GRAPHITTI
NEWS collates national and international highlights from late-breaking news,
up-coming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:
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In this photo taken with a mobile phone Tuesday,
Sept. 16. 2014 in Abuja Nigeria. Unidentified military prosecutors sit in the
front row, while soldiers accused of an attack on their commander appear before
a court martial in Abuja. (AP Photo)
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1.
12 NIGERIAN TROOPS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MUTINY
Twelve
soldiers fighting an Islamic insurgency in northeast Nigeria have been
sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny and attempted murder of their
commanding officer.
In
a decision read early Tuesday by Brig. Gen. Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, the military
tribunal found 12 soldiers guilty and five others innocent. One was sentenced
to 28 days in jail with hard labour.
All
the accused denied the charges. They all appeared to be in their 20s, and
ranged in rank from private to corporal.
The
revolt occurred after a convoy of soldiers was ordered to drive at night on a
road frequently attacked by Boko Haram Islamic extremists. The soldiers
initially refused, saying it was a suicide mission. But they eventually
followed orders and were ambushed on May 13 by insurgents on the road from the
northeast town of Chibok. An unknown number were killed.
The
convicted soldiers are Cpl. David Musa, Cpl. David Robert, Cpl. Jasper Baido,
Cpl. Mohammed Sani, L/Cpl. Friday Onu, L/Cpl. Yusuf Shuaibu, L/Cpl. Emmanuel
Iganmu, L/Cpl. Stephen Clement, Priv. Andrew Gbede, Priv. Nurudeen Ahmed, Priv.
Ifeanyi Anukabe, Priv. Alao Samuel, Priv. Alan Linus, Priv. Namaan Samuel,
Priv. Ichocho Jeremiah, Priv. Sebastine Amah and Priv. Amadi Chukwudi.
One
of the soldiers, Private Ise Ubong, was, however, discharged and acquitted,
having been found innocent of all the charges.
Four
soldiers were also discharged and acquitted while one soldier was sentenced to
28 days imprisonment with hard labour.
The
soldiers were arraigned before the court martial on a six-count charge of
criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, disobeying lawful orders and various acts
inimical to military service.
The
nine-member all-military court martial also found the soldiers guilty of
insubordination, use of abusive language and levelling of false accusation
against their superior officers, among others.
2.
UN NAMES DICAPRIO A MESSENGER OF PEACE
The
United Nations has named Leonardo DiCaprio a UN Messenger of Peace with a
special focus on climate change.
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made the announcement Tuesday, calling DiCaprio
"a credible voice in the environmental movement." He also invited the
actor to the upcoming UN Climate Summit planned for September 23.
DiCaprio
said he was honored by the role and that he feels "a moral obligation to
speak out at this key moment in human history" about the threat of climate
change.
Messengers
of Peace are selected from the arts, music, literature and sports. They agree
to help bring attention to UN work. Previous actors named to the honor include
George Clooney, Edward Norton and Charlize Theron.
The
39-year-old "Wolf of Wall Street" star founded an environmental
foundation in 1998.
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In this Dec. 15, 2013 file photo, American actor
Leonardo DiCaprio poses for a portrait, in New York. (Photo by Victoria
Will/Invision/AP, File)
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3. US
WILLING TO INVOLVE TEHRAN IN FIGHT AGAINST MILITANTS
Secretary
of State Kerry rules out any military coordination, however, with its longtime
foe against the Islamic State group.
4.
EXTREMISTS SET RULES FOR SCHOOL
In
Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, the Islamic State militants decree a ban on
art and music among other classroom prohibitions.
5.
WHY MICROSOFT'S US$2.5B BET ON MINECRAFT CARRIES RISK
Gamers
are a fickle bunch and today's popular hit could be tomorrow's dud.
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This July 3, 2014 file photo taken with a
fisheye lens shows Microsoft Corp. signage outside the Microsoft Visitor Center
in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo Ted S. Warren, File)
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6.
STUDY: FRACKING NOT TO BLAME FOR TAINTED GROUNDWATER
The
contamination in several highly publicized cases in the U.S. was instead caused
by problems with pipes and seals in natural gas wells, scientists say.
7.
MATCH-FIXING DETERRENT TOO EXPENSIVE SAY MALAYSIANS
The
Malaysian Football Association (FAM) have baulked at the US$50 a match cost of
employing Sportsradar to monitor betting practices but are open to cheaper
suggestions on how to tackle match-fixing in their domestic leagues.
