War lords have reached a ceasefire agreement to end years of hostilities, protect civilians, safeguard public and private property in war-torn North African country, Libya.

The agreement was reached under the auspices of Ghassan Salame, the top United Nations official in Libya.

The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announce in a tweet posted on its official Twitter account.

Tripolis Meitiga International Airport, which had been closed since violence flared up, would also be opened under the deal.

The accord was signed by representatives of the Government of National Accord (GNA), military commanders, security apparatuses and armed groups present in and around Tripoli.

Scores of civilians had been killed and hundreds injured across residential areas of the Libyan capital since fighting escalated last week.

Spokesperson for UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Charlie Yaxley, said that the use of heavy weapons and shelling in civilian neighbourhoods had caused death, destruction and displacement, and is of great concern.

We are closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with the Libyan Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration and UN agencies, and advocating for all refugees and migrants to be relocated to a safer place, Yaxley said.

According to the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a humanitarian worker trying to evacuate civilians trapped in a neighbourhood was reportedly shot , while one of the armed groups involved was alleged to have confiscated three ambulances.

UN agencies, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNHCR, have stepped up their response, with WHO delivering trauma medicines for 200 critical cases, keeping another 2,000 more units on standby and deploying 10 mobile emergency trauma teams to areas where fighting is ongoing.

Similarly, UNHCR is dispatching emergency items to families seeking shelter at a local school, the UN said.

In a statement prior to the announcement of the ceasefire, Syed Hussain, Head of WHO operations in Libya, said the agency was working with national health authorities and partners on the ground to respond to increasing health needs.

Hussain, however, said roadblocks remain a major challenge to the delivery of health care, especially ambulances that are unable to reach the injured.

With greater numbers of injured civilians expected, it is imperative that doctors and other health staff be allowed to move freely so that they can save lives without delay, and without risk to their own personal safety, he added.

There were also reports that a migrant detention facility was hit, causing great concern over the safety of migrants and refugees.

According to UN reports, there are about 8,000 arbitrarily detained migrants trapped in detention centres in areas where fighting had been taking place, without access to food or medical treatment.

The reports added that some migrants, released from detention, had subsequently been captured by armed groups and forced to work for them. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Fearing more defections of aggrieved members, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has resolved to expand the Kano State Caretaker committee to accommodate all interest groups.

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party took the action in line with its adherence to the principles of all-inclusiveness.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday in Abuja said the party was also open to opinions and suggestions from stakeholders.

This according to Ologbondiyan is to allow ensure reconciliation and accommodation for all interests within its fold in the state, so as to ensure good governance to the people of the state.

Ologbondiyan said no stone would be left unturned in the overall quest to bring good governance to Kano state, while putting in place machinery to hedge the infiltration of fifth columnists into the partys fold in the state.

The party leadership further assures of its preparedness to engage with all stakeholders in Kano provided all matters in court against the party are withdrawn, as all members work together to build a united PDP that can confront and send out APC governance in Kano state and Nigeria at large.

Furthermore, the NWC urges all stakeholders to always emulate our members in Benue state in the way and manner they united to resolve all issues concerning party structures of their state.

Reports say that the state chapter of the party had been torn apart by intrigues and power struggle.

It was reported on Tuesday that a notable member of the party in the state was a former governor and minister has dumped the party because of power struggle with a member who recently joined the party. (NAN)

Source: NAN

A 64-year-old woman in Maryland, U.S., has been mauled to death by her newly adopted pit bull, police has said.

Officers reported to the victims home Monday night after receiving a call about a female, Robin Conway of Columbia, getting mauled to death by a pit bull she had adopted only two weeks earlier, Howard County Police Department said in a Facebook news release.

Police said a relative found a wounded Conway in the yard with the dog standing over her and called 911.

The individual managed to restrain the animal by tying the animal to the fence, police said.

Officers found Robin Conway, 64, deceased in her back yard with significant injuries.

The dog, still attached to the post, was barking and lunging on the leash and had to be subdued by animal control officers and ultimately euthanized, police said.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the womans official cause of death.

A necropsy of the dog will help determine if it had rabies or other medical concerns, police said.

