Nigeria's Online Blog

Yasmine el-Rufai, eldest daughter of the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasiru el-Rufai, was found dead in her residence in London yesterday. She was 25 years old.

The cause of her death is still unknown but there was a suspicion of domestic accident.

Yasmine holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). She also has a law degree from the University of London.

During a protest in the metropolitan area of Rio De Janeiro police officer Bruno Schorcht pepper sprayed innocent protesters and even women and children! It was caught on photos and camera so the evidence is clear enough. He was spraying the pepper spray directly into the eyes of waiter Rezende Gustavo Barreto that now has to use sunglasses even at night because it’s so inflamed and damaged. The police officer got departed immediately by the general commander of the Military Police, Colonel Mario Sergio Duarte.
The protest was about hundreds of people that lost their homes during the rain period last year in Niteroi, that refused to pay the rent and failed to receive the benefit of $400 which led to a big demonstration.

Reports indicate deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is dead, the National Transitional Council spokesman said Thursday.
Revolutionary fighters attacked the house where Gadhafi was hiding, Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam told CNN. Gadhafi was shot while trying to flee, he said.
"Colonel Gadhafi is history," he said, adding that interim council's chairman or prime minister needs to officially confirm the death.
However, Gadhafi's status remained unclear as a host of conflicting reports surfaced Thursday. None could be independently verified.
AbdelHakim Bilhajj, head of the National Transitional Council's military arm in Tripoli announced Gadhafi;s death live on Al-Jazeera Arabic Thursday. It was also reported by National Transitional Council television station Al-Ahrar. It did not cite a source.
A grisly cell phone photograph distributed by the news agency Agence France Presse appeared to show the arrest of a bloodied Gadhafi. CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the image. Gadhafi's capture was also reported by Libyan television, citing the Misrata Military Council. The U.S. State Department could not confirm any of the reports about Gadhafi's capture or killing, a spokeswoman said.

Abubaker Saad, who served as a Gadhafi aide for nine years, said it didn't really matter whether Gadhafi was dead or alive -- as long as he was captured. "As long as he was on the run he represented a very ominous danger to the Libyan people," Saad told CNN.
In another major development, revolutionary fighters said they wrested control of Sirte Thursday. And NATO said it is going to convene soon for a meeting to discuss ending its operation in Libya, a source told CNN. Earlier, NATO aircraft struck two pro-Gadhafi military vehicles in the Sirte vicinity.

Without foolproof evidence of Gadhafi's capture, it was unclear whether Thursday would turn out to be the biggest day in recent Libyan history. Statements made by representatives of Libya's new leadership in the past have not always turned out to be true.
But Libyans, who have been waiting for months for Gadhafi's demise, erupted in deafening celebrations.
Horns blared and celebratory gunfire burst into the air in Tripoli. Gadhafi ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years. The mercurial leader came to power in a bloodless coup against King Idris in 1969, when he was just an army captain.
By the end of his rule, he claimed to be "King of Kings," a title he had a gathering of tribal leaders grant him in 2008.
But a February uprising evolved into civil war that resulted in ousting the strongman from power. Many were waiting for photographs as proof of Gadhafi's capture.

Earlier, anti-Gadhafi fighters said they had taken control of the last holdout of loyalists in Sirte. They said they were still battling pockets of resistance, but they were in control of District 2. Sirte has been the big prize for Libya's NTC, waiting for the city to fall to officially declare liberation. Most residents abandoned Sirte in the many weeks of bloody battles that raged there. Revolutionary forces have fought Gadhafi's men street by street, cornering the last vestiges of the old regime to that last district. Gadhafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for alleged crimes against humanity has not been seen in public in months. Many believed he was hiding out in Sirte after rebel forces marched into Tripoli in August.

A Frenchwoman kidnapped from her holiday home in northern Kenya and taken to Somalia has died, the French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. A gang of 10 armed men seized Marie Dedieu this month from her home on Manda Island, prompting a sea battle between Kenyan forces and her abductors. Kenyan officials sent mediators into Somalia a day later to negotiate her release.
Dedieu lived in a luxury home on the scenic Lamu archipelago for about six months out of the year. Kenyan officials and an acquaintance said the woman, in her 60s, used a wheelchair and was not in good health. "The contacts through which the French government was trying to release Marie Dedieu ... have announced her death," the ministry said in a statement, adding the date and circumstances of the death cannot be specified.

The ministry said Dedieu's death "is almost sure" even if it does not have her body. "She was an ill and disabled woman," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said. "This is therefore a deeply barbaric and violent act. France condemns firmly this act." "Marie Dedieu's health, the uncertainty about the conditions of her detention, the fact that the abductors had probably refused to give her the medication we had sent her, make us think that this tragic end is unfortunately the most plausible one," the ministry statement said. Dedieu's friends and relatives have been notified, it said.

