Lebanese community in kano disassociates self from arrested nationals with alleged ties to Hezbollah

An armoury belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been discovered in northern Nigeria, the West African nation's army and spy agency has said.



Three Lebanese nationals have been arrested, an army spokesman, Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba, said.

The cache, including rifles, anti-tank weapons and an RPG, were found in a warehouse in the city of Kano, he said.

Nigeria's State Security Service said they were intended for use against "Israeli and Western interests".

"This is the handwork of Hezbollah," Bassey Ettang, director of the State Security Service in Kano said.

"What has just been discovered is a cell of Hezbollah and what you have seen here is a Hezbollah armoury," he told journalists in Kano on Thursday.

Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba said 11 anti-tank weapons, four anti-tank mines, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and 21 RPG missiles, 17 AK-47s, two sub-machine guns and 76 grenades had been amongst the weapons found.

The Lebanese owner of the warehouse where "the weapons of mass destruction" had been stored in sawdust was out of the country, he said

There is a large business Lebanese community in Kano city, the commercial hub of in northern Nigeria.

It is the first time that Nigerian authorities have alleged that Hezbollah has an operational interest in the country.

Kano and north-eastern Nigeria has suffered multiple attacks in the last three years since the home-grown Islamist militant group Boko Haram launched an insurgency.

Mr Ettang added: "You can also be sure that if a group like this is existing then it may even lend support to some of the local terrorists we have on the ground."

Hezbollah is a Shia military and political movement based in Lebanon considered by the US to be a terrorist organisation.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", says its quest is to overthrow the Nigerian government and create an Islamic state.

There has been growing concern that Boko Haram could be receiving backing from al-Qaeda-linked militants in other countries.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan undergoes surgery!

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan has undergone surgery for a shoulder injury suffered while doing stunts for his new movie, "Chennai Express."

 

Sanjay Desai, his doctor, said Khan's surgery in a Mumbai hospital Tuesday was successful but he will need to rest for two months.

He refused to use body doubles and performed his own stunts for the movie, the Press Trust of India news agency said. The 47-year-old is expected to leave the hospital this weekend.

Khan is one of Bollywood's biggest stars in India. He has acted in more than 70 films in a career spanning more than two decades.

Ex-Minister's relative kills live-in Baby mama!

A relation of a former Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho (retd.), has been accused of killing his live-in lover in Lagos. 





The suspect, George Iheanacho, allegedly killed his 32-year-old partner, Regina James, the mother of his three children – two boys and a girl.

“George, sensing that Regina had died, wanted to escape, but he was apprehended,” said a source.

 

He allegedly killed Regina in their residence at 3, Calvary Street, Iyana Isasi, Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
According to Punch, the accused, who worked in the ex-minister’s company, Genesis Worldwide Shipping Company, Apapa, on the fateful day, accused Regina, who had lived with him for 6 years, of unfaithfulness.
It was further learnt that subsequent argument over the accusation led to the suspect beating up Regina and in the process, she fell into a coma.
A source, who craved anonymity, said before Regina, believed to be from Nsit Ibom LGA of Akwa Ibom State, could be rushed to the hospital, she had given up the ghost.
National President, Akwa Cross Indigenes Association, Chief Etubom Samson, said his association received a distress call from a concerned citizen that “our    our   sister, Regina, has been killed by her lover.”
Chief Samson, who said the deceased was their daughter and member of the association, said, “George and Regina have been living together for six years. Since that time, he (George) has not deemed it necessary to go for their traditional marriage. The love has produced three children; two boys and a girl.
“We have always heard complaints of the two fighting. We did not know it would result into our sister’s death.”
Chief Samson said Regina's remains would not be buried until the deceased had been properly married.
Meanwhile, counsel for ACIA, Onwu Ekowa, Udo and Co., has written a petition to the police, calling for the prosecution of the accused immediately.
In a letter signed by the Managing Partner of the law chamber, Mr. Silas Udoh, the group also demanded N50m compensation for the family:

“We hereby demand the immediate prosecution of the accused in court, and in addition to pay compensation to the family within 24 hours of the receipt of the letter, or else we shall petition the National Human Rights Commission and address a press conference on the issue.”

