday, re-opened the Maiduguri – Dikwa – Gomboru road. Other roads reopened after several months and years of closure are Maiduguri – Damboa road and Maiduguri – Baga r...

World leaders are undermining human rights for millions of people with regressive policies and hate-filled rhetoric, but their actions have ignited global protest movements in response, a rights group said. US President  Donald Trump , Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and China's President  Xi Jinping were among a number of politicians who rolled out regressive policies in 2017, according to Amnesty International's annual human rights report published on Thursday. The human rights body also mentioned the leaders of Egypt, the Philippines and Venezuela. "The spectres of hatred and fear now loom large in world affairs, and we have few governments standing up for human rights in these disturbing times," Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary-general, said. "Instead, leaders such as el-Sisi, Duterte, Maduro, Putin, Trump and Xi are callously undermining the rights of millions." Amnesty's The State of the World's Human Rights report cites Trump...

On January 21,  Therese  Kapangala, a 24-year-old Congolese woman  studying to be a nun , left her home in Kinshasa to attend church in the Commune of Kintambo. Therese never returned home. She was  shot by security forces  outside her church, just after Sunday mass. The bullet entered her arm and went to her heart. She died on the way to the hospital.   On that day, many others, including Serge Kikunda, Packson Kabadiatshi, and Hussein Ngandu were also  killed  by security forces. The Catholic Church and civil society organisations suspect many others have also been killed by regime forces across the Congolese capital on the very same day. But Congolese officials insist that only six people have died. Of course, enormous discrepancies in death toll estimates are quite common in the Democratic Republic of Congo  - the repressive regime frequently tries to downplay the number of its victims.   Yet, there was something unique i...

Following a suspected Boko Haram attack on a school in northeast Nigeria, some of the missing schoolgirls have been found, according to a local government official and a senior military source. Police said on Wednesday that 111 girls from the state-run boarding school in Dapchi, in Yobe state, were unaccounted for following an attack by the armed group on Monday night. Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for Yobe Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, said late on Wednesday that "some of the girls ... have been rescued by gallant officers and men of the Nigerian Army from the terrorists who abducted them". He added: "The rescued girls are now in the custody of the Nigerian army." Bego's statement was the first confirmation that the girls were abducted. Initially, the students were reported to have fled the attack with their teachers at the sound of gunfire. A senior military source in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, told AFP news agency that the schoolgirls "were...

American evangelical preacher Billy Graham has died. (PA Archive/PA Images) More Billy Graham , the famed evangelist who became known as  “America’s Pastor,”   has died at the age of 99, The Associated Press reported. Graham died at his home Wednesday morning from natural causes, a family spokesman told   ABC News. Born in 1918  in Charlotte, North Carolina, William Franklin Graham Jr. was the oldest of the four children of William and Morrow Graham. He was raised on a dairy farm, and little in his childhood suggested he would become a world-renowned preacher. Then at 16, Graham attended a series of revival meetings run by outspoken evangelist  Mordecai Ham . The two months he spent listening to Ham’s sermons on sin sparked a spiritual awakening in Graham and prompted him to enroll at Bob Jones College. When the conservative Christian school’s strict doctrine didn’t align with his personal beliefs, he  transferred to the Florida Bibl...

The strikes in Syria demonstrate to Iran, Assad, Hezbollah and any other anti-Israel party that Israel has red lines it will enforce. Israel's Syria Strikes Revealed Its Red Lines During a trip to the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights on February 6—after commiserating with the Israeli military officers defending the frontier and inspecting the equipment—Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a warning through the press to the Iranians, the Assad regime, Hezbollah, the Islamic State and any other actor on the Syrian battlefield that sought to challenge the Jewish state. Israel,  Netanyahu assured , wants peace for everybody in the region. But if anyone dares attack Israel in any way, “we are prepared for any scenario, and I do not suggest anyone test us.” Apparently the Iranians didn’t get the message. Or maybe they just waved it away, calculating that Netanyahu would not risk a wider regional war by retaliating in such a forceful fashion. Iran’s Revolution...

Laolu Akande, Abuja:  The Buhari administration, in line with its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, would continue to ensure the implementation of policies to drive socio-economic growth and prosperity, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. Prof. Osinbajo stated this today at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when he received a delegation from the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). “I think that no one is in doubt that we have very great policies and we will ensure that these things are implemented and are done as faithfully as possible,” he said. The Vice President further said that the private sector in Nigeria will continue to play a prominent role in the economic programmes and initiatives of the Buhari administration. He noted the significance of private sector investment in the economy, adding that collaboration between the Federal Government and the private sector will further boost the country’s economic progress. According to Prof. Osinbajo, ...

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) Hundreds of schoolgirls escaped possibly being kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram attackers who raided their school in northeast Nigeria on Monday, officials said. The schoolgirls fled into the bush with their teachers after hearing gunfire as the militants descended on the town of Dapchi in Yobe State, the state's police commissioner said. "The children left into the bush before the invaders came," Abdulmalik Sunmonu told CNN. Agonized Chibok parents still pray for missing girls, 3 years later The commissioner said the attackers looted food items from the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Dapchi. Witnesses told CNN that terrified residents of the town also fled when they saw trucks and motorcycles carrying armed men who shot at people randomly. Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in Chibok in April of 2014, setting off global outrage. Many of the Chibok girls were freed after negotiations, but more ...

Reactions Sign in to like   Reblog on Tumblr   Share   Tweet   Email Some people’s idea of justice is an eye for an eye, but China wants “severe punishment” for a man who stole a clay thumb. Michael Rohana, 24, was charged last week for allegedly breaking a thumb off the left hand of a 2,000-year-old  terra-cotta warrior  on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The incident is said to have occurred in December while he attended the museum’s ugly Christmas sweater party. The FBI said Rohana snuck away from the party and used a cellular telephone as a flashlight to look at exhibits that were displayed in a closed-off showroom. At one point, he stepped up onto a platform supporting  one of the statues on display and took a selfie,  according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.  Security cameras show Rohana putting his hand on the left hand of the statue, and then appearing to break something off from its left ...

Reactions   Sign in to like   Reblog on Tumblr   Share   Tweet   Email Bobsledders from Nigeria and Jamaica made history at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Tuesday. Bobsledders from Nigeria and Jamaica made history at the  Winter Olympics  in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Tuesday. In the two-women bobsleigh event, Nigeria’s  Seun Adigun  and  Akuoma Omeoga  became the first bobsled team to  represent an African nation . Alongside skeleton athlete  Simidele Adeagbo , they are also  the first athletes  from their country to compete in a winter olympiad. Jamaica’s  Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian  and Carrie Russell, meanwhile, became the Caribbean island’s first Olympic female bobsledders — following a tricky week in which their coach, Sandra Kiriasis, resigned and put their competition into jeopardy after she  threatened to take the team’s bobsled . They f...