Where is Rick Owens in MOCA's 'Rick Owens: Furniture'? Ask Michèle Lamy

Kanye West talks with Michèle Lamy, the actual driving force behind "Rick Owens: Furniture," at the opening party for the Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition. (Rachel Murray / Getty Images for MOCA)

Paris-based designer Rick Owens is a rock star of the fashion world, with a global network of stores carrying his androgynous, punk aesthetic — think jacket toggle buttons that look like miniature weapons or clunky shoes that resemble military tanks.

Last week, however, in a chilly garage workshop that Owens set up in Hollywood, it was new furniture and sculptural works, not high-end clothing, that was being

Popular Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon Storms Calabar For Carnival

The 2016 Carnival Calabar has acquired more exciting flavours, with the confirmation that popular children’s cartoon network, Nickelodeon, will be participating at this year’s carnival.


Making this disclosure in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital, Special Adviser to the Governor on Events, Mr Ken Ahkla, said the coming of Nickelodeon was good news to families.
“The cartoon network will for four days organise family and children’s funfair

Here Are All the Winners at the 2016 BET Awards

The 2015 BET Awards had many incredible highlights: Diddy fell through the stage, the cast of “Empire” performed, Nick Minaj nabbed her sixth consecutive Best Female Hip-Hop Artist award, and Janet Jackson took home the inaugural Ultimate Icon: Music Dance Visual Award. It was definitely a show to remember, and it looks like tonight’s 2016 BET Awards will be just as good.

Hosted by Anthony Anderson and Traciee Ellis Ross, the show will include performances by artists like Young Thug, Desiigner, Future, French Montana, Erykah Badu, Remy Ma, and Alicia Keys. There will also be a can’t-miss Prince tribute performance featuring Sheila E.,

Yvonne Okoro’s Ghana Must Go wins four awards

Yvonne Okoro’s latest work, Ghana Must Go, has won four awards at The Golden Movie Awards which held over the weekend at The Kempinski Hotel, Accra, Ghana.

Ghana Must Go, a romantic comedy produced by award-winning Ghanaian/Nigerian actress, Yvonne Okoro won four awards including Best Actor (Kofi Adjorlolo), Best Actress (Yvonne Okoro); Best Supporting Actress (Doris Sackitey) and Best Comedy of the Year.

The Golden Movie Awards, one of the annual award ceremony honouring outstanding achievements in African Television and Digital media, is administered

Kate Henshaw to Akpororo – “Remove my Name and Image from all Publicity Materials Associated with Your Show”

Nigerian Comedian, Akpororo got into some sort of mix up on social media yesterday, with Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw.

He is set to have his comedy show on the July 8th and the promotional materials for the event have been announcing Kate as the host for the

African press review 29 June 2016

 

 DR

South African President Jacob Zuma is ordered to pay for his non-security improvements to his Nkandla estate, Black Coffee becomes the first South African to take home a BET Award, Kenya is panicked by the current state of the government of schools and Nigeria's government has promised to strengthen mortgage policies for Nigerians. All this and more in today's African press.

South Africa's Mail and Guardian headlines with a story about the Constitutional Court's acceptence of the Treasury's 7.8 million-rand bill for Zuma's non-security

Why Osun State is least crime-infested state, by govt

Osun State said yesterday that the “low crime rate in the state” as confirmed by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, was the result of the initiatives of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration since its inception in 2010.

The Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Governor’s Office, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, explained that the Aregbesola administration did not just secure the state through

Afe Babalola condemns scrapping of Post-UTME Test

•Afe Babalola

Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado EKITI (ABUAD) Aare Afe Babalola has condemned the Federal Government’s decision to scrap the Post-Universities Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) test.

Speaking on the issue at the weekend, the legal luminary said he was shocked by the action, which he described as a “calamitous mistake, which poses danger and irreversible adverse effect on quality of education in Nigeria”.
Babalola said he was taken aback that “such a far-reaching decision could be taken without due and adequate consideration for how the concept of the Post-UTME came into being”.

The former Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) said the concept of the Post-UTME test came into being in 2003 when it was discovered that “many of the students admitted into Nigerian universities through JAMB were not only

Robbers attack Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka

•Amuka

Suspected armed robbers yesterday invaded the Lagos home of Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka, injuring him and carting away cash and some items.
The raid was the second on Amuka’s home in about two years.

