A young Nigerian girl has told a Lagos High Court about her ordeal in the hands of some human traffickers, who shipped her to Dubai in United Arab Emirates, for prostitution.

Before leaving Nigeria, the traffickers who have now been jailed 12 years each by a Lagos Court, took nude pictures of her and asked her to make an oath.

She was told to remit money to their agents in Dubai, with a threat of exposing her nude photos online, whenever she failed to do so.

The victim told the court that when she could not raise the money demanded, the convicts posted her nude pictures as earlier threatened.

Her story was heard by Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of Federal High Court in Lagos, who sentenced two accused, Terry Homuere-Smooth and Priscilla Bassey, to 12 years imprisonment for human trafficking for prostitution.

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, sentenced the convicts, after finding them guilty on two counts of human trafficking preferred against them by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons(NAPTIP).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convicts were first arraigned sometime in November 2015, on charges bordering on organising and procuring the foreign export of a young girl (name withheld) to Dubai.

The offences according to the prosecutor Mr Sebol Langyi, contravene the provisions of sections 14 (b) and 18 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.

During trial of the convicts, the prosecution called two witnesses including the victim, who told the court how the convicts forced her into prostitution on arrival at Dubai.

The victim said that it was when her nude photos went viral on the net, that the NAPTIP came into her case and the convicts were apprehended.

Meanwhile, the convicts during their evidences, denied the allegations and urged the court to discharge and acquit them of the offences.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Oluremi held: The prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against each of the defendants.

Consequently, the defendants are hereby convicted as charged.

After the court pronounced them convicted, lawyers to the convicts during a plea for mercy before sentence, urged the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing them.

They told the court that the accused were first time offenders, and had showed great remorse during their detention.

After their respective pleas, Justice Oguntoyinbo held:

I have listened to the allocutus made by counsel to the defendants.

However, the minimum punishment for count one is seven years imprisonment with a fine of N1 million, while the minimum punishment for the second count is five years.

In the light of above, I hereby sentence the first and second defendants to seven years imprisonment on count one, and five years on count two.

The terms are to run concurrently and without option of fine.

According to the charge, the convicts committed the offence in July 2015, alongside one Bella who is said to be at large.

They were said to have organised and facilitated the foreign travel of the victim to Dubai, to promote prostitution.

The convicts were said to have engaged their young victim in unwholesome sexual exploitation, contrary to the provisions of the Trafficking in Person Enforcement and Administration Act.

Source: NAN

The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly faced a fresh rumpus this morning, split down the middle, between APC and PDP legislators and two men who claimed to be the legitimate speakers.

Today, a faction led by Nse Ntuen, a member of the APC, who was purportedly elected Speaker last week held a session and
suspended 11 members, with former speaker Onofiok Luke top of the list.

There are 26 members of the assembly.

Luke also convened last week Monday and suspended Ntuen, along with four other members.

Other members suspended by Ntuen are Udo Kerian Akpan, Felicia Bassey, Nse Essien, Lawrence Udofia, Usoro Akpanusoh, Ime Okon, Friday Iwok, Asuquo Archibong, Mark Esset, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, Aniekan Uko till further notice.

Ntuen also dissolved all standing committees constituted illegally by the former speaker and adjourned till next week Tuesday 4 December.

The PDP on its Twitter handle accused former governor Godswill Akpabio for masterminding the crisis, which caused the transfer of former police commissioner, Bassey Abang, a charge repeated by Governor Udom Emmanuel, who came to the assembly to disrupt proceedings of the Ntuen faction.

Governor Emmanuel is now accusing the new commissioner, Musa Kimo, of partisanship.

Kimo reported for work last week and had replaced another commissioner, accused of the same offence.

The PDP claimed that Ntuen, aided by thugs and the police, stormed the house today to sit.

But the Ntuen group is also accusing the PDP member, Luke of carrying out illegalities, by suspending him and four other members.

On Monday, the new police commissioner Kimo, condemned the crisis rocking the House of Assembly, during a meeting with 20 political parties in the state.