The Nigeria police said the guy will be tried for murder as soon as the autopsy report is out.

Arik crew-member charged to UK court over alleged drug possession!

ARIK Air crew-member, Temitayo Daramola, appeared at Uxbridge Magistrate Court charged with possessing cocaine with a street value of £600,000, during the airline’s Lagos to London flight on the evening of Monday, May 20.

Daramola was arrested by UK Border officials on airport shuttle bus used to transport aircrew members after the plane had landed at Heathrow Airport.

“The first hearing was on May 22 at Uxbridge Magistrate Court and she was in court today via video link,” one male staff disclosed. Before her case is transferred to a Crown Court where she will face a jury trial, Daramola, 37, will make one final appearance before magistrates at the same court on June 4.

Home Office Press Officer, Simon Alford, also confirmed to The Guardian Tuesday that Daramola would be in court on June 4. In a statement he sent following The Guardian’s enquiry, he revealed that Daramola was in possession of six kilogrammes of cocaine and that the colleague arrested with her had been released without charge.

Titled: “Air stewardess charged over Heathrow cocaine seizure”, it stated that “An air stewardess has been charged following the seizure of around six kilos of cocaine at Heathrow Airport. It is estimated that the cocaine, if cut and sold on the UK streets, could have had a potential street value of around £600,000.

“37-year-old Temitayo Daramola was later charged with attempting to import a Class A drug. On Wednesday, May 22, she appeared before Uxbridge Magistrates where she was remanded in custody until her next court appearance on June 4. A second crew- member arrested at the same time as Daramola has now been released.”

Another member of the court, a lady, told The Guardian: “It will be a live video link hearing. There will be a link to the court from her prison. She can listen to the hearing and make her statements. You will be able to see her on the screen, but she will not be physically in court.” When asked what would happen next after next Tuesday’s hearing, the lady responded, saying: “She will be committed to a Crown Court and there will be a jury trial,” due to the nature of the offence. When asked who would represent her then, The Guardian source replied: “I don’t know. She doesn’t have a legal aid,” which would have entitled her to a solicitor.

Half of College Grads Are Working Jobs That Don't Require a Degree!

As the mother of a child who is finishing his junior year in high school, I am, like many parents in my shoes, in the throws of anxiety about where my son will go to college in 2015. Occasionally, between obsessing about his slipping grades in pre-calculus and Spanish and trying to figure out whether a school like university of Chicago should be on our “target” or “reach” list, I get a fleeting but deep pit in my stomach about a much more serious issue: where, and more importantly if, he will find a job when he finally gets his degree.

Then last week I received a report from consulting firm McKinsey, done together with student website Chegg, which is making that pit in my stomach deeper. In October and November of last year McKinsey surveyed 4,900 former Chegg customers, a mix of young people who went to private, public, vocational and for-profit institutions. The findings are truly sobering. Nearly half of grads from four-year colleges are working in jobs that don’t require a four-year degree. A striking sub-fact: grads from public universities are 11% more likely to feel overqualified than those who went to private schools. I would have thought it would be the other way around.  The study cites a Bureau of Labor Statistics number that underlines the McKinsey findings: 48% of employed U.S. college grads are in jobs that require less than a four-year degree.

Even more chilling than those numbers is a figure I read some time ago that I can’t get out of my head: In 2011, 1.5 million, or 53.6% of college grads under age 25 were out of work or underemployed, according to a 2012 Associated Press story that used an analysis of the U.S. government’s 2011 Current Population Survey data by Northeastern Univeristy University researchers, plus material from Drexel University economist  Paul Harrington, and analysis from libera Washington D.C. think tank, the EconomicPolicy Institute.

