Trump unloads on Clinton after tough debate: ‘She can’t even make it to her car’

CHICAGO — Amid rumors of campaign disarray and unease over his debate performance, Donald Trump took aim at Hillary Clinton in a more personal way Wednesday, mocking her for taking days off the campaign trail and suggesting she would only bring scandal to the White House if elected.

Campaigning in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the celebrity businessman turned Republican presidential nominee delivered a scathing scripted speech casting Clinton as a corrupt insider who has had many opportunities to bring change to Washington but failed.

For nearly a half-hour of his 45-minute speech, Trump relitigated a litany of Clinton scandals, including the flaps over her private email server and dealings between Clinton’s State Department staff and the Clinton Foundation. Linking his rival to her husband, former President Bill Clinton, Trump described them as “the sordid past” and his campaign as “the bright future.”

“Hillary Clinton is an insider fighting only for insiders,” Trump declared. “She disgraced the office of secretary of state, putting it up for sale. And if she ever got the chance, she would put the Oval Office up for sale too.”

“Follow the money,” he repeated again and again. “The Clintons have perfected the politics of profit,” he added.

Donald Trump supporters before a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (Photo: John Locher/AP)

But Trump went off message near the end of his speech, looking away from the teleprompter to attack Clinton’s campaign stamina. He appeared to reference her stumble into a van as she left a Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony earlier this month, when doctors say she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

“You see all the days off that Hillary takes? Day off, day off, day off,” Trump said. “All those day offs, and she can’t even make it to her car. Isn’t it tough? All those day offs… Boom.”

“She is day in, day out, and I’m campaigning,” he added.

It’s not the first time Trump has attacked Clinton’s stamina. Speaking in Ohio a few days after Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis, he touted his own campaign abilities. “You think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour and do this?” Trump asked at a rally in Canton, Ohio. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Trump’s comments came amid reports of staff sniping over the candidate’s debate preparations and the trajectory of his campaign. On the campaign trail and on social media, the GOP candidate has repeatedly claimed he won Monday’s debate, citing unscientific online polls. But his sour mood on the trail seems to undermine that claim.

In addition to surrogates trashing Monday’s debate moderator, NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump has assailed the media more vigorously than he has in weeks. Campaigning in Florida on Monday, Trump suggested the only reason Clinton was competitive in the race was because of the “dishonest media.” At least four times, he broke from his scripted remarks to trash the media — at one point instructing supporters to turn around and boo journalists on hand to cover the rally.

Meanwhile, anonymous leaks from Trump world suggested another round of disarray within staff ranks. Citing unnamed sources, the New York Times reported that Trump aides were unhappy with their candidate’s debate performance and were struggling to convince him to do more preparation in advance of the Oct. 9 debate.

As that story made the rounds, anonymous sources told NBC’s Katy Tur that Trump’s adult children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — are unhappy with Trump’s campaign leadership, including senior aides Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon and David Bossie. The same source also said the kids were increasingly concerned that the campaign was hurting the family business.

In response, the campaign released a statement that sounded like something that Trump would write himself. “They are happier than ever before, as they should be, given the success in the polls and in Monday’s debate,” the statement read.

Rise in Nigerian sex slavery in Italy fuelled by violence and “juju” magic

Nigerian ex-prostitute “Beauty” (a pseudonym) poses in a social support centre for trafficked girls near Catania, Italy on 14th September 2016. She arrived in Italy in 2015 after being trafficked from Nigeria. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Tom Esslemont

by Tom Esslemont | Thomson Reuters Foundation

CATANIA, Italy, Sept 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Nigerian teenager Beauty arrived in Sicily after crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa last year, she had only hours to phone the man who trafficked her – or risk lethal repercussions for loved ones back home.

Before her journey through Niger to Libya, a spiritual priest practicing a form of black magic known in Nigeria as “juju” had forced her to swear an oath of obedience to her trafficker.

The threat of a “curse” if she broke her oath and the possibility of violence by her traffickers at home in Benin City, a southern Nigerian hub for human trafficking, were enough to trap her into sex slavery.

“If I had reported him to the police, my family would have been in great danger,” said Beauty, 19, fiddling with black-and-blond braids as she recalled the events of last summer.

