Pregnant Duchess Makes Final Solo Trip!

The Duchess of Cambridge will conduct her last solo public engagement later before giving birth in July.

Attending a ship naming ceremony in Southampton, Kate will become godmother of the Royal Princess when she smashes a bottle over its hull.

The Duchess, now in the final weeks of her pregnancy, will also board the ship for a brief tour.

Although it is the 31-year-old's last solo engagement, she is expected to attend Trooping the Colour on Saturday.

A key figure missing from the ceremony, which sees the trooping of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards' colours, will be the Duke of Edinburgh, who remains in hospital after undergoing an operation last Friday.

The Royal Princess, built at a construction yard near Venice, will be blessed in the ceremony, which will be attended by charities of which Kate, Prince William and Prince Harry are patrons.

The 3,600-passenger ship includes an over-water 'sea walk' and a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway, which extends 28ft beyond the edge of the ship.

The vessel, which will make her maiden voyage on June 16, also boasts the largest pastry shop at sea as well as poolside cabanas.

The naming ceremony is a long-standing royal tradition.

The predecessor to the Royal Princess was launched by Diana, Princess of Wales in 1984.

From the podium, she said: "I name this ship Royal Princess. May God bless her and all who sail in her."

She then pulled a lever to send the traditional bottle of champagne against the ship's hull.

The Queen named the Queen Elizabeth in 2010 and the Duchess of Cornwall named the Queen Victoria three years earlier.

Drunk Women 'Made Boy, 10, Drive Them Home'!

Two women have been arrested after making a 10-year-old boy drive them home because they were drunk.

Police in Louisiana responded to a call about car being driven recklessly on Interstate 10 - and when they pulled it over discovered it was being driven by a boy.

The child's grandmother and another woman were in the car along with a 15-year-old child.

Police said they told officers that they made the boy drive because they were intoxicated.

Brenda Byrd, 54, and Sheila Joiner, 48, were arrested for "contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and allowing an unlicensed driver to operate a motor vehicle".

The young driver and a 15-year-old passenger were later released to family members.

Mother Saves Baby After Taxi Slams Into Them!

A mother managed to pull her baby daughter out from under a taxi after they were both struck by the vehicle in an accident captured on video.

Alondra Gervacio, 17, and eight-month-old Perla were on their way to school for the teenager's final exam when the car driver reportedly had a heart attack, lost consciousness and the car mounted the pavement.

CCTV footage showed the pair being hit by the taxi which then smashed into the front of a shop in the Bronx, New York.

The baby was knocked out of her buggy and ended up underneath the vehicle. Ms Gervacio immediately rushed to the car and managed to pull her free.

She said she felt no pain after the car slammed into her, and could think only of her child.

Both mother and daughter suffered only minor injuries but the driver was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.

Ms Gervacio said: "If I didn't pull myself and her a little bit back it would have crashed into us and the store."

She believes she and her baby are lucky to be alive, and she cannot bear to watch the footage.

"I was putting her in the stroller and when I lifted my head up I saw the car coming. I'm like 'Oh my God.' I tried to push her on the side but I couldn't," the young mother said.

"She fell out of the stroller. She was below the car."

The student at Jane Adams High School and little Perla were taken to Lincoln Hospital. The teenager has pain on her left side.

Speaking about her baby's condition, she told WABC: "They took x-rays all over and of her head. But she's all OK. She just has scratches on her head and on her hand. And that's it."

Dr Rachel Rosansky, who works at Montefiore Hospital, was near the scene at the time of the accident.

She said the driver was slumped over the wheel well before the crash, and she rushed over to help.

"We felt the impact," she said. "I couldn't really find a pulse, but he was still breathing a little bit."

George Martinez, the cab firm's owner, said: "He's a nice responsible driver, never do anything, always responsible."

Syria death toll more than 93,000: UN!

More than 93,000 people, including at least 6,500 children, have perished in Syria's brutal civil war, a new study from the United Nations human rights office showed Thursday.

"Unfortunately, as the study indicates, this is most likely a minimum casualty figure. The true number of those killed is potentially much higher," UN rights chief Navi Pillay said in a statement.

The exact figure released on Thursday - 92,901people - is much higher than the UN's last death toll back in January of 59,000 people.

An average of more than 5,000 people have been killed every month since last July, while Rural Damascus and Aleppo have recorded the highest tolls since November, the UN said in its latest study compiling documented deaths.

Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, described the figures as "staggering".

The UN has not had much access to Syria, and therefore has been unable to count bodies. Instead, the body did a statistical survey.

