General News

Sven Mary has earned the nickname "avocat des crapules" ("scumbag's lawyer") from his work defending a series of notorious criminals in Belgium.

But now his profile is set to go international through his latest client - Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.

Mr Mary was once a youth footballer at top Belgian side Anderlecht before suffering an injury and it would appear he has channelled the same competitive spirit needed in professional sport into his new vocation.

"If someone is described as public enemy number one, I want to fight that abuse of authority," Belgian paper Metro quoted him as saying.

And few would accuse him of shying away from a fight. He had to repeat the first year of his law degree three times but went on to be regarded as one of Belgium's best legal professionals.

Former clients include Fouad Belkacem, who led the Sharia4Belgium group and was convicted of sending jihadists to fight in Syria.

He has also defended Michel Lelievre, an accomplice of Belgian serial killer and paedophile Marc Dutroux.

Mr Mary suggested as far back as in January he would be prepared to represent Abdeslam, after he was contacted by someone close to him while still on the run, Le Soir reported.

The fugitive was finally captured in a dramatic raid in Brussels last week and is now fighting extradition to France.

Abdeslam does not deny his presence at the brutal Paris attacks last November. Indeed, Mr Mary told L'Express he would be "bothered" by having to defend such a line - and was not prepared to do so.

Instead Mr Mary has focused on procedure, accusing the Belgian foreign minister of political interference and the French authorities of legal overreach by seeking his client's extradition.

"We have to stop kneeling, to stop this guilt complex that seems to exist in Belgium over the attacks in France," the lawyer told La Derniere Heure newspaper.

He has also said he will sue French prosecutor Francois Molins after the official revealed that Abdeslam said he had abandoned plans to blow himself up during the attacks, something Mr Mary said was a violation of judicial confidentiality.

Despite this Mr Mary said his client was co-operating with the authorities and that there "is no single reason that he won't go to France".

Salah Abdeslam's luck runs out

Is Molenbeek a haven for Belgian jihadis?

What happened during the Paris attacks?

Who were the Paris attackers?

The Belgian will not be the first or last lawyer to be accused of lacking principles. But is "avocat des crapules" fair?

His actions do not fit a template. He has acted for the victim of a horrendous sulphuric acid attack and has said he will not represent members of the extreme right.

All defendants have the right to an advocate, however abhorrent their crimes may be - it is an essential part of a fair trial.

Not everyone believes he is just a man doing his job of course. Comments on social media have labelled him "inhuman" and "callous", and of cynically exploiting a tragedy for his own publicity.

Mr Mary says he is motivated by "the fight against impunity and the abuse of power".

"Do you remember the live press conferences by the federal prosecutors in the days, and even nights, after the attacks?" he told Le Soir.

"I was sickened by the way by the way they exploited fear just to gain more power."

Source: bbc.com

A machine that can "unboil" protein-rich egg whites, winning an Ig Nobel Prize in 2015, may also have important medical applications, its inventor says.

Prof Colin Raston, a chemist from Flinders University in South Australia, has discovered that his Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD) can also slice tiny carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to uniform length with unprecedented precision.

Individual CNTs, which are just a few nanometres in diameter or about the width of a small virus, have incredible properties - they are 200 times stronger than steel yet five times more flexible, and conduct electricity five times more efficiently than copper wires.

But an inability to consistently create nanotubes with uniform lengths and properties has been one of several obstacles that has frustrated scientists' efforts to harness these materials, which can be used for highly targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy.

"When you make CNTs normally, they're entangled - it's like a bowl of spaghetti. They're all stuck together and they're different lengths," Prof Raston told the BBC.

Shortening them currently requires toxic chemicals, which can chemically alter the surface of the CNTs, changing their properties and limiting their functionality.

Prof Raston's VFD, which mixes fluids inside a rapidly spinning glass tube, could offer a cleaner, faster alternative for cutting CNTs down to size, also opening up applications for electronics.

"What our device does is untangle the carbon nanotubes and then slices them, so you overcome two problems in one go," he says.

Carbon nanotubes resemble a "bowl of spaghetti" when created and must be cut down to size

Using just water, a liquid solvent, and a laser, his team was able to consistently produce CNTs with an average length of 170 nanometres, without degrading their properties. The results were published in Nature's Scientific Reports.

"It's one of highest tensile strength materials, and yet you put it in a liquid, and you spin it in a special way and with a laser you can cut it down," he says.

Prof Raston says his sliced CNTs are small enough for drug-delivery vehicles, and could also improve the efficiency of solar cells.

Eureka moment

The idea for the VFD was conceived on a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney in 2010. Prof Raston wanted a small machine to use for continuous flow processing, a type of manufacturing where chemical reactions take place between fluids mixing inside a tube.

"It was a eureka moment," recalls Prof Raston. "I came up with the idea for the device, and I drew the plans on the plane."

The VFD has what looks like a glass test tube, about 20mm in diameter, tilted at a 45 degree angle. This tube is spun at very high speeds, up to 9,000 revolutions per minute.

"While you're spinning it, you actually add liquid to the bottom of the tube through stainless steel jet feeds," explains Prof Raston. "The speed of the spinning tube coupled with the incoming flow creates intense, highly dynamic micro-mixing."

This mechanical energy means the machine can create bio-diesel without adding any heat, and can also unravel and correctly fold proteins, he says.

Prof Raston and his colleagues demonstrated protein unravelling by successfully unboiling an egg, reverting gelatinous whites back into liquid form. It was an achievement that in 2015 earned the research team an Ig Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobels honour scientific research that seems unusual or funny at first glance but on closer inspection has merit.

That same protein-folding mechanical energy is what enables the device to manipulate CNTs: "Because of the complex way the liquid moves it has intense shear [force], and therefore it bends the nanotube," says Prof Raston.

This creates a kink in the structure - with the nanotube bent, his team added vibrational energy, using a near-infrared laser to slice through the weakened kink where the tube was folded.

