FRESH 4RM GIM

U.S. government hackers at the National Security Agency are likely targeting Russian government-linked hacking teams to see once and for all if they're responsible for the massive breach at the Democratic National Committee, according to three former senior intelligence officials. It's a job that the current head of the NSA's elite hacking unit said they've been called on to do many times before. Robert Joyce, chief of the NSA's shadowy Tailored Access Operations, declined to comment on the DNC hack specifically, but said in general that the NSA has technical capabilities and legal authorities that allow the agency to "hack back" suspected hacking groups, infiltrating their systems to gather intelligence about their operations in the wake of a cyber attack. "In terms of the foreign intelligence mission, one of the things we have to do is try to understand who did a breach, who is responsible for a breach," Joyce told ABC News in a r...

Tunisia's parliament has passed a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid, effectively disbanding the government of the U.S.-trained agricultural economist. The no-confidence motion was passed by 118 votes, easily passing the country's 109 vote threshold, after an hours-long debate that stretched late into the night. Tunisia is the only country to successfully transition to a parliamentary democracy following the uprisings that rocked the Arab world in 2011 but it has struggled with political instability amid jihadi attacks, high inflation, high unemployment and persistent strikes. Ahead of the vote, Essid said he would do what he could to prepare a smooth transition of power. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. Tunisia's parliament is holding a no-confidence vote that is expected to decide the fate of technocratic Prime Minister Habib Essid, a U.S-trained agricultural economist whose authori...

  Donald Trump has hit out at the parents of a Muslim solider killed in Iraq by suggesting the mother 'wasn't allowed to talk' and comparing their son's sacrifice to the sacrifices he made for his job. The Republican nominee hit out at Khizr and Ghazala Khan on Friday days after Khazir delivered once of the standout speeches of the DNC while recalling the 2004 death of son Humayun. During the address, Khizr attacked Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric while his wife stood at his side, before brandishing a copy of the Constitution and asking whether the billionaire 'has even read it'. Trump has now addressed the speech, tellingABC's George Stephanopoulos: 'He was very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me.  'His wife … if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. 'She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But a plenty of people have written that. She ...

Kanye West wants Apple to write Jay Z a big fat check. Yeezus went on a brief Twitter rant on Saturday accusing the ongoing feud between Apple Music and Tidal of "f---ing up the rap game." "Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop tying[SIC] to act like you Steve," he tweeted. The "Famous" rapper appears to be addressing recent reports that the tech giant would buy Jay Z's streaming music service, Tidal. The Wall Street Journal noted the potential buy would be so that Apple could obtain popular artists, including Kanye. West also used his Twitter power to call for a possible meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jay Z, Drake, and Apple Music's Jimmy Iovine. Thanks to Tidal, Kanye was also recently on the receiving end of a lawsuit. In April, a fan filed a lawsuit against Kanye after he publicly tweeted that his album would "never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale. You can only get it on Tidal,...

National Geographic Channel has acquired the worldwide rights to Leonardo DiCaprio‘s untitled climate change documentary. Additionally, the cable net is joining forces with Katie Couric on a film study of gender fluidity. The climate change film, which is also produced by Fisher Stevens, presents an account of how society can prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the globe. Audiences are presented with visual evidence of a worsening environmental crisis that is inflicting irreversible damage on pristine landscapes from Greenland to Indonesia, disturbing the balance of our planet’s climate and hastening the extinction of beloved animals, Nat Geo said. It also presents practical solutions to save the planet. Interview subjects in that one include Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Pope Francis,...

Vin Diesel is the first Hollywood type to pass a major milestone on Facebook — accumulating over 100 million followers on the social platform. The star of the forthcoming “Fast 8” is only the third person to surpass the number, joining singer Shakira and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo in the exclusive club. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally congratulated the actor on the feat and posted a photo of the two when they first met (Zuckerberg tried on Diesel’s aviators, as no soul is immune to his meathead charm). Diesel’s most popular post — accounting likes, shares and interactions — was his first time speaking out on the death of “Fast and Furious” franchise co-star Paul Walker. It received 7.7 million likes. Diesel wrote: “When I heard, I immediately flew back to California, and went directly from the plane to his mother’s house…I thought they needed my strength, but realized when I got there and broke down before his family, that it was I who needed...

