UN experts warn against ethnic cleansing in S/Sudan

NAN-F-17

Six detained after Turkish dormitory fire kills schoolgirls

NAN-F-15

Fire
Aladag, (Istanbul), Nov. 30, (Reuters/NAN) Authorities in southern Turkey, detained six people on Wednesday over a fire in a dormitory that killed 11 schoolgirls and one other person, the state-agency said.

Flames swept through the mostly wooden interior of the two-storey dormitory in the town of Aladag late on Tuesday, causing the roof to collapse.

European Affairs Minister Omer Celik, a ruling AK Party lawmaker who represents the surrounding province in the national parliament, said the suspected cause was an electrical fault.

But the opposition complained of lax regulation and criticised an education policy that has seen a growing number of such dormitories set up to house poor students from villages where there are no state schools.

Local media said the dormitory was run by one of the several religious movements in Turkey that operate such facilities. Elif Dogan Turkmen, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said she had unsuccessfully tabled several proposals in parliament to improve the inspection and supervision of such buildings.

“The AKP has abandoned all state authority on education to religious movements and cults,” Turkmen told Reuters. “They throw children from poor families into the lap of cults by not building dormitories themselves.”

Local mayor Huseyin Sozlu was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as saying the door to a fire escape was shut, trapping some of the victims inside. But Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak denied that was the case.

“The initial information passed on from investigators and our prosecutor suggests there was no lock on the door,” he said.

Kaynak rejected claims of insufficient inspections, saying the building had been audited in June as well as last year and that it had the necessary license.

The fire began on the ground floor but quickly spread through wooden fixtures and carpets, according to a CNN Turk correspondent who said children had smashed windows on the upper floor as they tried to escape.

Twenty-four people, many of them schoolgirls, were injured. One of the people detained was the dormitory manager.

Such incidents are not uncommon in Turkey. In 2008, an explosion triggered by a gas leak in a religious preparatory school in the central province of Konya killed 18 girls and wounded 29. Charges were brought against the dormitory manager and other officials but the case is ongoing. (Reuters/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

Nepal proposes to amend constitution to meet protesters’ demand

NAN-F-14
Demand
Kathmandu, Nov. 30,2016 (dpa/NAN) New constitutional amendments to address the demands of protesters who claimed the charter was discriminatory were put forward by Nepal’s government Wednesday, a parliamentary spokesman said.

The move, which came following weeks of negotiations between leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, is aimed at resolving political deadlock that has reigned since Nepal promulgated a post-war constitution in September 2015.

The disagreement has seen deadly protests by ethnic Madhesis living along the country’s southern plains. They demand greater representation in state institutions and two federal states in the region.

The protesters objected to a constitutional provision which assigned the community only one federal state in the region they call home. They also demanded that the constitution ensure equal rights to their members.

Bharat Gautam, a parliamentary spokesman, said the government late Tuesday registered the proposed amendments. They must now be considered in the legislature, which must approve them with a two-thirds majority.

Ramesh Lekhak, a minister for physical infrastructure and transport, said the amendment was necessary for elections and implementing the constitution.

“The move will make the constitution acceptable to a broad section of our society. I don’t see any reason to oppose the amendments,” he said.

But the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the main opposition in the parliament, has denounced the amendments. Members protested in several districts that were carved out to create a new federal state in the country’s south-western region.

The Madhesi protesters waged months-long demonstrations last year, closing the vital border trade with India and leaving more than 50 people dead.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who came to power in August, pledged to meet the protesters’ demand by amending the constitution. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

Fire leaves 22 coal miners trapped in north-eastern China

NAN-F-12
Fire
Beijing, Nov. 30, 2016 (dpa/NAN) Twenty-two miners were trapped after a fire at a mine in north-eastern China, state media reported Wednesday.

Rescue efforts were under way at the mine in the city of Qitaihe, located on the border with Siberia. The blaze was reported to have broken out near the site late Tuesday.

Coal recycling and mining are the major industries of Qitaihe, the smallest prefecture-level city in Heilongjiang province.

Big cities “conduct security checks more frequently and take them more seriously than small cities,” a local coal bureau official told the state-run Global Times newspaper earlier this month after a gas explosion trapped and killed 33 miners in the south-western region of Chongqing.

Deaths reported from mining accidents in China have plunged since the start of the millennium: 1,049 miners died at work in 2013 whereas 598 died in 2015, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.

However, there are doubts about the accuracy of official figures, as well as the role played by reduced coal production.

China is the world’s biggest consumer and producer of coal.

