2017 Budget Won’t Be Padded- Buhari

The distortions that happened to Budget 2016, in which series of rogue projects and figures were injected into the financial document won’t happen to next year’s budget, President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed. Granting audience to members of the Governance Support Group (GSG), led by Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, at Aso Villa, Abuja, yesterday the president said, “I am waiting for the 2017 budget to be brought to us in Council. Any sign of padding anywhere, I will remove it.”President Buhari in a statement by his special adviser on media, Femi Adesina  re-iterated that he had been in government since 1975, variously as governor, oil minister, head of state, and chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), “and never did I hear the word ‘padding’ till the 2016 Budget.”

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Spanish court calls for Neymar to serve two-year prison sentence

Spanish prosecutors have called for Barcelona forward Neymar to be sent to prison for two years for his part in a corruption case over his transfer from Brazilian club Santos in 2013.

Judge Jose Perals also called for a five-year sentence for former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and a fine of 8.4million euros (£7.2m) for the club.It asked to drop charges against current president Josep Maria Bartomeu.Rosell, Neymar and his father are set to stand trial.Under the Spanish legal system, prison terms of under two years are typically suspended.The case stems from a complaint by Brazilian investment group DIS, which owned 40% of Neymar's transfer rights and alleges it received less money than it was entitled to from transfer fee.Rosell resigned as the club's president in 2014 for his role in the affair and testified in court in February alongside Bartomeu, Neymar and Neymar's father.

The club struck a deal with prosecutors in June to settle a separate case, paid a £4.7m fine and avoided trial on charges of tax evasion over the transfer. Barcelona thought they had brought the affair to a close when judge Jose de la Mata archived the case in June, although Spain's public prosecutor successfully overturned the ruling in September, allowing the case to proceed. Neymar's Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud earlier this year. He has appealed against the sentence.

Angelina Jolie begs Brad Pitt for peace

American actress Angelina Jolie has begged his husband Brad Pitt for peace after she filed for a divorce in a court and also seeking for custody of their six children. Reports say the couple 10 year old daughter Shiloh, had begged the actors to be nice to each other.According to OK magazine Angelina then softened her stance and bypassed their attorney middlemen, to call Pitt directly and asked for a ‘temporary truce’ after she realised how much their kids want them together for the holidays. Angelina’s intention however, is that the truce only last for two-day truce and that the split is as contentious as ever. She said they are just doing what they know is best for their family as Shiloh and her brothers and sisters, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11 and twins Vivienne and Knox, eight, all want a reunion between them. The actors’ eldest child Maddox, 15, is reportedly not too happy with the idea following the argument he had with his dad (Brad Pitt) aboard their private jet in September which apparently triggered Angelina’s divorce filing. The magazine also claims Brad called his son with a tearful apology saying ‘he should have been a better listener’. A source revealed: ‘Brad’s incredibly apprehensive about the thought of meeting Angelina face-to-face’ but added that the Allied star is willing to do anything to spend Thanksgiving with his children. ‘For the time being he’s willing to lay down his sword’ an insider said. Angelina filed for divorce from Brad on September 14 citing irreconcilable differences ending two years of marriage and 12 years together. The actor has had limited visits with his children since then. Meanwhile, the FBI has closed its inquiry into Brad Pitt’s actions while on an international flight with his children, the agency confirmed Tuesday. “The FBI has conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation,” said a statement sent to USA TODAY by FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. “No charges have been filed.”

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South Korea raises bird flu alert

South Korea raised the country's bird flu alert status on Wednesday to its second-highest level following three more outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N6 strain after the first cases were confirmed last week. The new bird flu outbreaks were discovered at two duck farms in the central and southwestern regions of the country, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday. All 30,500 ducks at the farms have been culled. One more case was confirmed on Tuesday and the second earlier on Wednesday, the ministry statement said. The third case was confirmed later on Wednesday at a chicken farm in the city of Yangju, about 38 kilometers (23.61 miles)north of Seoul, the ministry said. Since the first cases of the H5N6 avian influenza virus were reported in the same region on Friday, a total of five cases have been found and two other poultry farms in other parts of the country are being tested, the ministry said. The agriculture ministry raised its bird flu alert level to 'alert,' from 'caution,' as an increasing number of farms are reporting suspected infections in a short period of time. Over 510,000 birds have been slaughtered to contain the spread of the virus, accounting for less than 1 percent of the country's poultry population of 84.7 million, an agriculture ministry official who declined to be identified said on Wednesday. Cases of human infection from the H5N6 virus have previously been reported in places including China and Hong Kong, with the virus killing 10 people in China since April 2014, according to data from the ministry. The agriculture ministry has already put in place a poultry movement ban for farms within a 10-kilometre radius of where the virus had been found earlier. The ministry said it is also considering a temporary nationwide standstill order to prevent the virus from spreading. Read more

