GRAPHITTI NEWS : 2015-01-18

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Fuel Price Reduction: Why We Won’t Drop Fares – Transporters

Despite the reduction in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol by the federal government this week, investigations in various states across the country revealed that there was yet to be a commensurate reduction in transport fares and other commodities, according to Leadership Weekend.

Jimmy Savile (Reuters / Paul Hackett)

More Britons than ever are reporting sex crimes in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, according to new government figures published on Friday. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), there were 24,043 rapes and nearly 500,000 other sexual offences reported in the year ending September 2014, making it the highest level of sexual assault ever recorded.

New research carried out over 90 years has found that up to half of California’s iconic big trees have disappeared, with scientists suspecting climate change as the prime reason.

Bradford will now enter the hat for the fifth round of the FA Cup

Chelsea surrendered a two-goal advantage to lose 4-2 at home to third tier Bradford City while Manchester City were beaten 2-0 by visiting Middlesbrough on an astonishing day of FA Cup shocks today.

Patrick Bamford celebrates scoring Middlesbrough's opener (Photo: Press Association)

Patrick Bamford, Chelsea FC loanee and second half Kike struck one goal apiece as Championship side Middlesbrough produced a shock 2-0 win over Premier League champions Manchester City in the FA Cup, according to results monitored via Supersport by GRAPHITTI NEWS reporter.

President Goodluck Jonathan at a Presidential rally

Buhari’s Certificate: Attacks Backfire On Jonathan, PDP

A number of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders from the North are at loggerheads with the party’s presidential campaign council over the controversy surrounding the secondary school certificate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, rtd.

As at 2009, over N74.4 trillion (US$400 billion) of Nigeria’s wealth was stolen by high level Nigerian public officials, the co-Chairman, Nigeria Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment Secretariat, Sam Onyeka, has disclosed, according to The Nation.

This still image apparently showing Kenji Goto holding a picture of Haruna Yukawa's body appeared alongside the recording, but some have said it looks Photoshopped.

The Japanese government has branded a new audio recording purporting to be from one of the hostages pictured with Jihadi John 'outrageous and disgusting', but cannot confirm if it is genuine.

Reuters / Alessandro Bianchi

Scientists in Sweden have identified the gene that causes a syndrome affecting the muscles in a fetus. It lessens the movement of a baby in the uterus, reduces growth, deforms limbs and underdevelops lungs, which eventually causes late fetal death, according to RT.com.

Ms Teixeira says the government will promote awareness campaigns in the areas affected by the drought

Brazil's Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira has said the country's most populous region is experiencing its worst drought since 1930. The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais must save water, she said after an emergency meeting in the capital, Brasilia.

Ms Teixeira described the water crisis as "delicate" and "worrying".

419 (Obtaining By Tricks): The World Of The Nigerian Fraudster – Vanguard On Saturday (LONG READ)

See this thought-provoking piece on Nigerian Scammers and the various 419 or Yahoo Yahoo scams culled from Vanguard On Saturday, written by Chioma Gabriel. Note that it is a long read.

Image source: howtoselloncraiglistebook.com

SPECIAL REPORT

By Chioma Gabriel

Their modus operandi is unique. It could be that man in your neighbourhood who doesn’t seem to have any visible means of livelihood but lives big and drives the best cars. He might even have a business front but lives larger than the business that you begin to wonder if his lifestyle is strictly derived from that business you know.

A stoppage-time goal from captain and former Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan handed Avram Grant's Ghana side a vital win, and leaves their qualification hopes for the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in their own hands.

People visit Disneyland on January 22, 2015 in Anaheim, California ©Frederic J. Brown (AFP)

A measles outbreak centered around Disneyland in California has spread to six more US states and Mexico, and an international visitor to the theme park likely sparked the health alert, officials said Friday.

The Cavendish banana: Bananas are the world’s most consumed and exported fruit. (Photo; Getty’s Images)

International concern is growing over the spread of Fusarium wilt, known as Panama disease, as there are fears it could destroy entire countries’ plantations of the Cavendish banana – the most popular and exported variety of the fruit in the world.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke

Despite the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol from N97 to N87 per litre, the Federal Government has said it will still pay subsidy on the product for the next 40 days.

