Egypt arrests cartoonist for illegally running a webpage

An Egyptian cartoonist, whose work is occasionally critical of government figures, was arrested in the capital, Cairo, on Sunday and charged with running a webpage without a license, the country's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The arrest of Islam Gaweesh appears to be part of an intensified clampdown on activists and journalists in Egypt, where many have been detained, questioned and even forcibly disappeared in recent months.

In custody, Gaweesh was told that the only charge actually against him so far was "publishing drawings that are offensive to the regime," his lawyer Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press.

Most of Gaweesh's work dealt with the mundanities of life in Egypt. One of his most recent cartoons tackled the recent cold snap in the country by showing a man asking his love interest on the phone why she is cold in an effort to appear manly. "The weather is great," he says before being interrupted by a group of penguins in the window telling him to shut up.

 

One of the few cartoons Gaweesh has recently drawn that are critical of government figures targeted a foul-mouthed pro-government lawyer and lawmaker Mortada Mansour, who often threatens to beat his political opponents with his shoes. Earlier this month, Mansour was selected to head the parliament's human rights committee.

In Gaweesh's caricature, Mansour is shown standing next to a torturer and his victim saying: "Lash the lights out of him, but gently."

 

Ever since the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 amid mass protests against his rule, the government has launched a crackdown on dissent, killing hundreds of protesters and throwing thousands of Islamists in prison. Many of the young pro-democracy activists who spearheaded the 2011 uprising, which was partly sparked by government limitations on freedom of speech and expression, have been swept up in the campaign.

 

The statement from the Interior Ministry, which runs the police force in Egypt, said Gaweesh was arrested at the headquarters of the news website, Egypt News Network, which they raided on Sunday after official investigations revealed that it was publishing news without a license.

 

 

Source: Canadian Press

French president pardons French woman jailed after killing abusive husband

A Frenchwoman imprisoned for shooting dead her husband after nearly 50 years years of rape and incest has been granted a rare presidential pardon by the French president. 

Jacqueline Sauvage, 68, had become a symbol of the scourge of domestic violence in France and a cause célèbre, with almost 400,000 people signing a petition calling on François Hollande to use his rarely used presidential right of pardon.

Ms Sauvage was married for 47 years to Norbert Marot, a violent alcoholic whom she said raped and beat her and her three daughters and also abused her son.

On September 10, 2012, the day after her son hanged himself, Ms Sauvage shot her husband three times in the back with a rifle.
 

She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in October 2014, which was upheld on appeal in December 2015 as the state rejected her pleas of self-defence.

 

The Socialist leader agreed to meet her three daughters and lawyers on Friday, and afterwards said he needed "time to think" before making the decision about the pardon.

On Sunday evening, his office said he had granted the pardon and that Ms Sauvage could immediately request her release.

“The president of the republic, faced with this exceptional human situation, wants to enable the return as soon as possible of Ms Sauvage to her family,” it said in a statement.

During his 2012 presidential campaign, Mr Hollande distanced himself from such pardons, reinstated by Napoleon, describing them as belonging to "a different concept of power".

 

He has granted only one to date, when he freed convicted bank robber Philippe El Shennawy – who had spent 38 years behind bars – in 2014.

 

When Ms Sauvage was sentenced, the activist group Osez le Feminisme (Dare To Be Feminist) called for the definition of self-defence to be expanded in cases of "female victims of violence".

 

Even Fleur Pellerin, Mr Hollande's culture minister, said she was "overwhelmed" by the testimonies of the daughters and said: "We are in the presence of an exceptional case."

 

 

 

The Telegraph

Uncle convicted of murder after giving his niece a gun which she used to kill a teen over a Facebook dispute

A 27-year-old man has been convicted of murder after he gave his 14-year-old niece a revolver, which she then used to kill another teenager over a Facebook dispute.

 

A jury found him guilty of murder in the killing of the teen girl rejecting a claim by his defense attorney that the man was only trying to protect his niece when he brought a revolver to the confrontation that ended with Endia Martin dead.

Donnell Flora, 27, was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery charges in the death of 14-year-old Endia, who Cook County prosecutors say was shot by Flora's niece outside a home in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood in April 2014.

