Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, Has Declared Today Public Holiday To Enable People To Collect Their Voter Cards.

Oyo state governor, Abiola Ajimobi

Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has declared today public holiday to enable people to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), or make fresh registration.

He gave the directive yesterday in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Olalekan Alli.

He said: “As the registration exercise enters its last day today, preparatory to the 2019 general election, the governor enjoins workers to take advantage of the work-free day to perform their civic responsibility.

“The governor has directed that it is mandatory for all public and civil servants in the state to ensure that they duly register and collect their PVC from the Independent National Electoral Commission exercise.”

Deeply Heart Broken " Mother Warns Others Not To Sleep With Their Babies, After She Woke She Find Her ' Beautiful Six Week_Old Son Lifeless Next To Her

Rowan Leach accidentally fell asleep while feeding Hadley (pictured), only to find he was unconscious when she woke up

A 'deeply heartbroken' mother has warned of the horrific consequences of co-sleeping with young babies after the death of her six-week-old son. 

Rowan Leach accidentally fell asleep while feeding her 'beautiful baby boy' Hadley, only to find he was unconscious and face down beside her when she woke up.

Winchester Coroner's Court heard Hadley was not breathing when his mother woke at around 8am on September 10 last year.

Ms Leach, 20, immediately rang 999 and began performing CPR before paramedics arrived and rushed her six-week-old to hospital.

However, despite their best efforts Hadley could not be revived and was pronounced dead a short time after.

Ms Leach, who was raising Hadley with the help of her mother, had brought him into her bed from his cot at around 3am for a feed when she felt dizzy and fell asleep.

Hadley had been on his back on his mother's pillow when he was being fed, but was found lying on his front when she woke.

Senior coroner Grahame Short was unable to establish exactly how Hadley, of Southampton, Hants, had died but said he had no criticism of Ms Leach as a mother.

Detective Sergeant Matt Parker, who was tasked with investigating the death but found there were no suspicious circumstances.

And Pathologist Dr Sam Holden told the inquest she was unable to find a definitive cause of death.

Dr Holden added she was unable to say whether Hadley was on his back when he stopped breathing, or whether he had already rolled onto his front.

Ms Leach, who was raising Hadley with the help of her mother, had brought him into her bed from his cot at around 3am for a feed when she felt dizzy and fell asleep

Recording an open verdict, senior coroner Grahame Short said: 'I have considerable sympathy for a mother caring for a baby in these circumstances, particularly when they don't have a partner to help.'

Addressing Ms Leach, he added: 'I find there is no criticism of you as a mother.'

Following the inquest, grieving Ms Leach said: 'Although there was no conclusive evidence to suggest bed-sharing impacted on this tragic event, I am hoping more can be done in future to raise awareness of the risks of bed-sharing to prevent any more parents suffering as I have.

'The loss of my precious son Hadley has left me deeply heartbroken. I was hoping this inquest would provide me with some answers surrounding his tragic death.

'Unfortunately, no conclusion could be reached. However, we do know that it was not accidental and could not have been prevented.

'My baby boy's life was short but beautiful, all he ever knew was love. We miss and love him more than I can possibly explain.'

An average of 133 babies have died each year over the past five years in cases where co-sleeping is a factor, according to Department for Education data.

It revealed a total of 141 children died while co-sleeping in 2017.

Senior coroner Grahame Short was unable to establish exactly how Hadley (pictured: the youngster's funeral) had died but said he had no criticism of Ms Leach as a mother

German Chancellor Agela Merkel Has Arrived In Nigeria

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Nigeria.

Shortly after her arrival, Merkel was received by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Details to follow…

Angela MerkelMuhammadu Buhari

UK Repatriates £70m To Nigeria, Pledges To Return More Loot..

The United Kingdom has returned the sum of £70 million recovered from a Nigerian who was convicted of fraud in an Italian court.

British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Paul Arkwright, revealed this while addressing reporters in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

He said, “There was an Italian court case with a particular person involved. A portion the fund has been in the UK and that was the portion that was returned recently from the UK to Nigeria. So, it’s in that context that the 70 million (pounds) was returned.”

Mr Arkwright, however, refused to disclose the identity of the Nigerian involved in the offence.

He said more funds would be repatriated, stressing that his country was working with the Nigerian government to accelerate the legal process of returning the looted money.

“The British government has no intention of keeping one kobo of Nigerian funds in the UK,” said the diplomat. “It all must come back to Nigeria.”

He added, “Just as in Nigeria, the UK feels that the judicial process is important, and we have to go through those processes before the money can be returned.”

Nigeria needs competent, not strong leaders —Jega

The immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, says Nigeria needs competent and assertive leaders and not necessarily strong leaders.

According to Jega, an incompetent leader who is strong will end up destroying institutions.

The former INEC boss said this at the 58th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja on Monday.

He said, “What we require most are the competence and capacity of leaders to take decisions and be assertive in ensuring that those decisions are actually implemented.  So, we have to be very careful in thinking that a strong leader can really help.

“Just like a weak leader can wreck an institution, a strong leader, who has just that power and courage, but lacks the capacity, ability and competence to lead, can also wreck strong institutions.

