Naira Falls as Dollar Scarcity Continues

Nigeria is in recession

Ooni Of Ife shares his experiences and blasts his Critics

Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi - 51st Ooni of Ife

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has recounted his growing up experiences and challenges which according to him shaped his life.

He recalled how he hawked for his mother, noting that his upbringing was quite humble and not as people would imagine.

He told the Punch, “I used to help my mother, who was born into a family of business people. My two grandmothers were business people in Ife. My maternal grandmother used to go to the North to buy rice and beans and sold them in Ife. I hawked for my mother because whenever she came back from work, she resumed business and I was very proud of doing that for her.

“I would hawk the commodity in some communities in Ibadan and I am very proud to have that kind of experience. I used to make shoes too. I have always been enterprising ever since I was young. I made shoes for friends and families with jeans material; I made canvas with jeans material too. I went to learn how to do it at a shoemaking shop. I used my leisure time after school to do those things and I was very good at them.

“I am always a very passionate person and I did travel in a ‘molue’ on many occasions. After my service year, I lived in both Ibadan and Lagos because I was a rice and sugar merchant. I love to take up challenges and my growing up shaped my life.

“I did not hawk in a molue but I used to board ‘molue.’ Last year, there was a time I boarded the BRT bus in Lagos. The reason is very simple; I am quite passionate about mankind, so I developed a concept to live like the common man at least once every month because I believe we did not come into this world with anything.

“I would drop everything I have to live like an average man struggling in life. I would visit people under the bridge, ride on a motorcycle, and board a ‘molue’ to wherever I was going in Lagos. It was very stressful but those times were my best moments in life because I got to relate with the real people. I saw their sufferings and felt their plights.

“When I ascended the throne, I requested the elders to grant me the opportunity to continue the concept, but they did not agree, so I coined a new one that would go in line with the throne, which is stopping my convoy whenever I get to a particular open place with moderate crowd and buy ‘boli’ (roasted plantain) and ‘dundu’ and other basic food items because we don’t have to forget where we are coming from in life. Which position are you that nobody has never been in life?

“When you serve mankind, you serve God. Our people have disconnected from the less-privileged and the downtrodden. Each time I stop, the people are always happy and my security men are usually afraid and they caution me to get into the car, but I always make them realise that I cannot be harmed by these people. They are just excited and I am always happy to be in their midst.

“At times, I would not come out of the car, but most times, I do get out to shake people’s hands and I would buy from them what they’re selling and pay them higher than what they have sold. I will be sick if I am not with the common people; it has always been my lifestyle,” he said.

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has said that he does not regret recognizing Jesus as his father, stating that “he will continue to do it forever and ever”.

Oba Ogunwusi made the statement in response to critics who were mocking him for calling Jesus his father, when he knelt to worship God during a thanksgiving after his coronation.

The Ooni said, “I will continue to do it forever and ever. Those who criticised me are ignorant of the supreme power of God Almighty before whom all kings must bow. God is the King of all kings. He appoints kings and dethrones them.

“If you remember the story of Nebuchadnezzar, who was a powerful king, when he allowed power to get to his head, God turned him into a beast. So, it is God who is the author and the finisher of everything and I will continue to worship him in humility.

“He is the God of all ‘orisas’ (deities); any deity that does not want to obey God will be crushed to powder, that is the truth. I have no regrets.

“Remember I am not the first Ooni, I am the 51st, so people have been here before me. It pleased God to put me on the throne and that is why I am here. Why will I not worship the God who made it possible?” he quizzed.

Speaking on the prophesies he received before he ascended the throne, Oba Ogunwusi said, “It was predicted. The specific time and date of the week was said. It was predicted that I would be born at exactly 1:00pm on a Thursday and up to the fourth child my parents gave birth to, none was given birth to at 1:00pm and on a Thursday. I am the fifth child and to the glory of God, I was given birth to on a Thursday and at exactly 1:00pm.

“So many strange things happened after my birth. Immediately I was given birth to, my maternal grandfather left this world because he practically pushed my mother to go and have me delivered when she was not due to do so. He did so on his sick bed. He practically pushed her out to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital here in Ife to deliver the baby she was carrying. I was not due then. Few hours after I was born, my grandfather left this world,” he recounted.

Health Benefits of Black Tea

Black tea is made from the leaves of a bush called Camellia sinensis . A process called oxidation turns the leaves from green to a dark brownish-black color. Oxidation means the leaves are exposed to moist, oxygen-rich air.

Why do people use black tea?

Many people drink black tea for alertness and energy. There is good scientific evidence to show this works. Black tea has a lot of caffeine. It also contains a little bit of a stimulating substance called theophylline. Both can speed up your heart rate and make you feel more alert.

