SSS fires Buhari’s former CSO, 49 others

The State Security Service, SSS, has fired Abdulrahman Mani, the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr. Mani was sacked Thursday alongside 49 other personnel, among them, the former spokesperson of the service, Marilyn Ogar.

They officials were compulsorily retired from the service.

Security sources said while Ms. Ogar was retired from service for alleged corruption and involvement in partisan activities, Mr. Mani, a deputy director, was sacked for failure to report to duty.

Mr. Mani was promoted as a deputy director during the transition period, as he was appointed the CSO to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former CSO soon stepped into the spotlight in the early days of Mr. Buhari’s presidency as he and the president’s ADC, Mohammed Abubakar, clashed over the deployment of military personnel to take charge of the inner security of the president.

On June 28, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr. Abubakar, a Lieutenant Colonel, had barred SSS personnel from locations inside the state house, saying in a memo that personnel of the armed forces and the police, trained as presidential body guards, were to “provide close/immediate protection for Mr. President henceforth”.

Mr. Abubakar also said SSS operatives should steer clear of areas such as “Admin Reception, Service Chiefs Gate, Residence Reception, Rear Resident, Resident Gate, Office Reception, C-In-C Control Office, ACADE Gate, C-IN-C Control Gate and Panama”.

“However, the personnel of the DSS in conjunction with other security forces are to man other duty beats/locations located within the immediate outer perimeter of the Presidential Villa,” he said, without providing reasons for the action,” the memo said.

The arrangement did not go down well with the former CSO as he replied in a June 26 letter, rejecting the directive and giving a counter directive, asking his colleagues to disregard Mr. Abubakar’s circular.

The travails of the former CSO began when Mr. Buhari, during the altercation, appointed Lawal Daura as the acting Director General of the SSS. Sources in the service said relations between Mr. Daura and Mr. Mani, both from Katsina State, had been fractious.

Mr. Mani was promptly posted to Bayelsa State Command of the service – a move seen by observers as punitive.

Mr. Daura allegedly convinced the president that in view of the complexity of managing his security, a higher-ranking officer of the rank of a Director was needed to be the CSO.

One source said Mr. Buhari later ordered the Mr. Mani’s posting be reversed as it became clearer the decision was punitive.

Mr. Mani was re-posted to the presidential villa as the president’s Chief Detail – a designation that is second in command to the CSO.

Dissatisfied with the arrangement, Mr. Mani refused to report to duty, the reason given by the SSS for his retirement, our sources said.

The spokesperson for the SSS, Tony Opuiyo, could not be reached for comments.

Premium Times

Woman receives death threats for sharing menstrual blood selfie protesting period shaming

In case you didn’t already know, periods are pretty ‘effing lame.

Once a month, the menzy train stops calls into the station and brings a whole host unwelcome passengers; including bloat, cramps and emotions. Ew.

If that wasn’t bad enough, after THOUSANDS of years, periods are still a taboo – despite the fact half of the world will have to experience them at some point.

Louelle Denor, a student from Scranton Pennsylvania, is calling BS on the censorship of menstruating and period shaming by posting a bloody selfie… (See what we did there?).

Holding her messy menstrual cup in full view of the camera, period blood can be seen running all over her hand.

Ms Denor rages: ‘It’s come to my attention that women are having their accounts banned for showing menstrual blood (and no nudity). This is very seriously f***ed up.’

Making a point which may get you thinking, she goes on: ‘If this was a picture of blood from a finger laceration, there’d be no issue.’

Clearing up any confusion, she adds: ‘Yes, this blood is from my#vagina . It happens every month.’



While Ms Denor’s selfie has garnered a few hundred likes, she’s also been branded a ‘a f***ing feminist dumb c***’ a ‘sick bitch’ and she’s even received death threats.

In response, she explained: ‘You guys, btw, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to look, and you certainly don’t have to be unkind.

‘Let’s treat each other with respect. You don’t have to agree with me, nor like the image. That’s okay. I won’t call you names or belittle you for it. I think it’s time we usher in a new wave of kindness toward each other, regardless of our differences.’

(Picture: Kiran Ghandi)

Her picture follows Kiran Ghandi’s London Marathon free-bleed to raise awareness of women who don’t have access to vital sanitary products.