“Competence of leadership is a very important variable in bringing about the stable political transition, good governance and deepening of democracy.”

The former INEC boss, who superintended the 2011 and 2015 general elections, said politicians must stop treating elections as a do-or-die affair.

He recalled that a former President once said elections must be do-or-die, an incident he described as most unfortunate.

Jega also said there was a need for agencies of government to shun partisanship as this weakened institutions and eroded public confidence.

He added, “We must emphasise professionalism, impartiality and non-partisanship. This is because quite too often, you have good and strong institutions, but once partisanship is introduced and partiality become the norm, as many public institutions in this country, then those institutions would not be able to deliver effectively on their mandates.”

The former INEC chairman said there was a need for law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to be alive to their responsibilities, adding that the integrity of the electoral process must be preserved and protected.

Jega added “From my experience, I am convinced that electoral integrity is key to stable political transition and to ensuring that there is a framework for good governance and societal development. Electoral integrity is not just about the integrity of the election management body. It is also the integrity with which the key stakeholders engage with the electoral process.”

In his remarks, a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, lamented that elections in Africa are always characterised by violence.

He said even the recently concluded NBA election was not without its own controversies.

“The genesis of Africa’s political problems is the action of sit-tight leaders who do all they can to amend the constitutions in order to perpetuate themselves forever. These leaders manipulate very vital democratic organs particularly the legislature and even judiciary to suppress any dissenting voice,” he added.

Anti-SARS activist Segun ‘Segalink’ Awosanya is either ignorant or a hypocrite, and we can’t tell which is worse

 

Ordinarily, I should be indebted to Segun Sega Awosanya for vociferously fighting against the SARS scourge and pushing for police reform. But then again, I never participated in the #EndSARS campaign that swept social media into a frenzy, for the simple reason that it was hypocritically selective. Before that noisy hashtag became a thing, LGBTQ Nigerians have been systematically tortured and dehumanised and lynched and the police watched on. Where was the outrage? 

Enabled by the draconian anti-gay law cemented into the Constitution in 2014, the police unleashed a wave of raids, harassment and assaults that were ostensibly LGBTQ-targeted. Till date, these activities still flourish. On Saturday night, about 80 allegedly gay persons were rounded up from a hotel party in Egbeda, Lagos. An eyewitness account published on The Rustin Times says four police vans, three danfo buses and a private car stormed the premises and the “suspects” were dispossessed of their phones and money and even assaulted. 

Among them is an alleged straight man, who sent an SOS tweet begging for help and brought the raid to Segun Awosanya’s attention. Deciding to elaborate on the situation, Sega indicated that the man in question didn’t know he was attending a “gay party” and, as put by the anti-SARS activist, “He is straight with a girlfriend to back his claim and void of suspicious mannerism.”

But of course, “suspicious mannerism” here means effeminate behaviour and this has been the trusted signal for male homosexuality, a reductive concept that welcomes prejudice and discrimination and, more extremely, violence. Based on this premise, Sega’s homophobia further curdled into constitutional and bureaucratic jargon, putting the onus on LGBTQ Nigerians to champion legislative reform.

And then he had the nerve to go there: comparing paedophilia to homseoxuality, the homophobic argument staple that never ages. Taken together, Sega’s activism is obnoxiously questionable as it operates outside the universal principle of human rights. Sega is not obligated to put his weight against the continued marginalisation and oppression of LGBTQ Nigerians, but his reasons for not doing so, even if implied, reeks of homophobia. And as such, it makes him complicit and dangerous. 

The Egbeda hotel incident is coming just after another police raid in Abia. And in his blizzard of ignorant tweets, Sega revealed he has received reports that the LGBTQ community, a vulnerable group, are now harassing the police and asking for flings. Does Sega live on the moon? Not only does this claim sound bogus, it trivialises and obfuscates the everyday horrors and abuse that queer people face in Nigeria. To think he was recently profiled by CNN as a foremost activist against police brutality, but allows the oppression of the LGBTQ Nigerians to persist.

This is what happens when cis-hetero men hold the reins of power, and will swear that the “law of the land” must be obeyed. The laws of the land, also protects the rights of adult men to marry girls under the age of 18, and if Segalink’s concerns as evinced by his thread are anything to go by, he knows this us paedophilia but has done nothing to fight against this law.

The Nigerian anti-gay law is enough proof that universal human rights are not universal, and because something is legal or criminalised doesn’t make it right. In the fight for LGBTQ rights and for the movement to achieve a small quantum leap of progress (bodies like TIERs are still making positive contributions), the community needs to start realising that no change will occur if it doesn’t make it happen.

And this can start by community members getting involved in politics in all levels of government, and facilitating the change they want to see. Wittingly, Sega has poisoned his legacy and history won’t be kind. In the words of Albert Einstein, the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of this who look on and do nothing.

Makarfi: PDP needs strong candidate to defeat Buhari

•Makarfi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must field a string candidate to stand any chance of defeating President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, one of its presidential aspirants Senator Ahmed Makafi has stated.