Details surrounding the dogs adoption were unavailable, police said, though they said it did come from another state.

Source: NAN

The war songs between President Donald Trump and Syrias Bashar al-Assad has intensified with the U.S. number one citizen warned the Syrian President and his allies in the region not to attack rebels in the countrys Idlib province.

Trump warned in a tweet that hundreds of thousands could be killed if the attack is allowed to go on.

The tweet came shortly after Irans foreign minister said terrorists must be purged from Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in the country.

Mohammad Javad Zarifs comments in Damascus came as Syrian forces and their allies are preparing for an assault.

Syrias territorial integrity should be safeguarded and all tribes and groups, as one society, should start the reconstruction process, and the refugees should return to their homes, Zarif said, according to Irans Fars news agency.

Reports say Assad is planning a huge offensive in Idlibreportedly with three million live.

Syria has been fighting in a seven-year civil war, and Russia and Iran have backed Assad.

U.N. officials believe an offensive on Idlib would trigger a wave of displacement that could uproot an estimated 800,000 people and discourage refugees from returning home.

The U.S. and France have warned an Idlib offensive would trigger a humanitarian crisis and warned that a chemical attack in Idlib would prompt a western retaliation.

All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib, #NoChemicalWeapons, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, posted on Twitter.

Source: NAN

Mr. Donald Duke, former Cross River State governor, has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

He made the announcement on Tuesday at the National Secretariat of the SDP, where he revealed that he will be running for the office of the President come 2019.

Duke was received by the partys National Secretary, Mr. Shehu Gabam, and other officials of the party.

The former governor had earlier showed interest in running for Presidency under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Details later .

Source: NAN

Twenty-eight years after her affair with Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky appears not to have forgiven her former boss.

Lewinsky on Monday stormed out of an interview in Israel, at a conference after the interviewer asked her a question about the former U.S. President.

Lewinsky was sitting for the question-and-answer session after speaking about the pros and cons of the Internet at a conference organized by the Israel Television News Company on Monday.

The interviewer asked if Lewinsky was still waiting for a personal apology from Clinton, Haaretz reported.

Recently in an interview with NBC News, former President Clinton was rather irate when he was asked if he ever apologized to you personally, news anchor Yonit Levi said. Do you still expect that apology, the personal apology?

Lewinsky, 44, replied, Im so sorry, Im not going to be able to do this, before storming off stage.

Lewinsky became a household name after her affair with Clinton in the 1990s when she was working as a White House intern in her early-20s.

Often ridiculed, she became an anti-bullying advocate and activist.

She later took to twitter to defend herself, saying that there were clear parameters about what we would be discussing and what we would not.

The exact question the interviewer asked first, she had put to me when we met the day prior, I said that was off limits.

When she asked me it on stage, with blatant disregard for our agreement, it became clear to me I had been misled.

Lewinsky said that walking off stage sent the message that it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control their narrative.

The NBC interview that Levi referenced took place back in June. Clinton was asked by Craig Melvin if he ever personally apologized to Lewinsky.

Ive never talked to her. But I did say, publicly, on more than one occasion, that I was sorry, Clinton said during the interview.

He also took issue with Melvins line of questioning, saying: Someone should ask you these questions, because of the way you formulate the question.

Source: NAN

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr Mark Lowcock, has said that in spite of improvements in the humanitarian situation the crisis in the Lake Chad region is not over.

He said that millions of people continue to remain dependent on life-saving assistance.

The top UN relief chief at the Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad Basin region on Monday, urged greater international support for the region to safeguard the progress achieved.

There is still a big humanitarian crisis. It is not over despite the progress we have made, Lowcock told a high-level humanitarian conference on the region.

In February, the meeting at a UN-backed conference in Oslo, Norway, donors pledged over $650 million towards emergency assistance programmes in 2017 and beyond.

According to him, these resources helped achieve a significant scale-up in the humanitarian response, reaching more than six million people with assistance, and averting a famine in Northeast Nigeria.

However, he said that humanitarian needs had continued to grow and so do the resources needed to respond.

Of the $1.58 billion required for 2018, only about $600 million or 38 per cent had been received as of July 25, he said.

