Thursday, 1 March 2012

Rivers to build refinery

Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi

To cushion the effects of scarcity of petroleum products in Rivers State, the state government has concluded arrangement to build a modular refinery at Ikpokiri in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area of the state.
The state Commissioner for Energy, Mr. Okey Amadi, who disclosed this in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, said that setting up a refinery is a long term measure aimed at cushioning the effects of scarcity of petroleum products on the people.
The refinery, Amadi said would be built in conjunction with a foreign investor, Omega-Butter Refineries Limited.
The commissioner, who was reacting to the current petrol scarcity in the state however enjoined residents to be patient and law- abiding as government is working hard to ensure availability of the product in the state.
The refinery project, according to Amadi, would commence as soon as the license is issued by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to the state government.

Anambra evacuates 9,213 beggars for Ojukwu’s motorcade

Anambra evacuates 9,213 beggars for Ojukwu’s motorcade

Anambra evacuates 9,213 beggars for Ojukwu’s motorcade

Peter Obi

There was mild drama in some streets of Awka and Nnewi as Anambra State government yesterday evacuated beggars and suspected mentally deranged people.

About 9,213 beggars and suspected mad people were evacuated.

Some of the beggars ran away when a combined team of the police and other security agencies with government officials stormed the streets of Awka and Nnewi.

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Ego Cordelia Uzoezie, who supervised the exercise, said the raid was in accordance with the wish of the late Ojukwu.

She said those evacuated would be taken to the state government rehabilitation centre at Nteje Skill Acquisition centres to acquire skills.

Mrs. Uzoezie said: ‘’His Excellency, late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu did not believe in Ndigbo begging for anything and his wish was that no beggar would litter the streets of the capital city and environs on the day of his motor train to Nnewi or his state burial in Awka. Again, he believed in hard work and had encouraged our people to work hard hence we are striving to ensure his wish is carried out’.

‘’This government of Governor Peter Obi has decided that no citizen of Anambra would be a beggar and you know that Her Excellency ensured that the 21 skill acquisition centres in the 21 local government areas are working for the benefit of women and youths. Then why should anybody be a beggar?

‘’This would enable us to know our citizens who are beggars and ascertain those who are into child hawking. We would repatriate non indigenes and rehabilitate our citizens who are beggars or mentally unbalanced and others would be engaged in learning a skill or the other.’’

Bomb wounds 10 police officers in Turkey

A remote control bomb injured 10 police officers on Thursday as their vehicle passed close to the Istanbul headquarters of Turkey's ruling AK Party, Turkish police said.
Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said the device was placed on a motorcycle and set off by remote control as a police vehicle drove past, near the AK Party building and the offices of a conservative business association.
"As a police vehicle carrying 21 officers was passing by, a remote control bomb on a motorcycle exploded. Our teams are carrying out the investigation. Ten policemen were wounded, but none of them are in critical condition," Capkin told reporters.
Kurdish separatists, far left groups, far right groups and Islamist militants, including al Qaeda, have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
"There are wounded people, many ambulances are coming here after the explosion," a witness told Reuters.
"It was a very strong explosion like an earthquake," another witness told CNN Turk television.
Sadi Dinleyici, spokesman of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD), whose headquarters are next to the AK Party building, told CNN Turk.

Annan heading to New York for talks on Syria

Mr. Annan

Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy for Syria, said he would hold talks in New York from Wednesday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and member states on Syria.
Annan, in a statement issued in Geneva where he is based, said he would hold a series of consultations in New York through Friday and then depart for Cairo to meet Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby.
He planned to visit other countries in the region after that, according to the brief statement which did not name the countries or give any other details.
Annan, who served as U.N. Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006, held separate talks in Geneva on Monday with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and France's Alain Juppe, Reuters reports.
In his first statement on Friday, he called for the full cooperation of all parties to help bring an end to Syria's violence and human rights abuses.

Monday, 27 February 2012

First Chelsea, now Inter - world-class Lavezzi lands knockout blow which could leave Ranieri out for the count

The Argentine fired the 11th goal conceded by the Nerazzurri since they last scored and ensured that questions be asked of the coach after he replaced Sneijder and Forlan

Getty Images

COMMENT
By Kris Voakes | Italian Football Editor
It was on February 28, 2011 that Napoli went to league leaders AC Milan without their suspended star Ezequiel Lavezzi and came back with nothing. To many, that 3-0 loss was the end of the Azzurri’s outside chance of clinching the Scudetto as the Rossoneri instead tightened their hold on top spot and eventually wrapped up the title with two weeks to spare.

