Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday issued a directive on the coronavirus, that included setting up a 21-member task force and the completion of an isolation centre at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi within seven days. “Kenya is a major international transport hub, with 70 per cent of international passengers in transit, and there is a significant threat arising from the spread of the coronavirus to Kenya from countries that have new and ongoing outbreaks of the pneumatic disease,” the Head of State said in his Executive Order Number 2 of 2020. The President also ordered for the identification and preparation…
Author: Peters Okwudili
The Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, has visited the Italian corona virus patient at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba, where he is being isolated and treated. The Commissioner said he spoke with the man and assured him that he would be taken care of. While there, he took time to inspect the ongoing renovation of the isolation wards. The renovation should be completed in a couple of days. The World Health Organization on Friday said the coronavirus outbreak is “getting bigger”, after Nigeria confirmed sub-Saharan Africa’s first case.
Nigerians took to social media to celebrate the first goal scored by Odion Ighalo for Manchester United since he joined the English club in January. Ighalo, who made his first start for United because of an injury to regular forward, Anthony Martial, scored in the 34th minute, tapping in a pass from Juan Mata. United went on to win the match against Belgian side Club Brugges with five unanswered goals and qualify for the next round of the UEFA Europa League. The result, however, spelled the end of the journey for South Africa’s Percy Tau, whose side lost 6-1 over the two…
Egypt will on Wednesday bury its former president Hosni Mubarak, who died at the age of 91, in a military funeral in Cairo. Mubarak ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was forced out of office by protests in 2011. He spent many of the subsequent years in jail and military hospitals before being freed in 2017. He died on Tuesday in intensive care weeks after undergoing surgery. Egypt’s presidency and armed forces mourned the former air force officer as a hero for his role in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The presidency declared three days of national mourning. Egypt’s top…
Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assaults, including rape, capping a stunning downfall for the former Hollywood mogul and a victory for the #MeToo movement. Weinstein, 67, was convicted in New York City of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act. He was cleared of the most serious count of predatory sexual assault but faces up to 25 years in prison. He still faces charges in Los Angeles of assaulting two women in 2013. At least 80 women had accused him of sexual misconduct stretching back decades, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Uma Thurman, and Salma Hayek. The allegations…
Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa filed a lawsuit against the operators of the helicopter that crashed on January 26, killing the NBA icon and eight others. The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on the same day that Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and the other seven crash victims were memorialized in a public ceremony at the Staples Center. The lawsuit names Island Express Helicopters, Island Express Holding Corp. and the estate of the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan, who was among the victims. Gianna Bryant’s basketball teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Altobelli’s parents John and Keri, Payton’s mother…
An elderly cancer patient became the third person known to be infected with the coronavirus to die in Italy, health officials said on Sunday, as the number of people contracting the virus continued to mount. The woman had been in hospital in Crema, located in Lombardy, where most cases of infections have been reported. “She had been hospitalized for a few days,” Giulio Gallera, Lombardy’s health chief, said during a news conference. “She’d been tested and they already knew she had the coronavirus.” The head of Italy’s civil protection department, Angelo Borrelli, said 152 people had now tested positive for…
Tyson Fury made short work of the reigning WBC Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in their highly anticipated rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday. Fury was absolutely commanding in the rematch and landed punch after punch on the reigning champion. Fury was so dominant that Wilder’s corner had to throw in the towel to save their fighter from further damage. Deontay (41 KOs in 44 fights) is known as the knockout king in the heavyweight division but it was Fury who knocked down Wilder numerous times due to his superior movement and precision. “I must say the…
A 78-year old Italian who had tested positive for the coronavirus has died, Italy’s health minister said Friday. The man had been in hospital in the northern region of Veneto for around 10 days for an unrelated illness, minister Roberto Speranza said. Italian officials ordered schools, public buildings, restaurants and coffee shops closed in a tiny town in northern Italy Friday after six people tested positive for the new virus, including some who had not been to China or the source of the global health emergency. The new cases represented the first infections in Italy acquired through secondary contagion and…
The Prime Minister of Lesotho Thomas Thabane in a televised speech on Thursday resigned, stating that the decision has been the hardest he’s made in his career. “Today I wish to reiterate my announcement to retire from office. I might still have the necessary zeal and fervor to continue serving my people and country, but the truth is that at my age I have lost most of my energy. I’m not as energetic as I use to be a few years ago”, he said. “My fellow countrymen and women it is very unfortunate that some have deliberately decided to distort my…
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday qualified for this week’s Democratic presidential debate in Nevada, putting him on the same stage as his rivals for the first tie in the race for the party’s nomination. The debate on Wednesday will be the ninth in the contest for who will challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November 3 election. A late entry to the race, Bloomberg, 78, has risen in public opinion polls as he pours money from his estimated $60 billion personal fortune into a national campaign, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on television ads. When…
A French soldier has died while on operations in Burkina Faso, the French Armed Forces Ministry said in a statement on Monday. The ministry said the causes of the death of Sergeant Morgan Henry were unknown for now and an investigation was underway into the circumstances behind his death. Former colonial power France intervened in the Sahel region, south of the Sahara, back in 2013 to drive back militants who had seized northern Mali the previous year. Fighters have since regrouped and over the past year, militants have stepped up attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Reuters
An armed gang on motorbikes killed at least 30 people in attacks on two villages in the northwestern Nigerian state of Katsina, police said on Saturday. Twenty-one people were burnt to death and nine villagers were shot dead on Friday evening in the villages if Dankar and Tsauwa as the assailants made off with food and livestock, the police said. Hundreds of people have been killed in the northwest of Nigeria since last year, in attacks the government attributes to bandits – a loose term for gangs of outlaws carrying out robberies and kidnappings. Police commissioner Sanusi Buba confirmed the…