Like a washing machine

Assoc Prof John Stride from the University of New South Wales in Sydney is an expert in carbon nanostructures, and says "if the researchers can reliably slice the CNTs 'to order' then this is a real advance".

"Anything that allows us to control and manipulate these nano-objects will be of use in developing applications," he says.

"The beauty of the approach is the relative low-tech aspect of it essentially being a spinning column of liquid that does the initial work… with a near-infrared laser providing the energy to cut the tubes.

"It's almost like laundry in the washing machine being spun out… it's very simple to picture what's happening, but of course that's occurring on the molecular scale, which is really quite intriguing."

Prof Stride also says that, if they're proven to be inert, shortened CNTs may provide an "effective mechanism for drug delivery to the inner cell region".

"It's a nice finding. I don't think it will completely revolutionise carbon nanotube research, but it's a significant advance in the field."

Source: bbc.com

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has revealed the first members of his foreign policy team.

The advisers include academics and former military officers with expertise on the Middle East and energy issues.

Mr Trump told the Washington Post that he would name more advisers in the coming days.

Several of his advisers have served as experts for other Republican presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney and Ben Carson.

On Monday, Mr Trump named retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Walid Phares and retired Gen Joseph Schmitz.

The team is led by Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama who has helped shape Mr Trump's policies, most notably on immigration.

Mr Trump has come under criticism in recent days over his policy credentials. When cable news network MSNBC asked him who was advising him on policy, Mr Trump named himself.

Analysis: Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter

Donald Trump recently boasted he was his own top adviser on foreign policy matters, noting that he had a "good instinct for this stuff".

After more than a month of hints and promises, however, the Republican presidential front-runner has announced who else has his ear on international affairs.

The names are hardly a who's who in the Republican foreign policy firmament - which could be good or bad news depending on one's perspective.

Mr Trump's positions on trade deals and military intervention put him decidedly outside the Republican Party establishment, and this list of advisers will do little to change that perception.

If Republicans hoped they could bend Mr Trump to party orthodoxy, this may be their latest Trump-related miscalculation.

While some of his team are not well known in Republican academic circles, others are seen as controversial figures.

Gen Joseph Schmitz resigned from the military in 2005 amid accusations of misconduct. However, Mr Schmitz was never charged with wrongdoing.

Another adviser, Walid Phares, was criticised when he was named as part of Mr Romney's foreign policy team in 2011.

Muslim advocacy groups took issue with Mr Phares's close ties to right-wing Christian militia groups during the Lebanese civil war.

He is an outspoken critic of Sharia, or Islamic religious law, and has appeared on Fox News and other conservative media outlets as an expert on the Middle East.

More on the US presidential race

Jorge Ramos on Donald Trump's rise - Meet the Republican front-runner's nemesis

Who is funding the US election? - Money is a big issue in the 2016 US presidential race

Could Hillary Clinton face jail time? - The case of David Petraeus may signal how she will fare

George Papadopoulos recently served as an adviser to Mr Carson, who dropped out of the race in February. Mr Papadopoulos has worked as a consultant for energy companies in the Middle East.

Also on Monday, Mr Trump told the BBC's Gary O'Donoghue that he believes the UK may leave the European Union when a referendum is held in June.

"I think they may leave it based on everything," Mr Trump said. "I have a lot of investments in the UK, and I will tell you I think they may leave based on everything I'm hearing."

He also said the US should spend less money on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).

"We are paying disproportionately," he told CNN. "It's too much and frankly it's a different world than it was when we originally conceived of the idea."

More on the advisers:

Retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg

• Served under Coalition Provisional Authority leader Paul Bremer during the Iraq war
• Vice-president at defence contractor CACI International

Carter Page

• Long time energy industry executive
• Expert on the Caspian Sea region and economic development in former Soviet states

George Papadopoulos

• Director of the London-based Center for International Energy and Natural Resources Law & Security
• Research fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank

Walid Phares

• Professor at National Defense University
• Adviser to members of Congress

Retired Gen Joseph Schmitz

• Former inspector general at the Defense Department
• Former executive at defence contractor Blackwater

Source: bbc.com

The FBI says it may have found a way to unlock the San Bernardino attacker's iPhone without Apple's assistance.

A court hearing with Apple scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed at the request of the US Justice Department (DOJ), Apple has confirmed.

The DOJ had ordered Apple to help unlock the phone used by San Bernardino gunman Rizwan Farook.

But Apple has continued to fight the order, saying it would set a "dangerous precedent".

Rizwan Farook and his wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December before police fatally shot them.

UN human rights chief backs Apple

Apple boss hits back at FBI conduct

McAfee offers to unlock iPhone for FBI

Analysis: Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter

Ever since this issue arose, security experts have been saying "surely the FBI can do this themselves?" Well, maybe now they can.

An "outside party" - you'd assume a security company, but we don't know for sure - has approached the FBI and said it could unlock the phone.

If they can do it, the court case is irrelevant. The FBI gets what they need. But if it doesn't work, we'll find ourselves back here to resume the trial.

Apple's legal team told reporters it wasn't treating it as a legal victory. The issue still looms large over the company. If the FBI has found a way, who's to say it'll always work? Apple will, as any software maker would, frantically try and fix the flaw. After all - if the FBI can do it, so can any other hacker privy to the same information.

If this method works, then what? With each new iteration of iOS, Apple could find itself back in court.

The technology industry, led by Apple, has called for the matter to be debated in Congress. This case may be on the brink of going away, but the debate is just starting.

Prosecutors said "an outside party" had demonstrated a possible way of unlocking the iPhone without the need to seek Apple's help.

"Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone," a court filing said.

"If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple."

DOJ spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement that the government was "cautiously optimistic" that the possible method to unlock the phone would work.

The government said it would update the court on 5 April.