Kimo described the crisis as ugly and worrisome.

At a press conference, Governor Emmanuel claimed Akwa Ibom State is under siege and has called for the redeployment of the Commissioner of Police.

Emmanuel claimed Musa Kimo is threatening the peace of the state by aiding the five sacked lawmakers to take over the State House of Assembly.

He said democracy in the state is being threatened, and called on the CP to be removed from the state immediately.

He said the government had received intelligence report of the plan of the sacked lawmakers to take over the house of assembly and the plans were executed supervised by the police.

Gov Udom further stated that the same police that he used state resources to equip is today fighting the state, adding that several petitions to President Buhari and the IGP about the activities of the Police and the sacked lawmakers have been ignored.

He said the security problems initiated by the sacked lawmakers was designed to prevent elections from holding in the state.

He warned that if elections were not held in the state as scheduled, then elections would not hold on a later date.

It remains to be seen what PDP Speaker Lukes next move will be before Tuesday 4 December.

Source: NAN

U.S. President Donald Trump will have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Argentina, Russia, Japan and Germany when he and the American delegation go to Argentina for the Group of 20 summit later this week, a White House spokeswoman told reporters on Tuesday.

Trump is also expected to meet separately with Chinas Xi Jinping for the first time since the worlds two largest economies imposed tariffs on each others imports.

Trump will also meet with the leaders of Turkey and India, White House national security adviser John Bolton told reporters.

But Bolton said Trump has not planned to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA believes ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump has vowed to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia.

Source: NAN

Two vital prosecution witnesses who gave evidence in the trial of former Adamawa Governor Murtala Nyako have died mysteriously.

Adekunle Odofin, a detective with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, made the startling revelation before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja today.

According to the detective, the two witnesses made crucial statements during the investigation into a N29billion fraud case.

Odofin told the court that the two persons were very vital to the prosecution of the case.

Nyako is being prosecuted by the Commission, alongside his son, Senator Abdul-Aziz Nyako, Abubakar Aliyu and Zulkifikk Abba, on a 37-count charge of criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering to the tune of N29billion.

Five companies that allegedly served as conduit pipes for the illegal diversion of the funds Blue Opal Limited, Sebore Farms

The new North American Free Trade Agreement, which binds Canada, the United States and Mexico, will be signed on the margins of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires this weekend.

The White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau believed the renamed US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would support the auto industry and its employees.

That deal will be signed in Argentina, he said.

In Ottawa, Trudeaus office said the parties were tracking toward signing the pact on November 30, but added that details were still being finalized.

Were still discussing what a signing ceremony would look like, a senior official said, adding that in the meantime, the scrub of the legal text continues.

Source: NAN

In order to ensure justice prevailed, a Pennsylvania judge has ordered the commonwealths former attorney general to report to prison by 9 a.m. Thursday, more than two years after she was convicted for leaking grand jury information and lying about it.

Democrat Kathleen Kane, 52, had been free on $75,000 bail while she appealed her 10-to-23-month sentence. The state Supreme Court announced Monday that it had declined to take up her case.

Given that the rationale for (the) defendant remaining at liberty pending appeal has expired, post-sentence bail is revoked,Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy write in ordering Kane to report tothe Montgomery County Correctional Facility.Demchick-Alloy formally directed the Lackawanna County sheriff to serve a copy of her order on Kane, who lives in Scranton.

Kanes lawyer, Joshua Lock, has not responded to multiple messages seeking comment.

The Montgomery County district attorneys office formally requested the order earlier Tuesday, arguing the Supreme Court decision was the end of the legal road for Kane.

Two different appellate courts have reviewed her case, yet her judgment of sentence remains.

She received a fair trial, her guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and now it is time for her to serve her sentence, District Attorney Kevin Steele wrote

Kane was convicted of two counts of felony perjury and seven misdemeanors, including obstruction and conspiracy.

The first woman and first Democrat to be elected as Pennsylvanias attorney general, Kane resigned from office after her October 2016 conviction.

