Islamic nation of Somalia follows Sultan of Brunei's example and bans Christmas celebrations

ATP  -  Somalia has banned Christmas and New Year celebrations because they are 'contrary to Islamic culture' – days after a similar move by the Sultan of Brunei.

Director General of Somalia's Ministry of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow, warned that security forces would break-up any gatherings held in the capital Mogadishu.

He said: 'All events related to Christmas and New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage aqidah (faith) of the Muslim community.

'There should be no activity at all.'  

Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, deputy chairman of the Supreme Religious Council of Somalia, said Christian events might provoke further attacks by the Muslim terror group Al Shabaab, it was reported by Ugandan daily New Vision.

Buhari is spending money like a drunken sailor – Fani-Kayode

ATP - Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s presentation of the 2016 budget of the over N6 trillion before a joint session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Femi Fani- Kayode has accused the President of mortgaging the future of Nigerians stressing that the budget was insincere.

The former PDP Presidential Campaign spokesman, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, accused the Buhari administration of spending money like a drunken sailor.

Teen pulled out alive from the rubble 60 hours after landslide in China

Teen rescued Under rubble in china

ATP - A teenager was pulled out of the rubble alive Wednesday morning more than 60 hours after a massive landslide overtook an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the Chinese news agency reported.

Police rescued 19-year-old Tian Zeming and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where doctors worked to save his foot, Wang Guangming, the president of the hospital was quoted by the Chinese Xinhua news agency as saying.

One of Tian’s ankles had been stuck in the debris that overtook 33 buildings in the industrial park at noon on Sunday, Wang said. He said the teenager was in stable condition and had undergone surgery at the Guangming New District Central Hospital.

Reports: 1 killed in blast at Istanbul airport

ATP - ISTANBUL, Turkey -- An explosion at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport has killed one cleaner on a plane and wounded another, the BBC reports. The cause of the blast was not clear, and authorities were investigating whether it was the result of a bomb.

The airport is the second largest in the city.

Pegasus airline said the blast occurred at 2:05 a.m. local time on Wednesday (7.05 p.m. EST Tuesday), when no passengers were in the area, and that operations were continuing normally.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said police armed with rifles and protective vests imposed tight security at entrances to the airport after the blast, searching vehicles in the area.

The agency said one cleaner had suffered a wound to the head, while the other suffered a wounded hand.

Anonymous declares cyber war on Turkey over ‘supporting ISIS’

ATP - The Anonymous hacktivist group has taken responsibility for a powerful cyber-attack on the Turkish sector of the internet last week. It promised to continue waging cyber warfare on .tr domains until Ankara stops the “insanity” of supporting Islamic State.

The massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Turkish websites last week, initially attributed to spooky “Russian hackers,” has been clarified with Anonymous issuing a video claiming responsibility and declaring cyber war on Turkey for supporting terrorists of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The DDoS attack (measured in gigabits per second, or plainly how much traffic is being sent to a site) on Turkish DNS servers reached 40 Gbps, quite enough to shut down altogether any domain.

Amnesty: Russian bombing of Syria may be a war crime

ATP - MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Russia's bombing of Syria may amount to a war crime because of the number of civilians its strikes have killed, Amnesty International said on Wednesday, presenting what it said was evidence that the air raids had violated humanitarian law.

"Russian air strikes in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas, striking homes, a mosque and a busy market, as well as medical facilities, in...attacks that show evidence of violations of international humanitarian law," Amnesty said in a new report.

The U.S. would be burned by playing with Putin

ATP - Secretary of State John Kerry met Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week and announced that he will accept Putin's demand that President Bashar Assad stay in power in Syria. This is the latest in a long list of Kremlin victories in undercutting President Barack Obama's global leadership and undermining the likelihood that we'll see peace and stability in Syria.

The Obama administration hopes that Putin will be a constructive partner in our war against the Islamic State. But the latest gesture will lead to the same disappointment that we've had every other time we've tried to work with Putin.

Happening Now: President Buhari presents 2016 Budget

President Muhammadu Buhari is presenting the 2016 national budget before a joint session of the National Assembly, comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives today, December 22.

The National Assembly complex has been locked down by presidential guards ahead of the presentation.

There are strong indications that lawmakers are ready to ensure that the 2016 Appropriation Bill gets speedy consideration and is passed into law.

Once the budget is presented today by the president, the Senate and the House of Representatives will go to their various chambers to commence work.

FG to slam another fine on MTN if they fail to meet December 31 deadline

ATP - Shittu said, “it is the right of MTN to approach the court but there was an infraction, which MTN admitted to have committed before it pleaded for leniency that led to the reduction of the fine from N1.4 trillion to N780 billion and the subsequent December 31, 2015 deadline to pay.

“If it has decided to go to court, it is still within the ambit of the law. I will not intervene, since they have gone to court, we will allow the court to decide if it is right for MTN to commit those infractions and breach the laws of the land.”

“it is unwise for MTN to go to court after the Federal Government had magnanimously reduced the fine. It will surely be fined for violating the rule at the expiration of the deadline, should it fail to pay the initial fine.”

MTN Files Suit Against FG, Asks Court To Quash Gargantuan Fine

ATP - MTN has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos to challenge the $3.9 billion fine imposed on it by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). MTN is asking the court to quash the fine.

