South Korea’s opposition parties move towards President Park impeachment

South Korea’s opposition People’s Party will start collecting signatures for an impeachment motion against President Park Geun-hye, while the main opposition Democratic Party will review the conditions for impeachment, party spokesmen said on Monday.
South Korean prosecutors said on Sunday they believe Park was an accomplice in an influence-peddling scandal that has rocked her administration.

Park’s close friend Choi Soon-sil and former presidential aide An Chong-bum have been charged with abuse of power by pressuring companies to contribute funds to foundations at the centre of the scandal.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Seoul on Saturday in the fourth straight weekend of protests against Park, in the biggest public demonstrations the country has seen since the 1980s.

Park, who’s five-year term ends in February 2018, has resisted calls to resign but has apologised twice, saying she only sought to benefit the economy not herself, but acknowledges carelessness in her ties with Choi.

The People’s Party, with 38 seats in the single-chamber 300-member parliament, has started efforts to remove Park from office and will talk with other parties to get signatures for an impeachment motion, said a party spokesman Lee Yong-ho.

An impeachment motion requires at least half of the parliament to start and needs a two-thirds majority to pass.
If an impeachment motion passes parliament, it is reviewed by the Constitutional Court, which has to confirm it with at least six of its nine judges. Political analysts say an impeachment motion against Park has a good chance of passing.

The Democratic Party, which has 121 seats, said on Monday it would start reviewing the conditions for impeachment proceedings but did not commit to starting the motion.

“Impeachment proceedings need perfect preparations as much is possible,” Choo Mi-ae, head of the Democratic Party told a party meeting, adding the best scenario was for Park to step down.

Political analysts have said opposition parties are not pushing hard for impeachment because if the motion fails, it will improve Park’s chances of surviving the crisis.

In 2004, parliament voted to impeach then-President Roh Moo-hyun, only to have the motion overturned by the Constitutional Court. The move was unpopular with the public, which saw it as an abuse of power by the opposition, which had a majority then.

SENATE MOVES TO AVERT FULL BLOWN INDUSTRIAL ACTION OVER ASUU STRIKE

Senate on Tuesday moved to avert an impending full blown strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella body of Nigerian lecturers.

ASUU had at the weekend issued a threat to embark on a warning strike on Wednesday, to protest Federal Government’s inability to comply with agreements reached with the union since 2009.

To forestall the warning strike and avert a possible full blown action by the lecturers, Senate mandated its President, Bukola Saraki to quickly intervene in the matter with a view to stopping the planned strike.

This resolution followed a point of order from Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Barau Jibrin, who called on the senate to as a matter of urgent public importance, intervene in the matter.

Jibrin admitted the need for the FG to implement 2009 agreement with the union; worried that if government continues to forsake the demands of the lecturers, it could hold dire consequences for the country’s universities.

Aside issues of funding for the universities and welfare of lecturers, a major demand of ASUU is for the FG to exempt universities from its TSA policy.

Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) while seconding the motion, stressed the need to nip the planned strike in the bud; calling on FG to engage ASUU and for the Senate to Intervene.

“The issue of strike has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria. But for a long time, we have not heard of it. So when ASUU said it would embark on strike it was a big concern for many of us who are parents”, he said.

Goje’s position was backed by Senator Emmanuel Paulker (Bayelsa Central) and Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.

According to them, the President of the Senate should be mandated to wade into the matter, before it degenerates into full blown strike.

Apart from mandating the Senate President to intervene in the matter, the Senate also urged the FG to engage with ASUU and ensure that its entitlements are captured in the 2017 budget.

ASUU TO COMMENCE STRIKE ON WEDNESDAY

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, said it would embark on a one week warning strike over failure by the Federal Government to implement the 2009 Agreement and 2013 MoU.

ASUU National President, Biodun Ogunyemi, spoke on Monday at the University of Abuja during a press conference organised by the union.
Mr. Ogunyemi said following a nationwide consultation with members, the National Executive Council, NEC, of ASUU resolved to embark on a one week warning strike from Wednesday November 16.

“Many aspects of the 2013 MoU and the 2009 agreement with the Federal Government have either been unimplemented or despairingly handled.
“The agreements are: Payments of staff entitlements since December 2015, funding of universities for revitalisation, pension, TSA and university autonomy and renegotiation of 2009 Agreement.

“Failure by the Federal Government to implement this agreement has put ASUU leadership in severe difficulty, responding to inquiries from members of the union about the state of our agreement,” he said.