Europe refugee Crisis: "The little Syrian boy died because his parents were greedy for the good life in Europe." - Peter Bucklitsch Ukip Candidate for Wimbledon

Peter Bucklitsch, who is believed to be a member of Ukip, and who ran as Ukip's candidate for Wimbledon in the General Election this year, has tweeted a remark about Aylan Kurdi which has shocked many people on the social platform, writes The Telegraph's Helena Horton.

He also stood as the Lib Dem's candidate for South Thanet in 2010 - although Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has condemned the tweet.

He wrote: "The little Syrian boy was well clothed & well fed. He died because his parents were greedy for the good life in Europe. Queue jumping costs."

He has since deleted the tweet as seen in a screenshot here.

Peter Bucklitsch has since deleted the tweet Photo: Twitter

Many people on Twitter have condemned his statement as "evil".

UPDATE: The Lib Dem Press office have distanced themselves from the disgraced ex-candidate, saying: "He was expelled from the party in 2011 for campaigning for the Tories and has today been condemned by leader Tim Farron."

Helena Horton has found out that in the space of four years, he has been a member of three political parties: Ukip, Lib Dem and Conservatives.

He has campaigned for all three and stood for election for two: Lib Dem and Ukip, a Lib Dem source has confirmed to the Telegraph.

Ukip has now responded: "Peter Bucklitsch is not a candidate or officer of the Party, and his opinions on social media in no way represent the views of party."

Culled from Telegraph 

School feeding scheme will generate N980bn — Osinbajo

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria

Amid fears that a government policy of feeding primary school pupils in the country will impose a huge financial burden on the Buhari administration, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Wednesday that the policy will attract investment to the tune of N980 billion.

The vice president also said the school feeding programme will create jobs, and raise food production as well as investment in the country.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the vice president on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said the multiplier effects of the proposed scheme include job creation, increase in food production of up to 530,000 metric tonnes per annum, which will attract investor-by-investment of up to N980billion.

According to the statement, Mr. Osinbajo made the revelations while speaking on a topic “Repositioning Nigeria for Sustainable Development: From Rhetoric to Performance” at the ongoing 45th Annual Accounting Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

Mr. Osinbajo also stated that growth figures recorded during the last three administrations which recorded rising oil prices, GDP and foreign reserves did not put a dent on poverty or unemployment levels in the country.

He said though there were indeed seemingly good growth figures, such figures “can be deceptive where the structure and quality of growth are not considered”.

“So why are most [of our people] poor despite rising revenues and GDP growth? Our main revenue earners, the extractive oil and gas economy, do not by themselves create many jobs” he queried?

This is an irony of a top-down economic model, he said, noting that this is what comes to bear when the major revenue earner is extractive and the value chain is poorly developed.

Identifying the way forward from the present economic challenges, Mr. Osinbajo who made a comparative analysis of the previous administrations, called for a social sector investment which would mean investing in the people, education, job creation, national school feeding scheme, conditional cash transfer and reflating economies of the states as indices that would boost the economy.

The vice president stated further that some of these ideas have already been put in place by the Buhari administration, including the bailout package for the workers in the country, while some others are currently being worked out. He said education is the basics for economic growth.

“One of the most important interventions required in the education sector is capacity building to improve teacher quality. This programme is intended to drive teacher capacity development; boost basic education; attract talents to the teaching profession. Better educated population increase economic potential for productivity,” he said.

Mr. Osinbajo also identified conditional cash transfer as another avenue for alleviating poverty.

The programme, he said, is intended to support the 25 million poorest households to incentivize vaccination, education and production. The multiplier effects of the introduction of the programme, he noted, would include lifting millions out of poverty; putting millions into rural production; and boosting rural economy.

For increased investments in businesses and ease of doing business, government needs to improve the power sector; have one-stop shop for approvals; innovation and fighting piracy; diversifies the economy in agriculture – self-sufficiency in rice and wheat (staples) production, manufacturing, entertainment and technology, the Vice President said.

He observed that despite challenges in the power sector, “there have been measurable improvements over the past three months (June to August)”.

He said a “26% increase in operational generation capacity (June to August 15, 2015 compared to January to May 2015); decreased in pipeline vandalism boosting gas supply; a 10% reduction in transmission losses (June to July 2015 compared to January to May 2015); reduction in red tape to remove delays blocking the 450MW Azura-Edo IPP and the 500MW Exxon Mobil Qua-Iboe IPP; the imposition of a September 2015 deadline for the submission of the DisCos’ revised tariff trajectories”.

