Hollande promises to help Nigeria combat Boko Haram

‘Your struggle is our struggle,’ Hollande tells Nigeria
French President Francois Hollande promised Nigeria support on Thursday in the battle against Islamist group Boko Haram, saying France would always be ready to help combat extremism in defence of democracy.

“Your struggle is also our struggle,” Hollande told delegates at a security conference in the capital Abuja ahead of Nigeria’s unification centenary celebrations.

“We will always stand ready not only to provide our political support but our help every time you need it because the struggle against terrorism is also the struggle for democracy.”
Hollande lamented some of the recent violence perpetrated by suspected Boko Haram fighters, including the massacre earlier this week of at least 59 students in their sleep at a secondary school in the Islamists’ northeast stronghold.

Francois Hollande:promises to help Nigeria

Despite crises in several regions, the French president maintained there was reason for optimism in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
“Africa has a great future. It’s the continent of tomorrow,” he said.
He however warned that such promise could be “impeded by insecurity”. He then vowed to double French overseas development aid to the continent within the next five years.
Hollande, guest of honour for the celebrations to mark 100 years since Nigeria’s unification, was expected to hold talks on trade and investment with his Nigerian counterpart Goodluck Jonathan.
But given the deteriorating Boko Haram conflict in northern Nigeria and France’s recent military interventions against militants in Mali and the Central African Republic, security was expected to feature prominently in bilateral talks.

Culled from PM News.

Facebook ends email address system

Facebook has quietly closed its three-year-old email service that gave users "@facebook.com" email addresses.

From now on, emails sent to an "@facebook.com" address will be forwarded to the personal email address from which the member signed up for the site.

"We're making this change because most people haven't been using their Facebook email address," said a Facebook spokesperson.

The change will happen in early March.

The service was launched in November 2010 and billed as a way to streamline users' communication by providing a single inbox that could receive Facebook messages, SMS texts, and conventional emails.

It came under fire in 2012 when Facebook replaced users' published email addresses with their "@facebook.com" email on their profile.

The company later reversed course.

The move comes just a few days after Facebook's surprise purchase of messaging app WhatsApp for $19bn (£11.4bn).

Culled from BBC

29 die in school dormitory shooting by Boko Haram

Twenty nine people have been declared dead in the latest massacre of sleeping secondary school students in Buni Yadi, in the north eastern Nigerian state of Yobe, by gunmen from Boko Haram.
The Boko Haram gunmen attacked the dormitory of the Federal Government College early today, as the students slept.
Military spokesman Lazarus Eli said the gunmen “opened fire on student hostels” at the college, roughly 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the state capital Damaturu, which includes students aged 11 to 18.

Yobe’s police chief Sanusi Rufai told AFP that 29 people were killed but it was not immediately clear if all of the dead were students.
Rufai said he was en route to Buni Yadi with Yobe’s covernor Ibrahim Geidam to assess the extent of the damage.

• File photo: slain students of Yobe State College of Agriculture, the last time Boko Haram attacked a school

Yobe is one of three northeastern states which was placed under emergency rule in May last year when the military launched a massive operation to crush the Boko Haram uprising.

At least 40 students were killed in September at an agriculture training college in Yobe after Boko Haram gunmen stormed a series of dorms in the middle of the night and sprayed gunfire on sleeping students.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the northeast since the emergency measures were imposed, despite the enhanced military presence.
Geidam and the governor of neighbouring Borno state, Kashim Shettima, have fiercely criticised the military’s record in combatting Boko Haram, insisting that more resources were needed to defeat the emboldened and increasingly well-armed insurgents.

In a video sent to AFP last week, Boko Haram’s purported leader, Abubakar Shekau, said he would continue his relentless campaign of violence on anyone who supports democracy or so-called Western values.

