Pictures of the UN Bomb Blast in Abuja

Below are some of the pictures taken from the scene of the UN building where the bomb blast occured early this morning:

One of the victims of the bomb blast being brought down by the fire men

The ripped UN building.

National Hospital as casualties were brought in.  Unconfirmed reports claim over 100 dead bodies already counted at the Hospital.

vehicle used by suicide bomber at UN house

UN workers crying after the bomb blast

Another Bomb Blast In Abuja- Hits UN Office

Witnesses reported seeing thick black smoke billowing from the building in Nigeria's capital Abuja at around 11am (BST).

It is believed that the blast was so large that it destroyed a wing of the UN office. Dozens are feared dead.

Police confirmed the explosion on Friday but did not comment on the nature of the blast or whether there were any casualties.

"I can confirm there was an explosion at the U.N. building," a police spokesman in Abuja said.

"We have deployed our policemen and anti-bomb squad. We can't establish how many casualties (there are)."

The building is situated in the same neighbourhood as the US Embassy and other diplomatic posts in Nigeria's capital.

Police and the wounded thronged the three-story building as people began to search for victims. Witnesses reported seeing ambulances taking away victims.

Alessandra Vellucci, a spokeswoman for the UN office in Geneva, said the global body's offices in Abuja had been bombed.

"I saw scattered bodies," said Michael Ofilaje, a UNICEF worker at the building. "Many people are dead."

He said it felt like "the blast came from the basement and shook the building."

The building houses about 400 employees of the U.N. in Nigeria, including the majority of its offices. A local U.N. spokesman declined to comment.

Alessandra Vellucci, a spokeswoman for the U.N. office in Geneva, said the global body's offices in Abuja had been bombed.

She told The Associated Press that there was no word yet on casualties.

The building, located in the same neighborhood as the U.S. embassy and other diplomatic posts in Abuja, had a huge hole punched in it.

Local police spokesman Jimoh Moshood confirmed the blast, but said police were still investigating the cause.

Abuja was the scene of a car bomb at police headquarters in June.

Tonto Dike Discusses Why She Acts Nude Movies In New Interview

In a recent interview, Tonto Dike discusses her Smoking habits and seminude movies roles. Read excerpts below

How true is the rumor that you are a heavy smoker and can’t do without cigarette?

We are just so shallow minded. How does that come into the way I act? Excuse me (voice raised). That is my personal life. If I want to smoke, I handle a stick of cigarette and I smoke it hard. It is my life I can decide to smoke myself to hell. It’s nobody’s business.

Yeah! Just like you were smoking before this interview started?

It’s left for me to think about it. It’s left for me to continue. How has smoking affected my acting job? It’s nobody business and it doesn’t affect what you see on TV.

Many said your smoking habit has made you become asthmatic.

(Laughs out loudly) I think my health problems have nothing to do with my job. If I have a health problem then I have a health problem. It’s not something that is meant for the public or the world.

How true is it also that you are into lesbianism?

Aha! There is nothing that is surprising to me anymore. I don’t live my life based on what people say about me.

You acted in the movie, ‘Dirty Secret,’ alongside Muna Obiekwe and Jibola Dabo. The movie has generated so much criticism. How have you taken it?

I felt it but I felt it in a very positive way. It really helped my career. It helped me with my job and my personality as a woman. The movie has been highly talked about and it even got me more popularity. It was really crazy to be part of it. I got paid to interpret a role as an actress and I did it perfectly well. I don’t give a f**k about what anybody is saying out there.

Some critics felt your seminude role in the movie was totally African?

I don’t know what the Africa role is. I don’t know about being an African or not. I am a human being and an actress. That is all I know. Being an African is not part of my job.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW RESULTS

Below are the gropings:


CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW

Group A: Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli


Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor


Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati


Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb


Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk


Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund


Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, APOEL


Group H: Barcelona, Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen


What do you think about this grouping?

Uefa Super Cup 2011 : Barcelona Vs Porto Today At 7:45pm (Nig.Time)

Managers Pep Guardiola and Vítor Pereira are predicting an exciting game between Barcelona and Porto in the Uefa Super Cup at Stade Louis II on Friday.

Barça have set a Super Cup record by reaching the Monaco showpiece for an eighth time – and Guardiola has promised an enthralling clash between two of Europe’s most prestigious clubs.

“Finals are meaningful when you play against clubs with a great history – it was an honour to play against Manchester United and it’s an honour to play against one of the strongest teams in the world now in Porto,” said Guardiola on Thursday.

“Mathematically their figures are impeccable and when you watch them play you can see they do things very well. I think it will be an excellent final, just like the Champions League was.”

It will be the eighth occasion the two sides have met in European competition, with Barça holding the superior record after having secured victory over their Portuguese opponents on four previous occasions.

Guardiola will be without defender Gerard Piqué, who tore his calf in training last Tuesday, while Carles Puyol is unavailable after undergoing surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee in June.

Meanwhile, Porto are making their fourth appearance in the Super Cup – they triumphed in 1987 before losing both previous trips to Monaco in 2003 and 2004.

