UKEMVERANEWS

  Nigeria's President Dares Burkina Faso in fiery Standoff  Burkina Faso’s President has issued a fierce stern warning in the midst of rising numbers! 0ns with Nigeria, declaring that his nation is completely prepared for any military conflict. In the bold statement, he said:  "Let them come if Nigeria believes it can invade our land. Burkina Faso is ready.  We fear no one, and we will defend our sovereignty at all costs.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania, former Presidents and first ladies Barack Obama and Michelle, and Bill Clinton and Hillary were among dignitaries that have mourned former First Lady Barbara Bush. Spokesman for the family, Jim McGrath, announced Barbara’s death on Tuesday evening at the age of 92, after a series of recent hospitalisation. Trump ordered flags be flown at half mast in her honour. The president recalled Bush for her commitment to spreading literacy, and as an “advocate of the American family.” “She will be long remembered for her strong devotion to country and family, both of which she served unfailingly well,” Trump said in a statement. Vice-President Mike Pence praised Bush as an inspiration to others, highlighting her devotion to her family. The Obamas said: “We’ll always be grateful to Mrs. Bush for the generosity she showed to us throughout our time in the White House, but we’re even more grateful for the way she lived her life. “As a testament...

Barbara Bush, the wife of former U.S. President George H. . Bush,is dead. She died at the age of 92. Bush’s death was confirmed by her son, George, in a statement. George said: “My dear mother has passed on at age 92. Laura, Barbara, Jenna, and I are sad, but our souls are settled because we know hers was. Barbara Bush was a fabulous First Lady and a woman unlike any other who brought levity, love, and literacy to millions.” Lady Bush was not only First Lady to George H.W. Bush, she was also mother of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was First Lady from 1989 to 1993, while George became president in 2000. She was also the mother of Jeb Bush, who served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for the White House in 2016. As first lady from 1989 until the start of 1993, Bush was a popular national figure known for her sometimes blunt talk and self-deprecating wit. Her husband, the 41st U.S. president, is 93 years old. Her son, the 43...

A 16th-century gold case containing the heart of the only woman to be crowned queen of France twice has been stolen, according to The Telegraph daily. The British newspaper said in an online report that the 15.24-cm oval reliquary containing the heart of Anne of Brittany was stolen by robbers, who broke in through a window of the Thomas-Dobree Museum in the western French city of Nantes over the weekend. The queen was buried at Saint Denis near Paris when she died in 1514, but her heart was stored in her family tomb in Nantes to show her loyalty to Brittany. The reliquary, topped by a gold crown with nine lilies, the royal motif, is considered a masterpiece. It had been on display at the museum for more than 130 years. The theft has created outrage among the public. Philippe Grosvalet, president of the Loire-Atlantique department which owns the museum, said thieves had “attacked our common heritage”, stealing an item “of inestimable value.”

The French government is building its own encrypted messenger service to ease fears that foreign entities can spy on private conversations between top officials, France digital ministry said on Monday. None of the world’s major encrypted messaging apps, including Facebook’s (FB.O) WhatsApp and Telegram, a favorite of President Emmanuel Macron, are based in France, raising the risk of data breaches at servers outside the country. The ministry said about 20 officials and top civil servants are testing the new app which a state-employed developer has designed with the aim that its use will become mandatory for the whole government by the summer. “We need to find a way to have an encrypted messaging service that is not encrypted by the United States or Russia. “You start thinking about the potential breaches that could happen, as we saw with Facebook, so we should take the lead,’’ the digital ministry said. The U.S. social network, which bought WhatsApp in 2014, has drawn heavy critici...

A crude bomb went off outside an Indian government relief office in Nepal causing minor damage but no injuries, officials said on Tuesday, in what appeared to be a rare gesture of Nepali anger toward its giant neighbor to the south. The blast happened in Biratnagar town, near the Indian border, 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the capital, Kathmandu, late on Monday, police official Tilak Shrestha told Reuters. A wall of the Indian compound, set up to coordinate movement of vehicles in the border area after widespread floods in 2008 closed the main road, was damaged, said Seshnarayan Paudel, a senior district official. “The incident took place at night and there was no one inside the office,” Paudel said.  No one claimed responsibility and the motive was not known, he said. Army spokesman Colonel Vijay Thapa said the blast was caused by a crude bomb made in a pressure cooker. India is Nepal’s largest trade partner and the supplier of the bulk of its consumer goods and India’s per...

U.S. President Donald Trump is “morally unfit” to be president, former FBI director James Comey charged in an interview broadcast on Sunday night. Comey said anyone who can see “moral equivalence” in protests by white supremacists and people who oppose them, who treats women like “pieces of meat” and who “lies constantly” and insists Americans believe it is “not fit to be president of the United States on moral grounds,” Comey said in the interview on ABC. The man who served as Trump’s FBI director until the president fired him in May said the truth, the rule of law and integrity were “things [that] matter before any fights about policies” like whether the U.S. should build a border wall or more strictly regulate the sale guns. He said he isn’t hoping for Trump’s impeachment because that would “let the American people off the hook.” “He believes Americans are “duty bound” to “go to the voting booth and vote their values.” The interview was Comey’s first ahead of the publication on T...

