Lagos Assembly defies minister over road project

BY SEGUN BALOGUN February 10, 2010 11:36PM

The upgrading of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway to a 10-lane highway seems set to trigger another face-off between the Federal Government and Lagos State. Residents fear this may constitute a drawback on the project or outrightly truncate the work, which many Lagosians describe as laudable.

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution that the project was not illegal in response to a report in some national dailies, quoting the Minister of Works, Housing, and Urban Development, Hassan Mohammed, as saying that the expressway belongs to the federal government and as such Lagos State has no authority to embark on its reconstruction.

He reportedly warned that if the state government was interested in handling it, it should first apply to the federal government to have the road concessioned to it.

The motion for the resolution by the Lagos Assembly was moved by Kolawole Taiwo, the majority leader of the House, after a briefing by officials of the state government invited to make their presentations to the House on the matter. The lawmakers sought to know the details of the project because, according to the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, huge sums of the state taxpayers’ fund had been committed to it.

Defending the state government, Olasupo Sasore, the state’s Attorney General, said the Phase I of the project, which stretches from Eric Moore to Mile 2, has been ceded to the Lagos government by the resolution of a committee setup by the federal government to resolve long-standing disagreements on several issues between the two levels of government.

Mr. Sasore spoke as a co-chairman of the committee, which was inaugurated on January 7, 2009 by a presidential directive. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ahmed Yayale, representing the federal government, is the other chairman.

There are several federal government properties in Lagos, which have been abandoned since the federal capital was moved to Abuja. Therefore, the committee was mandated to identify and recommend proposals for resolving the problems which border on power generation, and transportation, among others.

Shocked by move

As explained by Mr. Sasore, the 10-lane expressway project is an offshoot of deliberations and resolution of the committee, the same way the three jetties that have been released to the Lagos government were.

“It comes as a surprise that a senior officer of the government, who actually chaired the meeting of the committee (when the resolution was adopted), was quoted as such. I want to believe he was misquoted,” said Mr. Sasore who read from the minutes of the meeting of the committee, which was both signed by the Minister of Works, Housing, and Urban Development, Mr. Mohammed, and the Special Adviser to the Lagos governor on works and infrastructure, Ganiyu Johnson.

To further prove that the federal government is aware of the Lagos project, Mr. Johnson said the federal administration has just awarded the contract for the maintenance of Lot Two and Three of the road, leaving out Lot One.

Though there is no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) backing the resolution as yet, Mr. Sasore said the minutes of the meetings of the committee is tenable in a law court, while assuaging the fears of some lawmakers.

“We agreed that we shall begin to document the resolutions of the committee when it has two months to the expiration of its tenure,” revealed Mr. Sasore. The committee has till June 30 to complete all its assignments.

Mr. Sasore said the Lagos government has also acquired the right of way of the entire Lagos-Badagary road, putting it in a better position to be the concessioner of Lot Two and Three whenever the federal government advertises for their concessioning.

Commenting on the issue, the publicity secretary of the Action Congress, Lai Mohammed, said the Lagos State government’s decision to upgrade the expressway was necessary because the federal government failed to do it.

“We have waited 20 years for the federal government to upgrade this road. It is only now that this government, an AC government, has decided to take it up at the expense of taxpayers’ money. Though there are differences, we believe there’s room for accommodation because the benefit is for all Nigerians,” Mr. Mohammed said.

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'We killed Swedish soldiers': Taliban

The Taliban has claimed that it was behind the attack that killed two Swedishsolders and their Afghan interpreter on Sunday.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid made the claim to local newspapers as well as on one of the militant Islamist group's websites, according to a report from Javed Hamim Kakar at the Afghan news agency Pajhwok.

Mujahid is known as an official Taliban spokesperson under the leadership ofMullah Omar, head of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In an interview with Swedish news agency TT in the autumn, Mujahid said:

"Send your troops home. We do not want to kill Swedes and we do not want you to kill Afghans, but that will be the result of the troops' presence".

"Furthermore, the Swedish troops are not here to defend Sweden. Or to help the people of Afghanistan. You are here on the orders of the USA - you are the Americans' slaves".