Makarfi said Buhari, who is expected to be the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, still commands a strong followership in the North, which has the highest number of voters.

The presidential hopeful declared the PDP must work on the psychology of voters in the northern part of the country many of whom he said “still retain blind followership for Buhari.”

Makarfi spoke at the weekend when he visited Ekiti PDP delegates led by Deputy Governor Prof Kolapo Olusola at Jibowu Hall, Government House, Ado-Ekiti in continuation of consultations on his presidential ambition ahead of the party’s national convention.

He argued he is eminently qualified for the presidency having served as Kaduna governor for eight years and being in the senate for two terms during which he chaired the Committee on Finance and became PDP National Caretaker Chairman.

The former Kaduna governor promised to tackle insurgency, herdsmen killings, insecurity, unemployment, epileptic power supply, infrastructural challenges and other problems confronting the nation.

Makarfi said the sectarian problems and security challenges facing the country confronted Kaduna State during his tenure but he was able to overcome them with tact, consensus building and deployment of resources.

He said the PDP must win very well in the North to make any headway in the presidential election, adding the party must present the candidate the people of the region repose trust in.

Makarfi said: “If we want to the election, we must not lose the North and we should give them the candidate they trust in the North.

“The problem for us winning is the North; the current President comes from there and there is blind followership there. If we want to win, we should field a strong candidate from there.

“We must work on the psychology of the Buhari’s sentimental followers in the North and change their mind towards us.” On his manifesto, Markafi said: “First of all is the restructure of the country to make it good for everybody, restructuring of the security and creation of jobs and infrastructure development in all respects and promoting the private sector so that it can become effective employer of labour.

“I am straight forward person and do not say one thing in the morning and turn it another thing in the evening.

“We brought back PDP and made it now a threat to APC. I restructured Kaduna and Nigeria needs restructuring. I am not talking politics.

“I was the architect of the first political sovereign conference in the country as head of the committee under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“Institutional restructuring that would include the police, INEC and other security apparatus to ensure they do not serve the dictates of the paymasters will be done by me.”

He added: “We must make our institutions to be accountable. We will ensure comprehensive restructuring of this country. I chose to travel by road for all my campaigns traveling by road is taking eighty percent of my tour.

“This is to enable me see the deficiencies of our infrastructure, such as roads, condition of our people and our environment among others.

“We will also restructure power generation, what is on ground now is unitary. We must liberalize it. Each state will be allowed to generate its own electricity.”

Iwo killing: Police arrest SARS operative, 31 protesters, visit deceased’s family

 

The Osun State Police Command has said it has arrested officers of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, who allegedly shot a 30-year-old resident of Iwo in the state, Tunde Nafiu.

The Police Commissioner in the State, Fimihan Adeoye made this known in a release issued weekend by the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mrs,Folashade Odoro.

The release stated that 31 out of the residents who went on rampage to protest the killing of Nafiu were arrested for allgedly torching the Area Commander’s Office in the town.

Also, the police promised to investigate the matter and punish the erring officer.

CP Adeoye said he personally visited the family of the deceased to pay condolences on behalf of the Inspector General of Police Mr Idris Abubakar and had assured the bereaved of justice.

The release reads in part: “on 23/8/2018, at about 2200hrs, information was received that an operative of the Special Anti Robbery Squad attached to the Area Command Headquaters, Iwo allegedly shot and fatally wounded one Tunde Nafiu ‘m’, aged 30 years at Agboigboro in Iwo.

“The Area Commander immediately moved out, doused the tension and assured the gathered youths that justice will be done. The officer that allegedly fire the shot that killed the deceased was promptly arrested and transferred to the SCIID, Osogbo for interrogation.

“In the early hours of 24/8/2018, a very large crowd of youths thronged the Area Command Headquarters to protest the killing. The protest was however hijacked by some hoodlums who took the law into their hands.

*In the process they torched the buildings housing the offices and residence of the Area Commander as well as three patrol vans and two other vehicles belonging to the officers of the Area Command.

“The Police exercised serious restraint in order to prevent further loss of lives. However the hoodlums were eventually dispersed while 31 of them were arrested and undergoing interrogation.

“The situation has been brought under control while people are going about their lawful businesses.

“The Commissioner of Police, Olafimihan Adeoye visited the scene for on the spot assessment and reassured members of the public that the erring officer will be made to face the full wrath of the law. He also advised that people should endeavour to conduct themselves peacefully and lawfully even when showing their grievances.

He however lamented the havoc visited on the facilities within the premises of the Area Command Headquaters and commended the officers and men for resisting every temptation to open fire on the rampaging youths.

He went further to impress it on members of the public that the Inspector-General of Police is a strict respecter of human rights and that the IGP in his determination to reposition the Force for efficient service delivery has put in place many capacity building and enhancement programmes.

The statement added that the IGP has also ensured increased partnership with relevant NGOs, Human Rights Advocates and the international community in his desire to ensuring that the officers and men of the Nigeria Police discharge their statutory duties in strict adherence to internationally accepted best practices.

“The Commissioner of Police also visited the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi. His Imperial Majesty immensely commended the Police for exercising restraint despite the very unruly behaviour of the rampaging youths.