The ASUU president said that during the warning strike, there shall be no teaching, examination and no attendance at statutory meetings in all branches.
He, however, called on all education-loving Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to address the patriotic demands of ASUU until the Nigerian university system is repositioned.

“With the release of the 2016 Annual Budget, our union wondered aloud why allocation to education dropped from 11 per cent in 2015 to eight per cent in 2016.

“With the introduction of TSA, the federal universities find it extremely difficult to discharge their core responsibilities of teaching, research and community services.
“We tried to correct the erroneous impression in government circles that the capital and research grants to universities were being handled by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund),” he said.

Barron Trump will be The First America Son To Live In The White House Since John F. Kennedy Jr. In 1963

Trump will be America’s first son to live in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. in 1963

President-elect Donald Trump’s youngest son wasn’t old enough to join his much older siblings as a surrogate for his father’s presidential campaign in 2016, but he was at home with his mother watching the polls. When his father’s presidential debates concluded, the 10-year-old united with the rest of the Trump family on the podium to support his father.

Barron Trump has made his own headlines in a somewhat comedic fashion following those formal appearances. Videos and photos of Barron struggling to stay awake in the midst of his father’s late-night speeches have gone viral. He was famously seen yawning and shifting in his chair at the Republican National Convention as his father spoke around midnight and again during the victory speech when Trump was officially announced as the 45th president of the United States at 3 a.m. on November 9.

As the future president prepares to hold public office and run the most powerful nation in the world, Barron Trump will enter the spotlight as the first son America has seen in a very long time — 54 years to be exact.

As a December 2008 report by Time revealed, only one boy has lived in the White House in the 80 years before President Barack Obama became president, and that was John F. Kennedy Jr. back in 1963. He was a baby, and his sister, Caroline Kennedy, was almost 4-years-old when the Kennedys moved into the White House.

According to White House History, Tad Lincoln was 7-years-old when his father, Abraham Lincoln, became president during the Civil War.

Next was Quentin Roosevelt as the first son, who was the first son from 1901 to 1909 when his father, Theodore Roosevelt, served as president.

Barron Trump will be the next to join this very short list of boys who have lived as America’s first sons while their fathers served as the president of the United States.

President-elect Trump would mention Barron on occasion during rallies, one in which he said he worried about the kind of role model he would have if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were to become president. He would refer to the rigorous demands of being on the campaign trail and missed Barron.

The Inquisitr published 10 facts about Barron Trump and revealed more about the young man that America is about to know as its new first son. He’s only 10 but will live at least a portion of his teen years as the country’s first son.

Melania Trump said in multiple interviews that she opted to stay off her husband’s campaign trail to remain home and raise their son, Barron.

Very little is known about the future First Son Barron Trump. When his father is sworn into office on January 20, 2017, the world will be watching as Donald and Melania Trump take their new residence with Barron.

The nation has gotten a few glimpses of the young Trump, mostly at day’s end when kids his age are fast asleep in bed. Inauguration Day will be ceremoniously held in the afternoon, and Barron will be one of the figures front and center on that historic day.

The 10-year-old will accompany his parents looking unquestionably dapper and older than his years in a sleek suit looking on as his father takes the oath of office. It’ll be then that he officially becomes First Son Barron Trump, and his mother, First Lady Melania Trump.

The nation will witness this first son grow into his teen years during his father’s tenure as commander-in-chief. Barron Trump, often referred to as a “mini-Donald,” is already fascinating the country and will for years to come.

BOMBSHELL! Donald Trump Vows To Overturn Gay Marriage Says It Is Ungodly

In a recent interview with Pat Robertson’s television network, Donald Trump blathered that antigay conservatives the world over can rest easy knowing that he’s committed to overturning the Supreme Court’s landmark decision that struck down state bans on same-sex marriage nationwide.

The Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody asked the GOP presidential frontrunner what he thought of the Log Cabin Republicans calling him “one of the best, if not the best, pro-gay Republican candidates to ever run for the presidency.”

Told that Evangelicals want to trust his stance on traditional marriage, Trump responded:

“I think they can trust me on traditional marriage… and frankly, I was very much in favor of having the court rule that it goes to states, and let the states decide. And that was a shocking decision for you and for me and for a lot of other people, but I was very much in favor of letting the states decide and that’s the way it looked it was going and then all of a sudden out of nowhere came this very massive decision and they took it away. But I was always in favor of state’s rights; states deciding.”

EXPOSED: Buhari Donated $500M to Clinton Campaign

A United States non governmental group, the American Black Group for Democracy has revealed that the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari’s government plunged $500Million (About N150Billion) into the failed Hillary Clinton electioneering campaign fund. They added that the donation may create a huge misunderstanding between Nigeria and the incoming Trump’s US government.

