Somalia's Shabaab militants 'execute informers

Mogadishu - Somalia's Shabaab militants have
executed four people accused of spying for the
United States, Ethiopia and the country's
internationally-backed government, officials
and witnesses said.
The executions by firing squad took place at a
square in the town of Bardhere, a Shabaab
stronghold in Somalia's south-western region
of Gedo, late on Tuesday, and came a week
after the US said it had killed the al-Qaeda-
affiliated militants' intelligence chief in an air
strike.
"One of the spies worked with the CIA and
facilitated the killing of an al-Shabaab
commander," a Shabaab judge in the town
said before the four were shot dead.

According to the judge, another one of those
executed had been aiding US operations in
Barawe, a port town and former Shebab
stronghold that was captured last year by
Somali and African Union forces, while the
other two worked for Ethiopian intelligence
and Somalia's security agency.
"After hearing the charges against the four
and their confession, the Islamic court
sentenced them to the death penalty," the
judge said.
Blindfolded and shot from the back
A local witness, Ali Ronow, said hundreds of
locals watched the execution.
"The men were blindfolded and shot from the
back by a team of hooded gunmen," he said.
"All of them had their hands tied behind their
backs when brought on a pickup truck and
they were also hooded. They were shot
indiscriminately with machine guns," said
Muktarey, another witness.

Last week the United States conducted an air
strike in Saacow, 320km west of the capital
Mogadishu and in the Middle Juba region, and
Somali officials said Shabaab intelligence chief
Abdishakur Tahlil was killed along with two
other militants.
The Shabaab’s former leader, Ahmed Abdi
Godane, was also killed by a US air strike in
September 2014.
Separately, a bomb stuck beneath a car in the
capital Mogadishu wounded one, ripping off
the leg of the driver as he travelled near the
central K4 roundabout, police officer Awil
Mohamed said.
"I saw his leg in a shoe left inside the car" said
Farah Abdi, who was nearby the busy junction
when the bomb exploded.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack,
but the Shabaab have for years carried out a
string of bombings and killings in their fight to
overthrow the government.

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Crash diets: a quick solution to your weight woes?

With the start of a new year comes the age-
old resolution to lose weight, and more often
than not the goal is to shed the kilos fast.
Crash diets come with the promise of "a new
you in no time" and according to the experts,
it may deliver – but not without some serious
health risks. This is because most of these
diets require fasting and the elimination of
virtually all carbs.
Why rapid weight loss is not really weight
loss
If you think you're dropping 5 kilograms of fat
in just 5 days, think again! Dr Ingrid Van
Heerden, a registered dietician and also
Health24's DietDoc, says that the human body
isn't geared towards losing real weight derived
from fat in such a short period of time.

She explains that although the scale may show
your weight dropping rapidly while on a crash
diet, it is likely that you are just losing water,
in which case you will pick up all those kilos
again once you stop the diet. "This can easily
trap you in the snare of 'yo-yo dieting', paving
the way to perpetual dieting and problems
with your metabolism," she says.
Nutritional deficiency: putting your muscles
at risk
Fad diets often fail at providing nutrition from
all the food groups, meaning that you’ll be
more susceptible to illness, dizzy spells and
lethargy.
Excluding certain foods from your diet may
just be defeating the purpose of becoming
healthy. For example, carbohydrates are one
of the first food groups to be cut from one's
diet when trying to lose weight fast on a
"quickfix diet". This could be bad news for any
person wanting to exercise, as energy balance
studies have shown that carbohydrates are by
far the best source of energy or "fuel" for
physical activity and to maintain our Resting
Energy Expenditure (REE).
Your body relies on three main sources for
fuel: carbohydrates, fat and muscle. Crash
diets do not allow much fat or carbohydrates,
which means that eventually your body will
use muscle to sustain itself, especially if you
exercise and follow a crash diet over an
extended period. This may actually ruin weight
loss efforts because muscles help you burn
more calories even when you are at rest.
Although detox diets are also touted as a way
to lose weight quickly, DietDoc advises that it
is better to rather follow a short detox plan
and to change your lifestyle to ensure
sustained and healthy weight loss. She
recommends a quick 2-day detox plan

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2 000 traffic offenders prosecuted during Christmas

Onitsha - Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal
of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), said on
Tuesday that the commission's mobile court
had jailed five motorists for violating traffic
rules during the Christmas celebration.
Oyeyemi spoke after inspecting traffic flow
between both ends of the Niger Bridge
between Onitsha in Anambra and Asaba in
Delta.
The corps marshal also said that over 2 000
others were arraigned before the court set up
to prosecute traffic offenders nationwide.
"As at December, about 2 000 offenders were
arraigned before mobile courts and I think
about five were jailed and only about 15 were
discharged.
"But all others were given fines ranging from
N1 000 to N10 000".

The corps marshal said that the offences of
traffic offenders ranged from land violation,
overspeeding, overloading of passengers,
violation of seat belt use, violation of children
safety to lack of passengers' manifest in the
vehicle.
He said 14 per cent reduction in road crashes
was recorded within the 2014 yuletide period
as a result of improved planning and greater
service delivery on the part of the corps
special and regular marshals.