Earlier, the President of ICAN, Samuel Deru, appreciated the vice president for his commitment and ability to attend the programme in person.

President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Peoples Congress (APC) had during the Presidential campaign tour in January, promised a one meal per day for primary school students across the country.

PT

Kim Davis, Kentucky Clerk, Held in Contempt and Ordered to Jail

Edgar Orea, right, preaches to a group of same sex marriage supporters that have gathered outside the Carl D. Perkins Federal Building in Ashland, Ky., on Sept. 3, 2015. Timothy D. Easley / AP

A federal judge has ordered a Kentucky clerk to jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Kim Davis, a clerk in Rowan County, was found in contempt of court on Thursday morning. She has said granting marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples would "violate God's definition of marriage" and infringe on her personal beliefs as an Apostolic Christian.

Davis, in tears, said on the stand that she could not comply with the judge's order. U.S. Marshals later took her into custody.

"Thank you, judge," Davis said as she was being led out.

District Court Judge David Bunning has said Davis is bound by an oath of office to perform her duties under the law, and ordered that she be jailed until she complied with his order to grant licenses.

Bunning has upheld the Supreme Court's decision in June to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, and wrote last month after the contempt lawsuit was filed that the state is merely forcing her to do her job within the law.

Before the hearing, dozens of protesters on both side of the issue clashed outside of the federal courthouse in Covington, some in support of Davis for standing up for her beliefs.

While clerks in other states have made similar refusals, Davis' defiance is the most prominent — leading GOP presidential candidates to weigh inand casting a spotlight on her personal life, too.

It was revealed this week that she was divorced three times and had children out of wedlock before a religious awakening became a turning point in her life.

Davis, a registered Democrat, had worked as a deputy clerk for 27 years before voters in Rowan County elected her as clerk last November.

As an elected official, she can only be removed in a vote by state legislators, who don't reconvene in the State House until January.

Despite her political leanings, she's likely to get much support from Republicans lawmakers.

NBC News

Father of drowned Syrian toddlers prepares to take bodies home

Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year old Aylan K...
REUTERS/KENAN GURBUZ+


Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year old Aylan K...

By Ece Toksabay

MUGLA, Turkey (Reuters) - The distraught father of two Syrian toddlers who drowned with their mother and several other migrants as they tried to reach Greece identified their bodies on Thursday and prepared to take them back to their home town of Kobani.

Abdullah Kurdi collapsed in tears after emerging from a morgue in the city of Mugla near Bodrum, where the body of his three-year old son Aylan washed up on Wednesday.

A photograph of the boy's tiny body in a bright red t-shirt and shorts, face-down in the surf, appeared in newspapers around the world, prompting sympathy and outrage at the perceived inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.

Aylan's 5-year-old brother Galip and mother Rehan, 35, were among 12 people, including other children, who died after two boats capsized while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

"The things that happened to us here, in the country where we took refuge to escape war in our homeland, we want the whole world to see this," Abdullah told reporters.

"We want the world’s attention on us, so that they can prevent the same from happening to others. Let this be the last," he said.

In a statement to police obtained by the Hurriyet newspaper, Abdullah said he had twice paid smugglers to take him and his family to Greece but their efforts had failed. They had then decided to find a boat and row themselves but it began to take in water and when people stood up in panic, it capsized.

"I was holding my wife's hand. My children slipped away from my hands. We tried to hold on to the boat," he said in the statement. "Everyone was screaming in pitch darkness. I couldn't make my voice heard to my wife and kids."

The image of Aylan, drowned off one of Turkey's most popular holiday resorts, went viral on social media and piled pressure on European leaders.

"European countries, which have turned the Mediterranean, the cradle of the world's oldest civilizations, into a cemetery for refugees, shares the sin for every refugee who loses their life," Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter: "He had a name: Aylan Kurdi. Urgent action required - A Europe-wide mobilization is urgent," he wrote.

Abdullah's family had been trying to emigrate to Canada after fleeing the war-torn town of Kobani, a revelation which also put Canada's Conservative government under fire from its political opponents.

Abdullah said Canadian officials had now offered him citizenship after seeing what had happened but that he declined.

