YouTube Launches Paid Channels, Promises More

YouTube on Thursday launched a pilot program of paid channels for its online video service, calling it part of an effort “that enables content creators to earn revenue for their creativity.”

The Google-owned video-sharing service said the launch with “a small group of partners” starts Thursday with subscription fees starting at 99 cents per month.

“Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates,” a YouTube blog post said.“This is just the beginning.

We’ll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners.And as new channels appear, we’ll be making sure you can discover them, just as we’ve been helping you find and subscribe to all the channels you love across YouTube.”Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

The service is believed to generate a small amount of revenue from advertising, but the content has been free.YouTube has gradually added professional content, such as full-length television shows and movies to its vast trove of amateur video offerings in a bid to attract advertisers.

The new paid channels include Acorn TV, which offers British TV programs at $4.99 per month; National Geographic Kids, at $2.99 a month or $30 a year; and PrimeZone Sports, at $2.99 per month.Earlier this year Google said more than a billion people use YouTube each month, with viewing on smartphones helping drive growth.

“If YouTube were a country, we’d be the third largest in the world after China and India,” the team said in March.YouTube confirmed early this year that its evolution as an Internet stage for video may include subscriptions to content that creators expect people would pay to watch.

NASARAWA: 55 POLICEMEN, MANY OTHERS KILLED •Gov rushes to Aso Rock, says cultists killed 20 policemen

GOVERNOR Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has raised alarm over the activities of those he referred to as cultists in his state who he said slaughtered at least 20 policemen in an ambush at Alakyo village, about 10km from Lafia, the state capital, on Tuesday.
He was at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday to confer with Vice President Namadi Sambo on the deteriorating security situation in Nasarawa State and ways to bring the menace under control following the discovery, two weeks ago, of an armed militia group.
This came as Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, who was also there to brief Sambo of Fulani herdsmen attacks on villages in his state, advocated a decisive action on armed groups which take the lives of uniformed security personnels.
Speaking to correspondents after the meeting, the Nasarawa governor expressed bitterness over the existence of the cult whose leadership he said was trying to hold the state to ransom by recruiting people, subjecting them to an oath and arming them.
He revealed that a team of policemen met their deaths when they were detailed to storm the shrine of the cult leader with the aim of arresting him but unfortunately, they fell into an ambush and were killed.
According to him, “I am here to meet with His Excellency, the Vice President to brief him about the security situation in my state. Just yesterday (Tuesday), we have a very bitter security problem that has caused the death of some security officers in the state.
“Two weeks ago, we discovered a certain militia group holding arms and carrying out cultist activities in the state. Since January, this thing has not abated and in the past two weeks, it took a total different dimension.
“They have been going for one place to another including churches and taking people from that particular ethnic group to come and take portions that are meant to empower them to do what they want to do.
“This escalated and is causing serious concern for the state. We decided to hold security meeting to find a way of solving the problem. The solution was to go to the shrine and pick on the cult leader so that the problem will be solved once and for all.
“As security operatives were approaching the shrine, unknown to them that ambush has been laid for them, these people attacked them and resulted in the death of more than 20 policemen.”
He said that the situation has become so grave that he felt it was important to come and brief the Vice President and to seek federal government’s assistance to bring it to an end.

Jonathan Deplores Attack On Bama

President Goodluck Jonathan has deplored Tuesday’s attack by armed terrorists on Bama, Borno State which claimed scores of lives.
An early morning attack by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect on Tuesday, a military spokesman said had left 22 prison officers, 14 prison officials and 13 Boko Haram combatant dead with the town’s police station, military barracks and government buildings being burned to the ground.
A press statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Rueben Abati, said the President "believes that the continuation of such callous and wanton attacks of innocent Nigerians, government facilities and security formations flies in the face of ongoing efforts to establish a workable framework for dialogue and the peaceful resolution of security challenges in Northern Nigeria.
"The President warns that the Federal Government’s consideration of dialogue as an option for the elimination of some current threats to security should not be seen as a weakening of its resolve and determination to use all the forces at its disposal to crush all brazen affronts to the powers and sovereignty of the Nigerian nation".
The statement added that the President urges the armed forces and police not to be disheartened or daunted by the loss of their colleagues, but to remain focused and undeterred in discharging their responsibility for the security of lives and property in all parts of Nigeria with the assurance that the Federal Government will continue to give the Armed Forces and Police the fullest possible support to enhance their ability to meet the continuing challenges of terrorism and insurgency.

