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 (http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/thumbnail.php?file=ONIRU_585281478.jpg&size=article_medium) Oniru  The Lagos State Government said on Thursday that no fewer than 32 abandoned vessels had been discovered on the state’s coastline.

The state Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development,  Mr. Adesegun Oniru, disclosed this in Ikeja at a news conference to mark Governor Babatunde Fashola`s first year of a second term in office.

Oniru said that the abandoned vessels had caused serious environmental degradation and worsened the problem of coastal erosion in the state.

He explained that some of the abandoned vessels were oil tankers which could wipe off the entire communities in the area within three to six months if urgent steps were not taken.

``Some of the vessels are oil tankers and you can imagine what happens to marine life when there is such a vessel.

``You can imagine what happens to our shoreline when there is a beach vessel. It can wipe out a community within three to six months if not addressed.

``Today, the ministry has found about 32 beach vessels across the state 180 kilometres beach forests.

``The government through the ministry is working on training officers on marine study in Holland. Six officers will be trained on how to handle challenges on the coastal fronts,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the commissioner as saying at the occasion.

He explained that the continuous presence of the vessels on the shoreline could worsen the devastating erosion in the area.

Oniru said that stiffer penalties would be put in place to curb activities of illegal dredging and sand mining.

He disclosed that no fewer than 21 persons had been arrested and prosecuted in the last one year for illegal sand mining activities in the state.



TheNation

Rupert Murdoch has made startling comments while appearing for a second day before an inquiry investigating the power he wields over politicians and police.

Murdoch. 81, told the Leveson Inquiry on Thursday that there was a "cover-up" over phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid but that it was kept hidden from him and senior executives in his media company.

"There's no question in my mind that, maybe even the editor, but beyond that, someone took charge of a cover-up which we were victim to and I regret that," Murdoch, the News Corp head, told a press ethics inquiry in Britain.

Murdoch also told the inquiry he had "failed" by not pressing for further internal investigation into the paper, which he closed  down in July last year amid outrage over the hacking of a murdered girl's phone.

"I think the senior execs were all ... misinformed and all shielded from anything that was going on there and I do blame one or two people for that whom I shouldn't name because for all I know they may be arrested yet," he said.

The paper's royal editor and a private investigator were jailed in 2007 for phone hacking but the full scale of the practice at the paper did not emerge  until a new police investigation launched in January 2011.

'I failed'

Pressed by the senior judge leading the inquiry, Brian Leveson, about why he did not take further action over allegations against one of his biggest-selling newspapers, Murdoch said: "I also have to say that I failed."

Murdoch electrified the judicial inquiry on Wednesday, robustly rejecting accusations that he had used his media empire to play puppet master to a succession of British prime ministers.

The appearance at the inquiry of a man who has courted prime ministers and presidents for the last 40 years is a defining moment in a scandal that has laid bare collusion between British politicians, police and Murdoch's News Corp.

Under questioning by one of London's top lawyers on Wednesday, Murdoch appeared calm and considered.

Asked on Wednesday whether he would ever have been "so undeft and cack-handed" as to ask a favour directly of Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister at the time,  he said: "I hope not ... I didn't expect any help from [Thatcher] nor did I ask for any."

Murdoch's appearance at the Leveson Inquiry on Wednesday (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/04/20124259426292169.html) came as Adam Smith, a special adviser to Jeremy Hunt, the UK culture minister, resigned over his dealings with Murdoch's News Corp.

The resignation came a day after Murdoch's son, James, released emails to the inquiry that showed that Smith effectively supplied News Corp with information about the progress of its bid to take full control of BSkyB.

Hunt, whose job it was to assess whether the government should approve the BSkyB bid for complete control in the face of opposition from other media groups, is also under pressure to resign.

Journalistic standards

David Cameron, UK prime minister, appointed Leveson last year to examine Britain's press standards after journalists at Murdoch's News of the World tabloid admitted hacking into phones on a massive scale to generate exclusives and salacious front page stories.

The admission last year, and the revelation that journalists had hacked into the phones of ordinary people and crime victims, forced the closure of the 168-year-old tabloid and prompted many to question whether the police had declined to properly investigate the scandal because of Murdoch's influence.

Critics argue that staff at the mass selling Sunday tabloid felt they were above the law as their boss and owner regularly dined with the prime minister and senior police officers.

Andy Coulson, a former editor of the tabloid who stood down over phone-hacking, went on to become Cameron's personal

spokesman. He has since been arrested.

Al Jazeera

The widows of Osama bin Laden and a number of his children have arrived in Saudi Arabia after being deported from Pakistan.

