Kidnap release in Nigeria raises truce hopes in jihadist revolt

Kidnap release in Nigeria raises truce hopes in jihadist revolt



AFP/File / PHILIP OJISUA The Dapchi schoolgirls were released after a month-long ordeal -- the Nigerian government has confirmed it has been speaking for months with the jihadists over a ceasefire
As the Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram were finally reuniting with their families, Nigeria delivered a small bombshell: it revealed it had begun ceasefire talks with the notorious jihadists.

The talks began months ago, according to officials.

But, to those desperate for a breakthrough in the bloody insurgency, they also caution that divisions among the militants may well hamper progress toward peace -- and analysts say similar initiatives have foundered in the past.

"Government is ever ready to accept the unconditional laying down of arms by any member of the Boko Haram group who show strong commitment," President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday when he met the schoolgirls in Abuja, the national capital.

"We are ready to rehabilitate and integrate such repented member(s) into the larger society," said Buhari. "This country has suffered enough of hostilities."

A total of 111 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram from the northeastern town of Dapchi on February 19 in the largest mass kidnapping since 2014 when over 200 schoolgirls were taken from Chibok.

In a scene that shocked many Nigerians, the jihadists returned to the town in an unobstructed convoy, flying the black Boko Haram flag, to drop off most of the girls.

Six girls are still missing, including one who was held back for refusing to renounce Christianity. The five others are believed to have died in the initial stages of the kidnapping.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said that a week-long ceasefire was declared on March 19 as part of "intense back channel" negotiations to allow Boko Haram to return the hostages.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly denied paying a ransom or releasing imprisoned Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the schoolgirls.

"The insurgents' only condition was their demands for a cessation of hostilities and a temporary ceasefire to enable them to return the girls (to) the point they picked them (up)," explained Lawal Daura, a senior security official, on Friday.

The talks with Boko Haram explored the "permanent, possible cessation of hostilities" and the "possibility of granting amnesty to repentant insurgents," Daura said.

But he warned that achieving success would be "problematic" since the group is splintered into rival camps.

- Competing factions -

A source close to the Dapchi negotiations told AFP that the government has been negotiating with the Islamic State-affiliated Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi faction of Boko Haram.

Al-Barnawi, the son of deceased Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, leads one faction, while Abubakar Shekau, Yusuf's former deputy, leads another.

"Talks have been ongoing between the government and the insurgents from the Al-Barnawi faction," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source said peace talks began in earnest after the July 2017 ambush on an oil exploration team in Lake Chad that killed at least 69 people.

"The major headache now is extending the talks to the Shekau faction which is averse to negotiations," said the source.

Striking a deal with one faction doesn't guarantee that the other faction will follow, said security analyst Ryan Cummings.

"You're not talking to a homogenous, centralised insurgent group," said Cummings.

"Boko Haram is an umbrella movement comprised of various factions motivated for different reasons, some ideological, others profit, some might be a combination."

Others fear that the talks are being used as a diversion by Boko Haram to regroup.

"The military is opposed to negotiations with the militant groups, especially on release of hostages, which is believed to mostly involve ransom payment," said another source close to the talks.

"The military sees Boko Haram using the halt to buy time."

- Rebel negotiators -

It's not the first time Nigeria has talked about a ceasefire with Boko Haram.

In 2014, former president Goodluck Jonathan's government claimed it had brokered a deal with the militants, though Boko Haram attacks continued quickly soon after.

Then, as now, experts questioned the legitimacy and influence of the rebel negotiators.

Shortly after being elected in 2015, Buhari said he was mulling amnesty for Boko Haram fighters.

"If the Boko Haram leadership eventually agrees to turn over the Chibok girls to us -- the complete number -- then we may decide to give them (the prisoners) amnesty," said Buhari at the time.

"We've had previous conversations about ceasefire that turned out to be illusions," said political analyst Chris Ngwodo.

"The distinction here is that this appears to be a specific initiative targeted at a specific faction of Boko Haram," said Ngwodo.

"Perhaps for the first time, at least publically, the federal government is trying to exploit the factions."

Latest World News: Twitter bans crytocurrency ads on fraud fears

source: AFP
Twitter bans crytocurrency ads on fraud fears

 
AFP/File / Justin TALLIS Twitter became the latest internet platform to ban ads for cryptocurrency offerings, saying these services are often associated with "deception and fraud"

Twitter on Monday announced a ban on ads for initial offerings of cryptocurrency or sales of virtual currency tokens, sending the value of bitcoin diving below $8,000.

Twitter followed the lead of Google and Facebook, which earlier this year cracked down on digital currency ads to protect users from being duped.

"We are committed to ensuring the safety of the Twitter community," Twitter said in a statement.

"As such, we have added a new policy for Twitter Ads relating to cryptocurrency."

Under the new policy, the advertisement of ICOs, or initial currency offerings, and token sales will be prohibited at the global one-to-many messaging platform.

Some startups have used ICOs to raise billions of dollars in a highly volatile, unregulated market.

Twitter said: "We know that this type of content is often associated with deception and fraud, both organic and paid, and are proactively implementing a number of signals to prevent these types of accounts from engaging with others in a deceptive manner."

The value of bitcoin dropped eight percent to $7,929 after the Twitter ad ban was announced, according to market data from Bloomberg.

The new policy leaves open the door for ads for cryptocurrency exchanges or secure "wallet" services offered by public companies listed on some major exchanges.

Twitter plans to modify its ad policy as the digital currency market evolves and its ability to distinguish dubious marketing messages improves.

The British government early this year called for global regulation of controversial virtual currency bitcoin, adding that the G20 would address the topic this month.

Bitcoin is independent of governments and banks and uses blockchain technology, where encrypted digital coins are created by supercomputers.

The virtual currency is not regulated by any central bank but is instead overseen by a community of users who try to guard against counterfeiting.

Virtual currency exchanges have seen tremendous volatility, and have sparked concerns they can be used to launder money for criminal networks.

The value of Litecoin also tanked on Monday, after the Singapore-based nonprofit Litecoin foundation put out word that payments processor LitePay ceased operations.

LitePay had asked the foundation for more funding, but was "unable to provide a satisfactory picture" of what it did with the money it had already been given, according to a release.

"We are greatly disheartened that this saga has ended in this way and we apologize for not doing enough due diligence that could have uncovered some of these issues earlier," Litecoin foundation said in the release.

"We are currently working hard to tighten our due diligence practices and ensure that this does not happen again."

Litecoin was down about 10 percent to $144.05 as of mid-day.

Top North Korean official apparently in China: reports

Top North Korean official apparently in China: reports
SOURCE: AFP
 
AFP / GREG BAKER The North Korean flag flies above Pyongyang's embassy in Beijing

Japanese media reported on Monday that a train possibly carrying a high-level official from North Korea has arrived in Beijing, sparking speculation that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, may have been aboard.

The Kyodo news agency, citing unidentified sources close to the matter, said the visit -- if confirmed that it was a North Korean official -- would likely be to improve ties between North Korea and China.

Kim has not conducted an official trip abroad since taking power in 2011 and relations between China and North Korea are frosty as Beijing has backed UN sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests.

China is North Korea's only diplomatic ally and its most important trade partner, but Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping have never met.

