DOWN (17)

12166303088?profile=original300 Workers, Shuts Down Branches

"We only sacked 200"
- spokesperson.
    Subomi Balogun

Financial institution First City Monument Bank (FCMB) just carried out a disengagement exercise.


Informants claimed that about three hundred staffers were affected in the development.

Most of the affected employees reportedly got their sack letter on resumption from official leave.

According to a source ‘ I believe the affected staffers were purposely sent on leave and on resumption told to report to the Human Resource department where they were give sack letters’

Aside this, insiders divulged that the management of the bank with Ladi, son of the founder and chairman of the bank Otunba Subomi Balogun as Managing Director have also shut down some of the bank’s branches across the country.
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12166300684?profile=originalThe glamorous lovers’ day celebration on Monday turned bloody at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) when gunmen killed two students. Daily Sun gathered that the clash was between two rival cult groups, namely, Black Axe and the Buccaneers,’ over a female student allegedly snatched by the Capone of the Black Axe for Valentine celebration.

 

The action of the Capone , the source said did not go down well with the other group leading to the clash.
A student who witnessed the shooting said besides the two cult members who were shot dead, about four others sustained injuries and were ferried out of the campus by their leaders to shield their identity.

The sources said the cult members who carried out the attack were not UNILAG students but members from another campus, adding that the attack was carried out in a commando style with sporadic shooting.
An undergraduate student of English Department told Daily Sun that the Buccaneers’ group attacked the Black Axe members while another student returning from the Mosque said those who carried out the killing were not from UNILAG because they did not cover their faces.

It was learnt that as soon the shooting started, students scampered for safety while others took cover behind the wall and under cars packed around, while others ran into the halls to avoid being hit by stray bullets. 
A senior lecturer who confirmed the killings said the university management had met to curtail any reprisal attack while security personnel had taken over the investigation of the deadly cult clash.
When Daily Sun visited the troubled institution yesterday, there was uneasy calm, as most staff and students rebuffed efforts made by the reporters to get their comments.

However, one of the students who resides at Sodeinde Hall, said there was sporadic gunshots outside the premises which caused panic everywhere. 
It was gathered that the crisis, which erupted when the students were at the peak of lovers’ day celebration, created stampede on the campus as people ran for safety.

One of the victims of the attack reportedly ran into Sodeinde Hall for help, from where he was taken to the hospital.
Although the Hall Master of Sodeinde Hall declined comments on the issue, one of the officials, who wouldn’t want his name published, said the attack could not be linked to any cult group. He said there was increasing speculation that the perpetrators of the attack could be fighting for love. Efforts made by Daily Sun our reporter to ascertain the identities of the victims were unsuccessful.
The news bulletin of the university, Information Flash (ISSN 08195540) also captured the incident, while assuring the staff and students of the university of adequate security.

“The attention of the universities authorities has been drawn to the incident which occurred in one of the Halls of Residence in the late hours of Monday, February 14, 2011 where two persons were reportedly injured in fracas. The university management has commenced investigation into the unusual incident, in particular at a time when preparation for the first semester examinations due to commence on February 21, 2011 are in top gear. Security has been intensified to ensure safety of life and property on campus. Law enforcement agents have been involved to assist the university in this respect,” it said. 
Daily Sun learnt that students are leaving the campus because of the fear of reprisal attack while some parents called their wards on phone to return home until the situation is brought under control. 

The Deputy Registrar Information of UNILAG, Mr. Dare Adebisi refused to pick his calls or replied to text message sent to his phone.
When the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Samuel Jinadu (DSP) was called thrice, he promised to contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area and did not call back as at the press time....