Coal production was 3.68 billion tons in 2015, or 47 per cent of the world’s total, according to the China National Coal Association. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

India court orders cinemas to play national anthem

NAN-F-11

Order
New Delhi, Nov.30, 2016 (dpa/NAN) Indian cinema theatres must play the national anthem before each film screening, India’s Supreme Court ordered on Wednesday, according to lawyers linked to the case.

The order comes amid a debate in the country about the rise of aggressive nationalism in India under the Hindu-right wing Bharatiya Janata Party government.

A wheelchair-bound activist was assaulted in the western state of Goa last month for not standing up to the national anthem, sparking widespread criticism.

The court said everyone in the hall should rise for the anthem and the national flag should be displayed on the screen, said lawyer Abhinav Srivastava, who filed a petition on the alleged misuse of the anthem on behalf of a non-governmental organization.

“Time has come that people must feel and show respect to the national anthem, the symbol of constitutional patriotism,” broadcaster NDTV quoted the judges as saying in the order.

While the anthem is on, all theatre exits will be closed. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

Rwanda opens criminal inquiry into France’s role in genocide

NAN-F-10

Genocide
Kigali, Nov. 30, 2016 (dpa/ NAN) Rwanda has opened a criminal inquiry into 20 French officials suspected of playing a role in the east African country’s 1994 genocide, which left 800,000 people dead, Prosecutor General Richard Muhumuza said.

President Paul Kagame’s government has accused the French of helping to mastermind and execute the killing of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by members of the Hutu-led government.

“The inquiry, for now, is focused on 20 individuals who are required by the Prosecution Authority to explain or provide clarity on allegations against them,” Muhumuza said in a statement late Tuesday.

He said the authority would then decide whether those individuals would be formally charged.

Later on, “other French government agents and officials might be required to similarly assist the Kigali Prosecution Authority,” the statement added.

France has been accused of ignoring the warning signs of the genocide, and of training soldiers and militiamen who participated in the killings.

However, France did send troops to Rwanda late on in the genocide, but they have been accused of allowing genocidal Hutus to escape to neighbouring Congo.

Muhumuza said the relevant French government authorities had been formally engaged.

“The office of the prosecutor general expects that reciprocal judicial cooperation will be availed throughout this inquiry by the relevant French government agencies and authorities,” the statement added. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

Tearful Afghan boy thanks Merkel for opening doors to refugees

NAN-F-21

Thankful
Berlin, Nov. 29, 2016 (dpa/NAN) An Afghan boy broke down in tears as he thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her government’s open-door refugee policy.

“I would like to thank you, Mrs Merkel,” the boy, Edris, said in German into a microphone at a party conference of her Christian Democrats (CDU) in the western city of Heidelberg.

“I am very, very happy,” said Edris, who had been lifted up by his father so he could see the chancellor.

A smiling Merkel praised Edris’ German language skills before hurriedly leaving the podium to greet her young admirer, who wiped away tears as he shook her hand.

The encounter with Edris was in marked contrast to that with Reem, a 14-year-old Palestinian refugee, who cried during a televised meeting with Merkel about her family’s possible deportation back to Lebanon.

That meeting last year sparked controversy as Merkel told Reem that “politics is sometimes hard” and Germany wouldn’t be able to manage an unchecked influx of Palestinian refugees.

The chancellor’s subsequent attempts to console Reem were described by critics as heartless.

More than a million refugees have entered Germany since the start of 2015.

Underlining the tensions caused by Merkel’s liberal refugee policy, CDU member Ulrich Sauer drew boos when he called on the chancellor to step aside from the party leadership over her “laissez-faire” asylum policy.

Sauer told delegates the policy was “a burden that we will not get rid of any time soon.”

Despite a slump in Merkel’s popularity following her decision to open Germany’s borders, she announced last week that she is planning to seek a fourth term in September. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

World’s oldest person celebrates 117th birthday

NAN-F-20
Celebration
Rome, Nov. 29, 2016 (dpa/NAN) Emma Morano, a woman from north-western Italy, whose life has spanned three centuries and 11 popes, and is recognised as the oldest person in the world, celebrated her 117th birthday on Tuesday.

Morano started her day with an egg, biscuits and camomile, her doctor Carlo Bava told journalists. He described the super centenarian as happy, smiling and “very alert.”

Carmen Pedretti, an official from the local municipality of Verbania, said the mayor was to visit Morano at her home in the village of Pallanza, by Lake Maggiore.

The mayor “usually brings a cake,” Pedretti added.

Morano received birthday wishes from President Sergio Mattarella, who hailed her “exceptional” achievement. Verbania authorities organised the staging of a musical and the presentation of a book about her for later in the day.

