12/19/17
Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency session Thursday to vote on a draft resolution rejecting President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital after the United States vetoed the measure at the Security Council.

Turkey and Yemen requested the urgent meeting of the 193-nation assembly on behalf of the Arab group of countries and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Miroslav Lajcak, the president of the General Assembly, informed all 193 delegations of the emergency session in a letter sent late Monday.


The United States on Monday vetoed the draft resolution reaffirming that any decision on the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be rescinded.

Egypt had put forward the draft which was backed by all 14 other Security Council members.

Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said a similar draft resolution will be presented to the assembly and he expects “overwhelming support” for the measure.

No country has veto powers in the 193-nation assembly, contrary to the council where the United States, along with Britain, China, France and Russia, can block any resolution.

“The General Assembly will say, without the fear of the veto, that the international community is refusing to accept the unilateral position of the United States,” Mansour told reporters.

Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem broke with international consensus, triggering protests across the Muslim world and drawing strong condemnation.

Key US allies Britain, France, Italy, Japan and Ukraine were among the 14 countries in the 15-member council that voted in favor of the measure.

After the clash at the top UN body, the White House announced that US Vice President Mike Pence was delaying a trip to the Middle East planned for this week.

AFP/LR News
Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Six suspended kidnappers and three bag snatchers and shoplifters were on Monday arrested by a combined team involving the Inspector General’s Intelligence Response Team in Aba, Abia State.

Commissioner of Police in the State, Anthony Ogbizi, while parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Umuahia said that there was no life lost either of the suspects or the police during the gun duel with the kidnappers although the suspects sustained gunshot wounds.

One of the suspect, Mr Sylvester Prince while speaking with journalists claimed that he was not involved in the kidnapping but only collected money from the gang for hiring his bus for their operations.


“I am not among the kidnappers, I swear, I only lend my bus to the gang which they normally use for their operations, all I can say is that they have used the bus two times. The first time, they gave me N50,000 and the second time, I received  N400,000 which I used to pay my debts. I am not a kidnapper, the gang used my bus for their operations and pay me after their business,” he claimed.

Three other suspects arrested and paraded for robbery and burglary include Samson Tochi, Joseph Sunday and Osondu Nwagboso all between the ages 21 and 22 respectively.

They were arrested for shop looting, snatching handbags, money and mobile phones from unsuspecting members of the public who were at the command headquarters to testify against them.

Ogbizi said the command has beefed up security network in the state and therefore it will be difficult for the gang and other criminals to escape.

“The suspects paraded here were engaged in a gun battle by a combined team and Inspector General’s Intelligence Response Team in their bungalow at the World Bank housing estate in Aba,” Ogbizi said.


