Usain Bolt urges Caster Semenya to accept IAAF testosterone ruling

Former athlete Usain Bolt has urged South African athlete Castor Semenya to accept the new rules on hormone levels implemented by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Bolt revealed his stand on the controversial landmark ruling on testosterone during the launch of his electric scooter brand on Wednesday, May 15.

"I heard about her story without following it very closely. For me it's just the rules. I don't make the rules but I enforce them," the eight time Olympic Champion was quoted as saying to AFP.

Bolt preferred this practical approach to the situation and believed it would be more strategic for Semenya to accept the new rules and move forward.

"When there is rule I never discuss it, I just bend over and move on," Bolt added.

The Jamaican eight-time Olympic Champion is among the first athletes to publicly agree with IAAF over Semenya, while most are still coming to terms with the rule labeling it discriminatory.

Semenya, an Olympic and Commonwealth 800m champion, was born with intersex traits that makes her body naturally produce high levels of testosterone.

The decision was announced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and it came after the 28-year-old South African tried to challenge the new IAAF rules.

Semenya and other athletes with rare differences ofsexual development (DSD), will now have to regulate their testosterone levels if they are to compete in track events ranging from 400 metres to one mile.

They will be required to lower their hormone levels below 5 nmol/L of blood as treatment for their natural levels.

Earlier, South Africa's 2016 Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya has been ordered to take medicationsbefore competing in any event by the Court of Arbitration for Sports.

This comes after the 28-year-old Olympic gold medalist challenged a controversial International Association of Athletics Federations rule targeting women who naturally produce high levels of testosterone.

The Court of Arbitration for Sports however ruled on Wednesday, May 1, that Semenya will have to take medications that suppress her testosterone output to continue competing.

Semenya is believed to have an intersex condition that causes her body to naturally produce testosterone at levels much higher than most women.

Zainab Aliyu finally speaks on Saudi Araba prison experience

Zainab Aliyu, a 22-year-old Nigerian student who was arrested by Saudi Arabia authority over alleged hard drug trafficking, has finally broken silence on her 124-day ordeal in Saudi Arabia prison.

Speaking on her experience in an interview with Daily Trust days, Zainab said she became inconsolable when the Saudi officials burst into a room where she was staying with her mother for question over a consignment of hard substance "which they said we had illegally brought into the Holy Land from Nigeria."

Zainab, who is a student of the Maitama Sule University Kano, also added that she was arrested for further investigation along with one Malam Ibrahim Abubakar over the same allegation.

Recounting her ordeal further, Zainab said she was taken to the prison located outside Jeddah, around 12am Saudi time in signposted the beginning of her prison ordeal, though in her heart she did not commit any offence.

She said: ''No, nobody told me where I was to be taken to, and even after I was taken there, I never imagined that it was a prison, because deep inside my heart, I knew I did not commit any offense that would warrant such punishment.

''But after some time, I realized that I was actually taken to prison. So, I was given a room, and we were four in it. In fact, it is after I got there that one of my roommates helped me with her cell phone with which I called my mother.

''We were being fed well, but it was not like home at all. Honestly, I was not able to eat real food at the first instance, but later I started. Initially, I was taking only water and juice which the prison officials provide us. Later, I began to eat, because there was no way I could survive without it. Also, with the counselling that I had been receiving from my parents, I got the courage to continue with my life there.''

On her relationship with other people held in the Saudi prison and how they were being treated, Zainab said first refused to trust anybody. She added that contrary to what may be peddled around, she and other prisoners were treated well and there was no case of humiliation.

''They treated us like human beings. Nobody humiliated or harassed anyone in there. And I spent 124 days there, '' she added.

She, however, said her life changed when she met an Ethiopian lady called Rehisty. According to her, they initially had communication barrier but with time they were able to communicate in Arabic.

She said while in prison, she joined a Qur'an class, learnt pure Arabic and mememorised half of the Holy Book.

Zainab said: "Yes, but only the Ethiopian lady I mentioned earlier, called Rehisty. When we were brought there, together, we found it difficult to communicate, because she could only understand a little English, and I understand only a little Arabic.

"So, it took us some time before we started communicating, in Arabic, which I picked up while in detention. I learnt pure Arabic.

