BRITISH DEPUTY SPEAKER QUITS IN WAKE OF RAPE CHARGE

A deputy speaker in Britain’s lower house of parliament quit on Tuesday after the public prosecutor announced that he will be charged with offences including rape and sexual assault.
Nigel Evans, 55, a lawmaker in Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party, was initially arrested in May on suspicion of committing rape and sexual assaults between 2009 and March this year.
He was re-arrested in June over a further three counts of indecent assault, some dating back to 2002, and will now appear in court on September 18.
“After careful consideration, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to prosecute Mr Evans,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.

UK, ITALY TO JOIN NIGERIA’S BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM

Britain yesterday vowed to work with Nigeria to bring the killers of seven foreign hostages to justice as the death of the construction workers were confirmed.

Islamist fundamentalist group Ansaru on Saturday said it had killed the abducted workers of Lebanese construction firm Setraco.

The British, Italian, Greek and Lebanese nationals were abducted at a construction site in Jama’are, Bauchi State on February 6.

Ansaru posted a video of the bodies of the slain workers, which the British, the Italian and the Greek have confirmed to be real. The group said it killed the hostages to prevent an operation to rescue them, apparently referring to reports that British aircraft were seen in Nigeria.

BRITISH WARPLANES IN NIGERIA TO MOVE SOLDIERS FOR MALI

The United Kingdom’s military has said its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria’s capital city were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali and not to rescue kidnapped foreign hostages by an Islamic group, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

The extremist group called Ansaru partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for killing seven foreign hostages, including British, Greek, Italian and Lebanese citizens.

The Islamic radicals claimed on Saturday that they had killed the seven hostages. While Nigerian authorities have yet to comment publicly about Ansaru’s claim.

QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITALISED

LONDON (AFP) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, suffering from gastroenteritis, was admitted to hospital on Sunday, a Buckingham Palace spokesman told AFP.

All the 86-year-old’s engagements for this week, including a visit to Rome, have been called off, the spokesman added.

“The Queen is being assessed at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London after experiencing symptoms of gastroenteritis. As a precaution, all official engagements this week will be either postponed or cancelled,” he said.

SETRACO KIDNAP CRISIS: FIVE BRITISH MILITARY PLANES ARRIVE IN NIGERIA

An attempt to rescue abducted seven expatriates working with SETRACO Construction Company in Jama’are local government area of Bauchi State might be under way. Five British jet bombers yesterday arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

US, UK, OTHERS ISSUE TRAVEL WARNINGS ON NIGERIA

EMBASSIES of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada on Wednesday issued fresh warnings to their citizens, advising them not to travel to Nigeria.

The embassies hinged their warnings on the deployment of troops in northern Mali, fearing attacks on Nigeria by Islamic terrorists with sympathy for the Malian rebels, especially on Thursday (today) that has already been declared a public holiday to mark the birth of Prophet Mohammed.

Nigerian 1,200 troops arrived in Bamako, Malian capital, on Sunday as part of an international military intervention to end the crisis in the northern part of Mali.

Canadian embassy, for example, on its website advised its citizens against non-essential travel to Nigeria, with exception of Abuja; Calabar, Cross River State; and Lagos.

It also described the security situation throughout the country as unpredictable, adding that there was a significant risk of terrorism, crime, inter- communal clashes, armed attacks and kidnappings.