“At the (migrant) camp a man came to pick me up in a car. I got into the car and I was taken away.”

Beauty, who uses a pseudonym and declined to reveal her full name, is one of around 12,000 Nigerian women who reached Italy by sea over the past two years, official data shows.

That’s a six-fold increase over the previous two-year period, with the majority – almost 80 percent – of the young women victims of trafficking, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Young, exhausted and vulnerable, many victims report being told that prostitution is the only way to repay hefty debts ranging from 25,000 to 100,000 euros ($28,000-$112,000) to their traffickers, Italian charities say.

Fear plays a large part in the juju rituals, with pubic hair, fingernails and blood collected from the victim as she is made to swear never to report her situation to the authorities, rights groups say.

In some cases, fearing the juju “spell” may be turned on them and they may die, Nigerian parents insist their daughters obey their traffickers, testimony from Italian court documents shows.

Beauty only learned later that she had been trafficked – and that the man who had brought her to Europe, a friend of her father’s, now demanded she pay back 25,000 euros ($28,000) by working as a prostitute.

“My pimp was a nice man. I think he was a good man,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the security of the safe house where she now lives.

But as she provided sex services for dozens of Italian clients in a town in southern Italy, a tyranny of abuse unfolded, she said.

“The man pimped me. His girlfriend beat me.”

“OUT OF CONTROL”

With numbers of Nigerians rising in Sicily, prostitution is a thriving business, campaigners say – though nobody knows exactly how many women end up plying their trade on the streets.

Close to the vibrant cultural centre in the island’s southeastern port city of Catania, six or seven African women posed outside shuttered-up shops at night as teams from a local charity, the Penelope Association, offered support and advice.

“The women need help to reintegrate in society,” said Oriana Cannavo, head of the charity’s Catania branch, nodding towards a woman in a short turquoise dress sauntering up and down the pavement.

The offer of support is a delicate one, Cannavo said, because the girls are already in the psychological clutches of their traffickers.

The number of Nigerian women arriving in Italy is accelerating – complicating the task of law enforcement agencies determined to keep tabs on the location of pimps or their female brokers known as “madams”.

The new arrivals are also stretching the workload of the IOM, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) and local charities, aid workers say.

“It is reaching a stage where it is out of control,” said Margherita Limoni, a legal advisor with the IOM in Catania.

The number of Nigerian women arriving in Italy has almost doubled in the past year, surpassing 6,300 in the first eight months of 2016, up from 3,400 for the same period last year, according to the IOM.

Unaccompanied children from Nigeria – some as young as 10 or 11 – have also flocked to Italy. Around 1,700 arrived in the first eight months of this year, while 1,000 came during the whole of 2015, the IOM data shows.

PIMPS AS “BENEFACTORS”

Although minors are offered state protection, Beauty was not eligible for this as she was already 18, she said.

After running away from her pimp late last year, she fled to the local office of the Penelope Association, which found her a place in sheltered accommodation late last year.

Beauty is one of 45 people the charity aims to support this year by finding them a place to live and employment in restaurants, well away from the preying eyes of traffickers, Cannavo said.

But the assistance is not always accepted.

Seven of Beauty’s friends slipped back into prostitution out of fear of their pimps, or loyalty, the teenager said.

“Many times the girls see their pimp as a benefactor who is trying to improve their lives,” said IOM’s Limoni, who briefs newly arrived migrants about the dangers of trafficking. “They trust them 100 percent.”

Victims are also put off from fleeing pimps by actual stories of families being targeted or killed back in Nigeria – a reminder of the need to fulfil their obligations or stick to their juju oaths, another Sicily-based campaigner said.

If a girl breaks her juju oath then she loses the spiritual protection, or so they believe, said Vivian Wiwoloku, president of the charity Pelligrino della Terra.

“There was one Nigerian girl some years ago who abandoned prostitution. Then someone was really sent to her home in Nigeria to kill her brother,” said Wiwoloku in his small office in the island’s main city of Palermo.

Wiwoloku, also from Nigeria, said his charity work – helping more than 400 women abandon prostitution since 1996 – was not without its dangers. His car has twice been set on fire.

“When you try to help somebody not everyone will be happy,” he said.