Attorneys for Apple told reporters that the firm had no idea what method the FBI was exploring to try to unlock the phone.

They said they hoped that the government would share with Apple any vulnerabilities of the iPhone that might come to light.

The FBI says Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik were inspired by so-called Islamic State and that the encrypted iPhone may contain crucial evidence.

It wants to access the data but the device can only be unlocked by entering the correct passcode.

Guessing the code incorrectly too many times could permanently delete all data on the phone, so the FBI had asked Apple to develop a new version of its operating system that circumvents some of its security features.

Last month the DOJ obtained a court order directing Apple to create that software,

But Apple has fought back, stating that creating a compromised version of the operating system would have security implications for millions of iPhone users and would set a precedent.

The company has received support from other tech giants including, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, as it resisted a court order to unlock the iPhone.

Source: bbc.com

Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama sparred over human rights issues including the American prison at Guantanamo Bay and Cuba's political prisoners.

At a historic news conference, Mr Castro said if he was given a list of political prisoners, he would "release them tonight".

The White House has said it has given Cuba lists of dissidents in the past.

Mr Castro does not view the prisoners as dissidents, US officials said.

That disagreement is central to the conflict between US and Cuban officials.

More needs to be done to lift the US embargo on trade with Cuba, Mr Castro said, adding that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp must close.

Mr Obama, the first serving US president to visit Cuba since 1959, said the trade embargo would be fully lifted.

"Cuba's destiny will not be decided by the United States or any other nation... The future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans not by anybody else," Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were later welcomed at a state dinner, along with some members of US Congress and senior White House staff.

The Failde Youth Band entertained the guests, who dined on shrimp mousse, cream soup flavoured with rum, and traditional pork with rice and plantain chips. Waiters passed round Cuban cigars after dinner.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Castro defended Cuba's record on human rights and pointed to problems in the US.

"We defend human rights, in our view civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are indivisible, inter-dependent and universal," Mr Castro said.

Mr Castro is not usually subject to any aggressive questioning from reporters and called the prisoners question "not polite", later ending the news conference by saying "I think this is enough".

"Actually we find it inconceivable that a government does not defend and ensure the right to healthcare, education, social security, food provision and development," he said.

Speaking to ABC News after the conference with Mr Castro, Mr Obama did not directly say he would be giving Mr Castro a list of political prisoners.

"We have given them a lists in the past and they have responded intermittently to our engagement," he said. "And this I think is an example of why it was my belief that this would be a more successful mechanism for us to advance the values that we care about than an embargo and silence and no communications."

Analysis: Tara McKelvey, BBC White House Reporter

President Obama and his aides hoped that the Cuban President, Raul Castro, would approach the news conference with an open mind.

The White House officials also hoped that Mr Castro would be receptive to new ideas and to new ways of doing things. Specifically, the US officials hoped that he'd take questions from reporters. Surprisingly enough, he did, marking a departure from his past.

The two men joked around during the question-and-answer period, and they worked out some of their differences. When one of Mr Castro's aides interrupted his boss during the conference, for example, Mr Obama looked annoyed. But he and Mr Castro moved on, talking about the future of Cuba.

In a similar way, Mr Obama and his aides hope they can overcome other issues, including difficult ones such as human rights, as they forge a new relationship between the two countries.

Mr Obama could not say exactly when the trade embargo would be lifted, but recognised it was necessary.

"The reason is what we did for 50 years did not serve our interests or the interests of the Cuban people," he said.

His administration has done what it can on lifting trade restrictions, he said, but further action will require Congress which is "not as productive in an election year".

He also said further easing of the trade embargo will depend on actions Cuba takes on human rights.

More on Mr Obama's visit to Cuba

Mr Castro and Mr Obama were congenial but had some disagreements about human rights

Six sticking points to better relations - Guantanamo Bay, human rights and media freedoms are among the unresolved issues

Cuba's DIY economy - A new generation of Cuban entrepreneurs are launching private businesses

Internet access still restricted in Cuba - Only about 5% of Cubans have web access at home

Mr Obama said it is not just Cuba that the US has "deep disagreements" about human rights with - it also has disagreements with China and Vietnam.

"I believe if I engage frankly, clearly, stating our beliefs but I can't force change on any country - it ultimately has to come from within - that is a more useful strategy," he said. "I have faith in people".

Reporters described the press conference as "tense" and "remarkable".

Karla Olivares, an independent journalist from Cuba, told the BBC's Tara McKelvey Mr Castro "talked more than usual" and the claim that Cuba does not have any political prisoners "complicated".

Before the speech, it was announced that Google was opening an online technology centre for free Internet access at much higher speeds than what is available on the island now.

Google hopes the centre will be part of a larger effort to improve Internet access in Cuba.

Source: bbc.com

A passenger jet has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don killing all 55 passengers and six crew on board, officials say.

The FlyDubai Boeing 737-800, coming from Dubai, missed the runway as it attempted to land at 03:50 local time (00:50 GMT) on Saturday.

It is not clear what caused the crash but poor visibility and high winds are being considered as a factor.

There were reports of a fire or an explosion on board.

Most of the passengers on board flight FZ981 were Russian, the regional governor said on television.

Another official said three foreigners were on the passenger list, Reuters reported, but this has not been confirmed.

About 700 rescue workers are at the site of the crash and the fire has been extinguished, media reports say.

Other flights have been diverted away from the airport.

A CCTV video showed what appeared to be a plane landing at the airport before being engulfed in a huge fire. Its authenticity has not been verified.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the airliner confirmed the "tragic accident" and said an emergency response has been put in place.

Boeing said on Twitter its team was working to gather more details.

FlyDubai, a low cost carrier launched in 2009 with a hub in Dubai, operates flights to some 90 destinations.

Source: bbc.com

EU leaders have agreed a joint position to put to Turkey in an attempt to reach a deal over the migrant crisis, Luxembourg's prime minster says.