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One year on, and with Lavezzi leading the charge, the Partenopei all but ended Inter’s chances of claiming a Champions League spot while boosting their own claim for third place. There are now nine points between the fast-fading Lombardy side and the top three, and while ‘El Pocho’ and friends prepare for a fascinating finale to the season, the visitors’ latest insipid performance could see Claudio Ranieri out of a job.
Tasked with catapulting the Nerazzurri back into the reckoning for the top three after their disastrous start to the campaign under Gian Piero Gasperini, the Tinkerman looked to have exceeded all expectations only a month ago. As Ranieri went to bed on January 28, his Inter side sat in fourth place, three points behind Udinese with a game in hand. When he woke up the next day, his nightmare began.
But that Sunday’s defeat to Lecce was only the start, and after throwing away the lead three times in a 4-4 draw with Palermo, Inter have lost five straight games, conceding 11 goals since they found the net last. Their losing streak matches the club’s all-time record. Their four-game scoreless run in Serie A is a 25-year low. Their need for new players and new ideas is palpable. And their inferiority to Napoli was astonishingly clear.
Inter were abysmal at the San Paolo. Short of ideas, short of confidence and short of direction, they rarely looked like getting anything from the game. In fact, it wasn’t until the dying stages that they had a really clear chance, and when they did, Giampaolo Pazzini summed up their general malaise by missing the simplest of opportunities from eight yards. An injury-time penalty claim could have gone either way, but would have done little more than mask the real issues. And besides, on current form, where's the guarantee they would have scored from the spot anyway?

MATCH FACTS \| Napoli 1-0 Inter

Shots On Target Possession Territory Corners Bookings Sendings-off	Napoli 14 5 49% 52% 11 1 1	Inter 7 1 51% 48% 0 5 0

Ranieri’s return to his old tinkering ways continued too. A month after stating he needs to find a way to get Wesley Sneijder and Diego Forlan firing in his first XI, he abandoned the idea at half-time, withdrawing both and switching to a back three similar to the one which caused many of the problems Inter experienced under Gasperini. The Roman clearly never learns, and the old heave-ho may not be far away after his latest act of folly.
But in Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani, Inter faced opponents who were always going to punish them eventually. The inevitable happened in the 59th minute. Cavani picked up the ball midway into the Nerazzurri half and fed Blerim Dzemaili. The midfielder surged forward, held off Lucio, and dinked a pass to Lavezzi with the outside of his boot. ‘El Pocho’ did the rest, guiding a perfect finish across Julio Cesar into the bottom corner of the net.
It has been said – by this writer and by others – that it’s Lavezzi’s finishing that doesn’t match the high standard he sets in other departments. But in grabbing four goals in his past three games, including two against Chelsea in the Champions League in midweek, he has shown that he has the composure as well as the explosiveness. And after recovering from the injury that saw him return to the pitch a month late from the winter break, he is as fresh as a daisy heading into the final third of the season.
With Lavezzi in this world class form, Napoli should not fear the five-point gap separating them from third-placed Udinese. Whereas a laboured finish in 2010-11 saw them settle for the top three, this term they seem ready to click through the gears in good time to make a concerted bid for the Champions League spots.
Add to that their significant 3-1 advantage over Chelsea in the last 16 in this year’s competition, and you have an anticipation about the Azzurri that hasn’t been felt in Naples since 1990. Now, as then, a mesmeric little Argentine is at the heart of that. Cavani will be the one on whom the goalscoring burden will fall, but Lavezzi is the man who makes the difference.
And he proved it in the past four days at the San Paolo. He was the difference between Napoli and Chelsea. He was the deciding factor once more against Inter. And he may well turn out to be the man who ensures that Ranieri no longer has a job.
With the final third of the season approaching, Inter have a huge few weeks ahead.

Six dead as bombers hit governor’s church

One of the victims of the Cocin Church Jos blast in hospital ... yesterday.