Regularly drinking black tea may also lower your risk for these conditions:

1. Diabetes
2. High cholesterol
3. Kidney stones
4. Parkinson’s disease

Black tea extract is sold as a supplement. Sometimes, the supplement includes other types of herbs, vitamins , or minerals 

Breaking news

TASS:SOURCE SAYS THE IOC WON'T BAN RUSSIAN ATHLETES

Countdown to #IOC decision on Russia team’s fate for #Rio2016

Do you think Russia should be banned from participating in Rio 2016 Olympics 67 Russian track athletics are to be banned do you think the IOC is been unfair to Russia?

leave us a comment below

Rio Olympics 2016: Ban Russia from Games, says British IOC member

Russia should be banned from Rio 2016, says British International Olympic Committee member Adam Pengilly.

The two-time Olympian, 38, told BBC Sport the country must be punished over its ongoing doping crisis.

"The scale, co-ordination and leadership of a doping system like this is arguably the most heinous crime possible against the Olympic movement," said the former skeleton racer.

"So, somewhat reluctantly, I am led to one conclusion: exclusion from Rio."

Olympic stars sign letter urging Rio ban

Many Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic stars have endorsed a letter sent by The Times to the IOC urging the organisation to ban Russia from Rio.

The signatories include swimmer Rebecca Adlington, 400m hurdler Sally Gunnell, long jumper Lynn Davies and 11-time Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.

The letter, which was organised by the newspaper, has been sent to the IOC's executive board, which will make the decision on whether to have a blanket ban on Russia's participation.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has already excluded Russia's track and field team from the Games.

Russian flag 'should not be flown' at Rio

Pengilly, a member of the IOC's Athletes' Commission and one of four British IOC members, conceded: "I say reluctantly [that Russia should be banned] because there are very probably clean Russian athletes, and they will suffer, and this is nothing short of terrible.

"It's an incredibly tough decision. There's no fair outcome for everyone."

But he insisted: "The Russian flag should not be flown at the Rio Olympic Games."

In 2013 Pengilly received praise for raising the issue of doping before the vote to decide a host of the 2020 Games, questioning both Spain and Turkey during their bid presentations in Buenos Aires.

No place for doping in sport - Putin

Russia waits to learn Paralympic fate

Retests uncover 45 new doping failures

Russia could face a blanket ban after a damning report compiled by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren claimed it operated a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015.

The IOC is exploring "legal options" before deciding whether to implement "a collective ban" on all Russian competitors for the global showpiece, which starts on 5 August.

A decision by its executive board could come on Sunday.

"Clean athletes, the Olympic Games and the wider Olympic movement have been mocked," Pengilly said.

"However, Russia is an important sporting nation - we want and need them fully involved in the future, but only when they can do it cleanly.

"Therefore, I firmly believe that we should offer support and assistance to the Russian Federation so they can escape from this ugly culture and cycle."

Has the IPC been naive?

Russia will find out in August if it is to be banned from the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has "opened suspension proceedings" following the publication of the McLaren report earlier this week.

Paralympian David Weir has accused the IPC of being "naive" in their handling of doping allegations.

The wheelchair athlete, who won four golds at London 2012, told BBC Sport: "It looks like they are being naive and maybe thought that Paralympians don't cheat, but they are all public funded and there are sponsors so if you want that margin gain maybe you will cheat.

"The IPC should have put their foot down straight away."

'Collective punishment unacceptable'

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said he was "saddened" by the "unacceptable" prospect of a total ban on Russian competitors.

Gorbachev, the last General Secretary of the Soviet Union before its dissolution in 1991, has written an open letter to the IOC.

In it, he said: "I support the fight against prohibited substances in sport. It is evil that must be eradicated. Those athletes who are proven to have doped should be banned from competitions.

"At the same time, I am concerned and deeply saddened by the possibility that in case all Russian athletes are banned from competing in the Olympic Games, the innocent will be punished together with the guilty."

Omisore surrenders, reaches deal with EFCC on alleged N1.3billion fraud

A former Senator and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Iyiola Omisore, was on Friday night released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after he agreed to refund the over N1.3billion he allegedly received from the office of the National Security Adviser.

The EFCC arrested Mr. Omisore in Abuja on July 3 for allegedly collecting the huge funds from a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

The former NSA is being prosecuted for allegedly mismanaging billions of dollars meant to procure arms and ammunition for the Nigerian military which has in the past five years been battling a deadly insurgency in the North-East of Nigeria.

The PDP chieftain had since his arrest battled hard to regain freedom from the custody of the EFCC.

The anti-graft commission moved him to the National Hospital, Abuja, after he complained that his health was failing. He was however kept under close watch by two well-armed police officers.

Then his lawyers approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to press for bail but the court, on July 15, dismissed the application for lack of competence .

This week, the former deputy governor capitulated, those close to him said. He approached the EFCC and agreed to refund the money he was alleged to have fraudulently received.

On Friday, the EFCC granted him administrative bail after he struck a deal with the commission to refund the N1.3billion in installments.

He paid the first installment of N300million before he was allowed to go home, this newspaper learned.

