Chris OnThe Spot: Earlier Returned Nigerian President Buhari back to...

Chris OnThe Spot: Earlier Returned Nigerian President Buhari back to...: Just welcomed back Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to Nigeria has hinted that he may be going back to UK for more treatment in few wee...

Earlier Returned Nigerian President Buhari back to UK for more treatment in few weeks

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Chris OnThe Spot: Breaking: Gambia Mps Extend President Jammeh’s Ter...

Chris OnThe Spot: Breaking: Gambia Mps Extend President Jammeh’s Ter...: Breaking: Gambia Mps Extend President Jammeh’s Term  There is currently a state of emergency declared

Breaking: Gambia Mps Extend President Jammeh’s Term

Breaking: Gambia Mps Extend President Jammeh’s Term
 There is currently a state of emergency declared

The Bush Sisters Wrote the Obama Girls A Letter

Malia and Sasha, eight years ago on a cold November day, we greeted you on the steps of the White House. We saw both the light and wariness in your eyes as you gazed at your new home. We left our jobs in Baltimore and New York early and traveled to Washington to show you around. To show you the Lincoln Bedroom, and the bedrooms that were once ours, to introduce you to all the people—the florists, the grounds-keepers and the butlers—who dedicate themselves to making this historic house a home. The four of us wandered the majestic halls of the house you had no choice but to move in to. When you slid down the banister of the solarium, just as we had done as 8-year-olds and again as 20-year-olds chasing our youth, your joy and laughter were contagious.

In eight years, you have done so much. Seen so much. You stood at the gates of the Robben Island cell where South Africa’s Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, your arms around your father. You traveled to Liberia and Morocco with your mom to talk with girls about the importance of education—girls who saw themselves in you, saw themselves in your parents, saw who they could become if they continued to study and learn. You attended state dinners, hiked in national parks, met international leaders and managed to laugh at your dad’s jokes during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, all while being kids, attending school and making friends. We have watched you grow from girls to impressive young women with grace and ease.

And through it all you had each other. Just like we did.

Now you are about to join another rarified club, one of former First Children—a position you didn’t seek and one with no guidelines. But you have so much to look forward to. You will be writing the story of your lives, beyond the shadow of your famous parents, yet you will always carry with you the experiences of the past eight years.

Never forget the wonderful people who work at the White House. Our greeter as 7-year-olds at our grandfather’s Inauguration was Nancy, the White House florist, who ushered us in from the cold. She helped us make colorful bouquets of winter flowers for our grandparents’ bedside. Twenty years later, Nancy did the flowers for Jenna’s wedding. Cherish your own Nancy. We stay in touch with our Secret Service. They were part of growing up for us: there for first dates, first days and even an engagement and a honeymoon. We know it wasn’t always easy—the two of you and the two of us were teenagers trailed by men in backpacks—but they put their lives on hold for us.

Enjoy college. As most of the world knows, we did. And you won’t have the weight of the world on your young shoulders anymore. Explore your passions. Learn who you are. Make mistakes—you are allowed to. Continue to surround yourself with loyal friends who know you, adore you and will fiercely protect you. Those who judge you don’t love you, and their voices shouldn’t hold weight. Rather, it’s your own hearts that matter.

Take all that you have seen, the people you have met, the lessons you have learned, and let that help guide you in making positive change. We have no doubt you will. Traveling with our parents taught us more than any class could. It opened our eyes to new people as well as new cultures and ideas. We met factory workers in Michigan, teachers in California, doctors healing people on the Burmese border, kids who lined the dusty streets of Kampala to see the American President, and kids with HIV waiting to get the antiretroviral drugs that would save their lives. One tiny girl wearing her finest lavender dress looked young, which she was not. She was little because she was sick. Her mom admitted that she might not live to see these drugs work, but her brothers and sisters would. After meeting this girl, Barbara went back to school and changed her major, and her life’s path.