His family had made a privately-sponsored refugee application to the Canadian authorities that was rejected in June due to complications with applications from Turkey, Teema Kurdi, Abdullah’s sister and a Vancouver resident, was quoted as saying by Canada's National Post newspaper.

"I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbors who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat," she said.

"I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there."

OTHER CHILDREN DROWNED
Turkey has won international praise for taking in two million refugees since the Syrian civil war began in March 2011, spending $6 billion caring for them and receiving just $400 million in outside aid.

But it has warned it is reaching capacity, and thousands are now making the perilous journey by boat from Turkey to Greece in a bid to enter Europe.

Security officials in Mugla said the bodies of Abdullah's two sons and wife would be flown via Istanbul to the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, from where they would be taken by road to the Syrian border town of Kobani.

Kobani, the family's hometown, has been the scene of intense fighting over the last year. In recent months Kurdish regional forces have been trying to repel attempts by Islamic State to recapture the town.

Tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland have descended on Turkey's Aegean coast this summer to board boats to Greece.

The Turkish army said its search and rescue teams had saved hundreds of migrants in the seas between Turkey and Greek islands over the last few days.

The two boats that capsized while heading to Kos were carrying a total of 23 people and had set off from the Akyarlar area of the Bodrum peninsula, a naval official said. Local authorities have detained four suspected Syrian smugglers, the Dogan news agency said. 

One of the survivors, Zeynep Abbas Hadi, fainted after seeing the dead bodies of two of her children, aged 9 and 11, footage on the Dogan website showed. Her seven-year old daughter survived, the agency said.

Another survivor, Syrian Omer Mohsin, said he swam ashore after the boat sank shortly after heading off at 02:00 am (2300 GMT) and was now looking for his missing brother.

"There were supposed to be 10 people on the boat, but they put 17 people on board. Me and my brother paid 2,050 euros each," Dogan quoted him as saying on its website.

Video footage showed the body of another young child, thought to be Aylan's brother, also lying in the sand.

Nilufer Demir, the Dogan photographer who took the picture of Aylan, told broadcaster CNN Turk: "When I realized there was nothing to do to bring that boy back to life I thought I had to take his picture ... to show the tragedy."

"I hope the impact this photo has created will help bring a solution," she said.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates that almost 160,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Greece by sea since the start of 2014. In July more than 50,000 people, mostly Syrians, arrived in Greece compared with 43,500 in the whole of 2014.


(Additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Humeyra Pamuk and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Writing by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones) 

Reuters

FG approves N400m for students on foreign scholarships

The Federal Government has approved N400 million for the payment of upkeep allowances of Nigerian students on foreign scholarships.

The Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Hajia HIndatu Abdullahi, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.

Abdullahi attributed the delay to non-release of capital allowance and the change in government which delayed the release of capital allocation for 2015.

She explained that the upkeep allowance of the scholars did not come as over head allocation but capital allocation.

According to her, the allowance payable to the scholars outside the country is from January to December and it is calculated and captured in the budget every year.

She said that the plight of the students was being taken seriously, adding that “we just have an approval of about N400 million, we are now working with the Federal Ministry of Finance to obtain it.

“After that, we will head to the Budget Office and the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that the money is remitted as soon as possible to the missions.

“In terms of the paper work, we have concluded; we want to pay something so that their hardship will be minimised.

Abdullahi said the entitlements were being worked out from January to December, adding that in 2014, the students got all allowances for the year between July and August.

“Whenever we receive capital allocation in the ministry, we work out the scholarship money and pay into CBN.

“CBN will now remit same in line with the information we have given them; it will remit to embassies which will remit to the scholars.

The acting permanent secretary said that if there was any delay in the release of capital allocation, it would affect scholars’ upkeep allowances.

BREAKING: Buhari names deputy chief of staff, media aide for Vice President Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Rahman Adeola Ipaye as Deputy Chief of Staff and Laolu Akande as Senior Special Assistant (Media & Publicity) in the Presidency.

The two new appointees will work in the Office of the Vice President, a statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Femi Adesina, said.

Mr. Ipaye is the immediate past Attorney General of Lagos State.

He studied at the University of Lagos where he graduated with B.A. (Hons) Degree (History) in 1984; LL.B. Hons (1988) and LL.M. (1991). He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators respectively.