Whether the claims of responsibility for the killings are true or false is impossible to establish. It is well known that the Taliban has a tendency to claim responsibility for every attack it deems successful. 

28-year-old Captain Johan Palmlöv and 31-year-old Lieutenant Gunnar Andersson, and their Afghan interpreter Shahab, were part of a patrol which came under fire on Sunday near a police station, 40 kilometres west of Mazar-e Sharif, near the village of Gurgi Tappeh.

Soldiers in the patrol have confirmed that their attacker was dressed in an Afghan police officer's uniform. His identity is the subject of the military police investigation.

TT

The Local | Sweden

Happy 75th, Chevy Suburban

Whether hauling old water heaters or young hockey players, the Chevrolet Suburban has been a distinctly American form of personal transportation for three-quarters of a century. To put that in perspective, when the first Suburban rolled off the assembly line, the Hoover Dam had just been built and Larry King had been through just one divorce.

First debuting in 1935 amid the Great Depression and Dust Bowl exodus, the vehicle then known as the Suburban Carryall holds the distinction of being the longest-continuously-produced vehicle model in the United States. As much as we think SUVs are for the most part a blight upon the landscape, we’ve got to tip our collective hat to the Suburban for its longevity.

Much like the SUVs that followed in its oversized treadmarks, the ‘35 Suburban had a frame borrowed from a commercial truck, and seating for eight that easily converted to a huge cargo area. About the only things a modern soccer mom would miss are LCD screens in the headrests and McDonald’s fries ground into the carpet. That, and the lack of power steering, which would make it even harder to pull into a parking space with a phone in one hand and a Super Venti Whipped Mocha coffee-like beverage in the other.

As America’s suburbs — like its residents — expanded, so did their namesake vehicle, becoming popular with both professionals and families. The current Suburban seats nine — even if we usually see them carrying one — and can tow 9,600 lbs with the 6-liter V-8 under the hood.

To mark the festive occasion, a special 75th Anniversary Diamond Edition comes with all the gewgaws like rearview cameras, parking assist, satellite radio and adjustable pedals. It’s finished in White Diamond Tricote, whatever that is, and GM says it has a cashmere interior, though we’ve got to believe that refers to the color, not the material. If it’s really cashmere, we now know where a sizable chunk of the bailout went.

Our personal favorite Suburbans are the iconic C/K models that were built from 1973 through 1991, which were as ubiquitous in family-oriented neighborhoods as Big Wheels and adultery. If you lived on a street that ended in a cul-de-sac, chances are at least one of your neighbors had one of these in two-tone paint with pinstripes, and three bench seats full of rugrats. Kids whose moms drove K-cars got wedgies, but kids whose moms drove Suburbans gave wedgies.

Photos: General Motors

Wired

Paperchase forced to deny it copied artist's work after Twitter backlash

By Chris Green

A British artist has accused the stationery chain Paperchase of copying one of her designs and reproducing it on thousands of bags, notebooks and albums without her permission.

The artist, who calls herself Hidden Eloise, sells illustrations through the online shop Etsy, many of which feature a picture of a girl with long dark hair. On a blog post on her website, the 28-year-old, from London, claimed that her design had been redrawn and used on numerous Paperchase products.

“My lovely girl from the artwork...has been stolen, badly traced and stuck in front of a poor (and separately traced) mushroom that now decorates untold numbers of notebooks, albums and tote bags sold throughout the UK through Paperchase and Amazon.co.uk,” she wrote.

She found out about the alleged plagiarism through a friend, who had noticed the design adorning a Paperchase bag. When she contacted the company, they denied any copyright infringement and refused to stop selling the products, which include diaries and albums.

Hidden Eloise, who said she was unable to afford a lawyer to fight her case in the courts, added: “Thank you Paperchase for making a killing out of my hard work! And an especially strong, bone-crackling bear hug to the anonymous designer that badly traced my art and then denied it!”

This morning, her blog post began to generate interest on the social networking website Twitter after it was noted by the British science fiction author Neil Gaiman, who has 1.4 million followers. By lunchtime, “Paperchase” had become one of Twitter’s top 10 trending topics – a sign that lots of people were discussing it.

