Image copyrightGetty Image caption The Thomas Fire has displaced thousands of people
California firefighters continue to battle one of the largest fires in the state’s history as wind and dry weather make it nearly impossible to contain.
The Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties has consumed 234,000 acres (950 sq km) in just over a week.
Destroying 900 properties, including 690 homes, it has become the fifth largest wildfire in recorded state history.
Some 94,000 residents have been displaced in the last week.
Though the fire has continued to spread, firefighters reported that 20% of the blaze had been contained by Tuesday morning, up from 10% on Sunday.
Around 7,000 firefighters have been deployed to fight the blaze, but steep slopes and rocky terrain have made it dangerous to tackle the flames.
“We are not going to put firefighters in harm’s way half way up a steep, rocky slope. We are going to wait for the fire to come to us and extinguish it where it is safe,” Cal Fire spokesman Ian McDonald said.
Image copyrightMARK RALSTONImage caption Firefighters face challenging conditions
Efforts to combat the wildfire have already totalled more than $48 million (£36 million).
Many local school districts have cancelled classes this week and will not reopen until after the new year.
California has spent the past eight days battling wildfires. Six large blazes, and other smaller ones, started last week in the south of the state.
Some of the other fires have been largely brought under control.
The Thomas Fire – named according to where it started, near the Thomas Aquinas College – is by far the largest of the wildfires.
The blazes show no signs of letting up as gusts of wind up to 40mph (65km/h) and low humidity until Thursday will pose a continued challenge to firefighters.
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Media captionThe Thomas Fire has the potential to be one of the worst in California’s history
The authorities issued a purple alert – the highest level warning – amid what it called “extremely critical fire weather”, while US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency.
Several firefighters have been injured, and a 70-year-old woman was found dead in her car on an evacuation route.
There are fears the blaze will seriously hit California’s multi-million dollar agricultural industry.
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Media captionDrivers filmed the flames from their cars near Bel Air
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Gombe, (Nigeria)–A private Initiative, Nafada Development Forum in Nadafa local government area of Gombe State, northeast of the country has established a Senior Secondary School for girls in the community. This is aimed at promoting girl child education in the area which hitherto had only one in the entire senatorial district.
The Chairman Gombe North Senatorial District Development Forum, Alhaji Ali Bappah El-Nafaty disclosed this while speaking at a sensitisation meeting on gender based violence, organized by Wildan Care Foundation.
He said in the Gombe North Senatorial District has only one female boarding school which have senior class.
El-Nafaty said that girl-child education is a critical issue that should not be treated with negligence, “Its impact in the society is numerous including improving the individual, causing her to be productive and not a burden to the society; improving the economy of the society through various means such as environmental sustainability; lower illiteracy rate which also leads to lower poverty rate.
“The girl-child needs to be educated to acquire knowledge and skills needed to advance her status for social interactions and self-improvement, girl child education also prepares her to face the reality in society and teaches her to be a good wife and mother
“When she is educated she realises the full potentials endowed in her, she discover to be whoever and whatever she wants to be. With education she would break the shell of ignorance and open that of self-discovery, we have vibrant and outstanding daughters like Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa and others,” he said.
El-Nafaty commended Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa for building one block with three class rooms and office as well as her son who also constructed a borehole, and Alhaji Hamidu Yagide who contributed to the establishment of the School
Similarly, he added, Nafada Youth Development Forum constructed exam hall for the school while the local government council donated three block of three class rooms with offices, adding that the present Commissioner of Information, Ahmed Umar Suleiman contributed two million naira to the school.
On her part, the Chief Executive officer, Wildan Care Foundation, Zariyatu Abubakar Hashidu pledged to assist the girl in getting admission and scholarship from international and local organisations in the country.
“Girl- child education also decreases maternal mortality. This is because women with formal education tend to have better knowledge about health care practices. Cross-country studies show that an extra year of schooling for girls reduces fertility rates by five to 10 percent later marriage.