As in 1987 and 2004, the Europa League winners approach the final with a different coach from the one that won their qualifying competition – Pereira replaced André Villas-Boas as Porto manager this summer and his first test in Europe will be for his side to contain the newly-crowned Best Player in Europe, Lionel Messi.

“You can’t stop Messi with any special tactic,” said Pereira. “You stop him with a strong team performance, by concentrating defensively, covering each other and anticipating intentions. You will see our own game plan and identity; you don’t adapt to your opponent.”

Although Pereira admits Barça are the best team he had seen in his lifetime, the Porto boss promised his side would put on a show against the Champions League holders.

“We’re here on our own merit following a great season,” Pereira said. “We know Barcelona are a great team, but we’re not here to see them play. We came here to win this game so we have the ingredients for a great spectacle.”

Porto have faced Spanish opposition in the Super Cup before – the Portuguese side suffered a 2-1 defeat by Valencia in 2004 and it is the only occasion in which a Spanish and a Portuguese team have faced each other in Monaco.


http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2011/08/barcelona-v-porto-uefa-super-cup-2011-preview/

12 Killed In Adamawa State As Boko Haram Strikes Again

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A radical Muslim sect blamed for attacks across northeast Nigeria bombed a police station and robbed two banks Thursday, killing 12 people in an assault highlighting the group's escalating willingness to shed blood, authorities said.

The sect, known locally as Boko Haram, stormed into the city of Gobi in Adamawa state in broad daylight, first attacking the police precinct with bombs and raking the building with gunfire, police commissioner A.T. Shinaba said. The group killed four police officers and a soldier guarding the area, he said.

The sect members then shot their way into two local branches of First Bank PLC and United Bank for Africa PLC, killing seven bank employees before speeding away with an unknown amount of cash, Shinaba said. Four others suffered injuries in the attack.

"Our police station was attacked this morning by a gang of suspected Boko Haram gunmen in vehicles and motorbikes," the shaken police commissioner told journalists. We are "combing the bush for fleeing sect members."

Nigeria, home to 150 million people, suffers from a weak police force more focused on collecting bribes than law enforcement in the oil-rich nation. The force also has been unable to handle the rise of Boko Haram, which many believed had been dismantled after a security crackdown following a sect riot in 2009 left 700 people dead.

The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, seeks the implementation of strict Shariah Islamic law in the country. Nigeria is largely split between a Christian south and Muslim north, where 12 states already have a version of Shariah in place.

Boko Haram has been blamed for a rash of killings targeting security officers, local leaders and clerics in the area over the last year. It also has claimed responsibility for a bombing at the nation's police headquarters that killed two people in June.

This would be the first bank robbery attributed to the group, though sophisticated attacks on banks have been carried on banks in north Nigeria in recent weeks.

Brazilian Company Offers To Buy PHCN For $100 Billion

A Brazilian company has offered to buy the Federal Government’s stake in 17 Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies for 100 billion dollars (N15 trillion), Prof. Barth Nnaji, the Minister of Power, said.

Nnaji made the fact known in Lagos on Thursday at the 2011 Annual Conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC).

 “A Brazilian company, for instance, has offered to buy the Federal Government’s stake in the 17 PHCN
successor companies for 100 billion dollars  (N15 trillion),” he said.

Nnaji, represented by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Cydon Adinuba, said that the National Council on Privatisation  (NCP) had approved and shortlisted potential bidders after receiving 331 applications.  

“With the inauguration of the Electricity Bulk Trading Company Board on Tuesday, the investors’ confidence has been further bolstered.

“The Bulk Trader, which enjoys the World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG), exists to give comfort and confidence to generation companies by guaranteeing power generating companies’ payment for all their products.

“It will cease to exist when the distribution companies mature enough by being credit worthy,” he said.

Nnajisaid that 40 firms were shortlisted to bid for the concession of the hydro stations, 87 shortlisted for thermal stations and 80 for the electricity distribution companies.   

“In spite of the global economic crisis and the reported decline in foreign direct investment, there has been a remarkable growth of international investors’ confidence in Nigeria’s power sector in the last one year,’’ he said.

Also, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, said that the challenge facing the industry was for the government to create an enabling environment for it to strive.

Alison-Madueke, represented by Dr Earnest Nwapa, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), said that it would allow capital to flow inward and get retained for economic growth and development.

“I want to assure Nigerians and our international partners that the government has taken firm steps to address these concerns in a structured and sustainable manner,” the minister said.

She expressed concern over the huge capital flight in the oil and gas sector ,which had been blamed largely on many years of dependency on foreign products and services.

The minister said that this had cost the nation about 300 billion dollars (N45 trillion).

According to her, the oil industry currently needs to spend about 20 billion dollars (N30 trillion) annually.

She said that the major operators had not helped matters by reliance on the importation of goods and services.

The minister said that they had not made any effort to develop sustainable capabilities that would support life cycle operations in Nigeria.