My tummy, thighs are my assets -Ijeoma Agu

Nollywood actress, Ijeoma Grace Agu, made a name for herself when she started her one-woman-show. In it, she played eight different female characters and since then, she has featured in movies and TV soap operas that successfully launched her career in the make-believe world. In this interview with VANESSA OKWARA, she speaks about her career, growing up and marriage

Tell us about your family, growing up and educational background.

I’m the eldest of five children. I grew up in Benin and Lagos. My family is quite fun. Growing up was very memorable. My siblings and I would sing, dance and act. My parents also encouraged us to unleash our God-given talents. I am a graduate of Biochemistry from Nnamdi Azikiwe University. I am an alumnus of the prestigious Royal Arts Academy where I graduated summa cum laude, bagging a variety of awards as an honours student.

What motivated you to go into acting?

I have always loved the world of makebelieve. I loved watching movies while growing up, reading novels and generally getting lost in imaginary world.

When did your acting career start?

My acting career began in 2007 with a feature in Fidelis Duker’s soap, ‘Eldorado.’ Since then, I have featured in the Hollywood indie movie ‘The Choice of Aina’ by Maarore Pictures where I played an abused young woman in search of love. Others are ‘Finding Diamond Jo’ (a collaboration with Swedish filmmakers); ‘Hood Rush’ (a musical thriller currently in cinemas all over Nigeria); and ‘Flower Girl’ (also in cinemas) directed by AMAA winner, Michelle Bello.

You have earned some accolades in your acting career. Can you tell us about them?

Well, they are quite a few nominations and awards. I was nominated in the ‘Best Rising Star’ category at the Nollywood Movies Award 2013. Other nominations are from City People and BON. The awards are just two: BON’s most promising star and the award grant from Theatre Royal Stratford East for a one – woman show I developed in 2012.

You were Nigeria Award recipient from the Theatre Royal Stratford East in the UK. How did it come about and what has it done for your career?

I heard about the submissions from Aunty Joke Silva and I put in for it. I was surprised when I got the call that I made it from Nigeria. The grant helped me stage the show in Nigeria. I have also performed the show in various parts of the country. I was able to successfully stage my own one-woman show titled, ‘A Chronicle of Heroines’ funded by the Bank of Industry where I play eight different female characters.

You also performed at the 2012 cultural Olympiad. Tell us about it.

Also, courtesy of Aunty Joke Silva. She watched a performance I did a while back and called me up to be part of the cast for the cultural Olympiad at the 2012 Olympics in London. It was a surreal and humbling experience for me. I remain grateful to her for such an opportunity.

Can you tell us some of the movies you have featured in?

I have been in quite a number of interesting movies. They include: The choice of Aina, HoodRush, Misfit, Kpains, Flower girl, The Arrangement, From Within and currently filming Oko Ashewo. I have also has featured in TV soaps like ‘David’s fall’ and ‘About to Wed’. I have been in numerous stage productions of works by Wole Soyinka and other playwrights such as ‘The King Must Dance Naked’, ‘Death and The King’s Horseman’ and ‘The Jero Plays’ where I played Amope.

Which of them brought you to limelight?

I’d say HoodRush and Misfit in which I had a starring role.

What are the challenges you encountered before breaking into the industry?

The challenges still remain till today. They are basically auditioning for roles and getting to work on projects that you actually like.

Mention of some the actors and actresses you admire in the industry.

I have such huge respects for Joke Silva, Genevieve Nnaji , Edith Jane Azu and Liz Benson-Ameye.

Would you act nude for a certain price?

I am not a porn artiste, please. You got married about a year ago.

What attracted you to your husband?

I got attracted to his honesty and openness. He is cute too. *wink*

Have marriage and motherhood affected your acting career in anyway?

No, they haven’t affected my acting in any way. Fortunately for me, my husband is a filmmaker. I actually went back on set two weeks after I had a baby. The show must go on.

Does your husband influence your accepting roles in movies, like kissing?

