A lion escaped from a park and mauled a man in Nairobi — the latest incident of big cats straying into the bustling Kenyan capital
CNN reports that the man is undergoing treatment for his injuries, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.
It tweeted Friday that its units have “taken control” of the lion and returned it to the Nairobi National Park.
Video posted on social media showed a black-maned lion sauntering down one of the city’s busiest streets.
It later disappears from camera view as motorists honk wildly and shout that it’s jumped on a man.
This is the fourth time in recent weeks lions have escaped from the park that sits on the edge of Nairobi, Kenyan media reported.
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Rivers Re-run: Accreditation, Voting Commence
Accreditation and voting have begun in three senatorial districts, 12 federal constituencies and 22 state constituencies in Rivers State.
Sensitive materials for the re-run polls were delivered at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt on Friday.
Sorting and distribution have been done at the different senatorial zones and constituencies in all 23 local government areas in the state.
INEC recruited the services of 24,930 adhoc staff, 379 collation officers and 37 returning officers for the rerun elections.
The electoral body is conducting the re-run in compliance with the verdict of State Election Petition Tribunal which nullified the earlier polls.
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Iain Duncan Smith resigns from cabinet over disability cuts
Iain Duncan Smith has resigned as work and pensions secretary over cuts to disability benefits, in the most dramatic cabinet departure of David Cameron’s leadership.
In a sign that divisions over Europe have heightened tensions in the Conservatives, the former party leader stormed out of his job, saying he thought the cuts to welfare for disabled people known as personal independence payments (PIP) were a “compromise too far”.
The Guardian view on Iain Duncan Smith: a very political resignation
The welfare secretary brims with zeal. But the quiet man mostly stayed silent while the poor suffered. He makes noise now the chancellor is weak
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Duncan Smith, who is campaigning to leave the EU in opposition to Downing Street, said he had too often felt under pressure to make huge welfare savings before a budget in a stinging critique of George Osborne’s entire approach to reducing the deficit.
In a direct attack on Osborne and a blow to the chancellor’s hopes of becoming the next Tory leader, Duncan Smith said the disability cuts were defensible in narrow terms of deficit reduction but not “in the way they were placed in a budget that benefits higher earning taxpayers”.
He said he was stepping down because Osborne’s cuts were for self-imposed political reasons rather than in the national economic interest.
Iain Duncan Smith pictured at Downing Street in February.
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Iain Duncan Smith pictured at Downing Street in February. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
“I am unable to watch passively while certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self-imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest,” Duncan Smith wrote in a resignation letter to Cameron.
“Too often my team and I will have been pressured in the immediate run-up to a budget or fiscal event to deliver yet more reductions to the working age benefit bill. There has been too much emphasis on money saving exercises and not enough awareness from the Treasury, in particular, that the government’s vision of a new welfare-to-work system could not repeatedly be salami-sliced.”
Cameron ‘puzzled and disappointed’
Downing Street immediately attempted to portray the Duncan Smith’s resignation as consequence of the cabinet minister’s strong opposition to Cameron over Europe.
Cameron replied to his letter saying he was “puzzled and disappointed” by the cabinet minister’s decision to resign, saying the disability benefit cuts had been “collectively agreed” between Duncan Smith, No 10 and the Treasury before being announced a week ago.
The resignation leaves a hole in the Department of Work and Pensions that Downing Street will want to fill with a pro-EU loyalist. There had been talk inside DWP that Duncan Smith would be reshuffled after the referendum and that Matt Hancock – Osborne’s own protege – would replace him, although such a move could irritate out campaigners.
“There were discussions at the top level and we had decided this,” said a senior government source, who argued that Duncan Smith had – only on Friday – written a “dear colleague” letter to MPs defending the policy.
It is clear that Downing Street and the Treasury have been irritated by Duncan Smith’s interventions over the EU, not least his dismissal of government publications as “dodgy dossiers”. The work and pensions secretary is known to have been unhappy about his officials being cut out of policy discussions related to the EU referendum.
'A compromise too far': Iain Duncan Smith's resignation letter in full
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But sources close to Duncan Smith said he had longstanding concerns about the government’s approach to welfare and was particularly unhappy with the “arbitrary” promise to cut £12bn from the welfare budget before the election.
There was also irritation that the Treasury had sought to paint the disability benefit cuts as a DWP policy and not a budget measure approved by Osborne, saving the Treasury £4.5bn over the course of this parliament.
Questions over Osborne
Osborne has long been seen as Cameron’s successor but the growing questions over the budget will remind backbenchers of the notorious “omnishambles” of 2012, when he was forced to reverse a series of planned stealth taxes, on everything from pasties to caravans – and was criticised for cutting the 50p top rate of tax, benefiting the highest earners.
