The Nation Newspaper

Tag: U.S

  • China to U.S: Respect air defence zone

    China to U.S: Respect air defence zone

    China said on Thursday the U.S. should respect its Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), after CNN reported China had warned a U.S. bomber it was illegally flying inside its self-declared zone in the East China Sea.

    China declared the zone, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, in the East China Sea in 2013, which the U.S. and Japan have refused to recognise.

    CNN, citing the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said the B-1 bomber was flying near South Korea on Sunday, and that its pilots responded to Chinese air traffic controllers saying they were carrying out routine operations in international airspace, and that the aircraft did not deviate from its flight path.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had not heard of the matter, and referred questions to the Defense Ministry, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    “But, generally speaking, I hope that in this region all countries’ actions consider the security concerns of relevant countries and be beneficial for mutual trust, peace and stability between countries,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

    “The U.S. has its own ADIZs. I think if this matter is true, they should respect China’s relevant ADIZ rights,” she added, without elaborating.

    NAN reports that the ADIZ is airspace over land or water in which the ready identification, location, and control of civil aircraft over land or water is required in the interest of national security.

    China’s Defence Ministry announced its ADIZ over a vast area in the East China Sea on Nov. 23, 2013, which covers the area around the Diaoyu islands, controlled by Japan and known as the Senkaku Islands.

    The establishment of the zone draws strong opposition from Japan, the U.S. and South Korea, becoming a flashpoint in East Asian politics and security.

     

  • Umahi seeks U.S. assistance to develop agriculture

    Umahi seeks U.S. assistance to develop agriculture

    Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has appealed to the U.S. government to assist the state in developing its agriculture and solid minerals sectors.

    He spoke in Abakaliki when he received the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington.

    Umahi said Ebonyi had huge agricultural potential and mineral resources, such as limestone, salt and lead, which were yet to be developed.

    “We are reputed for rice production in West Africa and our salt and limestone deposits are among the best in the world.

    “We seek U. S. assistance in technological enhancement to develop these sectors, as we are using our three technical colleges to develop indigenous technology,” the governor said.

    He thanked the U.S. government for its interventions in Nigeria, which had benefitted Ebonyi.

    “We solicit your cooperation to attract investment, as we have provided an enabling environment for economic investments to thrive.

    “Security provision in Ebonyi is one of the best in the country, as we have invested in infrastructural development to attract investment opportunities.

    “Our allocation from the Federation Account is meagre and this makes us insist on quality in our construction, such as roads due to our soil texture.

    “We place this emphasis on infrastructural development to solve our under-development challenges occasioned by years of neglect by the states we hitherto belonged,” Umahi said.

    Symington said he was in the state to deepen the relationship between the U.S. and Ebonyi.

    He added: “We are determined to ensure a more robust relationship built on trust, which will assist the state in the development of its economic and social sectors.”

    The envoy hailed the governor for his achievements in agriculture, infrastructure and social sector and promised that the U.S. would assist the state in realising its development objectives.

    “We will ensure effective integration of your economic potential and enhance opportunities to attract economic investment.”

  • Boy to get penis transplant in Niger

    Nine-month-old Buhari Muhammad, whose genital was cut off by his step-mother in June 2016, would undergo his next surgery when he reaches puberty.

    Muhammad had his first corrective surgery at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Bida, Niger, in February.

    Mr Suleiman Makusidi, the Head of Medical Unit of the state Child Rights Protection Agency, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Tuesday that the next surgery would be a penis transplant.

    “When the boy reaches puberty and when blood has started flowing through his penis, a transplant will be carried out; the transplant will be carried out either in Nigeria or abroad.

    “The corrective surgery that was done in February was to reopen the hole that was created for the boy to pass urine after it was discovered that the hole was closing back.

    “ The urinary passage, which was created like that of the female, is a temporary one to enable him pass urine.’’

    “The state government is making arrangements on how to bring medical experts to examine the boy and see if the transplant can be done in Nigeria.

    “If not, we will look at other options like South Africa or the U.S.

    “We are hoping that the transplant will be successful and that it will help his reproductive system because his testicles were cut off alongside his penis; only one testicle was left,” he said.

    According to Makusidi, Muhammad will use his penis effectively after a successful transplant.

