Red carpet photos from 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards

The Nigerian Entertainment Awards held this past Sunday in New York. See red carpet and show pics after the cut...

 

Photo Credit: AdeWest Media

Al-Qaeda leader announces India wing

Central & South Asia

Ayman al-Zawahiri says his armed group will "raise the flag of jihad" across parts of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Ayman al-Zawahiri called on the Muslim nation "to wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land" [AP]

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has announced the formation of an Indian branch of his global armed group that he said would spread Islamic rule and "raise the flag of jihad" across the subcontinent. In a video spotted in online "jihadist" forums on Wednesday by the SITE terrorism monitoring group, Zawahiri said the new force would "crush the artificial borders" dividing Muslim populations in the region. Al-Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where its surviving leadership are thought to be hiding out, but Zawahiri said the group would take the fight to India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. "This entity was not established today but is the fruit of a blessed effort of more than two years to gather the mujahedeen in the Indian sub-continent into a single entity," he said. Founded by Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan by US commandos in May 2011, al-Qaeda has long claimed leadership of the self-declared jihadists fighting to restore a single caliphate in Muslim lands. But since the death of its figurehead, it has been somewhat eclipsed, first by its own offshoots in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and now by the so-called "Islamic State" fighting in Iraq and Syria. While still regarded as a threat to the West, the group has never managed carry out another attack on the scale of the September 11, 2001 attacks by hijacked airliners on New York and Washington. But, in launching "Qaedat al-Jihad in the Indian sub-continent," Zawahiri may be attempting to recapture some of the limelight for his group and to exploit existing unrest in Kashmir and Myanmar. "It is an entity that was formed to promulgate the call of the reviving imam, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may Allah have mercy upon him," Zawahiri said. 'Waging jihad' Zawahiri called on the "umma," or Muslim nation, to unite around "tawhid," or monotheism, "to wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land, to restore its sovereignty and to revive its caliphate." He said the group would recognise the overarching leadership of the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and be led day-to-day by senior Pakistani fighter Asim Umar. The 55-minute video begins with stock footage of the late bin Laden giving a sermon, before cutting to a satellite map of southwest Asia, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and the Horn of Africa. Then it cuts to a white-bearded Zawahiri, in a white turban and glasses, against the backdrop of a brown floral curtain and desk with hardback books and a tin holding ballpoint pens and prayer beads. Umar also speaks in the video - using the Urdu language of Pakistan rather than the Egyptian doctor Zawahiri's native Arabic - along with a new group spokesman identified as Usama Mahmoud. The video is produced by Al-Qaeda's usual media arm, the As-Sahab Media Foundation - "The Cloud" - and SITE reported that it had been widely distributed on jihadist online forums. 'Policy statement' Meanwhile the Pakistan Taliban has distanced itself from the recently formed splinter group Jamaat-ur-Ahrar and the Islamic State. In a new "policy statement" released on Thursday, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid termed both groups "suspicious" and "a conspiracy". He said TTP has expelled its former Mohmand Agency commander Omar Khalid Khorasani or Abdul Wali, who founded the Jamaat-ur-Ahrar recently. The Pakistan Taliban reiterated its allegiance to the Afghan Taliban and its leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar in a statement that comes on the same day as al-Qaeda announcing the formation of its new franchise in South Asia.

US to pursue IS group to 'gates of hell'

Vice president Joe Biden says US will "bring armed group to justice" after beheading of two American reporters in Iraq.

The fight against the IS group has given unlikely allies like the US and Shia armed groups a common cause [AFP]