A suicide bomber yesterday drove a car loaded with explosives into the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), Jos, where Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang worships.
In neighbouring Bauchi State, what is believed to be an attempt on another branch of COCIN in Miyan-Barkate, Toro Local Government Area, was aborted by the police.
The failed attempt came barely six-hours after the Jos attack.
The police in Jos said “at least” six persons were killed by the blasts that rocked the COCIN headquarters.
Police spokesman Samuel Dabai told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that he was not sure of the total number of those injured.
The Plateau State Chapter of the Red Cross, which declined to be specific on the number of those killed, put the casualty figure at 50.
It’s chairman, Manasseh Pampe, said the figure comprised victims taken to Plateau Specialist Hospital, Sauki Hospital and the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
“The Red Cross took 35 victims to Plateau Specialist Hospital, 10 were taken to JUTH and five were taken to Sauki Hospital.
“But the Plateau Government later directed that all the casualties hospitalised at Sauki Hospital be moved to the State Specialist Hospital. That we have done,” Pampe said.
He said three of the victims taken to JUTH had been treated and discharged while seven were still at the hospital.
Pampe, however, said he could not comment on the figure of those killed in the explosion as he declared that “it is not part of the responsibility of Red Cross”.
Dabai said the two suicide bombers were killed in addition to four others including two women who died at the scene.
Two others died at the Plateau Specialist Hospital, he added.
He confirmed that one of the bombers died in the vehicle that conveyed the explosives, while the other was killed at the scene of the blast by the angry worshippers.
Dabai, however, refused to react to reports that some suspected Boko Haram members were arrested with explosives around Gada Biu area of Jos.
“I will get back to you on that. For now, I have been busy handling the explosion situation.”
30 vehicles were damaged. One of those who died, Miss Grace Daniel, was an usher in the church.
The church, located behind the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) building, was attacked at 7:30am. Its main building and the annex under construction were affected.
The church is about 500 metres from the Police Headquarters and the Special Task Force (STF) headquarters.
Jang missed the early morning session (Hausa service) and was preparing for the second session (English) at 10am when the news of the explosions reached him.
The Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility.
The sect’s spokesman Abu Qaqa told reporters in a teleconference in Maiduguri that it was a reprisal attack.
The incident came three days after the resumption of the new Commander of the STF on Jos crises ‘Operation Safe Haven’, Brig.-Gen. Muhammed Ibrahim.
The church’s headquarters has been hosting Christians displaced from Yobe State since January as a result of Boko Haram attacks.
Undeterred by the early morning blast, however, other churches in the city held services.
A member of the church manning a roadblock, Rueben Luka, alleged complicity of the members of the STF. He said: “There are roadblocks 100 metres to the church from both sides, but the bombers beat the security because one Toyota Hilux van of the STF preceded the car of the bomber. It was a Golf car with tinted glasses and was following the STF vehicle. We were thinking they were together and they were allowed to pass.
“As soon as the security opened the roadblock for the STF vehicle to pass, the bombers drove in with speed and headed towards their target. The STF vehicle passed to God-knows where, having led the bombers car to beat our road blocks. I can swear the bombers used the STF to beat our road block. These soldiers know of the suicide arrangement.”
Another eye witness said: “The bombers were two; one of them was dismembered by the explosion. The second had his head shattered and lay dead after the attack.”
“The bombers shouted Allahu Akbar (Allah is great) before the explosion, but God was wonderful for not allowing many casualties. From the sound of the blast, the casualties should have been in hundreds but our God intervened because we are innocent.”
Jang’s Special Adviser on Media, Pam Ayuba, told reporters:
“This is an unprovoked attack. A painful one that is capable of sabotaging the peace already achieved.
“Government is disappointed mainly because Jos is under state of emergency and yet this kind of attack was allowed to take place.
“An emergency security meeting has been convened. The security agencies are expected to brief the government on why the incident occurred and, maybe, the alleged conspiracy of the STF members shall be investigated. The government will brief the media of its finding at the end of the day.
“In the meantime, the government is appealing to citizens to remain calm and allow the security agencies to do their job. The government is also expressing its sympathy with families of the victims.”
The Bauchi Police arrested five people with weapons and improvised explosive devices with which they allegedly planned to attack COCIN Church in Miya Barkate village.
An eye witness, Mr Ikechukwu Aduba, confirmed the incident to The Nation in a telephone interview. He said: “It’s true that some people attempted to attack COCIN Church.
“The suspects are a rival group within the church. They have an internal problem and the other rival group decided to attack them this morning. So, when we got the report, we sent our men there and our men arrested about five of them (the group that attempted to burn the church). They were in possession of substances and other things that looked like explosives, but we are waiting for bomb experts to confirm because sometimes after investigation, it may turn out to be something else and not IEDs,” Aduba said.
The Commissioner of Police also said he had begun investigation into the incident and would make his report public.
He urged the public not to panic but remain law abiding and report any suspicious persons to the police who are on a 24-hour alert to ensure public safety.
An employee of Toro Local Government Area who witnessed the incident said “the suspects were arrested with sophisticated weapons and all of them, surprisingly, are Christians living in the same area.
“They are not in the same Miyan Barkate, but from the neighboring villages of Miya Barkate and we know them.”
The eye witness added that there was confusion after the arrest of the suspects.
A statement by the STF said: “There was an explosion at the headquarters of COCIN Church near the Central Bank of Nigeria, Jos on February 2012 by 7:15 am.
“The suspected suicide bombers arrived the premises of the church in a Golf car. The Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) exploded with one of the bombers inside the vehicle while the other suspect that alighted and wanted to escape was killed in the process.
“The explosion damaged some vehicles at the premises of the church.
The statement called on law abiding citizens to go about their lawful business without fear.
Jang, accompanied by the Minister of Water Resources, Speaker of the House of Assembly Clark Dabwan and top government officials, visited the church and the hospitals where the victims of the blast were receiving treatment.
Jang said: “The attackers knew I worship at the church, but they will not succeed, I will only encourage citizens of the state not to panic or take laws into their hands. We should be encouraged that God almighty is in control.”
Former Governor Joshua Dariye also visited the church to sympathise with the church and the victims.

