America And The Man-No-Be-Wood Nigerian Lawmakers by Reuben Abati

There has been no shortage of controversy and hair-raising incidents from the 8^th National Assembly of Nigeria, but nothing breaks the heart more than the name-them-shame-them letter that has been sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives by the US Ambassador in which he accused three Nigerian lawmakers of sexual misconduct during an April 7-13, 2016 participation in the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP).

       The three lawmakers are Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Mark Terseer Gbillah (APC, Benue).  In his letter to the Speaker, James Entwistle says Gbillah and Ikon "allegedly requested hotel parking attendants to assist them to solicit prostitutes" while Gololo "allegedly grabbed a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for sex". This was reported to the hotel management. The use of the word "grabbed" sounds quite deliberate in its Nigerian-ness.

Anything Can Happen In America by Reuben Abati

This is really exciting time in America; watching the drama of the 2016 Presidential nomination process from a distance, I find the contests, the debates, the arguments, the hustling and jostling on both sides of the mainstream political aisle, most instructive, and intriguing. The world's most advanced democracy is proving once again that freedom is a golden ideal and that anyone who seeks to lead it, must undergo a rigorous test of leadership and courage. So far, the presidential primaries have proven to be a sifting process, and after last Tuesday, better known as Super Tuesday, many of the otherwise promising candidates have dropped out of the race, leaving the field to just a few survivors.

PHOTOS: AMERICAN VISIT TO DR. ABATI

Special Adviser Media to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati; Mr. Paulo Rodriguez and Policy Coordination Officer, American Embassy, Ms. Hillary Renner at the State House, Abuja 12/06/2014

Special Adviser Media to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati; Mr. Paulo Rodriguez and Policy Coordination Officer, American Embassy, Ms. Hillary Renner at the State House, Abuja. 12/06/2014

Washington state man who put infant in freezer gets 16 years

Tyler Deutsch

 (Reuters) - A Washington state man who prosecutors said beat his crying infant daughter and put her in a freezer for 90 minutes so he could take a nap was sentenced on Friday to 16 years in prison, authorities said.
Tyler Deutsch, 26, wanted to take a nap in May, but his daughter was crying, so he put her in the freezer before going to his bedroom and falling asleep, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said in a statement.

Assange film "Underground" focuses on early years in Australia

TORONTO (Reuters) - When Australian film director Robert Connolly went looking for some truth about WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, he didn't turn to government documents or leaked emails of the sort that Assange's website is famous for making public.

Instead, he focused on Assange's past as a teenage hacker and young father growing up in suburban Melbourne, Australia, more than a decade before the launch of the website that has made him both famous and notorious.
"The question is, 'What makes the man, what forms the person?'" Connolly said in an interview with Reuters at a Toronto hotel near where the film, entitled "Underground," premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival.

U.S. ambassador killed after chaotic, hours-long siege

Gunfire, a burning building, "heavy, dark smoke" that separated Chris Stevens, the late U.S. ambassador to Libya, from a security officer: American officials painted a harrowing picture late Wednesday of the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that left the widely respected diplomat and three others dead. The officials, speaking to reporters on a conference call arranged by the State Department, shared what they readily acknowledged were incomplete details subject to change as a clearer picture emerges from the bloody raid.

The early details sketch out a chaotic situation in which apparently outgunned U.S. and Libyan security personnel fought for hours to retake the diplomatic compound in the eastern Libyan city from unknown gunmen and lost the ambassador. The account was provided to reporters on the condition that the officials giving it not be identified.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens Killed in Consulate Attack in Benghazi

The U.S.ambassador to Libya,Christopher Stevens, was killed when Libyan militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Stevens, 52, died on Tuesday as 20 gun-wielding attackers stormed the U.S. consulate, angry about an American-made movie that depicted Prophet Mohammad as a fraud and a womanizer. The attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate, Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif told a news conference in Benghazi.

Insurgents suffer heavy losses in Syria

The Syrian army has attacked armed groups’ positions across the country, inflicting heavy losses on insurgents fighting against the government.
According to Syrian authorities, the army has inflicted huge losses on armed groups in Aleppo's al-Eda'a and Saif al-Dawla districts on Friday as heavy fighting between government forces and armed groups continues in several other neighborhoods, including Bustan al-Qasr, Halak, Bab al-Hadid and Darat Azzeh.

US to support Nigeria on Security - Clinton

Hillary Clinton

THE heightening of security in Abuja on Thursday notwithstanding, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, shelved many of the activities scheduled for her and left Nigeria for Ghana.

She later held a meeting with the Ghanaian President, Mr. John Mahama, at his residence in Accra. She is billed to participate in the state funeral for the late President John Attah Mill.

Clinton, on the last lap of her nine-nation African tour, departed the country shortly after a closed-door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Council, but she shelved scheduled meeting, with civil society groups and anti-corruption campaigners billed for the US Ambassador’s residence in Abuja.