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The Nigerian came off the bench with seven minutes of normal time remaining, and in the 89th minute capitalised on a calamitous mix-up in the Arsenal penalty area to tap in the goal which lands the Blues only their second ever major trophy.Nikola Zigic had headed the Blues in front near the half-hour mark to send fans of the underdogs into raptures, only for Robin van Persie to equalise with a stunning volley 10 minutes later.Alex McLeish's side spent much of the second half repelling attack after attack from the Gunners - with goalkeeper Ben Foster making a string of vital saves - before Martins was in the right place at the right time to pounce as Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny conspired to let the ball loose inside the box.The Blues held on to win their second League Cup to add to their victory in the competition in 1963, and go some way to overcoming the heartache of their penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the final in Cardiff a decade ago.For Arsenal, their six-year wait for a major trophy continues, and their attention must now turn to Wednesday's FA Cup fifth round replay against Leyton Orient on Wednesday and then a Champions League trip to Barcelona the following week.The second half is on the way,on the46 min: Arsenal begin the second half in front of a 90 per cent empty middle tier.47 min: Sagna's cross for Wilshere is caught at height by Foster.57 min:Nicolas zigic's deflection was played by fahey and thats bar for him.58 min: Beausajour wins the ball after a weak attemped pass by Sagna. He passes to Fahey whose shot rebounds to him off Zigic. His second attempt smacks the inside of the post agonisingly and bounces just clear of danger. So very very close.59 min: Wilshere's long shot deflects behind for a corner.60 min: Zigic gets a head to it but lets the ball bounce. It's fed to Clichy on the left but his dissapointing cross is cleared62 min: Beausejour has made a tremendous impact since coming on, giving Birmingham some much-needed width and pace. He beats Song before getting a decent cross into the box. Szczesny holds.64 min: Roger Johnson looks in trouble after landing awkwardly following an aerial challenge with van-Persie. He's off the pitch receiving treatment66 min:A counter attack by samir nasri down through Rosicky but lose the ball tojiranek.69 min:A foul by Ridgwell,nasri took the freekick but a header from song was wide.71 min: Nasri's free kick comes through for Song, just outside the six yard box in line with the far post. His glancing header is harmlessly wide.73 min: Bendtner loses a foot race with Roger Johnson, who seems to have made a miraculous recovery from what looked like a game-ending injury. This has been a disjointed second half, all told75 min: Arsenal are beginning to look dangerous, with gaps appearing between Birmingham's defensive and midfield lines. They're yet to exploit them. Jiranek, who's been immense, is the latest to cut out an attempted through ball.77 min:A substitution,Arshavin comes out for chamakh.80 min:A freekick taken by nasri,not too wide.82 min:fahey comes out martins in.87 min: Stephen Carr bounds into the box and gets an inviting cross in that's just behind Martins. Arsenal have lost their impetus in the last 10 minutes.Goal89 min: GOAL!!! Arsenal 1 Birmingham 2 it is Oba Goal(martins)91 min:nickolas zigic comes out jerome in.it is 4mins added time.90+4 min:it is martins with the counter but loses in front of the keeper.IT IS ALL OVER and Birmingham has the CARLING CUP
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Goat Robber killed, Police recover 40 animals

A member of a notorious robbery syndicate terrorising the people of Oyo town and its neighbourhood in Oyo State, has paid the supreme price with his life in an encounter with the men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Oyo Zone.

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The cars with stolen goats

CRIME DIGEST learnt that the gang, which specialised in stealing goats, ran into trouble in the ancient town in the wee hours of February 1, 2011.

According to the police, the gang had a network of members within Oyo town and outside. The officer-in-charge of the Oyo SARS, Mr. Olusola Aremu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, explained that the suspects moved from house to house to lure local goats with corn and beans that had been soaked in salt and water solution.

The corn with salt solution, CRIME DIGEST was told, weaken the goats and prevent them from bleating while they were being taken away.

But things turned awry for the gang when they ran into a police patrol team in Oyo town around 2 am.

Aremu said, "The police saw three men in the vehicle all appearing very rough. The police followed their vehicle to track them down. At first, when the police waved them down, the robbers did not obey but tried to escape by increasing their speed. They were, however, given a chase.

"They bumped into a deep pothole and lost one of their tyres. But before the police got to the vehicle, the syndicate abandoned their vehicle and fled into a nearby bush."

CRIME DIGEST gathered that some goats were recovered from the grey Nissan Primera marked BG 372 RSH. The patrol team was said to have taken the vehicle to the station, while some of the detectives laid in an ambush...

"The patrol team came back to the scene in an unmarked vehicle. Shortly after they returned, they noticed another Nissan Primera saloon car (blue colour) with three occupants also looking very rough in it. Immediately the suspects noticed that the police were approaching, they sped off. The police gave them a chase up to Sasa area of Ibadan, Oyo State capital. Unfortunately, the robbers also bumped into a ditch and lost one of their tyres," a police source said.

In the encounter, they reportedly opened fire on the police patrol team. In the shoot-out between the suspects and the police, one of the robbers fell to police bullets, while the other gang members fled before the police got to the vehicle.

Aremu said items recovered from the vehicle included 40 goats (all of them were she-goats) with six of them dead, while 34 goats were still alive.

He added that the goats, most of which were pregnant, had their mouths tied with masking tape.

Also recovered from the vehicle, with registration number Lagos DL 135 GGE, were a locally-made pistol, live cartridges and some Indian hemp.

The police said they noticed that the bandits on board the vehicle were strangers because it appeared that they were not conversant with the terrain.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Commend, Mr. Olatunji Ajimuda, who confirmed the incident, said some of the owners of the goats had started coming forward with evidence to claim them.