The municipality said Morano had a tough life. She was the oldest of eight siblings and married an abusive husband from whom she “courageously” separated in 1938. Their only child died six months after his birth.

“He would beat me every day; I would do nothing wrong, I would go to work, he worked very little and I would have to support him,” Morano told Italian website Fanpage.

She added that she did not seek another partner after parting ways with her husband.

Morano attributes her longevity to a diet based on eggs and meat. “My doctor told me to eat raw meat, preferably minced, so I can eat it,” she said.

Super centenarians are people aged 110 or above.

According to the Gerontology Research Group, a U.S. body that tracks super centenarians, 45 women and two men have reached that age. The oldest person after Morano is Jamaican woman Violet Brown, who is set to turn 117 on March 10. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)

NASS calls for amendment of procurement act to fast-track growth of Agric sector

NAN-AE-4
Procurement
By Kudirat Ogunyemi
Abuja, Nov.29, 2016 (NAN) Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture, Hon. Mohammed Monguno, has called for an urgent need to amend the procurement act to fast-track growth in Agriculture sector.

A statement issued by the Director of Information in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Tony Ohaeri,  quotes Monguno as saying this, when he led his members on an oversight visit to the ministry.

The team was in the ministry to see the level of execution of the 2016 budget and the constraints faced so as to give necessary supports in the 2017 budget.

He said that for government to achieve its policy of economic diversification through Agriculture, the National Assembly and the executive must work together to review the budgetary system and remove Agricultural sector from the normal budgetary process.

“There is the need for a paradigm shift for Nigerians to see agricultural sector as business especially to encourage youths to go into Agriculture.

“ The National Assembly had passed laws such as the Fertilizer Regulatory Act among others and would continue to enact and amend relevant laws to sustainably develop Agriculture in Nigeria,’’ he said.

The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture, Mukari Chiromawa, demanded more efforts from the ministry, adding that government needs to holistically look at the country’s agricultural policies.

Earlier  the Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, presented the ministry’s implementation of the 2016 budget and identified inadequate fund, bureaucratic bottleneck in handling procurement processes.

Ogbeh said that the budget released to the ministry was 61 per cent and the sector had continuously experienced decline of budgetary allocations that fall short of Maputo Declaration of 10 per cent of National Budget allocation.

He also highlighted the projects and programme implemented under 2016 budget, despite the challenges faced by the Ministry.

“The ministry had acquired 110 various capacities of rice mills of 10 tons, 20 tons, 50 tons and 50 tons per day for distribution to cluster farmers to boost rice production in the country.

“The Agro dealers, seed companies and fertilizer suppliers had resumed redemption of seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs to small holder farmers under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) programme,’’ he said.

Ogbeh who also allayed the fear that the country would experience famine in 2017 said, the Ministry had engaged in the buying- back of assorted grains under the Guarantee Minimum Price Programme.

“For restocking of strategic silo complexes while farmers in some states of the federation had already commenced preparation for the dry season farming to ensure adequate food security across the country.

The minister hinted that the federal government was poised to reform the Bank of Agriculture to serve as a quasi commercial bank to bring the interest rate to a single digit for accessibility to farmers.

Ogbeh also said that 30,000 slots allocated to the ministry under the N- power scheme of the federal government would be trained through the Agricultural Development Programmes as Agric extension workers and distributed to local government areas of the country.

“The fund in Agriculture has to be outside the budget and it is something we should look at extensively.

“ We sought for more legislative supports from the National Assembly in order to have a sustainable agricultural development in the country,’’ he said. (NAN)

(Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi/ Julius Enehikhuere)

NAN–H–

Clash

Lokoja, Nov. 30, 2016 (NAN) Kogi State Police Command said on Tuesday that two people lost their lives in a communal clash in Ikende community in Bassa Local Government Council area of Kogi State.

The state Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), ASP William Aya, told newsmen in Lokoja that the clashes occurred between the Ebira and Bassa kwomu speaking people of the community on Nov. 26 and Nov. 28.

He said that corpses of the two victims were recovered by policemen deployed to the area, adding that four other persons were seriously wounded in the clashes.

According to him, 15 houses, five vehicles and 15 motorcycles were burnt by the warring groups.

Aya said that the situation had been brought under control, saying that no arrest has yet been made.

The PPRO said that Ikende town had been deserted by residents who are now hiding in the bush.

He said that anti-riot policemen will remain on ground until the safety of live and property can be guaranteed, adding that investigation into the immediate and remote cause of the clashes has commenced. (NAN)
KKA/IS

=======