A video showing a Nigerian man being brutally attacked by uniformed police in South Africa has sparked public outrage.

The footage, which was posted to social media, led to the suspension and arrest of two police officers and prompted a heated discussion about South Africa's attitudes towards immigrants.

In a statement to #BBCtrending, the South African Police Service confirmed that the officers involved were from Cape Town Central police station. A spokesperson said they were "horrified" by the incident and said an internal investigation has been launched.

The independent police watchdog leading the inquiry told #BBCtrending that social media played a pivotal role in leading to the arrests.

There are approximately 17,000 registered Nigerians living in South Africa, according to a study. But it's estimated that up to a million undocumented immigrants are in the country.

#bbc

Obesere Alleged Rape Case: Victim Cries Out Over Possible Fetish Implication Of Mysterious Ring Inserted In Private Part

29-year-old businesswoman, Olanike Olaiya, who was allegedly defiled by popular Fuji musician, Alhaji Abass Akande, also known as Obesere, has pleaded with the police authorities not to allow the matter to be swept under the carpet so that she will not die.

According to Olaiya, the singer’s insertion of a mysterious ring in her private part, which caused her to bleed for weeks, might not be unconnected with fetish activities.

The graduate of Ibadan Polytechnic also expressed dissatisfaction with the way the case was being handled at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos. Specifically, she fingered the Investigating Police Officer, simply known as Jacob, of involvement in a conspiracy to frustrate the investigation in favour of Obesere.

“We’re not lovers”:

According to a report by Vanguard, Olaiya denied the claims by Obesere that they were both lovers and that she wanted to use the saga to blackmail him into parting with between N5-N10 million.

She said: “I knew him barely two weeks ago and we were talking business. But he defiled me on our first meeting in his house.

“Like I told you earlier, I met him through a friend who is much older than me — she is over 49 year old— and she told me that Obesere helped her in her business and he could do same for me.

“She was the one who arranged the meeting at Obesere’s house, but Obesere made me wait for at least five hours until it became late for me to go after the meeting.

“Even when I insisted, he refused to let me go claiming his area was not safe and that everybody knew I was in his house.

“I slept over, but not in his room. He defiled me and inserted a ring in my private part. I wouldn’t have gone to the Police if it was just the r*pe because it was my fault. As an adult, I should have known the danger of passing the night in a stranger’s house”.

According to her, she reported the case to the police because of the bleeding from her private part and his nonchalant attitude when she informed him of the development.

“He asked me to go to a private hospital in Ejigbo. But when I got there, the doctor did not even touch or examine me in any way”, she said.

Olaiya continued: “He just asked that I go for a scan, which is not done in that hospital. I left the hospital in pain and I reported the matter to the police.

“I wanted the police to be aware of what happened and prosecute him for forcefully having sex with me against my wish.

“I also have to clarify the issue of wanting to blackmail him. From the beginning, I rejected all the money he offered me as settlement.

“You can ask the DPO at Isolo. He is aware that I rejected all the money he offered me. All I wanted was for him to be prosecuted for taking advantage of me because I slept in his house.

“Also, I wanted him to explain to the Police why he inserted a ring into my private part that made bleed for two weeks and possibly reverse any ritual step he may have taken.

“As I speak with you, I am still going through pains. After the bleeding stopped, I have continued to have problems with my reproductive organs. That was why I went to the police, I wanted them to investigate and prosecute him.

“But what I am getting from the IPO is terrible. He is trying to destroy the case and set Obesere free at the expense of my life and dignity.

“He discarded the medical report from the General Hospital and he upheld that of Obesere’s private hospital, saying their report was the correct one. As I speak with you I am not feeling well at all”.



#infonigeria

Huge White shark washes up on a beach in Ireland

It was discovered by photographer Bernard Fitzgerald as he was walking on Aughacasla beach in Castlegregory, Co Kerry, at the weekend



B_Fitzgerald_Photo


A huge shark from the Great White family has washed up on an Irish beach.

The 1.8m female porbeagle shark was discovered by photographer Bernard Fitzgerald as he was walking on Aughacasla beach in Castlegregory, Co Kerry, at the weekend.

The arrival of the adult shark in Tralee Bay comes as a tagged Great White called Lydia is set to be the first recorded member of her species to cross the Atlantic as she swims within 1200km of our shores.

Great White shark just days from Ireland after scientists track it swimming across Atlantic

Marine biologist Kevin Flannery admitted the porbeagle shark does bear a close resemblance to the beasts made famous by the Jaws movie.

He said: “The porbeagle does look very like a Great White. People could think the Great White we have been talking about has landed in Kerry.

“They are from the same family. I’m sure it gave people a fright, especially if they had heard the Great White was coming close to Ireland.”



Shark found on Kerry beach

Kevin, head of Dingle Oceanworld, said the cause of the porbeagle shark’s death is a mystery as the adult looked healthy and there were no signs of injury.

He added: “It is a fully grown adult female. She could have died from giving birth. It’s hard to say.

“It would be early for the shark to give birth but with the weather patterns this year it could be a possibility.

“I have never seen or heard of one getting washed ashore.”

Photographer Bernard said he was astonished to stumble across the shark on the shore last Friday.

He said: “It’s the first time I have ever come across a shark in all the years I have been walking the beach.

“It looked very healthy and there were no signs if injury. I was really surprised sharks were so close to our shores.”

Meanwhile, Great White Lydia is getting closer.

The satellite-tagged 4.27m shark is causing major excitement in scientific circles as she is set to be the first Great White recorded crossing the Atlantic.


The 900kg fish has swum more than 30,000km since a tracking device was fitted to her near Florida last year as part of the Ocearch project and is now hovering in the mid-Atlantic ridge.

