Israel ready for a five-hour 'Humanitarian' Pause in Gaza as long as Hamas respects same!

News reaching our news desk says the Israeli army has agreed to a "humanitarian" pause in strikes in the Gaza Strip. The five-hour cessation in shelling is scheduled for Thursday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time, a statement from the Israel Defense Forces read. Israel said it was prepared to honor the cease-fire as long as Hamas, which rules Gaza, didn't use the pause to launch its own strikes.

"This humanitarian window is meant to allow the civilian population of the Gaza Strip to engage in resupply for their humanitarian needs," the statement read. "Should the humanitarian window be exploited by Hamas or other terror organizations for the purpose of launching attacks against Israeli civilian or military targets the IDF will respond firmly and decisively."

Israeli officials in Washington said the pause in hostilities was in response to a request from Robert Serry, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. The cease-fire will allow aid to come into Gaza through checkpoints. More than 200 people have died in Gaza since the attacks began last week, including four children who were killed in a strike Wednesday while playing on the beach.

Source: NBC news

Tension as lawmakers insist on Al-Makura impeachment!

The Clerk of the house, Ego Maikeffi Abashe, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Lafia on Tuesday, that the Nasarawa State House of Assembly may serve the state Governor, Alhaji Umar Tanko Al-Makura, an impeachment notice through the media, as all efforts to serve the governor the impeachment notice proved abortive.

Moves to impeach the governor began on Monday during plenary through a motion under urgent matters of public importance moved by Mohammed Baba Ibaku (PDP) representing Udege/Loko and seconded by Mohammed Okpede,(PDP), Doma North constituency.

Briefing journalists in his office in Lafia, the state capital, on Tuesday, the clerk of the house said that he had made attempts to serve the governor the notice of impeachment at the Government House.

He said that he was stopped by the security personnel stationed at the gate by the Al-Makura.

Abashe, however, revealed that the House would be left with no option than to serve the governor the notice of impeachment through the media if he could not be reached personally.

Investigation by THE PUNCH indicated that the governor had not shown any concern as he went about his normal duties since yesterday (Monday) when the House began the impeachment procedures against him on allegations of gross misconduct.

Further finding by our correspondent showed that the legislators had since flown out of the state for security reasons; just as tension and confusion trailed the impeachment saga within and outside the state.

Culled from PUNCH news

Kate Middleton Pregnancy Rumors Riled British Gamblers Up!

News has been going round, about Kate Middleton's 2nd pregnancy, over the past week, various gossipy outlets have hypothesized that Prince George—who turns one on Tuesday—might soon have a younger sibling joining him in Kensington Palace. Their cited source? Kate's “friend” Jessica Hay, who had allegedly told an Australian newspaper that she had heard the news from “several different friends of theirs” and there would be an “official announcement in weeks.” 

The story got a bit of pickup, before Entertainment Tonight Canada inquired and Kensington Palace said Kate has not spoken to this Jessica Hay in “years,” casting doubt, obviously, on the entire report.

But, due in part to these rumors, two London bookmakers have decided to now close bets on Kate’s potential pregnancy, due to rampant activity. On Monday, one of these firms, Coral, stopped all bets on Kate announcing a pregnancy by the end of July. "When bets come in at once late in the evening, it sets alarm bells off," a Coral representative told People. "It's been quiet and then all of a sudden, a week before Prince George's birthday, this happened. The bets sealed our opinion that someone knows something we don't." 

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.