Saturday, December 12, 2015

SHA-1 cutoff could block millions of users from encrypted websites

By Lucian Constantin

IDG News Service | Dec 10, 2015 7:29 AM PT

Millions of Web users could be left unable to access websites over the HTTPS protocol if those websites use only digital certificates signed with the SHA-2 hashing algorithm.

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The warning comes from Facebook and CloudFlare as browser makers are considering an accelerated retirement of the older and increasingly vulnerable SHA-1 function.
The two companies have put mechanisms in place to serve SHA-1 certificates from their websites to old browsers and operating systems that don't support SHA-2, but are still widely used in some regions of the world.
These include Windows versions older than Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Android versions older than 2.3 (Gingerbread) and any applications that rely on OpenSSL 0.9.8 for encrypted communications.
SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) dates back to 1995 and became the default choice for signing SSL/TLS certificates after researchers proved in 2008 that certificates signed with the even older MD5 function could be forged.
SHA-1 itself is also theoretically vulnerable, but the practicability of attacks against it depends on the computing power available. In 2012, renowned cryptographer Bruce Schneier estimated that a practical attack against SHA-1 would cost $700,000 using commercial cloud computing services by 2015 and $173,000 by 2018, putting it well within the reach of criminal syndicates.
As a result, the CA/Browser Forum, a group of certificate authorities and browser makers that sets guidelines for the issuance and use of digital certificates, decided that new SHA-1-signed certificates should not be issued after Jan. 1, 2016. Browser makers also decided that existing SHA-1 certificates will no longer be trusted in their software starting Jan. 1, 2017, even if they're technically set to expire after that date.
However, in October, a group of researchers presented a new way to break SHA-1 that is expected to lower the cost of attacks more quickly than previously anticipated. This has caused some browser makers like Mozilla and Microsoft to consider an even earlier cut-off date for SHA-1 certificates in their products.
To avoid users being unable to access their online properties, the owners of HTTPS websites that still use SHA-1 certificates -- about a million of them including around a sixth of the top 140,000 by traffic -- are under pressure to get new certificates signed with SHA-2.
The problem, though, as researchers from CloudFlare have pointed out, is that around 2% of users who currently access HTTPS-enabled services do so from browsers or operating systems that don't support SHA-2.
That might not seem like much, percentage-wise, but it's actually over 37 million people and the majority of them are located in some of the "poorest, most repressive, and most war-torn countries in the world," CloudFlare's CEO Matthew Prince said Wednesday in a blog post.

"In other words, after December 31st most of the encrypted Web will be cut off from the most vulnerable populations of Internet users who need encryption the most," the CloudFlare researchers said. "And, unfortunately, if we're going to bring the next 2 billion Internet users online, a lot of them are going to be doing so on second-hand Android phones, so this problem isn't going away any time soon."
Facebook signaled the same problem, estimating that 3% to 7% of browsers currently in use don't support SHA-256, also known as SHA-2.
"A disproportionate number of those people reside in developing countries, and the likely outcome in those countries will be a serious backslide in the deployment of HTTPS by governments, companies and NGOs that wish to reach their target populations," said Alex Stamos, Facebook's chief security officer, in a blog post Wednesday.
Facebook has solved this problem by building a mechanism that allows its certificates to be switched automatically based on the browser used by the visitor. In this way, modern browsers will be served a SHA-2 certificate and older ones will receive a certificate signed with SHA-1.
This allows browser vendors to continue with their plan to cut off support for SHA-1 certificates next year, while allowing websites to serve users with old devices that are unlikely to ever be updated.

Facebook has made the code for its certificate switching mechanism open source under a BSD license, as part of its larger Proxygen HTTP library project. This means that other developers can use it in their own projects and TLS proxies.
CloudFlare, which runs a content delivery network to optimize and protect its customers' websites, has enabled automatic SHA-1 fallback for its paying users. If they wish, business and enterprise customers can turn off the feature, and pro users will be able to do the same by the end of the year.
Facebook and CloudFlare are not the only companies taking such actions. Chinese Internet firm Alibaba uses SHA-1 fallback across many of its websites, which is not surprising givien the large number of users in China who access the Web from browsers that lack SHA-2 support.
Facebook and CloudFlare want to take it one step further. They're urging the CA/Browser Forum to create a new class of certificates called Legacy Validated (LV) certificates for which SHA-1 signatures would continue to be allowed.
Such certificates could be issued past the existing SHA-1 retirement date to organizations which can prove that they use modern certificates and protocols with modern browsers and fall back to LV certificates only for legacy browsers.

Facebook security warning over expiring algorithm

Image caption Web browsing for millions will get much less secure unless action is taken, warns Facebook

Web browsing will get much riskier for millions of people when a key security algorithm stops being used, warns Facebook.

The algorithm, known as SHA-1, will stop being supported by web browsing programs during 2016.
Its replacement - SHA-2 - will not be compatible with older web browsers.
Facebook said many of those exposed when SHA-1 is retired live in regions where web use is closely watched.
"We don't think it's right to cut tens of millions of people off from the benefits of the encrypted internet," wrote Alex Stamos, Facebook's chief security officer in a blogpost.

