More troubles for Nigeria and others as Iran oil exports to hit 1.5 mb/d in March

Iran's First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri

Iran’s first vice president says the country’s oil exports will reach 1.5 million barrels per day (mb/d) next month as Tehran moves to benefit from sanctions relief.

“Today, our oil exports have reached 1.3 mb/d, which will reach 1.5 mb/d by” March, Es’haq Jahangiri said on Saturday.

He added that Iran will be exporting 2 mb/d of oil in the next calendar year starting on March 21.

“Oil exports enhancement was among opportunities created by the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)…Iran has to preserve its share in the global oil market,” added Jahangiri.

JCPOA refers to Iran’s landmark nuclear accord with six world powers that took effect in January, paving the way for the lifting of sanctions slapped on Iran.

Sanctions against Iran were imposed by the US and European Union at the beginning of 2012, alleging that there was diversion in Iran's nuclear program toward military objectives; an allegation that Iran categorically rejected.

An oil service worker walks at an Iranian oil production facility.

There has been speculation that Iran’s move to raise oil exports would cut already low oil prices. But Iran is determined to regain its oil market share lost due to the international sanctions.

Oil markets remain oversupplied, a situation which has been fueled by OPEC's refusal to cut output in order to squeeze out high-cost US shale producers.

OPEC left its output ceiling unchanged, in both June and December last year, at 30 mb/d with its estimated actual output standing at 32 mb/d.

Because of overproduction chiefly by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC producers, there is currently up to 2.5 mb/d of excess oil in the market which has caused crude prices to lose around 60% of their value since mid-2014.

Saudi defends poor female rights record

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir ©AFP

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has defended Saudi Arabia's dismal women rights record, saying the kingdom needs more time to improve the situation.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Jubeir claimed that the kingdom has made progress on female education but the case of permitting women to drive needs more work. 

“When it comes to issues like women’s driving, this is not a religious issue, it’s a societal issue,” Jubeir said. 

He compared the issue of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia to the one in the US, saying women were allowed to vote 100 years after America’s independence while the first female parliamentary speaker was elected a century later.

“I’m not saying ‘Give us 200 years’. I’m saying ‘be patient’,” Jubeir said

“We hope that in the modern world … this process is accelerated, but things take time. We can’t expect to rush things.”

Jubeir said Saudi women now make up 55 percent of college students compared to 1960 when the kingdom had no schools for female citizens.

Riyadh has come under intense pressure by the activist groups for mistreating women. International rights groups say the Saudi regime deliberately deny women basic rights.

Saudi women arrive to attend Jenadriyah Culture Festival on the outskirts of Riyadh, Feb. 8, 2016. ©Reuters

The kingdom is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. The ban stems from a religious fatwa imposed by Wahhabi clerics. If women get behind the wheel in the kingdom, they may be arrested, sent to court and even flogged.

In 2012, the then Saudi King, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, announced that women would be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections for the first time in the country. He also appointed 30 women to the country’s top advisory Shura Council before his death in January 2015.

With PressTV

Women purchase more valentine cards than men annually

A report has shown that, women purchase about 85 per cent of an estimated 1.2 billion valentine cards that are sold worldwide annually, Mrs Felicia Bello, the Matron, Landmark University Medical Centre, Omu-Aran, has said.

Bello said this at a health counselling initiative organised for secondary school students in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara, on Friday, The Guardian reported.

Quoting statistics from the World Greeting Card Association, Bello said the figure had made Valentine’s Day, the second most popular card exchange celebration after Christmas.

She said that the official card purchase figure for Christmas celebration was an estimated 2.6 billion cards globally.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the counselling activity tagged: “Health Counselling toward Valentine’’ was organised by Landmark University Community Development Impact Initiative (LMUCDII).

No fewer than 150 students participated in the counselling initiative.

Bello said that in spite of the fact that Valentine’s Day celebration had transformed into a global celebration of love, many persons, particularly the youth, celebrated the day wrongly.

“Many people are introduced to habits that will destroy their destiny.

“Many young girls from age 10 years to 15 years are defiled on the night of Valentine’s Day, with some of them ending up with HIV or unwanted pregnancy.

“Many are initiated into cultism and other wicked associations — some unknowingly — as such celebrations usually start at odd hours,” she said.

The matron, therefore, cautioned the students to shun all the negative and anti-social aspects of Valentine Day’s celebration.

She urged them to only embrace those positive aspects which had to do with sharing of affection, gifts, food items and even ideas that could enhance their future.

A resource person, Mrs Olubunmi Joseph-Fadipe, who presented a paper on “Valentine, Love and God’’, urged the students to always allow God be their guide in their day-to-day activities, particularly on Valentine’s Day.

She bemoaned the fact that most Valentine Day’s celebrations nowadays had negated the original objectives of its innovators, saying that the development was doing more harm than good to the society.

Joseph-Fadipe said: “Today’s Valentine’s Day celebration, especially in this part of the world, has been hijacked by anti-social vices.’’

In his remark, Pastor Abiodun Okunola, the Chairman of LMUCDII, said that the counselling activity was aimed at sensitising the students to the need to eschew ungodly habits in their celebration of Valentine’s Day.

He said that the institution, through the initiative, had made donations to orphanages, while looking at practical ways of making agriculture more attractive to the youth, in partnership with Omu-Aran Youth Forum.