Boy, 15, Exchanged for 2 Bags of Rice in Nigeria

A yet to be identified man on Monday successfully traded a 15-year old boy, Seun Aderinwale, for two bags of rice valued at N20,000 at Igando in Alimosho area of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.
According to eyewitness account, the man, whose address is unknown, went to 4, Ifesowapo Street, Igando, on Monday morning to buy two bags of rice from a shop owned by a woman identified as Iya Ibrahim.

•Seun Aderinwale: Exhanged for 2 bags of rice

The rice seller was not available at the time but her son, Ibrahim, agreed to the man’s proposal to drop Seun, an Aluminium apprentice, as collateral, in order to collect the two bags of rice and return later to pay.

However, when the shop owner returned in the afternoon, she was surprised to see Seun who was dropped there in exchange for the two bags of rice taken away by the unidentified man.
When the man failed to return, the 15-year old was held hostage until evening when the pastor of his church, a Celestial Church of Christ around the area, saw him at the shop looking despondent.
When Seun was questioned on how he came about the fraudster, he said he met him casually at Hotel Bus Stop about 300 metres to his residence where a church member had sent him on an errand to play lotto, popularly known as “Baba Ijebu”.
Seun said he did not know the man’s house or have other information about him.

The teenager later regained his freedom when the Celestial Church pastor, known simply as Oluso in the neighborhood, settled the matter with Iya Ibrahim, the rice seller.
He said the woman should take responsibility for one of the stolen bags of rice while Seun’s father, a co-worker with him in the church, should pay for the other bag of rice when he returned from his trip to Ifo in Ogun State. Seun’s father agreed to pay N10,000 for the bag of rice when he returned from Ifo.

P.M.NEWS learnt that the rice seller agreed to the pastor’s proposal and did not report the matter to the police.
“If I report the incident to the police, I cannot leave the station without spending money. Therefore, it is better for me to accept the proposal by Oluso, the rice seller told residents who gathered in front of her shop to watch the drama.

When Ibrahim was questioned why he allowed such an unusual arrangement, he told residents that the conman asked for two and half bags of rice, adding, “when the motorcycle was about to go with the two bags, I asked for the money but Seun assured me he was coming back for the half bag. He even claimed to be a close relation of the man.”
However, some hours after the man had disappeared and failed to return, Ibrahim said Seun retracted his earlier statement, saying he did not know the man.

 

Culled from PM News.

Arizona passes law allowing shopkeepers to refuse to serve gay people

Arizona passes law against gay rights, allowing shopkeepers to refuse them service based on religious beliefs.


The conservative southern state of Arizona has passed a controversial law allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay people if it goes against the owners' religious beliefs.

After sailing through the state legislature, the law now awaits final confirmation from firebrand governor, Jan Brewer, who has built a national reputation with her right-leaning stance on similarly-sensitive social issues such as immigration and abortion.

Arizona is the only state to have passed such a law. It rules that any obligation to serve gays is a violation of a person's religious freedom if their beliefs tell them that homosexuality is wrong.

If Mrs Brewer, a Republican, now signs the legislation it will mean, for example, that restaurants could legally turn away gay couples or individuals seeking a meal, or a baker could refuse to bake a cake for a gay commitment ceremony. It has not been made clear how a customer's sexual orientation would be established.

The new law provoked outrage from gay groups and prompted the Democratic Party to declare it "state-sanctioned discrimination" and an embarrassment.

Culled from The Telegraph.

"Why I Left Acting to be a Pastor's Wife" - Liz Benson

She is one of the most talented and gracious actresses to have come out of the Nigerian movie industry. Liz Benson rode the movie industry from the 90s like a colossus.Having featured in countless of movies, the beautiful thespian and mother was one of those that made the Nollywood brand what it is today. Now a minister of God and married to Bishop Great Ameye of Freedom Family Assembly in 2009, Liz spoke to tribune on her new world of reaching souls for God, meeting her hubby and her new movie project.

How is Liz Benson-Ameye doing?