“Among children not attending schools, there are twice as many girls as boys and among illiterate adults, there are twice as many women as men so if the girl-children are given education, it means the rate of illiteracy will be halved which can give room for more women to be able to contribute financially to their families thereby making their families more capable of securing education for their children.
“This will also empower and improve productivity in the society. It would also increase women’s involvement in the political process as educated women can participate in politics and contribute to effective governance in the society. With education, women are able to understand issues relating to women and can intelligently provide solutions to such issues.
Zariyatu noted that educated women can raise their voices to be heard especially to demand for equality and fairness on issues that concern them and their families.
“Having a voice that could be heard leads to reduction in the rate of domestic and sexual violence. Girl child education produces women that easily embrace safe sex thereby reducing the level of sexually transmitted diseases and they also have knowledge of the preventive measures to take to avoid other diseases,” She said.
Gombe( Nigeria)–Pen Resource Academy, Gombe Northeast of the Country has won the 2017 National Information Technology WHIZKIDS competition organized by Nigeria Computer Society.
The Zonal coordinator, Nigeria Computer Society, Gambo Abdullahi at the presentation of the prizes to the winner said the School took first position while Gombe High School came third in the competition.
He urged the management of the two schools to do as much as possible to give students quality teaching to enable them put more efforts in their studies.
According to him, Pen Resource Academy and Gombe High School have made Gombe proud for coming first and third among schools that participated in the 2017 National Information Technology WHIZKIDS competition.
The State Commissioner for Education, Aisha MB Ahmed who was represented by the Commissioner for Higher Education, Mohammed Isa Wade, promised expressed optimism that one of the public schools in the state would emerge among the winners in next years’ competition following the revolutionary work going on in the education sector by the current administration of Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.
He said what informed the state Government to establish a Technical University of Science in Kumo, College of Education, Billiri, Gombe state Polytechnic, Bajoga College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Nafada and many more institutions on the way, was to create more opportunities for the large number of qualified students graduating from private and public secondary schools in the State.
He commended the Nigerian Computer Society for organizing what he described as a thought provoking competition aimed at stimulating the brain of students.
Earlier, Principal of Pen Resource Academy, Dr. Stanley Maikano, said the result did not come to him as a surprise in view of the high academic standard the school had maintained since it was established in 2012.
He said the school would begin 60 per cent integration of British Curriculum and 40 per cent Nigerian curriculum in her primary and secondary schools by next year in an effort to boost the students’ performance in their internal and external examinations.
He thanked organizers of the competition for taking a wise decision, which according to him, did not only boost the morale of the competitors but equally found talent among students.
Nuriyya Abba Gombe and Mustapha Jiddum who represented Pen Resource Academy in the competition were presented with prizes while the school received a certificate of recognition from the Nigerian Computer Society.
The third position, Gombe Children High School got a prize and certificate of recognition while the students, Aliyu Musa Ahmed and Naja’atu Abdullahi who represented the school received prizes.
The federal charges, announced later on Tuesday, include providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place.
According to the federal complaint filed by prosecutors, Mr Ullah said after his arrest: “I did it for the Islamic State.”
He also told investigators he had been motivated by American air strikes on IS target, the document says.
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Media captionProsecutor Joon Kim: “Ullah tried to maximise casualties”
The complaint says Mr Ullah used materials that included Christmas lights to make the device. It was affixed to his body with Velcro straps.
A search of the suspect’s home in the New York City borough of Brooklyn “revealed metal pipes, pieces of wire and metal screws, which were consistent with the bomb materials recovered at the scene,” prosecutor Joom Kim told reporters.
He said the suspect “admitted that he began researching how to build bombs about a year ago, and had been planning this particular attack for several weeks”.
He selected the location and timing “to maximise casualties”, Mr Kim added.