    The Director-General of the agency, Hajiya Mairam Kolo, said the agency was partnering with the Community Training and Empowerment Project, a United Kingdom based NGO, to fast track the transplant process.

    “The agency is working toward the final operation.

    “The matter is a very sensitive one and there should not be mistake; the transplant will be carried out by experts in that field,’’ she said.

    NAN recalls that Muhammad’s genital was cut off by his 17-year-old step mother, Bara’atu Muhammad, when the boy was barely a month old.

    The incident occurred in Dafe community in Shiroro Local Government area of Niger in June 2016.

    The step-mother had confessed that she took the action because she was jealous and she also wanted to get back at the victim’s mother whom she claimed was always insulting her.

    Bara’atu was subsequently remanded in Minna Prison

    The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana, told NAN that the suspect was still in Minna Prison, pending the conclusion of investigations.

    According to him, under the Police Criminal Law, the suspect is an adult who is above seven years and therefore can be tried for the offence.

  • Fed Govt to Nigerians: don’t go to U.S. unless necessary

    Fed Govt to Nigerians: don’t go to U.S. unless necessary

    THE Federal Government has advised Nigerians who have no compelling or urgent reason to travel to the United States (U.S.) to postpone their travel plans until the new administration’s policy on immigration is clear.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement on Monday,  said the warning became imperative due to series of reports received by the office of the SSA.

    Abike-Dabiri-Erewa
    Abike-Dabiri-Erewa

    “In the last few weeks, the office has received a few cases of Nigerians with valid multiple-entry U.S. visas being denied entry and sent back to the Nigeria.”

    “In such cases reported to the office, such affected persons were sent back immediately on the next available flight and their visas were cancelled.”

    Dabiri-Erewa said: “no reasons were given for the decision by the U.S. immigration authorities.”
    The Presidential aide said the statement “is only to advise Nigerians without any compelling or essential reasons to visit the U.S. to consider rescheduling their trip until there is clarity on the new immigration policy.”

    She reminded Nigerians in the Diaspora to abide by the rules and regulations of their host countries and be good ambassadors of the country.

  • China criticises North Korea’s missile test

    China on Monday criticised North Korea’s missile test and urged North Korea, South Korea and the U. S. to remain calm.

    “China opposes North Korea’s violation of the UN Security Council’s stipulation,’’ Geng Shuang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said.

    North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan’s northwest on Monday,

    Angering South Korea and Japan, days after it promised retaliation over U.S.-South Korea military drills it sees as a preparation for war.

    South Korea’s military said the missiles were unlikely to have been intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which can reach the United States.

    The missiles flew on average 1,000 km (620 miles) and reached a height of 260 km (160 miles).

    Some of the missiles landed in waters as close as 300 km (190 miles) from Japan’s northwest coast, Japan’s Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said in Tokyo.

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said “strong protests’’ had been lodged with nuclear-armed North Korea, which has carried out a series of nuclear and missile tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

    “The launches are clearly in violation of Security Council resolutions, it is an extremely dangerous action,’’ Abe told parliament.

    South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn condemned the launches as a direct challenge to the international community and said Seoul would swiftly deploy a U.S. anti-missile defense system despite angry objections from China.

    The missiles were launched from the Tongchang-ri region near the reclusive North’s border with China, South Korean military spokesman Roh Jae-cheon told a briefing.

    It was too early to say what the relatively low altitude indicated about the types of missiles, he said.

    Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Non-Proliferation Review, said it did not appear the North had launched an ICBM.

    “It sounds like a field exercise involving deployed missiles, probably ones we’ve seen before,’’ Pollack said.

    U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters there were no indications so far that North Korea had tested an ICBM.

    A man walks past a television broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing ballistic missiles, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, March 6, 2017.

    The U.S. military said it detected and tracked what it assessed was a North Korean missile launch, but it did not pose a threat to North America.

    Spokesman Geng said at a daily news briefing that China, which is holding its annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, had noted North Korea’s latest action.

    “All sides should exercise restraint and not do anything to irritate each other to worsen regional tensions,’’ Geng said, referring to both the missile launch and U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

    North Korea had threatened to take “strong retaliatory measures’’ after South Korea and the U. S. began annual joint military drills on Wednesday that test their defensive readiness against possible aggression from the North.