Hidden Eloise encouraged her online friends to express their dissatisfaction by emailing Paperchase or by posting negative comments underneath the products listed on Amazon.co.uk. Many of them obliged.

Jane Doe wrote: “Utterly despicable not only that Paperchase would steal Eloise’s work, but that when confronted about it have denied there’s any similarity and resorted to bullying, knowing they’re the big company. Will not be buying Paperchase’s products in the future and would advise anyone who cares about the rights of artists to do the same”.

David Evans wrote: “Don’t buy this product – the design is stolen from an independent artist. Shame on Paperchase for not answering her calls to stop selling this obviously plundered design! Disgraceful!”

A spokesman for Paperchase said the company had bought the design in October 2008 from a “well-known central London design studio” which had “categorically denied any plagiarism”. He refused to name the design studio in question.

He also criticised the way that the “cock-eyed” allegations had spread “like wildfire” over Twitter: “We’ve had the most unbelievable amount of emails this afternoon of extraordinary vitriol – and we haven’t actually done anything wrong. It must have damaged people’s perception of us”.

Paperchase has temporarily suspended the sale of products featuring the design while it investigates the claims for a second time.

The Independent

Aurora water officials push for three-day lawn restrictions

By SARA CASTELLANOS

The Aurora Sentinel

AURORA | Residents in Aurora may water their lawns up to three days per week at their discretion this year, members of the Water Policy Committee said at a meeting Feb. 9.

The committee will recommend to the Aurora City Council that this year’s water schedule restriction should be the same as last year’s, with residents being able to pick which days they can water their lawns provided they don’t water more than three days per week.

“We like the three-day-a-week as a suggestion because it’s voluntary, (residents) get to pick the time, they get to rotate their schedule so it fits their lifestyle and it doesn’t adhere to a strict calendar,” said Greg Baker, spokesman for the Aurora Water Department.

Watering your lawn more than three times a week isn’t recommended, Baker says.

“To water more than three days a week is actually wasteful because your lawn doesn’t need that much water on it,” he said. “It discourages deep root growth which, in the long term, can actually be detrimental to your lawn”.

Baker says the restriction could tighten depending on weather conditions or if there is a drought.

The Water Policy Committee is slated to make their recommendation to city council members at a study session on Feb. 22.

The Aurora Sentinel

Cold wave hits festival travelers

By Xin Dingding in Beijing and Sun Runsheng in Taiyuan (China Daily)

Highways, airport closures disrupt Chinese New Year trips

Heavy snow and rain forced at least 30 highways in northern China to shut yesterday, affecting millions of travelers as they headed home for the Spring Festival holiday that starts this weekend.

Blizzards are set to hit more areas today and traffic could worsen, meteorologists forecast.

The country's transport system yesterday faced its busiest time of the year, as 65 million people took long-distance buses or ships and 5.2 million people took trains.

But the Ministry of Transport said the heavy snow caused nationwide expressway closures by yesterday morning.

Traffic police shut 35 highways in parts of the northern provinces after ice covered road surfaces and left thousands of vehicles stranded.

Heavy snowfall hit northern provinces including Shaanxi and Shanxi, dumping snow up to 4 cm high in some areas to disrupt air and ground travel.

Snowfall that started on Tuesday night closed down six expressways in Shanxi, halting inter-provincial bus services and stranding thousands of passengers at a coach terminal in provincial capital Taiyuan by noon yesterday.

"The terminal was closed at 5:40 am and all the stranded passengers had their fares refunded," said Li Zhigang, manager of the terminal.

He did not know when the coach service could resume operations.

Snowstorms also stranded eight passengers in two cars that heading toward Taiyuan but were later lost on a mountainous road.

After receiving calls for help at midnight, police officers rescued the eight passengers, including a Canadian Chinese, back to Taiyuan at 5 am yesterday.

Snow that started falling in the northern province on Tuesday also intensified during the night, forcing Taiyuan Airport to close at 2:30 am yesterday. At least two incoming flights had to stop over in Beijing, airport official Fan Zhifeng said.