No way. He doesn’t at all. He is also a professional in the same industry.

Describe your style.

My style is simple and classic pieces. But on the red carpet, it’s all about glamour and va va voom.

If you are going on a red carpet, how long will it take you to dress up?

It takes about two hours because I have a glam team that helps me with makeup.

What is your passion?

My passion is acting, simple!

If you were not into acting, what other profession would you have chosen?

It will be singing. I sing too.

What is your favourite fashion item and who are your favourite designers?

I really don’t have a favourite fashion item. And I don’t know much about designers. I just wear what fits.

If you are to flaunt any part of your body, what will it be?

I’d flaunt my tummy and thighs.

What is your beauty routine?

I really don’t have a beauty routine.

What is your favourite perfume?

I don’t have a favourite perfume.

What are your hobbies and interests?

I am a very adventurous but simple lady, who loves to act, sing and swim.

Describe Ijeoma in three words.

I like to say I’m quite simple, down to earth and as real as they come.

What is your philosophy?

My mantra remains that ‘A man’s talent makes a way for him.’

‘I’m Forced To Share My Husband With My Mother’

From piercing your body parts like in the Hindu Thaipusam Festival in India to dancing with the dead in Madagascar, humans follow some of the weirdest traditions.

But it cannot get any weirder than what you are about to read. A tribe in Bangladesh called the Mandi tribe has a custom in which the daughters share their husbands with their mothers.

Can’t believe it? Here is a first person account of a 30-year-old Bangladeshi woman who had to share her husband with her mother: As a child in rural Bangladesh, Orola Dalbot, 30, liked growing up around her mother’s second husband, Noten. Her father had died when she was very young, and her mother had remarried. Noten was handsome, with a broad smile.

“I thought my mother was lucky,” Orola says. “I hoped I’d find a husband like him.” When she hit puberty, however, Orola learned the truth she least expected: She was already Noten’s wife. Her wedding had occurred when she was three years old, in a joint ceremony with her mother. Following tradition in the matrilineal Mandi tribe, the mother and daughter had married the same man. “I wanted to run away when I found out,” says Orola, sitting in the sunbaked courtyard of her family home in north-central Bangladesh.

“I was shaking with disbelief.” Orola’s mother, Mittamoni, now 51, told her that she must accept it. Among the Mandi, a remote hill tribe in Bangladesh and India, widows who wish to remarry must choose a man from the same clan as their dead husband. The only single males, however, are often much younger. So the custom evolved that a widow would offer one of her daughters as a second bride to take over her duties – including sex – when the daughter came of age.

“My mother was only 25 when my father died. She wasn’t ready to be single,” says Orola, swathed in a vibrant blue pashmina. The tribe offered Noten, then 17, as Mittamoni’s new husband, on the condition that he marry Orola, too. “I was too small to remember the wedding—I had no idea it had taken place,” Orola says. Devastated to discover that she was expected to share her own mother’s husband, she says: “My mother already had two children with him. I wanted a husband of my own.”

In recent years, many observers assumed the mother-daughter marriage custom had died out. Catholic missionaries have converted 90 percent of the tribe’s 25,000 Bangladeshi members, and many old Mandi practices are now taboo. Yet, while there are no official figures, one local leader claims there are “numerous” families who still follow the mother-daughter custom but people stay quiet about it. Today, Orola Dalbot is the mother of three children with Noten: a 14-yearold boy, a 7-year-old girl, and an 19-month-old girl. (Orola’s mother has a son and daughter with Noten.) The family lives in a cluster of mud houses in a village with no running water. The nearest town consists of a single row of ramshackle stalls selling cooking oil and candles.

Orola and Mittamoni jointly own a few acres of land, from which they make a modest living cultivating pineapples and bananas. The three-way marital arrangement grew tense when Noten began sleeping with Orola when she was 15. “My mother knew it was inevitable that we’d have sex. But he quickly began to prefer me over her, and she hated it,” Orola says. She even mentioned how her mother once slipped some wild herbs into her food to make her vomit. “While I was ill, she seized the chance to spend the night with Noten. She really loved him.”

