Tuesday
Ebonyi governor pledges to abide by peace pact with political opponents
Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi has pledged to abide by the peace pact he made with political opponents in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Umahi made the pledge on Tuesday at his hometown Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state while briefing newsmen after a state Security Council meeting. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state founding fathers forum in conjunction with the Catholic Church in Ebonyi, recently organised a peace meeting between Umahi and stakeholders of the PDP in the state. The stakeholders include former Senate President, Sen. Pius Anyim, former Gov Sam Egwu among others whom had been at loggerheads with since his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The governor urged his supporters to cease all attacks, saying that he had ‘moved on...
Egypt court acquits TikTok stars jailed over ‘debauchery’
An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted two young women imprisoned for “attacking society’s values” over videos they published on TikTok. The women had been sentenced to two years in prison last July for “breaching public morals”. “The court of appeal accepted the appeal filed by Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham against their imprisonment … on charges of incitement to debauchery and attacking society’s values,” a court official said on Tuesday, asking not to be named. Hossam, 20, was acquitted after being jailed for encouraging women among her 1.3 million subscribers to broadcast videos in exchange for money, while al-Adham’s two-year sentence for publishing indecent photos and videos was cancelled. Hossam’s lawyer Hussein El Bakar told Thomson Reuters Foundation that her client, a studen...
Taraba: Striking resident doctors demand beyond hazard allowance
iStock As resident doctors strike in Taraba state enters week three, the state government, Tuesday said the demands of the aggrieved doctors were beyond the payment of COVID-19 hazard and inducement allowance. The state commissioner for health, Dr Innocent Vakkai speaking at a press parley, also disclosed that a committee has been constituted to compile the total cost of the COVID-19 hazard allowances due for health workers. He listed the demands of the striking doctors to include, “increase in doctors wages, training, and retraining of doctors on residency programs, improved working conditions and for the state to commence training of horsemanship officers. On the payment of the COVID-19 hazard allowance to health workers, Vakkai said the compilation of the total cost has reached the last...
Ugandan presidential candidate Bobi Wine says military raided his home
Ugandan opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine said soldiers raided his home on Tuesday and arrested his security guards, two days before an election. “The army has this morning raided my home, arrested all my security guards and anyone they could see around my premises,” Wine, who is the opposition frontrunner, said on Twitter. “No reason for the arrest was given,” he said. Spokesmen for the military and the police did not respond to phone calls seeking comment. Ugandans vote on Thursday in elections pitting long-time leader Yoweri Museveni against 10 candidates including Wine, a singer-turned-lawmaker whose star power has rattled the ruling party. Wine also said in a separate post on Twitter that soldiers raided the home of one of his aides overnight and took the man to an unknown d...
Coronavirus: Concern grows over potential superspreader event during US Capitol riot
Concerns are mounting about the health of lawmakers and other people in the Capitol last week, after the first member to test positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) since Wednesday’s chaos, said she believed she was exposed in a crowded hiding place with hundreds of other legislators. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., tested positive on Monday while experiencing mild symptoms, and said in a statement that she believes she caught the virus from her fellow lawmakers while hunkering down as Capitol Police struggled for hours to contain a Trump-inspired mob attack on the Capitol. Lawmakers were trapped in a room near the Capitol with hundreds of others, in some cases for hours, where at least one person who later tested positive for the coronavirus was present. The Office of the Attending P...
Telegraph: Britain to tighten laws on imports linked to alleged Chinese human rights abuses
Britain will tighten the law on importing goods linked to alleged human rights abuses in China as ministers take a tougher stance on Beijing, The Telegraph reported on Monday. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will make a statement on Tuesday in the House of Commons on the government’s response to allegations of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province, home to about 12 million Uighur Muslims, the report bit.ly/2LKt2Fe added. Among the measures expected to be unveiled by the government include expansion of the Modern Slavery Act, reacting to concerns that items manufactured under duress by the Uighur Muslim minority may be entering the UK, the Telegraph reported. Britain said last year there was credible, growing and troubling evidence of forced labour among Uighur Muslims. China has come u...
