Bashar al-Assad sworn in for another seven-year term!

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was sworn in today for a new seven-year term in a red carpet ceremony in Damascus, after an election his opponents had slammed as a "farce".
   
Assad swore by the Koran before the country's parliamentarians in an extraordinary session, 40 months into a conflict estimated to have killed more than 170,000 people.


   
"Syrians, three years and four months... have passed since some cried 'freedom'," he said, referring to the start of a March 2011 revolt that demanded his ouster.
   
"They wanted a revolution, but you have been the real revolutionaries. I congratulate you for your revolution and for your victory," Assad told his supporters.
   
"Those who lost their way can now see clearly... the monstruous faces have been unveiled, the mask of freedom and the revolution has fallen."
   
More than 1,000 people were invited to the inauguration ceremony, with Assad arriving at the presidential palace in a black sedan car before being met on a red carpet by a military band.
   
Parliamentarians and other guests cheered for Assad in the hall where Assad was sworn in and then gave a speech.
   
Assad won a June 3 election held only in regime-controlled territories by 88.7 percent, defeating two other candidates seen as figureheads, rather than genuine opponents.
   
The opposition National Coalition branded the election a "farce" even before it was staged, in a statement later echoed by US Secretary of State John Kerry and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Source: SBS news

Hundreds of sexually abused children rescued from Mexico home!

Mexico's top prosecutor said the Federal and state Police officers raided a group home Tuesday in the western state of Michoacan and rescued 458 children who were forced to beg for money and suffered sexual abuse while being against their will in filthy conditions. 

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam at a news conference attended by top federal investigators and Michoacan Gov. Salvador Jara, 138 adults were also rescued from the Great Family group home in the city of Zamora.

He stated that the group home residents were kept in deplorable conditions, fed rotten food and made to sleep on the floor among rats, ticks and fleas and many of them were never allowed to leave the premises, 

"I'm in utter dismay because we weren't expecting the conditions we found at the group home," Jara said.

It was further revealed that the Police detained the home's owner, Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, and eight workers for questioning.

The investigation began after five parents filed complaints last year with authorities because they weren't allowed to see their children at the home, Jara said.

Head of the Criminal Research Agency at the Attorney General's Office Tomas Ceron, said one of the parents was a woman who grew up and gave birth to two children at Great Family, which has been open for 40 years. She was allowed to leave when she was 31-years-old but Verduzco kept the two children, who had been registered under her name.

Malala meets Nigeria's leader Goodluck Jonathan over abducted girls!

Pakistani rights activist Malala Yousafzai has met Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan to press for more action to free at least 200 girls held by Boko Haram Islamist militants. 

The militants' leader has reiterated in a new video message that he is prepared to negotiate a prisoner swap for them. He also expressed support for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-declared caliph of a new Middle Eastern state. Boko Haram sparked a global outcry when it abducted the girls three months ago.

President Jonathan's government has faced strong criticism for not doing enough to curb violence by Boko Haram, especially in the wake of the kidnappings. Malala met President Jonathan in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and urged him to meet the families of the kidnapped girls.

She met relatives of the girls on Sunday, and expressed solidarity with them.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Tomi Oladipo says it is highly unusual that the president has not spoken to the relatives, exactly three months after the abductions. 

The military has also failed to debrief some of the girls who managed to escape from captivity, he says. But in a statement after his meeting with Malala, President Jonathan said he would meet with the parents before they left Abuja "to personally comfort them and reassure them" that the government was doing "all within its powers to rescue their daughters".The notion that the government has not been doing enough to find and rescue the girls was "very wrong and misplaced", the statement said.

Scores injured as SAA flight hits severe turbulence!

Twenty-five people were reportedly injured when a passenger jet from South Africa to Hong Kong hit turbulence on Wednesday, with two men seriously hurt and hospitalised in the southern Chinese city. 

South African Airways spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed in a statement that flight SA286, en route from Johannesburg to Hong Kong on 15 July at 17:11 (SA time) experienced severe turbulence injuring some passengers and crew.



"Flight SA286 reportedly landed safely in Hong Kong on Wednesday at approximately 06:30 SA time (12:30 Hong Kong time). The crew of the flight immediately requested medical assistance for the passengers, which was arranged and ready on arrival of the aircraft in Hong Kong.

"A  total number of 165 passengers was on board, of whom 25 passengers are known to have sustained injuries and 3 crew members.  The incident occurred whilst  flying over the Kuala Lumpur airspace."

SAA will be providing an update as and when more information becomes available.

However, Local Hong Kong television images showed ambulances on the tarmac at Hong Kong's airport taking away the injured, who were on a South African Airways jet from Johannesburg which landed at around 12:30. 

Hong Kong airport authorities said they were notified by the plane's captain at 11:00 that they would need help from emergency services when they came into land. 

"There was a plane that flew in from South Africa that saw multiple passengers injured when it encountered turbulence," a police spokesperson told AFP. 

Police said twelve men and 13 women were injured, with two men seriously hurt. 

Details of their injuries were not immediately known as South African Airways could not immediately comment when contacted by AFP but an online flight tracking system said the plane was a four-engined Airbus A340-300. 

Information also revealed that authorities could not confirm the total number of passengers on board. 

