Frasier star John Mahoney dies aged 77

The British-born actor John Mahoney, who played Martin Crane in the US sitcom Frasier, has died aged 77.

He died on Sunday while in hospice care in Chicago.

Mahoney enjoyed a distinguished career in theatre, winning a Tony award, and had a long list of film and TV credits.

But he will be best remembered for playing the unpretentious, blunt father of Frasier and Niles Crane in the hit comedy, which ran for 11 seasons from 1993-2004.

Mahoney won a SAG award in 2000 for the role, and was also nominated for two Emmys and two Golden Globes.

Much of the comic spark in Frasier came from the relationship between the down-to-earth retired police officer Martin Crane and his pompous sons Frasier and Niles, played by Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce.

Evacuee childhood

Mahoney was born in Blackpool, where his pregnant mother had been evacuated to escape Nazi bombing raids.

He moved to the US as a young man, serving in the US army for three years, which he credits with eradicating his native British accent.

It was only in 40s that he became a professional actor, after actors John Malkovich and Gary Sinise invited him to join the new Steppenwolf Theatre Company.




He was a member of Steppenwolf for 39 years - and became a well-known part of the Chicago theatre scene.

The company announced on social media that Mahoney had passed away "due to complications from cancer".

"John was a beloved member of our Steppenwolf family who was known for his extraordinary kindness, generosity of spirit and quick smile," it said in a statement.

In a 2004 interview with the Chicago Tribune, he said he preferred his theatre work to the high-profile national television scene, saying: "I don't care if I never go in front of a camera again."

He also lent his voice to a number of animated projects, including Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Iron Giant, and Antz.

'Remember him well'

Tributes to the actor have been pouring in. Actor Gary Sinise, who co-founded Steppenwolf, said: he remembered "so many wonderful plays together over the years. A wonderful actor, I'll never forget his 1985 performance in Orphans."

Jeff Greenberg, the casting director for Frasier, called him a "brilliant actor".






Director Greg Berlanti tweeted that Mahoney had been "so kind and supportive of me early in my career", helping to get the film The Broken Hearts Club made.

"He never wavered in his belief in me - a first time director," Berlanti wrote. "And he was even more kind than he was brilliant."
Peri Gilpin, who played Roz Doyle in Frasier, tweeted a photo of Mahoney singing at her wedding.

You are selfish – Kogi PDP slams Gov. Bello over planned sale of state assets

The Peoples Democratic Party in Kogi State has rejected proposed plans by Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration to sell some of the state asset.

The opposition party while admonishing the governor to immediately perish the thought, considered the plot to be selfish, devilish and myopic.

A statement released on Monday by the party’s state publicity secretary, Mr Bode Ogunmola, he said “it is shameful and the peak of rascality that a government which is saddled with its inability to pay workers salaries let alone executing people oriented projects more than half way into its tenure, will now scheme to mortgage out collective future.

“During a budget defence appearance at the State House of Assembly, Asiwaju Idris Commissioner for Finance in the clueless Governor Yahaya Bello maladministration hinted at plans of selling off some properties of the Kogi people as a way of financing the 2018 budget.

“List among victims of the proposed ill policy are Kogi Liaison Offices in Lagos, and Kaduna, Kogi Hotels, Confluence Beach Hotel, Confluence Beach Hotel, Confluence Millennium Park, the 12 storey Kogi House in Abuja and the Confluence Stadium Lokoja.”

Ogunmola noted that the party was not unaware of the grand plan of the state government to sell the legacy projects to its officials as a decoy of his possessing the state.

He called on the government to beat a retreat and listen to saner counsel adding that, rather than frittering the state heritage in loose living, the government should champion their protection.

China accuses US of 'Cold War mentality'

China has accused the United States of having a "Cold War mentality" after the latter announced its plans to diversify its nuclear arsenal by developing smaller bombs.

On Sunday, the Chinese foreign ministry said that the US should focus instead on promoting regional stability, and condemned a US government report that listed Beijing as a potential nuclear enemy.

"The country that owns the world's largest nuclear arsenal should take the initiative to follow the trend instead of going against it," the ministry said.

The US has 7,000 warheads compared with China's 300.

The US report, titled the National Posture Review (NPR), was released on Friday and claims that developing smaller nuclear weapons would bolster its deterrent.

It also included Russia, North Korea and Iran as potential threats.

Both Iran and Russia have also criticised the report, with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, saying that it is bringing the world "closer to annihilation".

Ren Guoqiang, China's foreign ministry spokesperson, said that "the Chinese side expresses firm opposition" to the report.

"We hope that the US will abandon a Cold War mentality and earnestly shoulder its special and prior responsibility for its own nuclear disarmament," Ren said.

'US fighting everybody'

Einar Tangen, a China political affairs analyst, told Al Jazeera that while the US is battling many fronts, it is unclear how long they can maintain this.

"The problem is that the US is fighting everybody at the same time, both in terms of trade, NAFTA, and strategy and nuclear ambitions," he said.

Tangen also pointed out that nuclear deterrents can "blow up the world many hundred times over with the existing stockpile".

The idea that you can have a battlefield nuclear weapon is very attractive to generals who want to win battles, but they are not going to win a war," he added.

"So the danger here is that somebody thinks that they can start a limited nuclear war against an objective, for instance, Iran and that somehow this will not go into a fully diverged nuclear catastrophe."

Benue killings: IG deploys 15 police units, special forces, intelligence teams

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has deployed 15 additional police units, special forces, technical and intelligence teams to contain further attacks in Benue.

