World Expresses Shock At Attack On Charlie Hebdo Newspaper

People hug each other outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing at least 11 people before escaping, police and a witness said. The weekly has previously drawn condemnation from Muslims

PARIS, FRANCE (Associated Press) -- Political leaders, journalists' groups and others around the world have expressed horror at the attack by gunmen on the Paris offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Here are some of the reactions:

"I don't understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war" — Charlie Hebdo editor-in-chief Gerard Biard to France Inter radio.

"This is an act of exceptional barbarism." — French President Francois Hollande.

"I strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that has reportedly killed 12 people.... France is America's oldest ally, and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world. Time and again, the French people have stood up for the universal values that generations of our people have defended. France, and the great city of Paris, where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers." — U.S. President Barack Obama.

"This abhorrent act is not just an attack on the life of French citizens and the internal security of France. It also represents an attack on freedom of opinion and of the press, a core element of our free and democratic culture, for which there can be no justification." — German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"This House and this country stand united with the French people in our opposition to all forms of terrorism and we stand squarely for free speech and democracy. These people will never be able to take us off those values." — British Prime Minister David Cameron in the House of Commons.

"This was a barbaric act and an outrageous attack on press freedom. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand in full solidarity with our ally France. All NATO allies stand together in the fight against terrorism. Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations can never be tolerated or justified." — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"We decisively condemn this cynical crime. We reaffirm our readiness to continue active cooperation in combating the threat of terrorism." — Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telegram of condolence to Hollande.

"Egypt stands by France in confronting terrorism, an international phenomenon that targets the world's security and stability and which requires coordinated international efforts to eradicate." — Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

"This is a brazen assault on free expression in the heart of Europe." — Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"This is a dark day for freedom of expression and a vibrant press culture. But above all, it is an appalling human tragedy." — Stephan Oberreit, director of Amnesty International France.

"This will create fear among people on a whole different level than we're used to. Charlie Hebdo was a small oasis. Not many dared do what they did. I don't know what's going to happen to them. Can they continue to publish the magazine?" — Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who lives under police protection after drawing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad

Sony Says Online Play Station Disrupted

A shopper walks on the logo of Sony's PlayStation 4 at an electronics store in Tokyo. Sony's online PlayStation store and Microsoft's Xbox site suffered disruptions to users on Christmas Day in the latest possible cyber-attacks on the companies. The PlayStation Store Twitter feed said Friday, Dec. 26 that some users were having trouble logging into its network. It said engineers were investigating.

TOKYO (AP) — Sony's online PlayStation store and Microsoft's Xbox site suffered disruptions to users on Christmas Day in the latest possible cyber-attacks on the companies.

The PlayStation Store Twitter feed said Friday that some users were having trouble logging into its network. It said engineers were investigating. A notice on Microsoft's Xbox website said it knew some users were having trouble signing in. it said, "We're aware of this issue, and we're working to find a fix ASAP!"

The problems were affecting Xbox Live Core Services, though most other applications were up and running, it said. Earlier this month the PlayStation store also experienced spells of inaccessibility. That followed a cyberattack on computer systems of Sony Pictures Entertainment that led to the release of confidential information on the Internet.

A hacker group calling itself Lizard Squad appeared to take responsibility for the disruptions on its Twitter account

Yemen Says Saudis Behind Attack

 Map locates attack in Sanaa, Yemen.; 2c x 5 inches; 96.3 mm x 127 mm;

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi militants were behind the massive car bombing and assault on Yemen's military headquarters that killed more than 50 people, including foreigners, investigators said in a preliminary report released Friday. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for U.S. drone strikes that have killed dozens of the terror network's leaders.

The attack — the deadliest in Sanaa since May 2012 — marked an escalation in the terror network's battle to undermine the U.S.-allied government and destabilize the impoverished Arab nation despite the drone strikes and a series of U.S.-backed military offensive against it. U.S. forces also have been training and arming Yemeni special forces, and exchanging intelligence with the central government.

Military investigators described a two-stage operation, saying heavily armed militants wearing army uniforms first blew up a car packed with 500 kilograms (more than 1,100 pounds) of explosives near an entrance gate, then split into groups that swept through a military hospital and a laboratory, shooting at soldiers, doctors, nurses, doctors and patients.

