NIGERIA: Troops Thwart Attack on Agip Facility in Bayelsa as Ijaw Youths Demand Release of Kinsmen

Troops attached to the Joint Military Force, the outfit deployed to protect oil installations in the Niger Delta, said yesterday that they outwitted suspected militants who attempted to attack an Agip oilfield in Okpoma, Bayelsa State.

Also yesterday, Ijaw youths demanded the immediate release of their kinsmen apprehended by the military who are currently carrying out an operation to fish out militants, sea pirates and pipeline vandals in the Niger Delta region.

On the foiled attack on Agip’s oilfield in Okpoma, Bayelsa State, the Joint Military Force conducted several operations codenamed, Pulo Shield, which also led to the arrest of 19 suspected vandals in May and June 2016.

LGBT Club in Ekaterinburg Issues Safety Advice After Attack

Source: THE MOSCOW TIMES

A Russian LGBT nightclub recently attacked by Russian football fans has issued a list of recommended safety measures for its clients, the Ura.ru news agency reported Friday.
Writing on its social media page, the Mono club in Ekaterinburg advised against “attracting attention on the street” and “walking alone at night.” The club also advised against using terms such as “sweetheart,” “honey” and other pet names in public. Visitors were told club had “stepped up security,” but the city was “unsafe.”
The bar also confirmed a new smoking room would be established inside the building. Football supporters had attacked clubgoers over the weekend after seeing them smoking in the street outside the venue.

FBI questions member of mosque attended by Orlando gunman

Source: REUTERS

FBI agents on Friday questioned a member of the Florida mosque attended by Omar Mateen, the man who shot 49 people to death at a gay nightclub, as new information surfaced revealing the killer had exhibited chronic behavioral problems during his youth.
Academic records obtained by Reuters showing Mateen was frequently suspended as a student - at least twice for fighting before he was transferred to a special high school for potential dropouts - added to a disturbing portrait of the long-troubled gunman who committed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Mateen, the 29-year-old private security guard shot dead by police at the end of the June 12 massacre in Orlando, has been described by his first wife - whom he divorced after a brief marriage - as an abusive, mentally disturbed man with a violent temper.

South Africa virginity bursaries unlawful, rules gender commission

Source: BBC

An official body in South Africa has ruled that university bursaries offered to proven female virgins were unlawful and should be scrapped.

The Uthukela municipality in KwaZulu-Natal province introduced the bursaries to reduce Aids and child pregnancies.
But the Commission for Gender Equality ruled that a bursary "contingent on a female student's virginity is fundamentally discriminatory".

ABUJA: The World Waits for Emefiele’s Flexible Exchange Rate Today

Source: THISDAY LIVE

Three weeks after he announced the introduction of a flexible exchange rate regime, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, will today finally unveil the much-anticipated guidelines paving the way for the new forex regime, THISDAY exclusively learnt on Tuesday.

This is just as the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, disclosed that the federal government has resolved to facilitate a N90 billion loan for  the 36 states of the federation to enable them meet their obligations, but cautioned that it should not be deemed a bailout for the states but a facility with stringent conditions attached to it.

Nigeria football sponsors 'fear lesbians'

Source: BBC

Sponsors shy away from backing female football teams in Nigeria because of "the misconception" that they are "synonymous with lesbianism", a senior Nigerian football official has said.

Seyi Akinwunmi was clarifying his comments after being quoted as blaming lesbians for the national team's recent decline.
The Super Falcons are Africa's most successful national team.
But they did not qualify for this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Same-sex relationships are banned in Nigeria, which is a deeply conservative country where homosexuals say they often suffer abuse.

Oscar Pistorius 'must pay for killing my daughter'

Source: BBC

South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius must pay for killing his girlfriend, her father has told a judge, breaking down in tears.
He was found guilty of murdering Reeva Steenkamp after a court overturned an earlier manslaughter verdict.
The sentencing hearing - expected to conclude by Friday - will decide if he will face a jail term of 15 years.
Barry Steenkamp asked for photos of his daughter's body to be made public so people could see the wounds.
Pistorius, a six-time Paralympic gold medallist whose legs were amputated below the knee as a baby, made history by becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics, in 2012, running on prosthetic "blades".