Ex-Benue MILAD Isa Kontagora passes on at 65
A former military administrator of Benue, Retired Col. Aminu Isa Kontagora, has passed on. Gov. Samuel Ortom, while announcing his death on Monday in Makurdi, said the retired colonel died on Sunday, Jan. 10, at the age of 65. Ortom declared Tuesday, Jan. 12 as work-free day in the state to enable the people mourn the former military administrator. He further directed that all flags be flown at half mast in honour of the deceased. Ortom in his tribute, described the death of Kontagora as a great loss to Nigeria and Benue in particular, adding that his footprints in the state remained indelible. The governor described Benue as second home of the deceased, having remained in touch with the state during happy and trying moments. He sympathised with the government and people of Niger over the ...
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho expects Aston Villa match to go ahead
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho expects their Premier League fixture against Aston Villa to be played. The match is understood to be in doubt after an outbreak of coronavirus at the Midlands club. Villa played their FA Cup game with Liverpool on Friday night with a youth team, losing 4-1. It is understood that Spurs are yet to hear anything from the Premier League regarding the fixture, so Mourinho will begin preparations on Monday. He may have been making more of a point about the lack of information from the league, but asked after Sunday’s 5-0 win at Marine when he expects his side to next play, Mourinho said: “Wednesday.” Asked again whether he thinks the Villa game will go ahead, he replied: “Yeah. Nobody told me that I’m not going to play so (on Monday morning) we start to prepare for t...
Republican senator: Donald Trump must ‘go away as soon as possible’
A second Republican senator in the United States has called on Donald Trump to step down after some of the president’s supporters overran the Capitol building in Washington, DC this week in a deadly riot. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press news programme on Sunday, Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey said Trump should resign for the good of the country. “I think the best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible,” he said. Toomey said president’s resignation is the “best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rear-view mirror for us”, but added that he did not believe Trump would step down before his term ends on January 20. He also said the president’s role encouraging the riot was an “impeachable offence”. Momentum has been buildi...
National carriers announce resumption of Qatar-Saudi air travel
The national carriers of Qatar and Saudi Arabia have announced the resumption of air travel between the two countries starting next week, just days after a deal was reached to end a years-long regional diplomatic dispute. A Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit on Tuesday declared an end to the bitter rift in which members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain – along with Egypt – blockaded Qatar since June 2017. The group severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism, an accusation Doha vehemently denied. Kuwait and the United States had been mediating for reconciliation. On the eve of the 41st GCC summit held in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom agreed to reopen its air, sea and land borders with Qatar – a major breakthrough in the Gulf crisi...
Atiku Abubakar receives coronavirus vaccine
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has received Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Thursday. Confirming the news, Publisher of Ovation magazine, Chief Dele Momodu, displayed Atiku’s picture when he was administered the vaccine by a medical practitioner. Though Dele did not mention the place Atiku took the vaccine but information reaching newsmen said it was in Dubai. In one paragraph sentence, Dele wrote: “Former Vice President The Wazirin Adamawa ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR receives Pfizer Covid-19 jab vaccination…” Former Vice President The Wazirin Adamawa ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR receives Pfizer Covid-19 jab vaccination… pic.twitter.com/286BCmBqHD — Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) January 7, 2021 Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has recorded 1,664 new COVID-19 ca...
Woman shot dead in US Capitol was a veteran and Trump supporter
The woman who died Wednesday of a bullet wound during the violent storming of the US Capitol was shot by police, authorities said. The only fatality tied to Wednesday’s unrest was the woman, reportedly a dedicated Donald Trump backer and air force veteran who was among a throng of supporters of the president that invaded the US legislature. Washington police chief Robert Contee said three other people, one woman and two men, had died Wednesday in the area around the Capitol, but did not link those deaths to the violence. Each of the three “appeared to have suffered medical emergencies which resulted in their deaths,” Contee told reporters. Contee said 52 people had been arrested Wednesday, 26 of them on the grounds of the Capitol, for curfew violations, unlawful entry and weapons charges. ...