Kim, however, is expected to hold historic summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April and US President Donald Trump in May. Talks between North and South Korean officials to plan the rare inter-Korean summit are expected to take place on Thursday.

Chinese state media did not report the train's arrival in Beijing, or any North Korean visit to Beijing. There was also no mention of a visit on North Korean state media either.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman earlier told a regular press briefing that she was unaware of reports that North Korean officials were spotted at a train station in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, at the weekend.

Japanese broadcaster NNN showed images of a green train with yellow stripes arriving in China. Kim's father, the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, used a similar-looking train to travel abroad.

There was nothing out of the ordinary at the Beijing railway station when an AFP reporter visited it on Monday evening.

But the manager of a store at the plaza outside the station said there had been "unusual" activity in the afternoon.

"There were a lot of police officers outside and along the road in front of the station. The station was blocked inside," the man said.

Other shopkeepers declined to comment, saying they were not allowed to give interviews.

Train delays had fuelled speculation that a special train had arrived in Beijing.

The delays were posted on one of the railway network's accounts on Twitter-like Weibo, prompting users to post comments speculating about Kim's presence, which were later censored.

The North Korean embassy did not appear to have extra security. A police car stood idle outside one of the side entrances. The compound was quiet except for birds chirping.

Arizona puts brakes on Uber self-driving car tests

Arizona puts brakes on Uber self-driving car tests


 
AFP/File / JOSH EDELSON Uber put a temporary halt to its self-driving car program in the US after the March 18 accident that resulted in the death of pedestrian

The governor of Arizona on Monday put the brakes on Uber's self-driving car program in that state, citing "disturbing and alarming" dashcam footage from a fatal crash in that state.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey sent Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi a letter saying he has directed transportation department officials to suspend Uber's ability to test or operate self-driving vehicles on public roads.

"I found the video to be disturbing and alarming, and it raises many questions about the ability of Uber to continue testing in Arizona," Ducey said in the letter, a copy of which was posted online.

Uber put a temporary halt to its self-driving car program in the US after the March 18 accident that resulted in the death of pedestrian.

"We proactively suspended self-driving operations in all cities immediately following the tragic incident last week," an Uber spokesperson told AFP.

"We continue to help investigators in any way we can, and we'll keep a dialogue open with the governor's office going forward."

Dashcam footage of the first fatal self-driving car crash involving a pedestrian shows the Uber vehicle operator appearing to be distracted, then gasping in horror seconds before the impact.

The driver can be seen looking down at something for nearly five seconds before finally gazing up the instant before the car hit a woman in the city of Tempe.

Police there released the footage, along with dashcam video of the road in the final seconds before the pedestrian, who was walking with a bicycle, is struck on a poorly lit highway.

The car was in autonomous mode.

Police chief Sylvia Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle last week that, while the investigation continued, "it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault," mainly because the pedestrian was not using a crosswalk.

"It's very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway," Moir told the Chronicle.

The crash has raised concerns about whether lives are put at risk by allowing companies to use public roads as testing ground for self-driving vehicle technology.

Meanwhile, advocates of autonomous cars contend they have the potential to make roads safer by avoiding mistakes made by human drivers.

Arizona and California have been particularly encouraging, hoping that companies developing autonomous technology in those states will create local jobs and facilities devoted to a promising new industry.

Ultra-thin sun shield could protect Great Barrier Reef

SOURCE: AFP

Ultra-thin sun shield could protect Great Barrier Reef

 
Australian Institute of Marine S/AFP / PHIL MERCURIO A floating "sun shield" made of calcium carbonate has been shown to protect coral from the effects of bleaching

An ultra-fine biodegradable film some 50,000 times thinner than a human hair could be enlisted to protect the Great Barrier Reef from environmental degradation, researchers said Tuesday.

The World Heritage-listed site, which attracts millions of tourists each year, is reeling from significant bouts of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

Scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Biology have been buoyed by test results of a floating "sun shield" made of calcium carbonate that has been shown to protect the reef from the effects of bleaching.

"It's designed to sit on the surface of the water above the corals, rather than directly on the corals, to provide an effective barrier against the sun," Great Barrier Reef Foundation managing director Anna Marsden said.

The trials on seven different coral types found that the protective layer decreased bleaching of most species, cutting off sunlight by up to 30 percent.

"It (the project) created an opportunity to test the idea that by reducing the amount of sunlight from reaching the corals in the first place, we can prevent them from becoming stressed which leads to bleaching," Marsden said.

Researchers from a breadth of disciplines contributed to the project, which was headed by the scientist who developed the country's polymer bank notes.

"In this case, we had chemical engineers and experts in polymer science working with marine ecologists and coral experts to bring this innovation to life," Marsden said.

With its heavy use of coal-fired power and relatively small population, Australia is considered one of the world's worst per capita greenhouse gas polluters, with advocates urging Canberra to do more to protect the environment.

The reef is also under threat from predatory coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, as well as farming run off.

Marsden said it was impractical to suggest that the "sun shield" -- made from the same material found in coral skeletons -- could cover the entire 348,000 square-kilometre (216,000 square-mile) reef.

"But it could be deployed on a smaller, local level to protect high-value or high-risk areas of reef," she added.

"The concept needs more work and testing before it gets to that stage, but it's an exciting development at a time when we need to explore all possible options to ensure we have a Great Barrier Reef for future generations."

Hard corals, also called reef-building corals, produce a rock-like skeleton made of the same material as classroom chalk -- calcium carbonate. Soft corals produce smaller amounts of calcium carbonate.

A report last year from Deloitte Access Economics valued the Great Barrier Reef as an asset worth Aus$56 billion (US$43 billion), which included its tourism revenues and indirect value for people who have not yet visited the site but know it exists.

Biggest convoy yet leaves rebel pocket of Syria's Ghouta: state media

Biggest convoy yet leaves rebel pocket of Syria's Ghouta: state media

SOURCE: AFP
 
AFP / LOUAI BESHARA A busload of Syrian rebels evacuated from Eastern Ghouta arrives in government-held territory on March 25, 2018

The largest convoy yet of evacuated Syrian rebel fighters and civilians began leaving a devastated pocket of Eastern Ghouta overnight, state media said on Tuesday.

One hundred buses carrying 6,749 people -- around a quarter of them fighters -- left a part of the enclave controlled by the Faylaq al-Rahman rebel faction, the SANA state news agency said.

The departure was part of a deal reached last week between the Islamist group and Russia, which is helping its Syrian ally negotiate such deals to clear the last rebels out of Ghouta.

Russian-backed Syrian troops and allied militia have waged a brutal offensive since February 18 in which they have recaptured more than 90 percent of Ghouta, a onetime rebel bastion on the edge of Damascus.

Moscow has negotiated two evacuation deals so far for Ghouta.

One, implemented last week, saw hardline Islamist rebels from Ahrar al-Sham leave the battered town of Harasta in the west of the enclave.

The agreement with Faylaq al-Rahman was announced on Friday and its implementation started the following morning.

Nearly 1,000 people -- including rebels, their relatives and other civilians -- were evacuated on Saturday, followed by 5,435 people on Sunday.

President Bashar al-Assad has used such agreements to recover swathes of territory since the uprising against him began seven years ago this month.