Two-tier web

Statistics gathered by Facebook suggest that 3-7% of all web browsers are so old that they cannot use SHA-2.
SHA-1 is used in a lot of security measures as a guarantee of identity and to conceal what people do online. But the cost of mounting an attack has fallen sharply recently so it has become much more straightforward for attackers to impersonate websites and spy on data.
Security firm Cloudflare has also issued warnings about the retirement of SHA-1 and drawn up a list of the nations where older browsers that cannot work with the new version are most prominent.

"Unfortunately, this list largely overlaps with lists of the poorest, most repressive, and most war-torn countries in the world," said Matthew Prince, co-founder of Cloudflare in a blogpost.
"In other words, after 31 December most of the encrypted web will be cut off from the most vulnerable populations of internet users who need encryption the most," he said.
Both Facebook and Cloudflare have called for changes to the way that web browsers handle SHA-1 once it is retired. The proposal would mean SHA-1 would still be used for those using a browser that cannot use the updated algorithm.
Modern browsers that are updated to their most recent version will support SHA-2.
Both firms have called on the body that draws up browser security standards, known as the CA/Browser Forum, to support its proposal to operate a two-tier system. The CA/Browser Forum has yet to respond.

(Associated Press)

Visitors to Vatican City on Tuesday night saw more than the usual light display at St. Peter’s Basilica. For one night, the Basilica was the backdrop of an hour-long light show to highlight climate change. Colorful birds, seals, clownfish, dolphins, coral reefs, and various people from around the world were some of the projections screened on the Basilica, as The Guardian shows in a photo essay. Multiple humanitarian organizations organized the show, called Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light): Illuminating Our Common Home, and accompanied the images with nature sounds, including thunder and bird songs, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. The light show is reminiscent of a similar event in New York City earlier this year, where endangered animals were projected onto the facade of the Empire State Building.
This isn’t the first time the Pope’s advocated for climate change awareness. He issued an encyclical — the second most authoritative form of papal address — in June outlining the Catholic Church’s concerns over climate change. He stressed science’s support for climate change being largely the result of humans and said it was imperative to address it. "We must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures," he wrote, and said caring for the "garden of the world" requires a "relationship of mutual responsibility."

Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post | December 11, 2015 4:01 PM ET
More from Washington Post

Handout / AFP, Getty ImagesIt's a big, dark presence at the farthest reaches of our solar system.

It’s a big, dark presence at the farthest reaches of our solar system, a mysterious force powerful enough to skew the paths of planets in orbit and yet so subtle that it slips undetected past even the most powerful telescopes on Earth. For centuries, it has eluded some of the most brilliant minds in astronomy — some say it even destroyed one. It’s the subject of endless calculations and rampant speculation, crackpot theories and countless hours spent gazing, fruitlessly, at the night sky.
It’s known as Planet X.
And on Tuesday, a group of astronomers said they’d found not just one such presence, but two of them.
“ALMA discovers the most distant object of the solar system,” read the title of one paper uploaded to the research-sharing site arXiv. “The serendipitous discovery of a possible new solar system object with ALMA,” went the other.
Using the Atacama large millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA), a powerful telescope located in the high desert of Chile, the researchers said they’d come across two extremely large objects skimming through the outskirts of the solar system.

Handout, APA rendering of a telescope on Cerro Armazones, a mountaintop in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Though both studies were submitted to the prestigious journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, neither has been peer-reviewed or formally published — steps that are par for the course with any kind of serious scientific research but especially when pronouncements of previously unknown planets are at stake. They’re both based on limited observations — just two spottings apiece for each odd object. And even after just 48 hours online, they have garnered a great deal of skepticism within the astronomy community.
But the researchers say they posted their papers with exactly that purpose.
“We specifically wanted to reach the community that could tell us if we overlooked something, in which case we fully intend to withdraw the papers,” Wouter Vlemmings, an astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and co-author on both studies, told Scientific American.
Here’s what Vlemmings and his colleague say they found:
A large rocky something they call “Gna” (for a fast-moving Nordic messenger goddess, one of the authors told Scientific American), that could be an asteroid-type object roughly the size of Ireland zooming around somewhere near Uranus. Alternatively, the researchers propose, it could be an undiscovered planet floating much farther out, or even a brown-dwarf (bigger than a planet, smaller than a star) passing through interstellar space.
Also, a mysterious, unnamed object that appears in the sky close to the alpha centauri system that may be a “Super-Earth” planet far beyond even Pluto or a super-cool brown dwarf that’s really far. It could also conceivably be an icy “trans Neptunian object,” of which there are plenty in the frozen darkness past the eighth planet, but the researchers say that’s less likely (it’s also, not coincidentally, less interesting).

What they really saw is a little blip and then 6 months later another little blip

All of which sounds pretty cool — unless you’re Mike Brown, a Cal Tech astronomer who has spent the majority of his careers scanning the furthest reaches of the solar system for just these kinds of objects.
Brown, the self-proclaimed “Pluto killer” who discovered a trans-Neptunian object (big things out past Neptune) that helped dethrone the erstwhile ninth planet back in 2005, would be thrilled to find the long-sought Planet X. He’d be almost as happy to see a paper reporting that other researchers had found it.
But these two papers, he said, are not that.
“The logical leaps are sort of astounding,” he said. “What they really saw is a little blip and then 6 months later another little blip.”
The evidence that the researchers offer for their findings is too scanty, Brown said, and the probability that they could have stumbled across a huge, planet-like object in a tiny patch of sky is too small. Finding Planet X in the small field of vision they studied with the ALMA telescope, he said, “would be like scooping a cup full of water from the ocean and pulling out the white whale.”