The appeal we had on the humanitarian response plan this year has been generously financed but not to the degree where any of us can be comfortable that we can meet the needs of the people we can reach, still less of those we are still trying to reach, Lowcock said.

The UN humanitarian coordinator urged additional funding and resources.

He noted that no fewer than 10 million people across the four countries Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger remained dependent on assistance.

At the same time relief workers face severe challenges reaching the worst affected due to Boko Haram violence, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Alongside life-saving humanitarian response, addressing the underlying cause is vital to ensure lasting solution to the crisis, the UN relief chief highlighted.

Lowcock noted that there was the need to scale up longer-term resilience and development assistance as well as promoting stabilisation.

If we can make more progress with peace building, good governance, the creation of jobs and education opportunities and the respect of human rights we work indeed with the underlying issues and this is what we need to do, he said.

Organised by OCHA and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) together with the Governments of Nigeria, Germany and Norway, on Sept. 3 to 4 in Berlin, the conference seeks to maintain the momentum from the 2017 Oslo conference and increase and expand international support.

It is expected to reinforce an approach combining the response to immediate humanitarian needs with addressing the root causes of the crisis in a way that leads to sustainable, resilient development.

Education, he says, is one of the sectors desperately needing resources is education, an area that often lacks funds in humanitarian emergencies.

Earlier on Monday, Manuel Fontaine, the Director of Emergency Programmes at UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), said that where there is insecurity, education can be both life-sustaining and life-saving.

With some 1,000 schools reported to have been closed or rendered non-functional due to violence or unrest across the region, ensuring access education can be both life-sustaining and life-saving, Fontaine said.

Education supports children and young peoples life-long learning. It gives them the necessary skills to build a better future for themselves and their families, and to contribute to peaceful and prosperous communities.

Yet too often, overall humanitarian education funding is lacking in emergencies, the UNICEF official said.

UNICEF had called for $41.7 million to meet the education needs of children in the crisis but has received just eight per cent of this amount in the first half of 2018.

Other sectoral priorities for UNICEF include food security and nutrition, emergency shelter and non-food items, protection, health, water, hygiene and sanitation, and early recovery. (NAN)

Source: NAN

John Millman has dumped Roger Federer out of the US Open in the fourth round in a stunning upset at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York .

The 29 year-old Australian, ranked 55th came from a set down to beat world number two Federer 3-6 7-5 7-6 7-6, to register his first top ten victory, to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Millman will now meet Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

The Australian was dominated by Federer in the first set but turned the tables on the Swiss to take the second then held his nerve through two tiebreaks to secure the win in three hours and 34 minutes.

Second seed Federer, who had not dropped a set in his first three matches in New York, had 77 unforced errors and 10 double faults and landed just 49 percent of his first serves.

Millman said the victory had yet to sink in.

Im probably in a little bit of disbelief. I have so much respect for Roger and everything hes done for the game, he added. Hes a hero of mine. Today he was not at his best but Ill take it.

Maria Sharapova also lost to Carla Suarez Navarro in two straight sets 6-4 6-3.

It was a sweet victory for the 30 year-old Spaniard, who also marked her birthday.

Sharapova, the 2006 champion, had never lost a night session match in New York prior to her first Grand Slam meeting with Suarez Navarro.

Five-times Grand Slam champion Sharapova paid the price for 38 unforced errors and won less than half of her first serve points while committing eight double faults.

I didnt take care of the chances that I had, the Russian told reporters. By chances, I mean the balls that were a little bit shorter.

I hesitated to move forward. The balls where I did attack, I made unforced errors, especially on that inside-out forehand today.

With her most potent weapon not firing, Sharapova succumbed in one hour and 31 minutes under the floodlights at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, allowing 30th seed Suarez Navarro to record just her second career victory over the Russian in six attempts.

I just tried to be focused. I tried to think about not too much things, just my work, my job. Today it worked.

The Spaniard will meet last years runner up Madison Keys in the quarters and knows she will be the underdog against the 14th seeded American.

It will be a really tough match. She is from the United States so the crowd will probably help her, Suarez Navarro added.

Source: NAN

ExxonMobil said a blockade by former employees threatens crude production at oil facilities in Nigeria, adding that disruptions to these operations have the potential to significantly impact revenues.