US expels 60 Russians as allies back Britain in spy row

source:AFP

AFP/File / DON EMMERT, Natalia KOLESNIKOVA US President Donald Trump (L) joins Britain's allies in a mass expulsion of suspected Russian spies, less than a week after congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election win
The United States and Britain's allies around the world have expelled scores of suspected Russian spies in an unprecedented response to a nerve agent attack.

At least 116 alleged agents working under diplomatic cover were ordered out by 22 governments, dwarfing similar measures in even the most notorious Cold War spying disputes, and marking a British diplomatic victory.

Washington led the way, ordering out 60 Russians, in a new blow to US-Russia ties less than a week after President Donald Trump congratulated his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on his re-election.

Canada, Ukraine, Albania, Australia, and most European Union states matched the move with smaller-scale expulsions, after Britain urged allies to respond to the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal.

Russia has denied it was behind the attempted assassination, which left Skripal and his daughter gravely ill in perhaps the first nerve agent attack in Europe since World War II.

It warned that there would be a tit-for-tat response to those countries "pandering to British authorities" without, Moscow claims, fully understanding what had happened.

But Western officials made it clear in announcing the expulsions that they share Britain's assessment that only the Kremlin could have been behind the March 4 incident in Salisbury, England.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Washington and its allies were acting "in response to Russia's use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom."

The strong language contrasted with Trump's warm words of last week, when he overrode his advisors' concerns and congratulated Putin on his election win.

- Consulate closed -

US officials said that 48 "intelligence officers" attached to Russian diplomatic missions in the US would be expelled, along with 12 accredited to the United Nations in New York.

The Russians have been given until April 2 to leave US territory and close the consulate -- although the consul's residence will be left open until April 25.


AFP / Don EMMERT A New York police department van drives past the building that houses the Russian mission to the United Nations


"Once that deadline has passed the properties will no longer enjoy diplomatic status or protections," a State Department official told AFP.

Trump's ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, welcomed the move while condemning the alleged Russian attack, as did the US ambassador to Moscow Jon Huntsman.

But Trump himself, who usually likes to tweet or hold a press event for major announcements, was silent.

In addition, the Russian consulate general in Seattle will be closed, the White House said.

This represents the largest US expulsion of Russian or Soviet agents ever and comes after Trump's predecessor Barack Obama expelled 35 in late 2016 over alleged election meddling.

Russia's foreign ministry warned that the "unfriendly step by this group of countries will not pass without trace and we will respond to it."

The Russian embassy in Washington asked its Twitter followers to vote on which US consulate should be closed, listing those in Vladivostok, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg as options.

Russia's ambassador to the United States told state-run Sputnik News the move was "a serious blow to the quantitative and qualitative composition of the Russian embassy in Washington, DC."

It was not immediately clear how many Russians are assigned to its various US missions, but in 2016 Putin ordered the United States to reduce its Moscow personnel to 455 to achieve parity.

Canada confirmed it was expelling four Russians, Ukraine 13, Albania two, Norway two and Macedonia two. At least 16 EU member states are kicking out agents.

Australia expelled two Russian diplomats Tuesday in response to the "shocking" Skripal attack, which Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said was part of "a pattern of reckless and deliberate conduct by the Russian state that constitutes a growing threat to international security".

Iceland said Monday that it would send no government officials to Russia to accompany its team to the football World Cup this summer.

 
AFP / JIM WATSON The sign for the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC

Britain welcomed its allies' decision as a diplomatic and moral victory, after concerns that some would prefer not to offend Moscow despite international horror over the attack.

"I have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the EU, NATO, America and beyond," Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament.

More than three weeks after the attack, which Britain says was carried out by a nerve agent exclusively developed by Russia, the Skripals are still in a coma in hospital.

A British policeman who was exposed to the nerve agent when he responded to the attack on the former Russian officer has now been released from treatment.

A British judge ruled last week that blood samples from former Russian spy Skripal and his daughter Yulia could be taken for testing by the world chemical weapons body (OPCW).

LATEST : Putin blames Russia mall fire on 'criminal negligence'

Putin blames Russia mall fire on 'criminal negligence'

 
SPUTNIK/AFP / Alexey DRUZHININ At least 64 people, many of them children, died when the blaze raged through the busy shopping centre

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed the mall fire that killed at least 64 people in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on "criminal negligence" as he visited the site two days after the tragedy.

At least 64 people, many of them children, died when a blaze raged through the busy shopping centre in the industrial city on Sunday, one of the deadliest fires recorded in Russia over the past century.

Putin flew to Kemerovo Tuesday as questions swirled about the Kremlin's handling of the country's latest man-made disaster.

"What is happening here? These are not armed hostilities. This is not an unexpected release of methane. People, children came to relax," Putin told officials in Kemerovo after laying flowers at a makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed children's toys and balloons near the gutted mall's facade.

"We are talking about demographics but are losing so many people. Because of what? Because of some criminal negligence, slovenliness," Putin said in comments released by the Kremlin.

"The first feelings when they speak about the number of victims and the number of dead children... one feels like wailing -- not crying," Putin said in televised remarks.

The Kemerovo region declared three days of mourning beginning Tuesday.

But many critics wondered why the Kremlin did not call a nationwide day of mourning and said national television channels did not pull entertainment programmes from their schedule fast enough.

Some Muscovites are planing a vigil in the city centre Tuesday evening and several Russian cities declared a period of mourning in solidarity with Kemerovo.

Investigators and witnesses said many people -- including children -- were burned alive because emergency exits were locked, notably at a multiplex cinema where children were watching cartoons.

The Investigative Committee said a criminal probe has been opened and that five people have been arrested including an official of the mall's security firm who is suspected of deactivating the public address system when the fire broke out.

Speculation on Kim visit to China rife as train departs

source: AFP

Speculation on Kim visit to China rife as train depart



AFP / North Korea's Kim has not undertaken any confirmed official trip abroad since taking power following the death of his father in 2011

Speculation that Kim Jong Un visited Beijing on his first-ever foreign trip as North Korea's leader was rife Tuesday after Japanese media reported the arrival and departure of a special train met by an honour guard.

Heightened security at possible venues for a high-level meeting, motorcades driven under police escort, and a non-denial from Chinese authorities also fuelled the belief that Kim had come to pay his respects to President Xi Jinping.

If confirmed, it would mark Kim's first trip abroad since coming to power in 2011 and signal an intriguing twist in a rapid diplomatic thaw that has opened the door to separate summits between Kim and the presidents of South Korea and the United States.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported the train's departure from a Beijing station but said it was not clear if Kim was aboard, a day after its arrival sparked rampant speculation about the mystery passenger's identity.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying sidestepped a request to confirm if Kim or another high-level North Korean official was visiting, saying she was "not aware" of the situation.


AFP / FRED DUFOUR Police cars block a road as a motorcade passes Beijing's state guest house, driving speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is in Beijing for talks


"If we have information, we will publish it," Hua said, while adding that China was willing to work with North Korea to "continue to play a positive and constructive role in order to realise the denuclearisation of the peninsula".

Some analysts had suggested China -- the North's only major ally -- had been sidelined by Pyongyang's approaches to Seoul and Washington, but a visit by Kim would put Beijing firmly back at the centre of the diplomatic scrum.

Bill Bishop, publisher of the Sinocism China Newsletter, said Xi likely wanted to meet Kim before a possible summit with US President Donald Trump in May.