"They have gone through sources which had the names, dates and locations [of those killed]," our correspondent said, adding that body acknowleges it has "underreported the number of deaths."

Rebel-led mass killing

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels reportedly killed at least 60 people, including civilians government loyalists, in a battle in Halta, a Sunni-majority village in the country's east, activists said.

The fighting over the past few days targetted members of the Shia community, highlighting the increasingly sectarian nature of the country's civil war.

The opposition fighters reportedly stormed and burned civilian homes in the village in the eastern Deir Azzor province. 

The attack is said to be in retaliation for an earlier assault by Shias from Hatla that killed four opposition fighters.

A Syrian government official denounced the attack on the Shia-section of the Sunni-majority Hatla village as a "massacre" of civilians, the Associated Press news agency reported on Thursday. 

A video posted online by rebels on Tuesday, entitled "The storming and cleansing of Hatla", showed dozens of fighters carrying black flags celebrating and firing guns in the streets of a small town as smoke curled above several buildings.

One fighter shouts in the video: "This is a Sunni area, it does not belong to other groups."

Most armed rebels in Syria are from the country's Sunni majority, while President Bashar al-Assad has retained core support among the minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam, along with Christians and Shia.

US debates strategy

Meanwhile, the US has again debated how to help the Syrian opposition, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.

The US has weighed for months whether to give arms to the rebels, but the issue is now firmly on the table given increased involvement by Hezbollah, the armed Lebanese Shia group, and as Iran backs President Assad on the battlefield.

Government forces are also reported to be preparing for majour offensive on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo.

"We are focusing our efforts now doing all that we can to support the opposition as they work to change the balance on the ground," Kerry said at a joint news conference with William Hague, UK foreign secretary, in Washington DC on Wednesday.

The Obama administration is meeting this week on whether to arm the Syrian rebels, a topic that Kerry said he discussed with Hague.

Brigad

About 6,000 Flee Boko Haram Crisis To Niger Republic!

According to a United Nation's report, no fewer than 6,000 people ,mostly  women, children and elderly, displaced following the military onslaught against members of  Islamist militant sects,  Boko Haram and the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru,  in Northern Nigerian villages have fled to neighboring  Niger Republic.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also  known as the UN Refugee Agency,  made this known in a report  it  presented in  New York, United States, recently by  its  spokesperson, Mr Adrian Edwards.

The report stated that, “Those who spoke to UNHCR say they escaped for fear of being caught in the government-led crackdown,”.

Edward who read the report, added that the presence of the Nigerian refugees in Niger Republic was  “putting a strain on meager local food and water resources” on the country which  “struggles with food insecurity due to years of drought.”

According to Edward, the “refugees  are either renting houses or staying with host families, who are themselves living in very precarious conditions.”

Edward stated that a UNHCR staff member who  visited several border villages hosting  the refugees met some Nigerian families living out in the open  and some under trees.

He further disclosed that the agency would help the Nigerien authorities to register the refugees, and that plans are under-way to deliver relief to the refugees and their   host communities. The report revealed that in the past few weeks, about 240  additional refugees, comprising Niger nationals and people from other nationalities, equally fled Nigeria to Niger,  while some of them fled to Cameroon and Chad; two countries that also share boundaries with Nigeria.

The report  also  stated that the Nigerian  “refugees reported that air strikes by government forces are continuing from time to time, and that planes are regularly flying over the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where a  state of emergency has been in force since May 14.”

Adding that, “People arriving in Niger also mentioned the increasing presence of roving armed bandits in several states in Nigeria. The people also spoke of rising commodity prices coupled with pre-existing food insecurity which is also becoming  a major concern for the populations of the affected states.”

Nigerian forces are engaged in a  four- week-old operation to regain territory from Boko Haram fighters. They had  destroyed key Boko Haram bases and arrested more than 150 suspected insurgents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Although the military was not immediately available for comment, Defence Headquarters Spokesman,  Brig -Gen. Chris Olukolade, in a recent statement,  denied a report that Nigerian refugees were “pouring into” Niger.

This contradiction came as  the National Emergency Management Agency  said it was responding to the humanitarian needs of the displaced Nigerians in Niger Republic to alleviate their living conditions. NEMA  said the basic needs  were identified by a special assessment carried out by its team  that was dispatched to Niger Republic to ascertain the conditions of Nigerians that had crossed over the border into the country. 