    North Korea criticises the annual drills and has previously conducted missile launches to coincide with the exercises.

    Last year, North Korea fired a long-range rocket from Tongchang-ri that put an object into orbit.

    That launch was condemned by the UN for violating resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology.

    North Korea test-fired a new type of missile into the sea early last month, and has said it would continue to launch new strategic weapons.

    Last month’s test was the first since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to rein in North Korea and its young leader, Kim Jong Un.

    Trump’s national security deputies have reviewed in recent meetings a range of options to counter the North’s missile threat, the New York Times reported.

    Options include direct missile strikes on the North’s launch sites and the possibility of reintroducing nuclear weapons to the South, the Times said.

    Those options would soon be presented to Trump and his top national security aides, the report said, quoting U.S. administration officials.

    The United States withdrew nuclear weapons from South Korea in 1991 before the rival Koreas signed a declaration on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

    North Korea has since walked away from the agreement, citing the threat of invasion by the U. S.

    “The claim that we should redeploy nuclear weapons here, 20 years after they were withdrawn, is total nonsense,’’ said Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party.

    “I am formally asking the U. S. not to bring this issue up for consideration,’’ Woo said in a party meeting.

    North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test last September; following what the U.S. said was an “unprecedented’’ level of activity in its banned nuclear and missile programs.

    State media said after that test Pyongyang had used a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a ballistic missile.

    The U.S. has about 28,500 troops and equipment stationed in the South, and plans to roll out the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile defense system by the end of the year.

    Japan also plans to reinforce its ballistic missile defenses and is considering buying either THAAD or building a ground-based version of the Aegis system that is currently deployed on ships in the Sea of Japan.

  • Three Nigerians convicted in U.S. for Internet fraud

    Accused face 115, 95, 25 years in jail

    Three Nigerians have been convicted by a United States (U.S.) federal jury for wide-ranging Internet fraud schemes.

    A statement by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis of the Southern District of Mississippi named them as Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan, 30, Rasaq Aderoju Raheem, 31 and Femi Alexander Mewase, 45.

    The accused, who were extradited from South Africa to the Southern District of Mississippi in July 2015, were found guilty on Wednesday.

    The statement from the Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, said: “Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan, 30, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud, and theft of U.S. government funds, two counts of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”

    “Ayelotan faces up to 95 years in prison.

    “Rasaq Aderoju Raheem, 31 was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud and theft of U.S. government funds, three counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

    “Raheem faces up to 115 years in prison.

    “Femi Alexander Mewase, 45, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud and theft of U.S. government funds.

    “Mewase faces up to 25 years in prison.

    “Sentencing for all three is set for May 24 in the Southern District of Mississippi.”

    Trial testimony and evidence presented in the three-week trial showed that “the defendants participated in numerous complex Internet-based financial fraud schemes, including romance scams, re-shipping scams, fraudulent check scams and work-at-home scams, as well as bank, financial, and credit card account takeovers”.

    The statement added: “From as early as 2001, the defendants identified and solicited potential victims through online dating websites and work-at-home opportunities.

    “In some instances, the defendants carried on fictitious online romantic relationships with victims for the purpose of using the victims to further objectives of the conspiracy. “

    According to court records, 21 defendants were charged in the case.

    They were: Adekunle Adefila, 41 (Nigerian); Anuoluwapo Segun Adegbemigun, 40 (Nigerian); Gabriel Oludare Adeniran, 30 (Nigerian); Genoveva Farfan, 45 (California, U.S.); Rhulane Fionah Hlungwane, 26 (South African); Teslim Olarewaju Kiriji, 30 (Nigerian); Dennis Brian Ladden, 75 (Wisconsin, U.S.) and Olutoyin Ogunlade, 41 (New York, U.S.).

    Others were: Taofeeq Olamilekan Oyelade, 32 (Nigerian); Olufemi Obaro Omoraka, 27 (Nigerian); and Olusegun Seyi Shonekan, 34 (Nigerian).

    The statement claimed that the defendants pleaded guilty to related conspiracy charges.

    Susan Anne Villeneuve, 49, of California, U.S., is awaiting trial.

  • Iran versus Trump’s U.S.