MTN wass in October slammedwith a fine of $5.2 billion for failing to disconnect unregistered subscribers. The initial fine was later reduced by 25 per cent to $3.9 billion earlier this month, with a payment deadline set for December 31.

BIAFRA| FG Files Fresh Charges On Nnamdi Kanu, 2 Others

ATP - The Federal Government of Nigeria has filed fresh charges of treasonable felony managing an unlawful society on Nnamdi Kanu.

In the charge-sheet signed by the Director, Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed Saidu Diri, for the Attorney-General of the Federation, Kanu and the two others were charged with treasonable felony which is punishable under Section 41(C) of the Criminal Code Act, CAP C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

Biafra: Stop using MASSOB to collect money from politicians – Uwazuruike warns expelled members

ATP - Biafra proponent, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike has cautioned expelled members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, against using the organisation to collect money from politicians.

Uwazurike, who is the founder of MASSOB, while speaking through the body’s National Director of Information, Sunny Okereafor, pledged not to compromise his leadership of the organization and the Biafra Independent Movement, BIM, noting that the two organizations have been repositioned to actualize the independent state of Biafra.

ISIL Leader’s Mobile Phone Shows Turkey’s Support

ATP - The mobile phone was found with one of the killed ISIL leaders in the Northern parts of Salahuddin province two days ago," Jabbar al-Ma'mouri told Soumeriya news on Monday.

He said that the mobile set and history files contain messages from the Turkish intelligence agency which show that Ankara supports the ISIL terrorist group through providing security at the points of entry used by ISIL militants from Turkey to Iraq.

"The mobile phone also contains other important information which cannot be disclosed now, and it has been delivered to the specialized security groups for further scrutiny," Ma'mouri said.

One third of London’s buses to run on waste fats and oils

ATP - Almost a third of London’s bus fleet will soon be running on a greener blend of diesel, resulting in a huge reduction in CO2 emissions of 21,000 tonnes each year which comes on top of the 48,000 tonne CO2 reduction from 2013 levels as a result of the introduction of lower emitting buses such as hybrids.

Two bus operators, Stagecoach and Metroline, have signed deals with Argent Energy to supply them with B20 green diesel. The cleaner burning fuel is made from blending diesel with renewable biodiesel from waste products, including cooking oil and tallow from the meat processing trade. 

Saudi air defense intercepts rocket fired from Yemen

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen says Saudi air defense units have intercepted a rocket fired from inside Yemen in the southwest border city of Jazan.

A statement by the coalition said the rocket, which was fired early Monday, did not cause injuries or material damage and that the Saudi Air Force reacted immediately and destroyed the launching pad inside Yemen.

Nigerian troops kill 12 Boko Haram fighters: military

ATP - Nigerian troops have killed 12 Boko Haram fighters and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition from the hardline Islamist group whose six-year insurgency has claimed thousands of lives, a military spokesman said.

"As part of their determined efforts to rid the society of all known Boko Haram terrorists enclaves and hideouts, troops... conducted a fighting patrol along Damboa-Njaba-Bale road in Borno state" in the northeast of the country, Colonel Sani Usman said in a statement late Sunday.

Nigerian troops kill ‘notorious’ Boko Haram chieftain, members in Borno — Army

The Nigerian Army on Sunday said its troops in Borno killed a notorious member of the extremist Boko Haram sect as well as two other members known for terrorising remote community in the North-east state.

The spokesperson for the army, Sani Usman, a colonel, said the suspected terrorists were killed by personnel on ‘fighting patrol’.

Buhari to present 2016 budget on Tuesday – Osinbajo

ATP - Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday said there was no justification for people in North-East of Nigeria to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Osinbajo stated this when many members of PDP decamped to the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) in Dutse, the Jigawa state capital.

Osinbajo, represented by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, said it was never too late for anyone wishing to join APC to do so.

“There is no justification for anyone in the north-east to remain in PDP.

Ukraine Refuses to Repay All Debt to Russia

Ukraine's government said that it will not repay any debt owed to Russia, which could trigger an international court case and jeopardize its IMF "lifeline."

ATP - Ukraine has officially declined to repay Russia its $3 billion loan, due on December 20, effectively defaulting on its foreign debt.

Although the Ukrainian Finance Ministry announced that it would not repay the debt on Thursday, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk reiterated the announcement on Friday, calling the inability to pay a "moratorium."

Other than the eventual court case against Ukraine, the deal may jeopardize the International Monetary Fund's bailout program for Ukraine, which requires the borrower country to reach a deal "in good faith."

NATO Chief Misunderstood Putin on Russian Volunteers as Military in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Jens Stoltenberg misunderstood Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement by assuming that Russian “volunteers” located in eastern Ukraine meant “members of the military.

ATP - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg misunderstood Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement by assuming that Russian “volunteers” located in eastern Ukraine meant “members of the military,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

“There was a war going on and people went there to fight, to shoot, and to participate in combat…that’s the military sphere,” Peskov told journalists in response of what the Russian president had in mind when he was speaking about military issues during his annual press conference on December 17.

When journalists asked Peskov to be more precise of what Putin was speaking about when discussing the military in eastern Ukraine that he meant Russian volunteers had been there and not regular military troops, Peskov said, “Yes.”