Several other astronomers offered similar commentary in the days after the papers’ initial publication.
Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Gizmodo it was a “considerable stretch” to claim a outer solar system object had been found based on the information in the reports. There could be problems with the ALMA instruments or other explanations for the “blips” that form the basis of the reports, he said.
This may be a classic case of “we should have waited for the referees’ report before going on arXiv,” he said.
“There’s so many reasons why they can’t possibly be correct,” Brown said. “It’s embarrassing to the field.”
That’s because of Planet X’s “long and sordid history,” as Brown put it. Though the notion of a ninth planet of some kind at the outer edge of the solar system is perfectly legitimate — scientists have long seen it as an explanation for irregularities in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune — it’s been plagued by false hope and unfounded “discoveries.” One 19th century researcher claimed that the planet was a star he was studying and “lost” (really he just lost track of it). Another claimed there must be as many as three planets out beyond Neptune, though he provided no evidence for his conjectures.

NASA /JPL Caltech University, University of Zurich via AFP A NASA image taken inside a huge cosmic cloud of gas and dust.

But no Planet X researcher was more beleaguered than Percival Lowell, who launched into the search for the distant object in an attempt to redeem himself after he became a laughing stock for suggesting that aliens might be building canals on Mars.
Little did he know that Planet X was no place to find redemption.
Lowell spent years photographing the night sky with nothing more than a primitive camera and borrowed telescope, searching for evidence of a planet whose existence was still only a theory. He died of a stroke in 1916, his search unsuccessful. A lifelong friend said that the failure “virtually killed him.”
But Lowell didn’t fail — at least, not totally. Unbeknownst to him, Lowell actually captured a large, distant object twice in his photographs. We now call that object Pluto.
Pluto would become “Planet X” a decade later, when a farm kid named Clyde Tombaugh working at the Flagstaff, Ariz. laboratory that Lowell founded came across a small moving speck in his own photos of the sky. “That’s it!” he recalled exclaiming.
And for about 80 years, that was it. Until Brown and his fellow astronomers came along and took the title away from poor Pluto.
Meanwhile, modern analysis of the trajectories of our most far-flung space craft — things like the Voyager and Pioneer space probes — has found no evidence of gravitational influence of the kind that could be attributed to a distant planet, at least not as early astronomers envisioned it.

For those of us who actually work on this, it’s embarrassing to even say you might be looking for these sort of things in the outer solar system because there have been so many crazy theories

Still, the search for Planet X has continued.
“For those of us who actually work on this, it’s embarrassing to even say you might be looking for these sort of things in the outer solar system because there have been so many crazy theories,” Brown said.
So when reports like the two arXiv studies come out, “you worry that when someone finally finds something that’s not crazy, people are going to say ‘Oh, I heard that story three months ago and it’s not real.’ ”
But Brown may not need to be so concerned. After all, two centuries of failure has not stopped astronomers from scanning the distant corners of our solar neighbourhood, bit by bit, searching for something out there that resembles the rock we call home.
Interest in Planet X is plain to see. Even if the planet itself isn’t.

Richard TribouContact ReporterOrlando Sentinel

Pluto fan or not, there could be an actual ninth planet in our solar system

Here's the deal: There's something out there, and it could be a planet in our solar system. In fact, it could be a Super-Earth.
In 2014, an object was observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in northern Chile. It was observed again in May of this year.
It's in the vicinity of the Alpha Centauri system, a three-star cluster that is the closest star system to our own at just over 4 light years away.
A group of astronomers including Rene Liseau of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory in Onsala, Sweden, published a paper based on these observations and they are of the opinion that the object is not something part of the Alpha Centauri system, but one of three potential things in our solar system.
Those three things: A TNO, or Trans-Neptunian Object (like Pluto), which is any body that orbits the sun beyond Neptune; a Super-Earth, meaning bigger than Earth but smaller than the gas giants like Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune or Uranus; or a very cool brown dwarf, which is what some scientists refer to as a failed star - bigger than Jupiter, but not big enough to produce the fusion necessary to become a star.
If this object is a TNO, it would be smaller than Earth, like Pluto and the paper suggests it would be around 100 Astronomical Units away from the sun (A single AU is 93 million miles or the distance from the Earth to the sun). It's a Super-Earth, then it would be about 300 AUs away. If it's a brown dwarf, it would be 20,000 AUs away. For reference, Pluto is only 39.5 AUs away. So this would be at least more than twice as far away as Pluto.
No matter what it is, the paper concludes it's in our solar system - in fact the most distant object in the solar system - but cautions that more observations are necessary so that we can figure out just what, where and how big this thing is.

Is there a SUPER EARTH on the edge of our solar system? Controversial study says there may be a mega-planet orbiting our sun.SUPER-EARTH-edge-solar-Scientists-say-mega-planet-orbiting-sun

Astronomers believe they have discovered two of the most distant objects ever found in our solar system.

One of the objects, they say, could be a 'Super Earth' located six times farther away than Pluto.

