Kidnappers Release Samson Siasia’s Mother

Samson Siasia

The Septuagenarian was held for almost two weeks but has now regained freedom after the sum of ₦600,000 was paid. Goal has learnt that Madam Beauty Ogere Siasia, mother of Nigeria U23 coach Samson Siasia, has been released by her abductors 12 days after she was kidnapped.

As Many African-American See It, There Are 2 Ben Carsons

In this Nov. 23, 2015 photo, Republican presidential candidate, Dr. Ben Carson holds a news conference after a rally in Pahrump, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Ayauna King-Baker loved Ben Carson's "Gifted Hands" memoir so much that she made her daughter Shaliya read it. So when Carson showed up in town to sign copies of his new book, King-Baker dragged the giggly 13-year-old along to the bookstore so they could both meet him. To King-Baker, Carson's "up-by-your-bootstraps" life story makes him a genuine celebrity worth emulating in the African-American community. But she's also a Pompano Beach Democrat watching Carson rise in the Republican presidential polls.

David Cameron: Fighting 'Evil' Of Corruption Key To Global Security

David Cameron warns that corruption is one of the greatest enemies of our time

Fighting the "evil" of corruption is crucial to global security, David Cameron will tell Commonwealth leaders. The Prime Minister will say a lack of political will has held back progress as he brings together 10 countries in a fresh push to tackle the problem.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta today, he warned that corruption is one of the greatest enemies of our time.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Cameron said: "The UK has been a world leader in the fight to tackle corruption, which is an evil in itself but which also exacerbates other global challenges such as poverty and extremism. Rooting out corruption is crucial to global prosperity and security. The anti-corruption summit we will host next year will be an important opportunity for the international community to come together and to agree practical action to beat the cancer of corruption."

Drive-By Shooting Kills 4 Egyptian Police Near Cairo As Obama Says 'Enough Is Enough' After Latest US Shooting

Security personnel and ambulances gather at the scene of a drive-by shooting on a security checkpoint that has killed several policemen according to Maj. Gen. Khaled Shalaby, near Saqqara, home to the 4,600-year-old Step Pyramid, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Sarah El Deeb)

A drive-by shooting killed four Egyptian police near a famed historic site on the outskirts of Cairo on Saturday and a military helicopter crashed due to a "sudden technical failure" northeast of the capital, officials said. Masked gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a security checkpoint near Saqqara, said police Maj. Gen. Khaled Shalaby. The tourist site is home to the 4,600-year-old Step Pyramid. No one immediately claimed the attack.

IAAF Accused Of Muddying The Waters By Anti-Doping Expert Michael Ashenden

IAAF president Lord Coe is expected to give evidence before Parliament next week

The IAAF has been accused of trying to "muddy the waters" in the ongoing doping scandal by one of the experts at the centre of the case. Michael Ashenden, one of two anti-doping experts enlisted by the Sunday Times to analyze leaked data belonging to the IAAF, has issued a response to the world governing body's statement, released on Friday, in which it insisted it had used "every tool available to it to catch blood dopers in athletics and with considerable success".

Ashenden claimed the 38-page document, released ahead of Lord Coe's expected appearance before Parliament's Culture Media and Sport Select Committee next week, failed to answer the key questions. "The IAAF has released a statement that comprises 25 pages of hair-splitting, plus 13 pages of appendices," his statement said.

APC Picks Yahaya Bello As Audu’s Replacement

Alhaji Yahaya Bello Image source: Mustard Press Nigeria News

After extensive consultations, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday submitted the name of Yahaya Bello as the party’s new candidate for Kogi governorship supplementary poll. Bello replaces Prince Abubakar Audu, who died last weekend after leading the poll with 41,000. It was also learnt that the APC has retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as the party’s deputy governorship candidate.

Mohammed Audu, the son of the late governorship candidate, was dumped by the party because the party felt that fielding him might vitiate the entire governorship poll in the state.

But the people of Kogi West were mounting pressure on Faleke yesterday not to accept the nomination of Bello.