She had argued before Superior Court that she should have been allowed to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal that rocked the states judicial community as well as evidence related to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that her former office prosecuted.

Steeles bail revocation motion to Demchick-Alloy anticipated that Kane may have argued the judge had discretion to keep Kane out on bail while she seeks further state review.

The district attorney said that was only possible under a motion for the high court to reconsider its decision turning down her appeal, which he said could not be done simply to delay the sentence.

He said a reconsideration application only could have been for delay purposes.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Courts denial of discretionary review should be considered the conclusion of (Kanes) avenues for direct appeal in state court, Steele argued.

The lower appeals court alsorejected Kanes argumentthat she should have been allowed to prevent all Montgomery County judges from handling her case, as well as her claims that evidence against her was illegally obtained and that she had been the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution.

Source: NAN

Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, one of the most influential figures in international sport on Wednesday officially stepped down from a powerful Olympic body as he fights forgery charges in Switzerland.

Ahmad had already announced he was temporarily stepping aside from his IOC duties and asked not to be re-elected president of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).

I am confident I am innocent. I trust the court of justice in Switzerland I know I am innocent. I am sure about that and I will follow through on my trust in the court in Switzerland, he told delegates.

I will decide to step aside of my own will for a while and to come back to you stronger, added the Kuwaiti powerbroker.

But there was last-minute drama at the gathering in Tokyo as several representatives pushed for the Sheikh the only candidate for ANOC president to be re-elected anyway.

In chaotic scenes, delegate after delegate spoke to defend Sheikh Ahmad, arguing that he had become embroiled in a political affair that had nothing to do with sport and that was being played out in the courts.

The ship of ANOC has been sailing rather smoothly and now is not the time to change the captain, said the representative from Guyana.

After an unscheduled last-minute intervention from the Sheikh, delegates finally agreed to postpone the election for president while he sorts out his legal issues.

Officials admitted this was a unique situation and there was nothing in the organisations constitution to deal with such a case.

A long-time IOC member seen as a close ally of President Thomas Bach, Sheikh Ahmad is accused of orchestrating a complex forgery scheme linked to his efforts to prove his native countrys former prime minister is guilty of corruption and plotting a coup.

The aim of the alleged forgery, according to a Swiss charge sheet seen by AFP, was to legitimise suspicious video recordings Sheikh Ahmad had presented in Kuwait as evidence of corrupt practices by ex-premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and former parliament chief Jassem al-Khorafi.

The case against Sheikh Ahmad, a nephew of Kuwaits ruler, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, is set to go before a court in Geneva next year.

Source: NAN

Indonesias Lion Air jet that crashed last month should have been grounded over a recurrent technical problem and never permitted to make the fatal flight.

This was the interim verdict of the Indonesian Transport Safety agency in a report released today that took aim at the carriers poor safety culture.

The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, slamming into the Java Sea moments after it had asked to return to the capital.

The preliminary crash report from the agency did not pinpoint a definitive cause of the accident, which killed all 189 people on board, with a final report not likely to be filed until next year.

But investigators said that Lion Air kept putting the plane back into service despite repeatedly failing to fix a problem with the airspeed indicator in the days leading up to the fatal flight.

Its second last flight was from Denpasar in Bali to Jakarta.

During (that) flight, the plane was experiencing a technical problem but the pilot decided to continue, Nurcahyo Utomo, aviation head at the National Transport Safety Committee, told reporters.

The plane was no longer airworthy and it should not have kept flying, he added.

The findings will heighten concerns there were problems with key systems in one of the worlds newest and most advanced commercial passenger planes.

Investigators have previously said the doomed aircraft had problems with its airspeed indicator and angle of attack (AOA) sensors, prompting Boeing to issue a special bulletin telling operators what to do when they face the same situation.

The report confirmed that initial finding, saying the planes data recorder detected an issue with the AoA.

It also said the planes stick shaker the steering-wheel like handles in front of the pilots that vibrates to warn of a system malfunction was activated and continued for most of the fight.