Using the Alma telescope, researchers from Sweden and Mexico noticed mysterious objects crossing their field of view as part of separate studies.

It's difficult to tell exactly how far away these objects are, but their speed and brightness suggest that they are unlikely to be stars.

Astronomers believe they have discovered two of the most distant objects ever found in our solar system. One of the objects, they say, could be a 'Super Earth' located six times farther away than Pluto. Pictured is an artist's impression of an exoplanet

The studies have already drawn scepticism from other astronomers who say they are likely to be something known as super-cool brown dwarfs.

Brown dwarfs are cosmic bodies that never burn fusion at their core. Scientists sometimes refer to them as 'failed stars.'

While the latest studies do not rule out this possibility, they add that both objects may be a good candidate for 'Planet X'.

This is a theoretical world that, if it existed, could explain some anomalies in the orbits of planets such as Neptune and Uranus.

Wouter Vlemmings, an astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden is co-author on both studies.

The studies were looking at a distant star called W Aquilae (or W Aql), and the nearby star system Alpha Centauri. Shown here is a picture of Alpha Centauri captured by Wise

The studies were looking at a distant star called W Aquilae (or W Aql), and the nearby star Alpha Centauri.

In the W Aql study, the astronomers saw a strange object in March 2014 and then in April.

WHAT IS PLANET X?

Planet X, also known as Nibiru, is a hypothesised planet on the edge of our solar system.

Conspiracy theorists believe the gravitational influence of the 'rogue planet' disrupted the orbits of other planets hundreds of years ago.

They claim the next disruptive passage into the inner solar system could happen at any time.

Some claims that this 'planet' is sending 'plasmatic energy particles' through our solar system.

The flow of energy will disrupt the 'core flows' of the Earth and trigger catastrophic changes in Earth's climate.

They claim, since 1996, we have already been feeling the disruptive effects of the inbound rogue Planet X.

Conspiracy theorists often blame natural disasters and freak weather patterns on the planet.

'Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an internet hoax,' Nasa has said. 'Obviously, it does not exist.

They claim it is likely just one object seen twice, but seen on the fringes of our solar system, according to a report in Gizmodo.

'Until the nature of the source becomes clear, we have named it Gna,' write the authors in the study.

'Unless there are yet unknown, but significant, issues with ALMA observations, we have detected a previously unknown objects [sic] in our solar system.

Estimates place the object, dubbed Gna, to be between 12 to 25 AU. One AU describes the average distance of Earth to the Sun), or about 93 million miles.

They estimate its size is about 220 to 880 km (136 to 545 miles) if it's gravitationally bound.

If it's unbound it could 'much larger, planet-sized object' located within 4,000 AU, or by some estimates 61,900 AU away.

The second study found an unnamed object that appears near the star system Alpha Centauri.

The researchers say it could be one of three things; a small Trans Neptunian Object at a distance of 100 AU, a Super Earth located 300 AU away, or super-cool brown dwarf.

Research groups from Sweden and Mexico have now submitted pre-prints of two research papers to arXiv describing their find.

'Simple arguments convince us that this object cannot be an ordinary star,' the authors of one paper, uploaded on December 8, 2015, to arXiv, conclude.

'We argue that the object is most likely part of the solar system, in prograde motion, albeit at a distance too far to be detectable at other wavelengths.'

Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology isn't so sure of the conclusion. 'Fun fact: if it is true that Alma accidentally discovered a massive outer solar system object in its tiny tiny tiny field of view that would suggest that there are something like 200,000 Earth sized planets in the outer solar system'

The studies were looking at a distant star called W Aquilae (or W Aql), and the nearby star Alpha Centauri. In the W Aql study, the astronomers saw a strange object in March 2014 and then in April. Pictured are signals from the two Alma detections on March 20 and April 14, 2014

Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology isn't so sure.

'Fun fact: if it is true that Alma accidentally discovered a massive outer solar system object in its tiny tiny tiny field of view that would suggest that there are something like 200,000 Earth sized planets in the outer solar system,' he tweeted.

'Which, um, no. Even better: I just realized that this many Earth-sized planets existing would destabilize the entire solar system and we would all die.'

Other scientists point out that studies with Nasa's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer which has searched the outer solar system for large planets and come back empty handed.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Gizmodo it was a 'considerable stretch' to claim a outer solar system object had been found based on the information in the reports.

Both studies have been submitted to the prestigious journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, but neither has been peer-reviewed.

Using the Alma telescope (pictured), researchers from Sweden and Mexico noticed mysterious objects crossing their field of view as part of separate studies

The General Overseer of God’s Covenant of Christ Sabbath Mission, Amannachi in Orsu Local council Area of Imo State, High Priest Clifford Nmenabu, has warned that Nigeria may be soaked in blood if the Federal Government fails to release detained Director of Radio Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Mmenabu called on the international community to prevail on the federal government to release Nnamdi Kanu to avert the looming bloodshed in the country.
The cleric, who addressed a cross section of journalists yesterday, said that “Kanu was not speaking against anybody or group of persons. His broadcasts were truth-oriented and consciousness-awakening. It was a divine arrangement for a renaissance and liberation of a particular sect who have been under bondage.”
He revealed that the prophecy of the coming of a geographical entity called Biafra was revealed to him in 1971, a year after the end of Nigeria-Biafra Civil War.
According to him: “The revelation came this way: The spirit of God showed me a finger that pointed at the Nigerian map. It subsequently showed the map divided in two, one part was named Biafra and the other, Nigeria. Also in 1996, God visited and showed me, in a trance, where properties belonging to Nigeria were kept in a place at the Bridge Head, Onitsha. While some of the properties were thrown across to the Asaba end of the Niger bridge, the other was thrown across to the Onitsha end. The prophecy also says that the one thrown to Asaba area belongs to Nigeria, while the other belongs to Biafra.”
Nmenabu maintained that the Biafran project must come to fruition adding that the recent bombings in the country and particularly the bombing of the Catholic Church in Abuja were signs of ‘liberation’.