It has been revealed that French President Emmanuel Macron persuaded President Donald Trump not to pullout U.S. soldiers in Syria to enable him launch airstrikes as punishment for the Bashar al-Assad led-government for an alleged chemical weapons attack on his people. Macron made the confession while appearing in a two-hour live broadcast on French television BFM and online investigative site Mediapart. The 40-year-old leader said the U.S., Britain and France had “full international legitimacy to intervene” in order to enforce international humanitarian law. The allies fired missiles early Saturday at three chemical-weapons facilities in Syria to punish the regime for the alleged use of chemical weapons in the town of Douma. “It was retaliation, not an act of war,” Macron said in justifying the operation a day before the French parliament was set to debate it. “The airstrikes marked Macron’s biggest foreign policy yet. Nearly a year into his term, the new president declared France ...

Dr Idi Hong, the former Minister of State for Health, has advised health workers to shun strikes and embrace dialogue in addressing their demands in the interest of the health sector. Hong gave the advice in Abuja at a reception in honour of Dr Joshua Ndom-Giyan, the out-gone Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, Nasarawa State. He enjoined workers to consider strikes as their last weapon to press home their demands in order to save human lives, noting that industrial action had brought untold hardship to many Nigerians especially the privileged who do not have the means to access private healthcare services in the country. “I congratulate Dr Giyan and we thank God that you have finished well, and we advise you to be there for advice and consultation where necessary. Don’t abandon the hospital. “First and foremost, I want to call on our medical colleague, please strike should be the last resort. The consequences of going on strike in hospitals is people suffering and dyi...

Universal powers converged this  Tuesday  under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council to deliberate on  the alleged use of  chemical bombs in the Douma District of Syria. The gory images of alleged victims of the attack had gone viral.  On the eve of the meeting which was ostensibly to discuss the alleged attack and identify its perpetuators,  President Donald Trump  found the Syrian government guilty and threatened retaliatory actions. At  the Council, as usual, debates gave way to acrimony and threats of retaliatory measures even before any investigation.  The United States (US) presented   its resolution to the meeting pronouncing Syria guilty and seeking the establishment of  an independent agency to investigate the attack. It was vetoed by Russia. Then the verbal cannons were let loose. The U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said: “History will record that, on this day, Russia chose protecting a monster (Syrian...

Ms Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, said some 1.3 million drivers, passengers and pedestrians died each year on the world’s roads. Mohammed stated this as UN took a major step to address this tragedy by launching a trust fund to spur action that could save lives and prevent the loss of opportunity associated with road accidents. The UN deputy chief spoke at the UN General Assembly where she highlighted the opportunities offered by the UN Road Safety Trust Fund. “We have a chance to save the lives of millions of people around the world, and to prevent injuries, suffering and the loss of opportunity associated with road accidents,” she said. The UN deputy scribe urged all stakeholders to contribute to the Trust Fund and to step up their efforts to achieve global road safety targets. According to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which is also the secretariat for the Trust Fund, every 1,500 dollars contributed to the Fund could save one life; prev...

Mrs Miatta French, Electoral Commissioner, National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Sierra Leone, on Thursday urged Nigerians to, in spite of politicians’ inducements, vote according to their consciences in 2019 elections. French was in Abuja at the instance of Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA), for “Watch the Vote Discussion’’ on lessons from Sierra Leone experiences in the just-concluded general elections in that country. According to her, the African population is becoming very smart to the point of knowing credible leaders that will bring positive change above enticing freebies they share during elections. “Sierra Leone witnessed an interesting trend in the just-concluded elections where, though people were offered money, they still voted for their consciences, and that was very clear in that this election. “People have become extremely smart and it showed in the election because if anybody had told the ruling party that they would lose the election ba...

“The president is in charge and that means me too,” says Zimbabwe’s “former first lady Grace Mugabe” to howls of laughter from the theatre audience. “Everyone must rally behind me, the mother of the nation. I am the wife of the president.” “Grace” was on the stage of Harare’s Theatre in the Park, brought to life by actress Carol Magenga in a recent three-day run of a production called “Operation Restore Regasi”. The play, which chronicles the final days of former president Robert Mugabe’s rule, marked a watershed in Zimbabwe, where satirical productions that mocked Mugabe used to be ruthlessly suppressed. It has been a resounding hit with audiences starved for decades of incisive and topical humour — and so far, there has been no official backlash. Trevor Chisvo, a 26-year-old teacher, called the dialogue, a mix of English and Shona, “hilarious”. “It is funny that we’re enjoying events in our country that could have turned violent,” he said. “The guys did very well.” The play was sol...