Those familiar with the negotiation said before his release on Friday, Mr. Omisore issued a letter authorising his bank to release N170million to the EFCC, being the entire amount in his frozen account.

He also gave the anti-graft commission a draft of N130 million, bringing the first installment of the repayment plan to N300 million.

Mr. Omisore, a former deputy governor of Osun State and PDP flag-bearer in the 2014 Osun governorship election, will return to the Commission on Monday for further negotiations regarding how he would stagger the refund of the remaining one billion, our sources said.

Mr. Omisore had denied benefiting from #Dasukigate and had sued the EFCC, seeking N10 billion damages, after he was declared wanted in May.

However, according to our sources, Mr. Omisore, while in detention, admitted to collecting the sum from Mr. Dasuki.

Mr. Omisore, our sources disclosed, had initially claimed that the over N1.3 billion he received from Mr. Dasuki was meant for a certain parcel of land he sold to the office of the NSA.

The politician was however unable to provide documents backing the transaction, those close to him said.

EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached to comment for this story early Saturday morning.

Mr. Omisore too could not be reached by this newspaper. But the Nigerian Tribune quoted him as saying after his release, “Thanks for your support and prayers. I also thank my supporters for their steadfastness. I’m back at home in Abuja".

Breaking news

FT Nigeria 3-4 Sudan

 Sudan beat Nigeria’s Flying Eagles to Zambia 2017 ticket. 

#NGASUD. 83' Goal from Halid Abdamuleem gave the Sudanese Victory.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin sends condolences over Munich attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer over Friday’s deadly shooting in Munich, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying.

An 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman who apparently acted alone opened fire near a busy shopping mall in Munich on Friday evening, killing at least nine people in the third attack on civilians in Western Europe in eight days.

MH370 Pilot Flew a Suicide Route on His Home Simulator Closely Matching Final Flight

MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

New York has obtained a confidential document from the Malaysian police investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that shows that the plane’s captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, conducted a simulated flight deep into the remote southern Indian Ocean less than a month before the plane vanished under uncannily similar circumstances. The revelation, which Malaysia withheld from a lengthy public report on the investigation, is the strongest evidence yet that Zaharie made off with the plane in a premeditated act of mass murder-suicide.

The document presents the findings of the Malaysian police’s investigation into Zaharie. It reveals that after the plane disappeared in March of 2014, Malaysia turned over to the FBI hard drives that Zaharie used to record sessions on an elaborate home-built flight simulator. The FBI was able to recover six deleted data points that had been stored by the Microsoft Flight Simulator X program in the weeks before MH370 disappeared, according to the document. Each point records the airplane’s altitude, speed, direction of flight, and other key parameters at a given moment. The document reads, in part:

Based on the Forensics Analysis conducted on the 5 HDDs obtained from the Flight Simulator from MH370 Pilot’s house, we found a flight path, that lead to the Southern Indian Ocean, among the numerous other flight paths charted on the Flight Simulator, that could be of interest, as contained in 

Table 2.

Taken together, these points show a flight that departs Kuala Lumpur, heads northwest over the Malacca Strait, then turns left and heads south over the Indian Ocean, continuing until fuel exhaustion over an empty stretch of sea.

Search officials believe MH370 followed a similar route, based on signals the plane transmitted to a satellite after ceasing communications and turning off course. The actual and the simulated flights were not identical, though, with the simulated endpoint some 900 miles from the remote patch of southern ocean area where officials believe the plane went down. Based on the data in the document, here's a map of the simulated flight compared to the route searchers believe the lost airliner followed:

Rumors have long circulated that the FBI had discovered such 

evidence, but Malaysian officials made no mention of the find in the otherwise detailed report into the investigation, “Factual Information,” that was released on the first anniversary of the disappearance.

The credibility of the rumors was further undermined by the fact that

many media accounts mentioned “a small runway on an unnamed island in the far southern Indian Ocean,” of which there are none.

From the beginning, Zaharie has been a primary suspect, but until now no hard evidence implicating him has emerged. The “Factual Information” report states, “The Captain’s ability to handle stress at work and home was good. There was no known history of apathy, anxiety, or irritability. There were no significant changes in his life style, interpersonal conflict or family stresses.” After his disappearance, friends and family members

came forward to described Zaharie as an affable, helpful family man who enjoyed making instructional YouTube videos for home DIY projects — hardly the typical profile of a mass murderer.

The newly unveiled documents, however, suggest Malaysian officials have suppressed at least one key piece of incriminating information. This is not entirely surprising: There is a history in aircraft investigations of national safety boards refusing to believe that their pilots could have intentionally crashed an aircraft full of passengers. After EgyptAir 990 went down near Martha’s Vineyard in 1999, for example, Egyptian officials angrily rejected the U.S. National Transport Safety Board finding that the pilot had deliberately steered the plane into the sea. Indonesian officials likewise rejected the NTSB finding that the 1997 crash of SilkAir 185 was an act of pilot suicide.