The IOM’s Margherita Limoni agreed that the strong spiritual and psychological grip of Nigerian pimps, madams and traffickers makes it harder to support the victims.

“The traffickers are getting smarter and smarter by the day,” she said.

($1 = 0.8901 euros)

(Reporting By Tom Esslemont, Editing by Timothy Large; Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, human trafficking and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

Black Leaders Rip NAACP, Black Lives Matter For Opposing School Choice

By Joy Pullmann

Former Black Lives Matter St. Paul leader Rashad Turner recently quit his position over BLM national’s opposition to charter schools. Charters are public schools that boards of local citizens can apply to open and run under state oversight, and that any child can attend.

“Our public education system has people who are sometimes literally dying for the lack of educational opportunity. And when I think of charter schools in my community here in St. Paul and their benefit to students of color — low-income students — to call for a moratorium or an end to charter schools just lets me know that something funny is going on,” Turner told The74, a progressive education-focused website.

Turner also criticized the NAACP’s similar, long-held opposition to charters, which aligns with labor unions rather than black Americans. A plurality of African-Americans support charter schools, with 46 percent for and 29 percent against in a recent nationwide poll. In a 2015 poll conducted by the Black Alliance for Educational Options in Alabama, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Tennessee, majorities of black Americans supported charters, typically by approximately two-thirds.

Meanwhile, a group of 160 African-American community leaders sent NAACP a letter detailing their own objections to its charter-school opposition on behalf of “700,000 black families choosing to send their children to charter public schools, and the tens of thousands more who are still on waiting lists.” In October the NAACP board will meet to consider a resolution that calls for banning more charters from opening, which prompted the group letter in opposition.

“For many urban Black families, charter schools are making it possible to do what affluent families have long been able to do: rescue their children from failing schools,” the letter says. “The NAACP should not support efforts to take that option away from low-income and working-class Black families. A blanket moratorium on charter schools would limit Black students’ access to some of the best schools in America and deny Black parents the opportunity to make decisions about what’s best for their children.”

A similar coalition of black leaders in Florida has spent years going toe-to-toe with labor unions that keep suing to stop the nation’s largest state program that allows private donations to fund K-12 scholarships for poor children. The recipients of these tax-credit scholarships are predominantly minority students, and many of their parents are labor union members themselves. Nevertheless, the state teachers union keeps renewing lawsuits against the program despite a steady string of court decisions against them.

“While they’re fighting the old fight of integration versus segregation, our children are falling through the cracks. And in this issue, I believe they’re on the wrong side,” said the Rev. Manuel Sykes, a former president of the NAACP branch in St. Petersburg, of the NAACP’s opposition to school choice. “So at this point, we’re out here to advocate for and inform our African-American community that this (school choice) is something they need to support. Because while everyone is fighting on the top levels, it’s our children that’s at stake.”

The group letter to the NAACP cites a Stanford University study showing that black students who attended charter schools exhibited the equivalent of 14 days’ more learning in both reading and math per year compared to black peers in traditional public schools. Poor black students’ learning gains in charter schools were even more dramatic, at the equivalent of 29 more days’ learning in reading and 36 extra in math.

Turner said he doesn’t know why Black Lives Matter opposes school-choice programs that help black children access higher-quality schools, but he has a few theories.

If you took some time to look beneath the surface, you’d see that the Black Lives Matter movement has been co-opted. It’s been hijacked by others. Now it’s all about money. Again, to think that Black Lives Matter Minneapolis could be out protesting with the teachers union, who spent one whole year demonizing black students — to think that you could get out there and protest with them — to me that just seems funny. And I don’t want to make assumptions, but something funny is going on.

The Black Lives Matter movement in the public eye has had that appearance that ‘Hey, you’re fighting for black bodies to stop being killed by police.’ How the heck that leads to calling for a moratorium on new charter schools, I don’t have a clue.

♦ Joy Pullmann is managing editor of The Federalist and author of the forthcoming “The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids,” from Encounter Books.