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12166244663?profile=originalIn an apparent display of presidential powers, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday locked out the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, some of his aides as well as other commercial passengers from Benin City, where ironically Oshiomhole is chief executive.

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The President’s security apparatus, The Sun learnt, simply shut down the Benin airspace over what it called ‘VIP’ movement.

President Jonathan was said to be returning from neighbouring Delta State where he had gone for campaigns for the forthcoming April polls.

 

So, for over 45minutes, after it got to Benin, the Air Nigeria plane, which left the domestic wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport at 8.30am, hovered in the skies, unable to land. Running dangerously low on fuel, the pilot had to return to Lagos, amid hisses and curses by enraged passengers, many of whom had different engagements to catch up with in Benin, Warri, and neighbouring cities.

Oshiomhole, himself, was returning from Lagos where he had gone to attend The Sun Man of the Year Award as a special guest and was billed to address a campaign rally in Owan local government area of the state.

 

Oshiomhole, it was gathered, had left his hotel suite at Victoria Island as early as 7.30am in order to beat the traffic and meet the early morning flight. He did not reckon he would be trapped in the air due to the now notorious ‘VIP’ movement.

He and the other stranded passengers eventually took the rescheduled flight at noon.

Even though Oshiomhole refused to speak on the incident, other embarrassed and enraged passengers, who spoke to The Sun condemned the tyrannical practice of shutting down the airspace in the guise of VIP movement.

 

John, a chattered accountant, who was on the flight said: “This kind of uncivilised behaviour must stop. We are not in the jungle. How can you shut down the airspace because the president, vice-president, senate president or speaker of the House is airborne? What if we had run out of fuel and had a crash? Is the president’s life more precious than that of the ordinary citizen? What kind of oppression by man against his fellow man is this? This nonsense cannot continue.”

 

Another passenger, who preferred anonymity, said: “It is only in this country you have this kind of behaviour. What if we had had a crash? God forbid. I was terribly scared.

“The president must apologise for this uncivilised conduct. We are tired of government officials behaving as if they are more important than the people who put them there. They just behave like emperors. It is a shame!..

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WISHING YOU THE BEST 2011

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In a recent joke that many Nigerians are moving out of low brow Croydon and its environs home to the dreaded Homeoffice and a definite Only fools reside where even Angels fear to rent .It has been a
Black Sunday for Nigerians in London …As immigration officials launch raid on illegal immigrants
From ADEWALE SANYAOLU,London with agency reports

Monday, November 15, 2010
It was a black Sunday for Nigerian and Ghanaian illegal migrants yesterday in London as immigration officers stormed into Haley’s in Regent Street and detained contract cleaners from Nigeria, Ghana and Brazil...


The dawn raid, which left four alleged illegal migrants arrested on Britain’s most famous toy shop caught the illegal migrants unaware. The immigration team, which searched all seven floors and rounded up 14 suspects in the teddy bear department, as the Met’s Territorial Support Group guarded the store’s exits.

One suspect, a 17-year-old from Brazil, was found in a locked storeroom cowering under shelves packed with toys. The raid comes as the stores gears up for the pre-Christmas rush. The cleaning staffs are all believed to work for Crystal Cleaning Services, based in Essex. None is employed directly by Haley’s and there is no suggestion that the retailer has done anything wrong...

Surrounded by stuffed bears and Christmas gifts, officers used mobile fingerprint scanners to determine whether the suspects had the right to be in Britain. At the end, four were arrested and could be deported within the next couple of days, while some were led away in handcuffs. Illegal immigrants are often forced to work for sub-standard wages and are frequently victims of trafficking. Tony Moore, a team leader at the UK Border Agency, said “ we are really pleased with the results today. More operations are planned in central London in the coming weeks.

Illegal working has a serious impact, taking jobs from those allowed to work. These employers often bypass health and safety and the minimum wage.” A Hamleys spokesman said: “We are more than happy to help the UK Border Agency.” Employers found guilty of using illegal migrants face a fine of up to’ Illegal working has a serious impact, taking jobs from those allowed to work.

