Nigerian President Yar'Adua has died

Lagos, Nigeria (News Today) - Nigeria's ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, who gave amnesty to armed militants in the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta region, died Wednesday, the country's information minister said. He was 58.

Yar'Adua had not been seen in public since November, when he went to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an inflammation of tissue around his heart. He was diagnosed with that condition, acute pericarditis, last fall after he complained of chest pain.

He returned to Nigeria in February but had remained out of sight.

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has served as the country's acting leader since Yar'Adua fell ill.

Yar'Adua took office in 2007 in an election mired in controversy and accusations of vote-rigging.

"There was ballot snatching, voters were molested, voters were beaten ... and also payment inducement to vote for certain candidates," said Eneruvie Enakoko of the Civil Liberties Organization, a human rights group in Lagos.

The president, a soft-spoken and unassuming figure who did not bask in the media spotlight like past leaders of the West African nation, pledged to fight to improve the country of 150 million people despite the accusations.

"Our collective goal is to deliver for our children a Nigeria better, stronger, more peaceful, more secure and more prosperous than we met it," Yar'Adua said.

President Barack Obama issued a statement late Wednesday expressing his condolences to Yar'Adua's family and the Nigerian people.

"President Yar'Adua worked to promote peace and stability in Africa through his support of Nigerian peacekeeping efforts as well as his strong criticism of undemocratic actions in the region," Obama said in the statement. "He was committed to creating lasting peace and prosperity within Nigeria's own borders, and continuing that work will be an important part of honoring his legacy."

His election followed wide support from his predecessor, leading critics to label him a puppet of the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

After he was elected, Yar'Adua replaced some of Obasanjo's top officials, including the head of the army, a move analysts said was aimed at shedding off his predecessor's influence.

One of Yar'Adua's biggest successes was offering amnesty to militants in the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta region, a move that brought fragile peace to the area after years of conflict. The well-armed Niger Delta rebels have been battling Nigeria's armed forces over oil profits, which they say are unequally distributed.

While he has hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, the militants called off the truce, dealing a blow to plans to end violence that has crippled oil production in the nation.

Analysts say he did little to institutionalize reform in a country where two-thirds of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

"Because many people feel disillusioned economically and as long as they have those sentiments -- I think the risk of radical uprisings in places like northern Nigeria and certainly southern Nigeria in the Delta will continue regardless of who is in power," said Rolake Akinola, an analyst at Control Risks West Africa.

Yar'Adua, a former chemistry teacher, was married twice and has nine children.

Source : CNN

Read More

Russian pilots ordered out of Iran

(News Terupdate) - Iran's transportation minister says the Islamic republic is sending home Russian pilots who fly for Iranian airlines, according to local reports.

"Sending back the foreign pilots is on the agenda of the ministry of road and transportation and the issue is being implemented now," Transportation Minister Hamid Behbahani told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Monday.

Behbahani added the Russian-made Tupolev 154 planes -- Soviet-era aircraft operated by several Iranian airlines -- will gradually be replaced by newer passenger planes. It was not immediately who would supply the new planes.

In March, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued an order to expel the foreign pilots within a two-month time period. Following that announcement, Behbahani said Iran should not employ foreign pilots when there are enough skilled Iranian pilots, Fars reported.

The report did not say how many Russian pilots are flying in Iran, or how many Tupolevs are in operation in the country.

Iran has a recent history of plane crashes and mishaps with Russian-made Tupolevs. Most recently, 46 people were injured in January when a Taban Air plane caught fire after landing at Mashhad International Airport in eastern Iran.

In 2009, a Caspian Airlines flight crashed in a field near the northern city of Qavzin, killing more than 160 people.

The Tupolev 154 is essentially banned in the West because it does not comply with European noise and pollution regulations, but it has a safer-than-average accident record, aviation safety experts told CNN after the Caspian crash.

Source : CNN

Read More

Actress Lynn Redgrave dies at 67

(News Terupdate) - Actress Lynn Redgrave died Sunday after a seven-year battle with breast cancer, according to her family.

Redgrave, 67, was surrounded by her children at her Connecticut home when she died, the family said in a statement Monday morning.

The star of stage, film and television was twice nominated for an Academy Award: for best actress in 1966 for her role in "Georgy Girl" and for best supporting actress in the 1998 film "Gods and Monsters."

"She lived, loved and worked harder than ever before," the family said. "The endless memories she created as a mother, grandmother, writer, actor and friend will sustain us for the rest of our lives. Our entire family asks for privacy through this difficult time," the statement said.