An AOA sensor provides data about the angle at which air is passing over the wings and tells pilots how much lift a plane is getting. The information can be critical in preventing an aircraft from stalling.

The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee has retrieved one of the planes black boxes the flight data recorder but is yet to locate the cockpit voice recorder.

Black box data showed the plane also had an airspeed indicator issue on multiple earlier flights, investigators said.

Lion must take steps to improve the safety culture and ensure all the operation documents are properly filled and documented, the transport agency said.

Despite a dubious safety record and an avalanche of complaints over shoddy service, the budget carriers parent Lion Air Group, which also operates Batik Air and Wings Air, has captured half the domestic market in less than 20 years of operation to become Southeast Asias biggest airline.

Source: NAN

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho wants his underperforming side to take the game to Young Boys straight from kick-off when they face the Swiss club in the Champions League at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

If United win and Valencia fail to beat Juventus, they would qualify for the last 16 with a game to spare.

Mourinho slammed United after their lacklustre goalless draw with Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace last weekend, accusing his players of lacking heart.

The players were were booed off the field by their own fans at Old Trafford following a result that left them seventh in the table well adrift of the qualifying positions for next seasons Champions League.

He warned that a repeat display against Young Boys would leave United needing to go Spain and beat Valencia in their final Group H game if they were to remain involved in the competition.

Uniteds sluggish start has been attributed to Mourinhos own approach, which some Red Devils fans feel runs contrary to the clubs tradition of attacking football.

But, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Monday, Mourinho insisted: Its frustrating because what I want is the team to start strong, is the team to go strong on the opponent, not to be waiting, not to be reactive but proactive.

Thats exactly what I want and probably you or the fans, they think oh, Jose told them to start slow, Jose told them to play nice and easy and wait to see what happens or to be losing for then to react.

The Portuguese boss insisted: It is exactly the opposite thing. I want the team to start strong, I want the team to have a go immediately and it is a bit frustrating.

It is not a crucial game, but I want to play like it is the last chance to qualify. I want to play like a knockout game.

As for suggestions United were better off playing away from Old Trafford at the moment, Mourinho said: If you feel pressure to play matches at home where the people come to support come on. I never felt pressure to play at home.

Young Boys boss Gerardo Seoane expects United to be back to their best.

I think Manchester United are strong at home and, for sure, also they want to show to their crowd that they are strong also at home, he said.

This stadium has a big tradition. Manchester United were always the Red Devils at home so we expect a very difficult game.

Meanwhile Mourinho said he was prepared to walk to Old Trafford if traffic problems again hampered Uniteds preparations before a home Champions League tie.

UEFA fined United 15,000 euros (13,000) for their late arrival and the subsequent delayed kick-off of their match against Valencia in October.

Traffic congestion also saw Juventus arrive just over an hour and United barely 50 minutes before their clash at Old Trafford that same month.

Mourinho got out of the team bus and walked to the ground on that occasion and is ready to do so again.

We are going to stay in a hotel just a few metres away and the information I have from the club and the club contacts with the police is that things are going to be much better than the last time. But if it isnt better, I walk!

United will be without injured Sweden defender Victor Lindelof while Swiss champions Young Boys, who lost the reverse fixture 3-0, are missing French striker Guillaume Hoarau because of an ankle problem.

Source: NAN

A recent study suggests that HIV drugs might successfully treat Alzheimers disease, which affects in the US alone, an estimated 5.7million people.

According to the research, published by , an HIV enzyme plays a crucial role in driving Alzheimers-related brain pathology by altering the APP gene.

The findings warrant immediate clinical evaluation of HIV antiretroviral therapies in people with Alzheimers disease, the authors of the study said.

Deemed the most under-recognized public health crisis of the 21st century, Alzheimers disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States and has no known cure.

Alzheimers also puts a significant strain on the American healthcare system. According to recent estimates, Alzheimers and other forms of dementia cost the U.S. $226 billion in 2015, and loved ones spend billions of unpaid hours caring for people with the condition. About 40 percent of these caregivers develop depression.