The government explained that fuel consumed in Nigeria was “heavily subsidized” before the global crunch in crude oil prices, adding that it would take some time before subsidy on the product would stop.

Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) (Image source: VOA/Photo AP)

The Cambridge Assessment (formerly known as University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, UCLES) in response to requests to prove the authenticity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s exam certificate, has said on Friday that it will not be able to do so.

EBOLA OUTBREAK: Sierra Leone Lifts Ebola Quarantines As Crisis Eases; Death Toll At 8,626 As Of January 18

Sierra Leone on Friday lifted crippling nationwide restrictions on movement put in place at the height of the Ebola crisis, amid signs that the deadly epidemic was retreating.

Around 200 volunteers are already testing the candidate vaccine in smaller-scale trials Britain, the United States, Switzerland and Mali, with initial results showing it to be safe.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said on Friday its candidate Ebola vaccine was expected to arrive in Liberia later in the day.

Looters make off with goods from a store in Soweto, South Africa, Thursday, Jan 22, 2015. About 70 people in South Africa have been arrested because of violent protests and looting, much of which was aimed at shops owned by nationals from other African countries, local media reported Thursday. (AP Photo)

Days of violence and looting of foreign-owned shops in South Africa have left at least two people dead and 153 arrested in the Johannesburg area, police said Friday.

Three World Cup sponsors have ended their relationships with FIFA

Three major FIFA sponsors have ended their relationships with world football's governing body, it has emerged.

Image from an online video released by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, purports to show the group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages that the militants identify as Kenji Goto Jogo, left, and Haruna Yukawa, right. Yukawa went to Syria to train with fighters, and Goto is a freelance journalist respected for his reporting on refugees and children in war zones. (AP Photo)

The deadline for paying ransom for two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group was fast approaching early Friday with no signs of a breakthrough.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (Reuters/Brendan Smialowski)

On early Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, Saudi state TV reported Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud died at the age of 90.

Reuters / Stringer

China is going to build a US$242 billion (1.5 trillion yuan) high-speed rail link between Beijing and Moscow. The line will cut the journey time from five to 'two days', say Chinese authorities.

WHY THE ARGUMENT? German Court Supports Man's Right To Pee Standing Up

Reuters / Christian Charisius

Men have regained their fundamental right to pee standing up in Germany, a court has ruled, after a landlord tried to retain part of a tenant's 3,000 euro deposit claiming an unnamed man damaged the marble floor of his toilet by sprinkling it with urine.

Cape Verde were the surprise package of the 2013 AFCON, they finished top of Group F and were the first team to qualify for the 2015 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Cape Verde, the smallest country to ever compete in the African Nations Cup, will seek to take a step towards the quarter-finals when they play the Democratic Republic of Congo in one of two Group B games on Thursday.

Reuters / Brian Snyder

The charity, Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières, has called on GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer to drop the price of the pneumococcal vaccine to US$5 per child in the most impoverished countries. Doctors Without Borders has released a new report blasting two top pharmaceutical companies for inflated costs of vital vaccines that have proved too steep for poor nations, recommending they adjust prices in order to save lives.

Martin Odegaard could soon be gracing the hallowed Bernabeu turf

Real Madrid have struck a deal to sign Norway's teenage sensation Martin Odegaard from Stromsgodset.

Edna Molewa, South Africa's Environmental Affairs Minister (Image source: SABC)

A record 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2014, a 21 percent increase from the previous year, environmental authorities said Thursday, according to AFP.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa appears to be ebbing, with fewer than 150 cases reported in the past week, but efforts must be pursued to stamp out the deadly disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Sergey Bakulin, World Championships 2011 (Daegu) at walk 50km

Russia will create a government job that will concentrate exclusively on the fight against doping, Minister for Sport Vitaly Mutko said on Thursday.

Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki has advised INEC to postpone the forthcoming February 14 general elections. (Image source: osundefender.org)

National security adviser, Sambo Dasuki said on Thursday he had advised the country's electoral commission to consider delaying elections planned for next month so that it has time to distribute voters' cards to all those entitled to them.

Xavier Hames, 4, (C) with his mother Naomi, father Shaun and clinical nurse consultant Annette Hart at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth

A four-year-old Australian boy has been fitted with an artificial pancreas in what researchers said was a world first treatment for managing type 1 diabetes. Xavier Hames became the first patient following clinical trials to use the new device, which looks like an mp3 player and is attached to his body using several tubes inserted under the skin.