Over 100 Refugees, Mostly South Asians, Go On Hunger Strike Over Thanksgiving

BREAKING: 100+ in 3 centers refuse meals+demand freedom from #ThanksgivingwithICE #Not1More (Image source: DRUM on Twitter)

As US families celebrated Thanksgiving, over 100 refugees held at three immigration detention facilities engaged in a nationwide hunger strike. Hunger strikers are calling for an end to detentions and deportations, among other demands. The hunger strikes began on Thanksgiving eve by asylum seekers, mostly South Asians, held in three detention centers in California and Alabama.

Californian authorities confirmed that 21 asylum seekers at Musick Jail in Irvine, and 14 at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange, began refusing meals around mid-day on Wednesday, according to the Orange County Register. 

Casualties Reported After Gunmen Attack UN Peacekeeping Base In Mali

Peacekeepers stand guard at the entrance to the Minusma peacekeeping base in Kidal, Mali. © Adama Diarra / Reuters

Unknown gunmen have attacked a UN peacekeepers' base in northern Mali, with mortar fire heard at the scene, Reuters reports citing a witness.

It comes just over a week after an assault on a luxurious hotel left 20 people dead, many of them foreign citizens.

"The attack happened at around 4 a.m. (0400 GMT). Four or five rockets landed inside the base. Quite a few people were wounded but it's too early for a precise number," Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the UN forces in Mali, told Reuters.

More to come... 

57 French Airport Personnel Fired Over ‘Radicalization’ Suspicions

© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

Since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January, nearly 60 people suspected of radicalism have reportedly lost their authorization to work at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. At least five people have been fired following the deadly mid-November attacks. “Since the beginning of the year, there are 57 people who lost their authorization because of radicalization. There have been five since the attacks [November 13],” the prefect of Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) and Le Bourget airports, Philippe Riffaut, told a press conference.

At the same time, as authorities seek to revise personal authorizations in workplaces which require extra security, Riffault warned that more suspensions “will come.”

FOR THE RECORDS: Buhari Appoints 30 Federal High Court Judges

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of 30 new judges for the Federal High Court on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC). This is contained in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by the NJC acting director (Information), Soji Oye.

The statement said the new judges would be sworn-in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed on Wednesday.

Witch Burning Rebels Stoke Central African Republic Violence

On the brink of genocide: escalating violence creating lawlessness nationwide outside the capital Bangui

Rebels in Central African Republic have kidnapped, burnt and buried alive "witches" in public ceremonies, exploiting widely held superstitions to control areas in the war-torn country, according to a leaked United Nations report. The report by U.N. human rights officers, seen exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, contains graphic photographs of victims tied to wooden stakes being lowered towards a fire as well as the charred torsos of those subjected to the ritual.

The torture took place between December 2014 and early 2015 under instruction from leaders of the mainly Christian "anti-balaka" militia that has been fighting Muslim Seleka rebels across the country for more than two years, said the report.

The Many Health Impacts Of Climate Change

Medical experts say climate change affects human health in direct ways, by the spread of water- and mosquito-borne diseases for example, and indirectly, such as through hunger ©Fred Dufour (AFP)

Medical experts say climate change affects human health in direct ways, by the spread of water- and mosquito-borne diseases for example, and indirectly, such as through hunger.

Here is a snapshot of the problem:

Oil Countries Only Slowly Warming To Climate Challenge

Major oil exporters are getting bad press for topping the list of per capita greenhouse gas emissions, but they usually just shrug off the bad rap ©Youssef Karwashan (AFP)

Global oil producers, who provide the world with much of the fossil fuel that causes global warming, are in no hurry to brighten up their own image as climate dinosaurs. Some Gulf countries have timidly started investing in renewable energy, but experts say the initiatives are just a tiny crack in producers' otherwise solid front of indifference to climate change.

"So far exporting countries, especially Gulf countries, have done everything to make any progress on international climate agreements difficult," said Patrick Criqui, an energy expert.

Major oil exporters are getting bad press for topping the list of per capita greenhouse gas emissions, but they usually just shrug off the bad rap.

Buhari Shocks Ministers With Austere Package

President Muhammadu Buhari

•Cabinet members grumble, say ‘pittance’ can’t pick bills

Barely three weeks in office, President Muhammadu Buhari has shocked Ministers with poor salaries and austere allowances. He has also imposed dos and don’ts on the ministers including travel restrictions. Most Ministers were said to be embarrassed by the perks of office accruable to them in office.