Xavier Bettel said the common EU position would be put to Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday morning.

The proposed deal would see all migrants travelling to Greece from Turkey sent back.

In return it is thought the EU might offer Turkey financial aid and visa-free access to Schengen countries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Turkey had to meet international standards of protection for all migrants, Reuters reports.

She said that legal resettlement of Syrian refugees from Turkey to the EU under the deal could start a few days after the first returns from Greece.

However, she added that the EU needed to be ready to start returning migrants from Greece to Turkey rapidly to avoid a "pull factor" creating a surge of migrants before the new system takes effect.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has warned that the plan to return people to Turkey is "on the edge of international law" and difficult to implement.

Mr Davutoglu has said he will not accept Turkey becoming an "open prison" for migrants.

To meet concerns over the plan's legality, the leaders discussed providing assurances that each person claiming asylum will be given a full hearing in Greece, the BBC's Damian Grammaticas reports from Brussels.

• Obstacles in way of migrant deal
• Turkey has EU over a barrel
• Could Turkey carry out the migrant plan?
• Crisis explained in seven charts
• Key migrant crisis questions answered
• Have previous EU migrant deals delivered?

French President Francois Hollande warned that "I cannot guarantee that there will be a happy outcome" to the search for a solution.

Since January 2015, a million migrants and refugees have entered the EU by boat from Turkey to Greece. More than 132,000 have arrived this year alone.

Tens of thousands are now stuck in Greece as their route north has been blocked.

Under initial proposals, for each Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, a different Syrian would be resettled in the EU directly from the country.

In return, the EU had suggested it would double financial aid to Turkey promised last year, make a fresh push on talks over Turkey's eventual membership of the EU and offer visa-free travel to Europe's Schengen states.

However, those proposals have since been watered down, lowering expectation on greater financial help and talks on EU membership and linking visa-free travel to 72 conditions to which Turkey must agree.

A number of EU countries have raised concerns about what is on offer to Turkey amid a clampdown by the Ankara government on academics and journalists.

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

Source: bbc.com

EU leaders are to meet to finalise a deal with Turkey to help ease the migrant crisis.

European Council President Donald Tusk admits a "catalogue of issues" in the way of an agreement remains unresolved.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to join the summit on Friday.

The proposed plan would see all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey sent back. For each Syrian returned, a Syrian in Turkey would be resettled in the EU.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have travelled through Macedonia over the past year, heading north, the vast majority of them arriving after making the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey.

• Could Turkey carry out the migrant plan?
• Doubts over EU-Turkey deal
• Crisis explained in seven charts
• Key migrant crisis questions answered
• Have previous EU migrant deals delivered?

No 'cast-iron' incentives

At a meeting last week where the plan was initially proposed, EU leaders said that in return for action on the migrant crisis, visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens would be available from June.

They also promised to speed up financial aid promised last year and to make a fresh push on talks over Turkey's eventual membership of the EU.

However, in the latest draft of the deal the incentives being offered to the Turkish government appear to be far less cast-iron than Ankara would like, the BBC's Chris Morris reports from Brussels.

There is no guarantee that Turkey's EU membership bid will be speeded up - only a commitment to prepare for further negotiations as soon as possible.

Secondly, visa-free travel to the Schengen area for Turkish citizens by the end of June will depend on Turkey complying with all 72 conditions that the EU has set out.

Finally, there's no certainty that financial aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey will be doubled to €6bn - only a promise to consider it, if the first tranche of money produces positive results.

In addition to these points of potential disagreement, there is continuing criticism of the legal basis for the idea of returning all irregular migrants from Greece to Turkey, our correspondent adds.

The Spanish foreign minister has said Spain will oppose the "blanket return" of refugees to Turkey.

Despite the obstacles, the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said ahead of the summit that he was "cautiously optimistic" a deal could be reached.

Meanwhile UK Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to warn the summit of a possibility of a fresh wave of migrants coming to Europe from Libya this summer.

Although recent attention has been focused on migrants arriving in Greece, the sea route to Italy from Libya has also been a key route for migrants including refugees fleeing conflicts and oppression in Syria, Eritrea and other countries.

Libya has suffered from chronic instability and lawlessness since forces backed by Nato countries including the UK and France overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

Last week, US President Barack Obama suggested Mr Cameron had become "distracted" in the aftermath of the intervention. "I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya's proximity, being invested in the follow-up," he said.

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

Source: bbc.com

In our series of letters from African journalists, Ghanaian writer Elizabeth Ohene reflects on Ghana's decision to remove visa requirements for citizens of all African countries.

After President John Dramani Mahama delivered his State of the Nation address two weeks ago, most of the discussions were on local and internal affairs, and this being an election year in the country, the debates were heated and will continue for a long time.

But hidden somewhere in the speech and lost in all the discussion was a major foreign affairs initiative which slipped by without media reporting or analysis and it seems likely people may have missed this completely.

Ghana's new visa-on-arrival policy for citizens of African Unity member states, to be introduced from July, only came to light after an announcement from the African Union.

Nationals from African countries complain loudly about the humiliations they go through to get visas for Europe and the United States but the process for African visas is often just as frustrating.

Anyone who has tried to cross borders on the African continent will have experienced the difficulties with travelling in Africa.

Air fares cost more than anywhere else and few roads or railways connect the countries to each other.

The immigration and police check points turn the journeys into veritable obstacle courses.

South Africa is one country where other Africans do not always receive a warm welcome

We no longer have to go through Europe to fly to each other's countries, but flight connections are so few and so random, you are tempted to resort to the old routes through Europe to go to the country next door.

However, this is nothing compared to the hassle one has to go through to get visas for another African country.

Business people trading in the continent felt frustrated in the past at spending weeks trying to get visas for each country.

They pointed out that once armed with a European Schengen visa, they could travel through many European countries and conduct business without hassle.