These employers often bypass health and safety and the minimum wage.” A Hamleys spokesman said: “We are more than happy to help the UK Border Agency.” Employers found guilty of using illegal migrants face a fine of up to £10,000 for each one. Crystal Cleaning said it had followed guidance from the Home Office’s “Prevention of Illegal Working,” booklet.
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LimeWire to shut down on court order

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A New York judge ordered LimeWire to stop distributing its file-sharing software, agreeing with the plaintiffs that LimeWire's service is used "overwhelmingly for infringement."
Judge Wood of U.S. District Court in Manhattan said that LimeWire "intentionally encouraged direct infringement" by users of its site, and also "marketed itself to Napster users, who were known copyright infringers "The LimeWire site shut down its service Wednesday, displaying only a legal notice announcing that that company "is under a court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file-sharing software."
Nonetheless, the company insisted that it has not been permanently put out of business...
"While this is not our ideal path, we hope to work with the music industry in moving forward," LimeWire said in a prepared statement. "We look forward to embracing necessary changes and collaborating with the entire music industry in the future."
LimeWire CEO George Searle went further in a message posted on LimeWire's corporate site.
"The injunction applies only to the LimeWire product. Our company remains open for business," he wrote. "Our team of technologists and music enthusiasts is creating a completely new music service that puts you back at the center of your digital music experience. We'll be sharing more details about our new service and look forward to bringing it to you in the future."
LimeWire has been skirmishing for years with the music industry over its laissez faire approach to policing the copyright violations its peer-to-peer software enabled. More than a dozen plaintiffs pursued the case against LimeWire, which began four years ago. Sony (SNE) Music Entertainment, Virgin Records America, Inc., Arista Records, Capitol Records and Warner Brothers Records Inc. (Warner Brothers Records and CNNMoney.com are both part of Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500).)

While the court order has halted further distribution of LimeWire's software, the networks that software tapped into -- Gnutella and BitTorrent -- remain active, and can be reached through other software applications.

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When I was down there(the collapsed mine) I was with God and I was with the devil but I held on to God's hand and He won.' - 2nd rescued miner.... Inspiring!!!


The 14th man trapped for more than two months in a Chilean mine was pulled to safety Wednesday as the sounds of rejoicing filled the camp in the Chilean desert where hundreds of international media were holding vigil along with family members of 33 gold and copper miners entombed half a mile below ground..


Photos 14th miner,Ist miner

"I never doubted. I always knew God would rescue us," Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to be rescued, said in a television interview.

"I am so very happy," added the miner, who was surrounded by family members holding his hands or touching him, as if to be sure he was really there. "I'm 40 years old and will live many years more now to honor those who helped" in the rescue.





Foreman Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first of the miners to ride up the shaft. Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes from aboveground lights, Avalos squeezed into a specially fitted, bullet-shaped capsule only a shade smaller than the 28-inch diameter of the tunnel and was winched to the surface over 14 agonizing minutes.

He stepped from the capsule to an explosion of cheers and patriotic chanting from rescue workers and Chilean officials, his emergence broadcast by state TV to a worldwide audience witnessing a triumph of human determination over geology.

Amid whistles, raw shouts and tears, Avalos hugged his wife, Monica, his sobbing 7-year-old son, Bairon, and the president of Chile, Sebastian Pinera.

His appearance signaled the start of the final, still-perilous chapter in a 69-day-old drama that began Aug. 5 when an underground collapse at the mine sealed off exits for the men. The miners' location and fate were unknown for 17 days, until a drill probing for air pockets poked through into a lunchroom where the men were waiting.

Since then, the
original despair above and below ground gave way to rejoicing at the discovery, followed by anxiety as drills punched through rock to create a path for the rescue. Patience was further strained by technical delays on the final day, as crews hooked up communications gear and ran more tests on the integrity of the shaft.

But any frustration surrendered to elation when Manuel Gonzalez, a technician, descended and joined the men. Video from thousands of feet underground showed extraordinary scenes of the miners greeting a visitor from the surface.

Gonzalez's arrival was proof that the trip could be made, but the drama still has time to run.

Rescue workers drafted a pecking order for the men's ascent and said they hoped to bring them out at a rate of about one an hour, a pace that would have everyone to safety in two days.

But they also cautioned against premature celebration, noting that only the top of the shaft had been lined with metal tubing and that each trip required the capsule to negotiate bends in the crude tunnel.

Pinera had arrived at the mine Tuesday afternoon to watch the rescue efforts and greet the miners.

"We made a promise to never surrender and we kept it," the president said.

As relatives huddled around television sets or bonfires waiting for details about when their loved ones were to be hoisted up aboard the rescue capsule, they said they were allowing themselves to feel an enormous sense of relief.

Juan Alcalipe, whose son-in-law, Osma Araya, 30, was among the trapped miners, said he was excited to be so close to the end of a nightmare. Araya, he said, won't be returning to work at the mine.

"My daughter won't let him," Alcalipe said.

After Avalos was ushered to a nearby makeshift clinic for a checkup, shower and change of clothes, another rescuer, Roberto Rios, climbed into the capsule and dropped into the shaft, which was emitting plumes of steam from the sauna-like chamber below.

