Pastor tries to walk on water, ends up drowning

A 35-year-old pastor in Gabon, Franck Kabele, has died while trying to take after Jesus in the Bible. Reports claim that Kabele told his congregation that he was capable of reenacting the same miracles of Jesus Christ in the Bible. He decided to make it clear through way of demonstration on Gabon’s beach in the capital city of Libreville.

Using Matthew 14:22-33 as reference, Kabele said that he received a revelation which told him that with enough faith he could achieve what Jesus did also. Eyewitnesses say that Kabele took his congregation out to the beach. He told them that he would cross the Kombo estuary by foot, which is normally a 20-minute boat ride. Sadly by the second step into the water, Kabele found himself completely submerged. He never returned.

This is not the first incident of this nature in Africa. At Ibadan zoo in south-west Nigeria, a self-proclaimed prophet claimed to be able to do what the Daniel of the bible did by walking into a den full of lions. Though he was warned numerous times by zoo keepers, the prophet thought of them as nothing more than enemies of progress. The prophet, with a crowd of people watching, put on a long red robe and proceeded to enter the cage full of lions. HE was ripped apart from flesh to bone within seconds of entrance into the lions’ den.

Sad!

Panic as dangerous cobras invade Bayelsa community

The residents of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital are blaming the invasion on incessant rainfall

– Snake expert cautions residents on how to take care of their houses to prevent attacks

Residents of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital have been thrown into a state of confusion following cobra snakes’ invasion on their area.

The Nation reports that the sudden appearances of the snakes have led some residents to flee their places of abode as the reptiles have kept on with their invasion following the consistent rainfalls and floods experienced in many parts of the capital.

Some of the affected residents at the Apex Academy road of Amarata community on Imgbi road, also discovered a giant cobra over the weekend and gathered to kill it, with one of the people simply identified as Chidera explaining what transpired.

 said: “At about 7am, the owner of the vehicle, Emmanuel, called an auto repairer to fix the vehicle but discovered a large snake hiding in the vehicle.

“The man rushed to call some residents of the area to assist him. Some youths gathered and killed the snake.”

Speaking also was another resident, Joshua‎, who noted that the rainfall is responsible for the unprecedented presence of snakes in the community.

According to him: “Some weeks ago, I saw a huge snake at the back of my house in the morning. Attempts to kill the cobra failed as it was ready to strike.”

Festus Ogienwon, a local snake expert has therefore appealed to residents to watch their movements at night and counseled them to ensure they close their doors tightly at night before going to bed.

Meanwhile, a giant snake, estimated to be up to 12 feet long, on Monday, August 22, killed antelope in Gorakhpur, Northern India. It then steadily stretched its mouth to devour its much larger prey.

The toe-curling moment was caught on camera as the snake realised its prey was too big to swallow blurted out the antelope because it was ‘too big a hunt’.

The antelope’s death captured the attention of villagers, with a crowd of onlookers quickly gathering around to watch the python.

Gunmen attack NTA Onitsha office, burn down building

Suspected gunmen on Wednesday attacked theNigeria Television Authority (NTA) office in Onitsha, Anambra, torching some equipment andStar Times section in the premises.

Acting Manager of the station, Mr Chris Nwigwe, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Onisha that the incident occurred at about 1.40 a.m.

“Some armed men tried to attack the staff on duty but only succeeded in burning down the Star Times building,” he said, adding that no life was lost in the attack.

An eyewitness said that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was planted at the security post of the station, while tyres were set around the premises to set the station ablaze.

“There was a gun duel between the armed men and policemen who are manning the office.

“They managed to burn down the Star Times office while the fire was later put out with the help of people around.

“This type of incident has never happened,” the source said.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Sam Okaula, who visited the scene with the Anti-Bomb Squad to evacuate the explosive device, confirmed that three suspects had been arrested in connection with the incident.

He said that investigation had begun to unravel the reason for the attack.

Okaula lauded policemen manning the office for their bravery, saying that their quick intervention prevented loss of lives and destruction of more property in the attack.

He warned people against taking laws into their hands, and assured that the police would get to the root of the incident.

“Those who take laws into their hands should be ready to face the repercussion,” he stressed, adding that the suspects would be prosecuted in court after investigation was concluded.

NAN reports that three police patrol vans had been stationed in front of the station to beef up security.

U.S. to Boost Number of Refugees it Will Admit in 2017

The Obama administration is pressing ahead with plans to boost the number of refugees it will allow into the U.S. as a national debate rages over immigration and security.

The increase to 110,000 represents a nearly 30 percent increase over the current fiscal year. It is also a more than 57 percent jump since 2015 "and is consistent with our belief that all countries should do more to help the world's most vulnerable people," a State Department official told NBC News.

Of the 110,000 the U.S. intends to begin admitting at least 40,000 are from the Near East and South Asia, a White House senior administration official said. And most of those are likely to be people escaping the brutal Syrian civil war, even as many GOP lawmakers and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sound the alarm about terrorists in the midst of the refugees

CNN first reported the administration's new push on Wednesday morning.

Secretary of State John Kerry, along with Homeland Security and Health and Human Services officials, briefed members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees during a closed briefing on Tuesday, officials.

"As the Secretary has said, this is who we are; this is America at its best," the State Department official said.

Trump and many in his party have fomented fears that there could be Islamic terrorists in their midst — and who have called for a total ban on Syrian refugees.

Last year, lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Senate tried to pass legislation, sponsored by two GOP presidential candidates, to block or curtail benefits for Syrian refugees seeking to enter the U.S. The measures ultimately failed.

The Republican-controlled House last year easily passed tough new screening procedures aimed at stopping Syrian refugees from entering the country —measures President Obama threatened to veto and which failed in the Senate this year on a procedural motion.