George Osborne delivering his Budget statement to the House of Commons.
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George Osborne delivering his Budget statement to the House of Commons. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/PA
He is seen increasingly by Tory backbenchers as having made too many unforced political errors, including having to reverse plans to cut tax credits, welcoming Google’s underwhelming tax deal with the UK, backtracking on pension reforms, and unsuccessfully trying to bring in Sunday trading.
Some of Osborne’s Eurosceptic colleagues argue that he has been so focused on managing what they deride as “Project Fear” – the campaign to keep Britain in the EU – that he failed to devote enough attention to laying the political groundwork for his budget.
On Friday night, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Osborne to resign as well, saying the chancellor has “lost the credibility to manage the economy in the interests of the majority of our people”.
“The chancellor has failed the British people. He should follow the honourable course taken by Iain Duncan Smith and resign,” he said.
Duncan Smith’s resignation comes in the context of his Euroscepticism in opposition to Downing Street but also longstanding bad political blood with Osborne.
The senior cabinet minister’s resignation letter went wider than a rejection of the disability benefit cuts into a stinging critique of the Treasury’s zeal for welfare reductions for the purpose of saving money, dealing a blow to Osborne’s arguments that they are necessary to bring down Britain’s national debt.
The cuts to PIP were announced by the Department of Work and Pensions a week ago but confirmed in Osborne’s budget and defended by Downing Street until Friday.
Downing Street initially said it “remained committed” to the changes, but at a press conference in Brussels, Cameron suggested he was prepared to soften the cuts.
David Cameron arrives for a European summit in Brussels.
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David Cameron arrives for a European summit in Brussels. Photograph: Isopix/REX/Shutterstock
Asked by the Guardian about concerns among his MPs and disability charities, the prime minister said: “A number of reviews have been done, a lot of work has been done and that is why these proposals have been put forward. As the chancellor said, but I will repeat, we will be discussing this with disability charities and others and make sure we get this right.”
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The Treasury then executed a full U-turn, with a government source saying: “This is going to be kicked into the long grass. We need to take time and get reforms right, and that will mean looking again at these proposals.
“We are not wedded to specific sums … it’s not an integral part of the budget.”
The pause in the plans is a humiliating blow for the chancellor, on top of Duncan Smith’s resignation, as Osborne had hoped to use his eighth budget on Wednesday to burnish his credentials for the Conservative leadership.
The Treasury stressed the figures included in the budget were the DWP’s work; but DWP insiders had complained that they were bounced into publishing the proposals without the time to build support.
A significant number of backbench Conservatives have now turned their fire on Osborne over what they see as the toxic politics of the budget, which juxtaposed the PIP cuts with tax giveaways for businesses and higher earners.
These include Sarah Wollaston, the chair of the Commons health committee and a former GP, who tweeted that the government would “never meet approval for change that would reduce entitlement to PIP at the same time as raising the higher rate tax threshold”. David Burrowes, the Tory MP for Enfield Southgate, urged the government to “press pause”.
Analysis Is Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation about disability cuts – or Europe?
Duncan Smith defended the cuts to disability benefits on Thursday – so what has driven his dramatic resignation and change of heart?
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Amid attempts by the Treasury to distance itself from the PIP cuts, Owen Smith, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “It is ludicrous for the Tories to pretend that this was anything other than a major part of Wednesday’s budget.
“If the Tories are now postponing or cancelling these cruel cuts altogether it is a humiliating climbdown for George Osborne, although it will come as an incredibly welcome reprieve for hundreds of thousands of disabled people who were due to be affected.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the cuts, which help people pay for the costs of living with a disability, would hit 370,000 people, with an average loss of £3,500 a year.
Osborne insisted on Friday night that the government would “protect the most vulnerable” and ensure that it got the proposals “absolutely right”. But there were rumblings among Conservative backbenchers that the anger unleashed by the disability cuts had won new converts to the “Anything But George” campaign that is seeking an alternative to Osborne as a potential future leader Thanks for reading.
Rivers Re-run: Come Out And Vote, Peterside Urges APC Supporters
Dr Dakuku Peterside, Director-General, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has called on the Rivers State supporters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to come out and exercise their franchise.
He also urged the people not to be intimidated by any individual or group from voting in the elections.
Peterside told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Friday that the era of intimidating the people to manipulate the electoral system was gone.
“The Federal Government has assured of adequate security during the re-run elections on Saturday. Nobody should feel intimidated and I urge the people to go out and vote for their candidates. There is nothing to fear because security agencies are there to protect you.
