Citizens protested against Fulani invasion in Asaba: Photos

Earlier today the major highway from Delta to Anambra was blocked by peaceful demonstrators who are vexed by the incessant maiming and incursion of Fulani herdsmen into their environment. According to the protesters, almost on a daily basis are farmers and other locals killed by herdsmen and are prevented from going their normal businesses. Despite the intervention of members of the Nigerian police force the protesters have promised not to flinch unless the Delta state governor visits the scenario and attends to their plight.

Japan Earthquake affects Toyota, Honda, others!

Major Japanese companies are suffering from the fallout from the deadly earthquakes that have hit the country in recent days.

Toyota (TM), the world's largest automaker by sales, is one of the hardest hit among the big corporations. The company said it's experiencing a parts shortage as a result of the quakes and is suspending production on a number of its vehicle assembly lines across Japan this week.

Toyota shares tumbled 4.8% on Monday, helping drag down the benchmark Nikkei by 3.4%.

A series of earthquakes shook the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, a major auto manufacturing hub. The two strongest quakes hit on Thursday and Saturday, killing dozens of people and damaging thousands of buildings.

Other large automakers also reported problems in the aftermath of the disasters.

Honda (HMC) has halted operations at a motorcycle factory in Kumamoto, the city where the most powerful earthquake struck. The plant, which usually churns out 750 bikes a day, will remain shuttered until at least Friday, when the company says it will make a decision on whether to reopen it.

Related: Sony is bringing PlayStation games to smartphones

Two Nissan (NSANF) factories also sustained some damage. The company said that the plants have reopened, but that it's too early to say when they will return to full capacity.

Beyond the auto industry, the technology company Sony (SNE) said it stopped operations at a manufacturing facility in Kumamoto that makes semiconductors and image sensors.

The company is still surveying the damage to determine when the plant can resume normal operations, but aftershocks in the area continue. Some production at two other Sony facilities was temporarily halted and then restarted on Sunday.

Despite the disruption, analysts say the effects of the quakes on Japanese industry are unlikely to be protracted.

"The scale of damage does not appear huge, and production shutdowns by major manufacturers should be reversed before long," Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics wrote in a research note.

Credit:  (CNN International) 

BREAKING: EKWEREMADU BECOMES ACTING SENATE PRESIDENT!

In order to attend his ongoing 13-count corruption trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Senate President Bukola Saraki has exited his chair for his Deputy Ike Ekweremadu as Senate plenary continues for the day.

Distinguished Senators exchanged pleasantries as Senate President, Bukola Saraki handed over Ekweremadu after taking the official opening prayer of the Senate.
Long live acting senate president Ekweremadu! Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Islamic State in Egypt claims it brought down Russian plane; 224 dead

Islamic State in Egypt claims it brought down Russian plane; 224 dead
Terror group hails success, although Sinai officials say technical failure led to crash; Putin dispatches investigators

By TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF AND AP
October 31, 2015, 4:42 pm

The Islamic State terror group in Egypt claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian passenger plane on Saturday carrying 224 people, according to Hebrew media.

IS in Egypt, formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, published the claim of responsibility — as yet unconfirmed — hours after the plane, traveling from from the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh back to St. Petersburg, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula with 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board.

“The soldiers of the caliphate succeeded in bringing down a Russian plane in Sinai,” said the statement circulated on social media. “More than 220 Crusaders were on board. All were killed, praise God.”

There were no survivors in the crash.

Earlier, the Russian airline operating the plane, Kogalymavia, also known as Metrojet, said there were “no grounds” to blame human error, intimating that the incident may not have been an accident. Still, security sources in Sinai told Reuters that, according to an initial investigation, the plane crashed due to technical fault.

An Egyptian aviation official says the pilot of Metrojet Flight 7K9268 had reported technical difficulties and planned an emergency landing at the nearest airport before losing contact with Egyptian air traffic controllers and crashing. Ayman al-Muqadem, a member of the Aviation Incidents Committee, said the pilot had reported his intention to attempt to land at the nearest airport.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian emergency officials to fly immediately to the wreckage of the plane.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities raided the offices of Kogalymavia in Moscow, according to Reuters, and seized documents. The reason was not immediately clear.

A statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said military search and rescue teams found the wreckage of the passenger jet in the Hassana area south of the city of Al-Arish, an area in northern Sinai where Egyptian security forces are fighting a burgeoning Islamic militant insurgency led by the local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.

The group is responsible for numerous attacks against Egyptian security services in the Sinai over the past two years.

Russia recently began its own aerial campaign against Syrian rebel groups, including IS, in war-torn Syria, in an effort to bolster its ally, Bashar Assad.

Militants in northern Sinai have not previously shot down commercial airliners or fighter-jets. They are said to have obtained Russian shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles, which could be used against low-flying aircraft or helicopters. In January of last year, they claimed to have down an Egyptian military helicopter; Egypt confirmed a helicopter crash at the time.

Army Condemns Cowardly Attitude Of Soldiers Who Fled From Bokoharam

CHIEF of army staff Lt General Tukur Buratai has castigated troops of the Nigerian Army and called them cowardly for abandoning their weapons and fleeing in the face of a Boko Haram attack at Geidam in Yobe State.

Last week, Boko Haram terrorists attacked the town killing dozens in a bloody Fun, forcing local resident to flee. Lt General Buratai was unhappy about the fact that Geidam had a unit of soldiers' posters there who should have been able to fend off the attack but in the face of enemy fire they fled.

Speaking in Lagos during his maiden tour of units and commands under the 81st Division of the Nigerian Army, Lt General Buratai emphasised the need for a serious review of the attitude of the troops towards the ongoing war. He noted that despite having the necessary weapons and equipment that will enable them protect themselves, civilians and properties, the soldiers in Geidam did not attack the insurgents.

Lt General Buratai said: “Two, three days back, I was in Geidam and the attitude of our troops calls for a serious review because they have the equipment, weapons and everything they require to protect themselves and indeed citizens that are there. However, they just went and sat down without adopting the proper battle procedures.

“I have given them very strong warning and some of you may find yourselves around that area and if you go there, you must behave very professionally. You must apply all the battle principles that you have been taught and deploy the weapons and equipment properly.”

He added that he had to go to Geidam after the Boko Haram attack to see things for himself, assuring that the loopholes are being addressed. According to General Buratai, immediately after  his visit, Boko Haram attempted to move into Geidam but the soldiers stood up and conquered that attack and pursued them and the terrorists have been on the run ever since.

Lt General Buratai also warned army personnel to remain apolitical, stressing that their moves were being monitored and anyone found romancing politicians will be dealt with accordingly. He also insisted that the December deadline given by President Muhammadu Buhari for the military to end Boko Haram was achievable.

Comedians have ‘high levels of psychotic traits’ .... Research

 

Some comedians may use performance as a form of self-medication, say researchers

Comedians have personality types linked with psychosis, like many other creative types, which might explain why they can entertain, researchers claim.

They score highly on characteristics that in extreme cases are associated with mental illness, a study by Oxford University researchers suggests.
Unusually, they have high levels of both introversion and extroversion.
The team says the creative elements needed for humour are similar to traits seen in people with psychosis.
The idea that creativity in art and science is connected with mental health problems has long captured the public imagination.
However, there has been little research on whether comedians have some of the traits - in a healthy form - associated with psychosis (delusions or hallucinations that can be present in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder).
Unusually introverted Researchers from the University of Oxford and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust studied 523 comedians (404 men and 119 women) from the UK, US and Australia.
The comedians were asked to complete an online questionnaire designed to measure psychotic traits in healthy people.
The four aspects measured were:

• Unusual experiences (belief in telepathy and paranormal events)
• Cognitive disorganisation (distractibility and difficulty in focusing thoughts)
• Introvertive anhedonia (reduced ability to feel social and physical pleasure, including an avoidance of intimacy)
• Impulsive non-conformity (tendency towards impulsive, antisocial behaviour).