“He also thanked the Police for all efforts aimed at stemming the rate of crime in Iwo and environs. The royal father informed the Commissioner of Police that an alternative accomodation has been provided to house the Area Command Headquaters while immediate steps will be taken by the community to renovate the torched facilities. In his response, the Commissioner of Police thanked the Royal Father for his constant support to the Police.

He went ahead to state that the deployment of a team of the Special Anti Robbery Squad was to reinforce the Command’s fight against the incessant cases of robbery in Iwo and environs.

He said he was pleased that the efforts of the Police had yielded positive results as the rate of robbery and other allied offences had greatly reduced.

He also informed the Oba that the SARS in the Command has added great value to its operations and cited the example of the recovery of fifty six (56) stolen assorted brands of Toyota vehicles by the Squad and the arrest of every member of the robbery gang.

“The Commissioner of Police thereafter visited the parents of the late Tunde Nafiu at their residence in Ile-Ogbo to convey the condolence message of the Inspector-General of Police to the family.

“The family and other sympathisers were reassured of the resolve of the IGP to ensure that justice will not only be served, but will be seen to have been served,

Situation in Iwo and the State remains calm but being closely monitored.”

 

Beware Of Fake APC Registration Website, Party Tells Nigerians

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on Nigerians to be mindful of a fake membership registration website trending on the social media.

In a statement on Sunday by its acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena, the APC alleged that the website was sponsored by a group of individuals to divert its supporters ahead of the forthcoming elections.

It said, “We are alerting our supporters, members and indeed, the general public to a purported membership registration website of the All Progressives Congress (APC) — apcregistration.com. The website which is trending on social media is unauthorised and a scam.”

“Our internal investigation has revealed that the fake website is sponsored by one of the main opposition political parties in its desperate and criminal plot to harvest APC members ahead of the 2019 general elections,” the APC added.

The ruling party said it deliberately did not name the political party in question and called on relevant security agencies to urgently investigate the website and its sponsors.

It also called on its supporters and members to take advantage of the ongoing continuous nationwide membership registration exercise in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The APC explained that the exercise would include both fresh registration and revalidation of existing membership for the purposes of issuance of the permanent membership cards.

No faction in Cross River APC, says Duke

Chief Edem Duke, former Minister of Culture and Tourism, says disharmony in the state APC is about interests.

Duke said this on Sunday when he commissioned a new Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“There is no faction in Cross River APC; it is interest by various stakeholders in the party in the state.

“However, this is good for democracy but we need to come together; reason together; and chart a new course for our great party, ‘’ he said.

He advised APC faithful in the state to bury their interest and work for the progress of the party, adding that APC would be stronger if all members united and worked towards taking over the state in 2019.

He urged people who were yet to register for their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to do so before Aug. 31 deadline to enable them to vote in the 2019 election.

He outlined the achievements of President Muhammad Buhari, particularly the appointment of Cross River indigenes in various positions, adding that this was enough reason for the people to vote him again in 2019.

Duke said an APC administration in the state would take special care of women and the vulnerable, if elected in the state in 2019.

APC in Cross River failed to conclude its state congress following litigation by the parallel executives members.

The party currently has two Chairmen with each claiming to be the authentic leaders.

Obaseki to accompany Buhari on investment tour in China

 

…as Edo Govt approves N700m for take-off of modular refinery

…Chinese companies sign off on Benin River Port, industrial park, modular refinery

The Edo State Governor is scheduled to accompany President Muhammadu Buhari on an investment tour in China following the federal government’s listing of several Edo State government’s projects which are backed by Chinese investors, on its itinerary.

Obaseki and Buhari
The Chinese investors-backed big ticked projects in Edo State include the Benin River Port in Gelegele, the Benin Industrial Park and a modular refinery in Benin City, for which the Edo State Executive Council has approved a N700 million, as initial investment.

Sources familiar with the progress of the Edo-China investment collaboration, said “all these projects which Chinese investors have committed to, will receive final nod during the visit of president Buhari.”

Governor Obaseki was at the Chinese Embassy during the week for more consultations with officials of the People’s Republic of China, preparatory to the Buhari-led investment tour of the Asian country.

To further demonstrate the state government’s readiness to kick-start work on the modular refinery in Benin City, Obaseki on Friday at the weekly EXCO meeting, approved the release of N700 million as redeemable preference shares (investment) in the Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited.

According to Obaseki, “the company will be involved in the production of petroleum and petrochemical products and other related businesses.

“The venture will enhance the local refining capacity, thereby increasing the volume of nahtha, kerosene, diesel and residual fuel oil products available in Edo State.”

He added that the venture “will create legitimate employment opportunities thereby reducing poverty and providing job opportunities for teeming youth in the communities and facilitate the establishment of a fabrication yard as proposed by the promoters, thereby creating basis for expertise, professionalism and further training in oil and gas industry.”