The defense rested Friday, with Flora testifying that he brought the gun to the confrontation but never intended for the weapon to end up in his niece's hands. The shooting suspect, whom the Tribune is not naming because she has been charged as a juvenile, is now 16 and has yet to stand trial.

 

In closing arguments Saturday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, prosecutors argued that had it not been for Flora, the .38-caliber revolver would have never arrived to the scene, and Endia would still be alive. He therefore had to be held accountable for his actions, said Assistant State's Attorney Barbara Bailey.

"Life is precious. No one knows that more than the family of Endia Martin. No one knows that more than the defendant," Bailey said.

Instead of protecting his niece from gun violence, Flora, who has used a wheelchair since a 2010 shooting left him paralyzed from the waist down, made her part of the cycle of violence, Bailey said.

"He became her provider — the provider of a handgun," Bailey said. "When there were about 1,000 other options that could've been taken by an adult, he chose to continue the cycle."

In arguing that Flora should be found not guilty, defense attorney Joel Brodsky brought up the role of self-defense in the case, claiming Flora's only intention in involving the gun in the confrontation was to protect his niece. Brodsky said the niece's rival, Lanekia Reynolds, who was also Endia's best friend and a witness to the killing who testified during the trial, had posted Facebook threats to Flora's niece.

"These were not mere threats," Brodsky said. "They were 'I'm going to kill you. I'm going to out you in the ground next to your dad.'"

Flora’s "only intent was to protect his niece," Brodsky said.

"It was not the brightest idea he ever had. But it doesn't change the fact that that was his intent."

But Assistant State's Attorney Athena Farmakis told jurors not to consider the self-defense argument because while Flora's niece had the revolver to the confrontation, Reynolds was armed with a chain with a lock.

"This, versus this?" Farmakis asked the jury, holding the lock in one hand and the revolver in the other. The lock couldn't possibly cause as much bodily harm as the gun, she said.

Endia's friends and family members were in court for the closing arguments, and sat still for the daylong proceedings, silently looking on.

 

The case went to the jury Saturday after hours of closing arguments, with jurors starting deliberations at 3:38 p.m. and coming back with their verdict just after 5:30 p.m.

After the verdict was read, as the jury left the room, Flora began rocking back and forth in his wheelchair and briefly put his head down.

Farmakis said her office was pleased with the verdict.

"We do believe that justice was done," Farmakis said.

After the verdict, Brodsky said he planned to appeal the jury's determination. He said he thinks "second-degree murder or child endangerment" would've been more appropriate for his client.

"It's a very difficult thing to see the body of a dead 14-year old girl ... and not want to make somebody have to pay for that," he said of the jury's decision.

Source: Chicago Tribune 

Lagos medical doctors aggrieved by constant police harassment

Medical doctors under the umbrella of Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN, Lagos State Chapter yesterday raised alarm over alleged frequent harassment of medical doctors by members of the Police force.

The Association’s Chairman, Dr. Adeyeye Arigbabuwo said that the recent incident which involved one of their colleagues, Dr. Olafisoye Odunayo of Awoyaya, Ibeju Lekki, being harassed by the Police for doing his job has left them with no other choice but to draw the attention of the public and relevant agencies to curb the Police from constantly harassing them.

Arigbabuwo explained that one of their colleagues operated on a female patient with Pre-Eclampsia, in December, last year, but lost the patient after surgery due to complications of surgery. He said the Doctor was harassed at his practice by the Police when the deceased family made a report to them.
He said:

“Following the death of one Mrs. Juliet Williams, the relations felt aggrieved and reported the case to the Police who came to arrest Dr. Odunayo. The doctor spent about two weeks in detention and was eventually released on bail with the condition to report periodically to the Elemoro Police Station.

“Barely three weeks after the bail, he was rearrested by another set of Police officers purported to be from Abuja on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police. What we found vexatious and demeaning of the arrest was the method employed in arresting him; he was handcuffed  in the full glare of his patients as if he were a  common criminal.”

The association asked for an unconditional and immediate release of Dr. Olafisoye, and any other doctor that may be in the custody of the Police in similar manner in Lagos State and across the country.



