capital
Somali president’s backers in gun clash with opponents – residents
Supporters of Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and those opposed to the extension of his four-year term clashed on Sunday on the streets of the capital, residents said. The president signed a law in mid-April extending his mandate for two years, stoking opposition inside Somalia and putting him on a collision course with Western and other donors opposed to the move. Somalia, which plunged into war and chaos in 1991, has been struggling to re-establish the authority of central government and rebuild the nation, with international help. The failure to hold elections that were due in February sparked a new crisis. “There is gunfire between pro-opposition military and government forces at Fagah Junction,” Halima Osman, a resident of Fagah in Mogadishu, said after Reuters witnesses...
Ramadan: Israel, Palestinians clash on Gaza border as Jerusalem violence continues
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Saturday drawing retaliatory air strikes, the Israeli military said, after nightly Ramadan clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police had resumed in Jerusalem. The pre-dawn exchange of fire broke months of relative quiet on the Israel-Gaza frontier, though it did not appear to signal a wider escalation after the military said it was not imposing any safety restrictions on Israelis living near the border. In Jerusalem, Israeli-Palestinian tension has been higher than usual during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Protests turned violent on Thursday with scores of arrests and injuries. The unrest resumed on Friday night, when Palestinian youths gathered outside the walled Old City and scuffled with hundreds o...
Iran says 60% enrichment meant to show nuclear prowess, is reversible
Iran began enriching uranium to 60% purity in order to show its technical capacity after a sabotage attack at a nuclear plant, and the move is quickly reversible if the United States lifts sanctions, the Iranian government said on Tuesday. Talks in Vienna aimed at bringing the United States and Iran back to full compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal have been further complicated by an explosion at Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Iran has responded by saying it is enriching uranium to 60%fissile purity, a big step towards weapons-grade from the 20% ithad previously achieved. The 2015 pact between Iran and world powers had capped the level of enrichment purity at 3.67% – suitable for generating civilian nuclear energy. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon. “The start of 60% ...
Florentino Perez: Cristiano Ronaldo will not come back to Real Madrid
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has ruled out a return to Santiago Bernabeu for Cristiano Ronaldo and claims to have had no contact with Paris Saint-Germain regarding a move for Kylian Mbappe. Movement in the Spanish capital is being mooted ahead of the summer transfer window, with Perez – who is famed for his ‘Galactico’ recruitment model – being re-elected to remain at the helm of the Liga giants. It has been suggested that efforts will be made to re-sign a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, with Ronaldo having left Real for Juventus as the club’s all-time leading scorer in 2018, but no bid is being lined up to land the 36-year-old Portuguese. Perez has told El Chiringuito: “Cristiano Ronaldo will not come back to Real Madrid. “It does not make sense, he has a contract with Juventus. I...
US: Chad rebels heading towards capital from north
The United States said rebel fighters in Chad appeared to be moving towards the capital N’Djamena and ordered non-essential staff to leave, warning of possible violence. A spokesman for the rebel Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) said its fighters had “liberated” the province of Kanem, some 220 km (136 miles) from the capital N’Djamena, but the government denied this. “The authors of these false statements are not even on the ground, but somewhere in Europe,” the government said in a message posted to Facebook. A day earlier the British government urged its citizens to leave Chad because of information that two rebel convoys on the move, one near the town of Faya, some 770 km (478 miles) northeast of N’Djamena, and another by the town of Mao, the provincial capital of Kanem. On S...
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan launch new Nile dam talks in DRC
A new round of African Union-mediated talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan has begun aimed at resolving a years-long dispute over a massive dam built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile, a main tributary of the Nile river. The three-day talks that kicked off on Saturday are taking place in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the current chair of the AU. Foreign and irrigation ministers of the three nations were attending the talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), along with AU experts, according to Ethiopia’s Irrigation Minister Seleshi Bekele. A Sudanese diplomat was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency that the experts from the three countries and the AU met on Saturday, ahead of ministers who would meet on Sunday and Monday. He s...