Officials earlier said 11 militants were killed, including the suicide bomber who drove the car. It was not clear if the 12th attacker was captured or escaped. The investigative committee led by Yemen's Chief of Staff Gen. Ahmed al-Ashwal, said militants shot the guards outside the gates of the military hospital, allowing the suicide bomber to drive the car inside, but a gunfight forced him to detonate his explosives before reaching his target. It said the 12 militants killed, included Saudis.

Two military officials told The Associated Press that wounded soldiers had told them the assailants who stormed the hospital separated out the foreigners and shot everybody in the head. Other military officials said American security agents were helping with the investigations, but that could not be confirmed. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief reporters.

Yemeni commandos and other security forces besieged the militants before they could reach the ministry's main building, preventing them from going further than the ministry's entrance gate. All the attackers were killed by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the committee.

Yemeni security forces launched a manhunt in the capital to find the perpetrators, sparking gunbattles that killed five suspected militants and a Yemeni commando, officials said. The committee, which sent its report to Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, did not explain how it came to its conclusions The report was read on state TV and a copy was obtained by The Associated Press. Hadi met Friday with the U.N. envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar to discuss the attack. He said that "a number of assailants have been arrested," without elaborating. He added that the "criminals will not escape justice."

The report also raised the death toll to 56 and said more than 200 people were wounded. The foreigners killed included two aid workers from Germany, two doctors from Vietnam, two nurses from the Philippines and a nurse from India, according to Yemen's Supreme Security Commission.

But a spokesman for the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs, Raul Hernandez, said Friday that seven Filipinos were killed in the attack, including a doctor and nurses, while 11 others were wounded. The victims were among 40 Filipino workers in the hospital. Hernandez said that the Philippines' honorary consul reported that the others survived by pretending to be dead.

It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting accounts. But officials from the military hospital said Friday that at least 10 foreigners had been killed. Germany's foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer also announced Friday that German employees of aid groups doing work on behalf of the German government have been ordered to leave Yemen "as quickly as possible" and "until further notice."

Schafer also said the German embassy will continue to operate with reduced staff and "corresponding security measures." Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the group is known, is the product of a merger by the group's Yemeni and Saudi branches after a crackdown in the powerful neighboring kingdom. Among its leaders is another Saudi, Ibrahim al-Asiri. The drone strikes and military offensives that began in June 2012 have driven militants from southern strongholds they had seized a year earlier, during Yemen's political turmoil amid the Arab Spring.

AQAP's media arm, al-Mallahem, said on its Twitter account Friday that it had targeted the Defense Ministry building because it "accommodates drone control rooms and American experts." It said security headquarters used by the Americans in their war are "legitimate targets."

The United States considers the Yemeni al-Qaida branch to be the most active in the world and it has escalated drone attacks against the militants in Yemen, killing many militant leaders, including the group's No. 2 figure Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi who was died of wounds sustained in a strike in November 2012.

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.

NIGERIA: Four Men On Death Row Hanged

According to sources from the Amnesty International, four men on death row in Benin City, Edo State were hanged Monday, June 24, 2013.

Imo Assembly now set to impeach deputy governor over alleged N458million bribe

The Imo State House of Assembly has resolved to serve the state deputy governor, Jude Agbaso, a notice of impeachment over the allegation that he demanded and collected N458 million bribe from J-PROS Limited, a construction firm handling the rehabilitation of Sam Mbakwe Road in Owerri, the state capital.

In a statement this evening, House spokesperson, Acho Ihim, said the state lawmakers unanimously resolved at today’s plenary to serve Mr. Agbaso a notice of impeachment through the electronic and print media and posting of the notice on the walls of his official residence.

Mr. Ihim, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Information said Mr. Agbaso had gone underground since he was indicted for alleged corruption by the Assembly and therefore could not be personally served the notice.

The deputy governor has not been sighted in his office or official residence for a while, the lawmaker said.