The National University Commission (NUC), has released its annual university rankings and named University of Ibadan in Oyo state as the top tertiary institution in Nigeria.
The body, which is responsible for accreditation of schools, put University of Lagos in second place and rated Covenant University as the best private university.
Below is the 2013 Top 100 NUC University Ranking in Nigeria.
2013 TOP 100 University In Nigeria by NUC
1. University of Ibadan, UI
2. University of Lagos, Unilag
3. University of Benin, Uniben
4. Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU
5. Ahmadu Bello University, Abu
6. University of Ilorin, Unilorin
7. University of Jos, Unijos
8. University of Port Harcourt, Uniport
9. University of Maiduguri, Unimaid
10. University of Agriculture, Abeokuta,
11. Lagos State University, Lasu
12. Federal University of Technology, Futo
13. Covenant University, CU
14. University of Nigeria, UNN
15. Federal University of Technology, Futa
16. Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Unizik
17. Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Esut
18. Pan African University
19. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. lautech
20. Modibbo Adama University of Technology
21. African University of Science and Technology
22. University of Uyo, Uniuyo
23. Bayero University Kano, Buk
24. Ambrose Alli University, AAU
25. Redeemer’s University,
26. Babcock University
27. Federal University of Technology,
28. University of Calabar, Unical
29. Michael Okpara University of Agriculture,
30. Ajayi Crowther University
31. Bowen University
32. Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rsust
33. Lead City University
34. Crawford University
35. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, ATBU
36. Abia State University, Absu
37. Usmanu Danfodio University,
38. Igbinedion University
39. Imo State University, Imsu
40. Niger Delta University
41. Bells University of Technology
42. Kwara State University
43. Nasarawa State University
44. Caleb University
45. Obong University Obong
46. Adekunle Ajasin University
47. Ekiti State University,
48. American University of Nigeria
49. Joseph Ayo Babalola University
50. Veritas University Abuja
51. Afe Babalola University
52. Kaduna State University Kaduna
53. Osun State University Oshogbo …
54. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University Katsina
55. Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ndufu-Alike
56. Salem University Lokoja
57. Novena University Ogume
58. Achievers University, Owo Owo
59. Benson Idahosa University Benin City
60. Ebonyi State University Abakaliki
61. University of Abuja Abuja
62. University of Mkar Mkar
63. Madonna University Okija
64. Bingham University Auta Balifi
65. Plateau State University Bokkos
66. Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun
67. Federal University, Dutse Dutse
68. Nigerian Turkish Nile University Abuja
69. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai
70. Landmark University Omu-Aran
71. Delta State University, Abraka Abraka
72. University of Agriculture, Makurdi Makurdi
73. Renaissance University Enugu
74. Federal University, Otuoke Otuoke
75. Tai Solarin University of Education Ijebu-Ode …
76. Federal University, Oye-Ekiti Oye …
77. Kano State University of Technology Wudil
78. Tansian University Umunya …
79. Akwa Ibom State University Uyo
80. Baze University Abuja
81. Kebbi State University of Science and Technology Aliero
82. Benue State University Makurdi
83. Adeleke University Ede
84. Ondo State University of Science & Technology Okitipupa
85. Kogi State University Anyigba
86. Western Delta University Oghara
87. Federal University, Wukari Wukari
88. Paul University Awka
89. Caritas University Enugu
90. Federal University, Lafia Lafia
91. Cross River University of Science & Technology Calabar …
92. Fountain University Oshogbo
93. Al-Hikmah University Ilorin
94. Godfrey Okoye University Ugwuomu-Nike
95. Oduduwa University Ile Ife
96. Anambra State University Uli
97. Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago Iwoye …
98. Federal University, Lokoja Lokoja
99. Federal University, Kashere Kashere
100. Rhema University Obeama-Asa
[Voice of the Nigerian Tertiary Institutions]

Adenipekun appointed as WAEC’s new Head of National Office By Seun Opejobi

The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has approved the appointed of Isaac Adenipekun as its new Head of National Office.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the body’s spokesperson, Demianus Ojijeogu, in Lagos on Thursday.
His appointment followed the retirement of the immediate past Head of National Office, Charles Eguridu, who disengaged from the service of the council on Tuesday.
The statement said Adenipekun, hails from Osun State and graduated from the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in 1983 where he bagged a B.Sc, Hons, degree in Political Science and also obtained an M.Sc degree in International Relations from the same institution in 1987.
According to the statement, Adenipekun joined the services of WASC on Oct. 3, 1989, as an Assistant Registrar II, from where he rose through the ranks to become Senior Assistant Registrar in 2000 and a Principal Assistant Registrar in 2005. Adenipekun was promoted to the rank of a Deputy Registrar in 2011.
It stated that the new WASC boss in Nigeria had held several positions of accountability in the council and had distinguished himself as a primus inter pares, a first among equals.
The statement further noted that Adenipekun was Head, Meetings and General Services Department of the body from February 1996 to January 2001, adding that he assumed office as the Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC on Dec. 9.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria, FCAI, and a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, MNIM, the statement said.
Sequel to his appointment as Head of National Office, he was the zonal coordinator, WAEC Zonal Office, Ibadan.