"I also joined Tahfiuz school, and Alhamdulillah, I was able to memorize half of the Holy Qur’an during my stay in the prison. I also learnt how to live with people from different backgrounds."

She thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, Madam Abike Dabiri, and the minister of justice, Justice Malami and Nigerians for the love showered on her.

EarlierNigeria Mission in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, April 30, disclosed that the detained Zainab Habib Aliyu had been released.

Zainab's release came after President Muhammadu Buhari directed the attorney general of the federation to take necessary action on her detention by Saudi Arabia.

She was in Saudi Arabia on lesser Hajj when the Saudi authority arrested her over alleged drug trafficking.

Probe banditry in Zamfara state- Emir Tells FG

Zamfara council of chiefs has requested the federal government to set up a panel or commission of inquiry to establish those behind banditry in the state and punish them.

The chairman of the council and Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, made the appeal on Monday, May 13 when he received the minister of interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), at his palace.

The emir, however, lauded some of the measures put in place against the bandits such as cutting their food and fuel supplies and added that the action had seriously frustrated the operations of the bandits.

His words: “We as a people will not forgive the actions of these people which have led to the killing and displacement of thousands of innocent citizens whose sources of livelihood have also been completely destroyed.

“Setting up of such a panel will help in bringing all the perpetrators to book.”

He also suggested other ways to frustrate the operations of the bandits.

He said: “This should be followed by blocking the telephone service of the whole state by all the service providers because it is only when kidnappers can contact victims’ relations that they can demand for ransom.

“If GSM network for the whole state is blocked for between three and six months, l can assure you that it will go a long way because even informers can no longer disclose the movement of security personnel to the bandits.’’

The emir said in addition to blocking telephone links, all routes used by the bandits should be blocked and anyone coming or going through the routes should be arrested.

According to him, there were no more farmers/herders clashes in the state but criminal activities.

He said kidnapping had become a lucrative business in which kidnappers asked for foodstuffs, recharge cards and other necessities as ransom and urged government to allow security personnel to bombard all the identified bandits’ settlements in the bush.

Earlier, Dambazau said he was in the state on the instructions of President Muhammadu Buhari to once again commiserate with the people and discuss more ways of bringing lasting peace to the state.

He said, “the bandits are hereby given the last chance to surrender because more drastic measures will soon be applied against them.”

He further said the government would ensure that farming fully resumed in all parts of the state in the current farming season.

Recently, armed persons suspected to be bandits, attacked some communities in Zamfara state killing more than 50 people and injuring 31 in the space of three days.

The attackers invaded communities under Dangurgu, Kunkilai, Birnin Magaji, in Maru, Gusau and Birnin Magaji local government areas of Zamfara state.

The bandits armed with sophisticated weapons, were said to have started shooting sporadically immediately they stormed a community, killing 31 and wounding six in the process.

Buhari must not be sworn-in on May 29 - Opposition party tells tribunal

One of the parties that contested Saturday, February 23, presidential election, Hope Democratic Party (HDP), has filed a motion seeking an order of the election tribunal to restrain President Muhammadu Buhari from presenting himself to be sworn-in on May 29.

Channels TV reports that the party is also seeking an order restraining the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) from swearing-in, administering the oath of office and oath of allegiance to the president on May 29.

In a motion on notice made available to journalists on Tuesday, May 14, the party filed the motion on 6 grounds pursuant to section one subsection 2 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and under the jurisdiction of the tribunal.

It was learnt that some of the grounds of the application is that there is a pending petition challenging the election and return of President Buhari as the winner of the February 23 presidential election.

The Hope Democratic Party also said the petition has been served on President Buhari and pleadings have been exchanged.

The party claimed that in spite of the dependency of the legal action against President Buhari, he has been making frantic efforts and preparation for his inauguration on May 29, by the CJN.

The party further said that unless President Buhari is restrained from presenting himself for inauguration he would foil ''a fiat accompli and state of hopelessness on the court and render their petition nugatory.''

It also averred that the law is settled that once a question of the validity of an election of any person is challenged that person is not competent to take oath of office or assume the seat of power.

The application was filed on May 9 and it was heard today, Tuesday, May 14.