China: Baby born four years after parents died in car crash A baby has been born in China to a surrogate mother, four years after the parents were killed in a car crash, Chinese media has reported. The boy’s parents, Shen Jie and his wife Liu Xi, were killed in a crash in Yixing in Jiangsu province in March 2013 They were undergoing fertility treatment before they died. According to the Beijing News, via South China Morning Post, a surrogate mother from Laos gave birth to the baby boy using the couple’s fertilised embryos. After the accident, the both parents of the couple fought a long legal battle to be allowed to use the embryos. After finally being granted custody of the embryos in January 2017, both sets of parents travelled to Laos to find a mother as surrogacy in illegal in China. Little Tiantian was born in December and, according to Liu’s mother, he looks just like his father. “Tiantian’s eyes look like my daughter’s but overall, he looks more like his father,” she told Beij...

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak closed his Facebook account as one of the latest tech leaders who started to distance themselves from the world’s largest social media firm following its scandal involving alleged misuse of user data. Wozniak told the USA Today daily that he was taken aback by the extent of Facebook’s data collection when he changed and deleted some of his information before deactivating his account. “I was surprised to see how many categories for ads and how many advertisers I had to get rid of, one at a time. “I did not feel that this is what people want done to them,” he said in an email to the American newspaper. “Users provide every detail of their life to Facebook and … Facebook makes a lot of advertising money off this,” he said. “The profits are all based on the user’s info, but the users get none of the profits back,” he added. He compared Apple with Facebook in their relations with users, saying “Apple makes its money off of good products, not off of you.” “Wi...

(dpa/NAN) Lebanon will file a complaint to the UN after its airspace was allegedly used to attack targets in neighbouring Syria on Monday, state media has reported. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants condemns the raids against the Syrian Arab Republic and affirms its previous positions that Lebanese airspace should not be used to attack Syria,’’ the Lebanese National News Agency quoted the ministry as saying. The report made no mention of Israel, but the Lebanese army on Monday said that four Israeli warplanes had breached the country’s airspace.

Yulia , daughter of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was discharged from British hospital late on Monday and is at a safe location, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Sergie, 66, who as a colonel in Russian military intelligence betrayed dozens of agents to Britain’s foreign spy service, was found slumped unconscious on a bench in the city of Salisbury along with Yulia on March 4. Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning, the first known offensive use of such a nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Moscow denied any involvement and suggested Britain had carried out the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria. After weeks of no reported change in his condition, the hospital confirmed that Sergei, who had been treated under heavy sedation, was now making fast progress. Prime Minister Theresa May said the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Russia has said it does not have such ner...

A man has been taken to hospital with a severe headache after he ate the world’s hottest pepper, the so-called “Carolina Reaper”. The 34-year-old, who was not identified, had eaten just one of the chilies at a pepper eating contest in upstate New York.   Immediately after the competition, he began dry heaving (throwing up but without expelling any substance) and developed intense neck and head pain starting at the back, which later spread across the whole head. At first, the man experienced short splitting pains lasting seconds at a time but later began to feel excruciating headache before he decided to go to the emergency room. The patient told doctors he did not have any tingling sensation or weakness, slurred speech or transient loss of vision, and he had just a slightly high blood pressure of 134/69mm Hg. Tests for various neurological conditions came back negative, until scans revealed several arteries in his brain had constricted. This prompted doctors to dia...

A journalist was shot and wounded critically inside his residence near the Indian capital city New Delhi, police said Monday. The TV journalist Anuj Chaudhary working with a Hindi news channel was shot Sunday evening in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) on the outskirts of New Delhi. “Last evening two assailants came on a motorcycle and barged inside the house of Anuj Chaudhary, where they fired upon him in the stomach and right hand,” a police official quoting family members said. “Chaudhary was immediately removed to hospital where he is being treated.” Chaudhary is associated with Sahara Samay, a Hindi TV news channel. “We are investigating the case from all angles to unmask the assailants,” the police official said. Chaudhary’s wife is a local politician associated with India’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a party that has support base in Uttar Pradesh and following among millions of low-caste Dalits. NAN

Russia has blamed the Israeli Air Force for the deadly airstrike on a Bashar al-Assad air base after a suspected chemical attack killed at least 40 in a Damascus suburb over the weekend. Russia’s Defense Ministry said two Israeli fighter jets launched the attack on the T4 air base in central Syria from Lebanon’s air space. Syria shot down five out of the eight missiles that targeted the base, the ministry said. It said the other three landed in the western part of the T4 base. The airstrikes reportedly killed 14 people, including Iranians, at a military airport near the city of Homs. Syrian state TV quoted unnamed military official as saying Israeli F-15 warplanes had fired several missiles while flying over neighboring Lebanon. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says most of the 14 killed were either Iranians or members of Iran-backed groups. The report on SANA said the attack on the T4 military airbase “is likely to be...