Stars swamp loud, colorful Oscar parties

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — While a nearly silent, black-and-white throwback film to old Hollywood won best picture at Sunday's Academy Awards, after-parties around town celebrated present day Hollywood with explosions of color, conversation, pounding music and pure glee.

At Vanity Fair's always compact, A-list soiree at West Hollywood's Sunset Tower Hotel, one of several parties following the 84th annual Academy Awards at the Hollywood & Highland Center, starlets and Oscar nominees and winners chatted, ate, roared with laughter and giggled to each other.

The scene played out like one of the charmingly glam moments depicted in soundless best picture Oscar winner "The Artist," set in Los Angeles during the late 1920s transition from silent movies to talking pictures, yet filled with lively noise.

Jonah Hill, nominated for a best supporting actor award for best picture nominee "Moneyball," smiled and shouted out a sassy expletive decrying his and the film's loss, surrounded by a pack of friends, including Seth Rogen.

Rogen, who hosted Saturday's Film Independent Spirit Awards, also laughed and drank with fellow funny guy Jason Segel, star of "The Muppets" movie, and comic-musician Bret McKenzie, who pumped his Oscar for best original song, for "The Muppets," into the air.
"I think there was a list of people I had to apologize to," acknowledged Rogen, to Hill, about his pointed barbs at the Spirit Awards aimed at a number of people, including director Brett Ratner, who dropped out of producing this year's Oscars after making a gay slur.

The party, hosted by Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter, served up wine and champagne as well as comfort food, from fried macaroni and cheese balls to hamburgers from In-N-Out. A live stand-up bassist and drummer played jazz tunes.

In one corner booth tucked to the side of the party's outdoor patio, Gwyneth Paltrow held court with her Coldplay husband Chris Martin and silver screen vet Jane Fonda, while talking with Cameron Diaz.

Across the room, Jennifer Lopez lovingly fiddled with the collar of her boyfriend Casper Smart's shirt. Lopez, wearing a maroon-brown sequined Zuhair Murad gown with a plunging front and back, later gabbed with her ex Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. The hip-hop mogul warmly rubbed her arm as Smart stood nearby.

Tom Cruise, standing next to his wife Katie Holmes, became downright excited talking to "Star Wars" director George Lucas. "You gotta do that, you gotta do that, you gotta direct!" Cruise loudly told Lucas.