The medical community is hard at work trying to understand how this debilitating disorder occurs and what can be done to stop it. For instance, one of the clues that researchers have so far is the so-called APP gene.

The APP gene encodes a protein called amyloid precursor protein found in the brain and spinal cord, among other tissues and organs.

While the exact role of the APP protein is still unknown, scientists have found links between mutations in this gene and the risk of early-onset Alzheimers disease. Specifically, over 50 different mutations in the APP gene can trigger the condition, accounting for approximately 10 percent of all early-onset Alzheimers cases.

New research, published in the journal Nature, offers unprecedented revelations into the APP gene. Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) in La Jolla, California, found that the same type of enzyme that enables HIV to infect cells recombines the APP gene in a way that creates thousands of new genetic variants in the neurons of people with Alzheimers.

The findings may not only explain how APP drives the toxic buildup of beta-amyloid proteins which is a hallmark of Alzheimers disease but also fundamentally change how we understand the brain and Alzheimers disease, according to Dr. Jerold Chun, Ph.D., the senior author of the new paper.

Crucially, the new results suggest that antiretroviral therapies that are currently used to treat HIV may be useful for treating Alzheimers too.

Dr. Chun and his team used cutting-edge analysis techniques that focused on single- and multiple-cell samples to study the APP gene in Alzheimers and healthy brain samples.

They found that the APP gene breeds new genetic variations within neurons through a process of genetic recombination. Specifically, the process requires reverse transcriptase, which is the same enzyme found in HIV.

Reverse transcription and reinsertion of the genetic variants back into the original genome created permanent DNA changes that occurred mosaically.

Gene recombination was discovered as both a normal process for the brain and one that goes wrong in Alzheimers disease, explains Dr. Chun, who is also a professor and the senior vice president of Neuroscience Drug Discovery at SBP.

The researchers report that 100 percent of the brain samples that had the neurodegenerative condition also had a disproportionately high number of different APP genetic variations compared with healthy brains.

The studys senior author explains, If we imagine DNA as a language that each cell uses to speak, we found that in neurons, just a single word may produce many thousands of new, previously unrecognized words.

This is a bit like a secret code embedded within our normal language that is decoded by gene recombination, Dr. Chun adds. The secret code is being used in healthy brains but also appears to be disrupted in Alzheimers disease.

Dr. Chun and colleagues suggest that antiretroviral therapy that blocks the reverse transcriptase may be a successful treatment for Alzheimers.

Our findings provide a scientific rationale for immediate clinical evaluation of HIV antiretroviral therapies in people with Alzheimers disease.

The scientists also point out that seniors with HIV who take antiretroviral medication tend not to develop Alzheimers disease, which may support the researchers conclusions.

The scientists also say that their findings may serve to explain a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years. The medical community widely accepts the idea that the buildup of a toxic protein called beta-amyloid causes Alzheimers neuro-degeneration.

However, whenever researchers tested treatments that were designed to target this toxic buildup in clinical trials, such treatments failed.

But the new findings, say Dr. Chun and team, shed light on this baffling contradiction. The thousands of APP gene variations in Alzheimers disease provide a possible explanation for the failures of more than 400 clinical trials targeting single forms of beta-amyloid or involved enzymes, Chun says.

APP gene recombination in Alzheimers disease may be producing many other genotoxic changes as well as disease-related proteins that were therapeutically missed in prior clinical trials.

The functions of APP and beta-amyloid that are central to the amyloid hypothesis can now be re-evaluated in light of our gene recombination discovery.

Dr. Jerold Chun
Said Jerold Chun, although the new findings are groundbreaking, much remains to be discovered, adds Dr. Chun. Todays discovery is a step forward but there is so much that we still dont know.

We hope to evaluate gene recombination in more brains, in different parts of the brain and involving other recombined genes in Alzheimers disease as well as other neurodegenerative and neurological diseases and use this knowledge to design effective therapies targeting gene recombination.

Source: NAN