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Kano council boss laments influx of illegal miners from Zamfara
Bashir Abdullahi Kutama, Chairman of Gwarzo Local Government Area in Kano State, has raised concerns over the influx of Zamfara-based miners into his locality for illegal mining operations. The Chairman raised the alarm during a town hall meeting on Thursday with representatives of security agencies, village heads, transport unions and sections of the public. The meeting was intended to streamline modalities to improve and strengthen security of lives and property in his area. Kutama told his audience that he had recently introduced a migrants registration system in all parts of the local government, directing traditional leaders to form security watch committees in their respective communities. He added that the local government management was taking adequate precautionary security measur...
Hamas official predicts ceasefire soon in Israel-Gaza conflict
A senior Hamas official predicted a ceasefire within days in the Israel-Gaza conflict, after U.S. President Joe Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a “de-escalation” in the fighting. Rocket fire into Israel died down overnight, a lull that stretched into Thursday morning. Israel was launching new air strikes in Gaza after daybreak, but, Israeli media said, at a slower pace than in past days. An Egyptian security source said the sides had agreed in principle to a ceasefire after help from mediators but details were still being negotiated in secret. “I think that the ongoing efforts regarding the ceasefire will succeed,” the Hamas political official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV. “I expect a ceasefire to be reached within a day or two, and the c...
PSG president in talks with Spurs fullback Serge Aurier
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is happy to bring Serge Aurier back to Paris this summer. The Tottenham full-back has been pushing to leave London and return to PSG for much of the season. The Ivorian was offered to PSG in January. Paris-based Soccer Link reports Al-Khelaifi has already struck personal terms with Aurier’s camp. While there’s some inside PSG still unhappy with the defender for the manner of his departure three years ago, Al-Khelaifi is eager to bring him back. Aurier has a deal to 2022 and Spurs aren’t expected to stand in his way should PSG make a realistic offer. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful p...
Chadian rebels, government forces clash in area where slain leader was shot
Government troops and rebels clashed on Thursday in a region of western Chad where president Idriss Deby Itno was killed earlier this month. The fight in the desert region of Kanem, near Chad’s border with Niger, pits Libya-based rebels against forces loyal to a new military junta led by Deby’s son. Fiercely criticised for authoritarianism and inequality, Deby was seen as a trusty ally by many Western countries including the former colonial power France. He was seen as a stabilising force in the fight against jihadism in the wider Sahel region on the southern fringes of the Sahara desert. “Fighting is continuing in Kanem — we are going to have continue to fight, otherwise they will destabilise us,” junta spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna told AFP. The Military Transition Council (CMT...
Red Cross condemns ‘horrific’ sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The Red Cross voiced alarm Thursday over “horrific” accounts of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, amid fears that rape was being used as a weapon of war. Robert Mardini, director-general of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organisation’s staff in hospitals and clinics in the region were hearing first-hand of extreme sexual violence. “Those reports are extremely horrific, very shocking,” he told AFP in an interview, adding that this was a “matter of grave concern”. “I haven’t heard such terrible accounts for more than two decades in the humanitarian sector,” said Mardini, who among other things closely followed the civil wars in Syria and Yemen when he headed ICRC’s Near and Middle East division from 2012 to 2018. “Many of my humani...
Kosovo parliament elects new national president
Kosovo’s parliament has appointed a 38-year-old U.S.-educated female law professor and candidate of the ruling Vetevendosje party as the country’s new president, following an election in February. Vjosa Osmani took over as acting president of Kosovo last November when her predecessor, Hashim Thaci, resigned ahead of his impending war crimes trial in the Netherlands. Osmani’s initial mandate expired when the new government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the head of Vetevendosje, took over following the Feb. 14 election. On Sunday the 120-seat parliament voted in favour of appointing Osmani president by 71 votes. Opposition parties and civil society watchdogs have criticised her appointment, saying that having a president, prime minister and speaker of parliament all from the same party is n...