To God be the Glory. My husband has made the home comfortable for me. But the joy of people coming to you and saying pastor this is what is going on, this is what is happening and I counsel them with the word of God and they put it to practise. Oh my God, it gives me joy! And I tell them when you are doing well, when you are prospering, when you have answers to questions, I’m filled with joy. I’m fulfilled serving people and changing lives. Apart from these when you are filled with God and God is working in your life and you are in total obedience to God your maker, the assurance in heaven is something you can’t quantify. For me, I’m very comfortable with it.

Did you ever imagine being a pastor’s wife?

I tell you what? No one knows what tomorrow holds for him or her. I carried the heart of someone that wants to serve God but I never thought it will turn out this way. In 2001, I was in a thanksgiving service at Faith Foundation Church, made a testimony and I left although I had the mind of a minister of the gospel then. Bishop Sam Amaga and his wife came to my house one day and said, ‘Do you know there is a call of God in your life?’ I looked at them and responded, ‘God has made those he wants to use and I don’t think I’m part of them.’ I found out later that many of the servants of God that God wants to use never said I want to be this, I want to be that.

But they just find out that the more you love God, the more you get closer to him, God will want to use you and qualify you for his work. And for someone like me, you just find out that God moves you from place to place. I was just preaching in places like Allen Avenue back then. Two ladies saw me then and bore witness of my early days preaching around the place. One of them who acted in Twinkle sometime ago reminded me when she saw me at the airport sometime ago. She said she remembered that I came to her shop at Emporium Plaza at Allen, Ikeja to preach to her customers. So I used to do that a lot in those days when God started with me.

So how did you meet your husband, Bishop Ameye?

God did it. It was by divine arrangement. God was speaking through many people just like he used the donkey in the Bible. God used different witnesses to guide me. I was there waiting and he was there also waiting. I never expected such. And even after we met and he proposed, I still was running (She laughs). I still was running and where I was running to, a woman of God stopped me and asked me where I was running to. ‘You are running from your husband?’ The things of God eh, they are such that if you run from it, it doesn’t make it go away. When God takes a hold of you and you run away from it a million times, he will still ask you to do the assignment. The calling of God is such that you will have to surrender and all that.

How fulfilling are you now compared to your days as an actress?

I can’t put it in a box. I can’t really describe how it feels now but it is one of the most fulfilling times of my life. Being available to God, to humanity and doing something that is touching lives. In one way or another, you are investing in the lives of people and seeing that effect on them is most fulfilling. Doing what pleases your maker is fulfilling both to you and God. You may not have the billions but God has his own reward system and it surpasses the way of the world. God is most gracious and most sufficient.

Did you ever see yourself different from being a star actress?

Let me put it this way, a lot see the other side of me as a celebrity, star actress but two people that I call friends knew that I was always close to God. They knew Liz Benson as that kind of a person. In all the parties, I always go out and excuse myself to pray. We gather here, I live whatever we are doing to pray. So, it’s been like that for me. I know it couldn’t go on for a very long time. I had to do things my own way not conforming to their standards.

I think that was why my friends saw me a bit strange because I couldn't do certain things and fit into some area of our activities. And there are so many of us like that. There are a lot of people who are hiding under the cover of activities, showbiz and all that but they know that they have a personal relationship with God and are hiding this. But I know God will catch up with them the way He did to me.

Between yesterday’s Nollywood and today’s Nollywood, how will you rate it?

We now have the wherewithal, the financial wherewithal; some of the equipment we have now we never had before. When I look at the directing, even the editing, I feel that a thorough job is done. The directors are doing well. In terms of movie production, there is still a lot of infrastructure that we don’t have yet.

What attracted you to be part of the Living Funeral movie?

The movie is about breast cancer and it is a disease that its awareness has not reached home yet. I have been in a situation where the people are very religious and they talk about which side of the bed they slept last night. And I called someone, ‘let them check her blood pressure. It was 200 over! I told her, mama what you need is rest.’ Another woman came to me and she had pain in her breast. Immediately, I swung into action and this was before I became involved in this project. I took her to the teaching hospital so that they could find out what was wrong with her.

