Guinea President Alpha Conde on Monday named Ibrahima Kassory Fofana as the countrys new prime minister amid heightened political tensions and suspicion about his intentions ahead of a 2020 election.

Fofana, a Conde loyalist and former minister of investment and public-private partnerships, replaces Mamady Youla, who resigned last week along with his government, according to a decree read on state television.

About 10 people died when riots erupted in the capital Conakry and other cities in February and March following local elections that the opposition said were marred by fraud.

Condes opponents also fear he intends to try to modify the constitution to stand for a third term in 2020. Conde has not yet commented on his intentions.

He did not provide an explanation for the latest government shakeup, but an official at the presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the president wanted an experienced man capable of making decisions.

Condes government has also faced repeated protests by civil servants and residents of mining towns, who complain that the countrys rich mineral deposits have not translated into improved public services or job opportunities.

Guinea is Africas top producer of bauxite, which is used to make aluminium. It also has significant reserves of iron ore.

Source: NAN

Czech Republic has delivered some arms to army to boost Nigerias counter insurgency operations.

The Army confirmed on Monday its receipt of support arms from the Czech Republic.

The military took delivery of different calibre of ammunition and spare parts, including rockets and projectile to boost the war against terrorism and other forms criminality.

Brig.-Gen. Olufemi Akinjobi, the Chairman of the Arms and Ammunition Reception Committee, told newsmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja that more weaponry were being expected from other countries.

Akinjobi declined to name the calibre of arms the committee took delivery of, saying they are support weapons for the operation Lafiya Dole and ongoing Operation Last Hold Borno North and Lake Chad region.

A few foreign military officers and senior officers were engaged to inspect and open the pallet containing the arms. (NAN)

Source: NAN

A senior Iranian military commander poured scorn on U.S. threats to tighten sanctions on Tuesday, saying the Islamic Republics people would respond by punching U.S. Secretary of States, Mike Pompeo in the mouth.

Pompeo said on Monday Washington would impose new penalties if Tehran did not make sweeping changes, including dropping its nuclear program and pulling out of the Syrian civil war.

Two weeks after President Donald Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, his administration has threatened to impose the strongest sanctions in history, setting Washington and Tehran further on a course of confrontation.

The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American Secretary of State and anyone who backs them, Ismail Kowsari, the deputy commander of the Sarollah Revolutionary Guards base in Tehran said, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.

Limiting Irans missile capabilities was one of Pompeos main demands.

Who are you and America to tell us to limit the range of ballistic missiles? Kowsari said, according to ILNA.

History has shown that with the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, America is the top criminal with regard to missiles, he added.

Qassem Soleimani, the head of the branch of the Revolutionary Guards that carries out operations outside Irans borders, was singled out by Pompeo as a top troublemaker in the Middle East.

Kowsari said that the Iranian people back Soleimani.

Soleimani is not a single person. The great people of Iran support him, Kowsari said.

Separately, Irans government spokesman said that the plan outlined by Pompeo would exacerbate the publics hostility to the U.S.

Do the Americans think that the silk glove that theyve taken out and the iron hand that theyve extended to the people, a hand thats backed by Israel and the [Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organisation], will make Iranian people think that America wants democracy? Mohammad Nobakht said on Tuesday, according to state media.

The Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) is an exiled Iranian armed opposition group which has called for the overthrow of the Iranian government for decades.

John Bolton, the U.S. national security advisor, has been a supporter of the MKO, which the Iranian government sees as a terrorist group. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN

Malaysias new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad made good his campaign pledge when he set up a task force to probe allegations that billions of dollars were looted from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB in an audacious fraud overseen by ousted ex-leader Najib Razak.

Mahathir led a reformist alliance to a shock victory at the May 9 polls over Najibs coalition, which had governed Malaysia uninterrupted for over six decades.

A major reason for their success was public disgust at allegations of endemic corruption among the countrys ruling elite, and in particular an explosive scandal surrounding state fund 1MDB.

The fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was set up in 2009 ostensibly to promote the development of the Malaysian economy.

But it is alleged that Najib, his family and cronies looted the investment vehicle in a massive fraud stretching from the Cayman Islands to New York, with stolen funds used to buy everything from real estate to artworks.

Mahathir who first served as premier from 1981-2003 and came out of retirement to take on corruption-mired Najib had pledged to reopen probes into 1MDB.

The special task force will be charged with seizing back assets and pursuing legal action against those suspected of breaking the law in relation to the fund, said the prime ministers office.

The government hopes the setting up of this task force, comprising a multi-agency enforcement unit, will help restore the dignity of Malaysia that has been tainted by the 1MDB kleptocracy scandal, said a statement from the office.