The rivalry ruined their motherdaughter bond. “She stopped being my mother. I couldn’t turn to her for advice anymore. I felt betrayed and abandoned,” Orola says. But the point of co-marriage is not simply to satisfy the husband’s sexual needs. The point of daughters marrying the same man as their mothers is to help guarantee two things: first, that the family has a fertile young woman to produce children to add to its wealth, and second, that the wife’s clan holds onto its power, as her daughter protects her property when she dies.

This story was originally published by Abigail Haworth in Marie Claire. Pictures by Eric Rechsteiner

Apple Music in Taylor Swift backdown

Apple Music has reversed its payment policy, a day after Taylor Swift said she was refusing to allow the company to stream her album 1989.

In an open letter to Apple, Swift said she was withholding the record as she was unhappy with the three-month free trial offered to subscribers.

Now Apple says it will pay artists for music streamed during trial periods.

“We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple,” tweeted executive Eddy @Cue.

Swift had said the plan was “unfair”, arguing Apple had the money to cover the cost.

“I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company,” the 25-year-old said, describing Apple as one of her “best partners in selling music”.

“Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.”

The Apple Music launches on June 30. It will cost $9.99 (£6.30) per month in the US for one person or $14.99 for families.

The music industry has generally supported the company bringing its vast music library to paid streaming, and the company said it will pay 70% of the music subscription revenue to music owners.

It is not the first time Swift has spoken out against streaming music – she pulled her entire catalogue from Spotify last November and had refused to offer 1989 on streaming services, saying the business had “shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically”.

1989 went on to become one of the biggest-selling albums of 2014 and has sold more than 4.9 million copies in the US alone.

Last week, UK-based independent record label Beggars echoed Swift’s comments, saying it struggled “to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple’s customer acquisition costs”.

It said it did not have an agreement with Apple that would allow it to participate in the new service but hoped the “obstacles to agreement can be removed” in the coming days, reports the BBC.

Why foreign airlines can’t partner Nigerian carriers, by Lufthansa boss

Vice-President (Sales and Services Southeast Europe, Africa and Middle East), Lufthansa German Airlines, one of Europe’s mega carriers, Tamur Goudarzi-Pour, has explained why foreign airlines are not disposed to partnering with their Nigerian counterparts. The Lufthansa boss, who spoke with New Telegraph at the weekend in Lagos, said for such partnerships to come to fruition, Nigerian carriers must improve their standards in terms of integrity, safety and reliability of their products, among others. He said: “For Lufthansa to partner with Nigerian airlines, there are things that must be put in place.

They need to up their standards to be reliable with their schedules, raise the bar with safety and it is also very good for them to be very reliable with their products.” These problems have affected seriously the inability of any of Nigerian carriers to compete with their foreign counter parts.Only two airlines are International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certified. IOSA is an integral process and procedure mechanism through which IATA evaluates airlines’ integral safety processes.

IATA also says it is an internationally accepted evaluation process designed by IATA and ICAO by extension, in assessing operational management and control systems of airlines. It has also allowed foreign airlines to account for 92 per cent of the international passenger traffic into and out of the country while Nigerian airlines account for the remaining eight per cent, according to statistics released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) early this year. Previous reports had shown that over 20 foreign airlines repatriated above N400 billion made from ticket sales to their various countries every year.

Another study prepared by the United States-based Sabre Travel Network whose West African office is in Nigeria, shows that 26 foreign airlines offer 2,316,288 aircraft seats to the Nigerian international travel market every year, while their Nigerian counterparts offer only 202,228 seats.

The report puts the international travel market aircraft capacity at 2,518,516 annual seats. The study, made available to New Telegraph, indicates that lack of adequate number of dominant national carriers on the part of Nigeria is responsible for the international airlines’ passenger traffic trend. According to the Sabre report, the Nigerian aviation sector contributes only 0.4 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in Spain, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada and Germany, the contribution to the GDP is 5.2 per cent, 5.0 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.