The continued denial of access to lproduction facilities could impact the companys ability to safely continue production operations, ExxonMobil said.

The protest which began on 17 July was over the sacking of 860 Nigerian workers most of whom had worked with the company for over 22 years without regards for the rule of law.

Mr Rasak Obe, the Chairman of ExxonMobil Branch of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said the union was shocked by the mass sack of security personnel who had faithfully served the company for many years.

He said the management should immediately reinstate the employees of the security department and pay all entitlements due to them.

The union leader also urged the management to immediately reinstate the 16 employees purportedly sacked in Dec. 2016 in a similar fashion.

He demanded the immediate release and repatriation of over 20 expatriate personnel in the security department who had been engaged and kept in defiance of extant Nigerian laws and security directives.

According to him, this was an unfortunate situation which the Supreme Court of Nigeria had corrected with its April 20, 2018 judgment.

This underscored the scale of error in companys assessment of the reality after the Supreme Court judgment.

There are tens more who by the judgment are active employees of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.

To say the least, this wholesale sack unambiguously conveys managements disdain for the highest court of the country and mocks its ruling on the subject.

Obe said the company was quick to indiscriminately sack Nigerians and replace them with expatriates, taking jobs Nigerians have successfully performed over the decades.

He said expatriate security personnel, many of whom were ex-service men, were currently engaged in the security department against the directives of National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and the Nigerian Defence Ministry.

Source: NAN

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

The PDP has picked Senate President Bukola Saraki to lead its National Campaign Committee to face Kano Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje s APC committee for Osun governorship election.

PDP on Monday in Abuja urged the campaign committee to do everything within the law to win the Sept. 22 governorship election in Osun just as the All Progressive Congress (APC) earlier tasked its 63-member Campaign Council.

National Chairman of PDP, Mr Uche Secondus, gave the charge when he inaugurated the partys National Campaign Committee for the election.

Secondus said that members of the committee were carefully nominated because of the importance of Osun to the PDP.

He said that PDP believed that its candidate was the best for the state, and assured that it would not allow itself to be rigged out in the election.

We will not allow vote-buying in Osun because that is rigging and rigging is corruption.

I believe that the international community is watching and all eyes are on this nation, he said.

Secondus advised security agencies not to allow themselves to be used, reminding them that they had sworn to uphold the Constitution, not an individual or politician.

He urged them to the loyal to Nigerians, the Constitution and the electoral process and law.

He also called on all stakeholders to rise and condemn rigging, vote-buying and intimidation in elections by security agencies.

Seconduc said that the committee had the responsibility to augment all activities of campaign and reach out to all the critical stakeholders.

It should mobilise all our people in all the local government areas of Osun, and to do everything necessary within the law for us to win the state.

In his response, Saraki promised that the committee would ensure that the PDP won the Osun poll.

He said that the election was important because PDP had lost two governorship elections in the South-West Ekiti and Ondo.

We must win Osun to prove that Osun is the home ground of the PDP. This is a state where salaries are not being paid, he said.

Saraki said that winning the Osun poll was not just about the state but to also serve as a momentum for the 2019 general elections.

He expressed hope that President Muhammadu Buhari would live up to his promise to world leaders that the 2019 elections would be free and fair.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had last week constituted a 63 Campaign Council made up of 14 governor and 8 Ministers and 41 other members of the National Assembly and seasoned politicians, include former Akwa Ibom state Governor, Godswill Akpabio to spear head the partys campaign for the governorship election in Osun State.

The governors in the campaign council are Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano) who will serve as the chairman of the campaign council, Abdulazeez Abubakar Yari (Zamfara) who will serve as Deputy Chairman, Akinwunmi Dapo Ambode (Lagos), Sen. Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Sen. Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Arakunrin Olwarotimi Akeredolu SAN (Ondo), Owelle Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Simon Bako Lalong (Plateau), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Sen. Mohammed Umar Jibrilla (Adamawa) and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa).

The campaign council also include eight serving Ministers namely, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau Rtd (Interior), Alh. Manir Dan-Ali (Defence), Alh. Adebayo Shittu (Communications), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu (Petroleum) Babatunde Fashola SAN (Power, Works