Ana Maria Sepulveda, sister of Mario Sepulveda, the miner rescued an hour later, said, "The day we have waited for so long has finally arrived."
Miner 15, you have been evicted from the house. Please leave the Chilean Mine now !

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Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Rapper T.I. helped police persuade a man not to jump off the roof of high-rise hotel roof in Midtown Atlantaon Wednesday afternoon, police said..

T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, talked to the man about how a person "can make itthrough anything," Atlanta Police spokesman James Polite said.

"T.I. just happened to be in the right place at the right time," Polite said.

Harris faces his own life crisis this week when he appears before a federaljudge, who is considering revoking his probation on a weaponsconviction.

Police were trying to talk the man, who appeared to be about 25 years old, from jumping from the 22-story Colony SquareHotel when Harris "appeared out of nowhere," Polite said..

Harris offered to help convince the man that "life's not that bad," a proposal that police accepted, he said.

The man, who was not identified by police, agreed to leave the roof to meet with the rapper.

After several minutes of conversation, he was taken into custody andtransported to Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital for a psychologicalevaluation, he said. He was not charged with a crime, he said.

Harris and his wife, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, were arrested on drug chargesduring a traffic stop on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California,last month. The charges triggered Friday's probation revocation hearingin Atlanta.

In 2008, Harris was sentenced on charges of unlawfully possessing firearms as a convicted felon. The charges cameafter an arrest by federal agents a year earlier while Harris was buyingthree machine guns in the parking lot of an Atlanta grocery store.

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Harris was released after serving nine months in prison and three months in a halfway house.


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Lucky he did not nail his Mother-Inlaw someone would have raised

eyebrows !


Three family members at a wedding in Turkey have been accidentally shot dead by the groom firing an AK-47 rifle in celebration.

The groom, Tevfik Altin, lost control of his rifle, spraying the guestswith bullets and killing his father and two aunts and injuring sixothers, according to CNN Turk.

It reported that Altin had been arrested after the incident in the villageof Akcagoze in southeastern Turkey. Guns are often fired into the airin celebration in some parts of Turkey.

One family member, who did not give his name, told CNN: "It happened very quickly. We all triedto take cover and there was blood all over. We are all very sad rightnow."

The injured guests included three children aged 10, 12 and 16, according to CNN Turk.

The Sehitkamil State hospital where some of the injured were brought confirmed it has one patient still in the hospital.

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At the posh Murtala Muhammed Airport 2, in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, where the mighty and the influential meet daily, many Nigerians still find it difficult to use the escalators at the airport. Even the elite are victims.
Yesterday, a woman in one of her best attire spent a couple of minutes at the threshold of one of the escalators trying to figure out how the technology works. And when she finally attempted to use it, she slipped and fell.
She used the staircase instead after recovering from the fall, to get to the departure lounge where she was to board a plane.
The four escalators at MMA2 take passengers from the check-in section to the boarding and departure areas of the airport. They also convey air travellers from the departure hall to the check-in lounge of MMA2.
Daily, passengers fall while trying to use the escalators. Some prefer to use the staircase. “It’s good to do some exercise,” some passengers told P.M.NEWS when asked why they prefer to use the staircase when the escalator will just take them upstairs with ease.
Some passengers resort to holding hands to ease their fright and stabilise themselves. A few days ago, a couple was seen holding hands firmly to avoid a fall. They were relieved when they got to the end of the escalator, their faces beaming with broad smiles.
Our correspondent observed that passengers find it difficult to use the escalator, especially at the threshold and exit..
This also applies to the three lifts available to passengers at MMA2 where some passengers have been stranded not due to power failure or mechanical fault, but because they did not know what button to press to make it work.
About three weeks ago, a passenger with Aero Contractor, who thought a stranger had travelled with her luggage, was scolded by the police at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2) after she screamed right in the MMA2’s terminal building. She was warned not to ever scream at the airport, a public place which attracts mainly the elite.
A manager of Bi-Courtney Aviation services, operators and owners of MMA2, who scurried to the checking area of the building after the high-pitched shout of the woman, told the passenger that next time she will be detained and interrogated by the police if such an incident ever occurs at the airport.
The woman, it was later learnt, was travelling by air for the first time. She had met a stranger and kept her luggage with her to make some calls. But, when she returned, the stranger, a passenger with the same airline, had joined the long queue at the check-in section of the building. Unable to locate the other passenger, the first-time air traveller started wailing, drawing the attention of everybody.
“I didn’t know I cannot scream at the airport,” said the woman who was scolded by the police after she recovered her luggage.
“There is need for more enlightenment,” she said.
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emmmm maybe the Pandoran Oil "Avatars" might errrr " I SEE U" the Oil leak



PALOS VERDES, Calif (Reuters) – Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.

Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."

His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.

Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant..

He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."

The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles below the surface.

'REALLY SMART PEOPLE'

Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

"I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.

The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile below the surface.

While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems.

"Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."

Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it.

"The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said.

"Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.

Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.

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Jonathan to step down for IBB .
Turai yaradua nominated for Ministerial postition as conflicting reports have reached us from NExt newspapers . all and Sundry have contributed their comments on this crazy development .

From NEXT Newspapers reports have reached us that :

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan took Nigerians by surprise with his last-minute nomination of President Yar'Adua's wife, Turai, for a ministerial position.

Mrs. Yar'Adua's subsequent confirmation by the Senate instantly took her into the history books, not only as the first ever Nigerian First Lady to simultaneously hold a cabinet-rank position, but also as the only Nigerian ever to be screened for a ministerial position in absentia.

The inclusion of the First Lady's name in the list of nominees took the Senators by surprise, becoming known only after the final batch of nominees had been screened. Moments after Mr. Segun Aganga, the last of the candidates scheduled for Wednesday, took his bow before the Chambers, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mohammed Abba-Aji, was sighted making his way to the front of the chambers, where he spent minutes conferring with the Senate President.

While the conversation was going on, Mr. Abba-Aji handed over some documents to the Senate President, who broke into a smile when he browsed through them. When the Senate President finally addressed the Chambers, it was to make the surprise announcement - that Acting President Jonathan had, in a bid to increase the quota of women represented in the incoming cabinet, submitted the name of the First Lady for screening.

The Senate Chambers erupted in uproar, which took the Senate President several minutes to calm.

The Senate President then asked Senators to make an exception for the First Lady and screen her in absentia, taking into consideration the fact that her convalescing husband required her presence at his bedside.

There were a few voices of protest, but most of Senators agreed on a symbolic screening. The Senate President proceeded to announce Mrs. Yar'Adua, and then asked her to "bow and go in absentia." This was followed by loud cheering spearheaded by the female Senators present.

With Mrs. Yar'Adua's confirmation, the number of women in the incoming cabinet has risen to six, and the total number of screened nominees to thirty-nine.

The Yar'Adua family is also making history as the only family in recent times to have two nominees in a federal cabinet; as Mrs. Yar'Adua joins Murtala, her husband's nephew, who was screened on Tuesday.

It is being speculated that Mrs. Yar'Adua will be assigned the proposed ‘Power Ministry', which insider sources in the Presidency say should not be confused with the Ministry of Power.


APRIL FOOLS DAY !! !! !!



