President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at The Hague called on the 123 States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to support the courts jurisdiction over serious cases of corruption and illicit financial flows.

Buhari made the call in a keynote at the Solemn Hearing to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

He said that a strong and effective ICC has the potential to send powerful messages about the international communitys commitment to accountability, a message that will be heard by both victims and perpetrators.

Equally, a strong and effective ICC demonstrates the international communitys commitment to the rule of law.

A strong and effective ICC can also act as a catalyst for other justice efforts, expanding the reach of accountability.

These could include serious cases of corruption by state actors that severely compromise the development efforts of countries and throw citizens into greater poverty.

These could also include cases of illicit financial flows where countries are complicit and obstruct repatriation of stolen assets. As the African Union Champion on Anti-corruption, these are issues dear to my heart.

He assured the international community of a free, fair and peaceful 2019 general elections in Nigeria, contrary to the tragic incidents that characterized the 2011 general elections, necessitating preliminary investigations by the ICC.

Referring to the tragic events in Nigeria in the aftermath of the 2011 general elections, which necessitated preliminary investigation by the Court, the President said: Nigeria is preparing to conduct general elections in 2019I assure you that all hands are on deck to prevent any recurrence of such tragic incidents.

We shall do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria witnesses the conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections in 2019.

The President had commenced his address by thanking the judges of the Court for electing a cherished son of Nigeria as President.

Let me start by congratulating you, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, on your election as President of the International Criminal Court, and also thank the judges of the Court for electing you, a cherished son of Nigeria. Nigeria is very proud of you, Mr. President, he said.

The Nigerian leader is the only President invited to grace the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the ICC Rome Statute.

NAN reports that out of the 123 States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC, 33African states while 19 are Asia-Pacific.

Others are 18 from Eastern Europe, 28 from Latin Ameica and the Carribean and 25 from Western European and other States

Over 25 high-level state officials, the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, O-Gon Kwon, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, ICC Registrar Peter Lewis, UN Legal Counsel Miguel de Serpa Soares, and other special guests, attended the event.(NAN)

Source: NAN

The Minister of Transportation, RotimiAmaechi on Tuesday received Blueprint Newspapers award for his contribution to the rail development and building of the first monorail system in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Amaechi received the award at the maiden edition of Blueprint Impact Series/Awards with the theme: Tolerance, Unity and Security: Building a Legacy for National Development held in Abuja.

According to the citation, Amaechi is a shining star in his current appointment as the minister of transportation.

The ministry has set to work to bring extensive changes to thecountrys transportation framework; the nations railway network has received attention under this administration.

It has now become a beacon of hope for both highly placed and common Nigerians. As a former Governor of Rivers, Amaechi built the first monorail system in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Receiving the award, Amaechi urged Nigerians to vote All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next general elections.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview after receiving the award, Amaechi appreciated the Blueprint Management for recognising his contributions to national development.

The minister, however, said that the award would inspire the recipients to do more in their various fields.

I am grateful to blueprint, the management and the board, the award is to task us further to do our best in our various assignments and fields.

Among other dignitaries that received awards were Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele and Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central.

Source: NAN

Former US President Barack Obama addressed some 15,000 people in South Africa on Tuesday to mark the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandelas birth.

The address came a day after his successor, Donald Trump, upbraided the US in a news conference with Vladimir Putin.

Source: NAN

The United Global Resolve for Peace (UGRFP) has called on the National Assembly to urgently come up with a legislation that will check vote buying which has become a serious threat to Nigerian democracy.

UGFRPs Executive Director, Olaseni Shalom, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said that Nigeria had been a victim of series of anti-democratic activities and power hungry politicians.

According to him, there has never been a greater threat to Nigerias democracy than the dangerous trend of cash for votes.

The National Assembly as a matter of urgency should address this national embarrassment of voters inducement and protect the sanctity of our constitutional rights.

I will continue to urge my fellow Nigerians to outrightly reject this inducement and always vote their conscience.

This horrendous trend started off as incentives and has often being excused away as a means of appreciation and emoluments to party members and goodwill to the PVC holders.

This obnoxious disease is suffered by every fabric of the society which celebrates some sort of rewards and often times bribes in order to carry out duty and has also eaten deeply into the hearts of our leaders and representatives, he said.