Previous press accounts suggest that Australian and U.S. officials involved in the MH370 investigation have long been more suspicious of Zaharie than their Malaysian counterparts. In January, Byron Bailey wrote in The Australian: “Several months after the MH370 disappearance I was told by a government source that the FBI had recovered from Zaharie’s home computer deleted information showing flight plan waypoints … my source ... left me with the impression that the FBI were of the opinion that Zaharie was responsible for the crash.”

However, it’s not entirely clear that the recovered flight-simulator data is conclusive. The differences between the simulated and actual flights are significant, most notably in the final direction in which they were heading. It’s possible that their overall similarities are coincidental — that Zaharie didn't intend his simulator flight as a practice run but had merely decided to fly someplace unusual.

Today, ministers from Malaysia, China, and Australia announced that once the current seabed search for MH370’s wreckage is completed, they will suspend further efforts to find the plane. The search was originally expected to wrap up this month, but stormy weather has pushed back the anticipated completion date to this fall. So far, 42,000 square miles have been covered at a cost of more than $130 million, with another 4,000 square miles to go.

"I must emphasise that this does not mean we are giving up on the search for MH370,” Malaysian Transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said. Officials have previously stated that if they received “credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft,” the search could be expanded.

But some, including relatives of the missing passengers, believe that that evidentiary threshold has already been past. Recent months have seen the discovery of more than a dozen pieces of suspected aircraft debris, which analyzed collectively could narrow down where the plane went down. (The surprising absence of such wreckage for more than a year left me exploring alternative explanations that ultimately proved unnecessary.) The fact that Zaharie apparently practiced flying until he ran out of fuel over the remote southern Indian Ocean suggests the current search is on the right track — and that another year of hunting might be a worthwhile investment.

Hillary Clinton Selects Tim Kaine, a Popular Senator From a Swing State, as Running Mate

                                               

Hillary Clinton named Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate Friday, selecting a

battleground-state politician with working-class roots and a fluency in Spanish, traits that she believes can bolster her chances to defeat Donald J. Trump in November.

Mrs. Clinton’s choice, which she announced via text message to supporters, came after her advisers spent months poring over potential vice-presidential candidates who could lift the Democratic ticket in an unpredictable race against Mr. Trump.

In the end, Mrs. Clinton decided that Mr. Kaine, 58, a former governor of Virginia who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had the qualifications and

background , and the personal chemistry with her, to make the ticket a success.

Mrs. Clinton had entertained more daring choices. She considered Thomas E. Perez, the secretary of labor, who would have been the first Hispanic on a major party ticket; Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who would have been the first African-American to seek the vice presidency; and James G. Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral who served as the supreme allied commander at NATO but had never held elected office.

Ultimately, Mrs. Clinton, who told PBS that she was “afflicted with the responsibility gene,” avoided taking a chance with a less experienced vice-presidential candidate and declined to push the historic nature of her candidacy by adding another woman or a minority to the ticket.

Instead, the campaign, which had become concerned about its deficit with white men, focused on Mr. Kaine and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and looked more closely at Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado.

At a campaign stop with Mrs. Clinton in Annandale, Va., last week, Mr. Kaine tried out for the role. “Do you want a ‘You’re fired’ president or a ‘You’re hired’ president?” he asked the crowd. “Do you want a trash-talker president or a bridge-builder president?” He compared Mrs. Clinton’s record of public service to that of his wife, Anne Holton, Virginia’s secretary of education. In recent days, former President Bill Clinton and the White House had expressed support for Mr. Kaine.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 23, 2016

Mrs. Clinton will formally introduce Mr. Kaine as her running mate at a campaign stop on Saturday at Florida International University in Miami, which has a large number of Hispanic students.

The announcement came after a day of campaign events in Orlando and Tampa in which Mrs. Clinton tried to offer a rebuke, both in actions and in words, to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

In Orlando, she laid flowers on a makeshift memorial outside the Pulse nightclub, where a gunman who expressed sympathy with the Islamic State killed 49 people last month. At an earlier round-table discussion with emergency medical workers and elected officials, Mrs. Clinton nodded solemnly and hardly spoke, an implicit contrast with Mr. Trump’s 75-minute speech on Thursday night.

At a rally in Tampa on Friday evening, Mrs. Clinton blasted the bleak vision of America presented by her Republican rival. “The last thing that we need is somebody who is running for president who talks trash about America,” Mrs. Clinton said.

She showed solidarity with Mr. Trump’s top primary rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. “I mean, I never thought I’d say these words, but Ted Cruz was right,” she said, and then quoted Mr. Cruz’s despondent Wednesday night speech. “Vote your conscience.”

Now some of the job of discrediting Mr. Trump will fall to Mr. Kaine, who wrote on Twitter that he was eager to hit the campaign trail.

“Just got off the phone with Hillary,” he said. “I’m honored to be her running mate.”

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine have similar positions on many issues, and they are said to share an easy rapport and an interest in policy details. “I do have a fondness for wonks,” Mrs. Clinton said in the PBS interview.