Redgrave is from "a family of actors, embracing as it does more than five generations," she wrote on her official website.

She is the younger sister of Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave and the aunt of the late actress Natasha Richardson.

Her parents, Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, were British stage and film actors.

Her paternal grandparents, Roy Redgrave and Margaret Scudamore, were stage and silent film actors.

Redgrave teamed with daughter Annabel Clark in 2004 to produce the book "Journal: A Mother and Daughter's Recovery from Breast Cancer."

"I thought I was living very fully before this happened," she said in 2005. "But in comparison, no, I really wasn't. I wasn't taking the time to notice things. I didn't see things as brightly or as sharply or as memorably as I do now.

"I really don't let a moment slide by. I just don't. It's a big price to pay, isn't it, to have to have cancer to learn that? But it is in the end, I have to say, a price worth paying," Redgrave said.

Redgrave's professional acting debut was in 1962 at London's Royal Court Theatre in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." A year later, she was invited to join Britain's National Theatre for its inaugural season under the direction of Sir Laurence Olivier, according to her personal biography.

Her first film performance came in "Tom Jones," a 1963 movie co-starring Albert Finney and her mother.

Redgrave's "Georgy Girl" role three years later, opposite James Mason, earned her a best actress Golden Globe and the Academy Award best actress nomination. Her portrayal of a wisecracking young woman was a box office hit.

Other early film roles included "The National Health," "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex," "The Happy Hooker" and "Getting It Right."

Redgrave enjoyed a revitalized film career late in life. She won a second Golden Globe and her second Oscar nomination for her comedic role in "Gods and Monsters."

She continued to make movies despite her illness, including her last film role in "Confessions of a Shopaholic," which hit theaters a year ago.

Redgrave debuted on Broadway in 1967 in "Black Comedy." The first of three Tony nominations came in 1976 for "Mrs. Warren's Profession." She was nominated again for her Broadway roles in "Shakespeare for My Father" in 1993 and "The Constant Wife" in 2005.

She teamed with her sister Vanessa Redgrave on the London stage in "Three Sisters" in 1991.

The sisters worked together the same year in a television version of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Her three Emmy nominations all came for TV work in the 1980s, including an episode of "House Calls" in 1981, "The Shooting Company" in 1982 and "Walking on Air" in 1987.

Source : CNN

Read More

Death penalty sought for Fort Hood shooting suspect

(News Terupdate) - The Army officers responsible for prosecuting the Fort Hood shooting suspect will be seeking the death penalty, the suspect's attorney told CNN.

John Galligan -- the attorney for the suspect, Maj. Nidal Hasan -- said that the filing of a memo by the prosecutors Wednesday indicated that finding Hasan guilty of more than one of the murders would constitute the "aggravating factor" necessary for the Army to seek the death penalty.

Thirteen people died in the shooting spree at the Texas base last November.

"It is the first 'formal notice' but, of course, it has been a virtual given from the start," Galligan wrote in an e-mail to CNN. "In short, the Army has been pursuing death from the git-go."

The actual decision to seek the death penalty occurs after an Article 32 hearing. The hearing -- the military justice system's rough equivalent of a grand jury hearing -- is scheduled to start June 1 at Fort Hood in Texas.

Source : CNN

Read More

New York Yankees to visit Obama on World Series tour

Washington (News Terupdate) - President Obama, a diehard Chicago White Sox fan, will test a different kind of diplomacy Monday when he hosts the New York Yankees at the White house.

Derek Jeter and the rest of the Yankees will be in town to celebrate last year's World Series victory. The Yankees' White House trip will be one of many events to mark their win.

Before stopping at the White House, players will take the World Series trophy to the Walter Reed Medical Center in the nation's capital, where they'll visit with wounded soldiers.

Obama has stayed true to his Chicago team. He recently wore a White Sox cap while throwing the first pitch at a home opener for the Washington Nationals.

The president has made it clear that he's more loyal to the White Sox than the Cubs, another Illinois team.

During his inaugural events, he thanked military members attending the Commander-in-Chief Ball for their service. "It is wonderful to be surrounded by some of the very best and bravest Americans," he said.

Then he turned to a less serious issue: Polling soldiers on whether they were fans of the Cubs or the White Sox.

"Terrible!" Obama chuckled when most said they were Cubs fans.

After the White House visit, the Yankees will meet Tuesday with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a New York native. Other events Tuesday include lunch in the U.S. Senate and with wounded soldiers, according to the team's website.

Source : CNN

Read More