World
UK: Some countries are using coronavirus vaccines as a geopolitical tool
British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday there was no doubt some countries were using vaccines as a diplomatic tool to secure influence but Britain did not support so-called vaccine diplomacy. Raab was speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Cornwall, southwestern England, that was likely to be dominated by the West’s attempts to reassert its influence as the world looks to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic. Western diplomats fear Russia and China are using their vaccines to gain influence across the world, especially in poorer countries that do not have their own production or the means to buy shots on the international market. Asked whether he was concerned that China and Russia could use vaccines in exchange for influence, Raab said: “There’s no doubt there’s...
Cocaine worth $8.2m found in Poland banana shipment
Polish police on Friday announced the seizing of 160 kilograms (350 pounds) of cocaine hidden inside several shipments of bananas delivered to a branch of the French retail chain, Carrefour. Carrefour Polska said its employees had found “suspicious packages in a fresh delivery of bananas” on Thursday in central Warsaw. “They immediately notified the police, who quickly secured the consignment and launched an investigation, which is currently ongoing. Our chain is fully cooperating with investigators,” Carrefour Polska was quoted as saying by Poland’s PAP news agency. A police video published on Twitter showed green-coloured packages containing the cocaine hidden in cardboard boxes of bananas. Police, who valued the seizure at more than 6.7 million euros ($8.2 million), did not say where th...
ITF chief: President Buhari providing quality leadership skills
Industrial Training Fund The Director General of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari, said President Muhammadu Buhari has provided quality leadership through Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo and his counterpart, Amb. Mariam Yalwaji Katagum which has unleashed innovations and creativity of various agencies under their control. Ari in a press statement signed by Director, Public Affairs Department, Suleyol Fred Chagu, in Jos on Friday after the formal presentation of the ITF Mobile Android GSM smart phone to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, credited the achievement to the inspirational leadership and support to the Ministers. He said the ITF mobile phone, which was comparable in quality to any other brand of Android...
Minister: Why Twitter, other platforms must register to operate in Nigeria
The Federal Government says its directive that Over the Top (OTT) and social media platforms operating in the country must register and obtain license to operate is in conformity with global trend. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this on Friday when he featured on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme “Good Morning Nigeria’’ monitored by newsmen. NAN reports that the Federal Government recently suspended operations of Twitter and directed that all OTT and social media platforms operating in the country must register with Corporate Affairs Commission. The Federal Government said they must also apply for licensing with the National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC). NAN reports that OTT media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via t...
Rapid spread of Delta variant throws England’s re-opening into doubt
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hopes of ending England’s coronavirus lockdown on June 21 hung in the balance on Friday as data showed a further rise in cases of the rapidly spreading Delta variant. Johnson is due to announce on Monday whether the planned lifting of restrictions, which would see an end to limits on social contact, can go ahead on time. But the rapid spread of the Delta variant, officially a “variant of concern”, has thrown those plans into jeopardy, prompting speculation that the June 21 date will be pushed back, or that some restrictions will remain. “We have to be really careful. We had a very big opening on the 17th of May where people could meet friends indoors, in a restaurant, in a pub, and socialise indoors as well,” COVID-19 vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi t...
US to give 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries
The US is to distribute half a billion shots of the Pfizer vaccine to nearly 100 poorer countries. Some 200 million doses will be given out this year and 300 million in 2022. It comes as US President Joe Biden said before leaving for the G7 summit in Cornwall that he would be announcing a vaccine strategy for the world. The US would pay for the doses at a “not-for-profit” price, according to the New York Times, which said the plan could be officially announced on Thursday. The shots will go to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, sources told the Reuters news agency. Pfizer and the White House have so far not officially commented. America is well advanced in its vaccine rollout but campaigners have called for richer countries to do more to help protect developing nations. It’s ...
Israel lawmakers to vote Sunday on anti-Netanyahu government
After weeks of political wrangling, the Israeli parliament is set to vote Sunday on whether to install a “change” coalition and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12 consecutive years in power. Announcing the date for the confidence vote, speaker Yariv Levin, a Netanyahu ally, said on Tuesday “a special session of parliament” would debate and vote on the fragile eight-party alliance, after the country’s fourth inconclusive election in two years back in March. Later in the day, the prime minister’s office announced that a march by Jewish nationalists through Jerusalem would go ahead in a week’s time, potentially de-escalating tensions with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which went to war with the Jewish state for 11 days last month. Israeli right-wing groups had the day b...
Iran says nuclear talks policy won’t change after presidential vote
Iran’s policy in talks with world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear accord will remain unchanged after a June 18 presidential election because the issue is decided by its highest leadership, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. A host of barriers to the revival of the nuclear deal remain firmly in place ahead of talks due to resume this week, suggesting a return to compliance with the accord is still a way off, diplomats, Iranian officials and analysts said. “We have shown that we adhere to our international obligations under all circumstances, and this was a national decision,” cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei told a weekly news conference. Rabiei said Iran’s nuclear policy, set by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is not linked to internal developments and that the new government wou...
Nigeria orders broadcasters not to use Twitter to gather information
Nigerian television and radio stations should not use Twitter to gather information and have to de-activate their accounts, the broadcast authority said following the move to suspend the US social media giant in Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria’s government on Friday said it had suspended Twitter’s activities, two days after the platform removed a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish secessionists. Nigerian telecoms firms have since blocked access to Twitter. International diplomats responded with a joint statement in support of “free expression and access to information as a pillar of democracy in Nigeria”. Buhari, who was Nigeria’s military ruler in the 1980s, has previously been accused of cracking down on freedom of expression, though his government has ...
Palestinian teen bears scar of eviction battle in East Jerusalem
Jana Kiswani, a 16-year-old Palestinian, was entering her home in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah when an Israeli police officer shot her in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet, her family said. Her spine fractured, the teen bears testimony to the tensions and violence surrounding an Israeli court-ordered eviction of eight Palestinian families from homes claimed by Jewish settlers. Last month, the Sheikh Jarrah dispute helped to trigger 11 days of intense fighting between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group, and frequent protests and confrontations with Israeli police in the neighbourhood have kept tensions high. Clashes were under way in Sheikh Jarrah on May 18 when Kiswani was shot. She said she was obeying police orders to go inside when the police officer f...
UN: 64% of married Nigerian women lack sexual, reproductive rights
The United Nations Fund for Population Affairs (UNFPA) has said that an estimated 64 per cent of married women in Nigeria are unable to enforce their sexual and reproductive health rights. It said that only about 46 per cent of married women in Nigeria between the age of 15 and 49 years are in a position to make personal decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health rights. UNFPA said that whereas 56 per cent of the married women have decisions about their healthcare made mainly by their husbands, 33 per cent make such decisions jointly with their husbands. The world body, which issued a report on the state of bodily autonomy for women across the world, said only 56 per cent of married women in Nigeria can say no to their husbands if they do not want to have sexual intercourse. ...
German foreign minister: EU veto ‘hostage’-taking on foreign policy must end
Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday the European Union should abolish the right of individual member states to veto foreign policy measures as the 27-nation bloc could not allow itself to be “held hostage”. His comments, which came days after a more junior official criticised Hungary by name, reflect growing frustration in Berlin at the way in which EU member countries can prevent the bloc from acting in matters on which almost all members agree. “We can’t let ourselves be held hostage by the people who hobble European foreign policy with their vetoes,” Heiko Maas told a conference of Germany’s ambassadors in Berlin. “If you do that then sooner or later you are risking the cohesion of Europe. The veto has to go, even if that means we can be outvoted.” His remarks amount to a highly u...