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Media captionThe blast hit during New York’s rush-hour – this is how events unfolded
Mr Ullah emigrated to the US on a family visa in 2011 from the Chittagong area of Bangladesh.
The Bangladeshi government says he had no criminal record in the country, which he last visited in September. The visit lasted about six weeks, his uncle told the Associated Press news agency.
Mr Ullah’s wife did not join him in the US. She and other family members are now being questioned to try to understand how he was radicalised.
Media captionSenator Gillibrand responds to President Trump’s tweet
US President Donald Trump has been accused of trying to “slut shame” a female senator who demanded he quit over sexual misconduct claims.
Mr Trump claimed Kirsten Gillibrand had come “begging” to him for donations and “would do anything” for cash.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said Mr Trump was “trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame” her fellow Democrat.
The White House dismissed claims that the remarks were sexist, adding that he was referring to political corruption.
“There’s no way that this is sexist at all. This is simply talking about a system that we have which is broken”, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Tuesday.
Mrs Sanders said the comments had “the same sentiment that the president has expressed many times before when he has exposed the corruption of the entire political system”.
She added that he has used “similar terminology many times” to discuss both men and women, adding that “politicians repeatedly beg for money”.
Scores of Democratic congresswomen are urging Congress to investigate claims against the Republican president.
Three of his accusers held a press conference on Monday to repeat their allegations he groped, fondled, forcibly kissed and harassed them.
The Republican president has branded the accusations “fabricated” and “FAKE NEWS!”
In Tuesday morning’s tweet, the US president accused Mrs Gillibrand of being a lackey to Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
“Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” the US president posted.
Mr Trump did not explain what he meant by “do anything” for campaign contributions.
He added that the New York senator, who took over Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat when her term ended, had been “very disloyal” to the Clintons and had been “– — USED” by them.
Last month, Mrs Gillibrand said former President Bill Clinton should have quit over his affair with a White House intern. A top Hillary Clinton aide called Mrs Gillibrand a “hypocrite” for that attack.
Responding to Mr Trump’s tweet on Tuesday, Mrs Gillibrand wrote: “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.”
Later she held a press conference to accuse Mr Trump of using a “sexist smear”.
“I will not be silenced on this issue,” she said, adding that “neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday”.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a frequent critic of the president, tweeted that “America must reject Trump’s sexist slurs”.
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Media captionJessica Leeds is among those calling on Congress to open an inquiry into President Trump
Also on Tuesday, a group of 59 female members of Congress urged the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to investigate misconduct claims by “at least 17 women” against Mr Trump.
“The American people deserve a full inquiry into the truth of these allegations,” said the letter to the committee from the Democratic Women’s Working Group (DWWG).
Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS
Kaduna (Nigeria)–United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has planned to tackle high HIV prevalence among adolescents in seven local government areas of Kaduna State, northern Nigeria.
Speaking at a Forum with Nedia Executives in Zaria, Kaduna State, the officer in-charge of UNICEF Field Office, Kaduna, Dr Idris Baba, said HIV in adolescents remained a big concern, stressing that steps would be taken to arrest the situation in the affected areas.
He explained that the support being offered by UNICEF was on HIV prevention, treatment and care in the seven local areas.
According to him, only seven percent of the adolescents surveyed at the beginning of the intervention programme in March were tested and have received their HIV result.
He disclosed that UNICEF had budgeted about N200 million to run the Adolescent and Young Persons, AYP, programme in Chikun, Igabi, Lere, Kagarko, Birnin Gwari, Jaba and Jema’a local government areas.
He noted with concern that in spite of the decrease in new HIV infections in the areas due to improved access to information, the rate of death among infected adolescents remained high.
The official stressed that the main objective was to raise AYP access to HIV testing from 20 to 40 per cent by the end of the intervention programme in May 2018, and increase condom usage among adolescents from 30 to 50 percent in the seven local areas.