U.S. opens door to oil exports after year of pressure

The Obama administration on Tuesday bowed to months of growing pressure over a 40-year-old ban on exports of most domestic crude, taking two steps expected to unleash a wave of ultra-light shale oil onto global markets.The Bureau of Industry and Security, or BIS, which regulates export controls, said it had granted permission to "some" companies to sell lightly treated condensate abroad. Condensate is a form of ultra-light crude.Some two dozen energy companies had asked the agency for clarification on permissible exports earlier this year, but until Tuesday those requests had been put on indefinite hold.The BIS also released guidance in the form of frequently asked questions, or FAQs, to explain what kind of oil was generally allowed under the ban, the first effort by the administration to clarify an issue that has caused confusion and consternation in energy markets for more than a year.The two measures are clearest signs yet that the administration is ready to allow more of the booming U.S. shale oil production to be sold overseas, where drillers have said it can fetch a premium of $10 a barrel or more.They follow a year of murky messages and widespread uncertainty over what is or is not allowed under a trade restriction that critics say is a relic of a bygone age, when oil was seen as scarce after the 1970s Arab oil embargo. A domestic drilling boom of the past six years has transformed the United States into an energy powerhouse, boosting U.S. production by more than 50 percent and reversing decades of decline. Output of very light oil has been especially strong, leading to a glut that threatens to overwhelm domestic demand. The constraints helped fuel bumper profits for refiners such as Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) and PBF Energy Inc (PBF.N), but angered drillers such as Hess Corp (HES.N) that say they were selling at a discount. Jamie Webster, the senior director of oil markets at research firm IHS, said the FAQ "takes the leash off of (the U.S. Department of) Commerce" and signals it may take additional action on crude exports after several months of inaction. While likely to draw broad support from many quarters, the measures also open the Obama administration to attack by environmentalists and Democrats who may see it encouraging more hydraulic fracking and as a sop to big oil companies. Read more

Lufthansa pilots begin strike

Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) pilots in Germany began a two-day strike on Wednesday, grounding hundreds of flights at one of Europe's largest airlines in a long-running pay dispute. The Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots' union initially called a 24-hour walkout for Wednesday but extended the strike for an extra day after two courts rejected attempts by Lufthansa to halt the industrial action. Lufthansa management, led by CEO Carsten Spohr, has refused to budge from its insistence that, despite record profit in 2015, the airline has no choice but to reduce costs if it wants to compete with leaner rivals such as Ryanair (RYA.I) on short-haul flights and Emirates EMIRA.UL on long-haul routes. Shares in the company have lost 12 percent of their value this year, but were up 0.3 percent at 0817 GMT, outperforming German blue chips .GDAXI. The airline said it had canceled 876 of roughly 3,000 flights scheduled for Wednesday, affecting about 100,000 passengers in what is the 14th strike in the dispute since early 2014. Lufthansa, which expects the strike to cost between 7 million euros and 9 million euros ($7.4 million to $9.6 million) a day, will give details of Thursday's cancellations at about 1130 GMT on Wednesday. It described the call to extend the walkout as "completely incomprehensible". The strike started at midnight and affects flights departing from German airports, including 51 long-haul flights so far. Flights by Lufthansa's other airlines, including Germanwings, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Brussels Airlines, will not be affected, Lufthansa said. 

Lufthansa has called on the pilots to enter mediation, which has been rejected by their union because it is first seeking a better offer from management as a basis for talks.The union wants an average annual pay increase of 3.7 percent for 5,400 pilots in Germany over a five-year period from 2012. Lufthansa has offered 2.5 percent over the six years to 2019."We want the union to return to the negotiating table. Our door is wide open," a Lufthansa spokesman said on Wednesday.

Wednesday 23/11/2016 On King Of Hearts

Simran insults Roshni's character before the entire guests who had come for the celebration of Roshni's victory in the competition. Simran pushes Roshni asking her to leave the home. Amidst these misunderstandings, Simran and Raj also disclose the biggest truth that they were hiding from Biji about the court's order asking Roshni and Siddharth to stay together for three months. Roshni's grandmother tries to defend her but the blame that's struck on Roshni makes everyone blind. Roshni tells her grandmother that she would not leave this home until Siddharth arrives.

Siddharth devises a plan where he pours water on the washroom floor and sends a man and woman at the same time to fresh themselves up. Leading to the slippery floor, the man and the woman fall down on each other and start shouting. The guests rush towards the washroom and find the man with another woman. Read more