Asked whether Mr. Kaine was boring, Mrs. Clinton said, “I love that about him.” She added, “He’s never lost an election.”

Republicans seized on the selection and tried to sow discord among Democrats, arguing that the pick was evidence that Mrs. Clinton had been dishonest with her party’s liberal base.

“Hillary Clinton’s choice of Tim Kaine does nothing to unify a fractured Democrat base which is repelled by her dishonesty and cronyism,” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement. “After spending last week pandering to grass-roots Democrats with Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has chosen someone who holds positions that she’s spent the entire primary trying to get to the left of.”

The Trump campaign quickly labeled Mrs. Clinton’s new running mate “Corrupt Kaine,” pointing to lavish gifts he had received during his years as governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia.

“It’s only fitting that Hillary Clinton would select an ethically challenged insider like Tim Kaine who’s personally benefited from the rigged system,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump.

While many Democrats swiftly praised the move, some in the party’s liberal wing expressed dismay, claiming that Mr. Kaine was out of step with it on some of its core issues, like trade.

“As we saw in Donald Trump’s speech last night, Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year,” said Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue.”

She added, “The mood of the country is a populist one.”

The son of a welder who owned a small metalworking shop, Mr. Kaine, a Roman Catholic, grew up around Kansas City, Mo. He attended a Jesuit school and took a break from law school at Harvard to spend time as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, an experience that his family has said shaped him and helped him become fluent in Spanish.

Early in his career, Mr. Kaine worked on fair housing and civil rights issues as a lawyer. He was elected to the City Council in Richmond, Va., in 1994, and proceeded to climb the ranks of elected office in the state. He became the city’s mayor in 1998, the state’s lieutenant governor in 2002 and the governor in 2006. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

As governor, Mr. Kaine drew some support from rural parts of the state as well as strong backing in the state’s Democratic-leaning suburban areas. He led the state through one of its darkest times, the shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people in 2007. In 2013, Mr. Kaine implored the United States Senate to find a “small measure of courage” to fight the gun lobby and impose tougher background checks on gun ownership.

Mr. Kaine was an early endorser of Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid in the 2008 nominating fight against Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Kaine was also considered on Mr. Obama’s shortlist of vice-presidential candidates before Mr. Obama selected Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. In 2012, Mr. Kaine defeated George Allen, a Republican, to take the Senate seat being vacated by the Democrat Jim Webb.

Mrs. Clinton’s choice of Mr. Kaine underscores the rising political importance of Virginia, a state with a significant suburban and minority population.

Mr. Obama defeated John McCain in the state by more than six percentage points, the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson’s victory in 1964 that the state had voted for a Democratic presidential nominee. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll from July 15 shows Mrs. Clinton ahead of Mr. Trump for the state’s 13 electoral votes by nine percentage points.

The search for a running mate began in April, after Mrs. Clinton had decisively won the New York primary, with a number of candidates.

Mrs. Clinton came to the process with a unique vantage point, having been closely involved in her husband’s selection of Senator Al Gore of Tennessee in 1992, a choice that brought youth and Southern charm to a ticket already overflowing with it.

With just days remaining before her announcement of a running mate, Mrs. Clinton had not yet made up her mind as her advisers debated what attributes voters might want in a vice president.

As the search narrowed, Mrs. Clinton wanted to test her chemistry on the campaign trail with Mr. Kaine. After their Virginia rally last week, she invited him to her home in Washington for a meeting that lasted until 10:30 p.m.

Last Saturday, the day after meeting with other candidates in Washington, she invited Mr. Kaine and his wife to lunch at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., with her family.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, just after her fiery speech in Tampa, Mrs. Clinton called Mr. Kaine to give him the news, before calling President Obama to let him know that she had chosen his friend.

10 People With Links to Daesh Arrested

Ten people with links to Daesh radical group have been arrested in Brazil ahead of the Olympic Games, according to Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

Ten people with links to Daesh radical group have been arrested in Brazil ahead of the Olympic Games, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said.

"It was a disorganised cell… I still believe that domestic crime is a more concerning issue than the question of terrorism," Moraes told media on Thursday, as quoted by The Financial Times, adding that the "chance of a terrorist attack during the Olympics in Brazil is minimal."

According to the justice minister, Brazilian police are looking for two more suspects.

The arrested individuals were all Brazilian and took part in an online IS initiation ceremony, Moraes said. They also tried to purchase firearms. All of the arrested will be held in custody for at least two months.

Brazil is set to become the first South American nation to host the Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro on August 5-21.

Coffee Has a Lot of Health Benefits … here is why

Researchers can tick off the health benefits from drinking coffee, but they aren’t exactly sure why it can help prevent diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver.

turns out that coffee might be good for all sorts of ailments.

Scientists, however, aren’t exactly sure why.

The latest hurrah for coffee comes from a new study published in the science journal Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

It was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, who found a direct correlation between coffee consumption and reduced risk of cirrhosis of the liver.