Before his appointment as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ipaye was employed as a lecturer in the Department of Commercial and Industrial Law, University of Lagos (1992 to 2001); Special Assistant (Legal Matters) to the Governor of Lagos State (2001 to 2007); and Special Adviser (Taxation and Revenue) to the Governor of Lagos State and member of the State Executive Council (2007 to 2011).

Mr. Laolu Akande graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1990 with an honours degree in History and a Masters degree in Communication & Language Arts in 1992.

He became a Staff Reporter of the Guardian newspaper in 1990 while still serving under the National Youth Service Corps. He left The Guardian to join the foundation team of The News Magazine in 1993, where he became Senior Writer. In 1997, he was appointed by Nigerian Tribune as editor of the Tribune on Saturday, a position he held until he moved to the United States of America in 1998.

In the United States, he worked as a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Newsday. He also served at the United Nations as a Press Officer and later as an Advocacy and Communication Consultant. He was also the Bureau Chief of The Guardian in North America and the Executive Director of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN.

Mr. Akande taught at the State University of New York at Stonybrook and also Suffolk County Community College in Long Island, New York between 2002 and 2015.

Ipaye and Akande have been working with Vice President Osinbajo since the inception of the present Administration.​

Premium Times

Video: ‘Why did you cheat on me so many times’? Exes talk about their break-up two years later

(Picture: Youtube/Glamour)

Probably the most intense way to get ‘closure’, ever.

The And Project is a 2014 documentary that asked 30 couples to get together after a break-up and ask each other all the painful, awkward, and emotional questions they’re still curious about.

This week, Glamour brought the project back for a one-off episode about Ali and Andrew – a couple who met in college, dated for seven years, and broke up two years ago.

As you’d expect, the whole thing gets intense, fast.

Ali kicks things off with the most pressing question on her mind: ‘Why did you cheat on me so many times?’

(Picture: Youtube/Glamour)

From there, it gets pretty uncomfortable, with Andrew explaining that he was ‘interested in other options’ while Ali starts to cry.

(Picture: Youtube/Glamour)

The rest of the video has a slightly more positive spin, with Ali and Andrew getting to ask each other some nicer questions.

They look back over their relationship at the memories they cherish and chat about what they miss about each other.

Then, in part two, the big one: ‘would you ever think about getting back together?’

(Picture: Youtube/Glamour)

And the admission, from Andrew, that the breakup ‘was all my fault’ and ‘I don’t really have any answers.’

Watch Video here;

Metro UK

NOUN graduates to join NYSC, Law School programme soon – Director

Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) would soon be allowed to participate in the National Youth Service Corps Scheme (NYSC) and the Nigerian Law School Programme.

The Director, Ilorin Study Centre of NOUN, Michael Abikoye, made this known on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin.

Mr. Abikoye, who was NOUN first Acting Registrar, attributed the exclusion of NOUN graduates from the scheme and law school to public misunderstanding of the difference between Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and part time studies.

He expressed optimism that with the ongoing talk between the management of the Open University and the relevant stakeholders, NOUN students would be absorbed into the scheme.

“The denial of our graduates in participating in the NYSC scheme is based essentially on the general misunderstanding of difference in concept between open and distance learning system, which Nigerians have equated with part time studies.

“But open and distance learning is not exactly the same thing as part time study.

“Open and Distance Learning is a standard form of education and it is the vogue in many advanced countries today.

“Incidentally, most of NOUN programmes are accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) that accredits programmes of conventional Nigerian Universities.

“Our course materials are prepared by seasoned academics in the conventional university system and they go through rigorous and thorough process of editing and printing before they are released to the students.

“It may not surprise you to know that even in the conventional universities; our course materials are being used by some lecturers to produce their own handouts for students.

“That shows you the quality of our materials and by extension, the quality of our products,” Mr. Abikoye added.

Mr. Abikoye said NOUN has standard and functioning laboratories at its headquarters and in some selected study centres across the country.

He said what NOUN has done in some centres where it has no laboratory of its own was to go into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with neighbouring conventional universities.

“At the Ilorin Study Centre here for instance, we have gone into collaboration with the University of Ilorin so that NOUN students can avail themselves with laboratory facilities there.

“This was particularly meant for the students of our School of Health Science and ICT,” he said.

Mr. Abikoye disclosed that NOUN has set up two skills acquisition vocational centres at graduate, post graduate diploma and certificate levels to fill the gap left behind by conventional universities.