Amaechi threatens to expose Abuja-based politicians

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has threatened to expose some Abuja-based politicians from the state owing to the crisis currently rocking the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

Amaechi, who said he was no more running for any political position, added that the people of the state would lose their respect for his critics by the time he opened up on their past deeds.

Amaechi, who spoke when the Archbishop of the Niger Delta Diocese, Anglican Communion, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, paid him a courtesy visit in Port Harcourt on Wednesday lamented that nobody realised the efforts put in place by his administration to ensure that peace reigned in the state.

He said, “I will speak to the state, but not now. When I speak to the state, you will not respect any of these people (Abuja-based politicians from Rivers). I am now determined to open up.

“I am not running for any other position that they would say ‘you must manage information so that people can trust you’.

“Nobody realises how much effort we have put in place for people to walk on the streets.

“Nobody realises how much money we have put in place to make people walk on the streets. All they are interested in is how they would bring down those efforts. So, as men of God, you must stand for the truth and preach the truth.”

Earlier, Kattey prayed for God to grant Amaechi the grace, strength and wisdom to continue to perform and overcome any challenge.

The cleric lauded the governor for his achievements in the state, saying, “Your Excellency’s administration has made landmark achievements in all sectors of our economy.”

Meanwhile, the State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Chamberlain Peterside, has said he was not afraid of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over an alleged missing $10m.

Peterside, who spoke in a radio interview in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, was reacting to the controversy surrounding the Bombardier jet purchased by the state government.

The commissioner insisted that no money was missing in the state government account, adding that the state runs a tight and robust system.

Over 20 policemen killed in Lafia

At least, 20 policemen, including an assistant commissioner of police, were on Tuesday killed in Alakio village, about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital.

Blueprint

leant that out of the 11 troops-loaded trucks that were deployed to recover cache of arms in the possession of the leader of the militia group, known as Ombaste Baba Lakwo, only nine have made it back with policemen numbering about 20.

Although casualty figure was still sketchy at the time of filing this report, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura confirmed to newsmen in Abuja, after a meeting with the Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, that over 20 cops were killed in the mayhem.

The policemen were at Alakio as part of a security measure to avert the breakdown of law and order in the area.

Al-Makura told State House correspondents in Abuja that over 20 policemen were killed by a group of cultists known as Ombatse.

The governor said he was at the State House to seek the assistance of the federal government to curtail the excesses of the group, adding that the state government had a year ago dislodged the group, but only re-surfaced about a fortnight and continued unleashing terror and mayhem on the people.

The governor said that his administration was determined to uproot the group, adding that he would hold an emergency meeting of the state security council to decide on what action to take.

He said: “The incident happened in a village called Alakio about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital. The position of this militia is unacceptable to the government. Already, we are taking appropriate steps to see that the perpetrators of this act are brought to book.

“That is why I have given the necessary information at the federal level so that by the time we begin to take on these perpetrators, nobody should cast aspersions on the justification.”

Meanwhile, addressing newsmen in his office at Lafia, the state commissioner of police, Mr. Abayomi Akeremale, said that the operation was meant to avert religious crisis by stopping the forceful administering of concoction by the leader of the group, popularly called Baba Alakyo.

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Uduaghan, Amaechi Lied About Walking Out On Tukur, Akpabio

Three sources within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today confirmed to SaharaReporters that  Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and his Delta State counterpart, Emmanuel Uduaghan, actually walked out on the PDP’s national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum (PGF). Our sources said Mr. Amaechi and Mr. Uduaghan staged the walk-out during a meeting of the South-South special zonal executive committee on Sunday, March 17, 2013 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
One of the sources accused the two Niger Delta governors of teaming up to walk out in order to embarrass Mr. Tukur and their Akwa Ibom State counterpart. Governor Akpabio, who was recently chosen as the inaugural chairman of the PDP’s governors’ forum, is known to be extremely servile towards President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Jonathan and Governor Amaechi have been carrying on a quiet feud for some months now.
In a move to cover up shunning of Mr. Tukur, the Delta State Commissioner of Information, Chike Ogeah, had issued a statement claiming that Governor Uduaghan’s exit from the Port Harcourt meeting did not translate to disrespect for the PDP chairman. Mr. Ogeah’s statement asserted that, on arrival in Port Harcourt, Mr. Uduaghan had informed Mr. Tukur of his intention to return to Asaba, the Delta State capital, the same day.