"They're concerned about being left out, with the North Koreans directly cutting a deal with the Americans that doesn't necessarily reflect Chinese interests," Bishop told AFP.


AFP / FRED DUFOUR A heavy police presence was laid on at the Diaoyutai guest house, where Kim's father stayed during his visits to Beijing

At the Diaoyutai guest house, where Kim's late father Kim Jong Il stayed during his visits to Beijing, there was an unusually heavy police presence with officers stationed every 50-100 metres in front of the imposing compound.

An AFP photographer saw a motorcade of limousines leave the guest house under a police escort on Tuesday morning.

There was also heightened security at two possible venues for a high-level meeting -- the Great Hall of the People and Zhongnanhai, the central leadership compound next to Beijing's Forbidden City.

South Korea's biggest-selling newspaper Choson Ilbo cited a senior Seoul intelligence official as saying that Kim had been the visitor. Other media speculated it might have been Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong or the country's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam.

- Official silence -

The mystery began after Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV showed footage of a train -- similar to that used for foreign visits by Kim Jong Il -- pulling in to Beijing Station and being met by a military honour guard and a convoy of black limousines.

China's Weibo micro-blog was censoring searches for Kim Jong Un's name and variations on it Tuesday. Beijing often tightens news controls during sensitive political periods.

South Korean broadcaster SBS TV said guests at a hotel in the border city of Dandong, overlooking the railway from China to North Korea, had been asked to leave and curtains were drawn across the windows.

Kim Jong Il, who was known to be fearful of flying, visited China several times on his private armoured train. His visits were confirmed by Chinese and North Korean state media only after he had left the country.


 AFP / WANG ZHAO A visit by the North Korean leader would put Beijing firmly back at the centre of the diplomatic equation

The younger Kim has not undertaken any official trip abroad since taking power following his father's death in December 2011. And he has yet to host a single head of state, having snubbed the president of Mongolia who visited Pyongyang in 2013.

In Washington, the White House said it was unable to confirm Kim's presence in Pyongyang and the government in Seoul said only that it was closely monitoring the situation.

For decades Beijing has been Pyongyang's key diplomatic protector and main source of trade and aid, but their relationship has soured in recent years.

Kim broke with tradition by not travelling to Beijing to pay his respects to Xi after the Chinese leader came to power, and Beijing has become increasingly frustrated with its neighbour's nuclear weapons programme -- showing a new willingness to agree to, and enforce, tougher UN sanctions.

At the same time, Beijing fears the collapse of the regime in Pyongyang and the instability it would bring, potentially sending waves of refugees into China and the possibility of US troops stationed on its border in a unified Korea.

High-level inter-Korean talks are scheduled for Thursday to pave the way for a summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April. Discussions have also begun on a possible summit with Trump in May.

Latest world news: UK minister brands Assange 'miserable little worm'

SOURCE: AFP

UK minister brands Assange 'miserable little worm'

 
AFP / Justin TALLIS Julian Assange sought asylum at Ecuador's embassy in 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault and rape

A British minister on Tuesday branded Julian Assange a "miserable little worm" after the WikiLeaks founder, who is holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, questioned the government's response to a nerve agent attack.

"It is of great regret that Julian Assange remains in the Ecuador embassy," Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan told MPs in the House of Commons in response to a question.

"It is of even deeper regret that even last night he was tweeting against Her Majesty's government for their conduct in replying to the attack in Salisbury.

"It's about time that this miserable little worm walked out of the embassy and gave himself up to British justice."

Assange sought political asylum at the embassy in 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault and rape there.

He claims the accusations are politically motivated and feared it would lead to his extradition to the United States, which was enraged by WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.

Sweden dropped its investigation last year, but the English warrant for his arrest for breaching bail conditions while awaiting extradition remains, meaning he would be detained if he stepped outside.

Assange has kept up his whistleblowing activities from inside the embassy and regularly tweets on international affairs.

On Monday night, he raised questions on Twitter about Britain's decision to blame Russia for the March 4 chemical weapons attack on a former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and its response -- echoed by more than 20 countries -- to expel Russian diplomats.

Latest World news: Anger mounts in Russia over mall fire that killed 41 children

source: AFP
Anger mounts in Russia over mall fire that killed 41 children

AFP / Dmitry Serebryakov Hundreds of angry Kemerovo residents packed the the city's central square on Tuesday, calling for the resignation of the region's veteran governor and questioning the official death toll
Russians vented their anger at authorities on Tuesday over a huge mall fire that killed at least 64 people, including 41 children, many of whom were trapped in the inferno by locked doors.

President Vladimir Putin flew to the scene in the Siberian city of Kemerovo two days after the tragedy and laid roses at a makeshift memorial as critics questioned his response to one of the deadliest fires in Russia over the past century.

Hundreds of angry residents had earlier packed Kemerovo's central square, calling for the resignation of the region's veteran governor and questioning the official death toll.

Investigators said relatives had reported 67 people missing, but it was not clear if this included or was in addition to the 64 confirmed dead.

After a huge outpouring of grief and anger on social media, the Kremlin announced a nationwide day of mourning for Wednesday for victims of the fire, which raged through the busy shopping centre on Sunday afternoon.

"My family is no more," Igor Vostrikov -- who lost his wife, sister and three children aged two, five and seven years -- said on VKontakte, Russia's version of Facebook.

"The ruling regime in my country is to blame for it. Every official is dreaming of stealing like Putin. Every state employee treats people like dirt."


SPUTNIK/AFP / Alexey DRUZHININ Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a memorial after at least 64 people, including 41 children, died when a fire raged through a busy shopping centre


Investigators said the victims and dozens of animals were burned alive or suffocated because emergency exits were locked, notably at one of the cinemas where children were watching cartoons.

A criminal probe has been opened and five people have been arrested over the blaze.

Multiple safety rules were violated, the fire alarm system had not worked since last week and staff did not follow correct emergency procedures, officials said.

- 'We are dying. I love you' -

Putin, who was re-elected for a fourth term in polls earlier this month, visited a memorial of stuffed toys, flowers and balloons near the gutted mall's facade, telling officials he felt "like wailing" over the number of victims.

"What is happening here? These are not armed hostilities. This is not an unexpected release of methane in a mine. People, children came to relax," Putin said.

"We are talking about demographics but are losing so many people. Because of what? Because of some criminal negligence, slovenliness," Putin said.

Putin's top critic Alexei Navalny called for mourners to attend a vigil in central Moscow, while a rival official event took place near the Kremlin walls.

"We are all mourning. I am personally mourning," Navalny said.

 
AFP / Dmitry Serebryakov Kemerovo residents pay tribute to those lost in the fire, which raged through a busy shopping centre on Sunday
Russian newspapers ran heart-wrenching accounts of children's last minutes as they called their parents and relatives.

"Tell my mom that I loved her," one woman quoted her niece as saying in comments in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Vostrikov, who lost his family in the blaze, said he had spoken to his wife in her final moments.

"We have been locked inside the movie theatre. We are suffocating, we are dying. I love you," he said she had told him.

Speaking in videotaped comments, he claimed the number of victims was much higher than reported.

Many others also questioned the official death toll but officials said the figures were final, urging Russians not to trust unconfirmed reports on social media.

