The World Health Organisation (WHO), said on Thursday, for the first time, that it spent nearly 1.4 billion dollars annually on efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). WHO made the announcement as part of activities organised to commemorate the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, the practice of altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons. The costs of FGM, associated with gynaecological, obstetric, urological, mental and sexual, and the immediate health complications, can make up to 30 per cent of the health budget in some countries. WHO described FGM as a violation of human…
Author: Doris Emmanuel
Following the expected exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the stage is set for a new trade regime between the UK and its old partners as well as an alignment with new trading partners. President Muhammadu Buhari, understanding the inevitability of the situation, had stated earlier of the opportunities presented by Nigeria and indeed other nations of the Commonwealth in the emerging trade scenario occasioned by the Brexit. It is therefore heart-warming that Prime Minister Boris Johnson also believes that indeed, a new dawn awaits the United Kingdom in its trade relationship with countries within the Commonwealth,…
Kenya’s former president Daniel Arap Moi has died aged 95, according to a statement from the current head of state Uhuru Kenyatta, announced on the state broadcaster on Tuesday morning. “It is with profound sadness and sorrow that I announce the passing of a Great African Statesman, H.E. Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, the Second President of the Republic of Kenya,” the announcement said. “His Excellency the Former President passed on at the Nairobi Hospital on the early morning of this 4th February 2020, in the presence of his family,” it said. Daniel Arap Moi, a former schoolteacher who became Kenya’s…
China’s death toll from a new coronavirus jumped above 360 on Monday to surpass the number of fatalities of its SARS crisis two decades ago, with dozens of people dying in the epicenter’s quarantined ground-zero. The 57 confirmed new deaths was the single-biggest increase since the virus was detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan, where it is believed to have jumped from animals at a market into humans. The virus has since spread to more than 24 countries, despite many governments imposing unprecedented travel bans on people coming from China. The World Health Organization has declared…
The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday. Abbas was in Cairo to address the Arab League, which backed the Palestinians in their opposition to Trump’s plan. The blueprint, endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state that excludes Jewish settlements built in occupied territory and is under near-total Israeli security control. “We’ve informed the Israeli side … that there will be…
At least 20 people were killed and more than a dozen hurt in a stampede as worshippers rushed to be anointed during a church service in northern Tanzania, officials said on Sunday. Thousands of people crammed into a sports stadium for the service on Saturday evening in the town of Moshi near Mount Kilimanjaro, with many getting crushed after the pastor called them to be anointed with “blessed oil.” The pastor was arrested later for his role in the incident as he sought to leave the country, officials said. “Twenty people died and 16 others were injured in the incident,”…
After 47 years of sitting at the European Union’s top table, the UK on Friday exited the 28-member group to beat an independent path into a future some see as a new dawn and others a leap into the unknown. It is the first time a member-state has left the group whose origins lie in efforts in the aftermath of the Second World War to counter impulses of extreme nationalism. The moment of exit – 11 pm GMT – was described as a ‘bittersweet’ one by many, including Ireland PM Leo Varadkar. There was sadness in various quarters in the…