(NAN)

Britain is full of refugees and we can’t take any more… look at the evidence

Britain is full. That’s simple to see (just look at the photos).

Look around you and you realise that the UK has no room left to cope with any more people. And it’s something backed up by the prime minister.

David Cameron said: ‘We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps and we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world.

‘I don’t think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.’
And look, there’s nowhere to put them:



And it’s fine, it’s not like anything bad is happening in other countries, just as celebrities say:

‘Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad.’

And Britain is full. The people of Twitter (though a minority) have decreed it to be so:


And who are we to argue with facts?



Yes, we can talk facts about infrastructure and about ruining ‘areas of natural beauty’ because public transport just wouldn’t work on golf courses…

And you don’t want to ruin them with temporary housing

Powys, Wales, UK

East Sussex

You can’t move for the amount of people crammed into the UK


In all seriousness, yes infrastructure is struggling but not because of helping people in need. It is precisely because we don’t do enough

Lone tree on the shingle at Dungeness

And there are 11m houses, it is believed, uninhabited across Europe

Landscape, Devon, England

Cornish quilt

Port Isaac from above

And yes, if you’ve got this far down the article, you already agree or you’re so furious you’re about to explode.

But let’s open up that discussion…

Scenic View Of Patchwork Landscape

Newlands Chapel nestled in the beautiful Newlands Valley, Lake District,

Rather than just shouting at each other from behind closed Twitter accounts

Landscape, Conwy Valley, Conwy, Wales

Autumn trees in golden mist, English Countryside

Now you’ve seen incontrovertible proof that there is not a single metre of land that isn’t filled with immigrants…

Pastures in rural landscape

Lake Dist Dodd

Can we please just work out a way to help and then argue about the long term plan later?


Metro Blogs is a place for opinions. These opinions belong to the author and are not necessarily shared by Metro.

Metro UK

Football: Wales go above England in new Fifa world rankings for first time in history

New list of international nations's footballing prowess places Chris Coleman's side above Roy Hodgson's


Star man: Gareth Bale has inspired Wales to reach new heights under Chris Coleman Photo: ACTION IMAGES

Wales are now a better footballing nation than England, according to the latest set of Fifa's world rankings.

Chris Coleman's side occupy ninth place in the Fifa list and lie one above England, who have swapped places with Chile since August's lists was announced.

Wales were in ninth place then, their highest ever position since the Fifa rankings were introduced in 1992, but this is the first time they have ever appeared above England, or as the highest-ranked home nation.

Chris Coleman has steered Wales to the brink of Euro 2016

Euro 2016 qualification looks increasingly likely for Wales, who will require just one more win if they can see off Cyprus in Nicosia on Thursday night.

It would be a first international tournament apperance since the 1958 World Cup for Gareth Bale's nation.

Aaron Ramsay celebrates with Gareth Bale

Top 20 from Fifa rankings list:

RANK TEAM TOTAL POINTS MOVE

1 Argentina 1442 No change
2 Belgium 1269 No change
3 Germany 1248 No change
4 Colombia 1224 No change
5 Brazil 1209 No change
6 Portugal 1186 No change
7 Romania 1176 No change
8 Chile 1149 Up 2
9 Wales 1146 No change
10 England 1143 Down 2
11 Spain 1122 No change
12 Netherlands 1054 No change
13 Austria 1038 Up 1
14 Croatia 1037 Down 1
15 Slovakia 1013 Down 1
16 Italy 1012 No change
17 Switzerland 1011 No change
18 Uruguay 102 No change
19 Algeria 955 No change
20 Czech Republic 940 No change

Others:

24. France, 893 (down 1)
28. USA, 823 (up 1)
31. Scotland, 789 (up 1)
41. Northern Ireland, 821 (down 1)
51. Republic of Ireland, 605, (down 1)

All aboard the migrant express to Germany: Chaos in Budapest as police reopen station following two-day stand-off… and hundreds immediately swarm onto trains

Keleti Railway Terminus in Budapest has been closed to migrant by the Hungarian authorities for the past two days

But after tense stand-offs, Hungarian police officers withdrew from the station this morning, triggering chaotic scenes

The crowds stormed a stationary train in the belief they would be allowed to travel on to Austria and Germany

But Hungary's main railway operator said there would be no direct trains leaving for western Europe any time today

Hundreds of desperate migrants poured into Budapest's main railway station this morning after Hungarian police withdrew following a two-day standoff, triggering chaotic scenes.

