Footage of a violent and allegedly racist confrontation between two
Tube passengers has sparked outrage after it was uploaded to YouTube
yesterday.
The shocking three-minute video appears to show a black
teenager lunge at a woman and attempt to punch her after she allegedly
made a racist remark against him.
Police have launched an appeal
following the incident, which they believe took place on a southbound
Northern line service between Old Street and Moorgate.
The video,
entitled 'Racist Woman On London Train Gets What She Deserves!', shows
the two arguing after the 19-year-old man was accused of having stepped
on the woman's shoe. Argument: The woman is seen calling the teenager a "smelly Nigerian"
Youtube
Flare up: The incident is thought to have been sparked by the man stepping on the woman's shoe
Youtube
During the heated exchange, which was filmed on a
fellow passenger's mobile phone, the woman is heard saying: "I wouldn't
f***ing touch you. You are f***ing s*** on my shoe".
The
teenager criticises her "lunatic antics" before calling her a "smelly
p**** b****", saying: "How old are you, 28? I'm only 19."
The woman hits back at the teenager saying "b******s like you will steal from me" and calls him a "smelly f***ing Nigerian."
Violence
breaks out as the teenager lunges at the woman, claiming she hit him
with a bottle, but he is quickly restrained by fellow passengers. Retaliate: The black man lunges at the woman and appears to punch her
Youtube
Hold him back: The teenager is restrained by fellow passengers
Youtube
The teenager later took to Twitter, claiming the woman in the
video called him a "smelly african" before hitting him with a bottle.
He later expressed his disgust at the woman's behaviour, branding it "unacceptable".
British Transport Police (BTP) believe the video was filmed on Tuesday and posted online the next day.
A
BTP spokesman said: “There is an allegation of abusive behaviour by the
woman towards the man, but that doesn’t justify a violent response.
“The
man and woman pictured in the images are seen arguing with each other
on the video and we’re keen to speak to both of them to get their
version of events.
“We urge them or anyone who knows them, as well
as passengers who were on the train at the time, to come forward so we
can begin to build a full picture of what exactly took place.”
Anyone with information should contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference B7/LUA of 10/01/13. Alternatively contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Warning: This video contains swearing
It was a solemn atmosphere at St. Michael Catholic Church, Lafiaji in
Lagos as Enebeli Ngu-Oma Elebuwa’s wife and four children, family
friends and well-wishers came for the burial ceremony for the veteran
actor.
Spotted in a white attire, the widow, Jennifer Elebuwa was seated
alongside her three daughters who wore white lace and the only son,
Onyemike Elebuwa.
The ceremony which began at past 11am had in attendance actor and
commissioner, Richard Mofe Damijo who stood with the family throughout
the three-day burial programme for the veteran actor and colleague of
Enebeli, Justus Esiri, Charles Okafor, Mike Ezuronye, Sir Chris
Akwarandu, AGN Delta State executives and a handful of personalities
from the movie making industry.
The Delta State government who has been supporting the actor since he
was hospitalised in India where he later died were well represented.
The Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan was represented by two
commissioners Mrs.Ijeoma Iba, Commissioner for Youth Affairs and Mr.
Charles Emezulu, Commissioner for Local Government affairs respectively.
The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) president, Ibinabo Fiberesima and her executives were conspicuously absent at the event. The
clergy amongst other things emphasised on the need for the AGN to
actualise the insurance scheme they planned for their members as this
would go a long way to assist those in need among the Guild.
Baku-APA. Water Sanitation And Hygiene (WASH), a media network
concerned with sanitation and water, has said 63.6 million Nigerians
have no access to potable water, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
Dennis Deteer, chairman of its central north Plateau chapter, disclosed
this in Jos on Friday when the body paid an advocacy visit to the
Plateau State Community and Social Development Agency.
He said that Nigeria's MDG target was to supply 74 percent of the
population with safe drinking water and 69 percent of the population
with adequate sanitation by 2015.
The WASH official lamented that only 58 percent of Nigerians had access
to safe drinking water, with only 32 percent population having access
to good sanitation.
"At current rate of progress, the water target will be achieved in 2033, which is 18 years after the proposed 2015," he said.
According to him, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated
that 361,900 people die yearly due to poor water and sanitation in
Nigeria.