Meanwhile, during a recent courtesy visit to Nigeria's Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada in Abuja, Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General  for West Africa,  Mr. Said Djinnit, who is also the Chairman, Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, observed that the threat of extremism and terrorism is affecting all West African countries and the Africa continent in general and tasked West African countries  to collaborate and tackle terrorism in the sub-region.

Djinnit said the visit was to explore how he could work closely with ECOWAS and its leaders in stabilizing the West Africa region and creating conditions for peace: “The threat of extremism or terrorism is affecting all  the  countries in West Africa and  Africa in general. So there is need for a general effort. This should be a national effort, though Nigeria is putting its own effort but we need to mobilise the entire region to work together to address the root cause of the problem, address the concern and challenge in a coordinated manner within the framework of the existing plan of action with ECOWAS, African Union and the UN.” He said.

Djinnt advised that Nigeria should take into account, the issue of Human Rights, which he believed the government was aware of, in responding to the challenge  of ensuring safety of its citizens. He commended the Nigerian government for its role in the fight against piracy the Gulf of Guinea.

The President of the Czech Parliament, Mr.  Milan. Stech, sympathized with the Nigerian government over Boko Haram insurgents attacks.

Nine-month-old baby dies in Lagos building collapse!

A nine-month-old baby died while three others sustained injuries after a three-storey building collapsed on Agege Motor Road, Mushin, Lagos State, Nigeria.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the building, located on 353 Agege Motor Road, Challenge Bus Stop, collapsed around 3pm on Tuesday. The baby’s parents were among the injured.

According to rescue officials, most of the occupants of the residential building were not at home when the incident occurred.

The building was said to have been built as a conventional apartment but two stories were added to it which weakened its foundation.

A police source at the scene said, “The building was built like ‘Face me I face you’ (single rooms apartment) behind a four-storey building in the same compound but the landlord added two floors which weakened its foundation.

“The building came crashing around 3pm and we all rushed there to rescue people. Three people were saved and have been taken to the hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, a baby of about nine months was found buried under the rubble.”

It was learnt that sympathisers were able to salvage some properties even before the arrival of the rescue officials.

The incident expectedly worsened the usual heavy traffic in the area.

The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Razaq Fadipe, told our correspondent that rescue efforts had ended.

He said, “We received a distress call at our station at Isolo that there was a building collapse and we rushed down to the scene. Three people were rushed to hospital while a baby of about nine months was found dead.

“Rescue operations continued until no other person was found under the rubble.”

It was learnt that state officials had sealed off and marked the building next to the collapsed one for demolition.

According to state officials at the scene, the building had earlier been identified as a distressed. He said that some of its occupants had vacated while some ignored the warning and stayed behind.

When contacted on the telephone, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Damasus Ozoani, said, “The incident occurred during the rain. The Divisional Police Officer, Mushin, received a distress call and mobilised his men to the scene.

“Four people were rescued, including a baby but on getting to the hospital, the baby gave up the ghost.”

SHAMEFUL: Lecturer stripped naked after getting involved in a sex-for-marks scandal!

Ifeanyi Ugwu Raphael, a lecturer in the Theatre Arts Department of the Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria; was reportedly caught over the weekend in a female student’s room in a sex-for-marks scandal.

Reports say the lecturer had insisted on having sex with the 400 level student (names withheld) without which she will continue to fail his course.

Sources who narrated the events leading to the randy lecturer’s exposure and show of shame, said last Friday, Mr Ifeanyi, who is working towards earning his Ph.D degree from same university, had gone to see his student with the understanding that he will come along with her exam scripts and after sleeping with her, upgrade the scores immediately.

However, unknown to him, the student had her own game plan. It was learnt that she had arranged with her male friends and neighbours to barge into her room whose door she left unlocked once she has gotten Mr Ifeanyi undressed.

The girl’s plan worked out and Ifeanyi was dragged out without any clothes on with the help of her neighbours and male friends.

Realising his game was up and the damaging effect it would have on his career, the lecturer pleaded and asked for forgiveness but the now angry group insisted on taking their pound of flesh as he was molested and told to pose for photographs as evidence of his misdeeds.

According to some students of the Theatre Arts department who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being victimized, they said the lecturer was in the habit of blackmailing his female students into sleeping with him just as they accused him of often bragging of being untouchable because he purportedly belongs to a dreaded confraternity on campus.

The students added that for male students who fail Ifeanyi’s course, they are forced to part with five thousand (N5,000) or risk carrying over the same course.

Reacting to the allegation when contacted, Mr Ifeanyi said he had nothing to say as the school authority is handling the case.