The invaders  allegedly hit the octogenarian  with an iron rod. He was rushed to a private hospital.
Ten suspects arrested in connection with the attack are being quizzed

Buhari: Leading in turbulent times

President Muhammadu Buhari’s face can sometimes be deadpan and inscrutable.
As an ex soldier, he is supposed to be stern,so wearing a straight face that leaves no clue is not unexpected.
At the inception of his administration,most things that appeared to have been unhinged during the immediate past administration, started falling into place. Electricity supply ramped up from about 3,500

Chelsea Set Their Sights On Ligue 1 Enforcer As Alternative To Paul Pogba

The opening of the summer transfer window is fast approaching so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, Chelsea are linked with Blaise Matuidi….

Chelsea have turned their attention to Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi after accepting defeat in their pursuit of Paul Pogba this summer, according to the Express.

New boss Antonio Conte isn’t due to officially take charge at Stamford Bridge until after he’s fulfilled his duties with the Italian squad at Euro 2016 but it looks as though the 46-year-old has already started planning for life in West London.

Paraguay reveals Copa America Centenario final roster

 

Paraguay manager Ramon Diaz has called on a veteran, mostly North and South America-based roster for Copa America Centenario.

Only five of Paraguay's 23-man squad are based in Europe, with a heavy contingent from Liga MX and Paraguay, Argentina and Chile's domestic leagues. Seattle Sounders forward Nelson Valdez is the only U.S.-based player and will be part of a potentially dangerous attack,

Iheanacho: My best is yet to come at Manchester City

May 9, 2016 16:53:06

Despite scoring 13 goals in his first season in the Premier League, the Nigerian forward believes the Citizens have only seen a fraction of his ability so far

Manchester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho has appraised his performances for the club so far and stressed that his best is yet to come.

The Nigerian international scored 13 times in 33 appearances for the Citizens this season and though many would be satisfied with that tally, the 19-year-old feels he still has much to prove.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino 'very sad' to see Michel Platini's ban from football upheld

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has given a mixed reception to the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision to uphold his former boss Michel Platini's ban from football.

Platini had hoped sport's highest court would squash his six-year ban but the Lausanne-based body only reduced it to four years, effectively ending his career in the game.

Speaking to journalists in Mexico City after his first FIFA Council meeting, Infantino said: 'As president, I respect the decision of CAS, no doubt about that.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is sad at the decision to uphold his former

NPFL: Rangers, 3SC Rekindle Rivalry‎ In Enugu

Nigeria Professional Football League leaders, Enugu Rangers will look to bounce back from last weekend's disappointing 3-1 loss to Rivers United when they confront perennial rivals, Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium, Enugu on Sunday, reports Completesportsnigeria.com.

The Flying Antelopes boast of a hundred percent record at home in the league this season.
They will be without two regular players; Bobby Clement and Obinna

F’Bank face Police, Dolphins battle Customs in semis

•Ijeh Fumnaya of Dolphins (right) and Emen Okon of Plateau Rocks during their Zenith Bank National Women Basketball League game played in Lagos... on Monday. Photo: Sodiq Adelakun

Pius Ayinor and Idris Adesina 

Defending champions of the Zenith Bank League, Dolphins, will take on Customs in one of the semi-final games billed for Tuesday in Lagos. The other semi final match will see former champions First Bank taking IGP Queens who defeated Delta Force 60-58 on Monday to book the game

The science behind SpaceX’s ambitious plan to land a spacecraft on Mars

Only the space agencies of the Soviet Union, the US and the EU have landed anything on Mars. This week Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX said it would put its Dragon spacecraft on the red planet “as soon as 2018″—making it the first private company to go interplanetary.

It’s easy to get impatient with crackpot plans to head for the red planet. (I’m guilty of it, too.) But SpaceX is unique in combining its dreams of Mars with well-funded, hard-nosed engineers.

And as it turns out, the company’s long-running quest to build reusable rockets, with the aim of making it cheaper to launch satellites into Earth’s orbit, has had a stealthier goal too. SpaceX’s

Burundi President Condemns Killing Of General

The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, has condemned the killing of a senior army officer shot along with his wife and bodyguard in an attack that also wounded their child.

The attack is the latest in an expanding wave of violence in the central African nation that heightened after Nkurunziza declared his interest in a third term in office.
A spokesman for the Army, Gaspard Baratuza, told reporters that

ASUU Demands NDU Workers’ Salary Arrears

L-R: Newly appointed Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Eastern Naval Command, Rear Adm. James Oluwole, Commandant, Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Port Harcourt, Commander Feyisara Solebo and Command Operations Officer, Eastern Naval Command, Commodore Razaq Babalola, during the FOC’s familiarisation tour of Navy formations and units in Port Harcourt yesterday.

The Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU), has called on the Bayelsa State Government to immediately commence the payment of four months salary arrears owed workers of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce Island.

This is even as the union called for the declaration of a state

Mimiko faults ICPC’s report on bailout

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

Tunde Odesola

The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has faulted the report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission which said that the state government did not utilise N1,537,575.050.32 of the N9.4bn bailout given to it by the

Obama: We can wipe out nuclear N Korea

A TV news programme shows an image published in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper of a ballistic missile that the North claimed to have launched from a submarine. Photo / AP

By David Blair analysis

US President Barack Obama delivered a stern warning to North Korea, reminding its "erratic" and "irresponsible" leader that America's nuclear arsenal could "destroy" his country.

Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator, claimed to have tested a submarine-launched missile last weekend.
A photograph showed the weapon flying out of the sea, although there was

We’ll Host Best NBA Confab’ …Wike Harps On Cashless Economy To Check Crime …Tasks Govt On Anti-Poor Policies

L-R: Representative of the Swiss Embassy, Dr Daniel Cavegn, Assistant Inspector General of Police (Training and Development), Mr Olufemi Adenaike, and Commandant, Police College, Kaduna, CPJimoh Ozi-Obeh, at the Nigeria Police Force Human Rights Training Programme in Kaduna, recently

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has hinted that the state will host one of the best Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conferences come August this year.
He gave the hint while playing host to the African Bar Association (ABA) in Government House, yesterday in Port Harcourt.

Aside the NBA conference, the governor said the state is geared to host other national events such as the Peoples Democratic Party Convention billed for May,

Court orders DSS to pay detained Ekiti lawmaker N5m

Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti

The Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday ordered the Department of State Services to pay a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Afolabi Akanni, N5m damages for his illegal arrest.
The court condemned his arrest and “continued detention for 18 harrowing, excruciating and brain cudgeling days, without access to his lawyers and family.”

Akanni, representing Efon Constituency 1 at the Ekiti State House of Assembly, was arrested on March 4 by the DSS and detained for 18 days over alleged sundry

PDP Shuts Down Official Twitter Account

Peoples Democratic Party has announced the closure of its official Twitter account. Head of PDP Publicity Division, Chinwe Nnorom disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, April 19 via its official Facebook account.

“The general public may wish to recall that

EFCC Denies Ekweremadu’s Decoration As Anti-Corruption Ambassador

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday discredited reports that it has decorated the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, as an ‘Anti-Corruption Ambassador’.

The anti-graft agency made the disclaimer in a statement by its Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren.

“According to a statement issued to the press by the Special Adviser to the Deputy Senate President, Uche Anichukwu, the purported decoration, was carried

Ogun State Provides Online Access To Drum Festival

The Ogun State government has provided an online access to the first edition of the Nigerian Drum Festival coming up soon.

As part of preparations for the festival that will held in Abeokuta from April 19 to 22, the State government said an online television website had been launched.

It would allow lovers of drums and traditional festivals across the world monitor the event live from their respective locations.

The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Muyiwa Oladipo, gave the update in Abeokuta, the capital of the state on Monday while revealing the preparedness of the government towards a successful hosting of the event.

President Buhari Arrives In China

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has arrived in the People’s Republic of China for a state visit.

According to the President’s spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, President Buhari was welcomed at the Beijing Capital International Airport by China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cheng Guoping, alongside other senior Chinese government officials.

Also at the airport were the Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, and the Governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Geidam.

APC Chieftain Asks Buhari To Cushion Nigerians’ Sufferings

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to implement programmes that would have direct impact on the people especially by finding solutions to the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria.

While addressing journalists on Sunday, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, Kawu Baraje, also blamed the leadership of the party for being docile to the plight of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, as it affects his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He asked the party to stand by him, as a loyal party member.

Mr Baraje was a former National Secretary and former acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party before teaming up with others to form the All Progressive Congress, (APC).

Alleged N5.6b fraud: Kalu, two others to be arraigned May 16

Justice Anwuri Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja has fixed May 16 for arraignment of former Abia State governor, Orji Uzoh Kalu, the state’s ex-Director of Finance in the State House, Udeh Jones Udeogu, and Kalu’s company, Slok Nigeria Limited on a 112 amended charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

They are accused of diverting the Abia State’s funds estimated at about N5.6billion while Kalu and Udeogu were in office between 1999 and 2007.