A number of Republican governors also opposed the original plan to accept the influx of refugees into their states. A NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll conducted in November found that 56 percent of Americans disapproved of letting more migrants fleeing violence in Syria and other nations into the U.S., while 41 percent approve.

Views on the topic divide sharply on partisan lines.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton backs accepting more refugees from Syria.

The new arrivals under the revised plan will undergo "rigorous screening" before they are allowed in the country, the administration official insisted in an interview with NBC News.

"We are confident we can do the right thing," the official said, while "upholding our core values as Americans."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, slammed the Obama administration, saying it "continues to tune out the American people's concerns on this issue."

"We must remain compassionate toward refugees but we also need to make sure that we use commonsense," Goodlatte said in a statement after the meeting with Kerry. "Unfortunately, President Obama unilaterally increases the number of refugees resettled in the United States each year and gives little thought as to how it will impact local communities."

Goodlatte called on Congress to pass the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act which "set the annual refugee resettlement ceiling so that the People's duly elected representatives in Congress, not the President, decide what the number should be."

"It also empowers state and local governments to decide whether or not refugee resettlement is best for their communities," his statement read.

In the last fiscal year, the U.S. took in 85,000 refugees and 10,000 of those were Syrians. The Syrians were almost all Sunni Muslims, according to federalRefugee Processing Center statistics.

This year, the administration has also set goals to take in 35,000 refugees from Africa, 12,000 from East Asia, 5,000 from Latin America or the Caribbean, 4,000 from Europe, and 14,000 from elsewhere.

While the number of Syrians coming to the U.S. is on the rise, overall it is a drop in the bucket.

More than 4.8 million Syrians have fled their war-torn country but just one-fifth of 1 percent has been resettled in the U.S., according to the State Department.

Almost half of them are 14 and under, the feds said. And 62 percent are under age 20.

Their top two destinations are Michigan, which has long been a destination for Syrian immigrants, and California.

Pope Francis: Killing 'in the Name of God is Satanic'

ROME — Pope Frances urged religious leaders on Wednesday to tell their followers that any killing carried out in the name of God is "satanic."

The pontiff made the remarks during a Mass honoring Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old priest murdered by ISIS-supporting teenagers who stormed his churchin northern France in July.

"Killing in the name of God is satanic," the pope told the ceremony in the Vatican's Domus Santa Marthae chapel. "I would like it if all religions said this, 'To kill in the name of God is satanic.'"

Dozens pilgrims from France attended the Mass.

both 19, stormed the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on July 26 and took six people hostage: Hamel, three nuns and an elderly couple.

They forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat while performing a "sort of sermon around the altar in Arabic," one of the nuns told France's BFMTV at the time.

Police shot both attackers dead as they ran out of the church shouting "Allahu Akbar," according to French officials.

"In the middle of the difficult moment that he was facing, in the middle of this tragedy that he saw coming, a gentle man, a good man, a man of brotherly love, did not lose the lucidity to accuse and say clearly the name of the assassin," the pope said on Wednesday, describing the priest's final moments. "He said very clearly, 'Go away Satan.'"

The pope also indicated that the priest could be on his way to beatification, the first step to sainthood.

"He accepted his martyrdom there on the altar of Christ," he added. "He gave his life for us so as not to deny Jesus. He is a martyr and martyrs are beatified." 

Ogun State has been declared free of Lassa Fever by the state's health commissioner, Babatunde Ipaye.

The Commissioner for Health in Ogun, DrBabatunde Ipaye, has declared the state free of Lassa fever following a recent expression of fear at a patient showing signs of the fever.

The commissioner made this known in a statement he issued in Abeokuta on Sunday.

He said that the government immediately swung into action to make sure that the patient, who complained of symptoms related to the fever was treated accordingly.

“Being a proactive government, we don’t want to take chances, so we monitored with series of test carried out on the victim.

“We have activated our disease surveillance and notification structures with a view to detecting any case on time as well as deploying appropriate measures to prevent and control the spread of the disease,” he said.

He, however, assured that the patient had been certified free according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, hence the state was declared free of lassa fever.

Ipaye said that all the state’s 20 Local Government Areas and the 37 Local Government Development Council Areas (LCDAs) had been put on red alert.

“All borders entering the state are well covered by surveillance officers of the ministry to monitor movement in and around the state,” he said.

The commissioner called on citizens of the state not to panic, just as he advised them to maintain high profile hygiene by keeping rodents out of the house and to keep all food items well covered.

He urged the public to watch out for symptoms of malaria fever that had resisted normal malaria drugs treatment, “particularly during this festive period, when movement is high.”

Such cases that had resisted malaria treatment for at least three days, he said, should be reported at the nearest General Hospital.

Driver dies, several hurt as school bus carrying football team crashes

Police in Denver said a bus driver was killed and several people were hospitalized with critical injuries Sunday after a school bus carrying a Colorado high school football team crashed into a wall at Denver International Airport.

The bus was from Legacy High School in Broomfield, Colo., KUSA-TV reported. The school, located about 19 miles north of Denver, is part of the Adams 12 Five Star Schools district.

The bus veered off a roadway and crashed into a concrete wall, killing the driver and injuring several passengers, The Denver Post reported.

The bus, one of three carrying team members and coaches, had just picked up passengers when it "inexplicably" circled back to the airport and crashed into a concrete pillar, The Post reported. Airbags deployed but the female bus driver was killed, Denver police Sgt. Mike Farr said. “The bus driver circled back around to this level. We don’t know why,” he said.

Paramedics were working to remove the driver from the crumpled bus.

KDVR-TV reported that 17 to 20 students and coaches from the school's junior varsity team were hospitalized.

The crash happened at 4:08 p.m. MT, airport spokesman Heath Montgomery said.