You have lived through the unbelievable pressure of the White House. You have listened to harsh criticism of your parents by people who had never even met them. You stood by as your precious parents were reduced to headlines. Your parents, who put you first and who not only showed you but gave you the world. As always, they will be rooting for you as you begin your next chapter. And so will we.

Inside The ‘Modest’ $4.3 Million Home American Obama Will Move To After He Leaves Office

The ‘Modest’ $4.3 Million home Obama will move to – President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have leased a spectacular 8,200 square-foot home in one of DC’s most elegant neighborhoods as their first post-White House dwelling. The $4.3 million home features plenty of room for the Obamas to stretch out – with separate dressing rooms and his and her bathrooms, entertaining space, and a tranquil garden.
The home was built in 1928 and features nine bedrooms and eight and a half baths, according to Politico, which first reported the address. The Obama’s area leasing the house from Joe Lockhart, who served as press secretary to Bill Clinton.

The home in Kalorama puts the Obamas in one of the capital’s most upscale neighborhoods

The house is decorated in muted pastel shades and the living room looks out onto the garden

The fireplace is the centerpiece of the living room and can be used in winter

One of the reception areas opens on to the gardens, which feature a manicured lawn, it’s unclear if it’s a rose garden

The bright living room occupies much of the ground floor and has a classic yet more modern feel to the apartments at the White House

The house boasts a large reception area, ideal for Barack and Michelle to do a spot of entertaining post presidency

stairs

Both the Obamas are known for keeping fit and are likely to take advantage of the exercise room on the upper floor

Ready for guests: One of the nine bedrooms, which has its own bathroom to the left

Sasha and Malia are unlikely to need a playroom, so the Obamas are unlikely to keep the configuration of this room, set up for young children

One room is currently configured as a home office. Both Barack and Michelle will likely want one each

One of the rooms is likely to be used by Obama to write the memoirs he is expected to start when he leaves office

Bathroom

There are eight bathrooms in the property with the latest mod cons with virtually all the rooms ensuite

One of the bedrooms is currently set up for younger visitors, perhaps friends of their daughters Sasha and Malia

One of the bedrooms, which is currently in use for younger children

The master suite features a dressing area with extensive closet space, which could be handy for Michelle’s fashion sense

Mrs Obama will have her own bathroom, which is decorated with images of the first president and his wife

This will be the Obamas’ post-presidential bedroom. It also has a sitting area and two bathrooms

A butler’s pantry is off the living room to allow for guests to be catered for

As well as the public kitchen for entertaining, there is a second kitchen with its own fridge, stove and oven, as well as a washer and dryer

The stove boasts two ovens and six burners, making entertaining simple

The gourmet kitchen has a large island for a breakfast bar – but perhaps not room for White House kitchen staff

The Lockharts have a young daughter and had left some of her toys out while the property was being photographed

A dining room with wood flooring can serve as an entertainment space, or a place for ‘kitchen table’ discussions about the family budget

The living room includes a more intimate look, ideal for political chit chats.

22-year Gambian president loses election, ‘concedes’ like Nigerian Jonathan

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Why Iceland is the best place in the world to be a woman

Since 1975, the Nordic country has blazed the trail in gender equality and now, from infancy to maternity, women and girls enjoy a progressive lifestyle. But how did they achieve it.

Rebekka is so tiny that, even on her tiptoes, arms aloft, she cannot reach. So her teacher lifts her up to the unvarnished wooden monkey bar. “One, two, three,” her classmates count. She hangs on, determinedly. When she reaches 10, she jumps to the ground. “I am strong,” she shouts proudly.

It’s an ordinary morning for this single-sex class of three-year-olds at Laufásborg nursery school in Reykjavik. No dolls or cup-cake decorating on the lesson plan here. Instead, as Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir, the school’s founder, tells me: “We are training [our girls] to use their voice. We are training them in physical strength. We are training them in courage.”

It’s a fascinating approach to education. And a popular one. In a country of only 330,000 people, there are 19 such primary and nursery schools, empowering girls from an early age.

