Donald Trump picks Mike Pence, the Indiana Governor as running mate and vice presidential selection

REPUBLICAN presidential hopeful Donald Trump has announced that Indiana Governor Mike Pence will be his running mate and pick for vice president. A news conference was set for tomorrow for the two men who will take on Hillary Clinton and her Democratic running mate in November. Trump offered the vice presidential spot to Gov. Pence pn Thursday, and the governor boarded a plane for New York in anticipation of a Friday announcement, according to a Republican with knowledge of the process. But shortly after Gov. Pence arrived, Trump abruptly said he was postponing an announcement because of the deadly attack in Nice, France, that left more than 80 people dead. The staunchly conservative Gov. Pence, who is 57, served six terms in Congress before being elected governor and could help Trump navigate Capitol Hill. He’s well-regarded by evangelical Christians, particularly after signing a law that critics said would allow businesses to deny service to gay people for religious reasons. Trump’s announcement came about an hour before a deadline for Gov. Pence to withdraw from his re-election race in Indiana. State law prohibits candidates from being on the ballot in two races. Trump’s hectic decision-making process was made more complicated by the fact that the businessman was in California on Thursday for a series of fundraisers, isolated from nearly all of his closest advisers, including his three adult children and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Frustration among Trump and his advisers mounted because of news reports that Gov. Pence was the pick, sending top aides scrambling to insist no final decision had been made. The billionaire said in a series of television interviews on Thursday night that he’d not yet settled on a “final, final” choice, leaving open the possibility the unpredictable presumptive nominee could change his mind.

60-year-old Nigerian woman caught selling human flesh as fried meat in Ghana

A woman alleged to be a Nigerian was on Wednesday accused of selling human parts as fried meat in a popular market in Accra, Ghana. According to, Adom Ghana FM, the woman raised suspicion by her strange movement at the Adabraka Market and vigilant traders were said to have dragged her to the Adabraka Police Station. Confirming the arrest, Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, ASP Afia Tenge told the radio station yesterday that the woman is half Nigerian and half Ghanaian. Tenge said the suspect is Florence Uju Appiah and she is 60 years old. “Thus far, she has confessed, saying she was instructed to sell meat to make a living by her spiritual pastor. “She said she bought her meat at Makola and was coming to sell at Adabraka market but she was new in the market. She said selling the meat was a direction from her spiritual pastor and that it was a cow meat she had bought from Makola to come and sell at the market. “We only know its grilled meat but it is difficult for the police to determine whether it is human meat or otherwise, so we forwarded the said meat to national Crime Investigation Department, CID for forensic testing to show if it is human meat or not,” the Commander added, urging people to be calm until the result of the forensic report to determine what kind of meat comes out. Meanwhile, during her arrest on Wednesday, an angry mob was about lynching her before police officers came to her rescue. The woman, according to the market women, was carrying a tray with some pieces of meat, and all attempts to get her to disclose the source and type of meat she was carrying reportedly proved futile. One of the market women told reporters that, “the lady was selling the meat and when we queried her to find out what she was selling she refused to talk.” She was cunningly moving about with the meat in a broken tray. “We asked her the cost of the meat but she refused to answer, so what else can we think of? That was why we marched her to the police station. The meat looked like beef,” she added. Another market woman, Effia said, “We were told that the strange meat was meant for ritual and was given to her by her pastor. If it’s for rituals, she should be sent to the person who gave her this weird meat to sell to unsuspecting consumers. “She refused to answer and she was behaving strangely, we realized its human meat. According to some of my colleagues, she confessed that it is human meat and that her pastor gave it to her to perform some rituals.”

Why I support agitation for Biafra – Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has identified himself with the agitation for the Republic of Biafra, stressing that the Igbo people have been brutalized that they have no choice than to consider opting out of Nigeria. The respected playwright in an interview with Al Jazeera yesterday, stressed that “I don’t agitate on some certain entity called a nation; I agitate on humanity.” His words, “I am very much pro- Biafra because I recognise that the Igbos have been wronged desperately “They have been brutalised in a way that justifies their feeling that they were not part of the nation. “Let me also say this, Biafrans are not entirely innocent in this affair. They were not, but the unleashing of such venom, such devastation on them as a people, was sufficient to justify their decision not to be part of the nation. “I was pro-Biafran in the sense that I felt that they needed justice.” The Nobel Laureate, while criticising the removal of History and teaching of the Biafran crisis in schools, stated that, “Officials do not want to confront their own history, especially the history in the making of which they feel uncomfortable but, if you do not confront your past, you are going to mess up your future.”