Joseph  Biden, the US vice president, has said his country will follow the IS group "to the gates of hell" following the beheading of two American journalists by the group in Iraq. Biden vowed to hunt down and defeat the IS group, while stepping up efforts to recruit an international coalition to join in the fight. "The American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand," Biden said in a speech on Wednesday. "When people harm Americans, we don't retreat, we don't forget." A videotape showing Steven Sotloff's murder was broadcast on Tuesday, two weeks after the same group released a video showing Foley's killing. "We take care of those who are grieving and when that's finished, they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice," the US vice president said. "Because hell is where they'll reside." The speech came as US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said dozens of US citizens are joining the Islamic State group. "We are aware of over a hundred US citizens, who have US passports, who are fighting in the Middle East with ISIL [IS] force," Hagel said in a television interview. "There maybe more, we don't know, we can't take a chance." Earlier on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama called for an international front against the IS, as US allies Britain and France weighed possible military action. "We know that if we are joined by the international community, we can continue to shrink ISIL's sphere of influence, its effectiveness, its financing, its military capabilities," said Obama. "And the question is going to be making sure we've got the right strategy, but also making sure that we've got the international will to do it," he said during a visit to Estonia's capital Tallinn. 'Medieval savagery' Britain, with one of its nationals also under threat of beheading, said it would not rule out taking part in air strikes if necessary. "I can assure you that we will look at every possible option to protect this person," UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. French President Francois Hollande likewise raised the possibility of a military response to the threat posed by the IS. "The head of state underlined the importance of a political, humanitarian and if necessary military response in accordance with international law" to fight against IS, the French presidency said. Obama will lead a UN Security Council session on the threat of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria on September 25, a US official said on Wednesday. US Secretary of State John Kerry revealed he was working to forge a global coalition to fight the "medieval savagery" of the Sunni armed group which has taken over large swaths of Syria and Iraq. Tribute to Sotloff Meanwhile in the US, Sotloff's family paid tribute for the first time since his death to the 31-year-old reporter, remembering a gentle soul with a fondness for junk food and golf who was fiercely committed to giving "a voice to those who had none". Barak Barfi, a friend of Sotloff who is serving as family spokesman, said Sotloff was "torn between two worlds," the statement said, but "the Arab world pulled him." "He was no war junkie ... He merely wanted to give voice to those who had none," Barfi said outside the family's home in a Miami, Florida. Barfi ended the statement with off-the-cuff remarks in Arabic, saying: "Steve died a martyr for the sake of God." He then challenged IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to debate Islam, saying, "Woe to you. You said the month of Ramadan is the month of mercy. Where is your mercy?" "God does not love the aggressor," added Barfi, who is an Arabic scholar and research fellow at the New America Foundation think tank in Washington.

Ebola death toll accelerates in West Africa

WHO says at least $600m needed to fight Ebola outbreak, as death toll rises to more than 1,900 people.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders has said that authorities were 'losing the battle' against the virus [MSF]

At least $600m is needed to fight West Africa's Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organisation has announced, as the death toll shot up by about 400 in a week to more than 1,900 people. There have now been about 3,500 cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal, WHO Director Margaret Chan confirmed on Wednesday. The UN said that fresh fears emerged in Nigeria after the the government announced that a seventh person died of the virus. "This is not an African disease. This is a virus that is a threat to all humanity,'' Gayle Smith, special assistant to US President Barack Obama and senior director at the National Security Council, told reporters. MSF chief on Ebola outbreak: "We're calling for help" Experts warn Ebola could spread beyond the five West African countries that are already hit. The virus has directly impacted the economies of these nations with farmers and miners fearing that they will contract the infection if they step out to work in areas where cases were recorded. The African Development Bank said that the outbreak could cost the affected countries up to four percent of their GDP. Health workers infected The top priority is providing protective gear to health workers in the affected areas and ensuring that they receive hazard pay, said David Nabarro, who is coordinating the UN response to the unprecedented outbreak. A large number of health workers have been infected in this outbreak and many of them have expressed concern over the shortage of protective suits. The key to solving the outbreak will be implementing measures used in all previous outbreaks: isolating and treating the sick, monitoring their contacts for signs of disease and safely burying the dead, said Tom Kenyon of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There is a window of opportunity but it's closing with each and every day that we delay in getting measures in place," he said. Kenyon said experimental vaccines and treatments would not be available in time to make a difference. On Tuesday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that authorities were "losing the battle" against Ebola, and that the world had ignored the gravity of the epidemic. The medical charity's president Joanne Liu called for a global biological disaster response, including funding for more field hospitals, trained civilian or military medical personnel and mobile laboratories in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a separate strain of the virus killed at least 31 people, the government said. The WHO said that the Zaire strain is "distinct and independent" with no relationship to the outbreak in West Africa.

Joan Rivers Out of Intensive Care Unit

Here’s some good news Joan Rangers!
Joan Rivers has been moved out of  intensive care, and is now in a private room at Mount Sinai hospital, BBC reports.
You will recall that Joan had been on life support since last week, and had to be put in a medically-induced coma after she stopped breathing during a surgical procedure on her vocal cords.
Melissa Rivers, Joan’s daughter released a statement on her mom’s health:
“My mother has been moved out of intensive care and into a private room. Thank you for your continued support.”

Ebola: Port Harcourt Records 2nd Death

Just days after Dr. Samuel Enemou passed away in Port Harcourt after contracting Ebola, a second death has been recorded in the city.

The latest victim is said to have died at an isolation ward in Port Harcourt, after contracting the disease while being treated at the hospital where Enemou died, The Cable reports.

Dan Nwomeh, special assistant on media and communication to the minister of health, revealed the news.

According to reports, the deceased was an elderly woman, who suffered other health issues, including heart problems.

Photo Credit: Getty Images