The findings were amassed from a meta-analysis of nine separate coffee-related studies conducted by various researchers over a number of years.

From it, researchers concluded that people who drink two additional cups of coffee above average consumption rates have a 44 percent lower risk of developing cirrhosis, an incurable disease that kills roughly 1 million people each year.

The numbers improve to 57 percent and 65 percent at three and four additional cups, above the average. Just one extra cup can lower a person's chance of developing cirrhosis by 22 percent.

The apparent protective effects of coffee were culled from studies that included more than 430,000 men and women.

They represent the latest in a series of studies evaluating how caffeinated coffee's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties may help reduce the risk of people developing everything from Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and liver disease.

"This could be an important finding for patients at risk of cirrhosis to help to improve their health outcomes," Dr. Oliver Kennedy, who led the study for the University of Southampton, said in a statement . "However, we now need robust clinical trials to investigate the wider benefits and harms of coffee so that doctors can make specific recommendations to patients.”

Read More: Can Coffee Cut Your MS Risk? »

What's in the Bean?

Medical professionals, including the study's authors, are quick to point out that it's not entirely clear which chemical properties in coffee, including but not limited to caffeine, are responsible for protecting the liver from cirrhosis.

It's also uncertain if merely the consumption of the compounds in coffee are solely responsible for the apparent prevention of cirrhosis.

"Coffee contains a range of biologically active ingredients beyond caffeine, including anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory agents such as chlorogenic acid, kahweol and cafestol, and there is evidence that these many confer protection against liver fibrosis," the study said.

The data also suggests that the protective effect of coffee against cirrhosis may also involve indirect mechanisms that modify risk factors.

For years, research has found that "various constituents of coffee" inhibit the activities of hepatitis B and C viruses that attack the liver and can ultimately lead to cirrhosis.

The recent study concluded that chlorogenic acid in coffee is "likely important" because it has been shown to inhibit glucose absorption in the gut and improve glucose metabolism, which would go a long way toward explaining why coffee appears to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and help prevent inflammation, fibrosis, and scarring of the liver en route to cirrhosis.

The concern is that people who are already consuming lots of coffee will ratchet it up another level — particularly if they're heavy drinkers who might have good reason to fear the possibility of eventually developing cirrhosis.

This could expose these heavy coffee drinkers to some ancillary health risks associated with excessive caffeine consumption.

Read More: How ‘Superfoods’ Like Bulletproof Coffee Get Popular »

Moderation and Muted Expectations

One of the recurring themes found among patients suffering from alcohol-induced cirrhosis is obesity, a factor that continually tops the charts for a variety of serious, life-threatening ailments and conditions including liver disease.

The interaction between common addictions, be they alcohol, cigarettes, food or coffee can all combine to create a perfect storm for the liver.

This becomes particularly problematic for those who take a lot of sugar in their coffee or gravitate toward lattes, mochas, and other syrupy, high-calorie beverages that played no small part in propelling Starbucks Corp. to record sales of more than $5.4 billion in its latest quarter.





When we say something is helpful if you use or consume it, that's different than advising someone to take something as a therapeutic treatment.

Dr. Vijay Shah, Mayo Clinic

"I think that there is increasing evidence over the past few years that coffee consumption is protective from chronic liver disease and certainly for alcohol," Dr. Vijay Shah, chair of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, told Healthline. "However the mechanism of beneficial effect isn't certain."

What is certain, he said, is that coffee in any amount is no magical elixir that will offset the adverse effects of chronic alcohol abuse on the liver. Nor will it undo the increased stress and damage that results from obesity, complications associated with hepatitis, and a genetic predisposition to liver disease.

"There are interesting parallels between alcohol and coffee," Shah said. "But we have to be careful. When we say something is helpful if you use or consume it that's different than advising someone to take something as a therapeutic treatment.

What these studies don't show is that too much coffee isn't good for you. It has a determinant effect on blood pressure and neurological function, so don't start drinking coffee or drinking more coffee just because it might prevent cirrhosis."

What Presidential directive? Nigeria Custom, boss Hamid Ali flies first class from London which cost about N3.4m

The Comptroller General of Customs, Hamid Ali was spotted flying first class on British Airways flight from London to Abuja, on Tuesday, according to PREMIUM TIMES exclusive report.

The move is a clear violation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive banning public officials from flying first class.The president had earlier this year directed the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, to issue a circular to all government agencies barring top officials from travelling first class, a measure put in place to cut the high cost of travelling by public officials.

According to PREMIUM TIMES:

The BA flight BA83 which took off from Gate 43 of Heathrow Terminal 5, London, on Tuesday, nearly an hour behind its scheduled 10.43pm departure time, arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday morning at about 5a.m, with Mr. Ali on board.

The reasons for Mr. Ali’s travel to London remained unknown as at the time of publishing this report, but customs insiders said the trip was official.