The study notes that aviation is a major employer of labour and has the capacity to reduce the country’s unemployment rate if the government comes up with the right policies. Meanwhile, Managing Director, West Africa, Lufthansa German Airlines, Clau Becker said the carrier has designated Lagos as the centre and regional headquarters of its sub-saharan sales, station and administration organisation leading marketing and sales for the company across the continent, including East Africa and Southern Africa countries.

Atiku: Evil men want to hijack Buhari

As the crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the leadership crisis in the National Assembly rages, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has warned against allowing people with dangerous agenda of hijacking the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. He said the recent outcomes of the National Assembly elections, contrary to insinuations, were products of interplay of politics, which was itself in constant motion, urging the party to put the crisis behind it and move on. Atiku, in a statement yesterday, urged members of the APC to emulate the unity of all the presidential contestants after the party’s Lagos primaries and support the president to form his government and get to work.

“In politics, it is a mistake to expect fixed outcomes. As the president has done, let’s all come to terms with what has happened in the interest of the system and move on. “Suffice it to say that the new administration should be allowed a smooth take-off and be allowed the atmosphere to deliver.

On this, I stand with President Buhari,” Atiku said. Atiku, in the statement by his Media Office, debunked claims that he masterminded the rebellion against the party that led to the defeat of its consensus candidates in the two chambers of the legislature. Besides, he dismissed claims of his purported plot to hijack the party and the National Assembly towards actualising his presidential ambition in 2019. He described the claim as a product of the imagination of those promoting it and asked Nigerians to ignore such an insinuation.

He spoke against the backdrop of the defeat of APC’s candidates, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila for the Senate presidency and House of Representatives speakership. The duo was defeated by Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara who had defied the party to vie for the posts. The victory of Saraki and Dogara has plunged APC in crisis as the party battled to contain the fallout. He denounced the increasing determination of some people to draw a wedge between him and the president over the matter.

“It has become crystal clear even to the blind that the motives of these hatchet men who are desperate to take every available newspaper space are to insult, vilify and calumniate the former vice-president. “We cannot allow liars, denigrators and blackmailers and their sponsors to use Atiku as platform to ingratiate themselves with President Buhari and hijack his presidency under the pretext of loving him more than anyone else. These political ventriloquists are hiding behind the cover of anonymity to achieve their sinister agenda of making Atiku the fall guy in the unfolding political developments,” he added.

Atiku also warned the party leaders against constituting themselves into opposition to Buhari. He told party chieftains to bury their differences and support the Buhari administration. According to the former vice-president in the statement signed by Head of his Media Office, Mr. Paul Ibe, it will be dangerous for any individual or group in the governing party to constitute themselves into an opposition even before the constitution and take-off of Buhari’s government. He described the developments in the polity as interplay of forces and interests that are dynamic, adding that they must, however, not be promoted to the point of threatening democracy and the new administration.

While acknowledging that it is legitimate and desirable for individuals or groups to seek to pursue their interests, Atiku said it must be done with the benefit of sustaining democracy and promoting equity, fair play and justice in mind. “Anything to the contrary may jeopardise our hard-earned democracy and constitute a clog in the wheel of the new administration,” Atiku stated.

According to him, because of the historic nature of the mandate of Buhari and the arduous challenges ahead to deliver on making Nigeria work, it is important, especially for APC members to rally behind him in the quest to enthrone good governance that will spur security, stability, economic and social development, job creation, as well as infrastructure renewal to engender a better life for Nigerians. Atiku, while restating his unalloyed commitment to the Buhari administration, pledged to back this commitment with all assets at his disposal.