Fatai Owoseni, the Commissioner of Police in the state, disclosed this on Monday in Makurdi while addressing newsmen.

”The inspector-general is seriously committed to bringing to an end the killings in the state and the country.

“It is that commitment that informed the reinforcement of our command continuously on daily basis to nip in the bud the act of criminality and killings in the state.

“The inspector-general has continued to support us, as of today 15 units squadrons from 15 states have been deployed to support the existing officers on ground.

“We also received the deployment of Police Special Forces, Intelligence and Technical teams in the state,” Owoseni said.

He stressed that relative peace had been restored in Yogbo village and that the command had deployed forces in Kwande, Agatu, Gboko, Makurdi, Buruku, Katsina-Ala, Gwer West and Vandeikya local government areas for proactive measures”.

The CP further confirmed that the command had rescued a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) who got missing during the February attack in Yogbo community in Guma Local Government Area in the battle between police and suspected herdsmen.

He said that the rescued “officer was unhurt, his weapon was safe, he was in high spirit and has rejoined his colleagues in the ongoing operations in Guma”.

The commissioner said that security operatives were able to flush out the mercenaries from the community and hoped to sustain the success recorded.

Apple sells fewer phones but profits rise

Apple sold slightly fewer iPhones in the final months of 2017 than it did the year before, but higher prices compensated for the dip.

The firm reported a record $20bn (£14bn) in quarterly profits, driven by strong growth in Japan and Europe.

The results, released on Thursday, were the first to provide a glimpse of sales of the firm's expensive iPhone X.

Apple boss Tim Cook said sales of the product, which starts at about $1,000, had surpassed the firm's expectations.

Apple released the 10th anniversary phone in November. It has been the top-selling phone every week since, Mr Cook said.

Investors had been worried that demand for the firm's products may be dimming, concerns that appeared to be bolstered by a weaker-than-expected sales forecast for coming months.

The number of iPhones sold in the period also slipped 1% year-on-year to 77.3 million, but Apple executives said it was important to remember that the quarter was one week shorter than in 2016.

Quarterly revenue climbed 13% year-on-year to a record $88.3bn.

"I have long believed that a 90-day clock on unit sales is a very surface way to view Apple," Mr Cook said on a call with financial analysts.

'Extremely engaged'

Mr Cook said he was watching figures such as the 1.3 billion active Apple devices around the world, which provide a strong customer base for the firm's growing services businesses, which include Apple Pay and other revenue streams.

And analyst Carolina Milanesi, of California-based Creative Strategies, tweeted that "1.3 billion users most of whom are extremely engaged with their devices is why the services numbers will be more and more interesting going forward".

Apple has been under a cloud after the firm revealed that it deliberately slowed batteries in older phones, prompting investigations in several countries.

It has since apologised, offering customers cheaper batteries and other modifications, but analysts have said that could reduce replacement purchases, potentially affecting the firm's bottom line.

After an initial fall, Apple shares climbed more than 3% in after-hours trade.

Analysis: Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter, San Francisco

Last year Apple launched three new iPhones, but one was not like the others.

The iPhone X was the main event, the talk of the town. In contrast, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus felt obsolete before Tim Cook had even finished his presentation. Investors were worried that the presence of the iPhone X would put off people buying the cheaper iPhones. And, given the X started at $999, those people may decide not to buy an iPhone at all.

And that appears to be basically what happened. Apple sold marginally fewer iPhones compared with this time last year (though the company blamed that on a shorter accounting period compared with the same time in 2016).

With the average selling price going up by around $100, to $796, it means Apple may be selling fewer iPhones, but it is making more from each one.

Apple investors will be seeing it like this: selling fewer iPhones but dramatically upping the price is certainly one way to solve that ever-present supply chain headache.

So, a timid quarter by Apple's unparalleled standards. But by no means a problem.

Zimbabwe appoints female High Court judge as new head of election body

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed High Court Judge Priscilla Chigumba as the new chairperson of the national election agency, according to an appointment letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The Zimbabwe Election Commission has not had a permanent chairperson since Rita Makarau resigned in December, months before a vote whose credibility is crucial to Mnangagwa’s efforts to re-engage the international community.

Makarau, seen as an ally of 93-year-old former president Robert Mugabe, gave no reason for her resignation at the time.

The Supreme Court judge was widely ridiculed this year after a picture of her kneeling before Robert Mugabe at State House during the launch of biometric voter registration went viral on social media.

Makarau, at the time of her resignation was overseeing an overhaul of the voter’s roll, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has described as ‘shambolic’.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power via a de facto military coup that ended Mugabe’s 37-year rule, pledged to hold elections as scheduled next year.



Opposition parties have demanded reforms to an electoral system they say is skewed in the ruling ZANU-PF party’s favour.

In a survey done by Afrobarometer early this year, only one in four Zimbabweans say they trust the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). The ZEC is appointed by the presient and is often accused of incompetence and bias.

Suspected herdsmen kills six in fresh Kaduna attack

At least, six people have been reportedly killed and several others sustained injuries in fresh attack in Kaguru village of Kaduna state.

According to an indigene of the area, gunmen suspected to be herdsmen attacked the village on Wednesday night.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Mukhtar Aliyu, confirming the incident said the gunmen invaded the community while the villagers were asleep, killing six persons.

“The hoodlums invaded the community when the residents went to bed after which they started shooting indiscriminately and burning down houses before the arrival of security operatives.

“More troops have been deployed to the affected region, while those that sustained injuries were taken to Birnin Gwari General Hospital for urgent medical treatment,” he said.