…were not sure what price they should charge, but they have since opened. Prices have increased from 65 naira ($0.40) per liter to at least 140 naira in filling stations and from 100 naira to at least 200 on the black market, where many Nigerians buy their fuel. There are reports that petrol prices have tripled in some remote areas, while commuters have complained that motorcycle and minibus taxi…
…and mass demonstrations unless the removal of a fuel subsidy is reversed Prices have increased from 65 naira ($0.40) per litre to at least 140 naira in filling stations and from 100 naira to at least 200 on the black market, where many Nigerians buy their fuel. “After exhaustive deliberations and consultations with all sections of the populace, the NLC, TUC and their pro-people allies deman…
…ia's oil regulator has asked industry giant Shell to pay $5 billion for the Bonga oil spill The Bonga field, operated by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), is approximately 120 km (75 miles) offshore and produces 10% of Nigeria’s oil exports. The spill was contained before it reached the shore. The head of Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response…
…manded details “in the next few hours”, an Italian news agency said, after accusations the UK did not inform Italy about the planned mission. Islamist militants took British Chris McManus, 28, of Oldham, and Italian Franco Lamolinara, 48, hostage in north-west Nigeria last May. The engineers died as Nigerian and UK forces tried to free them on Thursday. UK Foreign Secretary William Hag…
…of the “hardships being suffered” by people. Nigeria has been paralyzed by strikes and protests over the government’s decision to scrap fuel subsidies. The removal of subsidies from 1 January caused petrol prices to rise from 65 naira ($0.40) to 140 naira. The unions have yet to respond to Goodluck Jonathan’s announcement. Earlier, they called off street protests due to se…
…e responsible to justice. Boko Haram – whose name means “Western education is forbidden” – often targets security forces and state institutions. The group carried out an August 2011 suicide attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja, in which more than 20 people were killed. Nearly 70 people have died this week in fighting between Nigerian forces and Boko Haram gunmen in the co…
n at the university was now calm, according to the Red Cross spokesman. Boko Haram carried out a bombing in Kano in January that killed more than 180 people, its deadliest attack to date. Boko Haram • 2002: Founded in Maiduguri • July 2009: Hundreds of members killed when Maiduguri police stations stormed; police capture and kill sect leader Mohammed Yusuf • Dec 2010: Bombed Jos, killing 80 people…
agos bound for Abuja when the crash happened. Nigeria, like many African countries, has a poor air safety record, though some efforts have been made to improve it since a spate of airline disasters in 2005. …
…e states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. Goodluck Jonathan also ordered more troops to be sent to the north-eastern states. Islamist group Boko Haram has been blamed for most of the violence, killing some 2,000 people since 2010. Nigeria is also affected by a spate of conflicts over land, religion and oil. In the latest violence, 53 people were killed and 13 villages burnt in central Nigeria’s B…
…t a number of bloody attacks across Nigeria in its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. Boko Haram has admitted attacking several churches across the country on Christmas Day 2011, killing nearly 40 people at one church outside the capital, Abuja, alone. It has also claimed responsibility for a string of bomb blasts around Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 that killed at least 80…
About 150 people have been killed during the co-ordinated attacks by Islamist militants in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Friday, witnesses and reports say. Hospitals are struggling to deal with the numbers of killed and injured. A series of explosions ripped apart police buildings, passport offices and immigration centres on the city, which is now under a 24-hour curfew. Boko Haram milita…
At least 100 people have died in Rivers state, south-eastern Nigeria, after a tanker carrying petrol crashed. Nigerian authorities say the vehicle did not immediately burst into flames so people rushed to scoop up the fuel. At least 100 people have died in Rivers state, south-eastern Nigeria, after a tanker carrying petrol crashed But the tanker than exploded, burning many of them to death. A m…
Nigerian army has killed 20 suspected members of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the north-east of the country. One government soldier also died in a shootout in the town of Maiduguri. Boko Haram has recently carried out numerous raids on churches and other targets in Nigeria. The group wants to establish Islamic law in the country, whose large Christian and animist population mainly li…
…means “Western education is forbidden” – wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has launched a series of deadly attacks across the country, including the capital, in the past 19 months. Last month the group warned journalists not to misrepresent their views. …
158 suspected members of the Islamist Boko Haram organization has been arrested in raids in the northern city of Kano by Nigerian forces. Boko Haram said it carried out a series of bombings in Kano last Friday in which at least 185 people died. The organization says it wants to overthrow the Nigerian government and impose Islamic law. There were two casualties from Tuesday’s dawn raids, car…
