Nigerian Times

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!Photo Credit: Saw Htoo . UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie, left, and Brad Pitt, second from left in foreground, visit Bosnian Muslim refugee Sabina Karman, second from left in background, and her four children, in the village. American actress Angelina Jolie who is well known for humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the SOS Children's Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina will receive a sizable part of the proceeds from the soundtrack LP of her thrilling new film In the Land of Blood and Honey , which is her debut as a director and screenwriter. The review was published in Supple Magazine last August. Angelina Jolie in a dark blue asymmetrical Romona Keveza gown at the premiere of ‘The Land Of Blood and Honey’ in LA on December 8, 2011. The SOS Children’s Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been caring for the children adversely affected by the Balkans war back in the 1...

Brussels, 19 December 2011/PRNewswire/ — Christmas is a very busy time of year for Santa Claus! He has to get the sleigh ready, feed his reindeers, check his list to be sure he hasn't forgotten any good girls and boys… and make sure that the toys the elves have purchased are not only fun, but also safe! This is the goal of the European Toy Safety Campaign that the European Commission has launched this month; it intends to show how to get the safest toys, and how to use them safely! The campaign includes a video clip with toy safety tips, and introduces the ' CE marking' little robot who tests the toys in a vast toy shop to make sure they are safe for children to use, after the guard has done his last night round. Cards with toy safety tips reinforce this message in hundreds of toy stores all over the EU. This video clip was disseminated with a large success on Internet and it is now available for TV broadcasts as a public service message. Please find the 45-seconds video cl...

Nigerian Police Officers on duty It is Time for Psychological Services for families and Survivors of line-of-duty Police Deaths The nation currently has a Police Force with no specialized training in professional psychological services nor does it have a system for trauma therapy and grief counseling /psychological outfit for grieving families. The recent revelation that four hundred police officers lost their lives in the line of duty last year, within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja tells us that more and more trauma deaths of officers remain rampant across all of the states. On a physical level, the nation lacks a system of life insurance policies for close family members and survivors. There is no Police Health Plan with a package for trauma therapy for families of deceased officers. The traumatically injured officers lack a system-based insurance or long term financial plans to cover their hospital bills and other basic needs. The reported N500, 000 presented to survivors is...

Famous American actress Angelina Jolie 's thrilling new film In the Land of Blood and Honey, which she admits has changed her view on acting is her baptism of fire as a director and screenwriter. She said her beau Brad Pitt thought she was going to have nightmares on location. But “I had such a good experience he thinks I'm going to be impatient with directors, which I already am. I get impatient with people working on a film that have their head in their hands like it's the most complicated thing in the world." I had the flu," Jolie says. "I had to be quarantined from the children for two days. I was in the attic of a house in France. I was isolated, pacing. I don't watch TV and I wasn't reading anything. So I started writing. I went from the beginning to the end. I didn't know any other way." Angelina Jolie having her baptême du feu directing In the Land of Blood and Honey . "I've never felt more exposed. My whole ca...

London riots. Photo Credit: The Telegraph Is the Arab Spring of Blood spreading to the UK as London is engulfed in the inferno of arsonists and looters on rampage? But as London is burning hundreds of children are still dying in the famine ravaging Somalia. Who was the 29 years old bloke that was killed in exchange of gunfire with police in Tottenham in the twilight of last Saturday? Would the death of that man be enough to enrage the hundreds of lunatics burning and looting in Birmingham, Canning Town, Manchester, Salford and still spreading? Well, the pangs of dying children are echoing from Somalia. Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time 8 Aug 2011 14:58 Dr. Jill Biden Arrives in Kenya to Vi...

25 Jun 2011 10:06 Africa/Lagos Women's football teams ‘Give AIDS the Red Card' to keep children free from HIV GENEVA, June 24, 2011/location>)/ -- Captains of national football teams competing in the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 soccer championship in Germany are signing up to the Give AIDS the Red Card appeal in support of a global plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. The Give AIDS the Red Card appeal, which was launched by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) one year ago at the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa, uses the power and outreach of football to unite the world around stopping new HIV infections in children. UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said, “As the most important international competition in women's football, this tournament provides a platform to raise global awareness about the campaign to keep babies from becoming infected with HIV, and their mothers from dying from AIDS.” Every day mor...

Nigerians in UK inspire British Author’s new book for Children A new book Tópé Arrives is about a Nigerian orphan who was forced against his will to continue his life in England. It is a Nigerian story written by a new British author Wendy Hue who told me why she wrote this emotionally compelling children’s book that has been endorsed by Richard Damilola , the father of Damilola Taylor , the 10-year-old Nigerian child murdered on his way from Peckham Library on November 27, 2000, in south London in 2000. The book was on the long list of the The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition . Tópé is suddenly orphaned and against his will he has to leave Nigeria. Worried about starting a new life in England, he feels he is an outsider in his new school. It is a time of tears and tussles. Will his nimble football skills and precious wooden boat somehow help him to carve out a new beginning? Will he ever again be able to believe in himself and drum in with the dundun drums his rene...

29 Mar 2011 08:00 Africa/Lagos 7 out of 10 Teachers Think the Internet Could Help Improve Communication With Parents BERGEN, Germany, March 29, 2011/PRNewswire/ -- 71% of teachers feel that a secure internet 'parent portal',where parents could see details about their child's schooling, would improve school-to-parent communication,according to a survey of 5805 teachers released today by leading educational ICT provider itslearning (http://www.itslearning.eu). In the survey of teachers in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US, 75% of teachers also rated parental engagement as either 'important' or 'very important' for the success of a child's education. However, 44% said they didn't have the time or means to communicate with parents as much as they would like. "Teachers agree that involving parents is critical,but they aren't able to communicate with parents effectively," says Morten Fahlvik,Research Manager at itslearning. ...

Mass raped women protesting in DRC, Africa. Photo Credit: Trends Updates . 23 Mar 2011 20:32 Africa/Lagos Open session of the PSC on sexual violence, women and children in armed conflicts ADDIS ABABA, March 23, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) will hold an open session on “Women and Children in Armed Conflicts” on Monday, 28 March 2011 at the Headquarters of the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The event, which has been institutionalized in 2010, will provide an opportunity to the survivors of sexual violence and representatives of grassroots rehabilitation projects to address the PSC. Speakers will also include relevant departments of the AU Commission, the Panel of the Wise and Mrs Margot Wallstrom, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General against sexual violence. For the record, the 2010 briefing of the PSC on “Women and Children in Armed Conflicts”, held in the framework of the Year of Peace and Security ...