The head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said ticket collectors and other staff fled the scene, leaving moviegoers locked inside.

"Those workers who were supposed to be in charge of safety, organising evacuation, they were the first to flee," he told Putin.

Bastrykin also told Putin that a teacher had left her class alone in a games room, and the entire class died in the fire.

The mall also housed a petting zoo and dozens of animals perished.

- 'Gas chambers' -

 
AFP / Simon MALFATTO Map of the world locating the worst shopping mall fires in the past 20 years


Temperatures during the blaze reached 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit) and some of the bodies were so burned they could not be identified, officials said.

Bastrykin said 37 bodies would have to be identified through genetic analysis.

Meeting with a group of grieving locals, Putin said some 100 investigators were working at the scene.

A young man told Putin he was outraged that the doors were locked at the mall, effectively turning the premises into "gas chambers".

Putin promised a "transparent" investigation but declined to fire Aman Tuleyev, who has been governor of the Kemerovo region for the past 21 years.

Tuleyev apologised to Putin over the rally, calling its organisers troublemakers.

The Russian leader also visited victims at a local hospital including Ivan Zavarzin, 18, who survived the fire after jumping from the fourth floor.

A number of Russian cities mourned in solidarity with Kemerovo, which declared a three-day period of mourning.

Residents of Beslan, where more than 330 people -- more than a half of them children -- died in a 2004 school siege by Islamists -- gathered at the building's ruins to honour the Kemerovo victims.

Catalan separatists block roads in protest at Puigdemont detention

source: AFP
Catalan separatists block roads in protest at Puigdemont detention


AFP / Axel Heimken A portrait of Carles Puigdemont is attached behind the fence of the prison in Neumuenster, northern Germany, where the former Catalan president is being held pending a ruling on extradition to Spain.

Spanish riot police broke up a blockade by Catalan separatists on major motorways in Catalonia Tuesday, part of a wave of protests over the arrest and detention of ex-regional president Carles Puigdemont.

Television images showed riot police surrounding protesters who had sat down in the middle of motorway AP-7, which links Spain to neighbouring France.

Police removed the protesters one by one facing a chorus of boos from the pro-Catalan independence activists.

But by Tuesday afternoon at least two other roads were blocked around the northeast Spanish region and several others suffered traffic jams due to vehicles deliberately driving slowly, according to Catalonia's traffic authority.

The demonstration was called by the radical Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), set up just before Catalonia held an independence referendum on October 1 that was banned by the courts.

"With the latest incarcerations and the arrest of president Carles Puigdemont, it clearly seems that we have crossed the point of no return," the CDR announced in a statement on Monday following mass demonstrations the day before.

The group was planning another action to surround the main Sants train station in Barcelona in the evening.

- 'Continue fighting' -

After Puigdemont's arrest in Germany on Sunday, a court there ordered that he remain in custody pending possible extradition to Spain to face "rebellion" charges.

Puigdemont wants to "pass the message" to the Catalan people that "he will continue fighting", attorney Gonzalo Boye said after visiting him in jail.

His arrest comes five months after he went on the run as Spanish prosecutors sought to charge him with rebellion in the wake of Catalonia's failed independence bid in October last year.

Aside from Puigdemont, 24 other Catalan separatist leaders face various charges for their role in the wealthy northeastern region's failed breakaway attempt. Nine of them are in prison in Spain.

According to his lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, Puigdemont was on his way back to Belgium, where he had been living in self-imposed exile.

A ruling on extradition must normally be made within 60 days under German law. A spokeswoman for the German prosecutor's office told AFP it would "probably not come this week" ahead of the four-day Easter holiday.

- Protests in Barcelona -

The ousted Catalonia president's detention marks the latest chapter in a secession saga that has bitterly divided Catalans and triggered Spain's worst political crisis in decades.

AFP/File / LLUIS GENE Protesters held a banner reading "Freedom to political prisoners" during a demonstration in Barcelona after Catalonia's former president was arrested in Germany

Tuesday's road blockades followed protests in Barcelona on Sunday, when Catalan riot police shoved and hit demonstrators with batons to keep the crowd from advancing on the Spanish government's representative office.

Nearly a hundred people were slightly injured during the protests, ​​including 22 police officers, emergency services said.


AFP/File / Patrik STOLLARZ A banner outside the building where former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is being held in northern Germany

The case lands a diplomatic hot potato in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's lap less than two weeks after her new government was sworn in.

Her spokesman insisted Monday that the decision on Puigdemont's extradition rested solely in the hands of the German regional justice authorities.

On Friday, Spain's supreme court issued international arrest warrants for 13 Catalan separatists including Puigdemont and his nominated successor Jordi Turull.

The court said they would be prosecuted for "rebellion", a charge which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Twelve more face less serious charges such as disobedience.

- Fresh elections? -

Issuing the warrant for Puigdemont on Friday, Judge Pablo Llarena accused the former Catalan leader of organising the referendum in October last year despite a ban from Madrid and the risk of violence.

That vote had been swiftly followed by the Catalan parliament's declaration of independence on October 27.

In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Committee said it had registered a complaint from Puigdemont, which his lawyer earlier said concerned Madrid violating Puigdemont's right to be elected and his freedom of expression and association.

While separatist parties won Catalonia's regional elections, which were called by Madrid in December, they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as their chosen candidates are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution.

Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22.

burs-dlc-dbh-ds/pmr/pvh

Latest world news: Earth-bound Chinese spacelab plunging to fiery end

source: afp
Earth-bound Chinese spacelab plunging to fiery end


AFP/File / STR China's Tiangong-1 or "Heavenly Palace" spacelab was put into into orbit in September 2011

An uncontrolled Chinese space station weighing at least seven tonnes is set to break up as it hurtles to Earth on or around April 1, the European Space Agency has forecast.

"It will mostly burn up due to the extreme heat generated by its high-speed passage through the atmosphere," it said in a statement.

Some debris from the Tiangong-1 -- or "Heavenly Palace" -- spacelab will likely fall into the ocean or somewhere on land, but the chances of human injury are vanishingly small, said Stijn Lemmens, an ESA space debris expert based in Darmstadt, Germany.

"Over the past 60 years of space flight, we are nearing the mark of 6,000 uncontrolled reentries of large objects, mostly satellites and upper (rocket) stages," he told AFP.

More than 90 percent of those bits of high-tech space junk weighed 100 kilos (220 pounds) or more.

"Only one event actually produced a fragment which hit a person, and it did not result in injury."

Lemmens calculated the odds of being struck by space debris at one in 1.2 trillion -- 10 million times less likely than getting hit by lightning.

The China Manned Space programme, which put Tiangong-1 into orbit in September 2011, has been mostly mum on the fate of China's first space station, designed to test technologies related to docking in orbit.

Daily updates on its official website have tracked its gradual descent -- average altitude as of Tuesday was 207.7 kilometres (129 miles) -- but not much else.

On Monday, China's state-run news agency Xinhua cited the agency as saying the spacelab "should be fully burnt as it reenters the Earth's atmosphere."

During its operational lifetime, Tiangong took part in two crewed missions, and an unmanned one.

As with all large satellites and spacecraft, the Chinese spacelab had been slated for a "controlled reentry" that would have seen it fall somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, far from human habitation.

In March 2016, however, the space station ceased functioning.