“Our people were intimidated and scared to come out to vote last year; that fear is still there, but we urge them that there is nothing to fear. That era is gone; government has provided security for the election,” he said. Thanks for reading.
Rivers Re-run: Observers Task Politicians On Credible Polls
A group called Neighbourhood Watch in Port Harcourt the Rivers State capital has called on politicians and their supporters to uphold peace and unity during and after today’s Legislative re-run election.
According to the Leader of the group, Charles Inko-Tariah, while condemning the recent violence in the State, People are important than the ambition of politicians.
Hours to the rerun elections, tension has been at high degrees and security has been heightened as only just on Thursday, the Nigerian Army lost two of its men in a shootout with hoodlums in Abonemma area of the state.
However, all appears set for the exercise as all sensitive materials for the polls have been delivered at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt.
Sorting and distribution have been done at the different senatorial zones and constituencies in all 23 local government areas in the state.
The INEC has recruited the services of 24,930 adhoc staff, 379 collation officers and 37 returning officers for the elections.
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Adamant Buhari Making Hard-Currency Shortage Worse – The Economist
Amid debate over currency crisis in Nigeria, the Economist magazine has said President Buhari is only making the situation worse with his insistence on not devaluing the Naira.
In one of its latest edition to be published on Saturday, 19th March 206, the renowned UK-based newspaper said Buhari’s policy is not working, adding that as consequences, inflation has hit 11.4% in February and growth has fallen to 2.1%.
Here is the article by The Economist
How to make a hard-currency shortage worse
The mutterings of discontent are growing louder in Nigeria’s street markets. The price of a bag of rice has surged by 12.5% in the past month. Supplies of bread have dwindled after bakers turned off their ovens to protest about the rising cost of flour. The rich lament that milk is missing from supermarket shelves. The poor complain about the price of garri (cassava flour). A fish importer estimates that 70m Nigerians can no longer afford his wares.
Such are the symptoms of Nigeria’s foreign-exchange crisis. Africa’s most populous nation exports oil and imports nearly everything else. As oil prices have collapsed, Nigeria’s foreign earnings have tumbled with them, putting huge pressure on the naira, the local currency. Yet President Muhammadu Buhari refuses to allow the naira to devalue, fretting that this would fuel inflation. Economists point out that a weaker currency would simply reflect that Nigeria is poorer now than it was when oil was above $100 a barrel. He ignores them.
Since Mr Buhari came to power in May, the central bank has kept the official exchange rate artificially strong and restricted the supply of dollars. It refuses to release any for imports of a range of goods including meat, margarine and toothpicks.
The policy is not working: inflation hit 11.4% in February and growth has fallen to 2.1%. Factories are closing down for lack of supplies and the managers of those still running spend much of their time trying to find things to sell abroad to raise dollars, such as gold jewellery or gum arabic. Most have been pushed into the black market, where they pay about 60% above the official rate unless they are lucky enough to get some of the $200m or so released each week by the central bank. That the bank has the power to hand out subsidised greenbacks naturally invites corruption. An executive at a big importer says its budgets now include a 30% “premium” to be paid to central bank officials to get dollars.
Yet Mr Buhari seems unlikely to change his mind. So senior members of his party are now pushing for some form of dual exchange rate. This would leave the naira’s official value unchanged, satisfying the president, while legitimising a parallel market that would supposedly be used for non-essential imports. In practice most currency flows would soon be made at this new market rate. This solution is far from optimal—the central bank window would be a continued source of corruption and patronage—but better than the status quo.
Without some flexibility on the currency, expect food shortages to worsen.
It will be recalled that, last weekend, a team of editors of the London based “The Economist” newspaper met Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
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Istanbul hit by deadly bomb attack
At least two people have been killed and another seven wounded in a suicide bombing in a major shopping and tourist district in Istanbul, according to Turkish media reports.
The attack struck Istiklal Street, a wide boulevard closed to traffic that is lined with international stores and shopping centres.
Turkish TV and CNN Turk reported two people were killed and seven wounded in the blast. The private Dogan news agency said at least three people died and 10 people were injured and taken to hospitals.
A witness in the area told Reuters they had seen police helicopters circling overhead, and television footage showed people running from the area.
This latest blast comes less than a week after 37 people died following a car bomb explosion in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday, killing dozens of military personnel and civilians.
Militant group Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility for the bombing, the third such attack in the Turkish capital in five months.
Last month a similar blast killed 29 people when a suicide bomber targeted military personnel, blocks away from the scene of last Sunday’s attack.
Following last Sunday’s bombing, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, vowed to defeat terrorists who have staged a series of attacks on Turkey in the past 18 months.Thanks for reading.
