President Muhammadu Buhari Order The Disposal of Nine Presidential Jets To Cut Cost

               As part of the federal government’s cost measures,
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that
nine of the VIP transport aircraft under the
presidential fleet should be sold.
Industry sources confirmed  that the
presidential fleet, which are registered as Nigerian
Air Force aircraft, is one of the largest in Africa and
the third largest in Nigeria after Arik Air and
Aerocontractors.
According to an aviation source, who is aware of
the directive to sell the aircraft, the presidency has
a number of serviceable and unserviceable aircraft
that need to be disposed of in order to reduce the
amount spent by the federal government for
aircraft maintenance annually.
“Nine, which still have market value, are to be sold
immediately to reduce maintenance costs,” he
said.
For years, the federal government has spent over
N12 billion annually for the maintenance of the
presidential fleet.

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Obama On Charleston Shooting: 'This Type Of Mass Violence Does Not Happen In Other Advanced Countries'

President Barack Obama responded Thursday to the shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, that left nine dead.

"Any death of this sort is a tragedy, any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy," he said. "There is something particularly heartbreaking about death happening at a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace."

"I've had to make statements like this too many times. Communities have had to endure tragedies like this too many times," he continued. "Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. ... We as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries."

Authorities apprehended suspect Dylann Roof, who they believe opened fire Wednesday evening at Emanuel African Methodist Church during a weekly Bible study gathering. Eight individuals were found dead at the scene, and another died later at the hospital.

South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford (D) tweeted Thursday that he received a call from the president expressing his regret.

Culled from Huffingtonpost

Everest Shifted 3 centimeters After Nepal Quake But Remains Same Height

Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, was moved 3 centimeters (about 1.2 inches) southwest by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated Nepal in April, Chinese authorities say.

But the April 25 quake, which left more than 8,000 people dead, did not affect the height of the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) mountain, according to the report by China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation.

Chinese state media reported the administration had set a satellite monitoring system on the peak in 2005 to observe the movement of the mountain.

In the decade since, Everest had been moving northeast at a speed of 4 centimeters a year, and had grown by 0.3 centimeters annually, state media reported.

The April earthquake reversed the direction of the mountain, shifting it to roughly where it would have been nine months earlier.

Culled from CNN

Egypt Court Confirms Death Sentence For Ousted President Mohammed Morsi

An Egyptian court on Tuesday confirmed a death sentence handed to ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that eventually brought him to power.

Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was in the courtroom in a glass-covered cage, with mesh wires over it. He listened to the verdict with a slight smile but did not say anything.

The ruling was read out by judge Shaaban al-Shami after he consulted with Egypt's Mufti, a religious authority affiliated with the judiciary, as required by law in cases involving capital punishment.

"The court panel has unanimously agreed that there is no room for leniency or mercy for the defendants," al-Shami, who presides over a panel of three, said before confirming the death sentence.

The Mufti's opinions are not binding, and the ruling will automatically be referred to Egypt's highest appeals court.

The judge also confirmed death sentences for five other jailed leading members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, including Mohammed Badie, the group's leader, and Saad el-Katatni, the head of its short-lived political party.

Al-Shami said the defendants conspired and attempted to kill police officers when they broke into three of Egypt's prisons, enabling some 20,000 inmates to flee, causing chaos in Egypt and breaching its borders with the Gaza Strip. He said they did so with the help of foreign militants from the Palestinian Hamas movement, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Sinai militants.

Another 21 imprisoned defendants received life sentences in the case, which in Egypt is equivalent to 25 years in prison. Another 93 defendants were tried in absentia and sentenced to death.

Now Morsi will change his blue prison outfit to an orange one in future cases. Morsi is already serving a 20-year sentence for his part in the killings in 2012 of protesters outside his palace when he was still president.

Morsi was forced out of office in July 2013 by the military amid massive protests demanding his resignation. He has been detained since then, and his Muslim Brotherhood has been labelled a terrorist organization.

Earlier Tuesday, the same judge sentenced Morsi to life in prison over charges of conspiring with foreign groups, including the Palestinian militant group Hamas. That sentence can also be appealed.

Al-Shami confirmed death sentences against 16 other Islamists, including three jailed senior Brotherhood members. The other 13 were tried in absentia. Morsi was among 17 defendants sentenced to life in prison in that case.

Nigeria & Others African Nations Consider Single Continental Currency, Passport

Anthony Maruping, AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, said the Union was mooting the idea to adopt a single currency, as part of the Agenda 2063 road map.

He said in Johannesburg on Friday that it was aimed at connecting Africa through world class infrastructure with a concerted push to finance and implement major projects.

Maruping said all African central bank governors have already met and deliberated on the establishment of an African monetary fund.

He expressed the hope that the move would be the end result of the Agenda 2063.