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Russian billionaire Roman AbramovichTHE STINKIN BILLIONAIRE OTEdola & Dangote see better Bilionaire una dey Fight up and down dey disturb us !lost one of the yachts in his sizeable personal fleet in a game of poker, Russian newspapers reported on Monday, prompting a strong denial from the oligarch.This space is to Shakara your goods and services here on 9jabook !"The story is absolutely, completely, entirely false," Abramovich spokesman John Mann told AFP after three Russian daily newspapers published versions of the story that originated in the Italian press.One of the the Stinking billionaires yachts please give me this Yacht my problems are over !The popular daily Moskovsky Komsomelets said the oligarch lost the 500,000 dollar (375,000 euro) yacht while playing poker in Barcelona, which he was visiting to watch the London football team he owns, Chelsea, in action.The newspaper did not provide the name of the yacht or name the source of its information.Two other mass-cirulation Russian dailies, Izvestia and Trud, also published the story, citing the Italian newspaper La Repubblica as the source of the information.Mann said Abramovich had not been in Barcelona for the Chelsea match and asserted that the entire story was a fabrication."We have instructed our lawyers to examine legal action" over publication of the story, he said.Abramovich's yacht collection, thought to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has been dubbed "The Roman Navy" by Britain's press.The Russian newspaper said his poker habit had become a sore point between him and girlfriend Daria Zhukova and that the billionaire, who made his fortune in Russia's sell-off of state assets in the 1990s, had instead turned to gambling online.
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Producer Paul Julius is confident that the tens of thousands of dollars he has spent producing the soap opera “Tomorrow’s Tears” will be recouped, no matter the electricity shortages, lack of investors or grease-palmed government officials hampering his shooting schedule.Fighting to be heard over a steady stream of traffic and actors complaining about the lack of food, money and air conditioning, Mr. Julius explained the plot of his soap, which he hopes to sell to local TV stations. “I changed the subject from the normal stuff: blood, magic, stepmothers, etc.,” he said. “This is going to be about real-life issues.”Mr. Julius is an up-and-coming player in Nigeria’s film and television industry, known as Nollywood, which has grown from its infancy in the 1980s into the one of the world’s biggest movie industries, but is facing some real-life issues of its own.In 2006, nearly 900 movies, almost all straight-to-video, were shot in Nigeria, trailing only India and almost doubling Hollywood’s total for the same year, according to a Unesco report released this month. Currently around 40 movies are shot every month in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, not counting the dozens of television dramas that are also shot here. The industry generates an estimated $250 million a year, and is popular throughout Africa and immigrant enclaves in Europe and the U.S.But rampant piracy means substantial losses for producers and directors already operating on tight budgets. Understaffed and bribe-ready police means copyright enforcement is minimal. Inadequate roadways inhibit a small distribution network itching to grow. Constant electricity outages stall production schedules. These problems threaten to derail the industry.Nigeria’s messy and often corrupt oil industry drives much of what happens in this country. It is the biggest oil producer in Africa, and as much as 95% of the country’s export earnings come from oil. Nigeria has taken in roughly $400 billion in oil-generated revenue since 1970 but the standard of living for most Nigerians has actually decreased.Nonetheless, the country’s residents have an impressive appetite for movies. The most successful Nollywood movies are often melodramas like “Living in Bondage” and “Domitilla,” filled with adultery, bribery and elements of local mysticism.A comedy, however, may have given Nollywood its best chance at international exposure. “Usuofia in London,” about a Nigerian man who lands in the big city straight from his native village, may be the best-selling Nollywood movie to date, with an estimated 500,000 copies sold. Only a handful of Nigerian movies have made it to international film festivals, such as “The Rivals,” directed by Aquila Njamah, which was shown at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in 2007.Most Nigerian movies are produced fast and cheap, shot in a few weeks for $15,000 to $25,000, then roughly edited and handed off to marketers and eventually street-side vendors, or video clubs, as they are known locally. Financiers, usually friends or family members of the producer or director, want to see their investments recouped and care little for artistic exploration or high-quality technical effects.Directors are under pressure to keep each movie on schedule and under budget. Profits, when made, are small. Producers estimate that as much as 70% of their yearly revenue is lost to piracy. “I would say the biggest challenge facing the industry at the moment is lack of structure, and a high level of informality,” said Emeka Mba, the chairman of the National Film and Video Censors Board, the Nigerian movie industry’s main regulatory body.There is no formal distribution network for Nollywood producers. A finished movie in Lagos is burned onto around 15,000 DVDs with no copy protection and released into the market. If it’s a hit, demand swells. Vendors need more copies. But the producers often can’t keep up. So the movie is copied by pirates and thrown back into the market. The producer can only hope he made back his investment in time.“We’ve been crying to the government. If these things are not checked now, Nollywood will go into extinction,” said Cosmas Ndulue, 42, a producer and owner of one of only two indigenous DVD manufacturing companies in Nigeria.Industry officials and government agencies have started paying closer attention to piracy, but so far there hasn’t been much of an effect. A recent police raid on a well-known DVD-copying operation resulted in a brief confrontation between police and piracy-ring leaders. The pirates stood their ground and burned a police truck, then went back to work making knock-off Nollywood copies. The only repercussion for the offenders? A bill for the damage to the police vehicle.As piracy takes a larger and larger chunk of the profits, finding enough money to shoot a movie is becoming even more of a challenge. Chico Ejiro, a producer and director, has been struggling to find financing for his movies. A few years ago, during the shooting of his movie “Sisters on the Run,” he sold his car to keep the production afloat. This year he convinced a local bank to sponsor “100 Days in the Jungle,” a film about abduction and village lore, but it was a flop and Mr. Ejiro says the bank quickly soured on Nollywood.Mr. Julius, despite his production headaches, is optimistic about the future of Nollywood, as are most industry players. While watching two of his actors struggle to finish a scene on a busy Lagos street, Mr. Julius was looking forward to a complicated shoot that would involve a substantial police convoy, hundreds of extras, and foreign actors.“I need someone to play the British prime minister in the big scene we’re shooting this weekend,” Mr. Julius said, eyeing a reporter up and down. “Am I looking at him?”