The task force will include representatives of the anti-graft agency, the police and the attorney-generals office, as well as members of a previous task force set up under Najib but disbanded as speculation mounted he was due to be charged.

Heading the body is Abdul Gani Patail, the former attorney-general who was removed from his post in 2015 at he was leading investigations into 1MDB.

Its work will include reaching out to law enforcement agencies in other countries, including the US, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada, according to a statement from Mahathirs office.

Huge sums of money from the fund are believed to have been funnelled round the world in a complex web of transactions.

Najib and 1MDB have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Police have already launched raids on properties linked to the toppled leader as they probe the fraud, seizing a huge stash of handbags and suitcases stuffed with cash, but Najib insisted at the weekend he had not stolen public money.

Source: NAN

China and the Netherlands early Monday successfully launched a lunar satellite which will listen for evidence of the Big Bang, the chain event that triggered the origins of the universe.

Xinhua news agency reported the satellite named Queqiao launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket that blasted off at 5:28 a.m. (21.28 GMT) from Chinas Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the countrys south-western province of Sichuan, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The launch is a key step for China to realise its goal of being the first country to send a probe to soft-land on and rove the far side of the Moon, Xinhua quoted Zhang Lihua, manager of the relay satellite project, as saying.

About 25 minutes after liftoff, the satellite separated from the rocket and entered an Earth-Moon transfer orbit, Xinhua reported.

Queqiao is carrying the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer, which will listen for low frequency radio signals that carry clues to the time a few hundred million years after the bang, when clouds of hydrogen were spawning the universes first stars, according to science news website space.com

Such frequencies are blocked by the earths atmosphere, according to the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, which built the Explorer.

Queqiao will be positioned 64,000 km from the farthest side of the Moon and will alsobe used in further lunar exploration by the China National Space Administration.

Besides the Explorer,Queqiaowill also launch two additional satellites Longjiang-I and Longjiang-II for Chinese experiments, according to space.com.

T(dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN

Police on Monday said 13 people died after consuming toxic alcohol in Indias northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar said five people died on Saturday and eight on Sunday after consuming the locally-brewed alcohol in Kanpur district.

Kumar said 10 others are being treated at various hospitals and the death toll could rise.

So far 11 people suspected of being involved in the manufacture and sale of the alcohol have been arrested.

Sale of the spirit with brand name Madhuri-442 has been banned.

We are carrying out raids to confiscate stores of the alcohol, Kumar said.

An average of 1,000 people, mostly from the poorer sections of society, die in India each year after consuming locally brewed alcohol, according to National Crime Records Bureau.

Trade in locally brewed alcohol thrives in India, because it is much cheaper than commercially produced alcohol.

The liquor is usually made with poor-quality ingredients, and sometimes mixed with industrial alcohol and toxic substances and incidences of deaths from consuming such alcohol hit the headlines regularly.

In some of the worst cases of such poisoning, 200 people died in 1992 in Orissa state, 180 in West Bengal in 2011 and 100 in Mumbai in 2015. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN

Mr. Olisa Metuh,former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has collapsedat the Federal High Court in Abuja as he was making his way to the dock for his resumed trial .

Metuh is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the N400m he allegedly received fraudulently from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014.

He fell down shortly after the case was called on Monday.

Details later

Source: NAN

Notable politicians, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have paid solidarity visit to former Plateau Governor Jonah Jane, being remanded in Jos prison over allegation of money laundry and misappropriation.

Mr Luka Ayedoo, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Plateau Command of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Jos.

Justice Daniel Longji of the Plateau High Court, Jos, had on May 16 ordered that the Senator representing Plateau North in the National Assembly be remanded in prison after refusing him bail.

Ayedoo listed others that also visited Jang at the weekend to include Prof. Jerry Gana, a PDP chieftain, some senators from the South-South region and Chief Chris Giwa, another PDP chieftain in Plateau.

Ayedoo said: at the weekend, we received Prof. Jerry Gana, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, senators and other notable Nigerians who came on solidarity visit to Sen. Jonah Jang.

Even though Jang is in prison custody, he still reserves the right to be visited and so we wont deny him that right, he said.

The PRO, however, said restrictions were placed on the caliber of people to visit the former governor so as not to turn the prison yard into a political arena.

Those we give express permission to see him are few political allies, family members, his doctor and his lawyer, he said. (NAN).

Source: NAN

A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lagos, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi on Monday said the party would overcome its present challenges and become more stronger.

Olusi, a member of the APC Elders Forum in the state, made the remarks in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said the holding of parallel congresses in some states on Saturday, though an issue did not mean differences among members were not reconcilable.

According to him, the development is not unusual as such differences are normal in a growing democracy like Nigerias.