Mr Flannery believes the worldwide ban on hunting sharks is swelling their numbers and sending them hunting for food in the north Atlantic and off the Irish coast.

He said: “Up to a year or two ago they were being landed in Spain, Portugal and Africa and all the way up along so they never made it up to Ireland.”

Mr Flannery suspects Lydia is following a traditional feeding route tracked by other Great Whites.

He added: “They are an eating and feeding machine. She is probably on a specific feeding track.

“Down through the years they were targeted and killed but now they are a protected species we’ll possibly will see a lot more of them.”





#mirror.co.uk

Missing flight MH370: Suspect travellers on stolen passports resembled footballer Mario Balotelli

Flight MH370: passengers on stolen passports 'not Asian looking'
Malaysian civil aviation chief says men resembled footballer Mario Balotelli, while Thai travel agent says tickets arranged through 'Iranian contact'


Malaysian civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told reporters that investigators were unable to determine the passengers' nationalities based on CCTV footage alone. Photograph: How Foo Yeen/Getty Images


Confusion mounted on Monday over the identities of the two passengers flying on stolen passports aboard missing flight MH370 after reviews of CCTV footage prompted a Malaysian official to describe them as resembling a black Italian footballer.

Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the men, who had been travelling on stolen Italian and Austrian passports, were "not Asian looking" and may have been part of a stolen passport syndicate.

When prompted by reporters to describe the two men, Azharuddin said: "Do you know a footballer by the name of Balotelli?", referring to AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli, who was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents.

It was unclear if Azharuddin was suggesting that the men were of a darker skin tone or if they did bear any resemblance to Balotelli – who usually sports a mohican and diamond studs.

He later explained that investigators were unable to determine the passengers' nationalities based on CCTV footage alone but added: "I think they are not Asian."

The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people lost contact over the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam on Saturday. No distress signal was sent.

China expressed its mounting frustration over Malaysia's handling of the investigation with the English-language Global Times — a government mouthpiece — saying Malaysia's response "was not swift enough". Beijing has sent 10 officials to Kuala Lumpur to provide assistance.

"This incident happened more than two days ago, and we hope that the Malaysians can fully understand the urgency of China — especially of the family members — and can step up the speed of the investigation and increase efforts on search and rescue," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing.

Civil aviation chief Rahman admitted that Malaysian investigators were "puzzled" over how the aircraft was able to just suddenly disappear. Earlier potential leads were dashed after it emerged that the oil slick spotted off the coast of Vietnam was caused by a ship and not an airplane, and the yellow "life raft" suspected to be from the airplane was actually a moss-covered cap of cable reel.

However, another debris sighting, some 50 miles off Vietnam's coast, saw ships dispatched to the area to investigate, as Malaysia said it was doubling its search operations to 100 nautical miles, including parts of peninsular Malaysia, waters north of Sumatra, more of the South China Sea, as well as a section of the Malacca Straits. Some 40 ships and 30 planes, including teams from Thailand, Australia, the US, Philippines, Vietnam, China, Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand, are currently aiding the Malaysians on search and rescue.

"To confirm what really happened we need hard evidence — concrete evidence," Rahman said. "We have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft."

Although Rahman said no protocols had been breached on the Beijing-bound flight, the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, announced that all air travel security protocols would be reviewed and stepped up if necessary. The FBI is assisting Malaysian authorities in investigating what may have caused the flight to go missing at 1.30am on 8 March with 239 people on board.

In another potentially bizarre twist to the story, the Thai travel agent who booked the tickets for the two men with stolen passports said the purchase had been arranged through an "Iranian contact". The clients were looking for cheap flights to Europe, Benjaporn Krutnait of the Grand Horizon travel agency in the resort town of Pattaya told the Financial Times, adding that a "long-term business contact" who went by the name of Mr Ali had asked her to reserve the flights, which were later paid for in cash by a friend of Mr Ali's.

While there is as yet no reason to believe that Mr Ali, who Benjaporn described as a middleman, knew that the two men were travelling on stolen passports, the revelations are sure to further fuel speculation of foul play as a senior police official told Reuters that passengers armed with explosives and travelling on stolen passports had previously attempted to fly out of Kuala Lumpur's international airport.

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told CNN that Thai police were investigating the identities of the two men as the passports had been stolen from Thailand and were registered with Interpol's stolen document database. "We don't know about their nationality yet. But we gave orders for the police to investigate the passport users," she said.



#theguardian.com

Unknown Chinese group claims responsibility for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight

Email said: “You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as payback.”

Getty

Risman Siregar and Erlina Panjaitan - the parents of passenger Firman Chandra Siregar - are comforted in Medan, Indonesia

A previously unknown group - the Chinese Martyrs’ Brigade – has claimed that it was behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
An email was sent to various journalists in China, saying: “You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as payback.”
But officials in Malaysia have said they believe the group's claim could be a hoax.
The email did not explain what had happened to the plane.
Malaysia’s acting transport minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, said today: “There is no sound or credible grounds to justify their claims."
It is reported that the email could be designed to increase ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the wake of a knife attack in Kunming on March 1 in which 29 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
Officials said the message was sent through an anonymous Hushmail service that is virtually impossible to trace.
Investigators have also revealed that debris that was believed to be from the plane turned out to be unconnected to the aircraft.
Police are probing a mystery Iranian called “Mr Ali” who bought the tickets for passengers who used stolen passports on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
Despite a huge search, there is still no sign of the flight that was carrying 239 people. The Boeing 777-200 went missing over the South China Sea on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
Desperate relatives are waiting to hear news about their loved ones. One of the passengers has been named as Firman Chandra Siregar, a 24-year-old from Indonesia.
His family - including his parents Risman Siregar and wife Erlina Panjaitan - are being comforted by friends during their ordeal.

#mirror.co.uk