Fan said the airport reopened at 7 am and allowed the first direct flight from Taiyuan to Taipei to take off on time.

In Handan of Hebei province, cars were reportedly stranded on the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway for five hours yesterday morning. The inclement weather also led to numerous minor traffic accidents.

"I witnessed at least five traffic accidents along the way. It is too slippery to drive safely, even at a slow speed," said Ye Haiying, who had been driving on the expressway since Tuesday night.

Ye had started driving on the road on Tuesday night to try and avoid traffic in the daytime.

"I was stuck in traffic on the expressway for five hours, from 2:30 am instead. It was really frustrating," she said.

The snow and ice also forced Zhengzhou Xinzheng International airport in the capital of Henan province to shut yesterday. China Southern canceled all its flights from Beijing to Zhengzhou after 3 pm.

Flights in provinces including Hunan and Shandong were also delayed due to heavy fog and snowfall.

Parts of north, central and east provinces, including Gansu, Henan, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu, are all expected to experience heavy snow.

Meteorologists have forecast the cold snap to move with full force toward the south, bringing more snow and rain to more areas.

Rain is also likely to hit south China and cause a temperature drop of 10 C, the China Meteorological Administration forecast.

"In the past few days, some areas to the south of Yangtze River had really nice weather, when the temperature was up to more than 20 C. But in the two days before Spring Festival, the southern part will experience temperatures below 10 C," said Bai Xueying, a meteorological analyst with the administration.

Blizzards also hit parts of the Tibet autonomous region since Monday.

As of Tuesday night, the region's Ngari prefecture reported 21.7 mm of precipitation and fresh snow on the ground measured 23 cm.

The Spring Festival rush for home peaked yesterday, with an estimated 5.2 million passenger trips by railway alone. About 210 million train trips are expected to be made before and after the major holiday.

Railway authorities said trains will slow down when fresh snow measures 40 cm and train services will be halted once the snow exceeds 50 cm.

Xing Yu and Xinhua contributed to the story

China Daily

British fashion icon Alexander McQueen commits suicide days after death of his beloved mother

By REBECCA CAMBER and SARA NATHAN

British fashion designer Alexander McQueen has been found dead after taking his own life.

The 40-year-old committed suicide just days after the death of his beloved mother, Joyce, last Tuesday.

It is also just three years since his close friend, Isabella Blow - who plucked him from obscurity and helped him become a star - killed herself.

McQueen, who was christened Lee but used his middle name for his label, was found at his luxury flat in Mayfair, central London. It is believed he hanged himself.

One of his contemporary lines, McQ, was scheduled to be shown at New York Fashion Week this afternoon.

His design company said in a statement: 'On behalf of Lee McQueen's family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand, has been found dead at his home.

'At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee's family.

'Lee's family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this'.

Two police officers were outside the entrance to his flat, which is in a six-storey red-brick building, this afternoon.

Scotland Yard said police were called to the property by the London Ambulance Service at 10.20am after reports a man had been found dead. 

A police statement said: 'Next of kin have been informed, however we await formal identification. A post mortem will be scheduled in due course, an inquest will open and adjourn in due course. The death is being treated as non suspicious'.

Openly gay, McQueen once described himself as the 'pink sheep of the family'. 

He once said: 'I was sure of myself and my sexuality and I've got nothing to hide. I went straight from my mother's womb onto the gay parade'.

The designer married his partner, film-maker George Forsyth in 2000 on a yacht owned by the prince of Gambia in Ibiza. Close friend Kate Moss was a bridesmaid.

McQueen was very close to his mother, a genealogist, and took her death very badly.

She had interviewed her son for a newspaper in 2004 and asked him: 'What is your most terrifying fear?', to which he replied: 'Dying before you.' She said: 'Thank you, son'.

Posts on his Twitter page reveal he had been battling to cope with his grief. 

On February 3rd, he wrote: 'I'm letting my followers know the my mother passed away yesterday if it she had not me nor would you RIP mumxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx... 