Pointless bureaucracies

Unsurprisingly Ecowas, the West African regional body established in 1975 was at the time considered an attractive union due to the introduction of visa-free travel among member states.

Continental organizations like the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), formed to foster cooperation between African states and its successor the African Union (AU), launched in 2002, have few passionate supporters these days in Ghana as they are seen as pointless bureaucracies that have no bearing on the lives of people.

President Mahama's policy could boost AU's significance once again.

African unity was taken very seriously here in Ghana. It was our first President, Kwame Nkrumah, who was the driving force behind the establishment of the OAU back in 1963.

During the struggle for independence, Ghana provided a place of refuge for many freedom fighters, especially from South Africa with many being given Ghanaian passports.

As countries gained independence, Ghanaians were dismayed to discover they were not particularly welcome in these countries.

In the early years of Ghana's independence, and before the establishment of Ecowas, there were visa exemptions for "persons of African descent" born in the neighbouring west African countries, and members of the Casablanca group, which consisted of Guinea, Tunisia, Mali, United Arab Republic, Morocco and Algeria.

But these arrangements were scrapped after the overthrow of President Nkrumah.

With the new visa policy, Ghanaians will be watching to see if the number of non-Ecowas African nationals coming to Ghana will rise.

We in Ghana have a reputation for restless feet and are always trying to find new destinations to get to.

Obtaining visas for travel is often the greatest obstacle to travel and any country that makes it easier for us to enter becomes very attractive.

Whilst many here will be feeling that Ghana is taking a lead in implementing an AU directive, there will be greater interest in knowing how many other African countries will be allowing Ghanaians to enter their countries on a visa-on arrival policy.

Source: bbc.com

The recent crash involving a Google self-driving car and a bus was "not a surprise", the US transport secretary has said.

Anthony Foxx told the BBC that accidents were inevitable, but that the emerging technology should not be compared "against perfection".

Nobody was hurt in the crash, but it was the first time Google's on-board computer has been blamed for causing a collision.

Secretary Foxx was attending the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas.

He announced that seven US cities - Austin, Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland and San Francisco - had reached the final stage of a competition to receive $40m in government funding for "smart" technologies.

Secretary Foxx agreed that smart technologies could put some people out of work.

"Driverless technology presents a lot of potential for disruption on a number of fronts," he said.

"It's unclear to me now exactly how that future unfolds."

Relative comparisons

Secretary Foxx is leading efforts to bring self-driving cars to US roads. The Obama administration has committed $4bn to that goal - which includes attempts to develop standardised regulations for autonomous cars across the entire country.

On the public perception of self-driving cars following the February Google crash, he said: "It's not a surprise that at some point there would be a crash of any technology that's on the road.

"But I would challenge one to look at the number of crashes that occurred on the same day that were the result of human behaviour."

"I think the question here isn't comparing the automated car against perfection, I think it's a relative comparison to what we have now on the roads which is you and I, and our eyeballs, and our brains."

One challenge would be to tackle the legal issue of responsibility when crashes occur - and whether the passenger should be liable, or, given that the computer was driving, the companies behind the software that failed.

"That's precisely the type of question that we're hoping over the next several months to provide feedback to both the states and the industry on."

Source: bbc.com

Western powers have condemned efforts by the Syrian government to set limits to the agenda of fresh peace talks starting on Monday.

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Saturday ruled out any discussion of presidential elections.

US Secretary of State John Kerry responded by accusing Damascus of "trying to disrupt the process".

The UN-led talks represent the first serious diplomatic intervention since Russia began air strikes in September.

At the Geneva talks, diplomats are hoping to build on the fragile and partial truce, which has reduced the level of violence in Syria since it came into effect at the end of February, notes the BBC's Bethany Bell.

But expectations for the talks are low, she adds.

Mr Kerry met foreign ministers from France, Germany and the UK in advance on Sunday.

A cessation of hostilities agreed by most participants in the conflict began late last month. It excludes so-called Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

The purpose of the partial and temporary truce was to enable the warring sides and their foreign backers to launch a fresh attempt to end the five-year conflict.

More on this story

The story of the conflict

What is a cessation of hostilities?

How Putin is succeeding in Syria

But the latest diplomatic row began when Mr Muallem said that any talk of a new presidential election was off the agenda. "This is an exclusive right of the Syrian people,'' he said.

The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said the pre-conditions could halt the talks before they had even started.

On Sunday Mr Kerry said Mr Muallem was "clearly trying to disrupt the process", adding that Syria's allies, Russia and Iran, had made clear "there must be a political transition and that we must have a presidential election at some time".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Syria's "provocations" were a "bad sign and did not reflect the spirit of the ceasefire".

On Sunday the HNC said it would push for an interim government in which President Bashar al-Assad and the current leadership would have no role.

The indirect talks in Geneva are mediated by the United Nations. UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has said he wants presidential elections to be held in the next 18 months.

The fate of President Assad has been one of the main stumbling blocks in previous talks. The last round collapsed in February without agreement.

More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and about 11 million people have been forced from their homes in five years of Syria's civil war, which began with an uprising against Mr Assad.

Government forces, supported by Russian air strikes, have made gains against rebel fighters in recent months.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed at least 16 people in a gun attack on a beach resort in southern Ivory Coast.

The attackers fired on beach-goers in Grand Bassam, about 40km (25 miles) from the commercial capital Abidjan.

The resort is popular with both locals and foreigners. Four of the dead were Westerners, including a French and a German national, officials say.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed the attack. The gunmen have been "neutralised", officials say.

Ivory Coast was once one of the most stable countries in West Africa.

However, a civil war broke out in 2002, pitting the mainly Muslim north against the largely Christian south. Since then, peace deals have alternated with renewed violence.

Analysis: Tomi Oladipo, BBC Africa security correspondent

The attack confirms the fears of the Ivorian government, which has attempted to beef up security, particularly in its northern border regions, to keep Islamist militants out.

