Edeson Weekend Fact-File News Headlines

1.        Tragedy struck in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital yesterday when no fewer than five students of the Federal College of Education (FCE), Osiele, were  crushed to death by a tipper.The incident, which occurred about 5:30 pm, caused  pandemonium following the protest by students of the institution who trooped to the road and set ablaze no less than four trucks. EDESON NEWS learnt that the  truck, loaded with granite, rammed into a taxi conveying the students and killed them on the spot.

2.        2.  The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, on Friday announced the approval of supplementary admissions for five new courses at University of Agriculture, Makurdi. The five new courses approved for admissions in the university’s College of Management are B.Sc Marketing and Co-operatives, Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Management and Entrepreneurship.

3.         A Nigerian, Mr Muyiwa Bamgbose, has been rated world’s 9th best innovator in electronic learning. This was contained in the latest rating of an  agency, Bob Little Public Relations, which is based in the United Kingdom.

4.         On Thursday, Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State signed the Lagos State Road Traffic Bill into law. The governor assented to the bill at a ceremony attended by members of the executive council, top officials of the police and those of other traffic management agencies. Fashola said the new law was a holistic review of the state’s traffic law of 2003, adding that it was designed to ensure safety on the roads.

5.         FIRST BANK UPGRADES: Language will no longer be the barrier when you do banking in Nigeria  but that will be if you do banking business with First Bank of Nigeria Plc as it has  in line with global best practices and the quest to drive instant access to its products and services  upgraded it contact center called FirstContact to an interactive, multilingual and 24/7 customer service center.

6.         UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday July 31, named Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a queen, a former president, a Nobel Peace prize winner and a corporate mogul to a 26-strong panel to recommend new global social and environment goals. Ban Ki-moon has given the panel a year to draw up what he called “a bold” new development vision to put to the 193 UN member states to replace the Millennium Development Goals after 2015. Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain had already been appointed to head the search.

7.         Trinidad and Tobago has deported 28 ex-Niger Delta militants whose characters and behaviours were considered inimical and threatening the good relationships between Nigeria and that country.The 28 ex-militants were part of the initial 100 sent to that country for a training programme that is costing Nigeria as much as $6 million, 15 had earlier dropped out of the programme on health ground.

8.         REUTERS WEBSITE HACKED: Thomson Reuters said the blogging platform of the Reuters News website was compromised on Friday and a false posting purporting to carry an interview with a Syrian rebel leader was illegally posted on a Reuters' journalist's blog.

9.       Arnold Schwarzenegger Immortalized: Arnold Schwarzenegger is to get a global policy institute in his name as he relaunches his action movie career following a seven-year stint at California Governor.

10.       AMERICAN ECONOMY: Reports say the US economy added 163,000 workers in July, according to official figures, but the unemployment rate inched up from 8.2% to 8.3%.

11.       CHINESE NEWS: Gu Kailai, wife of sacked Chinese politician Bo Xilai, will go on trial for the murder of UK businessman Neil Heywood next week Thursday.

NEWS EDITOR: ENDY EDESON