Source: Vanguard

Group says British pilot killed by poachers in Tanzania

A British helicopter pilot was shot and killed while trying to stop elephant poachers in Tanzania, a conservation group said.
The pilot, Roger Gower, was killed Friday while working with the Texas-based Friedkin Conservation Fund, in a joint effort with Tanzanian wildlife authorities, to "track down and arrest active elephant poachers," according to a statement on the group's website.

"In the course of this action, the poachers fired upon the helicopter and Roger was fatally wounded."

"We are committed to honoring Roger and his work," Dan Friedkin, chairman of the group, said in the statement. "We are also committed to ensuring that those responsible for this attack are found and brought to justice. We believe that Roger can best be honored by redoubling our commitment to protect elephants and our priceless wildlife heritage. This tragic event again highlights the appalling risk and cost of protecting Tanzania¹s wildlife."

Gower was flying in the Maswa Game Reserve, near Serengeti National Park, trying to track down poachers who had killed an elephant, according to tweets from Lazaro Nyalandu, Tanzania's former minister for natural resources and tourism. Gower managed to land the helicopter after being hit by fire from an AK-47. Gower "sadly died before his rescue," Nyalandu wrote.

"You loved our country and I knew you on many flights we took together in defence of our wildlife heritage."

Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the death of a Briton in Tanzania and said it was "providing assistance to the family at this difficult time," the Associated Press reported.

Poaching is fueled by a demand for ivory from Asia, according to the World Wildlife Federation. Yet demand for ivory in China appears to be falling, according to a December report from Save the Elephants, which notes that the price for ivory has fallen by nearly half since 2014.

Man arrested for blackmailing late M.K.O Abiola’s wife

Caleb Nzube, a 26 year old man who attempted to blackmail the wife of late Chief MKO Abiola of $5,000, was last week arrested in Anambra State.
According to reports, Nzube allegedly hacked the Twitter handle of Mrs Tinu Abiola, downloaded her picture and designed a web page showing her carrying a human skull.

He then threatened to expose the web page to the world if the she did not pay $5,000.
Mrs Abiola in turn, refused to be blackmailed so she contacted Inspector General, Solomon Arase, who directed a combined team of the Inspector General Monitoring Team and the Intelligence Response Team to track down the suspect.

He was arrested when the operatives stormed his hideout in Obosi.

It was gathered that Mrs Abiola was not the suspect’s only victim, it was leanred that he was harassing 2 other people.
According to Vanguard, Caleb Elom Nzube admitted that he is an internet fraudster who specialised in online dating before diverting into blackmail.
He said:

“I started following Mrs Timu Alade Abiola on Twitter and I got her pictures. I felt she was a good catch and I decided to blackmail her. I used Photoshop to make it look like she was carrying a human skull. I designed a web page with a little gossip story on it that she was caught for ritual.

"I sent her the link and when she saw it I demanded she pays me $5000 or I will show it to the whole world. One of her friends came in and begged that I shouldn’t do it and that they were ready to pay me $ 2000. I rejected the money, insisting that I must collect the amount I demanded".

"Later they discovered I was Igbo and they gave my number to an Igbo girl who started talking to me and I accepted their offer, what got me angry was that while we were still talking, they sent a fishing link that destroyed my website which I have been maintaining for more than four years. That website had paid me little money I have used in sustaining myself".

"I told the Igbo girl about it and that if I don’t get the money before the end of the week I will show the web page to the whole world. She asked for my account, I gave it to her but before I knew what was happening, the police came and arrested me".

"I don’t understand why she has to bring in the police; I told the girl that what I needed was for her to tell her madam to just pay me for my website they destroyed. In fact I regret all this, if I had known it will be this messy I would have not ventured into this. What I do is only dating. I just wanted to try my luck on this one.”

Source: Vanguard

Juliet Ibrahim stuns at Maya Awards 2016

Juliet Ibrahim stuns at the Maya Awards 2016 as she receives a Honorary award for Philanthropic works. She also looked amazing at the butterscotch event on Saturday. More photos after the cut..