- 'Design for demise' -

With ground teams no longer able to ignite its engines, Tiangong is "expected to make an 'uncontrolled reentry'," the ESA said.


AFP / William ICKES Fall of Chinese space station Tiangong-1

"It can be surmised that Tiangong-1 will break up during its atmospheric reentry and that some parts will survive the process and reach the surface of Earth."

Debris has become a major headache for space agencies and private companies lobbing satellites and other modules into Earth orbit.

The problem is not what comes back down, but what stays in space.

More than 5,000 rockets launched since 1957 have hoisted some 7,500 satellites into orbit, with more than 4,300 of them still in place.

The US Space Surveillance Network tracks some 23,000 debris objects travelling at speeds of up to 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,500 miles per hour).

Statistical models estimate that there are nearly 30,000 objects of at least 10 centimetres across, and 20 times that number measuring between one and 10 cm in diameter.

"These form a real collision risk for spacecraft and manned space-flight activity," said Lemmens.

"What we really fear is the so-called 'Kessler Syndrome', whereby objects collide in an exponential cascade, with one collision causing thousands of fragments that in turn start colliding with others."

Not much can be done to reduce the volume of orbiting space junk, much of which will eventually drift into Earth's atmosphere and burn up.

To avoid further clutter, programmed reentry is crucial, said Lemmens. All nations capable of launching a spacecraft have signed a treaty making them liable for damages caused, in space or on Earth, he noted.

Future spacecraft will also be 'designed for demise' upon reentry.

A new generation of fuel tanks, for example, will replace ones currently made with titanium, which can withstand very high temperatures.

Tiangong-1 weighed 8.5 tonnes on take off, but with fuel consumption has probably shed at least one tonne.

Two charged with anti-Semitic murder of elderly French Jewish woman

SOURCE: AFP
Two charged with anti-Semitic murder of elderly French Jewish woman



AFP / Lionel BONAVENTURE A picture of Mireille Knoll and a message announcing a silent march in her memory outside her apartment building in Paris on Tuesday
French prosecutors have charged two people, one of them a neighbour, with the murder of an 85-year-old Jewish woman who was stabbed and whose body was then set alight in a crime being treated as anti-Semitic.

Mireille Knoll, who escaped the mass roundup and deportation of Jews from Paris during World War II, was found dead in her bed in her small apartment in eastern Paris on Friday by firefighters called to extinguish a blaze.

An autopsy showed she had been stabbed several times before being partly burned by a fire that was started in the apartment where she lived alone.

Two men are in custody on charges of murder as well as aggravated robbery and damaging property in a case investigators are treating as anti-Semitic.

"My mother, my sweet and gentle mother, murdered for being Jewish... in 2018, how is it possible?" her son Daniel Knoll wrote on Facebook.

The death of the frail octogenarian -- she was suffering from Parkinson's disease, one of her sons said -- has shocked France's Jewish community, coming a year after an Orthodox Jewish woman in her sixties was thrown out the window of her Paris flat by a neighbour shouting "Allahu Akhbar" (God is greatest).

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe plans to meet with Knoll's family on Wednesday, when Jewish groups have called for a silent march in her memory in Paris

Several leading politicians have said they will attend the march, except for officials from the far-right National Front whose presence "is not wanted", said Francis Kalifat of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations.

Reacting on Twitter, President Emmanuel Macron condemned the "dreadful" killing and reiterated his determination to fight anti-Semitism.

- 'She must have money' -

Pictures of Knoll circulated on Facebook showed a woman with lively brown eyes and bobbed hair.

"My grandmother was an admirable woman, very kind, very gentle," Noa Goldfarb, 34, told AFP.

"She didn't believe people could be evil. Maybe she was a bit too naive."

One of the suspects is a neighbour in his twenties who visited her regularly, according to her family.

A police source said the suspect had a previous conviction for sexual assault, while the second suspect, aged 21, has a history of violent robbery.

He was in the apartment building on the day of Knoll's death and his name was given to police by the first suspect, a police source said.

"The terrible thing is that one of the attackers told the other: 'She's a Jew, she must have money'," Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told parliament on Tuesday.

"There are the stereotypes we have to combat," he said.

A source had told AFP earlier that statements by one of the suspects and the fact that both knew Knoll was Jewish led them to conclude that the murder was motivated by her religion.

"She was a woman of modest means," her family's lawyer, Gilles-William Goldnadel, told AFP. "There was absolutely nothing of value to steal."

- Escaped deportation -

Knoll managed to escape the notorious 1942 roundup of more than 13,000 Jews in Paris by fleeing with her mother to Portugal when she was nine.

After the war she returned to the French capital and married a Holocaust survivor, who died in the early 2000s.

 
AFP / Thomas Samson Mireille Knoll, 85, was stabbed to death and then set alight in her flat in Paris, in a suspected anti-Semitic attack


The CRIF on Monday urged "the fullest transparency" by the authorities investigating Knoll's murder "so that the motive of this barbarous crime is known as quickly as possible."

Last month, a judge confirmed that the April 2017 murder of Sarah Halimi, the woman who was thrown out of her window, was motivated by anti-Semitism.

Jewish groups had reacted angrily to the investigators' delay in declaring that killing an anti-Semitic act.

Halimi's murder reignited the debate over anti-Semitism in working-class districts in France, where Jews have been targeted in several deadly jihadist attacks in recent years.

France's half-a-million-plus Jewish community is the largest in Europe but has been hit by a wave of emigrations to Israel in the past two decades, partly due to the emergence of a virulent strain of anti-Semitism in predominantly immigrant neighbourhoods.

In 2011, an Islamist gunman shot dead three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in the southwestern city of Toulouse.

Four years later, an associate of the two brothers who massacred a group of cartoonists at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo killed four people in a hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

NATO joins two dozen nations in Russian expulsions over spy attack

source: AFP
NATO joins two dozen nations in Russian expulsions over spy attack


AFP / Ben STANSALL Johnson called the expulsions a "turning point" in the West's attitude to Russia

NATO joined two dozen governments around the world Tuesday in expelling Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack in Britain, marking what London called a "turning point" in the West's relations with Moscow.

The US-led military alliance expelled seven Russian staff and denied accreditation to three more, bringing the total number of suspected Russian spies expelled to almost 150, including the 23 initially dispatched by Britain.

"This will send a clear message to Russia that there are costs and consequences for their unacceptable pattern of behaviour," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels.

In an unprecedented act of coordination, at least 24 countries have echoed Britain's action in response to the March 4 attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury.

London and its allies have blamed Moscow, citing the use of a Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok, Russia's record of targeting dissidents and its history of aggression in recent years, from Crimea to cyber-attacks.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the mass expulsions were "a blow from which Russian intelligence will need many years to recover".

It "could become a turning point", he wrote in The Times newspaper, adding: "The Western alliance took decisive action and Britain's partners came together against the Kremlin's reckless ambitions."

Skripal, a Russian military intelligence officer imprisoned by Moscow for passing on information about Russian agents in various European countries, came to Britain in a 2010 spy swap.


AFP / JIM WATSON US officials said that 48 "intelligence officers" attached to Russian diplomatic missions in the US would be expelled, along with 12 accredited to the United Nations in New York.


Moscow has fiercely denied any involvement in his attempted murder, instead pointing the finger at London.