Sportsradar
have become synonymous with soccer's battle to rid the game of match-fixing and
have partnerships with regional confederations UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC as
well as the English Premier League and Bundesliga.
The
organisation say they process 432 million odds movements per day at over 350
bookmakers in Asia and Europe and were responsible for unearthing a
match-fixing scandal in Australia league last year which led to a Malaysian
national getting a jail sentence.
But
the FAM are unsure if the service proves value for money and were hopeful the
Swiss organisation would drop their price.
"Our
vetting, monitoring and integrity committee had a fruitful meeting with
Sportsradar last year," FAM general secretary Hamidin Mohd Amin was quoted
as saying by Tuesday's New Straits Times. "The only hiccup is the fee of US$50
for each match, which we feel is too expensive.
"We
are open to anyone with an effective method to monitor corruption in the
M-League."
Malaysia
has struggled to dispel the problems of match-fixing with numerous cases over
the years.
Last
year, five players and three team officials from Malaysian lower league team
Kuala Lumpur were handed life bans after being found guilty of match-fixing. A
further 17 players in the team were fined for accepting bribes.
One
of those, goalkeeper Azizon Abdul Kadir who now plays for Police, was called up
to the national team by new coach Dollah Salleh for Sunday's friendly loss to
Indonesia.
Azizon's
first start in seven years for the national team following the match-fixing
incident drew the ire of Johor FA President Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
"The
question now is what is national coach Dollah Salleh thinking? This is a very
disturbing issue and indirectly shows weaknesses in the management," he
was quoted as saying by state agency Bernama after the match.
"We
truly need a coach who can evaluate players based on their performance and
merit and not otherwise."
7.
MIGRANT DEATH TOLL SPIKES
The
number of people killed this year fleeing Africa for Europe across the
Mediterranean is pushing toward a record 3,000.
8.
ONE IN EVERY NINE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD IS STILL CHRONICALLY HUNGRY
The
good news is that there are 200 million fewer people suffering from
undernourishment today than there were 20 years ago. The bad news is that
more than 800 million are still chronically hungry.
The
latest Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, which were included
in a new report
released Tuesday by the United Nations, found significant declines in
the number of hungry people around the world, including more than 100 million
people over the past decade alone. The global rate of undernourishment has
fallen from just under 19 percent to just over 11 percent since 1992, and from
23.4 to 13.5 percent in developing countries, over the same period.
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There's plenty
of food, but not everyone is being fed. (Pat Roque/AP Photo)
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Latin
America and the Caribbean, a region that has historically been plagued by
hunger, has made particularly impressive progress in its efforts to eradicate
hunger—the number of undernourished people living in the region has fallen
nearly by half, from 69 million to 37 million, since 1992. Asia made
considerable strides, too—the number of hungry people living in the
region has fallen by more than 215 million over the same period. In
China alone the number has fallen by 138 million.
In
percentage terms, some of the improvements are even more encouraging. In
Southeast Asia, for instance, nearly a third of the population suffered from
chronic undernourishment between 1990 and 1992, but that share has since
fallen to just over 10 percent. And in Latin America, it has fallen from 14.4
percent to 5.1 percent over the same period.
9.
DAIRY FOOD 'LOWERS DIABETES RISK'
People
who take eight or more portions of high-fat dairy produce each day are at a
lower risk of developing diabetes than those who have only one portion a day,
new research shows.
A
study of almost 27,000 people aged between 45 and 74, 60% of whom were female, showed
that those who increased their intake of foods including cream and high-fat
milk had a 23% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
While
there was an increased risk with a greater intake of meats, that risk became
higher for those who took meat containing less fat, the study by Dr Ulrika
Ericson and her colleagues at the Lund University Diabetes Centre in Malmo,
Sweden, claimed.
Dr
Ericson said the research, presented at this year's annual meeting of the
European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna, showed fats specific
to dairy products "may have a role in prevention of type 2 diabetes".
She
said: "Our observations may contribute to clarifying previous findings
regarding dietary fats and their food sources in relation to T2D (type 2
diabetes).
"The
decreased risk at high intakes of high-fat dairy products, but not of low-fat
dairy products, indicate that dairy fat, at least partly, explains observed
protective associations between dairy intake and T2D.
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Diabetes UK
said more research is needed, following the study
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Dr
Richard Elliot, Diabetes UK Research Communications Manager, said more research
is needed and warned people against adding high fat dairy products to their
diets in a bid to protect against type 2 diabetes.