He said that those that argued that the economy was bad and that the poor masses only took the money but voted their hearts were only enabling the dangerous trend.

Shalom said that vote buying had held Nigerias democracy hostage for too long, adding that it was high time Nigerians got rid of it.

According to him, INEC and the law enforcement agencies have shown there is not much they can do to root out this menace as evident in the recent elections conducted in the country.

Source: NAN

The Deputy National Chairman (North), Sen. Lawal Shuaibu has summoned Governor Samuel Ortom and Senator George Akume, the two main actors in the tussle for leadership of the Benue chapter of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ), for a meeting in Abuja..

Both Ortom and Akume, also a former governor of the state, have been at daggers-drawn over the control of the party.

Gov. Ortom had on Monday in Makurdi shortly after swearing in a new Special Adviser on Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Jerome Shimbe, renounced his membership of APC.

According to the governor, he has ceased to be a member of the APC, following what he called a red card given to him.

He said the red card from APC would enable him to join any political party that has an ideology worthy of being adopted by his administration.

The governor stated that the strained relationship between him and the party, under which he contested the 2015 governorship election in 2015, had left him without a party.

However, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, had on Monday in Abuja, described the alleged exit of the governor from the party as a rumour.

Source: NAN

No fewer than 125 Senegalese migrants have been rescued off Mauritanian territorial waters by the countrys coastguard.

The migrants were rescued from a wooden canoe which had run out of water after surfing the waves for two days.

They included seven women and an unspecified number of children, and were trying to reach the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands.

They will be sent to their country of origin, according to regulations in Mauritania.

It would be recalled that early in June, 53 predominantly Senegalese migrants were arrested by the Mauritanian gendarmerie off Nouadhibou, while heading for the Canary Islands.

Three weeks later in Nouadhibou, another group of nine Senegalese and one Beninoise were also detained by Mauritanian gendarmes for the same reasons.

Nouakchott and Madrid are bound by an agreement which provides for the arrest by Mauritania of all illegal migrants on its territory heading to Spain.

As part of this agreement, the Spanish authorities are providing logistical and training assistance to the Mauritanian ()

Source: NAN

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has placed a N10 million bounty on the killers of four policemen in Sabongida Ora, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo, on July 14.

This was announced by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, after an emergency security meeting between the governor and security chiefs in Benin on Monday.

The bounty was the second to be announced after the gruesome killings of the policemen. The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahin Idris had also announced a N5m reward for information on the killers, as well as those who killed seven policemen at Galadimawa in Abuja on 2 July.

According to Osagie, the Benin meeting was attended by the heads or representatives of the Police, the Army, Department of State Security (DSS); Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); and Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Obaseki described the killing as appalling and ordered a comprehensive investigation into the killings and the arrest of the assailants.

The governor pledged to support the families of the four policemen killed while on duty and maintained that the killers must be arrested and brought to book, Osagie said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obaseki had earlier condemned the ambush and killing of the four policemen on receiving report of the killings.

Media reports said the four policemen, attached to the Sabongida-Ora Divisional Police Headquarters, were killed at a road block at Uzebba-Aviosi junction along Ifon road, Sabongida-Ora on July 14 while on a routine patrol.

Source: NAN

Usain Bolt is on the verge of sealing a deal to trial with the A-Leagues Central Coast Mariners, the Australian club said Tuesday, as the sprint legend pursues his dream of playing professional football.

Eight-time Olympic champion Bolt, 31, who retired from athletics after Augusts World Championships in London, is an avid Manchester United fan who has long dreamt of playing top-flight football.

The 100m and 200m world record-holder trained with Norwegian club Stromsgodset last month and Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund in March.

The planned arrangement will see him take part in a six-week trial starting next month at the Mariners base in Gosford, some 75 kilometres (47 miles) north of Sydney, chief executive Shaun Mielekamp said.

A season-long deal could follow if it goes well, he told commercial broadcaster Channel Seven.

Football agent Tony Rallis, who has been working on the deal, told Sky Sports Radios Big Sports Breakfast Tuesday it has been agreed in principle subject to a couple of benchmarks.