The country's interior ministry, which was responsible for the family since their arrest last year, said in a statement early on Friday that it had "passed orders for the deportation of 14 members of OBL family in pursuance of ... Court orders".

"The family was kept safe and sound in a guest house ... They have been deported to the country of their choice, Saudi Arabia, today," it added.

A Pakistani court charged bin Laden's three widows and two of his grown-up daughters earlier in April with illegal entry and residency in the country.

Bin Laden's two Saudi and one Yemeni widows, together with their children, have been living under the protection of the authorities in Pakistan since the al-Qaeda chief was killed (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/05/2011522132275789.html) by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011.

The family was believed to number 12: three widows, eight children and one grand child. An interior ministry spokesman, however, said orders were passed for the deportation of 14 bin Laden relatives.

They were taken to Islamabad airport to board a special flight to the Gulf kingdom, which took off shortly before 2:00 am on Friday (21:00 GMT on Thursday).

Strained US-Pak ties

The deportation was originally due to have occurred after the family members had completed their sentence last week, but the move dragged on because legal formalities were not complete, amid suggestions that Saudi government was reluctant to accept the family.

[/table] Bin Laden's discovery in Abbottabad dealt a huge blow to US-Pakistan relations and led to accusations of Pakistani complicity or incompetence (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/05/2011510143935817805.html).

After fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden moved his family around Pakistan before settling in a three-storey house inside a walled compound in the garrison town in 2005.

The family's prolonged detention after the raid fed speculation that the Pakistani authorities were worried about what they might reveal about bin Laden's time in the country and how he was able to live there for so long undetected.

According to a police report, Amal Abdulfattah, 30, bin Laden's youngest wife, told Pakistani interrogators that her husband fathered four children while he hid out in Pakistan. Abdulfattah is Yemeni, and Atif Ali Khan, the family's lawyer, has said that she and her five children could be sent to her native country via Saudi Arabia.

The United States and Pakistan are currently working to repair their relationship, which has been badly damaged by the bin Laden and other episodes during the last year.

Pakistani authorities have already demolished the Abbottabad house where the bin Ladens resided, and with the one-year anniversary of the al-Qaeda leader's death just days away, they will be keen for the deportation to draw a line under the affair.

Al Jazeera

The only privately owned version of Edvard Munch's The Scream - one of the most recognisable images in history - set a world record when it sold for $119.9m at Sotheby's in New York, far exceeding pre-sales estimates of about $80m.

The 1895 pastel of a man holding his head and screaming under a streaked, blood-red sky has become a modern symbol for human anxiety, popularised in movies and plastered on everything from mugs to Halloween masks. It is second in worldly fame to only the Mona Lisa.

Simon Shaw, head of the Impressionist and modern department at Sotheby's, said: "This is one of the very few images which transcends art history and reaches a global consciousness."

Bidding on Wednesday started at around $50m for the work and elapsed over for about 15 minutes until an unnamed bidder by telephone gave the final offer of $119,922,500, including commission. The sales room at Sotheby's erupted in applause and cheering.

The previous record was held by Pablo Picasso's noond, Green Leaves, and Bust, which sold for $106.5m at Christie's two years ago.

The version on auction was one of four created by the Norwegian expressionist painter. It was sold by Norwegian Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and supporter of the artist. The three others are in Norwegian museums.

Sotheby's said the version that went under the hammer is the most colourful and vibrant of the four and the only version whose frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem, detailing the work's inspiration. In the poem, Munch described himself "shivering with anxiety" and said he felt "the great scream in nature".

Al Jazeera

Johannesburg - A Zimbabwean farmer who was told 10 days ago his farm had been confiscated, now says it looks as though the issue could swing in his favour, Beeld newspaper reported on Friday.

Henry Jackson's widely publicised, conciliatory stance to the occupation of his farm, situated near Gweru, elicited strong reactions from South Africans and Zimbabweans.

Amongst other things, Jackson, 57, told the prospective new owner of the farm he would bless him and provide him with logistical help.

Jackson said on Thursday it seemed as though high-ranking Zanu-PF officials were however taking issue with the land commissioner who was trying to expropriate his farm.

The Zanu-PF officials were sending him messages saying he should stay on the property, Jackson said.

"It's as if I'm standing to one side, and they're fighting against one another."

Jackson, also a pastor of the United Apostolic Faith Church, cited the biblical story of Gideon, who had stepped aside to allow his enemies to fight against each other, to explain his behaviour. Jackson said he was content to leave the issue in God's hands. - Sapa



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