Grand Bassam is all the way to the south on the Atlantic coast, though. That shows that the militants have not just crossed the border but they might have even have a greater presence in the country. It furthers prove the capacity of jihadists to blend into the public and strike soft targets.

This threat is spreading across West Africa. To halt it, regional governments would need to step up their act in policing, as well as gathering and acting on intelligence individually and collectively.

France, too, is likely to boost its military campaign to protect its vast and entrenched interests in its former colonies.

A witness to Sunday's attack told AFP news agency that "heavily armed men wearing balaclavas" had opened fire near the L'Etoile du Sud hotel, which was full of expats.

Fourteen of those killed were civilians and two were soldiers, officials say. Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko four of the civilians were Westerners, and included a French and a German national.

There is no word on the nationalities of the other victims. French President Francois Hollande condemned the "cowardly attack".

BBC regional reporter Maud Jullien says Ivory Coast has been identified as one of several countries in West Africa at risk of being targeted by Islamist militants.

AQIM claimed deadly attacks on luxury hotels in Mali in November and Burkina Faso in January.

The group, which has its origin in Algeria's civil war of the 1990s, has expanded across the Sahel regions south of the Sahara in recent years.

Source: bbc.com

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to bring terrorism "to its knees" after an attack in the capital Ankara that killed at least 34 people.

Mr Erdogan said the suicide car bomb would serve only to strengthen the resolve of Turkey's security forces.

The explosion, in Guven Park in the Kizilay district, a key transport hub, wounded at least 125 people.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala said an investigation would conclude on Monday and those responsible would be named.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but government sources are casting suspicion on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The Kurdish rebels have carried out a series of attacks on Turkish soil in recent months. The so-called Islamic State group has also targeted Ankara recently.

Mr Erdogan said in a statement that terror groups were targeting civilians because they were losing the battle against Turkish security forces.

Calling for national unity, he said Turkey would use its right to self-defence to prevent future attacks.

"Our people should not worry, the struggle against terrorism will for certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees," he said.

According to Turkey's state-run news agency, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has postponed a visit to Jordan following the bombing.

The United States condemned the attack. US State Department spokesman John Kirby said: "We reaffirm our strong partnership with our Nato ally Turkey in combating the shared threat of terrorism."

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned the attack, saying there was "no justification of such heinous acts of violence".

Turkey's pro-Kurdish political party issued a statement condemning the attack. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said it shares "the huge pain felt along with our citizens".

The HDP is frequently accused of being the political wing of the PKK, an accusation it denies, and of not speaking out against PKK violence.

The blast happened at about 18:40 (16:40 GMT) on Sunday and the area was evacuated in case of a second attack.

Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu told a news conference that 30 people were killed at the scene and four died later in hospital. Two of the dead are believed to be the attackers.

Mr Muezzinoglu said 125 people were being treated at several hospitals in Ankara, of whom 19 are in a critical condition.

Last month, a bomb attack on a military convoy in Ankara killed 28 people and wounded dozens more.

That bombing was claimed by a Kurdish militant group, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK). It said on its website that the attack was in retaliation for the policies of President Erdogan.

Turkey, however, blamed a Syrian national who was a member of another Kurdish group.

Last October, more than 100 people were killed in a double-suicide bombing at a Kurdish peace rally in Ankara.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul said three attacks in the Turkish capital in less than six months show the multiple security threats that Turkey now faces.

The country that was the stable corner of the Middle East and the West's crucial ally in a volatile region is now at a dangerous moment, he said.

Source: bbc.com

Turkish and EU leaders have gathered in Brussels for an emergency summit on tackling Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War Two.

The EU has pledged €3bn (£2.3bn; $3.3bn) to Turkey in return for housing migrants and stemming the flow.

Last year, more than a million entered the EU illegally by boat, travelling mainly from Turkey to Greece.

Some 13,000 are stranded on Greece's border with Macedonia as European states seek to restrict entry.

Nato is expanding its naval mission against people-smuggling in the Aegean Sea to cover Turkish and Greek territorial waters, and will also increase its co-operation with the EU's border agency Frontex in the region.

• Key migrant crisis questions answered
• Migrant crisis in numbers
• How different countries have been affected
• How previous EU migrant deals delivered
• Chris Morris asks if new summit can work

The UK has announced that the amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay will join naval vessels from Germany, Canada, Turkey and Greece in the area.

Migrants, many of them fleeing war zones in Syria and Iraq, continue to make the hazardous sea journey from Turkey to Greece's outer islands.

The human cost of the crisis was brought home again on Sunday when a boat capsized off Turkey with the loss of 25 lives.

EU states are divided over their response to the crisis with strains showing this year even in Germany and Sweden, seen as the countries most open to refugees.

Anti-migrant parties won a general election in Slovakia on Saturday which saw the far right gaining seats.

Turkish promise

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met their Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, at the Turkish embassy in Brussels late on Sunday to prepare for the summit.

The 28 EU states are expected to ask Turkey to take back thousands of migrants who do not qualify for asylum.

Last week, European Council President Donald Tusk said he had been told by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country was ready to take back all migrants apprehended in Turkish waters.

A draft summit statement seen by the Associated Press news agency pledges to "stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do its utmost to help manage the situation''.

"This is a collective EU responsibility requiring fast and efficient mobilisation," it adds.

More than 2,000 migrants continue to arrive daily in Greece from Turkey, hoping to reach the richer EU states to the north.

But Macedonia, which aspires to EU membership, is blocking them on its border, now fenced off with razor wire and watchtowers.

A ramshackle tent camp that has grown up around the Idomeni frontier crossing has become the focus of the crisis.

On Sunday, reports from the area said Macedonia had stopped allowing entry to anyone from areas in Iraq and Syria it did not consider to be active conflict zones.

Many migrants in the camp rely on food distributed by volunteers and items like firewood are scarce.