It responded to Britain's expulsions with its own, and the closure of the British Council cultural organisation -- and on Tuesday promised it would hit back against the coordinated moves.

"We'll respond, have no doubt! No one wants to put up with such loutish behaviour and we won't," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the sidelines of a conference in Uzbekistan.

Lavrov said the coordinated response was the result of "colossal pressure, colossal blackmail" from the United States.

- 'Full Cold War' -


 AFP / NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA, Nicholas Kamm Washington led the way by ordering out 60 Russians in a new blow to US-Russia ties

Washington led the way in responding, ordering out 60 Russians in a new blow to US-Russia ties less than a week after President Donald Trump congratulated his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on his re-election.

Trump on Tuesday discussed the spy attack with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said, and expressed "support for the West's strong response."

Australia, Canada, Ukraine and 17 European Union states followed with smaller-scale expulsions, which have revived fears of a return to the Cold War.

"Relations between Russia and the West are entering a period of full Cold War," foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov wrote in the Vedomosti daily.

The Izvestia daily dismissed the expulsions as a "russophobic flashmob".

But Western officials made it clear in announcing the expulsions that they share Britain's assessment that only the Kremlin could have been responsible.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Washington and its allies were acting "in response to Russia's use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom".

The Skripals remain in a critical state in hospital, and Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that "they may never fully recover".

- 'No one is fooled any more' -

AFP/File / Ben STANSALL The expulsions were a response to the poisoning in England of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia


Britain has emphasised that the attack took place in the context of "reckless behaviour" by Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the annexation of Crimea.

May's spokesman said Tuesday that the "unprecedented" actions by allies were in part because they "recognise the threat that these Russian networks posed to the security of their own countries".

British officials say Russia has sought to divert attention by putting out more than a dozen explanations for the attack, the first using a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.


AFP / John SAEKI Russian envoys expelled

"There was a time when this tactic of sowing doubt might have been effective, but no one is fooled any more," Johnson wrote, adding that the expulsions were "a moment when the cynicism of the propaganda machine was exposed for all to see".

Washington's expulsions represented the largest ever of Russian or Soviet agents and came after US President Donald Trump's predecessor Barack Obama expelled 35 in late 2016 over alleged election meddling.

The Russian embassy in Washington responded by asking its Twitter followers to vote on which US consulate should be closed, listing those in Vladivostok, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg as options.

burs-ar/dt/ach

Head, Internal Operations at an Innovative Group of Companies - SDIL Nigeria

SDIL - Our client is an Innovative group of companies with a leading financial institution inclusive as part of the group of companies located in Lagos Nigeria.

Due to expansion, they are currently looking to hire enthusiastic and experienced candidates that are ready to learn and grow in the capacity below:

Job Title: Head, Internal Operations

Location: Lagos

Job Overview

• The job holder is responsible for overseeing internal operations which covers procurement, facility management, fleet management & logistics.
• The incumbent must have solid years of experience in supply chain management function and must be able to operate at a strategic level.

Job Responsibilities

• Improves and maintains the organization’s dispatch system, vehicle inspections and visitations.
• Ensures proper documentation of all lease transactions are obtained & maintained.
• Responsible for implementation and execution of all fleet support needs, including vehicle maintenance and repairs, fuel cards and expenses, vehicle assignment and tracking, and GPS management.

Operating Lease Transactions:

• Provides business support for the organization.
• Provides procurement and analytical expertise, including research, cost modeling and analytical support services, to inform procurement and category management, decision-making and strategy.
• Formulates and drives a consistent approach towards sourcing, purchasing and tendering activity within the organization, ultimately ensuring that value for money is maximized and cost savings are generated.

Job Requirements

• A minimum of 5 years progressive work experience in supply chain management function, administration or relevant field
• Bachelor's degree
• Demonstrated experience in managing large number of fleet

Remuneration
Salaries very attractive based on qualification and wealth of experience.

Application Closing Date
31st March, 2018.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's to: customercare.sdil@gmail.com

Latest Job For Operations Performance Manager at SDIL Nigeria

SDIL - Our client, is recruiting suitable candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: Operations Performance Manager

Location: Lagos

Job Description

• Operations Performance Manager is responsible for overall performance monitoring, assessment, review and reporting of business processes and support processes in the organization.

Role Purpose

• Establish and monitor operations performance management metrics, policies and processes
• Design, and build customized dashboards to manage and monitor interdepartmental process and third party support performance.
• Leverage expertise of Data Analysis Manager to proffer insight into supplied data
• Interpret performance data and reports to identify trends and generate appropriate courses of action
• Drive Operations Performance Analysts to provide key performance data related to products, channels and process owners.
• Monitor and Evaluate process owner performance in conjunction with HR
• Performance Management Executive, for necessary penalties or bonuses
• Select and effectively manage Operations Performance Analysts within the department to ensure delivery of overall targets.
• Oversees periodic Gap analysis for the different departments within the organization, to ensure continuous improvement.
• Perform a meaningful role in long-term planning and establishment of initiatives aimed at operational excellence

Requirements

• The job holder should have minimum of 5 years relevant experience, must be smart and proactive

Salary
Very attractive based on qualification and wealth of experience

Application Closing Date
31st March, 2018.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's to: customercare.sdil@gmail.com

2018 British American Tobacco Nigeria Global Graduate Marketing Recruitment Programme 2018

British American Tobacco (www.bat.com) is a market leading, global organisation with a long, established history and a bright and dynamic future. Thanks to our people we have continued to deliver growth and exceed expectations in an increasingly complex and challenging marketplace.

Our aim is to become the leading tobacco company in each of our markets by providing excellent products with confidence and responsibility expected of global consumer brands. If you have the talent and motivation to help us succeed you’ll find we are equally committed to helping you reach your full potential too.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Global Graduate Marketing Programme

Job number: 20760BR
Location: Lagos
Appointment type: Fixed term

Job Purpose and Key Deliverables

• We are BAT! A global leader with more than 200 brands in over 200 markets. And we bring together the world's brightest and best minds.
• That's why we value uniqueness. If you're driven, passionate and ambitious, our Global Graduate Programme will let you achieve your potential. It's 12-month, fast-track to management with unprecedented international exposure that's geared specifically for high-potential Individuals.
• Our Global Graduate Programme will give you numerous opportunities to further develop your career by working in various units across different functions.
• During your programme we will give you:
  • A real job with real impact from day one;
  • World-class leadership training in Global BAT Academy in England where you will establish networking with fellow graduates and senior colleagues from around the world;
  • Chance to make an impact on our international business participating in global cross-market projects, under the supervision of your dedicated Coach & Mentor;
  • Ultimately, it will set you up for a successful career ahead - the chance to progress from graduate to junior manager in 12 months.
• We're serious about putting you on the right career path, and consider our Global Graduate Programme as a stepping-stone to bigger and better things.
• It's tough. It's fast-paced. And it'll stretch you to the limit. If you have what it takes, no other organisation can offer a graduate experience quite like ours. The only question is: are you up to the challenge?
• If your answer is YES, then this may be the role for you. We are seeking for high calibre graduates to join our 2018 Graduate Programme!

