Nigeria seeks release of abducted girls
ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan met with security, school and state officials and ordered that “everything must be done” to free the 276 girls held captive by Islamic terrorists, one of his advisers said Sunday amid growing national outrage at the government’s response to the abduction.
Jonathan said Sunday night he believes Nigeria is winning its war against an Islamic uprising. Two bomb blasts in three weeks killing about 100 people and injuring more than 200 in the capital, Abuja, “does not mean the situation is worsening,” he said.
More than 1,500 people have died in the insurgency this year, compared to an estimated 3,600 between 2010 and 2013. Both of the Abuja blasts are blamed on Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist network.
Performers fall during circus acrobats’ stunt
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A support frame collapsed during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at a circus performance Sunday, sending eight acrobats plummeting to the ground. Nine performers were seriously injured from the fall, including a dancer below, while an unknown number of others suffered less serious injuries.
The accident was reported about 45 minutes into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ 11 a.m. Legends show at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said the accident happened during an act in which eight performers hang “like a human chandelier” using their hair.
He said the metal-frame apparatus from which the performers were hanging came free from the metal truss it was connected to. The eight women fell 25 to 40 feet, landing on a dancer below.
Powerade drops controversial ingredient
NEW YORK – Coca-Cola is dropping a controversial ingredient from its Powerade sports drink, after a similar move by PepsiCo’s Gatorade last year.
The ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, had been the target of a petition by a Mississippi teenager, who questioned why it was being used in a drink marketed toward health-conscious athletes. The petition on Change.org noted the ingredient is linked to a flame retardant and is not approved for use in Japan or the European Union.
In response to customer feedback, PepsiCo said last year it would drop the ingredient from Gatorade. At the time, Coca-Cola declined to say whether it would remove the ingredient from the two flavors of Powerade containing it as well.
But this week, bottles of Powerade in fruit punch and strawberry lemonade flavors being sold in the Detroit, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; New York and Washington, D.C., areas no longer list the ingredient. Some bottles still list it, however, suggesting Coca-Cola Co. may have started phasing it out recently.
A representative for the Atlanta-based company confirmed Sunday its Powerade brands are “BVO-free.” But no details were immediately available on when the change would be complete or how the drinks were reformulated.
Powerade’s website, however, still lists brominated vegetable oil as an ingredient for its fruit punch and strawberry lemonade flavors.
Associated Press