“Not only did Atiku Abubakar congratulate Buhari after his emergence as the presidential candidate of the APC at the party’s national convention in Lagos, he also handed over his best assets to the Buhari Presidential Campaign. The former vice-president enthusiastically handled the diplomatic assignment of seeking endorsement for Dr. (Akinwunmi) Adesina as the President of the African Development Bank on behalf of President Buhari and would be available for any other assignments as the president pleases.

“Make no mistake about it, Atiku Abubakar holds Buhari in the highest esteem, and would always remain loyal to him, and support him in every endeavour to succeed as president. “We, the members of the president’s own family, need to lead in this direction for others to follow for the good of our nation and its peoples,” he added. Meanwhile, the secrecy surrounding the president’s ministerial list has continued to cause anxiety among APC leaders. New Telegraph gathered that Buhari’s ‘guarded attitude’ regarding the ministerial list angers party chiefs who believe that it negates an earlier agreement that the party would play a major role in the choice of ministers before the cabinet list is sent to the Senate for confirmation.

An APC senator confided in our correspondent that the ‘guarded attitude’ of the president over the ministerial list has caused disappointment among leaders of the party The senator, who made allusions to the outcome of the June 9 elections at the National Assembly where persons other than the party’s choices emerged as presiding officers, regretted that “not much appears ready to change under President Buhari.”

“From the way we are going, not much appears ready to change under this man (Buhari). How do we preach change and change our commitments almost immediately? “We promised to do things differently whereby the party will take charge and give direction rather than a few elements who form a cabal around the president taking charge like it was done under the 16 years of PDP. But the signs and signals are to the effect that a few persons have escaped with our collective victory. “Before the election, the leadership of the APC outlined a governance policy framework; how to pick ministers, the criteria to be adopted and the role the party will play. “It was agreed among them that whoever wants to serve as a minister under the APC government must be made to pass through an integrity test as it was integrity that ushered us to power.

“But what are we seeing today? I can tell you that no party leader has an idea of how the ministerial list looks; all party leaders without exception do not have an idea of who the president wants to bring on board in a government people staked their lives to put in place. “This is troubling because if the party will have no role to play in this circumstance, it then means that like what a colleague of mine said last week, we have entered a ‘one chance bus’. I hope the sealed-lip attitude that disgraced the party on June 9 will not repeat itself again”, he said. It was gathered that each time leaders of the APC asked Buhari about the ministerial list, ‘his response has been casual and non-committal.’ A prominent northern leader of the party, who pleaded for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the APC was working to avoid the pitfalls, which led to the collapse of the PDP.

“We are looking at a situation where the party will direct the affairs of government in line with our manifesto. Recall that this was largely the case during the Second Republic. “But since 1999, what we have seen is the rise of individuals whose personal interests took precedence over the general interest of the party and the people.

“The APC cannot afford to let this happen because we have a social contract with the Nigerian people who voted for the party based on the promise to bring about change in the polity,” he said. A leading member of the party and former governor of old Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, also said as a party, the APC would be guided by the constitution. While responding to a question as to how members of the cabinet would emerge, Onu said the APC was a party, which was determined to do things differently to ensure that Nigerians get value from government. He said: “In forming government, you have to make consultations with the party.

We are a party of change; we are a party that is looking forward to building a Nigeria that many of the problems we have today will be solved and we can’t do things the way they were done before; knowing that the way they were done before didn’t give the results that were desired.” APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was not forthcoming when asked to comment on the issue of the delayed ministerial list and whether or not the party was still expecting Buhari to present the list to party leaders for ratification. “Please why not ask the president? Direct your questions to the president on this; end of story,” he said.

Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu was also evasive on the matter. “The president had earlier told the world how he intends to pick his ministers in an interview; I think that settles the matter; no more comments my brother,” he said. The president had, in an interview with a national daily, stated that he was not going to accept ministerial nominations from governors as was the case in the past administration.

Deadly Pakistan heatwave leaves more than 120 dead

More than 120 people have died during a heatwave in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.

Health officials say most of the deaths have been in Karachi, which has seen temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 deg F) in recent days.