The questionnaire was also completed by 364 actors - another profession used to performing - as a control group, and by a group of 831 people who worked in non-creative areas.
The researchers found that comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits than the general group, with particularly high scores for both extroverted and introverted personality traits.
The actors scored higher than the general group on three types - but not on introverted the personality aspect.
The researchers believe this unusual personality structure may help explain the ability of comedians to entertain.
Thinking 'outside box'

Professor Gordon Claridge, of the University of Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology, said: "The creative elements needed to produce humour are strikingly similar to those characterising the cognitive style of people with psychosis - both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."
He said although schizophrenic psychosis itself could be detrimental to humour, in a lesser form it could increase people's ability to associate odd or unusual things or to think "outside the box".
Manic thinking, which is found in those with bipolar disorder, may help people combine ideas to form new, original and humorous connections, he added.
Prof Claridge told BBC News: "Comedians tend to be slightly withdrawn, introverted people who may not always want to socialise, and their comedy is almost an outlet for that. It's a kind of self-medication."
Dr James MacCabe, of the Institute of Psychiatry, at King's College, London, said: "Psychosis is not a problem with personality, it's a more severe disorder than that.
"People with psychosis and schizophrenia have a very impaired ability to appreciate humorous material.
"This study tells us some interesting things about the differences between comedians and actors but not about the link with psychosis."
Paul Jenkins, CEO of the charity Rethink Mental Illness said these were interesting findings, but we must guard against the "mad creative genius stereotype".
"Mental illnesses like schizophrenia can affect anyone, whether they are creative or not. Our knowledge and understanding of mental illness still lags far behind our understanding of physical illnesses, and what we really need is much more research in this area."

The research is published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

BBC

Iran to hang condemned man for SECOND time

Death row drug offender Alireza M was found to be still breathing in prison morgue a day after being hanged for 12 minutes

.

A death row prisoner is to be hanged again after officials botched his execution.
Alireza M, 37, was certified dead after being hanged for 12 minutes and taken to the prison morgue.
But when his family went to collect his body for burial a day later, they discovered he was still breathing.
A relative said: “When we went to the coroner’s office we found him alive again which made his two ­daughters very happy.”
Alireza, who was convicted of drug crimes, is under armed guard in a hospital close to the jail where he was being held in Bojnourd, northeast Iran.
But the country’s judiciary said his reprieve would be brief.
An official said: “The verdict was the death penalty and it will be carried out when he’s well.”
Iran is thought to have executed 560 people this year, including 200 since new “moderate” president Hassan Rouhani came to power in June.
Crimes punishable by death include theft and “un-Islamic behaviour”. Only China executes more people.

Mirror News

Teacher Sues Viagra Due to Permanent Erection

 
Belgium: Teacher Sues Viagra Due to Permanent Erection hardatit Antwerp| Ian Minxël, an 49-years old french teacher in a belgian high school, is intending a 3 million € lawsuit against the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, producer of Viagra, after spending the last nine months with a constantly erect penis. “They say it’s a pretty rare side effet, that they ‘feel sorry’ and ‘consider it tragic’, but I’m the one everyone sees as a pervert!” he tells our journalist. “My doctor says that my condition could be permanent, can you imagine that? I go in class to teach and all my students keep staring at my crotch all the time. It’s excessively embarassing!” Pfizer has emitted an short statement, saying: ” We want to reassure the population. M. Minxël is one in a thousand case only a few thousand people out of our millions of satisfied users have had similar problems. There is no need to fear using our product, it is excessively safe.” - See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/belgium-teacher-sues-viagra-due-to-permanent-erection/#sthash.E0grSVeF.dpuf

INCREDIBLE: Astronaut Forgotten on Moon 40 Years Ago, Found Alive

NASA has confirmed that their latest space mission with russian help, achieved to recover Captain William Sly, an American astronaut forgotten on the moon by the Appollo-17 mission more than 40 years ago. “We sincerely feel horrible” explains NASA public relation secretary, Wenda Metternich. “It’s true that he always was so vapid and forgettable that it’s not entirely surprising that they forgot him there, but that no one noticed that he was missing in the forty years he was there, not even his wife or children… that’s unacceptable!” The poor man was abandonned with very little food and almost no equipment on the lunar ground, when the rest of the crew left to go back to Earth. He achieved to survive by recycling the water in his urine and by eating a mix of lunar rat meat and moondust, which ended up grinding his teeth to dust over the years. The worst thing seems to have been the numerous years of loneliness, as he spent most of his time playing solitaire and masturbating. The experience seems to have left important physical and psychological conséquences on the poor man, who will be hospitalized for a few days until more tests are done to evaluate his state.