The take-off of the Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company follows series of groundwork by the Obaseki administration that led to the setting up of Edo Investment Scheme Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to hold N2 billion investment funds in which the Ministry of Finance Incorporation (MOFI) and the Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission (EDSOGPADEC) which are to hold shares of 20 per cent and 80 per cent respectively, would facilitate the state’s investment in various initiatives across the oil and gas services, petroleum exploration, drilling and filling station, sales and supply of gas, oil agro allied products, petroleum and petrochemical products and other related businesses.

In the transaction design, the investment funds will be repaid in three years after the execution of the projects, besides the interest that will accrue to the state within the interim. The project will, in essence fund itself.

 

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Iran grants temporary release

Image captionThe Free Nazanin campaign group released pictures of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe reunited with her daughter Gabriella

A British-Iranian woman has been reunited with her family after being granted a three-day release from prison in Iran.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed for five years in 2016 after being convicted of spying, which she denies.

She said she was "overwhelmed" and it would be "awesome" for her four-year-old daughter to "have a mummy again".

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said her imprisonment was a "gross injustice" and the release should be permanent.

The Free Nazanin campaign group said a three-day release was "standard practice" ahead of lengthier times out of jail and her lawyer was due to apply for an extension on Saturday.

Image captionMrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard spoke to his wife as she left the Iranian prison.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said her temporary release was a "happy surprise" and she is with family in Damavand.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the charity Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran airport after visiting her family on holiday.

Iranian authorities have accused her of espionage but she insists the visit was to introduce her daughter to her family.

In a statement issued by the Free Nazanin campaign, Mr Ratcliffe said his wife was still in her nightclothes when she was given 10 minutes notice on Thursday morning that she was being released until Sunday 26 August.

The campaign group said the possibility of release had been discussed for several weeks but there had been "a number of false dawns".

She was released on condition she does not:

Conduct interviews with the mediaVisit a foreign embassy, especially the UK'sAttempt to leave Iran

Free Nazanin said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her father have both separately promised she will obey the rules.

It was around two weeks ago that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe first heard she might be allowed to leave Evin prison for a few days so she could see her family and in particular her four year-old daughter Gabriella.

After several false alarms she is now reunited with them.

So far there's been no official announcement by the Iranian authorities explaining why they decided to grant her this respite now.

One theory is that it's a gesture during the Islamic festival of Eid.

Another possibility is that the appointment of a new foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt changed the diplomatic dynamics.

Although earlier this week, Mr Hunt admitted he had not yet decided whether to grant Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe diplomatic protection as a means of improving her chances of being released, much to the frustration of her family.

Image captionGabriella picked flowers to give her mother upon her release

In comments issued by the campaign, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she "wasn't expecting it at all".

She said: "It will be just awesome for Gabriella to have mummy home finally. We can play with her dolls house and she can show me her toys.

"The thought of brushing her hair, and giving her a bath; of being able to take her to the park, and feed her, and sleep next to her - it just kills me. It is still so hard to believe.

"I was so emotional to see my grandmother today. I cried so much. I felt so overwhelmed.

"It felt like this really could be the beginning of the end."

'Massive step'

Mr Ratcliffe has campaigned for her release since she was jailed and met Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier this month, who vowed to do "everything we can to bring her home".

The campaign thanked "all those involved in making this possible in Tehran and London, and the new foreign secretary".

Mr Ratcliffe said: "Furlough is not full freedom - we want her home, not just on holiday from prison - but after 873 days it is a massive step."

Mr Hunt called the release "really good news" with credit going to the "tireless campaigning" of Mr Ratcliffe and the family's friends.

He also thanked the Iranian authorities "whilst not forgetting that she should not be in prison in the first place".

"Nazanin is innocent," the foreign secretary added.

Image captionRichard Ratcliffe said he will not stop campaigning until his wife is home

How did the release happen?

According to Free Nazanin, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was told she had 10 minutes to get ready to leave, with her cellmates gathering around to see her off.

Once dressed, she was taken to the door and, following a detailed search of each item she was taking out of prison, she was taken from the ward to the main entrance of Evin prison in Tehran.

Unknown to her, her family had been called by the prison authorities an hour earlier but they were out of Tehran on holiday in Damavand about 46 miles (74km) away to celebrate Eid.

Her father was on his way back to Tehran when she was released.

Prison authorities asked her not to stand outside the prison so she crossed a nearby bridge where she asked a family waiting for another inmate to be released if she could borrow their phone to call her brother, who was still in Tehran.

He arrived within 10 minutes and she called her husband and then the British embassy before her father arrived.

The trio then travelled to the family celebration where they arrived just in time for lunch.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We remain very concerned about all our dual nationals detained in Iran, and continue to make decisions in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases.

"We do not think it is in the best interests of any of our dual national detainees to provide a running commentary on individual cases."

The Iranian ambassador in London said Iran's Foreign Ministry is in contact with the country's judiciary to help Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe on "humanitarian grounds".

Hamid Baeidinejad made the comment in response to a Twitter user who asked if he would intervene to release her permanently from prison.

Mr Baeidinejad posted a photo of the mother and her four-year-old daughter reunited describing it as a "lovely picture".

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family have previously criticised the UK government for not negotiating her release.

Boris Johnson provoked consternation in November last year when he told MPs that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been "training journalists" in Iran.