Crowds stormed a stationary train, cramming children through open windows in the belief they might travel west to Austria and Germany. Hungary's main railway operator, however, said there would be no direct trains leaving for western Europe today.

'Attention please, on Track 8 the train does not depart. Please get off the train,' the station said over intercom.

There was no immediate word about why the police withdrew.

Over 2,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, had been camped in front of the Keleti Railway Terminus, closed to them by authorities saying European Union rules bar travel by those without valid documents.


Scuffles: A young migrant punches fellow refugees who try to drag him back off the train after he clambered on board

A young migrant takes a punch to face from somebody standing in the crowd below after he tried to help his friends jump the queue 

Clashes: The young migrants continue to push and shove those standing behind them as they try to ensure their friends get on the train

No entry: Despite antagonising those behind him in the queue, the migrant managed to make it on to the train 

Rush: Hundreds stormed a stationary train, diving through open windows in the belief they might travel west to Austria and Germany. Hungary's main railway operator, however, said there were no direct trains leaving to western Europe

Migrants rush to board trains after Budapest station reopens


The standoff has become the latest symbol of Europe's migration crisis, the continent's worst since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

The police withdrawal at the station coincided with the start of a special parliamentary session to debate tightening migration laws and punishment for those caught trying to breach a 3.5-metre high fence Hungary is building on its border with Serbia.

Senior ruling party lawmaker Gergely Gulyas said the amendments could be passed this week and cut the number of illegal border crossings to 'zero' by mid-September. 

Hungary is a key arrival point for tens of thousands of migrants entering the European Union, with some 50,000 entering the country in August alone.

On Monday, Hungary allowed several thousand to board trains bound for Austria and Germany but the following day Keleti station was closed to anyone without an EU passport or a valid visa.

The move left around 2,000 men, women and children stranded around the station or in the underground 'transit zone', a makeshift refugee camp beneath the station where thousands have been sheltering on blankets in cramped conditions, looked after only by Hungarian volunteers.

Over the past two days there have been a number of demonstrations by several hundred of the migrants chanting 'Germany! Germany!' and tense standoffs with riot police as well as a number of scuffles.

Carried away: A migrant boy is lifted through the window off a stationary train at the crisis-hit Keleti train station in Budapest

Piling on: Despite the crush, Hungary's main railway operator said there were no direct trains leaving for western Europe today

Over 2,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, have been camped at Keleti Railway Terminus

Patience: Migrants wait on a platform in the hope of catching a train at the crisis-hit Keleti railway station in Budapest earlier this morning

Crush: Hundreds of desperate migrants poured into Budapest's main railway station this morning after Hungarian police withdrew following a two-day standoff, triggering chaotic scenes

Yesterday scuffles broke out between thousands of migrants and police at Keleti international train station, as Hungary called for clarification on Germany's asylum regime.

Hungary's government explained the U-turn by saying it was applying EU law after confusion caused by an easing of Germany's asylum regulations and called on Berlin's embassy to clarify the rules.

Sporadic fighting broke out between migrants yesterday, while taunts from a small group of far-right skinheads sparked some scuffles.

Earlier, tempers rose when the police suddenly moved in to clear a pathway in the 'transit zone', a makeshift underground refugee camp where thousands have been sheltering on blankets in cramped conditions, looked after only by Hungarian volunteers.

'My friends got on a train on Monday! Why the hell don't they let me go too, all of us?' 41-year-old Syrian protestor Ohlit told AFP in front of the station, furiously brandishing his ticket to Munich that he purchased Monday.

The standoff has become the latest symbol of Europe's migration crisis, the continent's worst since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s

Migrants - including some young children - were seen piling on to the stationary train in the hope it would take them to Germany

Fighting: As they pushed and shoved to be allowed on to the train, some of the desperate migrants began fighting among themselves

Tears: A young migrant boy is seen crying as his father lifts him into the air amid the crush to board a train in Budapest

Desperate: Exhausted from a long journies and days of being blocked from the entering the station, migrants rushed to board a train
Migrants hold mock funerals as they remain stranded in Budapest

Last night human rights activists and lawyers condemned police in the Czech Republic for writing numbers on the arms of migrants after detaining them.

Officers used pens to mark 214 refugees, mostly Syrians, who were detained on a train yesterday at a border crossing from Austria and Hungary.