    Information

    All roads will lead to Osogbo, the capital of Osun State this Sunday.

    The big event is a national prayer for Nigeria’s security and development. It is organized by Osun State Muslim Community in honour of His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr. S. O. Babalola recently, the President of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria who also became the Deputy

    President General (South) of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).

    His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General, of NSCIA will be present at the Occasion as the Special Guest of Honour while a former Inspector General of Nigeria Police, Alhaji Musliu Smith will be the Chairman of the occasion.  The Governor of the State, His Excellency, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola will be the Chief Host.

    Other prominent personalities expected at the occasion are Judge

    (Prince) Abdul Jabbar Bola Ajibola, the Proprietor of Crescent

    University and Chairman, Board of Trustees of MUSWEN. Also to be present are traditional rulers from all parts of Yorba Land, including His Royal Majesty, the Ooni of Ife.

    The League of Imams and Alfas of Yoruba Land will be led by its President General, Sheikh Jamiu Kewulere Bello, who will accompanied by a retinue of Muslim scholars.

    The grand prayer which will be held at the secretariat of the Muslim Community of Osun State at Ring Road, West ern Bypass will commence at 10.am prompt.

     

    Background of the faceoff

    About two years ago, Al-Jazeera Television Cable Network throbbed with breaking news, saying that a United States military aircraft strayed into the airspace of Iran and the latter promptly responded by shooting it down. Iran announced another of the like a few days after.

    This disturbing development further aggravated the tension between both countries which started in 1979 with the Iranian revolution that uprooted the country’s imperial despotism that had caged the citizens of that country for decades.

    In reaction, the US authorities explained that the destination of the shot aircraft was Afghanistan but its pilots lost control and strayed into Iranian territory.

    Shortly before that incident, Some Iranian students had besieged the British Embassy in Tehran protesting the meddling of David Cameron’s government in the internal affairs of Iran. And in retaliation, Britain quickly evacuated her diplomats in Iran and sent the latter’s diplomats in London packing despite Iran’s regret over those students’ action.

     

    The grand design

    That grand design was first expressed in 1902 by a British Prime

    Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman when he observed as follows: “There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources.  They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another….If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

     

    The Iranian Revolution

    No one believed in 1979 that a mass protest which started like a small political billow, engineered by the country’s unarmed Mullahs could eventually grow into such a great magnitude of political ‘earthquake’.

    By the time the foggy dust finally settled, a new Iran had emerged from the debris of the old. Against the wish and expectation of the capitalist West, the secular, monarchy of Iran became an Islamic republic. The drama was quite electric.

    Characteristic of the West, all hands were on deck, at that time, to ensure that an Islamic republic did not succeed the tyrannical monarchy headed by the Shah Pahlavi and heavily backed up by the oppressive West. America was most active in that ambitious but vainglorious effort. She would not easily allow the massive benefit she had been enjoying for decades in that oil-rich country, under the Shah regime, to slip out of her hands just like that. Thus, under the pretext of wanting to rescue her citizens from the siege laid by Iranian students on that country’s embassy, in Tehran, the US attempted an invasion of the country.  The espionage activities by the American diplomats, inside that embassy, against the new Islamic government in Iran had warranted the siege.

     

    The strategy

    While a number of US F15 bomber jets deployed by President Jimmy Carter were approaching Iran, the American President engaged his country’s entire press in a chart without giving any hint of the impending military operation in Iran. The tactics was to divert the attention of the press and that of the country from the illegal

    Pentagon’s military expedition. But no sane person can ever fault the contents of the Qur’an. More than 1400 years before that incident, a verse of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) thus: “They (the unbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed. Allah is the supreme schemer”. Q. 3:54.

    Jimmy Carter’s thought was that by the time he would be rounding off his press chart, the news would have reached him that America had successfully invaded Iran. He had therefore intended to announce the news of his ‘great’ successful scheme to the press as the epilogue of

    his address. And that would have served as his impetus for wining that year’s election for a second term in office. But, as Allah would have

    it, instead of the expected news, what he got was the shock of his life.

     

    The failure of the Strategy

    Two of the F15 fighters deployed for the operation miraculously collided in the air just at the point of entering Iran. The two planes crashed with their contents, and consumed the lives of 16 top air force officers aboard, while the other jet fighters had to turn back having run into confusion. When this devastating news reached Carter, it was too much to hide and it quickly became a public knowledge.