The three are to be re-arraigned on the amended charge about seven years after they were earlier arraigned on a similar charge before Justice Adamu Bello (now retired from the Federal High Court’s bench).

Mark to Nigerians: Rise up against barbarism, insecurity

•Mark

Former Senate President, Senator David Mark, has asked Nigerians to rise up against the increasing insecurity in parts of the country in order to stop the needless killings of Nigerians. .
Senator Mark noted that although insecurity has taken a global trend, Nigeria cannot afford to allow the challenge degenerate further to an intolerable level.

A statement by his media assistant, Paul Mumeh, said that the former Senate President spoke at the weekend in Ogume, Delta State after he was awarded a Doctorate Degree on Intelligence and Security studies (Honoris Causa) from Novena University at the institution’s convocation ceremony.

It said that the University also established a new faculty named Senator David Mark centre for Intelligence and Security studies for the study issues relating to insecurity and conflicts.
It quoted Mark to have said that “it is sad that hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost to conflicts and insurgency.

Mark to Nigerians: Rise up against barbarism, insecurity

•Mark

Former Senate President, Senator David Mark, has asked Nigerians to rise up against the increasing insecurity in parts of the country in order to stop the needless killings of Nigerians. .
Senator Mark noted that although insecurity has taken a global trend, Nigeria cannot afford to allow the challenge degenerate further to an intolerable level.

A statement by his media assistant, Paul Mumeh, said that the former Senate President spoke at the weekend in Ogume, Delta State after he was awarded a Doctorate Degree on Intelligence and Security studies (Honoris Causa) from Novena University at the institution’s convocation ceremony.

It said that the University also established a new faculty named Senator David Mark centre for Intelligence and Security studies for the study issues relating to insecurity and conflicts.
It quoted Mark to have said that “it is sad that hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost to conflicts and insurgency.

Journalists have nothing to fear from Federal Government – Minister

“Not a single journalist is in detention in Nigeria today. The government of the day is not a threat to the media and it is not about to stifle press freedom or deny anyone his or her constitutionally guaranteed rights,” he said at the session devoted to a debate on the implementation of the document on the “International Declaration On The Protection of Journalists”, which was presented at the Congress

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said journalists in Nigeria have nothing to fear from the Nigerian government in the performance of their duties.

“Under this dispensation, we have never even contemplated stifling the freedom of the media not to talk of hounding them to death,” the Minister said in Doha on Sunday when he featured as a panelist at the ongoing 2016 Annual Congress of the International Press Institute in the Qatari capital.

“Not a single journalist is in detention in Nigeria today. The government of the day is not a threat to the media and it is not about to stifle press freedom or deny anyone his or her constitutionally guaranteed rights,” he said at the session devoted to a debate on the implementation of the document on the “International Declaration On The Protection of Journalists”, which was presented at the Congress.

Ekiti slips back into crisis

Fayose

Ekiti State has been in the news again, following the detention of some members of the House of Assembly and the State Executive Council by the Department of State Services (DSS), which is investigating them for alleged crimes. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

History may be repeating itself in Ekiti State. Ten years after top government officials were investigated for alleged graft, diversion of public funds, operation of foreign accounts and execution of a phony poultry project, the Department of State Services (DSS) is beaming a searchlight on the Ayo Fayose administration.

The investigation, which was spearheaded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), led to the impeachment of the Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose by 24 of 26 members of the House of Assembly. Less than two years after he returned to power, the governor is facing another storm over sundry allegations against some officials of his administration and state legislators.

On March 4, DSS men stormed Ekiti and arrested four legislators. The Speaker, Hon. Kola Oluwawole, alleged that they were abducted by the operatives. He said: “More than 10 DSS men armed to the teeth” stormed the Assembly complex and shot sporadically into the air causing panic among legislators and staff. Among the legislators arrested was Hon. Afolabi Akanni from Efon Constituency. They were taken to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territoty (FCT) for interrogation.

Three injured as fire razes Niger Biscuit Company

•Fire fighters at the scene...yesterday.

Three persons were burnt yesterday when fire razed Niger Biscuits Company on Creek Road in Apapa, Lagos, destroying property worth millions of naira.
Two Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) within the premises were destroyed.


It was learnt that the fire was sparked by gas explosion in the factory few minutes after 2pm.
A factory worker, who gave his name as Chukwudi, said the injured were rushed to hospital by Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) officials.

One of the victims was a security officer deployed in the company few weeks ago. He was said to trying to put out the fire. In fact, only God can save him,” said an eyewitness.