The measure has provoked anger because it recalls Nazi Germany's practice of writing numbers on concentration camp prisoners.

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of MigrationWatch, which campaigns for managed migration, told MailOnline: 'It is simply wrong and foolish.

'They are treating them in a way that could look like they are branding them or doing what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany.

'I can understand why people will be repulsed by this type of action. No one is suggesting they won't be treated well, but the sooner they stop this the better all around.'

Andrew Stroehlein, European Media Director of Human Rights Watch, tweeted a picture of an officer marking a migrant child and later wrote: 'What never stops amazing me are people who look at the Holocaust and think that it only holds lessons for Germans & Jews.'

Zuzana Candigliota, a lawyer with the Czech Human Rights League, added: 'There is no law allowing the police to mark people like this.'

AMID THE CHAOS AND DESPAIR, THE MIGRANT BABIES NAMED HOPE AND SHELTER BORN IN THE SHADOW OF BUDAPEST STATION
It is a tiny beacon of hope in what has otherwise become the epitome of human catastrophe.

Among the battered cardboard and blankets which have been strewn across the main railway station in Budapest, two tiny newborn babies lie encased in their mothers' arms, unaware of the tragedy unfolding around them.

One little girl, believed to named Sadan - which means 'The Shelter' - was born in the underpass next to Keleti station, where her mother and father are desperately waiting to board a train to find a new, safe life in Europe.

Under Shelter: This four-day-old baby girl, who has been named as Sadan - which means Shelter - was born in the underpass next to Keleti station to her refugee mother

The tiny four-day-old baby was pictured on Sky News, wrapped tightly in a white blanket as she slept soundly beside her proud parents.

Just metres away, another refugee mother was tending to her newborn baby Shems, who was born yesterday amid the devastation and chaos which has engulfed Hungary's main terminal.

The little girl - whose name means sunlight and hope - had to be delivered in the nearby dirt-ridden subway after an ambulance refused to take her mother to hospital.

Last night, the mother and the little girl were allowed to board a train to Germany where they are said to be receiving medical attention.

Keleti Railway Terminus has been closed to migrants by authorities saying EU rules bar travel by those without valid documents

Upset: A young child cries as hundreds of migrants try to board a train at the Keleti Railway Station in Budapest earlier this morning

Migrants storm into a train at Budapest's Keleti train station as Hungarian police withdrew from the gates after two days of blocking entry

Traumatising: A young child cries as hundreds of migrants try to board a train at the Keleti Railway Station in Budapest earlier today

Get back: There was no immediate word about why the police withdrew from Keleti train station in Budapest earlier this morning

Migrants struggle to board a train at the railway station in Budapest. Over 150,000 migrants have reached Hungary this year

A young child cries as hundreds of migrants try to board a train at the Keleti Railway Station in Budapest earlier this morning

Czech interior ministry spokeswoman Lucie Novakova said the move was introduced because of the increasing number of children among the refugees.

'Our goal is to prevent the children from getting lost,' she added.

The measure was used with large groups of refugees to keep record of family members, according to Katerina Rendlova, spokeswoman for a unit of the Czech police dealing with foreigners.

'We also write the code of the train they have arrived on so that we know which country we should return them to within the readmission system.'

Unlike some other EU member states, Czech authorities maintain that migrants who enter the country without first having made an asylum request should be returned to the state from which they arrived, in line with the EU's Dublin Provision.

The overwhelming majority of Czechs oppose hosting refugees, according to an August survey by local polling agency Focus in which 93 percent of respondents said they should be returned to their country of origin.

Rendlova said the refugees 'used to get the numbers on a piece of paper but they kept throwing them away'.

'They have agreed with the marking – they don't have a problem with this, they know it's in their interest.'

Over 2,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, had been camped in front of the Keleti Railway Terminus, closed to them by authorities saying European Union rules bar travel by those without valid documents

Smuggled: Migrants are found by police officers inside the trunk of a human trafficker's car on the M5 motorway near Budapest

A migrant who was found inside the truck of a human trafficker's car is searched by a police officer on the M5 motorway in Szatymaz

A migrant who was found inside the trunk of a human trafficker's car is searched by a police officer on the M5 motorway in Szatymaz

Migrants are found by police officers inside the trunk of a human trafficker's car on the M5 motorway southeast of Budapest this morning

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