"Consumption
of dairy products can form part of a healthy diet, but it's important to be
aware of the amount you consume as they can be high in calories which can
contribute to becoming overweight, and therefore increase your risk of Type 2
diabetes.
"More
research will be needed before we change our advice that the best way to reduce
your risk of type 2 diabetes is by maintaining a healthy weight through
increased physical activity and a balanced diet that is low in salt, saturated
fat and sugar and rich in fruit and vegetables."
10.
WHICH NFL STAR'S BEEN CLEARED TO PLAY
Running
back Adrian Peterson, accused of child abuse, returns to the Minnesota Vikings
after being benched one game.
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Head coach Mike Zimmer listens as Vikings
general manager Rick Spielman talked with reporters Monday Sept. 15, 2014 in
Eden Prairie, Minn., about the decision to allow Adrian Peterson to return to
the team. The Vikings had benched Peterson after news broke Friday that he had
used a wooden switch to spank his 4-year-old son, causing unspecified injuries.
(AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Jerry Holt)
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11.
SYNAGOGUE DEATH TOLL NOW 49 AS SNIFFER DOGS FAIL TO ARRIVE
Although
the Nigeria Police authorities yesterday deployed sniffer dogs to the scene of
last Friday’s collapsed building owned by the Synagogue Church of All Nations,
SCOAN in Ikotun area of Lagos, with a view to assisting rescue workers locate
the exact positions of trapped victims, the handlers came without the special
breed canines.
The
vehicle said to be conveying the dogs to the scene reportedly broke down
midway, thereby depriving rescue operators of their use.
An
optimistic South West Spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency,
NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, however said; ‘’All things being equal, the rescue
operation will be concluded by say 2.00pm tomorrow (Today).’’
This
is as the death toll rose to 49,with the recovery of additional five dead
bodies between 5am and 5.35pm yesterday.
However
during the course of search and rescue, electrical items under the debris ,
according to the Lagos State Fire Service, resulted in a fire outbreak.
As
at 1.40pm, excavation work was close to the second floor where majority of the
victims were believed to have been trapped. But locating their exact positions
became a challenge, as some of the rescue workers told Vanguard that there was
every likely hood that the excavator might cause more damage if proper care was
not taken.
Consequently,
a collective decision according to Farinloye, was reached to involve sniffer
dogs.
“We
are deploying Nigeria Police sniffer dogs to assist in locating trapped victims
as we are getting close to the area suspected to have more people trapped.
‘’The
Commissioner of Police, Lagos State ordered the release of five dogs after a
collective decision to use dogs by responding agencies.
‘’NEMA
has requested the Police Disaster Unit to manage the dogs. The dogs were to
assist in search and rescue faster and help early conclusion of the
operations”, Farinloye said.
Meanwhile,
24 hours after the visit of Governor Babatunde Fashola to the scene of the
collapsed building, SCOAN as gathered, was yet to produce the approval for the
collapsed building.
It
would be recalled that during the visit, the Lagos State Commissioner for
Physical planning, Mr Toyin Ayinde, revealed that the 5-storey building had no
government approval for its construction.
Ayinde
who said records in his office showed that no permit was handed to the civil
engineers for the building to be erected, however added that he was awaiting
the church engineers to present the building permit they were given to erect
the collapsed building.
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| Rubbles from the collapsed building. |
12.
WOMAN ‘WALKS OUT ALIVE’ AFTER BEING TRAPPED FOR 3 DAYS AT COLLAPSED SYNAGOGUE
BUILDING; DEATH TOLL NOW 59
A
45-year-old-woman on Tuesday walked out alive from the rubbles of the collapsed
building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos, the News
Agency of Nigeria quoted a rescue worker as saying.
The
building collapsed on Friday.
Mr
Ibrahim Farinloye, the public relations officer of the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), south-west zone, told journalists in Lagos that the
woman walked out on her own at 2am.
Farinloye
did not give the identity of the woman. He
said that death toll from the building collapse had increased to 59, compared
to 49 as at Monday as he disclosed 131 persons had been rescued alive.
“A
woman of about 45 years old walked out of the rubbles on her own around 2a.m
today, while 10 more bodies were recovered, leaving 59 dead and 131 rescued
alive,” Farinloye said.
He
said that the rescue workers were likely to recover more bodies. Emergency
workers at the scene of the collapsed building on Tuesday deployed three
police sniffer dogs to help to locate trapped victims.
The
Lagos state commissioner of police, Mr Kayode Aderanti, had on Monday approved
the use of the sniffer dogs for the rescue operations.
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