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13 killed in Bauchi auto crash

Abuja - Thirteen people have lost their lives
while four others have sustained injuries in a
motor accident along the Bauchi-Jos Road in
the Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi
State.
The accident, which occurred around 5 p.m
last night, allegedly occurred when a
motorcyclist crossed the highway carelessly
and caused two vehicles to collide while
attempting to avoid him, Vanguard reports.
Haruna Mohammed, Police PR Officer of the
Bauchi State Command, confirmed the
incident and revealed that the two vehicles
involved were a Toyota Sharon bus and a
white Opel Vectra.
Twelve of the passengers and the motorcyclist
are reported to have died on the scene, while
four others sustained various injuries.
All injured parties are currently receiving
treatment at the Nabordo Clinic, while the
bodies of the deceased await post-mortem
examinations at the same facility.
The identities of the victims are yet to be
ascertained. Members of the public have been
asked to assist with investigations where
possible.

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Buhari kicks off presidential rally on Tuesday

Port- Harcourt - The presidential candidate of
the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday kick off
his presidential campaign at the Uyo Township
Stadium, reports The Sun.
The rally would be attended by APC elders,
chieftains and supporters from across the
country.
During the rally, the party will also present the
party’s flag to the governorship standard-
bearer of the party in the state, Umana Okon
Umana.

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OBJ’s meeting with Yoruba women unsettles PDP

Abeokuta - A meeting convened by former
President Olusegun Obasanjo,with all Iyalodes
and concerned women from all states in the
South-West geo-political zone of the country,
may have sent jitters down the spine of the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party,( PDP), reports
ThisDay.
The meeting, which is scheduled to hold on
Monday at Obasanjo’s Presidential Hilltop
Residence, Abeokuta, is not unconnected with
the February general elections.
While the objective of the meeting is not
known, the leadership of Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in the South-west is not
comfortable with such parley at this crucial
moment when election is around the corner.
The party is worried that the former President
may use the forum to drum support for the
opposition to take over the reign of
government in 2015.

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Search area shifts slightly for crashed AirAsia plane

Pangkalan Bun - The search operation for
AirAsia Flight QZ8501 will spread slightly
eastward on Tuesday as the weather and
currents drag wreckage in that direction, the
head of Indonesia's rescue agency said.
Bad weather has made it difficult to locate
parts of the plane and recover the 125 bodies
that are still missing, said National Search and
Rescue Agency's director of operation Suryadi
B Supriyadi.
There were 162 passengers and crew on the
Airbus 320 when it crashed on 28 December.
So far, 37 bodies have been recovered.
"Time is of the essence ... but it seems like it
is hard to beat the weather," Supriyadi said,
adding that divers trying to reach the
wreckage Monday were forced to return to
their ships by strong current as rough seas
continued to impede dive and search teams.
The debris found so far indicates the body of
the plane broke into parts, he said.
Harsh measures
On Monday, Indonesia's transportation
ministry announced harsh measures against
everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to
take off without proper permits — including
the suspension of the airport's operator and
officials in the control tower.
Routing permits for all airlines flying in the
country will be examined to see if they violate
the rules, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting
director general of air transportation.
"Who knows if other airlines are also doing the
same thing," he said.
The plane was travelling between Surabaya,
Indonesia's second-largest city, and Singapore
on a Sunday. Officials have since said its
permit for the popular route was only for
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and
that AirAsia quietly switched three of those
days. Officials in Singapore, however, have
said the plane was authorised to fly on
Sundays from its end.
Applications for specific routes take into
account issues including air traffic rights and
airport takeoff and landing slots.
Violation of regulations
While the airline is being investigated,
Indonesia has banned all AirAsia flights
between Surabaya and Singapore.
AirAsia Indonesia President Director Sunu
Widyatmoko said by text on Monday that the
airline will co-operate with the government
during the evaluation, but would not comment
on the permit allegations until the process is
complete.
Violations of the regulations would boost legal
arguments for passengers' family members
seeking compensation, said Alvin Lie, a former
lawmaker and aviation analyst. But he added
AirAsia would not be the only one to blame.
"The Surabaya-Singapore flights have been
operating since October ... and the
government didn't know," he said. "Where was
the government's supervision?"
Murjatmodjo said individuals who allowed to
plane to fly without permits would be
suspended while the investigation is pending.
The ministry issued a directive on 31
December ordering all airlines to provide
pilots with up-to-date weather reports before
they take off, he said. Currently, it's up to the
captain and co-pilot to research and evaluate
flying conditions before departing. In other
countries, carriers' flight operations
departments perform that task for them.
Safety and professionalism
After Indonesia deregulated its aviation
industry in the 1990s, dozens of airlines
emerged making air travel affordable for the
first time for many in the world's fourth most
populous nation.
But accidents in recent years have raised
questions about the safety of Indonesia's
booming airline sector, with experts saying
poor maintenance, rule-bending, and a
shortage of trained professionals are to blame.
AirAsia, which began operations in 2001 and
quickly became one of the region's leaders in
low-cost air travel, has not experienced any
other crashes and is widely considered a
benchmark for safety and professionalism.
It is not known what caused Flight 8501 to
crash into the Java Sea 42 minutes into what
was supposed to be a two-hour flight, though
Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and
Geophysics Agency says bad weather appears
to have been a factor.
Just before losing contact, the pilot told air
traffic control that he was approaching
threatening clouds, but was denied permission
to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy
air traffic. No distress signal was issued.
Sonar has identified five large objects that are
believed to be chunks of the fuselage on the
ocean floor, but strong currents, silt and mud
have kept divers from seeing or reaching the
objects.
No signals have been heard from the cockpit
voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes.
Poor weather has prevented ships from
dragging ping locators.

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