If only my son were a STEM kid, meaning that he were interested in science, technology, engineering or math. The McKinsey study says that 75% of those grads are in jobs requiring a four-year degree. Instead my child will be at the bottom of the bar graph, just two slots up from visual and performing arts, where only 43% are in jobs requiring a four-year degree. He is likely to graduate with a social science degree, where only 54% have jobs that require a four-year diploma.

Another frightening statistic from the McKinsey report: A third of grads don’t feel that college prepared them well for the world of work. Again, the visual and performing arts students are faring the worst: 42% feel that college didn’t prep them for employment, followed closely by social science grads, at 36%.

But thank goodness for one ray of light in this study: 77% of graduates of the top 100 four-year programs (based on the U.S. News and World Report rankings) who worked part-time, did internships or employee mentorships felt prepared for work, compared with 59% who lacked such experience. Still, they may have felt prepared but it’s not clear they got hired. An Accenture pollI wrote about earlier this month shows that while 72% of 2011/2012 grads had done internships, only 42% said the internships led to jobs.

Then comes what may be the most depressing part of the survey, headlined “regrets.” Half of grads say they would choose a different major or school if they could do their education over. It’s not surprising that the visual and performing arts majors have the most regrets, with 47% saying they would study something else given the chance. For social science majors, it’s 39%.

Yet more sobering news that I fear will affect my son: 40% of grads from the nation’s top 100 colleges couldn’t find jobs in their chosen field. In this measurement, social science grads are at the very bottom. Only 36% are working in their field of choice. Visual and performing arts grads are doing better, at 42%. At least there is a consolation prize if my kid gets into a top 100 school: He will earn 17%-19% more than students from other schools.

But back to more depressing news: Six times as many graduates are working in retail or hospitality as had originally planned. Since there are 1.7 million grads who are getting bachelor’s degrees this year, that means 120,000 young people are working as waiters, Gap salespeople, and baristas because it was the only work they could find.

I talked to Andre Dua, a McKinsey director who co-leads the firm’s education practice in North America, in hopes of finding a shred of encouraging news for my would-be liberal arts graduate. Will the employment outlook be as dim five years from now? At first Dua demurred, saying “your career prospects are highly variable depending on where you go and what you studied on the one hand, and what you do to prepare yourself on the other hand.” In other words, if you’re a STEM kid who does lots of internships, you’ll probably be fine. If you’re a liberal arts kid, not so much.

Dua made the interesting observation that university leaders and boards of directors are lavishing attention on digital instruction, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), while virtually ignoring the fact that masses of students are working in jobs that they say don’t require a degree. The solution, says Dua: Find a way to teach “soft skills” like how to work effectively in teams, under pressure and with clients and customers.

Though the economy may be improving, he notes, my son will probably face a tough job market when (let’s hope!) he graduates five years from now. “There’s no reason to believe that it’s going to go back to the time when it’s simply enough to have a degree,” says Dua. “We’ve entered a time when it’s necessary to have competencies in addition to the credential of a degree.”

Boko Haram Claims Victories Over Military, Seeks Help From Afghanistan!

The leader of Nigeria's Boko haram Islamists said his group has scored several victories against the military during an ongoing offensive while themselves sustaining little damage, in a video seen by AFP on Tuesday.

"Since we started this ongoing war which they call state of emergency ... in some instances soldiers who faced us turned and ran," Abubakar Shekau said in the hour-long video.

He claimed Nigerian forces "threw down their arms in flight."

He called on like-minded Islamists in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Irag to join the fight to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.

"We call to us our brethren in these countries I mentioned. Oh! Our brethren, come to us," he said in the video, which alternates between Arabic and the Hausa language spoken across northern Nigeria.

Nigeria launched an offensive against Boko Haram on May 15, after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the country's northeast, the Islamic insurgents' stronghold.