Australian journalists detained in Malaysia for trying to question PM

Prime Minister Najib Razak

Two Australian journalists were detained overnight and have been barred from leaving Malaysia after they tried to “aggressively” question Prime Minister Najib Razak about a corruption scandal, police said Sunday.
The pair were detained after they crossed a “security line and aggressively tried to approach the prime minister” who was visiting a mosque in Kuching on Borneo island, according to a police statement.
“Both of them were subsequently arrested for failing to comply with police instructions not to cross the security line,” it said.

The journalists work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners investigative programme.
“ABC 4Corners team arrested in Malaysia last night after trying to question PM Najib Razak over corruption scandal,” the programme’s executive producer Sally Neighbour tweeted Sunday.

Reporter Linton Besser and camera operator Louie Eroglu had approached Najib on the street before their arrest, the broadcaster added.

Nepal begins process to deliver grants nearly a year after quake

Tens of thousands are still living in tents and the government has been strongly criticised for delays in disbursing aid despite donor pledges of billions in assistance.

The National Reconstruction Authority, which is meant to oversee the rebuilding, partnered with local banks in the quake-hit northern Dolakha district to kickstart the disbursement of funds in six villages.
“We have signed grant contracts with local banks to begin distribution of cash,” authority spokesman Suresh Adhikari told AFP.

“Funds will be transferred beginning tomorrow and the beneficiaries will receive the money in a few days.”
Victims of the quake which struck on April 25 last year have so far received just $150 in compensation per household, while the government has promised an additional $2,000 for rebuilding homes — to be disbursed by the reconstruction authority.

Japan utility appeals court order to shut reactors

A Japanese utility on Monday appealed a court decision which ordered the shutdown of two nuclear reactors even though they had been declared safe under tougher rules prompted by the Fukushima meltdown.
The Otsu District Court last week issued the ruling, the first since reactors were restarted under a more rigorous safety regime adopted after the 2011 disaster.

The court ordered the shuttering of Kansai Electric’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant 350 kilometres (215 miles) west of Tokyo.
The No. 4 reactor had been taken offline last month due to an unexpected technical glitch days after it restarted, while the No. 3 reactor was switched off soon after the court order.

A Kansai Electric spokesman said Monday that the utility “appealed the ruling” while also demanding that the shutdown reactors be allowed to restart pending the outcome of the appeal.
The shutdown order, issued Wednesday just two days before the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, was a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bid to bring back nuclear power.

Syria war begins sixth year as US, Russia pull the strings

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 11, 2016 shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad listening to a question during an exclusive interview with AFP in the capital Damascus.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged on MArch 1, 2016 to do his part to ensure a fragile ceasefire holds and offered “full amnesty” to rebels who hand in their weapons. / AFP / JOSEPH EID

00The United States and Russia are pulling the strings in Syria’s five-year war, experts say, pressuring opposing sides and leveraging rival regional powers to reach a settlement. 

 As the conflict enters its sixth year, the embattled regime and fractured opposition are in Geneva for indirect peace talks hosted by United Nations peace envoy Staffan de Mistura.

But the real solution, experts say, is in Russian and American hands.
“The two great powers talk among themselves by phone or in meetings around the world. Then they inform their Syrian allies and de Mistura what they’ve decided,” says veteran opposition figure Haytham Manaa.
“Then, Russia and the US give the regional powers the red lines they’re not supposed to cross. The US bans the Turks from a ground incursion in Syria and asks the Saudis to stop sending arms. Russia does the same thing with Iran,” Manaa tells AFP.

3 Palestinians carry out shooting, car-ramming attacks, shot dead

Three Palestinians carried out two attacks — a shooting and a car-ramming — on Israelis in the southern occupied West Bank on Monday before they were shot dead, the Israeli army said.
“Two assailants opened fire at pedestrians waiting at a bus stop at the entrance of Kiryat Arba (near Hebron). Forces guarding the area responded and shot the assailants, resulting in their deaths,” a military statement read.

“Moments later, in an additional attack, a vehicle rammed into a military vehicle responding at the scene. Forces responded to the immediate danger and shot the assailant, resulting in his death.”
The army said a soldier was wounded in the shooting attack, and three others lightly wounded in the car-ramming.

A military spokeswoman said the assailants used a pistol and a submachine gun.
The Palestinian health ministry named the perpetrators as Qassem Abu Ouda, 30, and Amir Juneidi, 22, from Hebron, and Yousef Taraya, 18, from the nearby village of Bani Naim.