How Otunba Lekan Osifeso used fake papers to win huge contract, offers Works Minister $300k Bribe!

E'be like say another wind don blow.....Lekai Construction Limited boss, Otunba Lekan Osifeso is in the news for allegedly using fake documents to enrich himself and his company. 

According to news, the Ijebu-high Chief who is no stranger to controversy is allegedly enmeshed in negative business practices, as information made available to media sources revealed that Otunba Osifeso who is the current President of the Association of Indigenous Contractors progressed “was once involved in the kind of business the likes of Chief Fred Ajuda and Ade Bendel were into...mmmm. However, unlike the duo, he was able to stop ‘hustling’ without being convicted of the alleged serious criminal offence.” 


According to a source who craved anonymity, a page turned in the Lagos big boy’s life when he allegedly ditched advance free fraud, to become an Abuja portfolio contractor. This Source also revealed that his convenient marriage to pretty and highly connected popular Abuja night club owner (Excellencio), and London returnee, Tola Solomon, led to Otunba Osifeso’s fairy-tale rise in the Federal Capital Territory. 

It was gathered that after years of playing madam at the notorious Excellencio, Tola reinvented herself as a fashionista, selling trendy ladies wears to prominent Abuja women and states first ladies. 

Gist also has it that Lekai Construction Ltd rode on Tola’s influence to corner juicy construction contracts in Abuja. And things changed for the CEO (Otunba Osifeso) who was allegedly impoverished by the NDLEA and other security agencies in Lagos due to his involvement in controversial deals.

In 2012, his company reportedly won a N6.5billion road contract in the Federal Ministry of Works with alleged fake tax papers. 
The ministry’s procurement department headed by Mrs. M B Orewa and the Works Minister, Mike Onolememem reportedly turned the blind eye on Lekai Constructing cheating after they allegedly received bribe. 

The accusing source further alleged that Otunba Osifeso, raised the sum of $300,000 bribe (about N50M) which he allegedly gave the Works Minister from the proceeds of the right wing of his duplex located at Jabi Area of Abuja, which he reportedly sold to Sheriff Shagaya, son of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan’s friend, Hajia Bola Shagaya. 

Sheriff who once lost about N70m in an oil deal with ex-head of States, IBB’s son, Aminu Babangida is currently perfecting strategies to contest for Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency Seat in 2015 under the umbrella of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

It was also gathered that Otunba used part of the proceeds of his house sale to throw a lavish party for his late father at Ijebu in Ogun State on the 22nd of December 2012. Sources alleged that the Ijebu-high chief often adopts tricky plots to bamboozle government officials by hurrying them up to mobilize him without getting Advanced Payment Guarantee (APG) from his bank. A contravention of the procurement act that mandates huge contracts such as his, to come with an APG issued by winning bidders’ banks. 
The APG, a guarantee from the contractor’s bank accepting to bear the financial responsibility should the contractor fail to meet up, precedes mobilization payment. It also means the bank must monitor the project and ensure full compliance. 
However, Works Minister, Mike Onolememem allegedly approved the sum of N800 million naira for Lekai Construction without carrying out due diligence. An under-performing firm; the company was said to be operating with forged documents. 
Less than two months ago, he was conferred with the Special Recognition Award by the Nigeria Union of Journalists on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day for his contribution to the growth of the union. Many in the know claim this was a ploy to shut the mouth of the media and to water down bad press. When sources asked Otunba Osifeso about his company’s unethical practices on the phone, his argument was that Lekai Construction is not the only one into it. “Companies, which are owned by notable Nigerians are doing it, and nothing happened to them,” he allegedly argued.

50 Burmese reporters face charges over protest against "Unity" journal sentences!

The Myanmar Journalist Network says it will support any reporters charged over a peaceful protest against the sentences in the Unity journal case held outside a Yangon event being attended by President U Thein Sein on July 12, 2014. 

Police said they had opened cases against about 50 reporters under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Act after they held a sit-down protest against the sentences outside the Myanmar Peace Center while President U Thein Sein was attending a cultural event. 



The reporters, who had been denied entry to the event, wore black T-shirts bearing the slogan 'Stop oppression of the press' in Myanmar and some had symbolically covered the mouths in black tape. 

Convictions under Section 18 carry a maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment and a fine of K30,000 (about US$31). 

"We will work with any journalist who faces legal action for participating in this demonstration," Myanmar Journalist Association general secretary U Myint Kyaw told Mizzima on July 14. 

He was speaking a day after Deputy Inspector Han Tun Aung from Kamayut police station told Myanmar that he had opened cases against 50 reporters but only three had so far been identified, including Thamagga News Journal chief reporter Ma Shwe Hmon. 

"We will use photographic and police records to identify the other reporters involved," said Police Deputy-Inspector Han Tun Aung. 

Ma Shwe Hmon said she was surprised to learn that she faced charges under Section 18 because the event at the Myanmar Peace Center was in a public area. 

"We did not force our way in and remained outside the building," she said. 

Ma Shwe Hmon said she would not be deterred from doing her job by intimidation from the government. 

Diddy unveils CirocPineapple drink!

Diddy, unveils the latest collection to the Ciroc drinks family....



The CirocPineapple...