The video was delivered to AFP through an intermediary in a manner similar to previous Boko Haram messages. The images of Shekau in the video are consistent with those previously released.

The Boko Haram leader was designated a global terrorist by the United States last year.

French stabbing accused linked to Islam!

Police investigating the stabbing of a French soldier in Paris have on Wednesday, arrested a suspect who sources describe as an adherent of ‘‘radical Islam’’.

‘‘The suspected perpetrator of the attack on a soldier Saturday evening in La Defense (business district) was arrested this morning,’’ Interior Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement.

Sources close to the investigation said the 22-year-old man had been a follower of a ‘‘traditionalist, even radical Islam for the last three or four years’’.

But the sources urged caution in a case that is still in its early stages, saying the suspect was not previously known to authorities as a radical.

"The investigation will determine at what time he decided to carry out a jihadist act," one of the sources said.

The suspect was known to police, having carried out petty crimes and thefts, a police source said.

A police source said he was identified thanks to video footage from the crime and traces of his DNA found on items left at the scene in a plastic bag, including a knife and a bottle.

A state anti-terrorism unit is investigating the stabbing of a French soldier in Paris that police said may have been inspired by the killing of a British serviceman in a London street.

The soldier was wounded while on patrol in La Defense, a business district west of the French capital.

Private First Class Cedric Cordier was approached from behind and stabbed in the neck with a small-bladed knife.

Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian told reporters that he had been targeted because of his profession.

His attacker, said to be a bearded man of North African origin, escaped and a police hunt is under way.

President François Hollande said there was no sign so far of a direct link with the killing of a soldier in London on Wednesday, for which two suspected Islamists were arrested.

France was rocked in March of last year by a string of killings by Islamist militant Mohamed Merah in the Toulouse area. He shot dead both French soldiers and Jewish schoolchildren before being killed in a police siege.

A French soldier patrolling a business area of western Paris was stabbed in the neck on Saturday by a man who quickly fled the scene and was still being sought, a police source said.

The soldier was patrolling in uniform with two other men as part of France's Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan when he was approached from behind and stabbed in the neck, with a knife or a box-cutter, Reuters reports.

French daily Le Parisien cited police sources as saying the suspected attacker was a bearded man of North African origin about 30 years old, and was wearing an Arab-style garment under his jacket.

"We still don't know the exact circumstances of the attack or the identity of the attacker, but we are exploring all options," French president, Francois Hollande, said of the incident.

Hollande refused to make a connection between the incident in Paris and the brutal murder of British military drummer, Lee Rigby, who was beheaded in Woolwich, South East London by two men, acting out of revenge for the UK’s involvement in Afghan and Iraqi wars.

"They tried to kill the soldier because he was a soldier," said France's defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, AFP reported.

The Police Prefect for Paris’s Hauts-de-Seine area, Pierre-Andre Peyvel, said that despite losing a considerable amount of blood, the injured soldier would survive and was being treated in hospital.

"The wound appears to be quite serious, but it's not life-threatening," he told iTele news television.

Peyvel said the attacker was able to flee into a crowded shopping area in the La Defense business neighborhood before the two other patrolling soldiers, were able to react.

However, Peyvel declined to confirm or deny the description of the perpetrator, which appeared in Le Parisien, saying that further details about his identity would follow.

France is currently on high alert for attacks by Islamist militants following its military operation in Mali this January, which prompted threats against French interests from the North African wing of Al-Qaeda.

Without a clear motive and reasoning for such attacks, there are two basic explanations that people tend to believe, activist and journalist Sukant Chandan told RT.

 “People either take the French government or the British government are lying on things like Woolwich the other day, or what’s happening in Paris today, or they say it’s all about the foreign policy of France or Britain,” he said. “I think that these positions don’t hold enough substance as an explanation.”
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_05_29/French-police-arrests-a-man-who-stabbed-a-soldier-in-Paris-last-week-8780/