Senator Yellowe dies, Mark mourns
The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has announced the death of Senator Martins Yellowe, an incident he described as a great loss to the polity and medical profession. Yellowe, a Professor of Psychiatric medicine died on Thursday at the National Hospital, Abuja after a brief illness. Mark in a condolence message to the government and people of Rivers State urged the family to take solace in the fact that Yellowe lived an eventful and accomplished life. Mark said: "As a consummate politician, he was outstanding, he also excelled in his medical profession. His contributions to the political development of Nigeria will remain evergreen. During his tenure in the Senate between 1999 and 2007, it is on record that Yellowe sponsored the highest number of bills. We shall surely miss him. The Senate on its part will continue to tread the path of honour, integrity and service to the people, which late Yellowe stood for." He called on the government of Rivers State to immortalise the former senator.

Cross River legislators go hungry over 76 ceded oil wells
Deputy Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), Senators Bassey Ewa- Henshaw, Greg Ngaji, and eight members of the House of Representatives from Cross River State on Thursday resolved to embark on a 14-day hunger strike with a view to making the Federal Government reverse the ceding of 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State. The exercise is besides the legal option the state had employed. The protesting legislators said in Abuja that the hunger strike would be reviewed in two weeks in order to determine the effects it may have achieved in the fight to win back the oil wells and know the next line of action. Other lawmakers taking part in the strike are John Enoh, Paul Adha, Essien Ayi, Alex Okam, Bassey Out, Gabriel Edi, Bassey Ewa and Cheis Eta. Senator Ewa-Henshaw, who read the address on behalf of others, said the exercise should not be trivialized, noting that it was a "moral weapon to appeal to the conscience of the Nigerian people." The lawmakers, while lambasting the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which allegedly presided over the ceding of the oil wells, said "we are persuaded by the Deputy Senate Leader and Cross River State lawmakers to embark on hunger strike over the 76 oil wells."

Yar'Adua signs treaty on ship wrecks removal
Nigeria has joined the league of maritime nations that have ratified the international convention on wreck removal from navigable channels worldwide as the President, Alhaji Musa Yar'Adua has signed the instrument for the ratification of the treaty in Nigeria, aimed at promoting safety of navigation worldwide. The ratification brings to 20 the number of International Maritime Treaties that have so far been ratified and domesticated in Nigeria. With the ratification, the next stage would be to make the provisions of the convention part of Nigeria's municipal laws by the National Assembly. The instrument of ratification of the convention was first signed by Maritime nations in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007. Article 18 of the convention stated that it shall enter into force 12 months after the date it was signed by all parties to the international treaty. Although the number of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) members that have ratified and domesticated the Nairobi's international treaty was not immediately clear, many advance maritime nations like the United Kingdom and the United States have since ratified the all important convention, which is aimed at ensuring safety of navigation worldwide in view of the increasing number of abandoned wrecks estimated at almost 1,300 along the channels worldwide. In Nigeria alone, the number of abandoned ship wrecks especially along the Lagos and Bonny Channel is estimated to be over 200 although the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was able to remove many of the wrecks from the Lagos Channel last year.

'Somalia, Iraq most dangerous places for minorities'
Somalia remains the world's most dangerous country for minority groups, followed by Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, a leading human rights group said on Thursday. The five were in unchanged positions from the Minority Rights Group International's (MRG) 2008 list of countries where groups or peoples are most at risk of genocide, mass killing or other systematic violent repression. In Somalia, the latest round of bloodletting in two decades of civil war kicked off in May when hardline Islamist groups launched a fresh offensive aimed at removing internationally-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. MRG director Mark Lattimer said: "Ethnic and religious minorities across West Asia are under greater threat than ever before as a result of escalating military operations against Islamic extremists." Half of the top 20 countries in the "Peoples under Threat 2009" report are African and six are in Asia.

Air crash survivor back in France
The only known survivor of the Yemeni flight which crashed into the Indian Ocean is back at her home in Paris. She returned in a French government plane. The 12-year-old girl, Baya Bakari, was found clinging to wreckage in the sea, hours after the crash. BBC reports that she had been treated in hospital in the Comoros Islands for injuries thought to include a broken collar bone and burns. The plane, going to the Comoros from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, came down in bad weather with 153 people on board. Baya Bakari was accompanied on the journey back to France by medical staff and France's Minister for Co-operation Alain Joyandet, who had flown to the Comoros after the crash. On arrival at Bourget airport, she was taken by ambulance to a Paris hospital for further treatment. "In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia," Mr. Joyandet told a news conference at the airport. "It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival." He said France would do everything to help Ms Bakari, who had sent a message to the world that "almost nothing is impossible". Ms Bakari's father, Kassim Bakari, met her on arrival and said he was "relieved but at the same time sad." Doctors in the Comoros Island said Ms Bakari was "regaining her spirit and was in a satisfactory physical state," reported Reuters.

Iran hangs six for drug trafficking
Six people convicted of drug trafficking were hanged in a prison in the city of Qom south of Tehran on Thursday, Fars news agency has reported. "Six people convicted of drug trafficking were hanged today," judiciary official Mohammad Rezai was quoted by the agency as saying. The men sent to the gallows were identified as Ahamd T., Abolfazl B., Reza A., Mostafa F., Esmaeel R., and Mohammad Kh. who were all convicted of trafficking in different quantities of narcotics. The latest hangings bring to 139 the number of people executed in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count based on news reports. In 2008, Iran executed 246 people, based on that count. Human rights group Amnesty International has calculated that Iran applied the death penalty to 346 people last year, carrying out more executions than any other country apart from China. Tehran says the death penalty is a necessary tool for maintaining public security and is only applied after exhaustive judicial proceedings. Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are punishable by death in Iran.

U.S. opens 'major Afghan offensive'
The U.S. army says it has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in south Afghanistan's Helmand province. The U.S. military says about 4,000 marines as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, supported by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) planes. Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson said the operation was different from previous ones because of the "massive size of the force" and its speed. A Taliban spokesman said they would resist in various ways and that there would be no permanent U.S. victory. Qari Yosuf Ahmadi added that "a large number" of Taliban were in the area. "I cannot accept the fact that 4,000 U.S. troops have taken part in this operation," he said, quoted by the Afghan AIP news agency. "I consider it a part of a psychological war, but if 4,000 U.S. troops really are taking part in the operation, they will not have any permanent victory." It is the first such large-scale operation since U.S. President Barack Obama authorised the deployment of 17,000 extra U.S. troops to Afghanistan, as part of a new strategy for winning the conflict. Many of them are being redeployed from operations in Iraq, to help with training Afghan security forces and to tackle the insurgency.