Amchidox Blog

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has rejected calls from the United Nations (UN ) to implement gay rights in his country. Speaking on September 28, at the 70th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, Mugabe said that upholding human rights is the obligation of all member states, but vehemently rejected the imposition of what he called “new rights” for gay marriage that have been advocated elsewhere in the world. The 91-year-old Zimbabwean strongman said: “We equally reject attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our norms, values, traditions and beliefs. We are not gays. Cooperation and respect for each other will advance the cause of human rights worldwide. Confrontation, vilification and double standards will not,” he told members of the General Assembly. Mugabe has previously called homosexuals “worse than pigs and dogs.” A spokesman for his ruling party, Zanu-PF, has said same-sex marriage had no place in Africa. Currently chairman o...

The referee, who is said to be a policeman by day, ran to the changing rooms and returned to the pitch with his service gun and confronted the players. But thankfully, he didn't shoot as his colleagues restrained him. He is said to be facing disciplinary actions.

Sen. Oluremi Tinubu on Tuesday said that she did not get the support of her husband, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to run for second term in the past National Assembly elections. Tinubu, Lagos Central Senatorial District, made the disclosure while answering questions at the ongoing “Women in Government’’ conference organised by the South-West Region of the Department For International Development (DF ID). The conference was organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Office of the Deputy Governor. She said that it was her district leaders who got the form for her and talked her husband into allowing her to run for the position. According to her, Asiwaju likes his wife to be at home and what is more confusing to me is that most Muslim men do not want their wives to work, but I am a hard worker. “People have been saying that I got to this position because I am Asiwaju’s wife. “What they did not realise is that in the past election, my husband asked me not to go for a se...

Incumbent Chairman of the 8th National Assembly and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has urged members of the Red chamber to ensure that the long-awaited ministerial list of President Muhammadu Buhari is treated with urgency, when it is eventually submitted by President Buhari this week. Saraki, whose led Senate resumed on Tuesday, after its 4th recess in 110 days of its existence, in his Resumption Address, expressed optimism that the presence of ministers will create the space for greater policy engagement between the legislative and executive arms of government, adding that it will also enable the Senate to begin to respond in a more systematic manner to the various economic and social challenges confronting the nation. The full text of the address tweeted by the Senate President via his Twitter handle, @bukolasaraki read in part: “As we await the list of ministerial nominees this week, I believe the presence of ministers will create the space for greater p...

Pope Francis on Monday admitted that Catholic Church hierarchies shielded the crimes of paedophile priests. The Pontiff stated this hours after meeting people who were abused in their youth by members of the clergy. Speaking to reporters on the return flight from Philadelphia to Rome, at the end of his pilgrimage to Cuba and the United States, Francis said abusing children was “almost a sacri lege’’ and a betrayal of the call of God for a priest. “And those who have covered up these things are also guilty, even some bishops have covered up, it is a very bad thing,’’ the pontiff stressed. On Sunday, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics spent about 30 minutes with three women and two men who were sexually abused by clergy members. “I promise that all those responsible for the sexual abuse of children will be punished,’’ Francis later told a gathering of bishops, saying he felt “deep shame’’ about the acts. The pope told the audience that “these crime...

FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, is adamant he will continue in his role at the world football governing body. The 79-year-old is facing prosecution, for allegedly making a “disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs – around £1.3m – to UEFA president, Michel Platini which was “at the expense of FIFA.” Blatter is also being investigated about a TV deal with Jack Warner. Despite calls for the embattled Swiss to step down, he has made it clear he is going nowhere. He reiterated that, “he had done nothing illegal or improper,” after criminal proceedings were opened against him last Friday by the Swiss Attorney General.

United Nations (CNN)President Barack Obama slammed adversaries in Russia and Syria -- and political foes at home -- while defending the use of diplomacy over force in his address to the U.N. Monday. In a speech at times defensive and accusatory, Obama sought to use his favored weapon -- oratory -- to beat back his international challengers as well as conservatives in the U.S. who've branded him a weak leader presiding over a legacy of declining power abroad. He also took the unusual step of harnessing the global stage to rebuke the views of Republican presidential candidates on immigration and religious pluralism, perhaps mindful that this was his penultimate speech to the world body and the last before the race to replace him overwhelms the national dialogue. Obama slammed "the building of walls to keep out immigrants" and "demonizing" of those of different religions, an oblique reference to some of the incidents that have cropped up on th...

A former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, on Monday confessed that his family paid ransom to his abductors before he was freed on Thursday. He said the kidnappers only freed him after they received payment, adding that he trekked for 15 kilometres before he was picked up by the police in Owo, several kilometres from Akure, the Ondo State capital. The former minister’s disclosure has put a lie to the claim by the Nigeria police that no ransom was paid before his release. Details of Mr. Falae’s speech today will come shortly. Background Mr. Falae was released Thursday, four days after he was abducted by unknown gunmen. The Ondo Police Public Relations Officer, Wole Ogodo, who confirmed his release on Thursday, said no ransom was paid for the release. Mr. Falae’s abductors had demanded N100million ransom for his release, later reducing it to N90million. Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, also said in a statement Thursday...

Jim Carrey's 28-year-old on/off-again girlfriend, Cathriona White has committed suicide. Her body was found at her residence last night after her friends called the police. TMZ reports below... Our sources say White left a suicide note addressed to Carrey which references their break up on Sept. 24. Cathriona tweeted on the 24th ... "Signing off Twitter, I hope I have been a light to my nearest and dearest." Law enforcement tells us they believe she died from an overdose of drugs - pills were next to her body. We're told 2 friends found Cathriona last night when they went to check on her. 53-year-old Carrey and White met in 2012, dated a few months and then split. They rekindled their relationship in May.

 Any wonder why they blamed Africans for the stampede? One of the survivors from the recent stampede in Saudi Arabia, an indigene of Osun State, resident in Warri, Delta State revealed that paramedics ignored African pilgrims and concentrated on rescuing white and Caucasian victims which resulted in a high casualty rate among Africans. He said he was stuck in the midst of dead bodies for more than two hours and there was no help from paramedics, who favoured whites over blacks. "I tried to escape but it was impossible as I was stuck in the midst of many dead bodies and some people were climbing over me to find an escape. I struggled to get myself up to the waist level. From my toe to my waistline, people were all over and I could not get up. I was calling the Saudi police and paramedics on the scene to help me but they didn’t respond and I was stuck there for more than two hours as they were busy helping whites, with no response to my plea,"