For the past six years, Iceland has topped the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index and looks likely to do so again this week. The Economist recently named Iceland the world’s best place for working women – in comparison, the UK came in at No. 24. Ólafsdóttir’s philosophy seems to sit well with the nation’s progressive accomplishments, but her network of schools has been going for less than 20 years. So, if preschoolers trained in feminism aren’t the reason for this gender success story, what is?

History may provide us with clues. For centuries, this seafaring nation’s women stayed at home as their husbands traversed the oceans. Without men at home, women played the roles of farmer, hunter, architect, builder. They managed household finances and were crucial to the country’s ability to prosper.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Daughters of Reykjavik are a feminist rap collective who rap about gender issues. Photograph: ITV News

By 1975, Icelandic women were fed up. It wasn’t just that they weren’t being properly paid for their labour, they also were sick of their lack of political representation: only nine women had ever won seats in parliament. So, against the backdrop of the global feminist movement, Iceland’s women decided to take things into their own hands.
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An outpouring of women on to the streets was, by then, a well-trodden form of activism. In 1970, tens of thousands of women had protested on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In the UK, that same year, 20,000 women marched in Leeds against discriminatory wages. But what made Iceland’s day of protest on 24 October 1975so effective was the number of women who participated. It was not just the impact of 25,000 women – which, at the time, was a fifth of the female population – that gathered on the streets of Reykjavik, but the 90% of Iceland’s female population who went on all-out professional and domestic strike. Teachers, nurses, office workers, housewives put down tools and didn’t go to work, provide childcare or even cook in their kitchens. All to prove how indispensable they were.

Thordis Loa Thorhallsdottir, CEO of a tourism company, was on the streets that day: “I was 10 at the time, and I remember it very clearly, standing there with my mother, fighting. I can still feel the crowd and the power that was there. The big message was that if women don’t work, the whole community is paralysed – the whole society.”

Grassroots activism at such a scale unsurprisingly had a significant material impact. Within five years, the country had the world’s first democratically elected female president – Vigdis Finnbogadottir. Now in her 80s, this steely-eyed powerhouse tells me of the impact that day of protest had on her own career trajectory.

“I would never have been elected in 1980 if it hadn’t been for the women’s day of action … because when my predecessor announced that he was not going to stand again, the voices were immediately heard: now we have to have a woman among the candidates.”
‘Iceland is a good place to be a woman.’ Photograph: Loftur Ásgeirsson/Reykjavik City Museum

Other landmarks soon followed. An all-female political party – the Women’s Alliance – was established. More women were elected to parliament; by 1999, more than a third of MPs were women.

And then, in 2000, parental leave legislation came into effect: whichevery person I spoke to highlighted this moment as key to Iceland’s march to the top of the gender-equality table. Today, every parent receives three months’ paid leave that is non-transferable. Parents then have an additional three months to share as they like.

Because the pay is significant – 80% of salary up to a ceiling of £2,300 a month – and because it’s on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, 90% of Icelandic fathers take up their paternal leave. This piece of social engineering has had a profound impact on men as well as women. Not only do women return to work after giving birth faster than before, they return to their pre-childbirth working hours faster, too. Research shows that, after taking the three months’ leave, fathers continue to be significantly more involved in childcare and do more housework. Sharing the parental responsibilities and chores from the beginning, it seems, makes a difference.

“It’s a good place to be a woman,” says Thorhallsdottir. And it is. Almost 80% of Icelandic women work. Thanks to mandatory quotas, almost half of board members of listed companies are now women, while 65% of Iceland’s university students and 41% of MPs are female.

Yet, women I met on my journey were also clear that the country has a long way to go. They still have less economic power than men – only 22% of managers are women; only 30% of experts on TV are women and, overall, men earn 14% more. Iceland’s record on all of these fronts is better than most countries; in the UK, women’s hourly pay is 18% less than men.

It is the gender pay gap that puzzles me the most. How can it be that it is still so significant given the huge efforts the state has put into mitigating the “mummy penalty”? Not only when it comes to parental leave, but with heavily subsidised nursery schools and after-school care?