CSOs: Bandit attacks a risk to food security in Nigeria
Bandit attacks heighten risks for acute food crisis in Nigeria, stakeholders from the civil society and the media have said. This is even as they vowed to unite against terror rather than do anything that could promote it. “In addition to displacement, insecurity has hampered agricultural activities and heightened the risk of acute food uncertainty in the country”, they said in a communique issued on Thursday after a meeting of civil society groups and media in the nation’s capital. But they insisted that the adoption of new approaches by the government will address the specific political, economic, and social challenges that encourage banditry and terrorism in the country. The communique co-signed by Gbenga Onayiga and Adamu Ladan, the Acting Chairman and the Executive Director of the Vis...
Sudan and rebel group sign agreement on separation of religion and state
The Sudanese government and a major rebel group from its southern Nuba Mountains on Sunday signed a document which paves the way for a final peace agreement by guaranteeing freedom of worship to all while separating religion and the state. The signing is viewed as a crucial step in efforts by the power-sharing government headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to reach accords with rebel groups across the country and end decades of conflicts that left millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead. Last year Sudan signed a peace agreement with many groups, including from the Western region of Darfur. But a key faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, did not join in last year’s agreement because it stuck to its demand that Sudan dispens...
Commodities trading: SEC issues new rules on warehousing, collateral management
File Photo In a bid to ensure a vibrant commodities trading ecosystem, which would in turn boost foreign exchange earnings for the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released new rules covering warehousing and collateral management, among others. According to the rules, every warehouse that stores commodities to be traded on a registered exchange shall apply to be registered by the SEC, while the commission shall maintain a register of all registered warehouses to be published on its website. The new rules also provide that any warehouse applying for registration shall submit proof of ownership or registered-lease deed or rent agreement, alongside a disclaimer from the owner of the warehouse/property providing waiver of ownership regarding commodities stored in such ...
Conference of speakers advocates community policing
The Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria on Saturday decried the spate of insecurity in Nigeria even as they advocated for community policing as a way out of the current security challenges bedeviling the country. They also commended the Federal Government on its efforts at fighting the insecurity in the country, calling on the goverment to beef up the security architecture in the country to reflect the demographic reality of Nigeria. This was contained in a communiqué issued by the Conference at the end of its general meeting held at the Hazibal Event Centre in Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital, which had representatives of the 36 states in attendance. The communique, which was signed by the chairman of the Conference, Right Honourable Suleiman Y Abubakar, who also doubl...
Rivers: We need more flyovers, interchanges in Port Harcourt – SSG
Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, has declared the Port Harcourt, the state capital, needs more flyovers and interchanges, so that the city can compete with other cities in the world. Danagogo, who addressed journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the dream of Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike-led administration was to turn the state capital to Houston, the capital of the State of Texas in the United States of America. He said: “What is the vision of the average Rivers man for the state capital? What Wike is looking at is what Port Harcourt should be tomorrow. The governor’s dream is to make Rivers State, the Texas of America. “Port Harcourt should be like Houston because Port Harcourt is the oil capital of Nigeria. We need more flyovers and interchanges. The fly...
NSCDC arrests 16 for ‘illegal’ oil bunkering
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has reported the arrest of 16 persons including a 45-year old mother of four in Abia State for allegedly engaging in illegal oil bunkering. The state commandant of the corps, Mr Vincent Ogu, stated this while briefing newsmen at the command’s headquarters in Umuahia, the capital on some of its recent achievements. He explained that, “The suspects were arrested at different locations across the state for offences bordering on oil bunkering and illegal dealings in petroleum products.” He said Babangida Saleh, Abubakar Ibrahim, Bukar Ali, and Mohammed Mohammed were arrested, while conveying about 30,000 litres of suspected petroleum products in a truck with Reg. No. GYA611XA. “Lawrence Ahmed, Johnson Akinrinola and Ofo-Obong Francis were ar...