In this image released by the Tijuana Municipal Police on Wednesday Jan. 21, 2015, a drone loaded with packages containing methamphetamine lies on the ground after it crashed into a supermarket parking lot in the city of Tijuana on Tuesday Jan. 20, 2015. According to police, six packets of the drug, weighing more than six pounds, were taped to the six-propeller remote-controlled aircraft. Authorities are investigating where the flight originated and who was controlling it. He said it was not the first time they had seen drones used for smuggling drugs across the border. Other innovative efforts have included catapults, ultralight aircraft and tunnels. (AP Photo/Secretaria de Seguridad Pública Municipal de Tijuana)

Nearly three kilograms of crystal meth fell from the sky in the Mexican city of Tijuana near the US border, when a drone used to smuggle the drugs ditched in a supermarket parking lot.

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Bird Flu Spreads To Ogun, Rivers, Three Other States

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina (Image Source: blogs.ec.europa.eu)

The Federal Government on Wednesday said the number of states affected by bird flu (avian influenza) had increased from two to seven. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, told a news conference in Abuja that 140,390 birds had contracted the disease. He added that out of the affected birds, 22,573 (16 per cent) had died.

UK Government Accused Of Sponsoring Human Rights Abuses In Ethiopia

(Reuters / Andreea Campeanu)

A development project funded by the UK government and run by the World Bank could be facilitating a violent resettlement program in Ethiopia that has been dogged by allegations of forced displacement, physical assaults and rape, a leaked report suggests.

Pope Francis waves to newlywed couples during his Wednesday general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican January 21, 2015. (Reuters / Tony Gentile)

Pope Francis has clarified remarks he made on Monday that Catholics didn’t need to breed like rabbits and that large families weren’t a cause of poverty, saying that economic injustices were the main reason for inequality.

Screenshot from AP video

A Palestinian stabbed and wounded seven people on a Tel Aviv commuter bus during the morning rush hour on Wednesday before he was shot in the leg by a security officer as he fled, police and emergency services said.

THE INTRANSIGENCE OF POWER? Salva Kiir (L), President of South Sudan, and Riek Machar (R), SPLM opposition leader, hand over the Cessation of Hostilities treaty on May 9, 2014 in Addis Ababa ©Zacharias Abubeker (AFP)

Warring South Sudanese factions gathered in Tanzania Wednesday in the latest peace efforts to end over a year of civil war which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

President Obama Delivering 2015 State of the Union

President Barack Obama says it's time to turn the page after years of economic hardship at home and wars overseas. But Republicans in charge of Congress say the voters already took care of that last November — and they're the proof, according to AP.

Image from http://mp.weixin.qq.com

A Chinese company has used 3D printers to create five-story homes using construction waste. The project architects say this is the world’s tallest building constructed using this technology.

Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData is shocked how weak passwords based on obvious patterns are still popular among so many users. (Image source: Tested)

Many of us struggle with forming strong, dependable passwords. If you do, you are among a great company indeed. In this post Evan Robers of Capital OTC shares some useful tips than you can try handily.

World’s Largest Oil Rig In Russia’s Far East Begins Production

Image from http://sdelanounas.ru

The world’s biggest oil platform has begun commercial production at the Sakhalin-1 offshore project in Russia’s Far East. The Berkut oil rig is expected to extract 4.5 million tons of oil annually.

Niger State governor, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu

Niger State governor, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, said despite the defection of his deputy, Hon. Ahmed Musa Ibeto, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), he remains the deputy governor of the state.

He also said that Ibeto’s rights and privileges would not be infringed on.

Image from an online video released by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, purports to show the group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages that the militants identify as Kenji Goto Jogo, left, and Haruna Yukawa, right, unless a US$200 million ransom is paid within 72 hours. Japan's Foreign Ministry's anti-terrorism section has seen the video and analysts are assessing it, a ministry official said on Tuesday. (AP Photo)

The Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless they receive US$200 million in 72 hours, directly demanding the ransom Tuesday from Japan's premier during his visit to the Middle East. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to save the men, saying: "Their lives are the top priority."

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Friday, January 23, 2015

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Tuesday, January 20, 2015