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Chemical attack: US, UK, France bombard Syria

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The U.S., UK and France jointly launched strikes Friday night targeting the Assad regime’s chemical weapons capabilities after a suspected chemical attack killed dozens outside of Damascus, U.S. President Donald Trump announced.

“Today, the nations of Britain, France and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality,” Trump said from the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House in nationally-televised remarks.

Trump said the U.S. is prepared “to sustain” the military assault “until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents”, saying the joint response will also include economic and diplomatic components.

The three countries jointly launched strikes targeting the Assad regime’s chemical weapons research centre near Damascus, a chemical weapons warehouse and a command centre related to chemical weapons located in western Homs, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford said at a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Earlier Friday, the U.S. announced it has “very high confidence” that the Assad regime is responsible for a suspected chemical attack last weekend.

The White Helmets, a civil defense agency, blamed the Assad regime for the alleged chemical attack, which it said killed 78 civilians and injured hundreds of others.

In a statement following the attacks, the White House said “a significant body of information” points to the regime’s use of chlorine in the attack, and unspecified other information indicates it also used the nerve agent sarin.

“The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead,” Trump said.

Addressing Bashar al-Assad’s principal allies, Iran and Russia, the president asked: “What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?”

“The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep,” Trump said.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has dispatched a fact-finding team to Syria that was expected to begin work Saturday before the strikes took place. If it continues as originally planned, the OPCW’s mission will be focused on determining whether a chemical attack took place but will not work to determine culpability.

Trump’s decision to carry out military action follows through on days of ratcheted tensions after the attack in Douma.

Earlier this week, Trump warned Russia that U.S. missiles “will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’” in response to the attack.

Friday night’s strikes are the second time Trump has ordered the U.S. military to target Syrian regime positions in response to a chemical attack. Last year, the U.S. targeted the Shayrat Airbase after a chemical attack blamed on the regime struck a town in northern Syria.

Announcing the attacks from Britain, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the Assad regime’s “persistent pattern of behavior must be stopped – not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons, but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons”.

“We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this, but our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted. Even this week, the Russians vetoed a resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack,” the prime minister said.

Tuesday’s veto was Russia’s twelfth of council resolutions seeking to hold the Assad regime accountable for rights violations. Six of those resolutions sought to hold the regime accountable for chemical weapons attacks.

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., lashed out against the attacks, saying in a statement “a pre-designed scenario is being implemented”.

“We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris,” Antonov said. “The U.S. – the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons – has no moral right to blame other countries.”

•Anadolu Agency.

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Ekiti Students Caught On Camera Bullying A Fellow Student, Have Been Expelled

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The management of Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti (BOUESTI) has expelled two of its students filmed assaulting a female colleague.

A video recently went viral on social media of a student hitting her fellow student with a stick that was handed to her by another student. The bully had kept insinuating that she would draw blood from her victim.

Reacting to the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Temitope Akinbisoye, in a statement released, said the students caught in the video were summoned on Monday, May 6 and were meted the appropriate punishment for their actions

”In accordance with our institution’s policies and extant regulations, the students who were captured in the viral video appeared before the Students’ Disciplinary Committee at its emergency meeting held on Monday, May 6, 2024, for interrogations and appropriate recommendations, the report of which has been submitted to the University authorities.

The University authorities condemn in strong terms, any form of violence or misconduct in our University or by any of our constituents. Such behaviour is entirely inconsistent with the values we uphold and the standards of respect and dignity that we expect from all members of our University.

Miss Opemiposi Precious BOLAJI with Matriculation No. 10232, a 100L Mass Communication student who was beating her colleague with a stick and threatening to inflict bodily harm on her for allegedly destroying her 3-year old love affair with her boyfriend was found guilty of misconduct and flagrant breach of her matriculation oath and consequently EXPELLED with immediate effect.

Miss Genesis OSARO, a 100L Mass Communication student with Matriculation No. 10257, who provided the stick with which Gloria AJAYI was beaten, was found guilty of misconduct (as an accomplice) and flagrant breach of her Matriculation oath and consequently EXPELLED with immediate effect.

Miss Gloria AJAYI, a 100L Mass Communication student with Matriculation No. 10295, who was seen being beaten in the viral video but did not retaliate or engage in fisticuffs with her tormentors, was EXONERATED.“

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“80% Of Buildings In Lekki Have No Approval” – Lagos State Commissioner For Physical Planning & Urban Development Reveals

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The Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, has stated that 80 per cent of buildings in Ibeju Lekki have no approval.

Olumide disclosed this while speaking to newsmen recently.

In his words; “Just last week Thursday and Friday, myself and the team were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree with me that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked. We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 per cent of them do not have approval.

The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land. Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to.

The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expense of land follows.”’

Olumide noted that a layout permit cannot be obtained if it is not zoned for the purpose it was designed for or for the purpose it was being requested.

“So, you can see all these layers, but people still go ahead to start advertising. Some have even gone to the extent of displaying the sizes they want to sell. Imagine someone in the diaspora who wants to send money without any knowledge. Then, no approval is eventually gotten. Even if they pass the assignment and the survey to them, we would not grant the individual permit, because that area is not zoned for that purpose’’ Olumide said

This partly explains why some of the houses are being turn down currently in the state.

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Lady Dies After Friends Pushed Her Into Boiling Pot Of Fresh Pepper In Delta State

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A Nigerian man identified as Israel Joe, has revealed how his friend, Roseline, died after she was pushed into a boiling pot of fresh pepper and tomatoes by her two female friends in Sapele, Delta State.

Joe stated that Roseline, a caterer, went on a trip with her friends to Sapele for a catering job where the bitter ordeal occured.

She tragically passed away on Saturday, April 13 after spending two weeks at the hospital in a very horrible state.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Joe said that before her untimely death, Roseline confided in him about two of her friends who were treating her coldly.
And he has vowed to bring them to justice.

This is such a heartbreaking event.

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