According to Scannews, the Nigeria integrity challenged President, wasted no time in releasing the funds he reportedly pledged to the US secretary of states, Sen John Kerry and US Ambassador in Abuja to support of Mrs Clinton election.

President Buhari an Islamist fundamentalist, have a visible hatred for Mr Donald Trump, especially when the US president elect allegedly made some statement which the Nigerian president sources claimed is demeaning and a threat to the Islamic faith.

The Obama government, which Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of States frustrated the Nigerian former government’s war against the Islamist terror group, Boko haram and blocked
every source of sourcing arms against the terrorists. The US group saw Buhari’s donation as an appreciation or a pay back to the the Obama’s government that frustrated Nigerian government under Goodluck Jonathan in all front and used threats and intimidation to kick scare Jonathan out of office. They added that Mr Kerry’s frequent visit to Northern Nigerian may not be unconnected to the process to release the funds, as Buhari later quickly mobilized some Northern elders and his party governors of Northern inner circle, helped to facilitate a quick and secret ferrying of the money with secured Presidential Fiat.

The defeat of Hillary Clinton was received as a great shock by the Nigerian government, that was help to power by the polices of Mrs Clinton as secretary of state and the $500m donation is now a failed project that my be investigated by the Trump government. Left alone, President Buhari should not have congratulated Donald Trump because of the animosity he bears for the American.

It took the intervention and criticism of Nigerians to force President Buhari to congratulate the US President elect, Mr Donald Trump, as the Nigerian Seat of government was thrown into turmoil when it became certain that Trump has defeated Buhari’s
favoured candidate, Mrs Clinton. All the world leaders including those from Africa made a straight phone call to congratulate Mr Donald Trump, but President Buhari battling the fact that the incoming US government is aware of his hefty financial support to their opponent (Clinton) developed cold feet and choose to congratulate Trump through a twitter post.

Nigerians were shocked about this revelation that Buhari was busy funding a US presidential candidate, while millions of Nigerians are starving to death as a result of the recession caused by his clueless and directionless economic policies.

Obaseki: Oshiomhole hands over on Friday

Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole will on Friday hand-over power to the Governor-elect, Mr Godwin Obaseki.

Obaseki and his Deputy, Mr Philip Shaibu will, however, be sworn-in on Saturday at the Dr Samuel Ogbemudia stadium by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Cromwell Idahosa.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Edo University, Iyamho, Oshiomhole confirmed he will hand over on Friday.

He said God has answered his prayers to finish well and to finish strong.

Several flagship projects of the Oshiomhole administration including the new 200-bed Central Hospital, 6-lane Siluko road; Samuel Ogbemudia College, reclaimed Queen Edo gully erosion site, the Ugbegun-Ujiogba-Ebudin-Igueben-Ewohinmi road, Edo University, Iyamho, Second East Circular road and schools have been inaugurated since on Monday.

Obaseki polled 319,483 votes to defeat Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party who got 253,173 votes.

JUST IN: Putin Congratulates Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin has become one of few world leaders to congratulate Donald Trump.

In a telegram to the president-elect he said he hopes to work with Mr Trump on international issues, and said he believed a "constructive dialogue" between the US and Russia will serve the interests of both countries.

"Putin expressed hope for joint work to restore Russian-American relations from their state of crisis, and also to address pressing international issues and search for effective responses to challenges concerning global security," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Mr Trump's perceived closeness with Russia was, of course, a big source of political controversy throughout his campaign.

Donald Trump pledges to be president for all Americans after sweeping to shock US election victory

Donald Trump won the US presidential election early this morning in a stunning victory that sent shockwaves around the world.

The Republican took the key swing states of Florida, North Carolina and Ohio early this morning, as he marched towards the White House.
Mr Trump pledged that he would be "president for all Americans" in his New York victory speech.
He said he was "reaching out" to the people who had not supported him to "unify the country".

"Now it's time to bind the wounds of division. I say to Democrats and Republicans it is time come together as one united people," he said.

"I pledge to be president for all Americans," he said, adding: "The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer."
He said it was not a campaign but a movement that had won him the White House, comprised of "all people of different backgrounds and beliefs".

He said victory had been "tough". "This political stuff is nasty and it's tough," he said, while thanking his family.
It was an extraordinary election night. Mr Trump won some early east coast states and did not look back. When he secured the key swing state of Florida, a clear path to the presidency was laid out. He went on to win Ohio and South Carolina.

In an extraordinary development, Mrs Clinton did not initially concede the election - but then later called Mr Trump to congratulate him on his victory.