Olusi said the issue should not be seen as an end to the partys ongoing reconciliation process being led by a former Lagos governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

He said the parallel congresses would rather help the process to succeed as it had exposed all the places where the committee needed to do serious work.

The chieftain charged the Tinubu committee to rise to the occasion, expressing the optimism that the party would be more cohesive and stronger at the end of the process.

You see disagreements are normal in politics, and we have seen that in the last congresses of our party; but that is not to say there is big crisis or that the reconciliation process is dead.

I believe a reconciliation effort led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is still on course.

The truth is, the issue of congresses came in the midst of reconciliation and the various parties to be reconciled had to go for congresses, that is why things happened that way.

The good thing is that the results of the congresses had shown the enormity of reconciliation the party has to do.

I believe the party is in control; all grievances will be addressed as some held parallel congresses just to prove a point.

I think the party will overcome all of these problems to become better at the end of the day, he said.

Olusi, however, said he believed that only one congress was held in Lagos, saying any other one could not stand.

He said any other congress aside that of the party Secretariat was a nullity, but expressed the optimism that all issues in the state chapter would also be resolved.

There was no parallel Congress in Lagos; you cannot build a house on nothing. There must be a foundation.

We had ward and council congresses and they were not challenged, since there were no parallel versions of the previous congresses, we cannot have a parallel state congress.

However, I understand that some people are aggrieved, we are all brothers and I am sure everything will be resolved, he said.

Source: NAN

Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup final on Saturday as Eden Hazard scored the winner with a first-half penalty.Here are three lessons from the Wembley showpiece:

In what could prove to be his final match as Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte enjoyed a sweet moment of vindication as he won his battle with old rival Jose Mourinho.

Conte had spent much of the season locked in a vitriolic feud with United boss Mourinho and although both claimed to have buried the hatchet this week, there was no doubting the Italians desire to beat his nemesis.

Conte played his part in Chelseas success, sending them out on the front foot in the first half and then ordering them to soak up Uniteds pressure after the interval.

It was a risky gambit but one that produced a handsome reward.

Yet Conte is aware his future at Chelsea is precarious after 12 months of tension behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge and their failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Our job is very difficult. Sometimes you can win but the club decides to sack you anyway, he said recently.

Contes dismissal would not be without precedent two years ago, United sacked manager Louis van Gaal within hours of winning the FA Cup.

It remains to be seen whether the Italian suffers the same fate after leading Chelsea to their first FA Cup since 2012.

For Mourinho, it was a rare disappointment on the big stage as he was beaten for only the third time in his 15 appearances in cup finals with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and United.

Criticised for adopting a cautious approach in Uniteds biggest games this season, Mourinho once again paid the price for being too conservative in the first half.

Mourinho had instructed Ander Herrera to stick close to Hazard, but that man-marking role left United out-numbered in midfield and the Belgian made and scored the winner anyway.

United improved in the second half, but it was too late to stop Mourinho finishing the season empty-handed as Conte celebrated.

Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez cost United over 120 million in total transfer fees, with their combined weekly wages amounting to around 500,000-per-week.

But all that eye-watering investment bought United was the latest in a long list of underwhelming displays from their supposed superstars.

Former Arsenal forward Sanchez had scored eight goals in as many games at Wembley for club and country, but in keeping with his lacklustre start to life with United, he was largely anonymous against Chelsea.

It didnt help that Pogba once again played for long periods as though engaged in nothing more serious than a Sunday kickabout in the park.

The duos lack of cohesion was encapsulated in the second half when Pogba and Sanchez fell over one after the other as the France midfielders miscued pass to the Chilean was intercepted to stifle a United break.

Pogba was so out of sorts that he didnt even hit the target with a late header that could have forced extra-time.

Hazard was the lynchpin of Chelseas two Premier League title triumphs over the last four seasons, but, like many of his team-mates, this had been something of a lost year for the Belgium playmaker.

The 27-year-old had sparked talk of a move to Real Madrid this week when he flexed his muscles with Chelseas hierarchy, insisting he wanted to see who they sign in the close-season before deciding whether to sign a new contract.

But if that was concerning for Chelsea fans, they could at least take heart from Hazards whole-hearted commitment to tormenting Uniteds over-matched defence.

Phil Jones was brutally exposed when Hazard caught him out of position with a sublime touch in the 22nd minute, accelerating away from the United defender, who responded by conceding a penalty that the unruffled Chelsea star converted with nonchalant ease.

It was only Hazards second goal in his last 16 appearances.

But it was his crafty contributions that kept Chelsea in control as the Belgian, who departed to a standing ovation, won the FA Cup for the first time.

Source: NAN