Meanwhile,(PDP) urged the president of Court of Appeal who is also a member of presidential election petitions tribunal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to excuse herself from the tribunal.

It was reported that PDP staff who protested at the party’s national secretariat, Wadata House, Abuja on Monday, May 13, passed a vote of no confidence on the tribunal as long as Justice Bulkachuwa remained a member.

N364m rice farming loan: Defaulters on-the-run in Taraba

The acting chairm of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Taraba, Mallam Tanko Bobbo Andami, has disclosed that the 3,383 farmers that collected N364 million loan for rice farming in state have defaulted the payment.

In an interview with journalists Andami said they collected the loan for wet and dry farming in 2018 and 2019 but none of them refund any amount while many of them are on the run.

He further claimed that the federal government under its rice production programme release the loans through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to 3,383 farmers in the state through various multi-purpose co-operative societies.

It was learn that the loan beneficiaries were from Lau, Gassol, Wukari, Karim-Lamido, Ardo-Kila, and Jalingo local government areas of the state who were registered under 185 multi-purpose co-operative societies.

Andami said under the agreement of the loan, each beneficiary is supposed to repay the loan with paddy rice and money immediately after harvest.

The chairman said however “even a bag of paddy rice or single Kobo was not repaid by the entire 3,383 beneficiaries.”

He stated that the water pumps, seeds, weed chemicals, fertilizers and cash were given to the rice farmers as loans under the programme, but all of them have defaulted.

Andami said the action of the beneficiaries for defaulting payment was discouraging and will undermine federal government’s effort in boosting local rice production.

He added: “The federal government through the law enforcement agencies will soon go after the defaulting farmers and records of each beneficiary is available with Issuing Banks and therefore no farmer will go free.”

Pope Francis aide restores power for hundreds in occupied Rome building

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Cardinal Konrad Krajewski said he felt the need to intervene

A cardinal who conducts acts of charity for Pope Francis has restored power for hundreds of people in a building in Rome after climbing down a manhole and flipping a switch, local media report.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski said he acted in "desperation" because the occupants of the state-owned property had spent a week without power and hot water.

Activists have been using the building to provide shelter for the homeless.

The electricity supplier cut the power due to debts of €300,000 (£260,000).

The sum is believed to have accumulated in the years since the unused building was taken over in 2013. It now houses more than 400 people, including nearly 100 children.

Matteo Salvini, Italy's populist deputy prime minister, has said he now expects the papal aide to pay the overdue utility bills, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica.

On Sunday, Cardinal Krajewski described how he had climbed down a manhole and removed seals covering a switch in order to turn the building's power supply back on.

"I intervened personally last night to reattach the meters. It was a desperate gesture. There were over 400 people without electricity, with families, children, without even the possibility of operating the refrigerators," he told Italy's Ansa news agency.

"I didn't do it because I was drunk," he reportedly added.

The building on Via di Santa Croce not only provides shelter, but today also houses workspaces, including a craft beer laboratory and a carpentry shop, Italian media report.

Pilot's Skill Helps 82; passengers 7 Crews Plane Land Safely without Front Wheels.

Image:There were 82 passengers and seven crew on the plane. Pic: Nay Min via Reuters.

A plane has landed in Myanmar using only its back wheels after the front wheels failed to deploy.

Eighty-two passengers and seven crew were on the Myanmar National Airlines plane when it made an emergency landing at Mandalay International Airport on Sunday.

Flight UB103 had flown from Myanmar's capital Yangon and was coming in to land when the pilot told the control tower that the front wheels could not be pulled down.

A back-up emergency procedure was unsuccessful so the pilot flew past the tower twice for air controllers to confirm whether the wheels had deployed.

The pilot also dumped fuel to reduce the weight of the Brazilian-made Embraer 190-LR before landing safely on its back wheels just after 9am.

Its nose scraped the runway and sent off sparks as it came to a stop.

Image:The plane was evacuated after it landed. Pic: Nay Min via Reuters

U Ye Htut Aung, deputy director general of Department of Civil Aviation, told the Myanmar Times that the problem was a mechanical error and there was no serious damage to the plane because the pilot was skilled

The passengers were also not injured, he added.

Smaller aircraft were able to use the runway after about two and a half hours and the runways were expected to be open for larger aircraft late in the afternoon