There are suggestions that Governor Rochas Okorocha is behind the ordeal of his deputy. But Mr. Agbaso himself has not explained whether the allegation against him was true or not.

The lawmakers said they would not bow to any “external forces” in the discharge of their constitutional duties.

---------Premium Times, Tuesday, March 12, 2013

FG to spend 1.8bn on insecticide treated nets

Abuja - Dr Muhammad Pate, Minister of State for Health, on Monday said the ministry had proposed N1.8 billion for the procurement of long lasting insecticide treated nets for additional three states. Pate disclosed the plan in Abuja while reacting to a recent annual WHO report on universal access to malaria treatment.

The annual WHO report stated that five billion dollars (about N790 bn) would be needed each year over the next decade to ensure universal access to malaria treatment. The report noted that Nigeria would need one billion dollars (about N158 bn) to stave off backsliding and resurgences in malaria in 2013 and 2014.

The report also highlighted that delivery of bed-nets in sub Saharan Africa dropped from a peak of 145 million in 2010 to an estimated 66 million in 2012.

It also said that indoor spraying programmes reached only about seven million people in Africa out of an estimated 77 million people at risk.

But the minister said that other partners like Global Fund, World Bank and USAID were contributing positively in Nigeria's malaria effort.

Pate said that the Save One Million Lives Initiative launched in October 2012 had malaria control as a key component.

``We will push to maintain the gains already made using evidence-based, cost-effective interventions within limits of resources available,'' he said.

........NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA (NAN)

Nigeria: Briton And Italian Die In Hostage Rescue Bid

Mr. McManus was captured by gunmen during a raid on his apartment in May last year.

The men were killed in Birnin-Kebbi in the north of the country

Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara in the video made by the hostage takers.

SKY NEWS

Two hostages - a Briton and an Italian - have been killed by terrorists in northern Nigeria in an attempted rescue operation.

The effort to free Chris McManus, from the North West of England, and his colleague Franco Lamolinara was launched by British special forces and the Nigerian army.
Sky sources say there were no fatalities on the British and Nigerian forces' side but there were several fatalities among the hostage-takers.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the pair appeared to have died at the hands of their captors, either before or during the course of the rescue bid.

Sky sources say it is believed there was a fight and during the assault the UK and Nigerian forces could not get to Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara in time.

"It strongly appears that the hostage-takers shot the hostages," the sources said.

The rescue bid was launched after the UK received credible information about their whereabouts and that their lives were under increasing threat.

Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Cameron said Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara were "taken hostage by terrorists" in northern Nigeria May last year.

He said: "Since then, we have been working closely with the Nigerian authorities to try to find Chris and Franco, and to secure their release.

"The terrorists holding the two hostages made very clear threats to take their lives, including in a video that was posted on the internet.

"After months of not knowing where they were being held, we received credible information about their location. A window of opportunity arose to secure their release.

"We also had reason to believe that their lives were under imminent and growing danger.

"Preparations were made to mount an operation to attempt to rescue Chris and Franco.

"Together with the Nigerian Government, today I authorised it to go ahead, with UK support.

"It is with great regret that I have to say that both Chris and Franco have lost their lives.

"We are still awaiting confirmation of the details, but the early indications are clear that both men were murdered by their captors, before they could be rescued."

He added: "Our immediate thoughts must be with Chris and Franco's families, and we offer them our sincerest condolences."

Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara, contract workers for the construction company B Stabilini, were kidnapped by gunmen who stormed the apartment they shared in Birnin-Kebbi.

The two men were in the city building a bank.

In a statement, Mr McManus' family said: "As a family, we are of course devastated by the news of Chris' death which we received earlier today.

"During this ordeal we have relied heavily on the support of our family and friends which has never waned and has enabled us to get through the most difficult of times.

"We are also aware of the many people who were working to try and have Chris returned to our family, and his girlfriend. We would like to thank all of them for their efforts.

"We knew Chris was in an extremely dangerous situation. However we knew that everything that could be done was being done."

There have been a number of foreigners kidnapped while working in Nigeria in recent years.

In September 2008, two Britons were held by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta.

A Scottish oil worker was abducted and his guard killed in April 2009, in the Rivers State capital Port Harcourt.