Kenya’s Olympic team leader charged, denies stealing $256K

Kenya Olympics Athletic team Manager Michael Rotich at a Milimani court where he is facing doping allegations, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. Kenyan police arrested the country's Olympics team manager Rotich, on his arrival at Nairobi airport from Brazil on Tuesday over alleged crimes linked to possible doping and are seeking a court order to hold him in custody while completing their investigations. (AP Photo) — Kenya Olympics Athletic team Manager Michael Rotich at a Milimani court where he is facing doping allegations, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. Kenyan police arrested the country’s Olympics team manager Rotich, on his arrival at Nairobi airport from Brazil on Tuesday over alleged crimes linked to possible doping and are seeking a court order to hold him in custody while completing their investigations. (AP Photo)

Stephen Arap Soi, the Kenya chef de mission in Rio, on Wednesday denied five charges relating to the alleged theft of the money.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s team leader at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics stole $256,000 from government and sports authorities meant for the athletes’ and officials’ stay at the games, prosecutors alleged in court on Wednesday.

Stephen Arap Soi, Kenya’s chef de mission at the Olympics last month, denied five counts of stealing money.

Prosecutors said he took $234,000 with him on a flight to Brazil without declaring it to customs officials, and which then went missing, and stole the remaining $22,000 in smaller amounts on separate occasions.

The money belonged to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, Athletics Kenya, or the sports ministry, prosecutors said.

Two other officials, Kenyan Olympic committee vice president Pius Ochieng and secretary general Francis Kinyili Paul, appeared alongside Soi in a Nairobi court, and denied charges of stealing Olympic team uniforms provided by sponsor Nike.

Prosecutors this week dropped charges against a fourth Kenyan Olympic official, treasurer Fridah Shiroya. Shiroya is expected to be a state witness who will testify against Soi, Ochieng, and Paul.

The Olympic case is the latest in a long line of scandals for Kenyan sport, and particularly athletics, which has seen a barrage of doping cases involving athletes, and allegations of wrongdoing by senior officials.

Senior officials at both the Olympic committee and the athletics federation are accused of corruption, and the Olympic committee was disbanded by government because of the Rio scandal. The International Olympic Committee has given Kenya until the end of the year to reform its Olympic body or it could face a ban.

Last year, Athletics Kenya president Isaiah Kiplagat, vice president David Okeyo and former treasurer Joseph Kinyua were all suspended and put under investigation by the IAAF for allegedly embezzling around $700,000 given to it by Nike. The three were also accused of covering up doping cases for money. Kiplagat, the longtime head of AK and a former member of the IAAF ruling council, died last month. Okeyo and Kinyua remain under investigation.

AK chief executive Isaac Mwangi is being investigated separately after two athletes alleged in an interview with The Associated Press that he tried to extort bribes from them in return for organizing lenient punishments for doping.

And at the Rio Olympics, Kenya sent two track coaches home after they were embroiled in two separate doping scandals. One of them is the subject of a criminal investigation in Kenya.

On Wednesday, prosecutors released more detail of the allegations against Soi and the others. They said the $234,000 they accuse Soi of taking on a plane from Kenya to Brazil on July 20 was not accounted for at the Olympics. Soi was also charged with stealing $18,000 given to him by AK to pay for track officials’ accommodation in Rio. He stole two separate batches of $3,000 and $1,000 from the sports ministry offices, according to court documents.

Despite almost constant scandals at the Olympics, Kenya won the second-highest number of medals in athletics in Rio behind the United States.

Nigeria Football Federation says it cannot afford to attend World Cup qualifier

Happier times: Nigeria's players William Ekong (L) and John Obi Mikel (R) celebrate with bronze medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics. A Japanese fan gifted the cash-strapped team $390,000 after the match. — Happier times: Nigeria’s players William Ekong (L) and John Obi Mikel (R) celebrate with bronze medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics. A Japanese fan gifted the cash-strapped team $390,000 after the match.

(CNN) – As it stands, Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign may be over before it even begins. With the country in the midst of a crippling recession triggered by weak oil prices, funding for its men’s national football team has suffered to the point that it risks World Cup disqualification.

Although the Super Eagles — who are led by Chelsea star John Obi Mikel — have had their bonuses suspended for six months, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) now says it is so broke that it cannot afford to fly its players to Zambia for next month’s third-round qualifier.