The city has seen power cuts, caused by an increased demand for electricity caused by the extreme weather.

The head of the emergency department at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi said the majority of the victims were elderly.

“Patients with heat stroke brought to the hospital had high-grade fever, altered state of consciousness, dehydration and fits,” said Dr Semee Jamali,

“Since Saturday 114 people have died in Karachi and eight others in three districts of Sindh,” provincial health secretary Saeed Mangnejo told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

According to Pakistan’s metrological office, very hot and humid weather is likely to continue on Monday, but cooler weather is forecast from Tuesday.

The all-time record temperature in Karachi is 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit), recorded in 1979.

Nearly 1,700 died in a heatwave in neighbouring India last month, reports the BBC.

Missing US prisoner hunt widens

The hunt for two convicted killers who escaped from a New York prison is now focusing heavily on a rural area close to the Pennsylvania state line.

Richard Matt and David Sweat went missing from the prison in Dannemora, near the Canadian border, on 6 June.

Police descended on the hamlet of Friendship, 300 miles (480km) to the south, on Saturday.

Close to 300 officers are now searching the area, seven miles (12km) from the New York-Pennsylvania state line.

Police said on Saturday they were responding to a sighting in Friendship of two men walking along a railway.

They added there had also been a sighting matching the men’s description a week ago in Steuben County, New York, which is next to Allegany County, where Friendship is located.

“We will search under every rock, behind every tree and structure until we are confident that that area is secure,” Michael J Cerretto, a New York state police major, said.

However, the main part of the search continues to be in the area around Dannemora, police said in a statement.

Matt, 49, was convicted of the kidnap, torture and dismemberment of his former boss, whose body was found in pieces in a river, reports the BBC.

Sweat, 35, was serving life for his part in the killing of a sheriff’s deputy who witnessed stolen guns being handled.

They cut through brick and steel at the Clinton Correctional Facility, before crawling through an underground pipe.

They then emerged from a manhole outside the prison’s 40-foot (12-metre) walls.

They left a taunting note for prison authorities to find.

Workshop instructor Joyce Mitchell, 51, has appeared in court accused of befriending the two men and giving them contraband.

She also planned to be the pair’s getaway driver, but changed her mind at the last minute, investigators say.

Debt crisis: Greece prepares for critical talks

Greece faces a critical 24 hours as European leaders gather for an emergency summit in Brussels that could break the deadlock around the country’s debt crisis.

On Sunday, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras set out new proposals to try to prevent a default on a €1.6bn (£1.1bn) IMF loan.

One European official said the proposals held plenty of promise.

Greece must repay the loan by the end of June or risk crashing out of the single currency and possibly the EU.

Talks have been in deadlock for five months, with the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB) unwilling to unlock the final €7.2bn tranche of bailout funds until Greece agrees to economic reforms they want to see introduced.

The three creditors must agree to the deal offered by Greece to ensure Monday’s talks have a clear focus.

The head of the European Commission president’s cabinet, Martin Selmayr, said on Twitter that Greece’s latest offer had been received by its creditors.

He said it represented a “good basis for progress” before comparing the discussions on a deal to a forceps delivery childbirth.

Prime Minister Tsipras will meet the heads of Greece’s three international creditors at 11:00 (09:00 GMT), ahead of his meeting with the leaders of 18 other eurozone nations.

Tsipras’ offer on Sunday of a reforms package to the leaders of Germany, France and the European Commission is seen by some as a sign the Greek government is willing to make concessions.

The proposals, which Tsipras described as “mutually beneficial”, were adopted at an emergency meeting of the Greek cabinet – though they have yet to be revealed.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged both sides to seize a “window of opportunity”.

Earlier on Sunday, Louka Katseli, the head of Greece’s biggest bank, said it would be “insane” not to reach an agreement in Brussels.

The National Bank of Greece chief said that, while the banks were not under immediate threat of running out of money, the situation was serious and, without a deal, would become severe.

