Resistance
Thousands flee to Thailand after Myanmar army’s air strikes on villages
About 3,000 villagers from Myanmar’s southeastern Karen state fled to Thailand on Sunday following air attacks by the army on an area held by an ethnic armed group, an activist group and local media said. Myanmar’s military launched air strikes on five areas in Mutraw district, near the border, including a displacement camp, the Karen Women’s Organization said. “At the moment, villagers are hiding in the jungle as more than 3,000 crossed to Thailand to take refuge,” a statement from the group said. Thai PBS reported about 3,000 had reached Thailand. Thai authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At least two soldiers from the Karen National Union were killed, said David Eubank, founder of the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation. “We haven’t had air strikes ther...
More than 90 killed in Myanmar in one of bloodiest days of protests
Security forces killed more than 90 people across Myanmar on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days of protests since a military coup last month, news reports and witnesses said. The lethal crackdown came on Armed Forces Day. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital Naypyitaw to mark the event that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy. State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot “in the head and back”. Despite this, demonstrators against the Feb. 1 coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns. The Myanmar Now news portal said 91 people were killed across the country by security forces. A boy reported by local media to be as young as five was among at least 29 people killed in...
NPHCDA: States yet to meet conditions won’t get coronavirus vaccines
National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, said, yesterday, that states yet to meet the criteria for COVID-19 vaccines would not get a share of the 3.92 million AstraZeneca vaccines received by the country on Tuesday. Executive Director of the agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, who disclosed this at a State House briefing in Abuja, also said President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be vaccinated publicly tomorrow, while members of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, would have theirs on Monday. He said: “After we are able to get our strategic leaders to publicly demonstrate that these vaccines are safe, the plan is to now go to the state level to start the launch at the treatment centres of the states and also get strategic leaders, such as governors, to publi...
INEC intensifies consultation on new polling units
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has intensified consultations with stakeholders on the creation of new Polling Units (Pus), across the country. The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, who held a meeting with the media in Abuja, yesterday, said that existing 119, 973 PUs, created 25 years ago had become grossly inadequate, leading to crisis situations during elections. He said, “Nigeria has a critical problem of voter access to Polling Units. The country currently has 119,973 Polling Units established a quarter of a Century ago in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON). At that time, the voter population was projected at 50 million. “The voters’ register increased to 84,004,084 by 2019. We envisage that by the next General Election in 2...
Tokyo 2021: Japan, medical experts disagree over safe Olympics
Japanese infectious disease specialist Atsuo Hamada wants to see the Olympics happen in Tokyo this summer, but admits if they were being held anywhere else, he’d probably support a cancellation. “Even without the coronavirus pandemic, the Olympics as a mass gathering fosters all sorts of infectious diseases,” Hamada, a professor at Tokyo Medical University, told AFP. With less than six months until the pandemic-postponed Games, organisers say they’re confident the event will be safe. But some medical experts aren’t so sure, and think cancellation is safer. “I do understand the athletes’ sentiments,” said Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton. “But I think from… the global public health point of view, there’s nothing about the Olympic...
ICC ruling brings hope for Palestinians, dismay for Israelis
Many Palestinians see a ruling by the International Criminal Court that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories as a belated chance of justice for victims of Israeli attacks. But for many Israelis, Friday’s ruling is worrying because they say they are the “good guys” defending themselves against Palestinian violence. The ruling, delivered by a pre-trial chamber of three ICC judges, could lead to criminal investigations of Israel and Palestinian militant groups including Hamas. No probe was expected in the near future, however. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would now examine the decision and pointed to the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and militant groups in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the 2018 Gaza border protests and Israeli settlements in occupied territory. In Khan Youni...
Gunmen attack Bayelsa community
Unknown gunmen on Friday attacked the Ogila-ama community in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The armed men, who stormed the coastal community in three speed boats, shot sporadically before setting some buildings on fire. The incident was said to have caused panic and confusion as the residents of Ogila-ama fled into the bush. Reports quoted a native of the community, Bolouikie Ogoro, as saying that he received phone calls from his sister and some others informing him of the armed invasion. According to him, the armed arsonists operated in three speed boats and fired gunshots indiscriminately to ward off any resistance before going for the targeted houses that they razed down. It could not be immediately ascertained if any life was lost even as no group had claimed...
Nigerian governors to meet with President Buhari to address security challenges
Governors of the thirty six states under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF have resolved to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to address the security challenges with continued cases of armed banditry, terrorism and kidnapping across the country. The governors are meeting with President Buhari especially to discuss last week’s gruesome beheading of about 43 Farmers in Zarbamari near Maiduguri, Borno State by Boko Haram Insurgents while they were working in their farmland without any form of resistance. The decision was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the 22nd NGF teleconference meeting. In a Communique signed by the NGF Chairman and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said, ” Members of the forum resolved to meet with Mr. President as soon as possible to ad...
Cross River by-election: INEC assures transparent, violence free election using technology
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it wil deploy relevant technology to ensure transparent, violence-free and fair election in Saturday’s Cross River North Senatorial and House of Assembly by-elections. Mr Festus Okoye, INECs Commissioner for Information and Voter Education Committee said this on Wednesday in Calabar while speaking on the commission’s preparedness for the polls. He said the successes recorded in Edo and Ondo elections were testimonies to the fact that the commission was improving by every election through the use of modern technology. “We want to surpass our successes in Edo and Ondo. “We are going to conduct a transparent, violence-free and credible election in Cross River North come Saturday. “We are ready for the elections, the Card Readers have b...
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