Other attendees included Steve Martin, Kate Hudson, Sandra Bullock, Tina Fey, best actress Oscar nominee Rooney Mara and best actor Oscar nominee Demian Bichir.
A dapper David Beckham chomped on a burger while keeping close to his wife, Victoria Beckham. Sacha Baron Cohen pulled a complete 180 from his controversial Oscar red carpet stint dressed as a Moammar Gadhafi type figure to promote his upcoming film, "The Dictator." Hanging out in a normal black tux, Cohen looked nothing like the bearded military character who poured ashes all over E! host Ryan Seacrest before the Oscar telecast.
Just south of the bash, at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing dinner and after-party, actors and musicians co-mingled for an especially vibrant, grand fete for the event's 20th anniversary.
Previously held at West Hollywood's Pacific Design Center, the party shifted for the first time to a larger space across the street, at West Hollywood Park, with 200 more dinner guests than usual, bringing the tally to 910.
More than 80 tables decorated with grey, blue and white cloths filled the massive blue and white tented dinner ballroom. Celebrities walked down a pristine white carpet into multiple tents serving cocktails, wine and upscale carbonated juice drinks. One outdoor tent was decorated with hanging blue mirrors.

Only 14 months old, Sir Elton John's son, Zachary, made a brief appearance during a cocktail hour just before the dinner, as John and his civil partner David Furnish took turns showing him off to well-wishers. The blonde toddler wore a black jacket with his name stitched on it, and chewed on a cloth napkin. John sported a black embellished jacket with his glittering initials spelled out on the back.

Guests such as Neil Patrick Harris, a blue-bobbed Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth, Anna Paquin and her husband Stephen Moyer, John Waters, Kim Kardashian and her pregnant sister Kourtney feasted on a five course meal that included sauteed sea bass with pepper saffron sauce, beef tenderloin with leek bread pudding and apple-pear tart for dessert.

Steven Tyler talked about balancing recording the new Aerosmith album in L.A., being a judge on "American Idol" and attending an Oscar party such as John's.
"It's crazy, it's crazy," said Tyler, decked out in rock 'n' chic tight black brocade pants. "After all this, tonight, I'll go back to the studio and record a song. I'll probably get to bed around 2 a.m."
Perry sat at a middle table with John, Furnish and "American Idol" alum Adam Lambert. Newly single Heidi Klum, a regular at the bash, sat at a nearby table next to Kyle MacLachlan and the Kardashians.
"Tonight we've raised more money at this event than we ever have before," John told the crowd after a feisty post-dinner auction that netted $5.25 million for the foundation's fight against HIV and AIDS.
Things became a bit rowdy when celebrity chef Cat Cora, who created the night's menu, egged on would-be bidders to snatch up an in-home cooking class for up to ten people she would host. Perry and Steve Tisch, owner of NFL champs the New York Giants, then started a bidding war, with Tisch the winner, for $100,000, but Perry named a co-winner. Cora joked about kissing Perry, in a nod to Perry's hit "I Kissed a Girl," then came over and pecked her on the cheek.
Just before indie rock band Foster the People came out onstage to pound out hits such as "Pumped Up Kicks," a DJ spun songs catching the ear of friends Kelly Osbourne and Cyrus, who made mock kissing faces for photos and danced to a remix of Adele, mouthing the words. Gwen Stefani sauntered into the post party with a full entourage.

The Governors Ball, the Academy Awards' official after-party, at the Hollywood & Highland Center, was re-tooled this year from a formal sit-down affair to a cocktail bash, which served the guests just fine. Viola Davis sat with Octavia Spencer, and Spencer's best supporting actress Oscar, for nibbles and drinks while best actress nominee Michelle Williams and pal Busy Phillips roamed the venue hand in hand.

Honorary Oscar winner James Earl Jones presented the event's headlining performer, Tony Bennett, whom he referred to as "an American classic" and "Frank Sinatra's favorite singer."

At John's shindig, first-time attendee "Glee" star Darren Criss, himself musically inclined, noted the irony of "The Artist" juxtaposed against the party's backdrop of booming music and screamed conversation.

"When people allegedly schmooze, they shout at each other. I like to sit down and have a conversation," he said.