He said that the programme was also aimed at raising the use of anti retro viral therapy from one to 21 per cent among HIV positive persons and increase the number of schools providing Family Life Health Education from the present 25 per cent to 45 per cent.
Baba disclosed that UNICEF had trained no fewer than 1, 300 persons to facilitate the success of the programme in all the local government areas.
According to him, the programme has helped to achieve 52 per cent awareness on HIV due to improved access to information among adolescents in the seven local areas, while the number of those who had tested had gone up to 46.6 per cent.
The Co-ordinator of AMDF, Mrs. Sekyen Dudik, presenting the welcome address, at the 2017 MediaAfrica Conference
Cross section of participants, at the 2017 media Africa Conference
By Amos Tauna
Kaduna (Nigeria) – Worried by the high rate of maternal deaths in Northern Nigeria, Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF), has called on governors in the region to take decisive steps toward addressing the issue.
Addressing the Second Annual Conference of African Media Development Foundation in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria, its Coordinator, Sekyen Dadik stressed the need for governments to also carry the Media along pointing out that the Foundation has realized that no development programme could succeed without the active engagement of the media.
“This is because the media has the capacity to influence and change individual’s behavior and lifestyle.
“The northern part of Nigeria still remain the greatest contributor to the alarming rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria, no doubt, this calls for all hands to be on deck to overcome the challenge, Nigeria, and especially, the Northern States must change their approach,” she advised.
According to her, the media must be engaged in developmental issues to influence the lifestyle of mothers and other key areas of the society, stressing that the theme ‘Role of media in Curbing Maternal Deaths, is timely and apt in order to address the problems being encountered.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kaduna State Council, Comrade Adamu Yusuf, commended AMDF for setting the pace towards addressing issues of maternal mortality and training of the media to set agenda.
He said that the Council would continue to support the AMDF in its continued determination to promote journalism .
The conference, attended by top government functionaries, Developing Partners, Civil Society Organizations and Media managers was supported by the Kaduna State Government, Pathfinder, Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, DEVCOMS and Nigeria Union of Journalists.
Kaduna (Nigeria) — Nigeria’s Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, says the National Assembly has contributed a lot in stabilising and deepening the country’s constitutional democracy through strengthening of due process and the rule of law.
Speaking on the topic, “Deepening Democracy: Role of the Legislature,” at the third Public Lecture series of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, north central Nigeria on Monday, Dogara however spoke of certain provisions of the constitution which he referred to as ” satanic versus” standing against the impeachment of President and Vice.
Going down memory lane, the Speaker narrated how the bill he sponsored in the 7th Assembly which sought to simplify procedures for impeachment of the President and Vice President was defeated during the constitution amendment exercise.
He lamented that the provisions of section 143 of the 1999 constitution makes it impossible for the National Assembly to remove the President or Vice President
He maintained that emocracy is a government of laws and not of men and that with provisions of section 143 in place Presidents can choose not to obey the law saying, “because he can choose the laws to obey without any retribution
Dogara, argued that democracy cannot thrive without citizens’ active participation because it is the responsibility of the people to protect democracy and hold leaders accountable
“There can be no democracy without the active participation of the citizens. Any country where the government fear the citizens then it is a democracy.
He declared, “The legislature in Nigeria has contributed immensely in deepening the practice of constitutional democracy in Nigeria, especially since the introduction of the 1999 Constitution, in its various functions. If Democracy rests on the Due process and the Rule of Law, it therefore means that our Democracy can only be as deep as the laws upon which it is built.”
The Speaker also noted that the 8th House of Representatives under his leadership as Speaker, has made outstanding contributions to deepening democracy in Nigeria through the faithful implementation of its Legislative Agenda, which serves as a compass of its legislative activities for four years (2015 – 2019) to deepen democracy in Nigeria.