A former Leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo has vowed to return to the creeks with his men if President Muhammadu Buhari continues to interfere in the Bayelsa state governorship election.
In a statement released by Asari, the Ijaw freedom fighter accused the Federal government of trying to rig the state governorship election to install APC governorship candidate, Timpreye Sylva.
Asari-Dokubo described the action as against the will of the people.
He stated that any action in this direction will lead to crisis that will make Boko Haram t be described a child’s play.
Asari said, “If by next week the Federal Government does not hands off from the Bayelsa polls by allowing the people to freely choose their leader but still interfering through the observed various guises and deception, then we would have no option than to return to the creeks to press for our rights as patriotic citizens being unduly oppressed and dehumanized all in the name of politics.
”We have said it before that President Buhari is executing an anti-Ijaw agenda and his aim is to steal our God-given resources to rebuild the north destroyed by Boko Haram. That is why he is hell-bent on manipulating the electoral process in Bayelsa State and hand it over to the APC. They are exploiting Sylva’s greed and desperation for power and therefore using him to carry out their evil agenda. But we want them to know that this country will go up in flames if they try it.
”Boko Haram will be a child’s play if President Buhari and his APC think they can upturn the people’s mandate. It would be a grave injustice which can never stand. We are Ijaw people and we have never been conquered”

The Oyo State Police Command, Thursday, paraded 22 suspects for alleged offences which ranged from kidnapping, armed robbery and production of illegal firearms.
Speaking with newsmen in Ibadan while parading the suspects, Mr. Leye Oyebade, the Commissioner of Police, said the suspects who confessed to the crime, were assisting the police in their investigation while efforts were on to arrest other suspects.
He also noted that nine of the suspects were arrested for kidnapping; seven were arrested for armed robbery and four were arrested for stealing a truck and a Mazda car, and one of the suspects was apprehended for abduction.
The Commissioner, thanking members of the public for their cooperation and for providing the police with information that led to the arrest of some of the suspects, promised that the command would not rest in its efforts to ensure that peace and security prevail in the state.
He said, “We are ready to march our words with action and this has been demonstrated when the proactive, aggressive policing strategies adopted by the police resulted in this breakthrough.
“We have been consistently promising the public adequate security and we have warned criminals to abandon their evil trade or risk being caught.
While urging the public to report to the police whenever they noticed suspicious movement to enable them act promptly, Oyebade said the items recovered from the suspects included, “charms, seven locally-made single barrel guns, four pump action automatic rifles, four cutlasses, assorted tools for fabricated illegal firearms, rubber slipper, 10 packets of live cartridges, three mobile phones, one jack knife and one pump action gun.”

5 things most Nigerian girls want for Christmas

Black girls are often regarded as the most beautiful and intelligent group of women in Africa. Although every lady has a unique taste, there are certain things each one of them crave and will not hesitate to include on their secret Santa list.

A great food processor
Although many comedians and tabloids have tried to portray Nigerian girls as fast-food lovers, the truth is that they love to cook!

With the modern technology making cooking easier and faster, the average Nigerian girl has a food machine on their ‘Santa’s list’. Get her a food processor with several blades and functions, and you are on your way to stealing her heart.

Husband
This applies to the single girl. African women are raised to be homely and family-oriented, and so a majority of them who are above 25 and yet unmarried have the intense longing for a husband with whom they can start a family with.

While most of them will never admit it, a glance on their wishlist will reveal snagging a “husband” as Number 1. If you are dating a Nigerian girl, this Christmas might just be the best time to propose to her,

that way you help both Santa and yourself. Also, if you are a single brother, ready for marriage and searching for your ‘missing rib’…go find a sister and propose.

Gym membership
Keeping fit and looking trim is the new trend for Nigerian girls, especially those in Lagos, and so, a majority of them are saving their hard earned registered in gym – the idea basically is to look like most of the celebrities.

Unfortunately, not all gyms offer great services and those who are unable to gain gym membership at the top sweatshops where they can get great work out, keep wishing for membership. They hope that somehow, Santa will touch someone to get them registered in one of the gyms, and for free too.

Calorie- Free Alcohol
Christmas is a time for merriment and celebration. And truth be told, there is no party without alcohol! Unfortunately, drinking every night at the festivities is all fun and games until it is January and you look less like Toke Makinwa and more like Lepacious Bose.

Alcohol in some way, tends to add fat to the thighs, belly and arms. So, some girls who believe they can eat their cake and have it now want calorie-free alcohol. Let’s hope Santa has something in store.

An unlimited cash account
Forget Nigerian girls, every single human in the country and the world would do almost anything for an unlimited expense account. Shoes, clothes, hair, spa time…they all cost money, and usually, for the average lady, it is a bit of a challenge getting everything you need to stay on top of the fashion game.