Mainly, a trial, and of course marquee funds support from (governing body Football Federation Australia), he said, adding that the arrangement was not a gimmick.

Once the FFA comes back and says that theyll be part of the process, were going to the trial This blokes an ambitious athlete. The A-League needed a hero, and we got superman.

Mielekamp said his club had been working on the agreement for four to five months, and there was still some work to do.

But fingers crossed things might play out, but the most important thing is we wait to find out and see how good a footballer he is first.

If all goes well, who knows? He may be playing in the A-League this season.

Mielekamp said reports of Bolts performance at the European clubs he has trialled with have been pretty good, and that every time he trains, he improves significantly.

He has a very good left foot, and time will tell at what level he is at and if it fits the A-League it would only be big if he could play and go really well, he said.

If he comes in and he is not up to the level, it could have a detrimental effect.

Bolt has dominated sprinting since taking double individual gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The charismatic sportsman went on to win a further six Olympic

Source: NAN

India has ordered an immediate inspection of all childcare homes run by a religious order founded by Mother Teresa after a nun was arrested over an alleged adoption racket.

Illegal adoption is big business in India, with over 100,000 children reported missing every year, the government says. Many are given up by desperately poor parents but others are snatched from hospitals and train stations.

Police earlier this month arrested the nun and a worker at one of the Missionaries of Charity orders homes in Ranchi, the capital of eastern Jharkhand state, over allegations that at least five infants were sold for potentially thousands of dollars.

The scandal blew up after local child welfare authorities informed police about a newborn missing from the home, which is meant to care for unwed pregnant women and mothers in distress.

In a statement late Monday, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said all state governments have been asked to get child care homes run by Missionaries of Charity all over the country inspected immediately.

She also said all childcare institutions should be registered and linked to the central adoption authority within the next month.

In December Indias Supreme Court had ordered mandatory registration of all childcare institutions and bringing orphanages under the central adoption system.

Since then some 2,300 childcare institutions have been linked to the Central Adoption Resource Authority and about 4,000 are still pending, according to the government.

In the aftermath of the adoption scandal, the Missionaries of Charity had said it would carefully look into the Jharkhand case and ensure the incident was never repeated.

The charity was founded in 1946 by Mother Teresa, a global symbol of compassion who was canonised as a saint after her death in 1997.

Headquartered in Kolkata in eastern India, the charity runs several institutions across the country.

Missionaries of Charity was previously involved in providing legal adoption services in India, but in 2015 said it was closing down its adoption centres, citing new regulations that made it easier for single and divorced people to adopt children.

Source: NAN

British engine maker Rolls-Royce revealed plans this week to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed the flying taxi, which takes off and lands vertically and could be airborne within five years.

The London-listed aerospace giant, which is based in Derby in central England, showed off the plans at the Farnborough Airshow for the first time, as other players also rush into the market segment.

Rolls said it hoped to manufacture a prototype version of its electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) vehicle within the next 18 months, and could potentially take to the skies in the early 2020s.

The Rolls-Royce EVTOL plane will seat four or five people, with a flying range of 500 miles (805 kilometres) and a top speed of 200 miles per hour.

In this market, you will see something like this flying within three to five years, and we will demonstrate the system in two years, said Rob Watson, head of Rolls-Royces electrical team.

At the end of next year we will be flight ready, he told AFP at the groups Farnborough chalet.

The hybrid vehicle, which has so far cost single-digit millions of pounds to develop, will use a traditional gas turbine engine with an electrical system wrapped around it.

Rolls-Royce is also researching an all-electric product but that is not as advanced as the EVTOL offering.

There is an emerging market for all-electric planes but we believe that you need a level of requirement that an all electric system cannot really provide today, Watson told AFP.

So, all-electric is the way to hop around within a city, but if you want to travel 200 or 300 miles, if you want to run London to Paris, then you are going to want to run something that will give you that range.

So we think you will see hybrid propulsion systems starting to make this market.

Rolls-Royce is not alone in the hybrid flying taxi marketplace.

Other companies researching the sector include US taxi-hailing company Uber, the Google-backed Kitty Hawk project, Lilium Aviation in Germany, Safran in France, and Honeywell in the United States.

Source: NAN