China executes mining tycoon Liu Han

Hong Kong (CNN)China has executed a mining tycoon found guilty of murder and running a "mafia-style" organization, state media reported Monday.

Liu Han, 48, the f

ormer chairman of Hanlong Group, was executed along with his brother, Liu Wei, and three associates, official news agency Xinhua reported.

The men met with their families before they were executed, Xinhua said.

Liu has been linked by state media to former security czar Zhou Yongkang -- the most senior official snared in China's anti-corruption campaign.

Hanlong's interests included mining, real estate, electricity, energy and finance and the company remains a shareholder in two Australian companies - Moly Group and Sundance Resources.

Liu was detained in 2013 along with his younger brother. They were sentenced to death in May 2014.

The Liu brothers started out running gambling dens in their base in Guanghan, in China's southwestern Sichuan province, in the early 1990s, gathering around them "a gang of local thugs and vagrants," state media reported around the time of their trial.

The brothers' empire grew, before finally attracting the attention of central authorities with an alleged public shooting at a Guanghan teahouse one afternoon in January, 2009, supposedly ordered by Liu Wei and directed at an underworld rival.

Liu Han also developed a reputation as a philanthropist, building a rural school campus following a 2008 earthquake that devastated Sichuan. His brother also had a reputation for charity, and had been a torch-bearer in the build-up to the Beijing Olympics, also in 2008.

CNN's Tim Hume contributed to this report

BUHARI BEATING JONATHAN IN AIT ONLINE POLL DESPITE ONGOING PROPAGANDA DOCUMENTARY AGAINST HIM

Screenshot of the AIT online poll

An online poll set up by African Independent Television (AIT), a television station which belongs to one of President Goodluck Jonathan’s closest friends, has further underlined his unpopularity as the opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, is currently defeating him by at least 75 per cent.

To add insult to injury, AIT has since last Saturday been running a documentary aimed at hurting the public perception of Buhari. The hour-long documentary, “The Real Buhari”, reportedly costs the Jonathan campaign N5 million each time it is aired.

The campaign also made a copy of the documentary available online but rather than do damage to Buhari’s support, it seems to have further emboldened his supporters to troop online to vote massively for him.

In similar online polls conducted by Saharareporters, Buhari also defeated Jonathan by a wide margin.

SOME PEOPLE CAN READ THE MIND OF JONATHAN AND PEPE

Late Actor Muna Obiekwe

The passing of a Nollywood actor Muna Obiekwe came as great shock both for Nigerians and the actor’s colleagues.

It would be recalled that the sad news broke out yesterday. It was however surrounded by controversy as some insisted that the information was fake.

The misunderstanding was connected with the tweet allegedly posted by the actor himself on a Twitter handle, @MunaObiekwe, that he was still hail and hearty. Soon the indications emerged that the mentioned Twitter account was fake.

The president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Ibinabo Fiberesima, confirmed the news in a phone interview with Y!Naija saying:

“Yes, he is truly dead, i have spoken to his wife… He was a private person, he didn’t tell us he had problems so there was no way we could have helped….please i can’t disclose much information for now.”

“He could not go for his regular dialysis for the past two weeks because he was broke but rejected seeking public assistance due to shame.”

Famous Yoruba movie producer and actress, Dayo Amusa, criticized her colleagues over not helping Muna when he really needed it.

PETROL NOW #87 PER LITER

The Nigerian government has announced a reduction in the fuel price of petrol from N97 per litre to N87 per litre.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said at a press conference at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Sunday that the new price regime would take effect at midnight today.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the N10 reduction in fuel price was necessitated by the reduction in crude oil prices in the international market.

The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency [PPPRA] and the Department of Petroleum Resources [DPR] have been asked to enforce strict compliance with the new pricing regime as soon as it becomes effective, the minister said.

The new measure is a reversal of government’s policy on the matter.

The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had insisted on December 17 that Nigeria would  not reduce the pump price of fuel despite falling oil prices at the international market, until the revenue crisis occasioned by the dwindling oil rates is over.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said at the time that the decision to review fuel price either upwards or downwards would only be taken after the current crisis in global oil prices had been settled.

But five days ago, on December 13, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, called on the government to implement immediate price reduction on fuel products to reflect the downscaling in global oil prices.

Speaking through his campaign organization, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Buhari asked the government to “stop stealing from Nigerians and allow them enjoy the relief that has come to consumers of petroleum products globally”.

The APC candidate had said, “The price of diesel which has been deregulated since 2009 still sells at the pump price of N150 and N170 per litre, the same pump price when the international benchmark per barrel of crude was over $100. Now that the international benchmark has dropped to $47.5 (USD) per barrel as at Monday, we ask: where is the deregulation and the relief which it ought to bring to local consumers of diesel?

“For the Nigerian consumers, unfortunately the collapse of crude oil price since October 2014 has not translated into any change in diesel, kerosene and PMS prices across the country.

“We challenge the federal government to reconcile the information on the website of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, indicating the maximum open market price of diesel per litre in December 2014 as being at N111.6 and the fact that the price has come down to less than $50 (USD) as at Monday.

“We want to posit that that the maximum indicative benchmark open consumers of diesel should pay is at a margin below N100 per litre. Therefore, Nigerians are being short-changed by about N50 to N70 on every litre of diesel sold by government.”

The Trade Union Congress [TUC] had earlier on January 5 asked the government  to take advantage of the falling oil prices to reduce retail prices of petroleum products.

The TUC had argued that the best time to review the retail pump price of petrol was now, in line with the argument put forward by government in 2012 when the price was adjusted from N70 per litre to N97.