Although many of its squad earn lucrative salaries playing for clubs in Europe, the NFF is courting a sponsor to raise $270,000 in order to charter a plane to Ndola, Zambia for the match on October 9, according to Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper.

“As we speak, we don’t have any kobo (a denomination of Nigeria’s naira currency) in our purse,” an unnamed member of the NFF told the newspaper, adding that they were appealing to regional telco giant Globacom for aid.

“The charges for the Airline alone is $200,000 for a 140-seater plane, and it will be on ground with the team for two days,” the spokesman added. “We need between $6,000 and $10,000 for flight ticket(s) to bring in the players (from Europe).”

The NFF member also noted that players will be due a further $95,0000 each in bonuses, and said the only way forward is to receive stronger backing from the Nigerian government.

“The federal government still has to play its part, because this is the beginning of our campaign for the 2018 World Cup qualifying ticket. If we must get it right, every hand must be on deck,” he told The Guardian.

The Nigerian Statehouse did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on the matter.

Nigeria has been one of the most successful African countries when it comes to the World Cup, reaching the round of 16 in three out of its five appearances — most recently in 2014.

The Super Eagles have had even greater success at the Olympics, winning a gold medal at Atlanta in 1996, a silver at the 2008 Beijing Games, and a recent bronze medal at Rio 2016.

Reaching the bronze medal match in Rio de Janeiro prompted one Super Eagles superfan to donate $390,000 as charitable aid.

Learning of the team’s financial hardship, Japanese plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu flew in from Tokyo for Nigeria’s bronze medal match against Honduras, which it won 3-2.

“I was so happy and cried for their winning. Japanese are sentimental,” Takasu told CNN in August.

Takasu personally delivered the checks to Nigeria’s captain, Mikel and coach Samson Siasia after being impressed by the team’s resilience when they emerged victorious in the Olympic football group stage despite nearly missing the tournament.

The team were stranded at their Atlanta training base and arrived just seven hours before their opening match against Japan, which they won 5-4, due to a logistical mix up — the airline hired to charter the team to Brazil, it turned out, had not been paid on time.

President Buhari removes aide who plagiarized Obama speech

President Buhari....A slump in the country’s fiscal system has adversely affected the cost and standard of living for the common man. Furthermore, the regimes has been reluctant in addressing core sociopolitical issues facing the country – from security, heath, education to affordability of consumer goods. — Buhari in his speech for the “Change Begins With Me” campaign, said, “We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so long.” The line was taken verbatim from Obama’s speech, which he gave eight years ago after his victory over Arizona Sen. John McCain. Furthermore, the regimes has been reluctant in addressing core sociopolitical issues facing the country – from security, heath, education to affordability of consumer goods.

(CNN) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has removed a speechwriter who caused him national embarrassment after he plagiarized US President Barack Obama.

Buhari delivered the lines at the launch of a landmark campaign on September 8, unaware that part of his speech was lifted.

Buhari in his speech for the “Change Begins With Me” campaign, said, “We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so long.”

The line was taken verbatim from Obama’s speech, which he gave eight years ago after his victory over Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The incident was particularly embarrassing for the president because “Change Begins With Me” is a flagship policy meant to demand honesty and integrity from Nigerians.

Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu confirmed to CNN that the unnamed civil servant had been relieved of his duties at the state house.

He said: “He came from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service on posting and he was asked to return (to that office). They will handle his case in accordance with their regulations.”

At the time, Shehu blamed the error on “overzealous administration staff.” “We regret that this has happened. This serious oversight will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate punishment meted.”

The presidency has put in place digital software used by editors to combat plagiarism, the spokesman said.

It is not the first time Buhari has been called out for plagiarism. In his inauguration speech in May 2015, he received plaudits for his quote: “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody.”

This line was later attributed to French President Charles de Gaulle, who was quoted in a book saying, “I am a man who belongs to no one and who belongs to everyone,” while addressing a press conference on May 19, 1958.

Buhari’s “Change Begins With Me” campaign, which includes a push against widespread corruption, has proved somewhat ill-fated, with some Nigerians criticizing it for being tone-deaf and failing to address their needs during a biting recession. Many took to Twitter to vent against the campaign.