UNICEF also estimates that 194,000 children under the age of 5 die from
diarrhea caused by poor water and sanitation yearly, he said.
The chairman disclosed that WASH media network was a brain child of the
Water Aid Nigeria with the objective of advocating, facilitating,
supporting and monitoring water and sanitation issues.
He said the visit was to seek collaboration with the Plateau Agency and
commended the agency's involvement in the sinking of boreholes,
hand-dug wells and the provision of other social amenities especially to
people in backward urban and rural areas.
Dauda Dinju, the Chief Executive Officer of the Plateau State Community
and Social Development Agency, who received the WASH media network,
assured the chairman of the agency's collaboration.
He called on the WASH media network to carry out adequate
sensitization, especially in the rural areas, on the agency's
activities.
The agency is in partnership with the World Bank and the Federal
Ministry of Finance toward gathering sufficient funds for their
activities.
Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide
product marketing Phil Schiller announces the new iPhone 5 last
September in San Francisco. (Image: Getty Images via @daylife)
First Apple was going to make a cheaper iPhone, either to try to blunt the rapid rise of Android phones or to compete in international markets. Then it wasn’t. Now after a new interpretation of comments from Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of global marketing, maybe it could. Or not. It’s all so confusing!
So let’s settle this now: Apple will never make a “cheap” iPhone.
Most certainly Apple itself will never use the word “cheap” in
association with anything it makes, iPhone or otherwise. Or
“inexpensive,” or “value-priced,” or anything of the sort. That has
never been the Apple way, and given that it owns most of the profits in
the industry with its current strategy even in the face of Google‘s Android onslaught, why it would change?
More than that, though, it seems doubtful that Apple would sell an
iPhone that anyone else would call cheap, either. Full-freight iPhone 5s
bought without a contract start at $649 in the U.S., and even the
cheapest iPhone 4 starts at $450 off-contract. It’s very difficult to
see how Apple could profitably sell an iPhone of any kind that still
deserves the name for a third to a half of those price points. And
anything over about $200 is going to be hard to call
cheap
inexpensive
affordable by almost anyone, even in the U.S.
Now, that doesn’t mean Apple won’t make a less expensive model of a smartphone with which it could make inroads into China
or other countries where there’s no carrier subsidy, or perhaps simply
to head off people who might opt for a truly cheap Android phone.
Indeed, Apple hasn’t shied away from offering older iPhones that are
inexpensive–or even free!–albeit with a two-year commitment. The
consumer-facing price isn’t the issue.
It’s also not beyond the realm of possibility that Apple could offer a
different wireless communications and Internet access device. Perhaps
that’s even the source of recent rumors about an Apple watch.
Other form factors could be cheaper to produce, or at least feature
lower-cost components, such as a plastic case perhaps–to be sure, an
elegantly engineered
plastic
excuse me, polycarbonate case.
But it’s simply difficult to imagine that Apple would offer something
that could be construed as cheap by international standards–which I
would take to mean under $200 for sure, a price that Piper Jaffray
analyst Gene Munster has suggested–and still call it an iPhone. The
iPhone brand stands for uncompromising quality, and I don’t see why
Apple would endanger that.
It’s always possible that Apple will stretch the iPhone line, which
customarily sports only one new product at a time. But I’d be less
surprised to see the company conceive a new brand for it. After all,
Apple itself carries plenty of cachet no matter what product name comes
after it.
Although we reported yesterday that Soludo was arrested,but he has come out to deny it.Former Governor of the Central Bank (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma
Soludo, has denied reports that he was arrested by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday, insisting that rather,
he was invited by the agency to make clarifications on some issues on a
matter under investigation.
However, a source at the commission
said Soludo was granted administrative bail and was allowed to go home,
having been grilled for several hours by the commission’s team of
investigators.
The source said his international and diplomatic
passports were seized after he had produced two sureties at the level of
Permanent Secretaries or Directors.
The source added: “But that is not the end because he is also expected back for further interrogation.
“I
don’t have much details on the other 12 ex-staff of CBN and the
Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company who were linked with the
scam; it is not as if the suspects are here.
“But a number of them
have been questioned over time and they are both from NSPMC and CBN, it
is not as if they are in our station at the moment.”
But a close
aide of Soludo denied that his passports were seized or that he was
granted any administrative bail, or that he provided any sureties.