Also with an unlimited expense account, it would easy to set up dream businesses and live an organized life. While they know there is a slim chance of this wish coming true, these girls still include it on their list in faith.

9 die in auto crash on Abakaliki-Enugu highway

No fewer than nine persons lost their lives in a road accident that occurred along the Abakaliki-Enugu highway in the early hours of Friday, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The accident occurred along Ezzangbo portion of the Abakaliki-Enugu highway and involved a Toyota Sienna bus and an articulated vehicle with registration number HKW 436 XA.

File Photo: FRSC operatives

Mr Charles Abuochi, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ebonyi, confirmed the story in an interview with NAN.
He, however, said that the details of the auto crash were still sketchy.
‘’There is an accident that happened along the Ezzangbo portion of the Abakaliki-Enugu Federal highway.
‘’Our men are still at the scene of the crash to ensure free flow of traffic.
“Preliminary report confirmed that nine persons died on the spot while one person sustained injuries and had been rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki.
‘’Corpses of deceased victims have been deposited at the mortuary.’’
According to him, the accident victims were party supporters travelling to Enugu to observe the Appeal Court ruling on the Ebonyi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
He said that the driver of the Sienna bus was moving on a high speed when he lost control of the wheel, skidded off his lane and crashed into the articulated vehicle coming from the opposite direction.
Abuochi expressed regret over the loss of many lives in the accident.
He said the FRSC was ready to make Christmas and New Year celebrations accident-free and warned motorists and other road users to obey road traffic laws.
‘’We sympathise with the families of the deceased but I want to assure the general public that the FRSC is ready and prepared to ensure accident-free Yuletide.
“We wish to advise that motorists and other road users should comply with safety standards to prevent the loss of lives and property of the passengers.
‘’Our men have been fully mobilised and deployed to several accident flashpoints for proper surveillance,’’ he said.

All Nigerians will have access to public media, Minister reassures

By Our Reporter on December 11, 2015 Trending

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has reiterated his earlier statement that under the present administration, all Nigerians will have equal access to the publicly-owned media without any restrictions.
He made the reassurance in Abuja during an interactive session with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values on Thursday.
The Minister said the Buhari Administration will not abuse the trust reposed on it by depriving Nigerians, irrespective of their political, religious or ethnic background, the opportunity to air their views through the public media.

“As publicly-owned media outlets, they are accountable to the people of Nigeria and not to the ruling party or the ruling government and I would not accept a situation whereby publicly-owned media would be seen just as the mouthpiece of government.
“We believe that as publicly-owned media, the opposition and everybody in Nigeria must have equal access to us and we must also represent their views. This is a multi-cultural, multi-value and multi-opinionated country and, therefore, we must not abuse the fact that we are currently in power and we are operating publicly-owned media to deprive other Nigerians access to these media,” he remarked.

According to him, the media is a marketplace where everybody is free to express his or her own opinion, leaving the public to make their own decision.
The Minister told lawmakers that as the spokesperson for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his ministry would strive to ensure timely dissemination of factual and verifiable information to keep the public abreast of government programmes and policies as well as get their feedback on the perception of the government.

“We believe that information is a commodity, which should not be hoarded. Timely information prevents rumours, eliminates misunderstanding and guess work. I believe that there is no reason why the government should not be able to let its people or even the legislative arm of government know exactly what it is doing on time.
“One of the first things we tried to do is to ensure that nobody is kept in the dark about the activities of governance. We do this by liaising with the various ministers in the cabinet because as the Ministry of Information, we are the spokesperson for the government and the country,” he said.

The minister informed legislators of the plans by his ministry to launch a massive campaign, tagged ”Change Begins With Me,” aimed at re-orientating Nigerians in line with the Change agenda of the Buhari administration.

“What we believe is that this change will not come about if we all continue to do things the same way we have been doing them. If we do that, then you cannot expect a different result,” Mohammed said.

The Minister restated the commitment of the Federal Government to achieve Digital Switch Over in broadcasting by 2017, saying: ”With the digital Switch Over, we are going to change completely the way broadcasting and television are viewed. We are going to revolutionize the entire industry.”
He, however, allayed fears being expressed in some quarters that with the digital Switch Over, watching television would be out of the reach of the common man.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values, Mr. Olusegun Odebunmi, said the interaction was not to witch-hunt anybody but for lawmakers to have an insight into the workings of the ministry, departments and agencies for a harmonious working relationship and in order to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
The Minister was accompanied by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Ayotunde Adesugba, directors and heads of agencies and parastatals under the ministry.

Surrender or be declared wanted – EFCC warns Tompolo

By Our Reporter on December 11, 2015

Former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo well known as Tompolo has been given a week notification by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to present himself before the Commission or be declared a wanted.
The commission revealed that Tompolo was been investigated over fraudulent sale of land to the government worth N13billion.
A request sent by the Head of Operations of EFCC, Iliasu Kwabai revealed that Tompolo had been invited by the commission but declined the request.
Tompolo is however expected to appear at the EFCC facilities, latest, Thursday December 17th.

