AllAfrica.com

MOTORISTS yesterday accused dealers of hoarding petroleum products to keep the price high.

Hopes that the falling crude oil prices would lead to cheaper petroleum products in Nigeria have been dashed by the Federal Government.

The House of Representatives, yesterday, affirmed that the President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will next week, during a joint sitting of the two chambers of the National Assembly, present the 2009 Appropriation Bill.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his concern at new acts of piracy off the Somali coast this week amid reports of a series of attacks or attempting hijackings in recent days in a region already notorious for the practice.

The broken down N24 billion ($200million) NigComSat - 1 flown into orbit about a year ago by China Great Wall Industry Incorporation (CGWIC) is irreparably damaged and has been safely de-orbited to its eternal resting place in the heavens, Managing Director (MD) of NigComSat - 1 Ltd, Prof. Ahmed Rufai has confirmed.

ALMOST a third - 28 per cent - of Namibian households are now classified as poor, with 13 per cent labelled as severely poor, according to the latest review of poverty and inequality in the country that was launched yesterday.

An expert in the Nigerian financial market and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Anthony Idigbe has called on the regulatory authorities in the Nigerian capital market to relax the stringent conditions for share buyback for quoted companies if the policy is to achieve the required effect in the market.

Researchers have sold over 1,000 solar stoves to rural families in Senegal in a bid to prove that the ovens can improve child and maternal health and reduce household fuel consumption.

Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State has urged President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to re-brand the newly-created ministry that is to deal with the problems of the Niger Delta. Ohakim wants it designated as Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to avoid the possible narrow connotation inherent in calling it Niger Delta Ministry.

Managing director of NigComSat, Mr Ahmed Rufai, yesterday confirmed to the House that the failure of the N40 billion project is not a loss to Nigeria as it was insured 100 per cent even as he disclosed that NigComSat-1, which was acquired with a loan of 200million dollars from China Exim Bank, cannot be recovered.

IT has now been confirmed that the disintegrating N29.95 billion ($256 million) NigComSat-1 flown into orbit about a year ago by China Great Wall Industry Incorporation (CGWIC) is irreparably damaged and has been safely de-orbited to its eternal resting place in the heavens.

Director General, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Mr. Abubakar Sambo, has said that the estimated undiscounted total investments of energy demand would hit $300 billion by the year 2030.

A week after demanding that the 2009 budget should be benchmarked against $50 per barrel of crude oil, the governors of the 36 states yesterday agreed with the Federal Government's proposal of $45 per barrel.

FUEL retailers are banking on further fuel price decreases to revive falling sales, the Fuel Retailers' Association says.

Business is booming for Sibangilizwe Ndlovu, 56, who runs a small funeral parlour in the working-class district of Kelvin North in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city.

RESEARCH findings by the sociology of work unit of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) revealed yesterday that more than 60% of platinum mines in the Rustenburg area employed subcontracted mineworkers to avoid direct accountability in cases of accidents and death.

SOUTH African shipping companies say the surge in sea piracy cases has left them saddled with higher maritime insurance and transport costs.

INTERPOL is looking to popular internet social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube to help catch 15000 fugitives - from war criminals to sex offenders and fraudsters.

THE National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has accused the Congress of the People (COPE) of starting a campaign of misinformation among miners concerning their pension funds in an effort to recruit new members.

The Federal Government has urged stake holders in the nation's oil and gas industry to discover more oil so as to enable Nigeria meet its 40billion barrels reserve target by the year 2010.