Speaking at its launch, Buhari said: “The campaign principle is simple, each of us must live the change we want to see in our society. Before you ask, ‘where is the change they promised us,’ you must first ask, ‘how far have I changed my ways.”

4th Annual Houston AfriFEST to highlight the African arts, culture, and entertainment

File photo of a reflection of the African art, music, and culture. The purpose of the Houston AfriFEST is to share cultural arts activities from the different nationalities and ethnic groups of the African continent.

Houston, the most diverse city in the U.S. will again take center stage as it pays tribute to the continent of Africa. On Saturday, October 8th, 2016 the Nigerian-American Multicultural Council (NAMC) and the African Student Association host its 4th annual Houston AfriFEST – a festival of African arts, culture, and entertainment from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the grounds of the Houston Baptist University, located at 7502 Fondren Rd., Houston, TX 77074.

The purpose of the Houston AfriFEST is to share cultural arts activities from the different nationalities and ethnic groups of the African continent. Over 2000 people will attend this one-day event! Houston AfriFEST 2016 will showcase traditional and contemporary African dances, music, art, poetry by artists from several African countries.

Special guest performers will include Lipsia, an Angolan jazz, R&B and world music singer who was born in Russia. Lipsia has been nominated by the African Entertainment Awards as the “Best New Female Artist of 2016”. Richie Francis, a Nigerian singer will bring his style of urban music that is so popular with the youth. The Cameroonian masquerade dancers will bring the traditional Njang dances. Chilli, the Cultural Ambassador of Cameroon has exported original traditional music from the grass lands of Kumbo to the world stage. Myoa, a London-based songstress will also grace the 2016 Houston AfriFEST stage. Joy of Djembe, a 14-piece djembe orchestra will open the festival with a drum call.

Special guest performer, Lipsia is a jazz, blues and world music singer/songwriter from Angola. She was born in Russia and classically trained, and has participated in various international singing competitions. In 2010 she was signed to "Milionario Records" and is currently managed by Nilza Lima. She is a 2016 nominee for best new artist for the African Entertainment Awards to be held October 22 in Elizabeth NJ. — Special guest performer, Lipsia is a jazz, blues and world music singer/songwriter from Angola. She was born in Russia and classically trained, and has participated in various international singing competitions. In 2010 she was signed to “Milionario Records” and is currently managed by Nilza Lima. She is a 2016 nominee for best new artist for the African Entertainment Awards to be held October 22 in Elizabeth NJ.

The Africa Zone will consist of displays from countries such as Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania Uganda and Diaspora Africans from the United States and the Caribbean. Each country will have an elaborate exhibition of their national arts, crafts, history and geography. Our local partner is the Houston Museum of African American Culture which will showcase African films.

Richie, (born Richard Francis) as he is known, is a Nigerian talented Singer, prolific songwriter and musician. A former member of the group D’accord winners of Star Quest 2006 Music concert organized by Nigerian Breweries Plc.

The Kids’ Zone will have educational and fun activities for children of all ages – including face-painting, arts and crafts and other engaging activities. The Festival’s African Market will have local and international merchants who bring an array of arts, crafts, fashions for the consumption of our visitors. Festival attendees can partake in authentic, tasty exotic dishes from continental African Food vendors.

Admission to the 2016 AfriFest is only $5.00 for the general public and free for seniors, college students and children. A portion of the proceeds go towards a scholarship fund for higher education for qualifying students.

For more information please go to www.namchouston.org or call Abby @ 281-788-8798.

Female Boko Haram victims in Nigerian camps forced to sell sex as food runs out

Security officers are seen at a camp for internally displaced people after they were called to control some people who rallied against camp authorities for what they say is poor distribution of food rations, in Borno, Nigeria, August 29, 2016. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Boko Haram violence has left more than 65,000 people living in famine in the northeast, with one million others at risk

Tired of watching her five children go hungry in a camp for people fleeing Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, Amina Ali Pulka decided to befriend a young man who worked in the kitchen.

Desperate due to the lack of aid distributed at the Bakassi camp in the city of Maiduguri, the 30-year-old had sex with the man in exchange for extra food to give to her children.