Several passengers on the flight told PREMIUM TIMES they saw Mr. Ali seated in the First Class compartment of the aircraft during the flight.

"It was a major talking point among some passengers whether the policy (barring public officials from flying first class) is being implemented with exceptions or whether it is meant for the shelves," one passenger on the flight told this newspaper.

There were notable Nigerians on board and a number of them confirmed to this newspaper that the customs comptroller-general was in the first class cabin of the aircraft during the flight.

A first class ticket to and from London costs $11,423.23 (about N3.4million).

Besides being a close friend of Mr. Buhari, Mr. Ali, a retired army colonel, is a man seen by many Nigerian as frugal and incorruptible.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the customs spokesperson, Wale Adeniyi, on Thursday, he confirmed Mr. Ali was on the BA flight, but that he travelled on a business class ticket. Mr. Adeniyi was not on the flight, and he responded to our reporter’s enquiry without checking with Mr. Ali. But our sources, some of whom travelled business class, said Mr. Adeniyi’s claim was inaccurate.

"That is not true,"one passenger said. "I was on business class, and I was awake most of the flight. So if you line up those on business class during that flight, I can identify them."

Soldiers go missing after Boko Haram ambush in Borno

A few soldiers are missing after they walked into an ambush by Boko Haram members in Borno state yesterday July 21st. A statement by the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman, says the soldiers had earlier in the day finished clearing Boko Haram camps at Guro Gongon village and environs. As they were returning to their base, they ran into an ambush by a group of Boko Haram terrorists. 19 soldiers and 3 civilian JTF members were injured in action.

A few of the soldiers were missing after the ambush. The injured soldiers have been evacuated and are responding to treatment while a search and rescue party comprising of Special Forces personnel has since been dispatched to establish contact with the missing soldiers.

The statement however adds that some of the missing solders have started returning to their defensive location. The Army says no stone would be left unturned until every person involved in the operation has been accounted for.

Breaking news: Munich mall shooting, Multiple casualties, gunmen still at large

Officials say at least three people are dead, and more wounded, after a suspected three gunmen opened fire on shoppers in a busy mall in Munich, in southern Germany. Those responsible remain at large.

US President Barack Obama, who had been updated on the situation, has said that his "heart goes out" to the victims of the attack, and reaffirmed that Germany remains of Washington's "closest allies."

While the identity of the attackers has not been confirmed, Islamic State, as usual, has not been slow in taking credit.

"Thank God, may God bring prosperity to our Islamic State men," said one affiliated account on Twitter.

"The Islamic state is expanding in Europe, " claimed another.

Leaked : Picture of the Black Onyx Galaxy Note 7

We no longer need to make any guesses about what the Galaxy Note 7 is going to look like. Multiple high-quality renders have already been leaked online alongside several blurry live pictures of the upcoming flagship handset. The latest leak brings us the clearest picture yet of the Galaxy Note 7 in Black Onyx, we have seen some blurry pictures of it in the recent past.

The Galaxy Note 7 will be available in three colors namely Black Onyx, Silver Titanium and Blue Coral. Black Onyx is unique in the sense that even the metal frame is painted black which is something we’ve not seen Samsung do in the past. It surely makes the device look understated yet elegant which is really the look Samsung is shooting for these days with its high-end handsets. The Galaxy Note 7 is due to be unveiled in New York on August 2nd . Rumor has it that the handset could be released in launch markets on the very same day.

Just in : England confirm Sam Alladyce as new manager

IMF chief Lagarde to stand trial in €400mn payout case - court

IMF chief Christine Lagarde must stand trial for her role in a €400 million payout case while she was French finance minister back in 2008, France's highest appeals court has ruled.

Lagarde is accused of “ negligence ” which “ resulted in a misuse of public funds by a third party ,” the Cour de Cassation, one of France's courts of last resort, said in a statement on Friday.

The IMF board, in the meantime, said the organization is confident that Lagarde is able to carry out her duties effectively following the ruling.

News that the IMF chief may face a negligence trial in France had been circulating in the media for several years.

Bernard Tapie, a former owner of Marseilles football club, was awarded €400 million ($440 million) compensation in a lawsuit against the French bank Credit Lyonnais, which he accused of undervaluing his stake in multinational sportswear company Adidas. Lagarde, who was former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s finance minister at the time, sent the case to arbitration and ratified the payout.

Tapie, who along with his business interests was also a politician, was a key shareholder in Adidas.

In search of funds in 1993, he began to look for buyers of his stake, which he eventually sold to Credit Lyonnais for 2 billion francs.

A few months later, the bank – which then belonged to the state – resold the assets to businessman Robert Louis-Dreyfus for twice the price. Tapie accused Credit Lyonnais of fraud and demanded compensation for lost profits, which was eventually paid out in 2007.

In 2007, then-Finance Minister Lagarde intervened in the process and appointed a special committee to resolve the issue. The committee eventually ruled in favor of Tapie and decided to pay him about €400 million.