Jorginho enjoying ‘special moment’ under Thomas Tuchel
Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, best known as Jorginho’s agent believes the Chelsea midfielder is enjoying a ‘special moment’ under Thomas Tuchel. The Italy international is a key figure in Tuchel’s midfield. But his agent, Joao Santos, says Jorginho would be open to a return to Italy if the situation changed at Stamford Bridge. “There are many rumours about that because he did so well at Napoli,” Santos told Naples-based station Radio Marte. “It’s a special moment for him. He is an important player for Chelsea now. However, he is an Italy international, and we are thinking about a return to Serie A if he leaves the Blues. “If Napoli will make an offer, we’ll evaluate it. He had a great time in Naples, and he has many friends over there.” Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make ...
Sheikh Gumi: GSC Kagara victims to be released in days
Staff and students kidnapped from GSC Kagara early Wednesday are expected to be released in days, according to a source on the delegation of Kaduna-based cleric Sheikh Ahmed Gumi. Gumi has been on a tour to visit bandit leader Dogo Gide and other top commanders at Dutsen Magaji forest for talks. The source said Niger government, which initially ruled out payment of any ransom to secure freedom of the kidnappees, would enter a dialogue and had sent a strong delegation. Passengers abducted earlier and the students are in good state, the source said. During the visit, Gumi was shown an entire community said to have been razed in a military bombardment and corpses dumped in wells. Gumi and his entourage are back in Minna, after travelling more than seven hours from Dutsen Magaji. Earlier, anot...
Sheikh Gumi: GSC Kagara victims to be released in days
Staff and students kidnapped from GSC Kagara early Wednesday are expected to be released in days, according to a source on the delegation of Kaduna-based cleric Sheikh Ahmed Gumi. Gumi has been on a tour to visit bandit leader Dogo Gide and other top commanders at Dutsen Magaji forest for talks. The source said Niger government, which initially ruled out payment of any ransom to secure freedom of the kidnappees, would enter a dialogue and had sent a strong delegation. Passengers abducted earlier and the students are in good state, the source said. During the visit, Gumi was shown an entire community said to have been razed in a military bombardment and corpses dumped in wells. Gumi and his entourage are back in Minna, after travelling more than seven hours from Dutsen Magaji. Earlier, anot...
Hundreds of thousands protest in Myanmar as army faces crippling mass strike
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar for a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, as the new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers that could cripple their ability to run the country. People surround a police vehicle as they protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar February 12, 2021 in this still grab obtained by Reuters from a video on February 13, 2021. Trains in parts of the country stopped running after staff refused to go to work, local media reported, while the military deployed soldiers to power plants only to be confronted by angry crowds. A civil disobedience movement to protest against the Feb. 1 coup that deposed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi started with doctors. It now affects a swa...
WTO fixes date to announce next director-general
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has scheduled a special meeting of its General Council for Monday, February 15, 2021, where Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is expected to be formally announced as the Director General. According to a notification seen by newsmen Tuesday, the only agenda for the meeting is to, “consider the appointment of the next WTO Director-General.” The United State government last week gave its formal approval to the emergence of Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General, thereby removing the final obstacle to her bid to be the first woman and the first African to run the Geneva-based trade body. The endorsement of the candidacy of the Nigeria’s two-term former minister was sequel to the withdrawal of her main challenger, the South Kore...
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Armed herdsmen: Group calls on President Buhari to caution Bauchi governor
An Edo State-based civil society organisation, the Foundation for Good Governance and Social Change (FGGSC), has called on the Presidency to caution the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed, over a statement credited to him justifying bearing of arms by Fulani herdsmen to protect their cows. The group, faulting the comments of the governor, described it as ‘reckless, provocative, divisive and unbecoming of the status of a governor in a pluralistic society like Nigeria.’ Addressing journalists in Benin City, the Executive Director of FGGSC, Austin Osakue, said the situation in Nigeria was similar to what led to the 30 months civil war in the late 1960s that resulted in wanton destruction of lives and properties. ‘The statement opens the floodgates of self-help for Nigerians of other ethn...