Explanations vary: from women going into less well-paid professions, to the penalty paid for working part-time that we’ve found in the UK as well, to the time it takes for employers’ implicit gender biases to shift.

Iceland: the world's most feminist country

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Steiney Skuladottir, one of Reykjavíkurdætur (or the Daughters of Reykjavik) – a feminist rap collective who rap about gender issues – puts the blame in part on women’s reluctance to ask for sufficient pay compensation. Fellow rapper Bloer Johanusdottir concurs. “It’s like we can’t be cocky. We are supposed to be modest.”

Back at the school, Ólafsdóttir has this to say: “If you are learning from a young age that you are not getting your rightful share, if you are taught and trained in waiting, what do you expect?”

The Icelandic government has pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2022. And the women of the country continue to be highly organised and socially aware; an astonishing one- third of Iceland’s women are members of a Facebook group – ironically named Beauty Tips – in which they actively discuss gender issues.

History teaches us that progress doesn’t come about in a vacuum and that grassroots pressure plus investment in politics is a very powerful catalyst for change. In Iceland, it seems that they have both. In spades.

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Nigeria confirms release of 21 girls kidnapped in Chibok by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram Islamist have released 21 of more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists in 2014 in the northern town of Chibok, the Nigerian government said on Thursday.

Outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government," a presidency statement said. "The negotiations will continue."
Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in April 2014. Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 are still missing.
The kidnapping triggered worldwide outrage promoted by a Twitter hashtag #bringbackourgirls.
The presidency gave no details on the deal, saying only that the 21 girls were very tired and would first rest in the custody of the national security agency.
Afterwards the girls would be handed over to Vice President Yemi Obinsajo, the statement said. President Muhammadu Buhari will travel to Germany on Thursday.
Authorities said in May that one of the missing girls had been found and President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to rescue the others.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency to create an Islamic state in the northeast has led to the deaths of 15,000 people and displaced more than two million.
The Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, Boko Haram's stronghold, in the last few days.
The jihadist group, which last year pledged loyalty to the militant group Islamic State, controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015.
But under Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of the territory that had been lost. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.
Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the girls. In the video they said some of the girls were killed in air strikes.
Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought worldwide attention to the group.
In the last few months Buhari has said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the girls.

British Officer Tiger Hunting lead Him Found This Strange Cave, And You Won’t Believe What’s Inside!

Simply amazing. It really makes you wonder what other secrets may still be hiding out there, waiting to be discovered by adventurous souls!

In April of 1819, British officer John Smith was pursuing a tiger through the jungle outside of Mumbai when he stumbled upon a strange cave entrance hidden in the brush.

Something seemed oddly deliberate about the cave entrance and so he decided to abandon his hunt to investigate further. He soon discovered what appeared to be ornate carvings in the rock. Little did he know that was just the beginning.

In 1819, British officer John Smith was hunting a tiger in the forest outside of Mumbai when he stumbled across a strange cave.




Inside were what appeared to be man-made carvings. But that was just the beginning.



Further investigation revealed an entire system of shrines and monuments carved directly into the rock.


And 30 different caves.



Experts believe that they were constructed around 200 BCE as a retreat for Buddhist monks during the terrible monsoon season.



Each of the caves is unique, with its own intricately designed entrances and interiors.



The caves were largely abandoned by the 7th century, but remained a sacred place for locals.



Many of the carvings depict the life of Buddha and his many incarnations.




There are also a large number of paintings, many of which are remarkably well-preserved.



It’s amazing how much color and detail still remains after all those years.



One of the more popular theories surrounding the caves is that they were built to align with the solstices and other cosmological events.



Caves 19 and 26 do actually align perfectly with the winter and summer solstices, respectively.



On their designated days, the sun shines straight through holes in their roofs, illuminating the religious displays within.


Even after centuries, the interiors are still absolutely stunning.



The effort and precision required to build these elaborate structures is truly mind-boggling.



Especially considering they had to do it with comparatively limited tools.



We may never know exactly how they managed to build these incredible caves.