He added that the 8th Assembly achieved this by providing leadership in the areas of accountable and transparent government, citizens engagement, constituency representation, collaboration with its counterpart in the Senate and other arms of government to legislate for the common good of the Nigerian people, legislation to create reforms in Nigeria’s national economy and development, tackle poverty, unemployment, confront the scourge of corruption, terrorism and security challenges in the country, environment and reduction in the cost of running government, reduce wastage and tackle National Revenue leakages.
The Speaker also said other areas the House has been committed to playing its part, include rescuing Nigeria from the clutches of hunger, poverty, disease, social, economic, political and infrastructural quagmire and ensuring transparency and accountability, not just by the House of Rpresentatives but also by government at all levels.
“Even the most casual observer of Nigeria’s democracy in the last three electoral cycles would admit that despite perceived gaps in the exercise of its oversight mandate, the legislature at the national level has achieved a modicum of institutional growth. At the national level, the legislature is increasingly becoming more assertive in the process of law making,” he stated.
Dogara said it was in view of the fact that a weak legislature is antithetical to good governance and consolidation of the country’s hard won democracy, that the National Assembly, through various legislative measures, intervened to specifically strengthen the Legislative institution in order to position it to play its prominent role in our constitutional democracy.
“The National Assembly amended the Constitution in 2010 that placed it on the first line charge, thereby ensuring its relative financial and administrative autonomy.
“Furthermore, the National Assembly set up the National Institute of Legislative Studies to provide crucial capacity enhancement for legislators, legislative staff and the institution as a whole.”
On issues of national unity and resolving crises and stemming centrifugal forces in Nigeria, he appraised the legislature as outstanding, citing, among others, examples of the enactment of The Niger Delta Development Commission (Establishment) Act 2000 and The Revenue Allocation (Allocation of On Shore-Off Shore Dichotomy) Act, 2004 for which the National Assembly overrode presidential veto, and the North East Development Commission Act, 2017 to rehabilitate, reconstruct and re-develop the zone.
He also noted that the legislature shares in the success of Nigeria’s 2011 which were acclaimed the most credible since 1999 and that the 2015 general election was even much better because of the specific interventions on electoral reform as contained in the First and Second Constitution Alteration Acts, 2010-2011 to grant the financial independence of INEC, consent of the Senate for the appointment of State Independent Electoral Commissioners, enhance internal party democracy through the introduction of compulsory party primaries with monitoring by INEC, authorising INEC to de-register Political Parties, introduction of electronic accreditation by INEC, among others.
The Speaker also said the House of Representatives has exposed corruption through about hundreds of investigative hearings on economic crimes in the country over the years, with the 8th House of Representatives conducting over 50 Investigative Hearings.
“These include investigations on the award of contract for the rehabilitation of Nigerian Railways; Installation of CCTV Cameras in Abuja and Lagos, alleged $17 billion stolen from undeclared crude oil and LNG exports to global destinations; The investigative hearing on Centenary City Project; Pre- Shipment investigation, Amnesty programme and Several anti- corruption investigations have also been conducted by the 8th House of Representatives.”
Another area, he said, the legislature has deepened democracy is through representation, where the legislator, due to his or her close contact with constituents, get direct knowledge of their needs and petitions on their grievances and agitations.
The Speaker explained, “Representation is at the very heart of representative and constitutional democracy
“It is this democratic theory of representation that gave rise to what is now commonly known as Constituency or Zonal Intervention projects, which is now an entrenched policy deliberately crafted to ensure equitable representation of every constituency in the allocation and distribution of the resources of the nation.
“The rationale is that an elected member of parliament is closer to his people than unelected persons who hold sway in the budgetary processes and policy execution.
“The Representative role of the legislature includes providing democratic legitimacy for the government. The accessibility of the Legislature to the ordinary citizen helps to engender confidence in the system. Citizens who regard their government as legitimate are more likely to obey laws, support the regime and accommodate diverse points of view. Citizen participation in the legislative process is vital to creating this sense of legitimacy.”
Image copyright Getty 