No censorship of online publications, Senate President promises

By Our Reporter on December 11, 2015

The Executive Board of the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN) yesterday, met with the President of the Senate to discuss the Frivolous Petition Bill, which has been widely reported and labeled as the “Social Media Bill.”
The president of the organization, Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi, who was accompanied by a member of the Executive Committee of the association, Mr. Daniel Elombah; in his presentation to the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, stated why his organization, along with majority of Nigerians, disagree with Section 4 of the Bill – a provision that aims to criminalize false statements and the use of unsupported petitions on social media; and the general approach to the subject of online engagement in Nigeria..
Dr. Saraki in his remarks thanked Mr. Awoyemi for accepting his invitation on such short notice, and assured him that he remains an ardent user of social media platforms and reader of online publications, and he will in no way support any form of censorship or attempt to slow the progress made so far.
The Senate President used the opportunity of the meeting to explain the method of presenting, processing and eventual passage of bills to Mr. Awoyemi, especially a private member bill like the frivolous petitions bill.
The Senate President further assured the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN) that the 8th Senate remains committed to the principles of fair, responsible and open engagement which the online affords citizens with the elected representatives, as records will show that this Senate has made good use of various online and social media platforms to deliver on this mandate and wish to do more. The Senate President also cited instances before, during and after the elections when social media played a major role in ensuring accountability in government; one the senate will ensure is sustained.
The Senate President also assured the online publishers that the Senate has no intention to pass any legislation to control or gag the press, but encouraged the organization to do its part to ensure that international best practices are quickly established to enable the country increase its learning phase from the wholesome adoption of data communication and sift the real online publishers and journalists that follow the ethos and ethics of sound journalism practices from those that simply set up to use their platforms to extort and blackmail.
Awoyemi, in his response assured the Senate President that the organization is made up of credible publishers of online platforms and newspapers with online presence and it is modeling itself along best practice with relationships with key platform providers and value creators in the online ecosystem. He also mentioned that efforts were underway to strengthen the industry, through a better appreciation of how self-regulation aids phases during a significant disruption in culture, social interaction and change in practices as Nigeria embarked on since we deregularised the telecommunications industry.
In OPAN’s assessment, Mr. Awoyemi noted; the legislature remains critical to how Nigeria quickly harnesses the potentials of online technology and use of social media as a critical component of citizen engagement and governance practice improvements.
To achieve this, OPA Nigeria sees a link between constitutionally provided for “freedom of expression” and responsible conduct and engagement by users and publishers. To aid the process, the association agreed to share its research into aspects of our legal system that keeps online publishing and social media outside the law; present areas requiring review and amendments of current laws that ensure responsible conduct across digital platforms which in some cases were as simple as recognizing the variants in existing laws around newspaper, radio, TV and digital publishing and broadcast.
Specifically, OPAN believes that the current conversation must not only be sustained but moved forward in a collaborative manner that builds consensus between key stakeholders, judiciary and legislature to enable the country respond positively to the discomforting aspects at this time, but more importantly, anticipate and create a desired future for ICT.

Biafra: Kanu Moves Against 90 Days Detention Order

By thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, December 08, (THEWILL) – The self-acclaimed Biafran Republic leader, Nnamdi Kalu, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to set aside an order earlier granted to the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) to detain him for 90 days on alleged investigation of terrorism against him by the Federal Government.

Kanu, founder of the Radio Biafra and the director-general of the Indigenous People of Biafran Republic, also asked the court to strike out a criminal charge with reference No. FHC/ABJ/CS/873/2015 brought against him by the SSS.

In a motion on notice argued before Justice Adeniyi Ademola, Kanu applied for an order of the court admitting him to bail and also directing the SSS to obey an order of the Chief Magistrate Court, which had earlier granted him bail.

Kanu through his counsel, Egechukwu Obetta, claimed that the order of the Federal High Court that permitted the SSS to detain him for 90 days pending the investigation of terrorism allegations against him was obtained fraudulently by the SSS.

The grounds of Kanu’s application was among others, that the ex parte motion dated and filed on October 26, 2015, by the SSS and upon which the permission to detain him was granted was an abuse of court process brought in complete bad fate.

The detained Biafran leader alleged that the SSS did not reveal to the Federal High Court the fact of the pendency of a criminal charge already brought against him by the SSS in the Abuja Chief Magistrate Court.

He also claimed that the SSS suppress the facts of the active pendency of the criminal action the Chief Magistrate Court had granted him but which the SSS had deliberately refused to comply with the bail order.

Kanu also claimed that the magistrate, where he was arraigned by SSS, was a creation of statute and recognised under the law and that all his decisions and proceedings ought to be binding on all parties until set aside on Appeal.

The Biafran leader on the ground of his application also claimed that the allegations of sponsoring and financing terrorism against him was a bare allegation and not supported with any trade of evidence that he was preparing to take up arms against the Nigerian nation.

Kanu further claimed that his continued detention in spite of the order of the Magistrate that release him on bail was a trespass and in violation of his basic freedom as guarantee by the 1999 Constitution.

He therefore urged the court to set aside the order that he be detained for 90 days on the ground that Section 27 of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2003, and any other provision, which empowers the court to make order for his detention or any other person beyond 24 hours without trial was against the Constitution.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola adjourned till Monday, December 14 for the SSS through its lawyer, Moses Idakwo to respond to the motion.

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