He also called for cooperation of the members of the public to assist the police by supplying information on happening within their vicinity and report immediately any suspicious character.
Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Barely a week to Christmas, some families in Yenagoa are expressing concerns over lack of money which has made it impossible for them to provide for their households to celebrate the season.
Those who spoke told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, in Yenagoa, that the period will be short of the usual merriment due to lack of money to buy enough food and clothing.
Mr Edutimi Banigo, a civil servant, in the state Ministry of Commerce, said that he could not afford to buy anything for his five four children, because of non-payment of November salary.
According to him, “people are expecting their December salary; but ours, we are still waiting for November salary.
“Things have been tough, when you go to the market, the cost of goods keep increasing on daily basis so I cannot buy any new wears for them, all I can do is to manage and feed them.
“I am just a civil servant, my salary is not big and I have five people to feed which is a difficult task for me, but by His grace, He will see us through this season.
“So I have decided to safe to enable me pay their school fees and forget about buying new clothes for them.
“They will have to use the clothes they have for now, especially as the second hand clothes known as “Okrika” are expensive also, so it’s really tough for many families this year,” he said.
Similarly, Mr Livinus Kai, a businessman told NAN that his concern was how to feed his family adequately instead of buying new clothes or some gifts for his children.
“The children may not understand the economic situation, but I have to explain to them as it is a big issue not being able to buy them fine stuff to celebrate this festive period.
“My priority is for me to feed them well,’’ he said.
Also, Mrs Judith Aprela, a self employed, said during the previous years, it was possible for members of her family to shop and bond together adding this year, such activity cannot take place due to the harsh economic situation.
“I have to search their boxes to pick out some good clothes and dry-clean them for them in preparation for the Christmas celebration.
“They have been crying for Christmas gifts and I have explained that I don’t have money to buy anything for them.
“I was amazed when my six-years-old son told me to go to the bank and get money to buy Christmas gifts for them,’’ she said.
Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Increasing demand for donkey skin by China has escalated the prices for the beast of burden,  creating a big problem for Nigerian peasants and artisans who use it.
In China, the skins of donkeys are believed to have medicinal properties.
“Two years ago we were buying donkeys strong enough for our trade for between 15,000 and 18,000 naira (between $42 and $50)—but now to get a good donkey you will require 70,000 to 75,000,” said Nigerian sand digger,  Abubakar Ya’u.
“The reason for this is the huge purchase of donkeys which are transported to the south where their meat is consumed and their skin exported,” he explained.
“To us, it is a calamity because as a sand digger if you lose your donkey, you can hardly raise the money to replace it.”
Fellow sand digger Abdurrahman Garba, who has been in the business for 30 years, added that export bans by some of Nigeria’s neighbours had made the situation worse.
‘Alarming rate’
“Now that Niger has banned donkey exports to save its stock, the Chinese have turned to our stock—depleting them at an alarming rate,” said Garba, 40.
Botswana, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Gambia all impose restrictions on the trade, while Zimbabwean authorities blocked a private donkey slaughterhouse under construction and Ethiopia closed its only functioning abattoir.
Garba admitted that the temptation to sell the animals for short-term gain could be overwhelming.
“I was offered 95,000 naira for my biggest donkey but I fought hard to resist the temptation to sell it because I knew I will not be able to replace it,” he said. “We blame the Chinese for this disturbing situation.”
The animals are increasingly being transported, sometimes covertly, from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria to the southeast where they are then typically slaughtered.
Donkeys are relatively cheaper in the Muslim-majority north as they are typically not slaughtered for their meat, tempering demand.
But the north-south trade route for donkeys was already well established as consumption has traditionally been relatively high in the south where some communities have long eaten the animals.
At a market in Ughelli, Delta State—the centre of the Nigerian donkey trade—hundreds of donkeys are crammed into pens under the burning sun as they await their fate. Some are skeletally thin, all are quiet.
New animal pens are being made every month as the demand for donkey hides and meat is met with an steadily growing supply from the north.
From Delta state, hides are shipped to China where they are stewed to render the coveted gelatin known as “Ejiao” in Chinese.
The buyers, who believe that soluble Ejiao gum is an effective remedy for troubles ranging from colds to aging, comprise a market thought to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
“The medicine is popularly referred to as a blood tonic and helps to fortify the body, particularly in conditions like anaemia,” said Oliver Emekpor, a butcher handling donkey meat at the Ughelli market.
“It comes in blocks of dried pieces which are melted down into a brew of herbal mixture to drink and sells for up to $390 (330 euros) per kilo.”
Nothing is wasted. To maximise profits, donkey dealers often sell the remaining meat to unwary consumers as beef, a practice described by a local trade association as “criminal”.
Hooves are used to make shoes and donkey bones are used to manufacture plates.
‘Scarcity of donkeys’
Simon Pope, a campaigner at the Donkey Sanctuary, a British animal welfare charity, said that the scale of the donkey trade is almost impossible to estimate.
“Each donkey hide produces one kilogram of Ejiao and there is a huge uncertainty about how many hides are being used annually,” he said.
Yemi Adebayo, an official at Nigeria’s trade ministry, acknowledged that donkey hide sales to China are booming, but refused to confirm if any deal had been struck to facilitate shipments.
“Different countries either support or oppose the trade in different ways,” he said, but the status of the activity in Nigeria remained unclear.
Dong-E E-Jiao is China’s market leader for the manufacture and sale of Ejiao, controlling 70 percent of the market. The firm posted pre-tax profits of $295 million (250 million euros) in 2016 and handled roughly 700,000 donkey hides in 2014 alone.
Donkey numbers in China have nearly halved from 11 million in the 1990s to six million in 2013, according to official statistics.
China produces 5,000 tons of Ejiao each year, requiring some four million hides, according to the China Daily.
“The strong players will get stronger amid the scarcity of donkeys and decreasing supply of donkey hide,” wrote BOCOM International financial services in a research note for investors.
The Donkey Sanctuary’s investigation into the trade, “Under the Skin,” revealed that the explosion in demand had led to a surge in donkey thefts in Africa, Asia and South America.
“Donkeys may soon go extinct if they continue to be killed,” said Garba, the veteran sand digger. “Once they are finished, our trade will suffer.”
*AFP/LR News
Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.
Weeding Party 2