However, she said she thought it was unlikely that Greece would be forced to leave the eurozone, saying the cost would be too high for other eurozone nations.

The ECB will also hold a separate meeting on Monday to decide whether to raise the level of emergency funding for Greek banks, after it approved an emergency loan on Friday, reports the BBC.

Greek savers have withdrawn billions of euros in recent days, putting Greece’s banking system under intense pressure.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Athens on Sunday evening in support of its left-wing government, which came to power off the back of an anti-austerity promise.

They are angered by austerity measures imposed by Greece’s lenders in the two previous bailouts, which saw wages and pensions slashed and left one in four Greeks unemployed.

Rallies were also staged in Brussels and Amsterdam in solidarity with the people of Greece.

Taliban attack on Afghan parliament ends

A co-ordinated Taliban attack on the Afghan parliament in Kabul has ended with all six gunmen killed, the interior ministry says.

Attackers detonated a huge car bomb outside the gates, stormed the compound, then entered a building next to the chamber.

Police evacuated the premises, while trying to fight the gunmen off.

The Taliban say they carried out the attack to coincide with a vote to endorse a new defence minister.

The spokesman for the interior ministry, Sediq Seddiqi, said the gunmen had attempted to storm the parliament building itself after the gates were breached by the suicide bomb.

They were fought off and entered a building under construction next to parliament. MPs were showered with broken glass, and the chamber filled with smoke as the fighting went on. It took nearly an hour before all the firing stopped.

At least 18 people are reported to have been wounded. Seddiqi said no MP had been injured.

Pictures on social media showed parliament full of smoke and people running for cover.

Television was broadcasting live from the parliament building when the attackers struck. MPs were seen fleeing the building.

Even by Afghan standards, these were very dramatic scenes, and police had a complex operation on their hands, says the BBC’s David Loyn in Kabul.

The Taliban were extracting maximum propaganda advantage by doing it on the day that parliament was meeting to consider the appointment of new Defence Minister Massoom Stanekzai, our correspondent says.

Local media reported another explosion in the Dahmazang area of Kabul city.

The Taliban have launched complex attacks on government buildings in the capital in the past.

They have made substantial gains recently in Helmand in the south-west, and have been advancing across the north of the country, capturing two districts of the Kunduz province in recent days.

Militant violence has increased across the country since the departure of most US and NATO forces last year.

Player dies after on-field injury

A rugby league player seriously injured during a Queensland Cup match in Australia has died in hospital.

James Ackerman, 25, was playing for the Sunshine Coast Falcons when he suffered a head injury in a tackle five minutes into a game against Norths Devils.

The father-of-two was treated on the field at Bishop Park, before being taken to hospital in Brisbane, and the game on Saturday was then abandoned.

Queensland Rugby League (QRL) said on Monday that Ackerman had passed away.

According to Australian newspaper the Courier-Mail, Francis Molo, 20, who made the tackle on Ackerman, is “struggling to cope”.

Sunshine Coast Falcons chief executive officer Chris Flannery described Ackerman as a “champion guy” and “one of our leaders”.

Flannery added: “He lived for rugby league. He was a tough competitor and a fine player who in many ways was the heart and soul of our team.”

QRL managing director Robert Moore said it was a “very difficult and traumatic time”.

He added: “We send our deepest condolences to James’s family and friends, and the Sunshine Coast club.

“One of the strengths of rugby league is the game’s ability to rally behind its own – and I have no doubt this will happen throughout this challenging period.”

A statement from Ackerman’s family, including wife Saraa, children Olliver and Milly, brothers Andrew and Thomas and parents Michael and Sonya, thanked the medical staff at both clubs, paramedics, the hospital and the “overwhelming” support from his current and former team-mates.

It said: “James loved the game of rugby league, he always played the game with his heart on his sleeve. We will miss you.”

The Falcons are a feeder team for NRL side Melbourne Storm, as are Norths Devils for Brisbane Broncos, reports the BBC.