“I did it because I had nobody to feed me or clothe me,” Pulka told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone, adding that the man, who like her had been uprooted by Boko Haram violence, also gave her money which she used to buy soap and other items.

Pulka is one of many women in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in northeast Nigeria who are selling sex in exchange for food, soap, and money, said medical charity International Medical Corps (IMC) and Nigerian research group NOI Polls.

Aid agencies have warned of starvation, malnutrition and dwindling food supplies for the displaced in Borno State.

“At times, the food is not enough so the women resort to giving themselves for food and money,” said Hassana Pindar of the IMC, which runs support centres for women in the camps.

Boko Haram violence has left more than 65,000 people living in famine in the northeast, with one million others at risk, and more than half of children under five are malnourished in some areas of Borno state, a coalition of aid groups said last week.

The Islamist militant group has killed about 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million in Nigeria in a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating a state adhering to Islamic laws.

A military offensive has driven Boko Haram from much of the territory it held in northern Nigeria, but the militants have continued to carry out suicide bombings and raids in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

SEX FOR FOOD AND FREEDOM

Almost 90 percent of people uprooted by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria do not have enough to eat, according to a survey last week by NOI Polls, which found that many women are trading sex for food and the freedom to move in and out of IDP camps.

The pollsters said that sexual abuse was a concern, and that the displaced accused camp officials of perpetrating it in two thirds of cases.

Hundreds of the displaced staged a protest last month in Maiduguri, accusing state officials of stealing food rations, prompting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to order police to arrest and make an example of the culprits.

In addition to mothers desperate to provide for their children, many teenage girls in Bakassi camp are sleeping with men in exchange for food, said IMC volunteer Fatima Alhaji.

“Some go out to beg on the streets, others go out of the camp to look for menial jobs, while others use their bodies to get food and money,” she said. “Everybody is talking about it.”

Five months pregnant, Pulka has been abandoned by the kitchen worker, while she has not seen her husband, who lives in the capital of Abuja with another of his wives, for three years.

Pulka said her husband, who has not visited the camp or sent any money, refused to come and take the children under his care.

Her oldest daughter, 15, is distraught about her pregnancy.

“She asks me why I am pregnant when their father has been away for three years … other people in the camp also ask me questions,” Pulka said. “I did it because of my children.”

(Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Writing by Kieran Guilbert Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

President Obama: ‘If You Don’t Vote, That’s a Vote for Trump’

President Obama has made it clear to voters: If you don’t want Donald Trump as president, choose Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton instead.

“If you don’t vote, that’s a vote for Trump,” Obama stressed in a new line of attack during a radio interview with Steve Harvey that aired Wednesday morning. “If you vote for a third-party candidate who’s got no chance to win, that’s a vote for Trump.”

The president conducted the interview via telephone on Tuesday, reacting to the first presidential debate and urging listeners to register to vote.

“People just do not give [Clinton] credit, and part of it, maybe, is because she’s a woman and we have not elected a woman president before,” Obama said. “But here’s somebody who, as I said at the convention, is as qualified as anybody who has ever run for this office, and she’s been on the right side of the issues that we care about, and we need to support her, and that begins by making sure that everybody is registered and everybody is voting. The stakes in this election is so high.”

The president criticized Trump’s performance during Monday’s debate, noting the moments when Trump crowed about not paying federal taxes and capitalizing on the housing crisis.

“You know, for someone who wants to be president of the United States, and you’re not thinking about the hardship of foreclosures and people losing their homes and being out on the streets, that your only focus is, ‘How can I make a buck off it?’ Yeah, that’s not the kind of person that I think we want representing us in the Oval Office,” Obama remarked.

In the interview he also denounced Trump’s treatment of women.

“You had somebody who basically insulted women and then doubled down … in terms of how he talks about them and talks about their weight and talks about, you know, how they look instead of the content of their character and capabilities, which is not something that I want, not somebody I want in the Oval Office that my daughters are listening to and that sons are listening to,” Obama said. “And so, across the board, you know, you’ve got somebody who appears to only care about himself.”

Stephen Arap Soi, the Kenya chef de mission in Rio, on Wednesday denied five charges relating to the alleged theft of the money.

Boko Haram violence has left more than 65,000 people living in famine in the northeast, with one million others at risk

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