Donald Trump now has more support than all his Republican rivals combined, says new poll

The Republican establishment is desperate to find an alternative candidate to Mr Trump

He seems all but unstoppable. Tycoon Donald Trump now has more support among Republican voters than all of his rivals combined, according to a new poll released on the eve of the crucial Super Tuesday battles.

The CNN-ORC poll puts Mr Trump on 49 points, with Senator Marco Rubio on 16 per cent, Senator Ted Cruz on 15 per cent, Ben Carson on 10 per cent and Ohio Govenor John Kasich on 6 per cent. Together, support for Mr Trump’s rivals totals just 47 per cent.

The release of the poll comes as the Republican establishment, which dislikes Mr Trump and loathes Mr Cruz, scrambles to find an alternative candidate around which voters and donors can

gather.

Mr Rubio, who has emerged as perhaps the most likely genuine challenger, faces a tough battle to try and halt Mr Trump’s momentum, especially while so many other candidates remain in the race.
Mr Kasich has said he intends to keep campaigning at least until his home state votes on March 15.

While the poll represents good news for Mr Trump, there are also elements that will make his less pleased.
Almost half of Republican voters who do not support Mr Trump say they probably or definitely will not support him in the general election.
Mr Trump’s support also remains widespread across every demographic group, including gender, ideology, age and even education level, while the tycoon’s support lags behind among voters with a college degree.
On Tuesday, a total of 14 states and territories will hold their primary elections.
Mr Trump seems set to do very well in almost all of them. Mr Cruz will face a tough battle to win his own state of Texas, and thereby extend his own race.
The same polls puts Hillary Clinton comfortably clear of Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, putting them on 55-38 respectively. The margin of victory is slightly larger than the one she held in late January before any primaries or caucuses were held.

Catholic priest Fr Stephen Crossan 'caught snorting cocaine in Nazi room'

A Catholic priest caught on video snorting what appeared to be cocaine has taken leave from the priesthood.

Fr Stephen Crossan is reported to have sniffed coke through a £10 note on a night of drinking in July 2015 in Banbridge, County Down.
He was in a room with Nazi memorabilia and seemed to say "I shouldn't" as he snorted, the Sun on Sunday reported.
The bishop of Dromore said in a statement that he had no knowledge of the incident.
It allegedly occurred in the parochial house last July after a party.
The Sun on Sunday said it happened at what was then Fr Crossan's parish home in the grounds of St Patrick's Church, Banbridge, in July 2015.
Father Crossan told the newspaper that he took the drugs but said: "It was just the one night and that was it."

A source said that a group ended up back with Fr Crossan after a party and found Nazi memorabilia including flags, hats and an eagle with a swastika on a plinth on his mantelpiece.
In his defence, Fr Crossan told the paper that he was no Nazi and that he collected historical items from every country.
He said he had been on sick leave with depression at the time of the video and said he had since left the Church but was being backed by the parish.
In his statement, Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey said that Fr Crossan had asked for and been granted leave from his pastoral duties at Seapatrick parish in May 2015. He said he had been receiving counselling and was considering his future.
At the start of February 2016, the statement said that the priest had asked for an extended leave of absence from the priesthood.
Bishop McAreavey said he was concerned for the priest's health.
Fr Crossan is no longer living at the parochial house.

Woman Arrested in Moscow Holding Child's Head, Claiming to Be Terrorist

Russian police have arrested a woman holding the severed head of a young child outside a subway station in Moscow today.

The woman, wearing a black hijab, or veil, was filmed by bystanders outside the station in northwest Moscow brandishing the child’s head and screaming, “I am a terrorist.”

Witnesses also told state media that the woman had threatened to blow herself up.

Despite the woman’s claims, police say they believe the woman is mentally disturbed and are treating it as a criminal incident, not terrorism. In a statement, Russia’s Investigative Committee -- the equivalent of the FBI -- said the woman was being treated by psychiatric experts and did not seem to understand the meaning of her actions.

Russian police officers secure an area near a subway station in Moscow on Feb. 29, 2016.more +

The committee said it had arrested the 39-year-old woman from an unspecified Central Asian country in the slaying of a 3- to 4-year-old child and that the woman was the child’s nanny. Police said they had not yet established the motive.

Witnesses told the state news agency, RIA Novosti, that the alleged incident began when the woman was approached by a policeman who asked her to show her documents, after which the woman allegedly pulled the child’s head from her handbag. After walking around for a short time allegedly shouting threats, the woman was arrested by police.

The Investigative Committee statement said it believed the woman had killed the child at home while its parents were out and then had set fire to the apartment where she had committed the alleged crime. RIA Novosti reported that the child’s decapitated body had been found when firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Following the woman’s arrest, a bomb squad from Russia’s FSB security service was checking the area around the subway station for explosives, the Interfax news agency reported, but said none had been found. The FSB also denied reports that traces of explosives had been found on the woman.