The then-foreign secretary later stated in the Commons that he had "no doubt" she was on holiday and had called Tehran to clarify after the Iranian authorities moved to double her sentence.

10 December 2017

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Prisoner caught in Iran power struggle

07 November 2017

Mom frantically saves her baby trapped in a hot car after 911 denies help

READ: "We will learn from this and correct the problem," the police chief said.

A Michigan police department is apologizing after a mother's frantic 911 call to help her baby locked in a hot car went unanswered.

As Lacey Guyton was leaving her grandmother's home in Waterford on Saturday, she put her 2-month-old daughter, Raina, in her car seat with the diaper bag and shut the door, she said.

Guyton was walking around the car when she heard all the doors lock, and realized that the keys were inside the diaper bag. When she tried using a key fob to unlock the doors, it didn't work, either, she told ABC News on Thursday.

Raina Guyton is seen here in an undated file photo.

Guyton, 25, said she immediately grabbed a big chunk of asphalt and tried to smash the car window as her grandmother called 911.

Her grandmother told the dispatcher there was a 2-month-old baby in the car, but the dispatcher replied that the department doesn't unlock vehicles or break windows, and instead offered to send a towing company, according to Guyton.

Guyton said she knew she didn't have time for a tow truck, as the car was getting hotter by the moment and her daughter was crying.

Guyton called 911 back and pleaded for the fire department to come and smash the window as her daughter sweated inside, she said. "The fire department doesn't come out for that," the dispatcher said.

The temperature reached 85 degrees in Waterford that day.

Raina Guyton is seen here in an undated file photo.

The frantic mother tried using a window breaker, but she said the window didn't budge. And that's when Raina stopped crying and her eyes started shutting — Guyton said she didn't "know if she's dying right now or just going to sleep."

Guyton ran to the back windshield and was able to shatter it with the window breaker after one or two hits. She jumped in to grab Raina, who was safe, and the terrifying, roughly 15-minute ordeal came to an end.

Lacey Guyton said she broke her car's back windshield after her child was locked inside in Michigan, Aug. 18, 2018.

Waterford Police Chief Scott Underwood has since apologized for the incident and promised to learn from the "mistake."

"While it is true we do not normally respond when people lock their keys in their vehicle and we do offer to contact a wrecker service for them, this is a completely different situation," Underwood said in a statement Wednesday. "We should have responded in this case and we should respond in any similar case when there is a concern for the health, safety or welfare of any person, especially a young child."

"We acknowledge our mistake and are doing everything we can to make sure we do not repeat it," Underwood said. "We will learn from this and correct the problem."

Lacey Guyton said she broke her car's back windshield after her child was locked inside in Michigan, Aug. 18, 2018.

Guyton said she doesn't blame "the cops themselves or the fire department of Waterford. They didn't even have the chance to come."

"It was the worst day of my life," she said. "It's the most helpless feeling ... the dispatchers, their job is essentially one of the most important ... they are like the lifeline between someone potentially dying and people that are going to go save them. So it's not something to take lightly."

The dispatcher has not been back to work since the incident, the Waterford Police Department said, adding that it will address the situation directly with her through disciplinary processes and remedial training.

At least 35 children have died from being inside hot cars this year in the United States, according to the organization KidsandCars.org.

"It's easy to lock your keys in the car. My daughter just happened to be in there," Guyton said. "Obviously the police department had a policy where they don't unlock cars if the keys are in there but this time is different — there's a baby."

A lot of people around the country have been sharing stories with her about similar incidents, and she said she hopes the same mistake won't be made going forward.

"The protocol in police departments, I think, should be evaluated," she said. "If somebody calls in distress with a child in the car then somebody needs to be sent immediately."

Hocus pocus economics in Venezuela

The socialist regime’s plan to rescue the economy will probably fail

 

NICOLÁS MADURO calls it “a really impressive magic formula”. His paquetazo rojo (big red package) features a new currency that lops five zeroes off the nearly worthless bolívar, a sharp increase in the price of fuel and a rise in the minimum wage of more than 3,000%.

Forget magic. The president’s formula, even with some welcome new bits of realism, will almost certainly fail to rescue Venezuelans from their economic agony.

Yinka Ayefele: Governor Ajimobi said he would have prevented the demolition if we had begged him

Yinka Ayefele, a musician, says the meeting with Abiola Ajimobi, governor of Oyo state, on Thursday was more or less a set-up by the governor’s team.

In an interview with PUNCH, the musician said he demanded a private meeting with the governor but was shocked when pictures of his team and that of the governor surfaced online a few minutes into the meeting.

The pictures drew the ire of Ayefele’s supporters who felt he succumbed to begging over the demolition of his Music House by the government.

But the musician, who spoke through David Ajiboye, his publicist, said he had to come to the public to the records straight.

Ajiboye said Ajimobi told them that he could have saved the situation if only they had come to beg him.

“On Thursday, we were at a meeting organised by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) at Golden Tulip when we got a call from one of the governorship aspirants in the state. He told us that the governor would like to see us,” he said.