"We have been here five days, or six - who remembers the days anymore?" asked Narjes al Shalaby, 27, from the Syrian capital Damascus, in conversation with AP.

She is travelling with her mother and two daughters, Maria, five, and Bara'a, 10. Her husband and third daughter are already in Germany.

"All we do here is sleep, wake up, sleep," she said. "We get hungry, we wait in the queue for two hours for a sandwich, we come back, we sleep some more."

As many as 13,000 migrants are camped near Greece's border with Macedonia, many of them in tents. These men were collecting firewood

Source: bbc.com

US President Barack Obama has led tributes to former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who has died at the age of 94.

Mr Obama and his wife Michelle said they were "fortunate to benefit" from Mrs Reagan's "proud example".

Mrs Reagan, who died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles on Sunday, was also praised by other senior US politicians and foreign leaders.

Her 52-year marriage to Ronald Reagan was once described as the US presidency's greatest love affair.

From 1981-89 she was one of the most influential first ladies in US history; initially criticised for an expensive renovation of the White House, but later becoming a much-loved figure.

Nancy Reagan: Her husband's greatest supporter

Praise for 'devoted' First Lady

'Gracious first lady'

In a statement, the Obama family said: "Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House. She was right, of course.

"But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice. Our former first lady redefined the role in her time here."

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romneytweeted that "with the passing of Nancy Reagan, God and Ronnie have finally welcomed a choice soul home".

Former President George W Bush said: "Mrs Reagan was fiercely loyal to her beloved husband and that devotion was matched only by her devotion to our country. Her influence on the White House was complete and lasting."

Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is a Democratic presidential hopeful, said: "Nancy was an extraordinary woman: a gracious first lady, proud mother and devoted wife to President Reagan - her Ronnie."

Stepson Michael Reagantweeted: "I am saddened by the passing of my stepmother Nancy Reagan... She is once again with the man she loved. God bless..."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I remember Nancy as a noble woman who supported President Reagan and stood by his side. She will be remembered as a great friend of the state of Israel."

Anti-drugs campaigner

Mrs Reagan will be buried next to her husband, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, the library said in a statement.

Like her husband, Mrs Reagan was a former Hollywood performer who made it all the way to the White House.

As Nancy Davis, she was an actress during the 1940s and 1950s and married Mr Reagan, a prominent film actor, in 1952.

She served as first lady of California during her husband's stint as California governor from 1967 to 1975 before moving into the White House after his decisive victory over Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

As first lady, she sought to emulate the style of one of her predecessors, Jackie Kennedy.

To this end, she extensively redecorated the White House, and accepted designer dresses worth $1m (£600,000) and a 4,732-piece set of china worth $209,000.

But this spending spree provoked a huge outcry from people outraged by what they saw as profligacy and waste while millions of Americans were losing their jobs.

Public opinion was also swayed by accusations that Mrs Reagan had a frosty personality, often consulted astrologers, and ordered the dismissal of White House chief of staff Donald Regan in 1987.

"I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated," she once said.

Mrs Reagan's best-known project as first lady was the anti-drugs "Just Say No" campaign.

After her husband died of Alzheimer's in 2004, she became a champion for Alzheimer's patients, raising millions of dollars for research and breaking with fellow conservative Republicans to argue for stem cell studies.

Source: bbc.com

Prosecutors say a central Florida woman won't face criminal charges in the drowning deaths of her daughter and grandson.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that a State Attorney's Office memorandum released Thursday says there is "insufficient evidence" that Martha Jenkins exhibited a "gross and/or flagrant violation" while caring for the 2-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy.

Sheriff's investigators say Ashton Jenkins and Shana Cavanaugh died July 30 after slipping out of a sliding glass door and falling into a filthy backyard pool. Investigators had recommended two counts of aggravated manslaughter of a child after interviewing Jenkins' relatives and seeing their poor living conditions.

Officials say 33-year-old Jenkins, of Holly Hill, near Daytona Beach, was sleeping when the children left the house. Jenkins' mother told officials the door was left slightly open so cats could come and go.

Source: foxnews.com

A major donor to the Wounded Warrior Project veterans’ charity called Thursday for the nonprofit’s CEO to resign in light of allegations of lavish spending on staff meetings, according to a CBS News report.

Fred and Dianne Kane, the parents of two Iraq War veterans, have donated $325,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project since 2009 through their personal charity, Tee-off for a Cause.

Slightly more than half of the Kanes' donations directly benefitted veterans, according to CBS News.

But after recent tax forms reflected questionable spending by the veterans’ charity on staff expenditures, including $26 million on conferences and meetings at luxury hotels in 2014 alone, Fred Kane called for CEO Steven Nardizzi to be fired.The expenditure on conferences and travel was up from just $1.7 million in 2010, according to reports.

“Hearing that there was this waste of money, donor dollars that should have been going to servicemen and women that were injured, and that it was spent on [Wounded Warrior Project staff] having a good time—it’s a real disappointment,” Dianne Kane told CBS News.

The Kanes also initiated an online petition calling for a public audit of the Wounded Warrior Project in addition to canceling the next golf tournament Tee-off for a Cause was to hold to benefit the Project.

In January, Charity Navigator, a group that oversees nonprofit organizations, placed Wounded Warrior Project on its watch list, Fox News reported, citing a separate CBS report.

Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News at the time that he admired the charity’s work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years.

"Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn't see is how they spend their money," he said.

Millette said he witnessed lavish spending on staff, with big “catered” parties.

Also in the previous interview, two former employees, who were so fearful of retaliation they asked that CBS News not show their faces on camera, said spending has skyrocketed since Nardizzi took over as CEO in 2009, pointing to the 2014 annual meeting at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs.

"He rappelled down the side of a building at one of the all hands events. He's come in on a Segway, he's come in on a horse,” one employee told CBS News.