I told her not to deceive them and tell them exactly what was wrong with her. And they operated on her and now she is living well. She came in about three years ago to thank me. ‘Mama I thank God for you oh. Ignorance fit kill me person oh.’ If not that I was involved in her life, maybe we will be saying something else. So it’s not just preaching the word, preaching the word, preaching the word.

But being able to reach out to people and save lives. And things like this movie project, Living Funeral, are also a means by which I can reach people and impact lives. So I’ve not gone out of acting completely. It’s just that when you have a ministry, we are all gifted in different ways and when things like this come. It is something that makes me to do a lot of good to my fellow brethren and women especially.

So when situations like this happen it is not only the patient or victim of cancer that suffers it but the whole family, the whole community. So, I’m here to promote a worthy cause. If I say something here, I mean it and when my assistance is needed to propagate a just cause, I will gladly do.

When it comes to your movies what are your fond memories?

I always have the movies that I fancy based on experience but it is the viewer that can judge that because they all have their favourite. But for me, every production brings its own challenges that come with it. I deal with them in their own way. I can’t place a hand. But if I want to take into account, Living Funeral is it because I’m doing something as a minister of the gospel that projects my faith and tells a good moral story. I was moved and shaken by the movie. Some of the lines of the scripts are killing. I can’t even place what it is about the movie but the story line is touching and the movie has fetched us eight nominations in Africa Magic Video Choice Awards AMVCA including Liz Benson-Ameye being nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama.

I just thank God for giving me the grace to act in such movies. Life itself has its challenges. Even if there are some hurdles there, you will always survive them. I have so much work to do in God’s vineyard. To God be the glory, Now I can only appear in movies that have to do with humanity and preach good tidings. For me, the moral standard is what I deal in right now.

The best, depth and height of every human being and endeavor are all in the Bible. Even the most spoken words in history are taken from the Word of God. For me it is God because movie roles, boyfriend, girlfriend, romance and all that are no longer for me. The most recent one that we are projecting is in the bible. That’s why I’m saying that it just have to be God standard or nothing.

What are the things people don’t know about Liz Ameye?

I don’t know, it is for the people to say not me. I think one of the issues is being able to deal with issue the way it comes and allow God to have control of your life.

Culled from Nigeria Films.

Future of Transport: Street-Smarts

The rapid transformation of the car from slow and unreliable to brainiac life-saver is a story straight from Hollywood. Meanwhile, the roads we all drive on have evolved very little, comparatively speaking. But that is slowly changing as forward thinkers ranging from artists to governments are working out how to inject some street-smarts into the Tarmac and its surroundings. Here we discover some of the more interesting innovations heading our way.

Road paint that tells a story
Radical artists in the Netherlands have come up with a special reactive paint that impressed a local roads contractor so much it’s being tested right now for a launch later this year. Studio Roosegaarde’s paint is actually a photo-luminising powder with a range of uses, such as a glow-in-the-dark coating with 10 hours of luminosity that can be used to pick out the lanes in places without street lights.
In another form, the paint can react to freezing temperatures to warn motorists by revealing pictures of ice crystals in the road. And if that wasn’t enough, another method using the same technology, dubbed Dynamic Lines, can actually change elements of the lines from black to white, for example to create solid lines to stop vehicles lane-switching in heavy motorway traffic.
Wireless charging roads

Studio Roosegaarde

Wireless charging roads could help reduce the cost of manufacturing EVs

We’re already starting to use wireless charging for electric buses in places like Korea, Germany and Italy, but newer, smarter, charge-equipped roads are being envisaged for electric cars, too. The advantage this would have for electric cars is that they wouldn’t need a massive battery because less storage is required on the go, which would in turn help trim their cost. A special lane reserved exclusively for electric cars would also work a bit like the high occupancy vehicle lanes in the US – their lack of congestion giving car buyers another reason to go electric.

Culled from MSN News.