Nigerian Shiites “block highway”, demand El-Zakzaky’s release

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, the body of Shiites in the country, have blocked the Zaria-Kaduna expressway, to protest against the prolonged detention of their leader, Ibrahim El Zakzaky. Mr. Zakzaky has been in detention since December 2015. He was arrested by the Nigerian army after troops clashed with Shi’a members, killing over 300 of them. The victims were secretly buried in a mass grave in Kaduna, a state official had said. The army denies the attack despite overwhelming evidence of the atrocity. It however admits using force, saying the Shiites had blocked the road in an attempt to assassinate its chief, Tukur Buratai, a Lieutenant General. Our source said “thousands” of Shiites blocked the expressway on Friday, denying road users passage. The source said security operatives have been deployed to the scene. A spokesperson for the Shi’as, Musa Ibrahim, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that he had received report that “some of our members” embarked on procession today, Friday, and were “attacked by thugs”. “A report just reached my desk,” said Mr. Ibrahim. “Some of members embarked on peaceful procession today. But they were attacked by thugs at Maraban Jos (along Kaduna-Zaria expressway.” He added that he was informed that the police intervened in the fight “but I don’t know whether there is casualty”. He said the “procession” was to demand the release of Sheik Zakzaky”.

Militants do not only kill us, they now rape our wives, children – Ikorodu residents

The recent influx of gunmen suspected to be militants in Ikorodu Local Government Area, LGA, of Lagos State has become more alarming as residents say they now live in fear. Some residents of Igbolomu/Isawo in Owutu Agric of the LGA, say apart from the fear of being shot to death in the usual gun duel, militants who reportedly gain access to the area through the waterway now rape their wives and children. One Babajide Apatira said the Igbolomu/Isawo areas have been terrorized by a certain group of terrorist who aren’t indigenes of the area Apatira said, “They are visitors and yet they have been killing, raping, robbing and wounding the residents of this area, yet we don’t hear anything in the news. “It’s as if the area is out of the map and there’s no military interference at all and lives are being lost every day. “The worst part is that these criminals don’t have regards for anyone and they act like they are above the law. “These criminals came to vandalize petroleum pipelines and when they have been stopped from dealing fuel bunker, they resort to robbing and raping wives in the presence of their husbands They are intoxicated by the power of the sophisticated weapons they have in their possession which they have been using to terrorize the neighbourhood. “Please help the people of Igbolomu/Isawo out of this nightmare and hardship. Please do what you can in your best ability to help us,” Apatira cried out to the government. Another resident who pleaded anonymity, said, “My uncle and his family stay at Igbolomu and they just called me this morning (Friday) to inform me of fresh attacks, rapes and stealing of properties, especially cars, which has prompted them to move out of the area indefinitely. “He abandoned his new house and shops. “Please let the media help create awareness until the government sends some kind of military intervention.” Meanwhile, DAILY POST is reporting that the Lagos State Police Command had on June 1 in a press release, assured residents of the stated that the fears of an attack on the city by militants, particularly the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, were unfounded. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Fatai Owoseni, had insisted that the nation’s commercial nerve centre is safe. He added that security agencies have been on their toes to avert any such threat, explaining that police officers were stationed at Ikorodu because there was an ongoing operation in the town to dislodge criminals.

AFRICA NEWEST COUNTRY:South Sudan, the world's newest country, is too poor to celebrate its independence day

the world's newest country, has announced it will not celebrate its independence day this year. "We decided not to celebrate the July 9 Independence Day, because we don't want to spend that much," information minister Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera. "We need to spend the little that we have on other issues."

Four migrant bodies recovered from a boat arrive in Sicily

The bodies of migrants recovered from a boat a couple of miles off the Libyan coast have arrived in Sicily. Among the four bodies were 352 survivors who were rescued by the Topaz Responder rescue vessel as they attempted to make their way to Europe across the Mediterranean. The four died from suffocation. Gianfilppo Pascolini a project coordinator of Research and Recsure Operation for NGO Emergency said, “Three-hundred and fifty-two people, the majority of whom are women and children, with 37 unaccompanied foreign minors. This rescue was not an ordinary one for us because, inside the migrants’ boat, we found the lifeless bodies of four young men in their twenties, the youngest 17 years old.” “The health conditions of the others were generally good, there were women into the seventh, eighth month of their pregnancy, there were a few cases of scabies, but overall the health conditions were good and the migrants were mostly young people in their twenties,’‘ he added. Last month, the Italian coast guard warned migrant rescue operations are increasing. Many of the migrants are fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East in search of a better life

At least 84 dead after truck hits crowd, attacker identified

v The death toll in the attack in Nice, south of France has risen to 84 with 18 people seriously injured after a heavy truck crashed into a crowd celebrating French national holiday, Bastille Day on Thursday night. Police identified the truck driver as a 31-year-old Franco-Tunisian born in Tunisia who was on the watch list of French intelligence services. He was known to police in connection with common law crimes such as theft and violence, a police source said. French president Francois Hollande has described the attack as a clear terrorist assault and extended the country’s state of emergency for another three months. “There’s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence,” the French leader said in a national television address at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT), about five or six hours after the carnage in Nice.