“I was at the BON meeting with Yinka Ayefele and his younger brother. We felt that since they were the ones that invited us, we should honour the governor’s call; so we excused ourselves from the BON meeting and went to the governor’s office.

“We got there at about 12pm but the governor did not get to his office till about 4pm. We did not leave the governor’s office until about 7pm. I was at the meeting with Yinka Ayefele and his younger brother.

“When the governor came into the office, we all prostrated to greet him being that he is older than us and we told them that we did not want cameras. We wanted a closed-door meeting with the governor so he asked the pressmen to excuse us but his private photographer did not leave the room. We noticed that while we were talking with the governor, the photographer was taking our pictures and uploading them on their Twitter handle immediately.

“The governor later invited his team to come and join us in the meeting; his team comprised the commissioner for information, a governorship aspirant in the state and about four special assistants. The governor told us his grievances. He told us that he could have saved the situation if only we had come to see him. He felt we ought to have come to beg him, and our chairman, Yinka Ayefele, pointed it out that we had since told the commissioner for information to book an appointment with the governor. He further said that he called the SSG to help him book an appointment with the governor even before this incident happened and the commissioner corroborated his claims but said that the governor was unavailable at the time.”

Ajiboye said role of traditional rulers in the meeting was a coincidence as they were in the governor’s office as of the time Ayefele and Ajimobi met.

“Coincidentally, there were about ten monarchs who were also waiting to see the governor as at the time we were waiting for him,” he said.

“They were led by the alaafin of Oyo; so when the obas saw Ayefele, they decided to rally round him. After they had met with the governor, they came back to meet Ayefele and possibly plead on his behalf to the governor.

“That was when they allowed the cameramen to enter and we felt it was more or less a set-up because we wanted a close -door meeting. We did not want cameras but there was nothing we could do because we were at the governor’s office.

“The monarchs appealed to the governor to help Ayefele rebuild the music house. After the monarchs left, the governor also left us with his team and told us to iron things out with them. They claimed that they wrote several letters to us but that we ignored them; they went ahead to say that we did not have a certificate of occupancy for the building and we showed them all the proof.

“They all agreed except one commissioner who said that we have to do damage control because we have dented his personality and that of Oyo state government. We had to tell him that it was beyond us because we did not ask people to abuse their government. If they had not demolished the Music House, people would not lay curses on the government.

“That was what happened at the meeting. The governor’s team said they would get across to the governor on Thursday night to brief him and they would get back to us. We would wait for what the outcome of their meeting with the governor would be. We are not taking any position now.”

Uganda's Bobi Wine: Pop star MP charged with treason

Image captionBobi Wine beat candidates from the main political parties in last year's by-election to become an MP

The Ugandan MP and pop star Bobi Wine has been charged with treason in a civilian court shortly after a military court freed him.

Mr Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was immediately re-arrested after being released.

His lawyers say he has been assaulted in detention, which the military and President Yoweri Museveni deny.

He was detained along with 30 others ahead of last week's by-election in the north-western town of Arua.

The arrests have raised tension across the country and sparked protests. Police have sealed off the homes of a number of opposition politicians, and high-profile opposition figure Kizza Besigye has been arrested in the capital Kampala.

Uganda's New Vision newspaper reported thatMr Wine looked "weak" as he initially appeared before the military court in the northern city of Gulu, where charges of unlawfully possessing firearms were dropped.

His lawyer said he needed "urgent medical care", the newspaper reported.

After being freed by the General Court Martial, Mr Wine was told by his lawyer that he was under arrest again and he was put into a police vehicle with his wife to be taken to the Chief Magistrates Court, the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in Gulu says.

There have been protests against his detention in Uganda and calls by global stars such as Chris Martin, Damon Albarn and Angelique Kidjo for his release.

On Tuesday the Ugandan military apologised after soldiers were caught on film beating up a journalist who was covering a demonstration supporting Mr Wine.

Why was Bobi Wine arrested in the first place?

He was detained in Arua, where President Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, was campaigning.

The authorities say opposition lawmakers led supporters to attack the president's convoy with stones. Bobi Wine's driver was later shot dead.

Image captionPresident Museveni won a fifth term in office in 2016 - and could stand for a sixth

The ruling party went on to lose the seat to opposition candidate Kassiano Wadri, who also remains in custody and is facing treason charges.

The authorities say weapons and ammunition were found in Bobi Wine's hotel room.

The charges are widely viewed as politically motivated and aimed at silencing a prominent critic of the president. The US decried the "brutal treatment" of MPs, journalists and others by security forces .

Who is Bobi Wine?

He is a successful Afrobeats star, known for a repertoire of catchy tunes that touch on poverty and social justice issues.

The lifestyle and love life of the self-styled "ghetto president", which refers to his upbringing in the poorest slum of the capital, became tabloid fodder.

He shifted gears in 2017, cutting off his dreads and donning sharp suits as he turned his eye to Ugandan politics.

He went on to beat more established candidates by a landslide in a by-election and became the MP for Kyadondo East in central Uganda.

Why is he so popular?

In a country where more than three-quarters of the population is under the age of 30, Bobi Wine might have demographics on his side.

