BBC driver killed, four journalists injured as death toll rises in Kabul bombing

One BBC employee has been killed and four journalists injured in the bomb attack in Kabul, the broadcaster confirmed.

“It is with great sadness that the BBC can confirm the death of BBC Afghan driver Mohammed Nazir following the vehicle bomb in Kabul earlier today, as he was driving journalist colleagues to the office,” Francesca Unsworth, the BBC World Service Director, said in a statement.

“Four BBC journalists were also injured and were treated in hospital. Their injuries are not thought to be life threatening,” Unsworth said.

“Mohammed Nazir worked as a driver for the BBC Afghan service for more than four years and was a popular colleague.

“He was in his late thirties and he leaves a young family,” she added.

“This is a devastating loss to the BBC and to Mohammed Nazir’s friends and family. We are doing all we can to support them and the rest of the team in Kabul.”

A tanker truck bombing in central Kabul killed at least 64 civilians on Wednesday, the Afghan Interior Ministry said, as officials fear the death toll could rise further.

The ministry said three hundred and twenty others were wounded and 50 vehicles destroyed.Wahidullah Majroh, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said however that 80 people were dead and 350 others wounded.

Little is left of the vehicle, either a water or human waste taker, that was used for the bombing, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

Fifty vehicles were also destroyed in the blast in the Afghan capital’s central Zanbaq Square, according to the ministry.

Zanbaq Square is near many government buildings and foreign embassies, including the presidential palace, the chief executive office, the German embassy and the Indian embassy, among others.

The German Embassy was severely damaged in the blast, as pictures from the location show.

19-year-old woman is sentenced to death for getting raped at gunpoint in Pakistan

19-year-old woman has been sentenced to death by stoning for being raped by her cousin at gunpoint. The woman said she was sleeping at her family home in Rajanpur, in the country's central Punjab province, when her cousin attacked her.

She reported the crime to the local tribal court called panchayat but she was told she intentionally seduced her cousin.


The panchayat, which included the alleged rapist's father, then found her guilty of adultery and declared her an adulteress. She was sentenced to death by stoning or to be sold off, according to the Hindustan Times. The council at the tribal court also decided that the alleged rapist was to walk free.

The convicted woman and her father went to the police the day following the trial and the police have now launched an official investigation and issued an arrest warrant for the members of the tribal council. Another warrant has also been issued for the alleged rapist. The convicted woman has been taken to a refuge away from the village for her safety.

House of Reps member, Garba Durbunde, kidnapped along Kaduna-Jere road

A member of the House of Representatives, Garba Durbunde, has been kidnapped. Although details surrounding his kidnap are still sketchy, it is said that Garba who represents who represents Sumaila/Takai federal constituency, was kidnapped along the Kaduna- Jere road while on his way to Kano from Abuja yesterday May 30th.

Efforts are now being made by security agents to trace his abductors and rescue him safely

Ramadan: Saudi Arabia Counters Sultan, Says Fasting Begins Tomorrow

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has empathically announced that the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will begin on Saturday, state media said on Thursday.This is contrary to the directive to Nigerian muslims by the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, that they should look out for the moon today and commence fasting if sighted.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (Sawm) to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Prophet Mohammed according to Islamic belief.This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam.According to numerous biographical accounts compiled in the hadiths, Ramadan lasts 29 to 30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon.

The beginning and end of Islamic months are determined by the sighting of the new moon.

Lebanon’s top Islamic authority, the mufti, said Ramadan would also begin in the country on Saturday.A similar statement was made by officials in Iraq’s Muslim Sunni minority.

The President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Sultan Saad Abubakar, has asked Muslims in Nigeria to look out for the new moon from Friday, May 26.During Ramadan, Muslims have to abstain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to sunset.

Devout Muslims also mark the month by intense worship, performing special nightly prayers and reading Islam’s holy book, the Koran.

Fasting is one of Islam’s five pillars, alongside declaration of monotheism, prayer five times a day, alms-giving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Man Cuts Off Wife’s Head After DNA Proved 6 Kids are Not His

Karen Rainford , the mother of six who was beheaded in Mountain View was killed by the father of her six younger children. Sources are now saying that the man Rainford told that the children belonged to him found out that none of the children were his.

Days leading up to the murder, the alleged father , after finding out through DNA tests that the children did not belong to him, cut his locks and told people close to him that he would kill her.

Friends said that Rainford would often visit the man’s place of employment in an effort to collect child support. The father was said to be angry that she had followed him from site to site embarrassing him for child support perhaps knowing that the children were not his.

He is being held in jail and has a 2 Million Dollar bond.

Osinbajo, governors, accuse Jonathan of discriminating against 19 states in sharing of ecological funds

The administration of former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, discriminated in the sharing of ecological funds to states, a new report has shown.

An interim report submitted by the National Executive Council’s Ad-hoc committee on management of ecological fund revealed that 19 states, including Abuja, are yet to benefit from the one percent share of the Ecological Fund as stipulated by law.

NEC, an official economic platform for dialogue among the 36 state governors, the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and other co-opted members, is chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

The interim report, submitted by an 11-man Committee headed by Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State, gave details of how the entire Ecological Fund was utilized during Mr. Jonathan’s eta.

The Committee informed Council of the revised sharing formula of the Ecological Funds as modified, with the Federal Government getting one percent; States, 0.72 percent; and Local Government Areas, 0.60 percent.

The Committee disclosed that all States and Local Government Areas got their shares of the Fund, and that the only portion left is the Federal Government’s share of one percent.

The committee said of that FG’s one percent, (which now stands at N33.6 billion), NEMA and Great Green Wall project are statutorily entitled to 20 percent and 15 percent respectively.

Only 65 percent of the FG’s share is therefore available for sharing, it said

75-year old US prisoner whose execution was delayed 7 times has now been put to death

An inmate in Alabama who was famous for escaping his execution 7 times due to legal challenges is finally dead. 75 year old Tommy Arthur was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m today at a southwest Alabama prison after a lethal injection.

Arthur was convicted of killing riverboat engineer Troy Wicker, who was fatally shot as he slept in his bed in the north Alabama city of Muscle Shoals in 1982.

Arthur was sentenced to death for the 1982 contract killing of Troy Wicker. Prosecutors say that Arthur, who was serving life at the time for fatally shooting his sister-in-law, had an affair with Wicker's wife, Judy, while in a work-release program and that she paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.

The state set seven execution dates for Arthur between 2001 and 2016. All were delayed as a pro bono legal team fought his sentence. 

Arthur, in a round of phone calls to reporters earlier this week, maintained he's innocence in the Wicker shooting telling the Associated Press, "I'm terrified, but there's nothing I can do. I've got hope in my legal