, which dealt with the impact of colonialism in Africa, has sold more than 10 million copies. He had been living in the US since 1990 following injuries from a car crash. Chinua Achebe wrote more than 20 works – some fiercely critical of politicians and a failure of leadership in Nigeria. South African writer and Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer called Chinua Achebe the “father of modern…
…d terrorists’ hideaway. Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara had been held for ten months. Fears for Christopher McManus’s welfare had intensified following the release of a video in August showing the 28-year-old engineer blindfolded alongside three armed men. One of the terrorists said it would be the “last message” to David Cameron about the hostage. Yesterday, British PM David Cameron broke the…
…can ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica Pope Benedict XVI has previously faced criticism for appointing mainly Europeans as cardinals. It is the second consistory of the year. In February he created 22 new cardinals including 16 Europeans, seven of whom were Italian. By adding six non-Europeans to the number of 114 cardinal electors, the Pope has slightly shifted the geographical demographic of…
…"dumb phones" which only have very basic features and no access to the internet Google describes its efforts in improving computer science training as “an important goal for Google in 2012″. It recently offered grants to 17 universities to expand its Computer Science for High School project. However lack of access to affordable hardware is still seen as a critical barrier to…
Pope Benedict XVI has delivered his traditional Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World) Easter message of peace in front of tens of thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Pope Benedict urged Syria’s government to end the bloody year-long conflict, and spoke of the trouble in Nigeria and Mali. At a Mass on Saturday, the Pope warned that mankind is “groping in the d…
…ps were to be administered. There has been opposition to such immunization drives in parts of Pakistan, particularly after a fake CIA hepatitis vaccination campaign helped to locate Osama Bin Laden in 2011. Militants have kidnapped and killed foreign NGO workers in the past in an attempt to halt the immunization drives, which they say are part of efforts to spy on them. Afghanistan and Nigeria are…
Five female Pakistani polio vaccination workers have been fatally shot in a string of co-ordinated attacks – four within 20 minutes across Karachi. The fifth woman was shot and wounded in the city of Peshawar in the north-west and later died of her injuries. A UN-backed programme to eradicate polio – which is endemic in Pakistan – has been suspended in Karachi. No group has said…
…vided by a conflict that does not spare even the defenceless and reaps innocent victims,” he said. Activists say 40,000 have been killed in Syria since an anti-government uprising began early in 2011. Pope Benedict XVI has called for a political solution to the violence in Syria during his Christmas message, the Urbi et Orbi, in Vatican City The Pope also prayed for harmony in Nigeria, lame…
…d-mouth vaccines it is difficult to distinguish between immunized livestock and those which have been infected. That proved to be a major hurdle in controlling the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK in 2001 because it would have prevented the export of livestock. The synthetic vaccine should allow scientists to show the absence of infection in vaccinated animals. “The foot-and-mouth-disease v…
…es. Raila Odinga challenged the result, but said he would respect the Kenyan Supreme Court’s ruling in Uhuru Kenyatta’s favor. The election was Kenya’s first after a disputed poll in 2007, which led to violence that left more than 1,200 people dead. Uhuru Kenyatta is due to appear at the ICC for his trial in The Hague later this year, accused of crimes against humanity. He denies…
Angelina Jolie to play her mother Marcheline Bertrand in biopicAngelina Jolie will play her own mother in a biopic of the late actress Marcheline Bertrand, who died from ovarian cancer in 2007. Angelina Jolie, 37, who last week revealed…
Anna Wintour bans Kris Jenner from Met Gala 2013Anna Wintour may have accepted Kim Kardashian to the Met Gala last week, but she apparently banned Kris Jenner from attending as well. Kim Kardashian’s mother was…
John Lennon guitar sells for $408,000 at Julien's AuctionsA guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles has sold for $408,000 at auction. The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by the VOX company, was bought…
Kim Kardashian finally puts her swollen feet in flatsAfter she raised eyebrows on Thursday as she crammed her swollen feet into Perspex heels, with painful looking results, Kim Kardashian finally seems to be giving her feet a…
Eva Longoria humiliating wardrobe malfunction at Cannes Film FestivalEva Longoria has suffered an extremely embarrassing wardrobe malfunction as she unfortunately revealed far more than she intended to upon screening of Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy…
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart split after cheating scandalRobert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have split after almost four years together, People magazine is reporting. The couple – who reportedly broke up briefly in December…
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