Moments later, he added: 'But life must go on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Then on Sunday, he said: 'Sunday evening been a ****ing awful week but my friends have been great but now i have to some how pull myself together and finish with the HELLS ANGLES & PROLIFIC DEAMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

He appeared to have recovered slightly by this week. His final message, posted on Tuesday, said: 'I'm here with my girl annie tinkerbell wishing kerry the ****,happy birthday in NY, your 40 now girl time to slow it down we think'.

However, posts before his mother died also hint that he was having troubles. On February 1st, he wrote: 'From heaven to hell and back again, life is a funny thing. beauty can come from the most strangest of places even the most disgusting places'.

Within minutes of the Mail breaking the news of his death this afternoon, Twitter was awash with thousands of stunned posts.

Leading lights of the fashion world also began to pay tribute. 

Alexandra Shulman, editor of Vogue, said: 'Lee McQueen influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs.

'At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn't'.

Sue Whiteley his former CEO at McQueen said: 'This is devastating news. He was an unforgettable part of my life. He was a talent who was beyond others. People who worked with him would give 100 per cent and more because he was totally inspiring. This is an unimaginable loss for the fashion world.

'He was able to bring creativity to whatever he turns his hand to, from perfume bottles to every piece of clothing. It is a dark, dark day to hear this news. he was a British icon in fashion whose loss is unimaginable'.

Designer Katherine Hamnett said: 'He was a genius. What a terrible, tragic waste'.

Born in the East End and the son of a taxi driver, McQueen got his training in tailoring in Savile Row, eventually making suits for Prince Charles, and won the distinction of being named British designer of the year four times between 1996 and 2003.

He went on to be awarded the CBE, as well as being named International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designer Awards.

McQueen became the 'enfant terrible' of the fashion world after he was famously discovered by Isabella Blow, who was fashion director of Tatler.

She bought all the clothes he made for his graduate show for £5,000 and they were delivered to her in black binliners. 

Miss Blow killed herself in May 2007 after taking an overdose of weed killer after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She had attempted suicide several times by then.

McQueen was forced to deny rumours of a rift between the pair at the time of her death, saying: ‘It’s so much b******s. These people just don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t know me. They don’t know my relationship with Isabella. It’s complete bull****. 

'People can talk; you can ask her sisters.… That part of the industry, they should stay away from my life, or mine and Isabella’s life. What I had with Isabella was completely disassociated from fashion, beyond fashion’.

McQueen was so distraught by Isabella’s death that he dedicated his spring summer 2008 show at Paris fashion week to his late friend.

The invites to the show were poster-size illustrations Richard Gray. It depicts a triumphant Blow, in a McQueen dress and a Philip Treacy headdress, in a horse-drawn carriage ascending to heaven.

Miss Blow had said: 'My relationship with McQueen began in 1994, when I went to a Saint Martins graduate show. I couldn't get a seat, so I sat on the stairs and I was just watching, when I suddenly thought: I really like those clothes, they are amazing. It was his first collection.

‘It was the tailoring and the movement which initially drew me to them. I tried to get hold of him and I kept calling his mother, but he was on holiday.

She kept saying: 'He's not here, he's not here.' She told him: 'This crazy person is trying to get hold of you.' I eventually got to meet him and I decided to buy the collection: I bought one thing a month and paid him £100 a week. He'd bring an outfit in a bin liner, I'd look at it and then he'd come to the cashpoint with me’.

The designer was the youngest of six children. He left school at 16 and went to work at Savile Row’s Anderson & Sheppard, whose clients included Prince Charles and Mikhail Gorbachev, after he saw a television program about the apprentice shortage in traditional tailoring.

He went on to work for Gieves & Hawkes, theatre’s famous Angels & Bermans costumiers, and then worked in Japan and Italy.

He returned to London in 1994, hoping to work as a pattern cutter tutor at London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins fashion school. Thanks to the strength, of his portfolio he was persuaded to enrol in the course himself.

After graduating McQueen set up his own label based in the East End of London. 

With the launch of his 'bumsters' trousers with a waistband so low that the buttocks are revealed, McQueen made his label famous through tabloid headlines.

He went on to be named head designer at Givenchy in 1996, succeeding John Galliano, before joining forces with Gucci, who bought 51 per cent of his company.

Daily Mail