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Learn to use Solar Power and even design your own .We will help you in importing Solar power devices from china ! email solar@systemini.net for more details . FACTS have begun to emerged how the poor electricity supply in the country has led and contributed to factory closures and declining manufacturing sector in Nigeria, leading millions of job loses. In fact, in the Textile/garment as well as Chemical/Leather sectors of the economy, constant power failure in the country has either led to and was a major factor to closure of not less than one hundred factories scattered across the country. According to vanguard investigations, while twelve manufactory companies in both Textile/Garment and Chemical/Leather sectors, three had their workers reduced from five thousand (5000) to seven hundred (700). Confirming this unfortunate development and the steady de-industrialisatio n in the country, General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) and a Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu, declared that among the factories that closed down as a result of electricity failure included “Tarneries, Hufawa, Intertan, Multitan, Nakudu, Kano Textile Limited, Afrimpex and Harmatan (all based in Kano state) as well as most of leather industries in the state . In lagos, are Dunlop Industries, Leanard Shoes and Batta Shoes and Michelin Nigeria Limited, in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state. Also poor power supply was attributed to have contributed majorly to the closure of the under-listed factories included Enpee, Nelco, NSF, Weaving and Processing, Swantex, Textile Specialities, ASSAN Industries, Jaybee, K-Issardas, Bhojaraj, Teev-Gold Star, Amarito-Umbrella, AD Gulas (all textile factories based in Ilupeju, in Lagos). Others are Five star, Afprint, Daltex, Varaman, Royal Spinners, GDM, Aswani, Arcee, Rekha, King Carpet, Emar, President, Elite, Moon Diamond, Pacific, Eurosport, Barclays Clothing, ITI, Wabterry, Nigeria Fishing Net, Shiram, Monarch, Aflon (all based in Isolo), Texlon, Diamond Spinners, United Spinners, Top star, Tarpaulin, Steep, Coats West Africa, Panache, Pyramid, Central Bag Subaco, Globe Spinning (based in Amuwo Odofin). Abel Abu, First Spinners, Century and Platinum (based in Ikorodu), Kay Industries, NTM, Specomill, Reliance, Oriental, Madhu and Encee (based in Ikeka.) Vanguard investigation confirmed because of unstable and failing power supply, Gombe based Ashaka Cement shed its work force from 2000 to 200, Lafarge, Ewekoro, ogun state, 1500 to 250 and its plant in Shagamu, 1500 to 250. Investigation has also revealed that companies like Cadbury, Nestle foods have for the past 15 years not used public supply to power their plants because of the sensitivity of their equipment that must not be exposed to even a minute power failure. At the kick-starting of a national mass protest in Lagos against steady de-industrialisatio n of Nigeria as a result of increasing factory closures and the urgent need to re-industrialise Nigeria, Private Sector Union (PSU), shouted it loudly that lack of steady power supply had remained the greatest threat to the manufacturing sector in Nigeria and called on government to urgently address the issue. Speaking to Vanguard, General Secretary of the National Union of Textile and Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, lamented that in spite of huge money allegedly expended on the power sector, Nigeria is still walloping in darkness. He argued no country has even industrialised without stable power supply and advised government to wake up to its responsibility and guarantee the citizens stable power supply to kick-start economy to meet the challenges of the day. Again, in a pre-May Day Statement jointly issued by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), the two labour centres echoed the need for efficient power supply. The labour leaders used the opportunity to once again kicked against government full deregulation of the downstream oil sector of the economy in the midst of the global economic recession which serious economies in the world are bailing out companies and intervening in their economies to fight the recession. Addressing journalists on behalf of the two labour centres, Deputy President of NLC, Comrade Peters Adeymi, said: “We also note with grave concerns the decision of government to move for the removal of subsidies on petroleum and full deregulation of the down stream sector of the oil industry as part of the neo-liberal orthodoxies of the World Bank. This decision is contrary to approaches adopted by developed economies that champion the capitalism and the 'market logic'. These countries like the U.S, Britain, Germany, France, Spam and others have been using state funds in billion of dollars lo bail out industries in virtually all sectors as ways to preserve jobs, income and welfare of their people and their national economies. The point is that they recognize that the people and their citizens come first and so government must be responsive and responsible to the people. For our government, its strategy of solving the problem is high on promises and low on implementation.” “A quick example is Government planned disbursement of N70 Billion textile industry bailout that is yet to see the light of the day 3 years after such promise, but it took the Obama administration well under 90 days to get over $700 billion released and pumped into the I'.S economy. We in the labour movement call on Government to show similar commitment and patriotism exhibited by the Nigerian people through demonstration of concrete political will in tackling these economic crises. We are quick to reiterate that we reject government renewed bid to remove subsidy and the implementation of full deregulation of the down stream sector of the oil industry. The multiplier effects will exacerbate hardship and poverty amongst our people, just as the timing is wrong, the logic of the policy is also skewed in favour of the few elites in society and anti-people.” http://www.freesunpower.com/ http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com/articles/build_your_own_solar_panel.html http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/Portable-solar/p/sm/1010757986.htm http://www.solar-power-answers.co.uk/index.php
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