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on his debut, as Manchester United thrashed Galatasaray 5-2 in a pre-season friendly at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden on Saturday.  Ibrahimovic opened the scoring in the opening moments in his homeland; however, United fell behind before the interval after goals from Sinan Gumus and Bruma. The break appeared to reinvigorate Jose Mourinho's troops, who went on to score four unanswered second-half goals through a Wayne Rooney brace, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata. Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/Associated Press It did not take the former Paris Saint-Germain striker long to get off the mark for his new club, as he scuffed an overhead kick into the ground and into the bottom corner inside four minutes. Antonio Valencia was the provider who chipped a cross toward the penalty spot over the head of Rooney. Fortunately, Ibrahimovic was on hand to divert the ball on target. MUTV provided footage of the Swede's first goal in United colours...

Game Of Thrones fans were recently left devastated at the news that the show's upcoming seventh season will feature only seven episodes instead of the usual 10. And on Saturday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, new HBO programming president Casey Bloys confirmed more devastating news about the wildly popular fantasy drama - the end is coming. 'I think [the showrunners, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff] have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do,' Casey shared, according toThe Hollywood Reporter, confirming rumors that the show would conclude with its eighth season.  However, like the show's large fan base, Casey admitted that he wished the showrunners had planned out a bit more. 'If I could get them to do more, I would take 10 seasons but we want to take their lead with what they could do and what the best version of the show is,' he said. Prior to Casey's announcement, it had been confirm...

Muslim and Christian groups came together Saturday to mourn a French priest murdered by jihadists, as authorities charged a man in connection with the brutal church attack that rocked the nation. A shellshocked France is still coming to terms with the jihadist killing of the clergyman at the altar in his church, sparking fears of tensions between religions in the secular nation. In a bid to forge togetherness between the communities, a “brotherhood march” was held in the southeastern city of Lyon, supported by a regional Muslim council and a Catholic group. Hundreds of people marched in silence, as mourners at the front of the crowd carried banners that read: “This is not a religious war” and “We are all brothers and sisters.” “We think it is crucial to leave no room for resignation, resentment or fear, and to take a stand for togetherness,” Abdelkader Bendidi, who heads the regional Muslim council, said in a statement. “Let’s not give the agents of terror a second vi...

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of heads of five strategic health institutions in the country. In a statement issued by the Director of Press and Public Relations in Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Bolaji Adebiyi, the new head of the Centre for Disease Control is the Managing Partner of EpiAfric, a public health consultancy firm that focuses on Africa, Dr. Chikwe Andreas Ihekweazu. He takes over from Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi. Dr. Sani Aliyu, a consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, U.K. is the new head of the National Agency for the Control of Aids. He takes over from Prof. John Idoko. The President also appointed Prof. Babatunde Salako as the head of the Nigerian Institute for Medical Research. He was the Provost, College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan before his new appointment. He takes over from Prof. Innocent Ujah. A professor of Paediatrics and Public Health at the University o...

More than 60,000 have been detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with coup attempt Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been cracking down on those suspected of ties to a U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who the government says was behind the attempted coup. (Kayhan Ozer/Presidnetial Press Service/ Associated Press) Turkey on Saturday released more than 750 soldiers who had been detained after an abortive coup, state media reported, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would drop lawsuits against those who had insulted him, in a one-time gesture of "unity." More than 60,000 people have been detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, when a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets and attempted to topple the government.

Nasarawa United turned on the style to defeat El-Kanemi Warriors 3-0 in a match day 29 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) game decided on Saturday. Tayo Fabiyi put the hosts in front just after the half hour mark following consistent pressure at the Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi. There was to be no more scoring in the first half which finished 1-0 to the home side. United doubled their lead in the 74th minute through Abdulrahman Bashir. It was the seventh goal the striker was scoring in seven consecutive matches for the Lafia club and underlined his status as one of the most feared marksmen in the league this season. Fabiyi completed his brace shortly before the end as the home side won at a canter. The win takes United up to sixth place on the standings with 40 points from 27 matches while El-Kanemi dropped one place to 14th with 34 points from 27 matches.

The Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NHSA), through its Director Gen­eral, Moses Beckley, has warned of imminent flood­ing in most parts of the country and ad­vised residents of flood-prone areas to be vigilant and relocate to safer places to avoid disaster. Details of the report, which formed part of the public presentation of the 2016 Annual Flood Outlook in Abuja recently, show that about 34 states of the federation have reason to worry. Our pain, however, is that this gloomy pre­diction could come to pass with grave consequences for the people and the en­vironment, if urgent measures are not put in place in the identified states. Eventhough the world is now more at risk of natural disasters as a result of the negative impact of climate change and the depletion of the Ozone layer, the response to this risk from countries like Nigeria has been far from adequate. In fact, there is every reason to believe that we either do not understand the envi­ronment or do not care about it e...

CHAIRMAN of Akwa United Management Committee, Paul Bassey has revealed that the League Management Company (LMC) would soon name Joseph Yobo’s NPFL club, but was quick to add that his outfit, Akwa United would be delighted to welcome Joseph Yobo into their fold. “We would love to have Yobo play for us. ”It would be a thing of honour for him to play for Akwa United. “It is his choice to make. There were four clubs he listed earlier, Akwa United, FC Ifeanyiubah, Wikki Tourists and Kano Pillars. “For now, LMC have not tied up everything. We expected that last week. But I know the will do that soon. “The only thing is that for us at Akwa United, we would like him play for us “ Bassey said. Yobo, a former captain of the Super Eagles was expected back in the domestic league in the ca­pacity of Elite Player after signing agreement with the League Man­agement Committee, LMC. The arrangement to bring the former Everton of England de­fender back into the NPFL fol­lowed a previous similar deal wi...

IMO State governor, Rochas Okorocha has said that he is considering reducing the number of work days in the state from five to three, to enable the government cut salaries. Okorocha said this while briefing journalists on the state of affairs in Imo at his residence in Owerri on Friday. He said the reduction of workdays would enable workers to attend to other activities that would generate money to supplement their monthly salaries to take care of their families. “I encourage Imo workers to find additional things to do to support their families because of the economic situation we are facing in Nigeria. “We are considering to reduce the working days from five to three in Imo, so that workers will use the rest of the days to work and support their families’’, he said. Mr. Okorocha, who was not specific on when it may commence, added that Imo government was equally planning to review workers’ salaries downward. He said that in spite of the current payment of 70 percent of salaries to wo...

Tony, Okafor, Awka THE traditional ruler of Nawfia in Njik oka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo, has raised the alarm of an imminent bloodbath in his community as a result of a land feud. Speaking with newsmen at his palace on Thursday, Nwankwo said his first cousin (names withheld) and one Ezigo Nwigbo were colluding with the church to partition and sell the community’s land with impunity. The monarch said the land was given to the church around 1961 for the sole purpose of building a school. He maintained that after using a reasonable portion of the land to build the school, the church recently began to sell the remaining portion to people against the contractual agreement it had with the native donors. The monarch contended that the right thing to do in the circumstance was to revert the surplus land to the original owners. He said that he had written several letters to the Bishop of Awka Diocese, Right Reverend Alex Ibezim, on the matter, but the lette...

Bukola Saraki, Yakubu Dogara Lawmakers are revered in many nations of the world and the buildings where the lawmaking process takes place are often at the pinnacle of the countries’ tourists destinations. Such is the history of lawmaking to most nations. And because of the important role lawmakers play or are expected to play, their chambers are often referred to as hallowed. But it is a height that the National Assembly has arguably found difficult to attain in Nigeria’s brief period of democracy. Over the years, the Senate and the House of Representatives have had a hard time convincing the public that their huge budget have had a semblance of proportion to their output. It was these sentiments that the current Eighth Assembly inherited from the seventh assembly. However, it has to be noted that the sentiments are not entirely unfounded as they date back to 1999, when legislators demanded for outrageous “Furniture Allowance” and lived ostentatious lifestyles that were not in sync w...