Three Britons and a Colombian were kidnapped in January 2010 and in November of the same year, four men from the US, Canada and France were taken 7.5 miles offshore on the Okoro field.

The Vanishing Nigerian Dailies and Quality News Reporting

The decline and the quality of fine journalism within the Nigerian press continues to amaze me. I have been wondering what happened to the Vanguard Group of Newspapers and its eloquent staff writers and columnists for nearly one week now that the paper has gone offline. The paper has shown no sign of coming back and my guess would be that, somehow, a management staff had forgotten to pay the bills, or maybe the owner(s) may have given up the idea of online publication to reduce cost. I think I really miss reading from the Vanguard, and perhaps that's why I'm perturbed for the fact that I am popping up this very topic twice in just two days. I must be feeling it--the urge to read from a daily I have been hooked up to for a while now.

The past couple of days, I have engaged in a series of discussion on why the Vanguard continues to disappear on the web and why the Guardian Newspapers continues to be offline and off the streets for a strike that could have been avoided if the management took its business seriously. According to the statement by Guardian, which was issued on November 6, 2007, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW) withdrew its services to the company on the ground of not reaching a deal even though the Guardian group came half way to the two unions demand. The Guardian statement reads:

The Management of Guardian Newspapers Limited wishes to inform members of the public that our newspapers have been off the streets and online, following an industrial action called by our workers.

The two unions in our company - Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), and the National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW) - withdrew their services on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. Their grouse was that our company would not commit to award a 50 per cent raise on their gross pay. Mindful of the prevailing economic situation in the country in general, and the media industry in particular, we offered a more realistic pay increase to the workers. We also held several meetings with the unions, with a view to reaching an agreement on the issue. But the unions rejected our offer outright and stuck to their demand.

We thank our readers and advertisers both in print and online, and the general public for their understanding, and ask that they bear with us over the prevailing situation.

Nowadays that the two major newspapers are offline, I rely on other newslinks and I'm not quite sure if I'm getting the real deal when it comes to quality news reporting. I have tried to avoid all the tabloids, notably the Daily Sun and other sensationalized newslinks that have no clue the importance of keeping up with news in today's journalistic world. The Port Harcourt-based Tide has its news done for four or five days in a week, then remains the same until it pops up the next couple of days with fresh news stories. The Tide Could care less about damage report. It vanishes whenever it feels like and pops up anytime it deems necessary. I'm quite sure not too many read online from this tabloid. I wonder how they are able to stay in business with fierce competition out there. Nevertheless, it hasn't stopped me from doing the news on my blog-related News Desk which is part of keeping up and updating readers who visit and comb my blog.

The Port Harcourt Telegraph is another big joke. Its Garden City and Riverine-related news could be ten days old and nobody cares. Maybe, some oil baron should buy it out, though some of its lousy journalist who have been overstating its circulation may land on their feet and the paper could rejuvenate for fine newspaper reporting, changing the paper's content. In the newspaper business, it takes quality journalism work to thrive, like the Guardian has done over the years. With the Guardian on strike, its quality journalism work is definitely over. Now after a week and no news, who is going to be interested when there are many other news sources that can produce the same quality work the Guardian had been giving us all these years?

From a brief survey that I conducted regarding the Guardian, almost 85 percent of the readers I surveyed were satisfied with the Guardian and its quality work. That number fell dramatically as of yesterday when I carried out the same survey. Guardian just lost it and perhaps that's how it goes in the newspaper business.

The Punch, Daily Champion,, This Day, Daily Trust and Daily Independent tastes the same save for the Nigerian Tribune which is ngbati-ngabti , noise-making in nature as it has been since Obafemi Awolowo set its tone in the 50s for the interest of Egbe Omo Oduduwa, descendants of Oduduwa. By the way, the Daily Independent was gone for a while and it's now back. It has lost its base and Guardian is likely to fall within that category from an avoidable strike nobody wants to reach a deal.

Who knows? The newly Abuja-based Leadership Nigeria Newspaper whose motto states "For God And Country" may take over from the Guardian in quality news reporting. I doubt it. We'll see!