The only leverage the Ministers will enjoy is the privilege of flying in a Business Class on trips.

These conditions of service for Ministers were contained in a letter given to them during the week by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal.

The letter said: “I am pleased to inform you that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has appointed you as a Minister in the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Fake Ambulances Smuggle £1.6bn Of Cocaine And Heroin Into UK

© National Crime Agency / Facebook

A ring of creative cocaine runners from the Netherlands to the UK has been convicted of supplying British drug lords with £1.6 billion (US$2.4bn) worth of narcotics, by carefully disguising them inside a fleet of fake ambulances. “Three Dutch men have been convicted for their roles in supplying up to £1.6 billion worth of drugs to organized crime groups across the UK using a fleet of fake ambulances,” the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said in a statement.

The fake ambulance company, based in Hoofddorp, North Holland, used smugglers posing as paramedics to infiltrate UK borders on least on 45 occasions. On at least one occasion a bogus patient was used to implement the scheme.

In coordination with the NCA and the Dutch National Police, the officers intercepted one of the ambulances back in June.

In Kenya, Pope Slams Rich Elite Over 'Dreadful Injustice' To Poor; 'Hold Hands Against Tribalism'

Thousands of young people at Kasarani national stadium listen to the Pontiff

Pope Francis lashed out at wealthy minorities who hoard resources at the expense of the poor as he visited a crowded Nairobi slum on Friday, wrapping up the first leg of a three nation tour. The 78-year-old pontiff was given a rapturous welcome as he arrived in Kangemi, which is home to more than 100,000 people who live in shacks without sewerage, including 20,000 who belong to the local Catholic parish.

"These are wounds inflicted by minorities who cling to power and wealth, who selfishly squander while a growing majority is forced to flee to abandoned, filthy and run-down peripheries," he told crowds in the slum on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital.

Queen Elizabeth II Opens Commonwealth Meeting In Malta

Britain Queen Elizabeth II delivers her speech in front of the heads of government at the opening of the CHOGM (Commonwealth heads of Government meeting) in Valletta, Malta, Friday, Nov. 27, 2015. The summit is expected to deal with climate change, the threat of extremist violence and other issues. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Queen Elizabeth II opened the Commonwealth summit Friday on the Mediterranean island of Malta — a meeting that this year will focus on climate change and the threat of extremist violence. The 89-year-old British monarch praised the accomplishments of the Commonwealth during her address to the other leaders of the 53-nation organization.

President Muhammadu Buhari standing next to David Cameron of Great Britain; Britain Queen Elizabeth, second from right, II attends the opening of the CHOGM (Commonwealth heads of Government meeting) in Valletta, Malta, Friday, Nov. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

"Prince Philip and I first came to live here in Malta in 1949, the year the Commonwealth was founded," she said, hailing a vast advancement in freedom and human rights in the decades since then. "I have been privileged to witness this transformation and to consider its purpose."

Russian Athletics Federation Accepts Full Suspension Over Doping Scandal

The Russian athletics federation has accepted a full suspension in the wake of the doping scandal involving the country

The Russian athletics federation has accepted full suspension over its doping scandal and has promised to co-operate with inspectors who will oversee changes to its drug-testing system. The IAAF, world athletics' governing body, confirmed the full suspension after a council meeting in Monaco and that the Russian federation (ARAF) had not requested a hearing.

An IAAF statement said: "IAAF Council was today informed that written confirmation had been received yesterday from ARAF accepting their full suspension without requesting a hearing as was their constitutional right.

Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba Named Athlete Of The Year

Genzebe Dibaba AFP

Ethiopian runner Genzebe Dibaba has been named the female World Athlete of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) - athletics' world governing body. This comes after breaking the 1500m outdoor world record, the 5000m indoor world record and taking the 1500m gold at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.

BBC Sport reports that after receiving the award she said she had plans to break the world indoor mile record next year.

She comes from an athletic family. Two of her siblings and her cousin are all Olympic gold medal winners.