Fred Kaine, in the recent interview, questioned Nardizzi’s apparent public absence while his organization has been under scrutiny.

“Where is this guy? You lead from the front—good or bad—you don’t hide,” he said, “If no one is going to talk about this right now and it has to be me, then it has to be me.”

Kane said he has cut charitable ties with the Wounded Warrior Project, embarking on a new charge to effect change at the organization.

Source: foxnews.com

A knife found buried under O.J. Simpson’s former Los Angeles estate where he lived at the time of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is undergoing forensic testing, Fox News confirmed Friday.

TMZ reports a construction worker found the knife years ago and gave it to an off-duty cop who kept it in his home before finally turning it over to police in January. TMZ did not specify when the knife was found, but reported that it may have been around the time the home was destroyed in 1998.

"It is being treated as we would all evidence," LAPD Capt. Andy Neiman said Friday. He added that police were "quite shocked" to learn about the knife after so many years.

Simpson's property was in the Brentwood section of LA. In 1995, a jury found him not guilty of murder after the so-called "Trial of the Century" dominated the media for months. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, her friend, were found stabbed to death in June of 1994.

In 1997, a jury found Simpson civilly liable for the slayings. He's now imprisoned in Nevada on a robbery-kidnap conviction.

The weapon used in the killings has been a mystery for decades. Law enforcement sources told TMZ the blade is a folding Buck knife. It's now being tested for hair and DNA after it was handed over to the LAPD’s Robbery and Homicide Division.

NBC News, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported
that it was a smaller, relatively inexpensive utility-style blade typically carried by construction workers or other laborers and inconsistent with it being the murder weapon.

"We discovered it and our investigators immediately followed up on it," Neiman added. Simpson likely cannot be prosecuted again for the stabbings because of constitutional protections against being charged for the same crime twice, or double-jeopardy.

One source told TMZ the knife appeared to have blood residue on it, but it’s extremely rusted and stained, requiring further testing.

A member of Simpson's legal "dream team" in his murder trial called the find "ridiculous." Attorney Carl Douglas told the Los Angeles Times, "It's amazing how the world cannot move on from this case!"

The cop who kept the knife, an officer assigned to the traffic division, was off-duty at the time and never alerted higher-ups to the discovery, TMZ reported.

In late January the cop reportedly contacted a friend in the homicide division and told him he was getting the knife framed for his wall.

According to TMZ, the cop even asked his friend to get the department’s record number for the Simpson-Goldman murder case so he could engrave it in the frame. He was forced to surrender the knife to LAPD when the friend told superiors.

Sources told TMZ authorities are keeping their investigation top secret and under wraps, even logging the case into a computer system outside the official case file.

Source: foxnews.com

A high school student who went through his teacher's cellphone, found a nude picture of her and posted it online has been charged with a computer crime and voyeurism, authorities said Friday.

Union Public Safety Department Chief Sam White said the student, who is being charged as a juvenile, was taken into custody at Union High School without incident.

The 16-year-old is charged with a count of violating the state's computer crime act in the second degree and a count of aggravated voyeurism.

He is being held in juvenile detention for a hearing in family court. There have been no other arrests, but the investigation is continuing, the chief said.

Officials say it's not clear how many people may have seen the social media postings of the photo.

The teacher, Leigh Anne Arthur, has quit her job teaching mechanical and electrical engineering and computer programming at the school's vocational center.

Arthur, 33, told police on Feb. 18 that while she stepped out of her classroom, a boy took her unlocked smartphone from her desk, opened the photos application and found a nude selfie she had taken for her husband as a Valentine's Day present.

An online petition has been started, urging school district officials in the community in northwestern South Carolina to give Arthur her job back. The superintendent has said it was the teacher's fault for leaving students unattended during a four-minute break between classes.

The Associated Press left a phone message with Arthur on Friday seeking comment on the arrest.

The voyeurism charge makes it illegal, for the purpose of sexual gratification, to record or make a digital file of another person without his or her consent. The computer crimes charge makes it illegal to take possession or deprive the owner of a computer of computer data.

Both charges are misdemeanors for a first offense. But if the teen is convicted on both counts he could be sentenced to a maximum fine of $10,500 and four years in prison.

Source: foxnews.com

President John Dramani Mahama has granted a Presidential Charter to the Central University College, making it a fully-fledged university that can now award its own degrees.

The institute becomes the fourth private university to achieve this feat after Valley View University, Trinity Theological Seminar and Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Research Institute.

Central University was accredited as a private university college in 1998, but in 2009, was turned down by the National Accreditation Board when it applied for the Presidential Charter. Five years down the line, the President has approved an application submitted by the NAB to grant a Charter to the school.

It is required that every university college, after operating for a minimum of 10 years, sends an application to the NAB for a comprehensive assessment of the institution, its programmes, facilities and finances; and a report is presented to the Minister of Education for onward recommendation to the president.

When the application is approved by the president, he then grants that institution a Charter, which enables it to award its own degrees, diplomas and certificates.

Deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablarkwa, who disclosed this to the media, said the NAB is very careful about which schools it recommends to the president for a charter, as it wants to protect the country’s tertiary education system’s dignity and integrity.

He therefore urged authorities of private universities to support the NAB to protect the accreditation system so as to ensure holders of certificates from Ghanaian universities get value when they enter the global job market.

“They should understand the strict guidelines from the NAB. It is for a good reason that the NAB is so stringent in accreditation assessment. We don’t have to open the floodgates; we need to protect the accreditation system’s integrity,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Council of Independent Universities of Ghana has described the affiliation system in the country as a “grand exploitation” scheme, designed to rip-off nascent tertiary institutions and make private university education “expensive”.

They argue that the affiliation system where a private university college understudies a public university until the private university college becomes mature and receives a Presidential Charter to run its own graduate programmes, has become a major source of revenue for the mentor universities, as exorbitant fees are charged for it.

Source: citifmonline.com