Nigeria’s blockbuster movie “The Wedding Party 2-Destination Dubai,” has made over 73 million Naira on its opening weekend, its producers said.
The movie was released in cinemas across the country on Friday, December 15.
This feat is now the highest ever in the Nigerian Box Office, breaking the N36 million record set by the first part of the movie,’The Wedding Party 1,’ on its opening weekend last year.
Mo Abudu, Chief Executive of Ebony Studios, one of the producers of movie, made the success of the sequel known on her Instagram page.

READ ALSO: How I Got Into Acting, My Wedding Party Experience
She wrote: “what can I say, but thank you Lord. Thank you Nigeria. The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai now goes down as the highest opening weekend ever at the Nigerian box office for both Nollywood and international films!
“Last year we did N36m on #TWP1 for our opening weekend, now we have doubled that,this is evidence that Yes We Can and we have!
“Nigeria let’s continue to break this record together, to be the highest grossing film of all time, so that we can tell the world that ‘We Can’”.
Nigerian movie lovers have been expecting this sequel to the inter-tribal-marriage-themed movie, which recently translated to the real life marriage of its main characters Dunni (Adesua) and Dozie (Banky W).
“The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai” plot, focuses on Dozie (Banky W) the groom’s brother, Nonso (played by Enyinna Nwigwe), who has continued his romance with Deirdre (played by Daniella Down), the bridesmaid from London.
Nonso proposes by accident, while on a dinner date, and that sets off a chain of intriguing events.
Although, Deirdre’s British family, as well as some members of Nonso’s family were against the pairing and the love birds seemed bothered.
However, after an unpleasant introduction ceremony in Lagos, both families reluctantly agreed to a wedding in Dubai, setting off other comic and chaotic episodes of the Wedding Party Story.
Besides the original movie’s main cast, other Nollywood stars including Patience Ozokwor (Mama G), Omoni Oboli and ace comedians Seyi Law and Chigurl are also featured in the sequel.
The original cast includes Banky W, Adesuwa Etomi, Daniella Down, RMD and Ali Baba.
Others are, Ireti Doyle, Enyinna Nwigwe, Beverly Naya and Somkele Idhalama, among others.
Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Media freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that 65 media workers around the world have been killed doing their jobs in 2017.
The organisation said among the dead were 50 professional journalists, seven citizen journalists and eight other media workers.
It said the five most dangerous countries were Syria, Mexico, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines.
Of those killed, the organisation said, 35 died in regions where armed conflict is ongoing while 30 were killed outside of such areas.
It said 39 of those killed were targeted for their journalistic work such as reporting on political corruption or organized crime while the other 26 were killed while working due to shelling and bomb attacks, for example.
“It’s alarming that so many journalists were murdered outside of war zones,” said Katja Gloger, a board member of Reporters Without Borders.
“In far too many countries perpetrators can assume they’ll get off scot-free if they’re violent towards media professionals,” she added.
The organisation said more than 300 media workers were currently in prison, with around half of those in five countries, namely Turkey, China, Syria, Iran and Vietnam.(Reuters/LR News)