"The French government wants to say that it is deeply moved, saddened and that it supports Marie Dedieu's relatives," the statement said. "The government also wants to express its indignation following the complete lack of humanity and cruelty from the abductors of our compatriot. We want them to be identified and brought to justice." The statement said the government is requesting "the repatriation of our compatriot's body." The Kenyan government sent its condolences to Dedieu's "family, friends and colleagues" in a statement Wednesday. "The kidnapping and detention of Marie Dedieu was a terror act not only against her, but also against Kenya, her home country France and the entire world," the statement said. "... The Kenyan government thanks the French government and the people of France for their continued support even during this moment of loss."

Dedieu's abduction was the second in the area in a month, a major blow to Kenya, which relies on tourism dollars. Gunmen seized British tourist Judith Tebbutt and killed her husband near Lamu last month. Security analysts have said Tebbutt is being held by pirates in a remote corner of Somalia. British government officials have asked journalists not to reveal her exact location to avoid abduction attempts from rival gangs. France and Britain warned travelers to avoid the Kenyan coastline near Somalia in the wake of the abductions.

Kenyan officials have said they believe the kidnappings are carried out by the Al-Shabaab Somali militant group. A third incident involved the kidnapping of two Spanish aid workers at the Dadaab refugee camp last week.Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia this week to pursue the militant fighters after the kidnappings heightened tensions in East Africa. In the statement Wednesday, the Kenyan government said operations against Al-Shabaab were continuing.

Scotland Yard is considering bringing a corporate manslaughter charge against the world's largest private security firm over the death of an Angolan deportee.

Detectives investigating the death of Jimmy Mubenga, who collapsed while being deported on a commercial flight from Heathrow, have interviewed whistleblowers from G4S, the company hired by the government to deport foreign nationals.

They are considering whether the company could be held responsible for his death under rarely used legislation that came into force three years ago.

Passengers on British Airways flight 77 told police they saw three G4S guards heavily restraining Mubenga, who they said had been complaining of breathing difficulties before he collapsed. The guards were later arrested in connection with the death and, following interviews this week, were bailed until 4 May. They could face manslaughter charges.

However, sources with knowledge of the case have said police are also considering passing a file to the Crown Prosecution Service recommending a corporate manslaughter charge against G4S. The first and only company to be convicted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 was found guilty last month. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings was fined £385,000 for the death of Alexander Wright, 27, a geologist who suffocated when he became trapped in a collapsed trench.

Under the legislation, prosecutors need to prove a person's death was caused by a gross breach of duty of care by a company. They also need to convince a jury that the actions of a company's "senior management" were a substantial element in that breach.

A prosecution of this kind against G4S, which receives more than £600m from the government for services including the running of four prisons, three immigration removal centres and 675 court and police cells, would be highly damaging to the Home Office. G4S is the second-largest private employer in the world and boasts a £7bn turnover.

Police have recently interviewed three G4S whistleblowers, who last month told parliament that the company repeatedly ignored warnings from staff that potentially lethal force was being used against deportees. They said executives were warned about one technique nicknamed "carpet karaoke'', which involved bending deportees over in aircraft seats to silence them. The whistleblowers, who include a G4S charter operations manager who said he warned seniors they risked "playing Russian roulette with detainees' lives", are known to be cooperating with police and providing detailed paperwork they say corrobarates their claims.

Detectives are also seeking to track down other individuals from G4S known to have concerns about safety standards and training at the company.

Heathrow CID opened the inquiry into the death of Mubenga, 46, hours after he collapsed on the aircraft as it prepared for departure to Luanda on 12 October. The flight was delayed for 24 hours and passengers were transferred to a nearby hotel overnight. The following day, the passengers were interviewed by police but, owing to their imminent departure, only spent around 40 minutes each speaking to detectives.

Days later, the Metropolitan police's homicide unit took over the case after the Guardian independently tracked down passengers who said Mubenga had complained he was unable to breathe for several minutes before his collapse. The unit arrested three guards, aged 35, 48 and 49, and questioned them under caution.

Police have tried to trace other passengers for more in-depth interviews.

Four G4S whistleblowers last month submitted evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee. The evidence, obtained by the Guardian, alleged serious failings by G4S. It also contradicted some of what senior G4S officials told MPs at a hearing after Mubenga's death.

Keith Vaz, who Labour MP who chairs the committee, said the possibility that whistleblower evidence could assist the police investigation represented "progress". His committee has yet to decide whether to recall the G4S officials or hold further evidence sessions.

"I am not surprised that the police have decided to take the matter forward given the circumstances surrounding this case," he said. "I am sure the members of the home affairs committee will want to look further into this case during their inquiry into the deportation of detainees."

Committee member Julian Huppert, a Lib Dem MP, said police interest in the parliamentary testimony showed "how strong the committee process is". "I am glad the home affair select committee hearing has led to this outcome," he said.

G4S said in a statement: "As this is the subject of an on-going investigation, we are unable to comment as this time. We can confirm that G4S has received no approach at this time from the authorities in relation to the company's position and potential liabilities."