Maruping said leaders of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi have already signed a protocol in Kampala for the adoption of a common currency in the
next 10 years.

He said many economists and experts believed that the ambitious programme of an African single currency was achievable. “The Payment Systems Steering Committee of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has also proposed a system to facilitate cross-border payment and settlement.

“This system will allow the settlement of payment transactions in a central location on the basis of a single currency.

“This model will initially be tested on the current common Monetary Area countries that use the South African rand,” he said.

HSBC To Shed 50,000 Jobs

HSBC will shed 50,000 jobs in the coming years as it slashes costs and sells parts of the bank to focus on Asia.

The changes are part of a major restructuring plan that is designed to save the bank $5 billion annually by 2017.

HSBC will sell its businesses in Brazil and Turkey, reducing headcount by 25,000. In addition, another 22,000 to 25,000 job cuts are planned across the bank, which should reduce the total number of employees to roughly 208,000. As part of a previous effort to cut costs, HSBC axed nearly 40,000 jobs between 2011 and 2014.

HSBC also announced that it will emphasize online banking and self-service, allowing the bank to shutter 12% of its branches. Some of the bank's operations will be be moved to low-cost locations, and 75% of its software development will now be done in China and India.

"Since the start of 2011, we have materially reshaped HSBC, but it's also very clear that this has been insufficient to drive a revaluation of the firm and a higher share price," CEO Stuart Gulliver said.

HSBC shares initially jumped more than 1% in Hong Kong as investors reacted to the announcement, before sinking back in London trading.

"We recognize that the world has changed and we need to change with it," Gulliver said, emphasizing HSBC's plans to expand operations in Asia, especially in asset management and insurance.

The bank is expected to reveal more details during a conference call with investors on Tuesday. In addition to more information on job cuts and cost savings, investors will be looking for clues as to whether HSBC will move its headquarters.

The company is conducting a review, to be completed by the end of 2015, on whether it should relocate out of London. The bank's previous home, Hong Kong, is the most logical choice for a move.

Culled from CNN

FBI to Probe Russia And Qatar World Cup Bids

The FBI's investigation surrounding FIFA has now expanded to include the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, according to reports.

The review would be part of a probe that goes beyond the allegations of bribery in a US indictment of FIFA officials announced a week ago, an official told Reuters news agency.

FIFA, global football's governing body, awarded the hosting rights to these countries in 2010 but there have been calls to strip both hosts of the World Cup.

Nine FIFA officials and five business executives were indicted by the US last Wednesday on corruption charges, with seven arrested in Zurich ahead of FIFA's annual congress on Friday.

In a separate investigation, Swiss authorities had confirmed that they were looking into the bidding process for both tournaments.

Qatar's foreign minister, however, remained confident that the tournament will not be taken away from the Gulf Arab state.

"It's very difficult for some to digest that an Arab Islamic country has this tournament," Khaled al-Attiyah said on Wednesday.

"No way Qatar can be stripped [of it]. We're confident and deserve to win it because we presented the best file."

Greg Dyke, chairman of England's Football Association, had raised the possibility that the vote that awarded Qatar the tournament could be rerun.

"If I was the Qatari organisers, I wouldn't sleep very well tonight," he told British media on Tuesday.

In response, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Thani, Qatar Football Association's president, said in a statement that Qatar had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the FIFA-commissioned Garcia report on corruption.

“Mr Dyke’s instinct to immediately focus on stripping Qatar of the World Cup speaks volumes on his views concerning what will be the first FIFA World Cup to take place in the Middle East," the statement said.

"Having already cooperated fully with Mr Garcia's investigation - and been subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing - we welcome the Office of the Swiss attorney general conducting its own work into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups."

Russian response

For its part, Russia has also dismissed concerns it might lose the right to host the 2018 event.

"Cooperation with FIFA is going on and, most importantly, Russia is continuing preparations for the 2018 World Cup," Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, said on Wednesday.

Among issues the FBI is examining is the stewardship of FIFA by Sepp Blatter, the football body's longtime president, who on Tuesday unexpectedly announced his plan to resign.

Blatter has not been directly implicated in the parallel US and Swiss criminal investigations into FIFA, which were announced last week.

Unidentified US law-enforcement officials, however, told the New York Times newspaper that "they were hoping to win the cooperation of some of the FIFA officials now under indictment and work their way up the organisation" in a bid to build a case against Blatter.

In another development on Wednesday, Chuck Blazer, a former FIFA executive committee member, told a US federal judge that he and others on the ruling panel agreed to receive bribes to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.

Prosecutors unsealed the transcript of the 2013 hearing in US District Court in New York during which Blazer agreed to plead guilty racketeering and other charges.

Blazer, the former No 2 official of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said: "I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup "

Blazer also said he arranged bribes around 1992 in the vote for which country would host the 1998 World Cup.

Culled from Aljazeera.com