Essential Requirements

• Are looking for an international career in Marketing;
• Speak English;
• Have a university degree or equivalent and maximum 3 years of relevant work experience in the above mentioned fields;
• Possess leadership skills demonstrated through extra-curricular activities;
• Possess strong intercultural competencies from international experience or personal background;
• Have strong analytical skills, driven and ambitious, inspiring and engaging individual;
• Are internationally mobile.

Our Benefits Package

• Competitive salary;
• Annual bonus;
• Voluntary medical insurance, life insurance;
• Awards for excellent work result.

Application Closing Date
15th April, 2018.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
click here to apply online>>>

Experienced Relationship Manager at United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA)

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) is one of Africa's leading financial institutions, with operations in 19 African countries and 3 global financial centres: London, Paris and New York. From a single country organisation founded in 1949 in Nigeria, UBA has grown to become a Pan-African provider of financial services with over 11 million customers, through close to 1000 business offices and touch points globally.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Relationship Manager

Reference No: RMLW0318
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Job Functions: Business Development,Marketing
Industries: Banking / Finance & Investment

Job Description

• Prepare annual marketing plans and strategies for liability generation
• Develop marketing plans and strategies for designated product ranges to enable achievement of targeted growth and profit objectives.
• Monitor and control business office income and expenditure to ensure profitability.
• Recommend the creation of risk assets to increase business office profitability
• Provide operational management support for retail teams
• Contribute to the effective launching of new products to ensure favorable market response and optimum build-up of revenue
• Facilitate, establish and maintain effective relationships with new and existing customers.
• Evaluate market research and competitor analyses in order to formulate marketing plans and strategies.
• Accountability for branch expenditure on products and services, such as the administration of consumer lending, current account transactions, overdrafts, credit cards and personal loans.
• Maintain and acquire customer relationships to improve deposit liability growth and mix.
• Providing strategic direction and operational support to team members
• Coach and motivate team to effectively execute their day-to-day tasks to meet corporate targets and delivery objectives

Specification
Qualification:

• Minimum Educational level - Bachelor's degree (2.2); relevant professional certification compulsory.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years experience in a similar role in a financial services institution

Key Skills:

• Ability to evaluate needs of customers, and determine what products or service would best serve those needs.
• Interpersonal skills.
• Excellent Negotiation skills.
• Good Communications skills(written and oral)
• Strong Selling and marketing skills
• Self-driven/proactive.
• Strong business acumen.
• Attention to details.
• Supervisory skills.

Application Closing Date
30th March, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
click here to apply >>>

Planning / Computerize Maintenance Management System (CMMS) Technician at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990  on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Planning / Computerize Maintenance Management System (CMMS) Technician

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• 5 to 10 years’ experience in maintenance planning for offshore oil and gas installations.
• Higher National Diploma or higher qualification.
• CMMS/SAP experience and know-how

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should forward their CV's to: hr@draisenergy.com

2018 Experienced Contract Site Representative at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Contract Site Representative

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in field of Maintenance on offshore oil and gas installations
• Chartered Engineer with B.Sc, B.Tech or HND in Mechanical, Electrical/Electronic Engineering
• SAP know-how and managerial Experience
• Experience in FPSO Operation and Maintenance will be an added advantage

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's to: HR@draisenergy.com

Latest Graduate Job For Hydraulic Senior Technician at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Hydraulic Senior Technician

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in Mechanical Maintenance for offshore oil and gas installations.
• Higher National Diploma or Higher qualification in Mechanical/Production Engineering
• Excellent SAP experience and know-how
• Ability to read and interpret P&IDs
• Participate in all audit activities (SHES, HAZOPS, RCFA, etc.)

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes (containing the below listed information's) to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com

The Resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Job Vacancy for Electrical Supervisor - Key at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Electrical Supervisor - Key

Location: Rivers

Job Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years work experience in Electrical Maintenance
• Higher National Diploma or Certificate (HND) or higher qualification.
• SAP experience and know-how
• Basic knowledge of the process of oil and gas treatment and thorough knowledge of equipment used in oil and gas installations
• Must have knowledge of HV & LV power distribution and controls network, HV & LV motor drives and alternators, Inverters, HV cells, variable speed units, light networks, switch gears and Generators.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Latest Job For Instrumentation Supervisor at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Instrumentation Supervisor

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in the maintenance field on offshore oil and gas installations.
• Higher National Diploma (HND) or Higher qualification in Electrical/ Instrumentation & Control Engineering
• SAP experience and know-how
• Must have handled flowmeters in all forms up to automation level
• Must have ability to install and calibrate ultrasonic flowmeters
• Participate in all audit activities (SHES, HAZOPS, RCFA....)
• Ability to read and interpret P&IDs.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The Resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Latest Experienced Mechanical or Hydraulic Technician at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Mechanical or Hydraulic Technician

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in the maintenance field on offshore oil and gas installations.
• Documented training in Mechanical Maintenance/Hydraulic systems field

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The Resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Latest Graduate Instrumentation Technician Job at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Instrumentation Technician

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in the maintenance field on offshore oil and gas installations.
• Higher National Diploma or Higher qualification in Electrical/Instrumentation & Control Engineering
• Documented training in maintenance field
• Must have handled flowmeters in all forms up to automation level
• Must have ability to install and calibrate ultrasonic flowmeters

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com

Graduate Support Engineer at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Support Engineer

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum: 5 years Work Experience in oil and gas industry where at least 3 years’ experience with offshore work requirements.
• B.Sc. Mechanical/Instrumentation/Electrical engineering or equivalent.
• SAP experience and know-how
• Experience in CMMS.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The Resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Experienced Graduate Engineer at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Engineer

Location: Rivers

Job Requirements

• Minimum of 5 years Work Experience in Oil and Gas industry where at least 3 years’ experience with offshore work requirements.
• B.Sc. in Mechanical/Instrumentation/Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• SAP experience and know-how
• Participate in all audit activities (SHES, HAZOPS, RCFA....)
• Ability to read and interpret P&IDs
• Participate and propose solution in interfaces resolution between contractors for all instrumentation matters
• Must have knowledge of DCS
• Experience in CMMS (Computerized Maintenance management system i.e. Planning)

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Latest 2018 Graduate Electrical Technician at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Electrical Technician

Location: Rivers

Job Requirements

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in Electrical maintenance field on offshore oil and gas installations
• Higher National Diploma
• Documented training in Electrical maintenance field

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.

Latest Graduate Job For Draftsman at Drais Energy Nigeria Limited

Drais Energy Nigeria Limited is a Private Company duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 on 26 November 2010 with RC No-923607.

The promoters of the company are vibrant professionals with diverse academic backgrounds who are determined to revolutionize the Oil and Gas maintenance, supplies and service sector as well as the Telecommunications industry by providing world class services at competitive cost.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Draftsman

Location: Rivers

Requirements

• Minimum of 3 years work experience with Trade test I, II, & III or equivalent.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Resumes to the "Recruitment Agents" via: HR@draisenergy.com The Resumes shall contain at least the following information:

• Personal data (name, age, nationality, etc.)
• Proposed position
• Educational qualification (attach copies of certificates)
• Other professional trainings
• Detailed work experience, including dates and detailed roles and responsibilities
• Fluency in English Language and Communication skills.
• Any other relevant information.

Note

• The proposed position must be the subject of the email.
• Only applicants who have undergone training and re-certification to update their knowledge and provide proof of same will be considered.