“It is our belief that with the education and information which the students were able to garner from the counselling, they would be able to jealously safeguard their future,” Okunola said.

Speaking, Oluwatomisin Jegede, a student of Landmark University Secondary School, Omu-Aran, said that the counselling activity had greatly enhanced her knowledge on the positive and negative aspects of the Valentine’s Day celebration.

The schools which participated in the programme include Omu-Aran High School; Government Secondary School, Omu-Aran; Government Christian College, Omu-Aran; Victory Model College; Aperan Comprehensive College and Ofe-Aran Commercial College.

Riyad Mahrez: 'Relegation battle has helped Leicester title bid'

Riyad Mahrez scored one of Leicester's goals in the 3-1 win at Manchester City last weekend

Riyad Mahrez says last season's battle against relegation has helped Leicester in their challenge for the Premier League title this time round.

The Foxes were bottom with seven games to go last season but stayed up and now top the division by five points.

"When you go through a moment and you are down and losing your head, it gives you a lot of experience," said Mahrez.

"Now we get to test for first place. The mentality is not the same. Now we have nothing to lose."

The 24-year-old midfielder added: "Last season, it was very difficult with a lot of pressure. This year it is a positive pressure.

"If we finish first it is a bonus. If we finish three or four then it is OK. Last year, if we go down into the Championship we can't do this, this year."

Leicester have defied all expectations this season, losing only two league games (they lost 19 in 2014-15) to lead the division ahead of Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City with 13 games to go.

At the start of the campaign some bookmakers had the Foxes at 5,000-1 to win the title but they are now favourites.

"This is Leicester, it is not like Manchester City or Manchester United. They have an obligation to win things," said Algeria international Mahrez.

"We don't have an obligation, it is just a dream. A dream is better than obligation."

Mahrez, who joined Leicester from Le Havre in January 2014, has excelled this season, scoring 14 goals and providing assists for 10 more in the league.

He is one of two players in the City side, the other being striker Jamie Vardy (18), who are into double figures for goals in the campaign.

"There is not one star, two stars, three stars - we play and work for each other," continued Mahrez.

"Every team has to have two or three players who score and this year it is Jamie and me. People can say a lot about us but we are just the same, just two players from Leicester City."

In the summer, Leicester sacked Nigel Pearson, the manager who had overseen their impressive escape from relegation with seven wins from the last nine games of the season.

He was replaced by former Chelsea and Juventus boss Claudio Ranieri,who Mahrez says has brought a work-rate and tactical discipline to the side.

"We are together, very compact," he said. "We think a lot about tactics.

"We do a lot of work defensively. Me, for example, if I don't work, I don't play. Two times this year he put me on the bench because I didn't defend. I know if I don't work for the team he will drop me to the bench.

"Maybe I will start, but if I don't work, I will get taken off after 45 minutes."

Last Saturday, Leicester won 3-1 at one of their rivals for the title, Manchester City.

This Sunday, they face another as they travel to third-placed Arsenal, who are five points behind and whose boss says Leicester are favourites to win at Emirates Stadium.

"He is just saying that to take the pressure of his team," added Mahrez.

"Arsenal have to win the title because it is an obligation for them. For us it is a bonus, a dream. It will be a very difficult game. They are a big team who play in the Champions League every year.

"We don't have any pressure. We will just play how we do every game."

With BBC Sport

Paulette and Simone 104-year-old French twins say closeness is the secret

When they were born premature in 1912, doctors gave Paulette and Simone the slimmest chance of survival. But 104 years later, the French twins say there’s a simple secret to their longevity: sticking together.

With their long white hair tied back in ponytails and gold spectacles perched on their noses, Paulette Olivier and Simone Thiot are happy to pose for the camera at their retirement home in Onzain, central France.

“This will be fun!” they say in chorus.

There is no official confirmation that Paulette and Simone are the oldest twins in France, but they appear to be the likely holders of the title.

“We’re being very spoiled,” one of them says as they show off the flowers given by the local council and fellow retirement home residents to mark their 104th birthday.

Paulette and Simone were born in the central village of Limeray at 11:00 am on January 30, 1912 to Marie Lamolie, a dressmaker, and her husband Joseph, a carpenter.

Their entry to the world did not bode well.

“We were premature,” says Simone, who can still get around these days without the help of a Zimmer frame.

“We were due in March but we were born in January. They gave us a very small chance of surviving. I didn’t even weigh a kilo. And you, just three pounds,” she says to her sister.

“They had to keep us wrapped up for four months.”

Paulette, widowed at 36, worked as a hairdresser for 15 years in Algeria, then in Paris.

Simone, a dressmaker like her mother, lost her husband when she was 64.

Neither had any children.

The twins, whose only brother died in accident at the age of 99, insist it’s their lasting friendship that has kept them going all this time.

“We are still alive because we have always stayed close,” says one. “We keep our independence — each of us has her own room — but we only need to cross the corridor to see and talk to each other.

“We pity old people who are alone with no one to visit them.”

Paulette and Simone spend their time keeping up with current affairs, reading, watching television and listening to music.

Simone also regularly writes poems which she keeps in a notebook.

Any other tips for a long life? “A simple life — no excess. No alcohol. And lots of sport.

“We did gymnastics for a long time, and a huge amount of cycling — almost every day.”