He has been described as a magnetic presence and a skilled orator, who has the potential to galvanise the country's youth.

He told the BBC in 2017 that he wanted to be the voice of the younger generation. "I'm here to give young people confidence," he said.

He might also have a knack for being kingmaker. In the past year, three candidates backed by Bobi Wine have won parliamentary seats in by-elections.

Is he upsetting the status quo?

Yes. His popularity could make him President Museveni's biggest challenger in the 2021 elections.

Image captionBobi Wine says that President Museveni has lost touch with people

He protested with activists against a social media tax introduced to boost state revenue, which the government has since backtracked on.

Bobi Wine was also one of the leading critics of a push to scrap the constitutional upper age limit, set at 75, for presidential candidates.

But the change was signed into law and will allow 74-year-old Mr Museveni to run for a sixth term in 2021.

Ryanair reaches deal with pilots' union after strikes caused disruption to thousands of passengers

The long-running dispute over pay, conditions, base transfers and annual leave has resulted in cancelled flights across Europe.

Image:The breakthrough came after a marathon 22-hour negotiating session

An agreement has been reached in talks between Ryanair and a pilots' union which could bring an end to disruptive strikes.

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Negotiations had been continuing to try to resolve the long-running dispute over pay, conditions, base transfers and annual leave that has resulted in cancelled flights across Europe.

In a statement the Forsa union said: "Following a 22-hour negotiating session, which began on Wednesday morning and concluded Thursday morning, agreement has been reached between Forsa and Ryanair in the pilots' dispute.

Video:Ryanair apologise after cheques bounce

"The proposed agreement will now go to ballot, with a recommendation for acceptance from Forsa and its Ryanair pilot representatives.

"The union has been asked by facilitator Kieran Mulvey to make no public comment while the ballot is conducted."

It gave no further details of the agreement.

Video:Passenger's outrage at Ryanair walkouts

The Irish low-cost airline also confirmed the breakthrough in talks and said it would take the proposals to its board in due course after the vote.

It comes after five days of strike action by its Ireland-based pilots, affecting thousands of passengers.

Earlier this month, a walkout by pilots in five countries - Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands - resulted in 400 flights Europe-wide being cancelled, disrupting the plans of an estimated 55,000 passengers.

The budget airline apologised to customers on Wednesday after cheques they received compensating them for cancelled flights bounced.

Last month, it hit back at striking pilots by publishing staff pay and benefit details online, claiming pilots earned between €190,000 and €220,000 (£169,000 and £195,000) a year.

It also said cabin crew earned up to €40,000 (£36,000) a year - "more than double the living wage".

Michael Cohen subpoenaed in probe of Trump foundation

State investigators in New York issued a subpoena to Michael Cohen on Wednesday as part of an ongoing multi-agency investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a spokesperson with the state's department of taxation and finance told ABC News.

The subpoena for Cohen arrived less than 24 hours after the former fixer and personal attorney to President Donald Trump pleaded guilty to two charges of campaign finance violations related to the Trump campaign.

An official with the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told ABC News that shortly after Cohen was served the subpoena, he reached out to the NY department of taxation and finance to ask when they could schedule a time to talk.

The New York attorney general's office, a separate New York state agency, filed a lawsuit in June accusing Trump's charitable foundation of having "operated in persistent violation of state and federal law governing New York State charities" for more than a decade by paying off legal bills with charitable funds, promoting Trump hotels, and purchasing personal items.

The lawsuit targets Trump and three of his children – Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric – and seeks to dissolve the private New York-based foundation and prevent the Trumps from serving as directors of any nonprofits in the future.

President-elect Donald Trump stands with, left to right, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. before he speaks at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City, Jan. 11, 2017.

James Gazzale, a spokesperson with the state's department of taxation and finance, confirmed that Wednesday’s subpoena asked Cohen "for relevant information in light of the public disclosures made yesterday," adding, "We will be working with the New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney, as appropriate."

A spokeswoman with the New York attorney general's office declined to comment on the subpoena, as it is part of an ongoing investigation, but did say that "we will hold Donald Trump and his associates accountable for violations of state law, and will seek a criminal referral from the appropriate state agency as necessary."

Cohen pleaded guilty on Tuesday to eight felony counts in a Manhattan federal court, including two counts of campaign finance violations spawned from hush money agreements with two women, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who claim to have had affairs with Trump, which he has denied. Cohen said in court, under oath, that he made those payments "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office."

The "candidate" Cohen referred to was not named in court or in the criminal information charging document but one of Cohen's lawyers, Lanny Davis, later said that Cohen had "testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime."

President Donald Trump listens to the opening prayer during Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman's Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, Aug. 22, 2018, in Washington, DC.

In addition to the campaign finance violations, Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion and one count of false statements to a bank.

In response, President Trump tweeted that Cohen "plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime."

During a briefing on Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders maintained that the president "did nothing wrong" with regard to Cohen’s guilty plea and implication of Trump.

Speaking on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, said his client "will tell the truth to everybody who asks him about Mr. Trump."

Cohen is scheduled for sentencing in December.