In 2013, Tapie was placed under formal investigation for organized fraud. The scandal threatened to expose an alleged corrupt system at the highest level in the country during Sarkozy’s presidency.

The same year, French authorities searched Lagarde’s home over the probe. She has been under investigation since 2011, but has denied any wrongdoing.

In March 2014, after the third investigation into the case, the IMF chief said she had “ always acted in the interest of the country and in accordance with the law. ”

She confirmed she faced “ negligence ” charges in a multi-million-euro fraud case in August 2014.

However, Lagarde’s lawyer said that he is convinced that the trial will show that the IMF head is innocent, Reuters reported.

Photos/Video: Watch this police dog do press ups alongside an officer

Steve Hopwood, a PC with Avon and Somerset Constabulary and his dog, Monty, took on the #22Kill challenge, to do 22 push-ups as part of a viral challenge to raise awareness for veteran suicide. The challenge is in solidarity of the 22 US veterans on average who commit suicide every day.

A video of the pair was shared by Avon and Somerset Constabulary. The goal of the #22Kill challenge is to reach 22million push-ups.

The aim is to 'honour those who serve and to raise awareness for veteran suicide prevention through education and empowerment' according to the campaign's website.

Russian warplanes reportedly bombed US base in Syria

Russian warplanes reportedly bombed a secret military base in Syria used by elite American and British forces last month.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Russian strike on the CIA-linked site was part of a campaign by Russia to pressure the White House to agree to closer cooperation in the Syrian skies, U.S. military and intelligence officials said.

Despite the fact that some forces could have been killed and the bombing dampened relations between Russia and the Pentagon and CIA, the White House and State Department still persued a compromise.

The U.S. and Russia agreed to a pact last week to target airstrikes against the Al Qaeda affiliate in the region – Nusra Front – despite objections from the Pentagon and CIA. Russia agreed to stop airstrikes on U.S.-backed rebels and restrain the Syrian air campaign. The two sides are still talking about designations where Russia would need U.S. approval to conduct an airstrike.

Photos: Nigerian Navy parades suspected members of Niger Delta Avengers

Operatives of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS Delta), Warri, Delta State have arrested and paraded suspected members of the Niger Delta Avengers. The Commander, NNS DELTA, Commodore Joseph Dzunve, while parading the suspects, gave their names as Felix Ibiador and Prince David. They were arrested on July 10th with new 11 motor batteries and electric cables allegedly used for bombing oil and gas pipelines in the state.

“They are suspected members of the Niger Delta Avengers. Ibiador was the supplier of the equipment used for the bombing of oil pipelines. David was the mechanic who repairs their boats which they use in conveying these materials whenever they run into problems. Further investigations would be handled by the appropriate quarters who will review the extent to which they partook in criminal activities in the region” Commodore Dzunve said. During interrogated, both men denied claims they were members of the militant group. When asked why they were in possession of bomb making materials, they could not give any reasonable answer. Also paraded were four men who operated illegal refinery in the region. All the suspects have been handed over to the NSCDC for further investigation.

Photo: Two women arrested for begging with babies that were not their own in Lagos

Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development Monitoring Team have arrested two women who were begging for alms with babies less than a month old that weren't their own.
The women, Hadiza Nosiru and Salamotu Salisu, both from Jigawa State were arrested at the Oyingbo area of the State.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the two women apprehended are not the biological mothers of the babies. The babies were given to them by their parents who later got paid for each baby.
One of mothers of the babies, Tawa Aregbesola, said she had an agreement with one of the suspects to pay her between N1000 to N1500 after taking her baby for alms begging between 5pm and 7pm daily. According to her, she does not know where her baby is usually taken to.



Photo credit: Yetunde Wamora

Donald Trump implies Hillary Clinton helped grow/create ISIS, says she has legacy of death, destruction, terrorism and weakness

In a speech termed offensive to Americans, Donald Trump on Thursday implied that Hillary Clinton was responsible for ISIS' growth claiming that pre-2009 before she became Secretary of State and head of America's Foreign policy, feared terrorist group ISIS wasn't 'even on the map'. Trump also implied that Clinton helped spawn the different crises happening in the Middle East.

"In 2009 - pre-Hillary - ISIS was not even on the map," Trump said during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on Thursday at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

"Libya was stable, Egypt was peaceful, Iraq was seeing a really, a big big reduction of violence. Iran was being choked by sanctions, Syria was somewhat under control - after years of Hillary Clinton, what do we have?"

"ISIS has spread across the region, Libya is in ruins - and our ambassador and his staff were left helpless to die at the hands of savage killers. Egypt was turned over to the radical Muslim Brotherhood, forcing the military to re-take control. Iraq is in chaos, Iran is on the path to nuclear weapons, Syria is engulfed in a civil war, and refugee crisis now threatens the West," he said.

"After 15 years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton - death, destruction, terrorism and weakness,"

"My message is that things have to change - and they have to change right now. I'm with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you."