A
statement by his media office Friday said the former CBN Governor
voluntarily went to the EFCC office to honour the commission’s
invitation.
The statement signed by Bonaventure Melah said Soludo
was neither arrested nor escorted to EFCC office by operatives of the
commission as was reported.
“We want to put it on record clearly
that the media reports that Professor Chukwuma Soludo was arrested by
the operatives of the EFCC in Abuja is totally false or to say the least
written in error.
“The fact of the matter is that the EFCC wrote a
letter to Prof. Soludo inviting him to their Abuja office on the 10th
of January 2013. EFCC’s invitation letter to Prof. Soludo was dated 20th
December 2012.
“Soludo was abroad attending to several
international engagements when the letter was sent to his aides. As a
law-abiding citizen of the country, Soludo returned to Nigeria in the
New Year and honoured EFCC invitation on January 10th as requested.
“He
voluntarily went from his home to EFCC office on Thursday. He was
neither arrested nor escorted by any operative of the Commission.
“The
EFCC letter of invitation to Soludo states that: ‘This Commission is
investigating a case in which the need to obtain certain clarifications
from you has become imperative.’
“It was a two-paragraph letter
which also indicated date and time for the meeting between Prof. Soludo
and officials of the Commission,” the statement added.
The
Guardian yesterday learnt that Soludo alongside others were quizzed by
the anti-graft agency on the processes adopted in handling the contract
and not on any alleged bribery.
A top official of the anti-graft
agency, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the issues of alleged
contract bribery did not come up during the interrogations, rather the
agency was looking at the processes adopted in awarding the contract.
According to the official, Soludo made some clarifications on the issue on Thursday and was allowed to go home.
On
how contract for currency adoption or printing is being awarded, a top
official of the apex bank said that the first step is for the President
to give approval, after which CBN gives the job to the Nigerian Minting
and Printing Company or any other printing company. The minting and
printing company will now source for polymer from Securency.
“CBN
does not award contract for such job nor has any direct contractual
arrangement with Securency. So there should be no link between CBN and
the Australian polymer company’, the official said.
The decision
to look into the polymer deal was triggered by a petition by Human and
Environmental Development Agenda, headed by Olanrewaju Suraju, demanding
the investigation and possible prosecution of those involved in the
alleged contract scam.
Sources also indicated that other top
management staff of the CBN who had worked during Soludo’s tenure were
also picked and are currently being held alongside other ex-staff of the
Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company.
However, all
efforts to get the identity of other detained suspects proved abortive,
as no one was willing to volunteer information. Sources also stated that
the commission had been conducting discreet investigations on the
contract scam before Soludo’s eventual invitation, adding that as a
prelude, several officials of the NSMPC and the CBN had been quizzed.
Ahead
of the 2010 Anambra governorship election in which Soludo contested as
the governorship candidate of the PDP after a protracted legal battle
that terminated at the apex court three day to the election, the issue
of the alleged polymer note bribery allegation was levelled against
Soludo by some of his political opponents. This followed a report by an
Australian newspaper that there was a global investigation on Securency
and its agents all over the world which revealed that the agents must
have bribed public officials of countries that adopted polymer.
In
an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Soludo said: “CBN under my
leadership never awarded any contract to Securency. I was not aware and
did not know of anybody who may have been given money for anything. I
would be surprised if any such thing happened.”
Soludo emerged the
PDP candidate for the election amidst opposition from some aspirants,
but the Presidency, under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, backed
his candidature.
Due to his ill-health, Yar’Adua left the country
and president Jonathan took over as acting president and supervised the
election where Soludo lost to Governor Peter Obi.
With the war in Afghanistan winding down after 11 years, President
Barack Obama says the time is right for U.S. forces to let Afghans do
their own fighting.
In his radio and Internet address Saturday,
Obama says U.S. forces will shift to a support role as Afghan soldiers
take the lead in defending their country.
Obama met Friday with
Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House and agreed that U.S.
troops will go home in larger numbers starting this spring — several
months ahead of schedule. He says "America's war in Afghanistan will be
over" by the end of 2014.
In the Republican address, freshman Sen.
Deb Fischer of Nebraska says that with the fiscal cliff averted,
Congress and the president must focus on cutting "out-of-control"
government spending.