Lol. Timbaland refuses to play at a concert because of champagne,tries to explain to fans but they dont understand him

Timbaland refused to perform at a fundraiser for water-plagued Flint, Michigan, because he was served the wrong champagne, it has been claimed.

The singer reportedly asked for Ace Of Spades, a particular brand of bubbly designed by Jay Z, to be served in the dressing room of the Detroit event raising money to buy bottled water for residents.

Instead he was served Dom Perignon - and that was enough to lose his contract all together.
According to the New York Daily News, Timbaland drank every drop of the champagne, tequila, vodka, cognac, and disaronno that he had requested but refused to perform his 30-minute DJ set because of the champagne mix-up and simply stood in the venue nodding his head.

A lot of Michigan residents felt disappointed that he didn't perform and started to curse him, so he took to IG to try to explain what happened but no once could decipher what he tried to say. He wrote:

Happy New month, everyone!

Today is the beginning of another month. I pray that everyday of this month brings you and yours lots of reasons to smile and to celebrate! May all your efforts be rewarding. May you find immense success in your professional and personal lives & may all your previous failures turn to achievements this month. Happy new month! Wish you and yours the very best now and always!

Photos: Over 100 reportedly killed during Boko haram attack on Dalori near Maiduguri yesterday

At least 100 people were reportedly killed during an attack by Boko Haram members on Dalori, a settlement located on the outskirt of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital yesterday January 30th. 

Sahara Reporters reports that the sect members dressed in military uniforms, had stormed the village in 10 Hilux buses and motorcycles  and started shooting sporadically and setting houses ablaze. 
The villagers who spoke with Sahara reporters say the sect members operated unhindered for hours and stole some food items after the attack.

A resident of the village,  Ibrahim Muhammad, while narrating what happened, said that Boko Haram fighters dressed like military personnel and started opening fire on everybody:

 "All our wives and children were brutally killed while they looted and destroyed our livestock  as well as ."

 Vice Chairmn of civilians JTF in Dalori village Modu Kaka said that at least 100 dead bodies were evacuated lastmight and also stated that hundreds are still missing.

Rescue workers who participated in the evacuation the victims disclosed to Sahara Reporters that they brought out 45 dead bodies to state specialist hospital and deposited 23 corpses at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital but several burnt victims remain without help in the beleaguered village...

Rita Dominic & her stylish gele in new photos

Rita's look to Tunde & Tolulope Demuren's traditional wedding yesterday. Her gele was tied by abekemakeovers.

Photo Credit: MUA - Oluchi Onuigbo.

Comedian IGoSave shares cute photos of his daughter as she turns 2

‎Ace comedian IGoSave shared cute photos and sent a loving message to his daughter Aliana Oghenemaro Olamide Onodjayeke as she turned two yesterday. He wrote "Another year has passed, and you grow more beautiful and grand each year. My baby, my little girl, my daughter, I love you.". See more photos after the cut...

Thiery Henry says Van Gaal should be sacked from Man U and replaced with Jose Mourinho

The former Arsenal striker thinks that Manchester United coach Louis Van Gaal is failing to infuse his ideas to his players and that he is struggling so hard to keep up with his job. He says the coach doesn't know what he is doing anymore so the best thing for Man U to do is let him go and hire Mourinho. In his Sunday column of The Sun UK, he wrote: "I know a lot of United fans and all they talk about is how poorly their team are playing, "It’s not about results any more. Even when they win, the issue is still how awful the football is. They don’t enjoy watching their team any more. They are bored", "No one can question Van Gaal’s pedigree as a coach. But he has failed to get his message across at United and the players don’t know what is expected of them. He doesn’t appear to know his best team or even his best formation." "The club are crying out for success and Mourinho guarantees that, in spite of everything that happened at Chelsea this season," Henry continued. "He is still an amazing coach and United have got to do something because it is simply not working for Van Gaal" he said. United currently sits in fifth position in the Premier League, following a woeful run of results through December.

Fans come for Meek Mill as he poses with money and disses Drake again

This Meek Mill likes insults, lol. He took to Instagram to post photos with one caption reading: The Ghost writer told me! While he talked about being broke and now being rich on another photo. Some Insta users told him to put the money away because it belonged to Nicki Minaj. More comments after the cut..