    Thus, the mighty America failed woefully, with her technology, in circumstances she has never been able to analyze and explain convincingly. With that scheme, it became obvious that Jimmy Carter of the Democrat Party had dug his own political grave. Of course, he lost the election to the cowboy turned Politician, (Ronald Reagan) of the Republican Party. For about 444 days (well over a year), the 52 American hostages remained under the siege of the Iranian students. It took high-level diplomacy, through third party countries, to get them released.

    Yet, America was not done. She went ahead to freeze Iran’s foreign reserve of $80 billion in addition to imposition of economic sanctions

    with the intention of running that country’s economy aground. The only Iran’s offence in this case was to chart a politically independent

    course that could liberate her citizens from the manacles of the Western imperialism. Ever since, the relationship between America and Iran has remained icy.

    That relationship however, further deteriorated recently when Iran started a nuclear project with which to prop up her economy. America responded with a threat saying the United States would not tolerate any nuclear project in Iran because she could not trust that Islamic nation. And of course, America’s voice was re-echoed by the United Nations, through the mouth of the latter’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-moo.

     

    The vicious sanction

    Now, with the threat of invasion of Iran by Israel on the one hand and economic and political sanctions against her by the  NATO allies on the other, will history repeat itself? One fact has become clear about the US political trend ever since that country withdrew from her self-isolationism in 1945. Her internal politics has been regularly dictated by her foreign policy. Thus, many American Presidents have won or lost elections at home due to the foreign policy of the concerned President. Will this also repeat itself? The days ahead will answer this fundamental question as events continue to unfold with President Donald Trump’s fingers are set on the reprisal buttons of American arsenal.

  • Travel ban: Court rejects Trump move to restore suspension

    Travel ban: Court rejects Trump move to restore suspension

    A San Francisco court has rejected a motion by the U.S. Justice Department to immediately reinstate U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco posted the denial on its website early Sunday.

    This is coming hours after the Justice Department filed for an emergency stay of a suspension of Trump’s travel ban.

    The Justice Department argued in its appeal that a Seattle district court’s ruling on Friday suspending Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries “harms the public,”

    “Second-guesses the president’s national security judgment,” and was “accompanied by virtually no legal analysis.”

    •Trump
    •Trump

     

    Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27 that temporarily suspended the U.S. refugee programme, banned travellers

    from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen for 90 days and indefinitely banned Syrian refugees.

    The appeals court said the states of Washington and Minnesota, are to issue their opposition to the Justice Department emergency motion by 11:59 pm PST (0759 GMT Monday).

    The two states had filed the initial challenge to the travel ban.

    Trump’s reply in support of the emergency motion is due by Monday at 3 pm

  • Iran lifts entry ban on American wrestlers

    Iran lifts entry ban on American wrestlers

    Iran has lifted a ban on American wrestlers from entering the country for a World Cup competition.

    The development was the sequel to a court ruling in the U.S. which suspended a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump.

    Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, confirmed the new decision to the ISNA news agency on Sunday.

    Iran had on Friday said it would deny the American team visas, in response to Trump’s controversial order to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority, including Iran, from entering the US.

    A Seattle district court had Friday suspended the ban after which Iran lifted its ban on the wrestlers.

    A U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected a motion by the US Justice Department to immediately reinstate Trump’s ban.

    The prestigious freestyle World Cup event takes place Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.

     

  • Iran: American wrestlers refused visas for World Cup

    Iran: American wrestlers refused visas for World Cup

    Iran has banned American wrestlers from competing in a World Cup competition by denying them visas in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order from last week on immigration, the IRNA news agency reported on Friday.

    The report quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying the case was looked into by a special committee but that “unfortunately we were forced to take this step, based on the latest developments’’.

    Under Trump’s executive order citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran, are banned from entering the U.S.

    Iran said it would retaliate and the American wrestlers were now banned although several Iran media had called for their planned presence at the freestyle World Cup meet Feb. 16 and 17 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.

    Wrestling is very popular in both countries. American wrestlers have regularly competed in Iran, and Iranian wrestlers in the U.S., over the past two decades.