Turkey pounds Kurdish camps after Ankara bombing

This picture taken on March 13, 2016, shows a burning car after a blast in Ankara.
An explosion ripped through a busy square in central Ankara on March 13, killing 27 people and wounding 75 more, with local media reports describing it as an attack. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the explosion on Kizilay square, a key shopping and transport hub close to the city’s embassy area.
/ AFP / Mehmet Ozer

Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq Monday, the day after a suicide car bomb tore through downtown Ankara killing at least 36 people, the third attack on the capital in five months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest carnage, which reduced cars and buses to charred hulks on a busy road in the heart of the city, wounding more than 120 people.

But Ankara believes one of the bombers was a woman with ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Turkish official told AFP on Monday.

White House hopefuls hustle for votes as race turns ‘toxic’

An anti-Donald Trump protester is removed by security during a Trump rally at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on March 11, 2016.
Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump cancelled his appearance at a Chicago rally Friday amid extraordinary scenes of chaos, with hundreds of protesters clashing with the frontrunner’s supporters and police struggling to maintain order. / AFP / Tasos KATOPODIS

White House hopefuls hit the ground in a last-minute push for votes Monday ahead of a crucial new election test, with violence marring Donald Trump’s race for the Republican nomination.

 Dubbed “Super Tuesday 2” by US media, the latest major date in the run-up to November’s presidential election will see Democratic and Republican primary contests in the states of Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina.

Merkel to stay refugee policy course despite vote debacle

German chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech at the last electoral meeting on March 12, 2016 in Haigerloch, southwestern Germany, ahead the regional state elections in Baden-Wuerttemberg.
More than 12 million voters are electing three new regional parliaments for the southwestern states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as eastern Saxony-Anhalt in the so-called Super Sunday polls. / AFP / Thomas Kienzle

German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans no changes to her refugee policy despite heavy losses in state elections at the weekend, her spokesman said Monday.

 “The federal government will stay its refugee policy course, fully determined, at home and abroad,” the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told a news briefing.

London mayor Johnson blasts Obama over reported UK visit

US President Barack Obama pauses while speaking during a South by Southwest Interactive at the

 Long Center for Performing Arts in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2016. / AFP / Mandel NGAN

London mayor Boris Johnson on Monday accused Barack Obama of “hypocrisy” following a report that the US president is heading to Britain next month to make the case for the UK to stay in the European Union.

“Coming from Uncle Sam, it is a piece of outrageous and exorbitant hypocrisy,” Johnson, a leading member of the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, wrote in his regular column for the Daily Telegraph.

“Can you imagine the Americans submitting their democracy to the kind of regime that we have in the EU?” he asked, adding: “This is a nation born from its glorious refusal to accept overseas control.”

Johnson went on to point out that the United States does not accept that its own citizens could be subject to the rulings of the International Criminal Court and does not recognise other jurisdictions.

Latest polls set stage for another Super Tuesday

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

The contested-convention movement got mixed news from the latest Quinnipiac polls of Florida and Ohio, two key winner-take-all states in today’s Super Tuesday II primaries. Donald Trump dominates in Florida, Marco Rubio’s last-stand ground and home turf, but only manages a tie against John Kasich in Ohio.
An outright win by Trump in both states will add 165 delegates to his total and put him more clearly on the path to a first-ballot nomination in Cleveland:

Separate surveys of likely Republican and Democratic primary voters in Florida and Ohio show:
Florida Republican – Trump with 46 per cent, followed by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida with 22 per cent, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with 14 per cent and Ohio Governor John Kasich with 10 per cent.
Florida Democrat – Clinton over Sanders 60 – 34 per cent.

Chicago-bound Amtrak train derails in Kansas, 30 injured

Emergency personnel work on a train that derailed near Dodge City, Kan., Monday, March 14, 2016. An Amtrak statement says the train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago early Monday when it derailed just after midnight. PHOTO www.rt.com900

Several coaches from Amtrak’s Southwest Chief Train 4 traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago derailed about 20 miles (32 km) west of Dodge City, Amtrak said in a statement. There were about 128 passengers and 14 crew aboard.

Thirty people were taken to hospitals in Garden City and Dodge City, Gray County spokeswoman, Ashley Rogers, said. She and Amtrak gave no details on their conditions, but in an earlier statement, the United States (U.S.) train service had said that initial reports were that there were no life-threatening injuries.
Other passengers were transported to a recreation center in Cimarron before being provided alternate transportation to their final destination.