Kidnapped 14yr old Ese Oruru regains her freedom, in police custody

14 year old Ese Oruru has regained her freedom. She was rescued from her abductor, Yinusa, who kidnapped her from her mother's shop in Bayelsa in August 2015, forced her to change her religion and married her. Ese is currently in police custody‎. 

Will Nigerians boycott banks on Tuesday?

If Nigerians heed the call by the Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON) and Coalition of Nigerian Consumer Protection Associations, banks across the country, on Tuesday, March 1, will be empty. The group wants Nigerians to boycott the banks on that day in protest against alleged arbitrary charges imposed on customers by the financial institutions. This is coming weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) imposed N50 on customers as compulsory stamp duty on deposits of N1,000 and above. The charge, however, is collected on behalf of NIPOST and the Federal Government and it goes to the Federation Account. Only last week, the CBN said it got banks across the country to return excess charges, estimated at N6.2billion, to customers. Our investigations revealed that, aside normal bank charges associated with daily transactions, depositors are exposed to many hidden charges as well as what financial experts described as arbitrary charges.

In a chat, the National President, Constance Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Shehu Mikail, explained that the banks are facing a lot of challenges in the operating environment, saying, however, that this does not justify some of the charges. He said, “The reality is that, banks have to collect certain charges to sustain their operations, in order to remain in business. They have to pay their staff, give dividends to shareholders and carry out general maintenance of their facilities. The banks spend a lot of money to buy diesel daily to generate power due to erratic electricity supply in the country. So, at the end of month, they transfer some of the costs to customers as bank charges. We are not saying that banks should not collect charges from customers, because they need some of these charges to stay afloat in business. But the issue is that, the charges are so enormous and, if not checked, may have adverse effect on the cashless monetary policy already in place. For instance, a large part of Nigeria is still un-banked, and if these numerous charges are not curtailed, many people who are already using the services of banks may stop patronising them”. Responding to what the Bankers Committee, which often meet to examine issues in the financial sector, is doing currently to tackle the challenges in the sector, he said, “It is clear that the Bankers Committee, at present, does not know exactly what to do, in order to turn around the financial sector of the economy, especially in the issue of forex crisis rocking the sector. So, deliberate and consistent government policies are needed to restructure the sector for greater efficiency, especially in the aspect of exchange rate that is affecting virtually everything in the economy now.”
It could be recalled that the cashless policy was first introduced by CBN on January 1, 2012 in Lagos State, where the higher proportion of cash circulates daily as a pilot study to test-run the process. Thus, the CBN and the Bankers Committee, in November 2012, agreed to abolish all charges associated with the use of ATMs, in order to increase patronage of ATMs, thereby deepening financial inclusion strategy of the apex bank. So, in December, 2012, they abolished the payment of N100 ATM withdrawal charge by depositors. They transferred the payment of the N100 fee to the issuing banks, stressing that the fee be split between the acquiring bank, issuing bank and switch companies. But, on August 13, 2014, the same Committee and the CBN re-introduced ATM charge of N65 instead of N100, to be paid by individual customers. The circular, signed by the Director of Banking and Payment Systems Department of CBN then, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, stated, “The CBN agreed to re-introduce ATM charge because the cost of transaction was becoming too burden some for the banks to bear. The circular from September 1, 2014 shall be effective date for the implementation of the new charge. Banks are expected to conduct adequate sensitisation to the customers on introduction of the new fee. As a result of the un-intended consequences of the decision, which has resulted in substantial cost burden incurred by banks in defraying the cost of the service, the payment structure for card carrying bank customers is hereby reviewed in line with the present realities”.

When Newsmen visited some commercial banks in Lagos, customers were seen carrying out their normal transactions. It was also observed that, some banks had more customers in the banking halls and at the ATM points, while other places were very scanty. Some of the depositors who spoke during the visit blamed the CBN for re-introducing ATM charged that was abolished by the former governor of CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, while other said that banks are making a lot of money from customers, yet they keep on retrenching, even as many of their workers are on contract. A customer at Oluwo, Ikeja branch of First Bank, who gave her name as Mrs. Gloria Moses, said, “The apex bank that regulates activities of commercial banks is acting as if it is panicking, especially in the area of foreign exchange. If you look at the forex policies of the CBN critically, you can easily realise that the current CBN is already panicking. To me, the re-introduction of ATM charge after it was removed by the same CBN was unnecessary. For that reason, I don’t use ATM of other banks for withdrawal since that charge was brought back. I simply withdraw from my own bank to avoid paying extra charge. It seems the CBN is even losing focus on what the banking public actually want, which is a reduction in interest rate for industries to thrive and create jobs for the masses. I think the re-introduction of ATM charge constitutes policy inconsistency”. Some of the practices mentioned by CAFON, which necessitated the action against banks excessive charges, unexplainable fees and unfair contracts designed to protect the financial institutions to the detriment of the banking public. Others are indiscriminate debiting of customers’ accounts for charges that are arbitrary and unilateral changes in interest rates by banks, and this without prior notice to the consumers.