Mr Trump offered generous words for his vanquished opponent, saying she had worked hard for many years and was owed a "deep debt of gratitude".
The crowd was respectful at the mention of Mrs Clinton.
In a conciliatory speech Mr Trump added: "We will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us. We will deal fairly with everyone. We will seek common ground, partnership not conflict.

"America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We must reclaim our destiny."
The Republican surpassed expectations and confounded pollsters in Florida, where Mrs Clinton had been expected to win following a surge in the Hispanic vote.

Mrs Clinton’s hopes of a swift victory faded as the Republican picked up a series of states early on and maintained his momentum.
Financial markets around the world plummeted as votes for Mr Trump stacked up.

Mr Trump's threats to rip up a free trade agreement with Mexico and tax money sent home by migrants to pay for building a wall on the southern US border if elected president caused the peso to hit a record low.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, described the result as "bigger than Brexit".

He told The Telegraph that Mr Trump's election will represent a "massive result" for Britain.

He said that the UK would have a "friend in the White House" who will prioritise trade relations with the UK.

Munich court to try Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg for inciting hatred

Mark Zuckerberg and several other senior Facebook staff are facing charges of abetting crimes like Holocaust denial. German authorities believe the social media giant is not doing enough to censor the offensive posts.
    
A Munich court has opened a lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, German media reported on Friday. News outlet "der Spiegel" wrote on its website, before the main weekly magazine's Saturday release, that it had obtained court documents charging the social media mogul with incitement to hatred.

Zuckerberg is reportedly being charged alongside Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, chief Europe lobbyist Richard Allan, and his Berlin counterpart Eva-Maria Kirschsieper.

According to Spiegel, the complaint comes from the Würzburg-based attorney Chan-jo Jun. In the suit, he accuses Facebook of tolerating appeals for murder, threats of violence, and Holocaust denial, among other things.

Laws regulating hate speech in Germany are extremely tight, with most Nazi symbolism and racist propaganda strictly forbidden, a legacy of Germany's role in World War II. Although Facebook is obliged to remove illegal content from its site, it has repeatedly garnered hefty criticism for the time it takes to do so.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas has made hate speech on social media something of a pet project, threatening Twitter and Facebook specifically with being "too slow" in removing offending posts. Maas has pushed a new initiative in Brussels to create EU-wide laws that would hand out stricter penalties for racist or xenophobic content.

Spreading racist ideology can come at a hefty price in Germany. Last month, a man in Würzburg became the latest to see jail time over an online post advocating racial hatred. The posts in question advocated violence against Jews, foreigners, and refugees. Although the defendant expressed remorse, he was handed a prison sentence of two years and three months.

Facebook has often said it stands unequivocally against hate speech, and would work in the future to ensure a swifter removal of related posts.

PUBLIC NOTICE:

Tomorrow (Saturday), there shall be a Youth Development Summit, holding at Awa Community Town Hall, Onna L. G. A, tagged, 'Empowerment For The Next Level'.

The event which shall have a global microphone veteran and a former United Nations National/State WASH consultant, Dr. Tom Harry as resource person is sponsored by Iwaad Etienne Bob, the Acting President of Afigh Iwaad Ekid and Senior Special Assistant to Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel on Projects.

Every youthful Akwa Ibom citizen, advocate of youth development and the public is hereby invited.

Time: 10:00am prompt.

Featured topics at the Summit shall include:
•Discover your purpose and vision
•Personal Development
•Entrepreneurial Skills
and lots more...

Keep a date!

For further enquiries, call 07036180570

MMM is a fraud, don't invest in it, CBN warns Nigerians

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned Nigerians against getting involved in MMM, a scheme that is currently making the rounds among Nigerians.

This is coming shortly after the Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, dissociated himself from the MMM, saying he has nothing to do with it or any other online financial aid community, projects or contracts.

This was made known by the head of the consumer protection department of the CBN, Kadija Kassim, on Monday. She made it known that activities associated with the scheme are not regulated by any institution.

Speaking during a mentoring program for students of Government Secondary School, Suleja, Kassim warned against the use of MMM Federal Republic of Nigeria, a Ponzi scheme company, referring to the scheme as a “wonder bank”.

In Kassim’s words, “We have heard about the activities of MMM.
“But I want to warn you against it because they are wonder banks that are not regulated.
“Desist from their activities because they are fraudulent.
“Don’t save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.”
The scheme claims to allow a 30 per cent monthly return on investment for every investor and a lot of Nigerians have been lured into it.

Culled from Daily Trust