Nigeria’s military burned down villages and forcibly displaced hundreds of people in its fight against Islamist insurgents in the country’s northeast, rights group Amnesty International alleged on Friday. Nigeria’s military, which has frequently been accused of human rights abuses in its decade-long fight against Boko Haram and more recently Islamic State’s West African branch, said in a statement that Amnesty’s report had been falsified. Three residents interviewed by Reuters confirmed Amnesty’s findings. Previous allegations have sparked investigations by the International Criminal Court in the Hague and hampered Nigeria’s ability to purchase arms, a source of frustration for its military’s leaders.…
At least 21 people were dead or missing on Friday after an attack on a village that was the scene last year of Mali’s worst civilian massacre in recent memory, the government said. A government statement did not say who carried out the attack on Friday morning on Ogossagou, a village of Fulani herders in central Mali. Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass, said at least 20 people had been killed. In the attack on Ogossagou last March, suspected militiamen from a rival group killed more than 150 civilians, part of spiraling ethnic and jihadi violence in…
The Government of Tanzania Ministry of Finance has signed a facility agreement with Standard Chartered (SC.com) Tanzania for a US$ 1.46 billion term loan financing to fund the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora. Running approximately 550 kilometers long, the SGR project is one of the country’s biggest projects connecting Dodoma to Dar es Salaam via Morogoro and Makutupora. Once complete, the SGR Rail project will provide a safe and reliable means for efficiently transporting people and cargo to and from the existing Dar es Salaam Port. According to the Tanzania Railways…
The International Energy Agency on Thursday reported that oil demand is set to fall this quarter for the first time since the financial crisis in 2009 due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. “Global oil demand has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the widespread shutdown of China’s economy,” the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly report. “Demand is now expected to fall by 435,000 barrels year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, the first quarterly contraction in more than 10 years” when it dropped during the global economic crisis, it added. In the second quarter,…
The First Lady Aisha Buhari, has met with her predecessor, Mrs Patience Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja and shared experiences on issues relating to women’s development in the country. Mrs Buhari disclosed this on Tuesday on her tweeter handle. The first lady said, their discussion centred on issues affecting the growth and development of women in the country, especially girl-child education, women’s participation in politics at the local level. “Yesterday, I received my predecessor, Her Excellency Dame Patience Jonathan at the State House. “We discussed my efforts with regards to the greater involvement of women in politics and the…
A suicide bomber killed six people near a military academy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. The bombing took place near the government-run defence university, the Marshal Fahim Military Academy, at the beginning of the morning rush hour. Along with the six, two civilians and four military personnel – killed, 12 other people, including five civilians, were wounded in the attack, said Nasrat Rahimi, the Ministry of Interior spokesman. The Taliban has however denied any involvement in the attack. “It wasn’t our work,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a text message to Reuters. The academy,…
Google (GOOGL.O) has canceled plans to buy a 12.5% stake in Africa’s largest wind farm after delays to the project, Danish wind turbine maker Vestas (VWS.CO) said on Monday. The 310 megawatts (MW) Lake Turkana wind farm in Kenya was initially set for completion 2017, after which Google had committed to buy the stake from Vestas. But the delay led to Google canceling in 2019, Vestas said. “Due to delays relating primarily to the transmission line, the Vestas agreement with Google was canceled in 2019,” a Vestas spokesman told Reuters, adding that it was in talks with other potential…
At least 10 people have been killed and many others injured in a mass shooting carried out by a Thai soldier who remains at large in the north-eastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima. According to a police report, The attack began late in the afternoon at an army barracks. The soldier, who livestreamed the shooting on social media, opened fire at different locations in the city, more than 155 miles (250km) from Bangkok. Three people were killed — among them at least one soldier — when Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma opened fire. “He stole an army vehicle and drove into the town centre,”…
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that the separation of powers between the Federal Government and the states notwithstanding, he has enough grounds in the constitution to ensure that the security of Nigerians is not compromised. The President said this Friday while receiving the Governor and newly-elected legislators on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from Kano State. In his remarks on the dispute between the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Muhammadu Sanusi II and the Governor of the state, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the President said: “I know my role as the President of Nigeria. By the…
President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday received an important briefing by the new Economic Advisory Council (EAC), giving firm commitment that his administration will be bound by their advice on economy-related matters. At a meeting with the Professor Doyin Salami-led eight-member council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Buhari gave the first directive from their recommendations that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, address immediately the observed lapses in coordination between ministries and all agencies of government. In his remarks after listening to the report of macroeconomic importance and their views and recommendations, President Buhari said on the…
President Donald Trump won impeachment acquittal Wednesday in the US Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country, tested civic norms and fed the tumultuous 2020 race for the White House. A majority of senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment. But the final tallies — 52-48 favouring acquittal of abuse of power, 53-47 of obstruction of Congress’ investigation — fell far short. Two-thirds “guilty” votes would have been needed to reach the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and…
The lavish ring, which has a pizza slice on top of it made out of ‘cheese’ and ‘pepperoni’ rubies, was designed by Domino’s and is expected to be placed on one woman’s finger come Valentine’s Day. The expensive slice has a total diamond weight of more than one carat, which is likely well out of the price range for most suitors looking to pop the question. ‘How many great love stories have started over a slice? How many awkward dates have been saved by the arrival of the pizza delivery?’ Domino’s Chief Marketing Officer Allan Collins said. ‘Pizza is made to…
Lesotho’s first lady was released on bail on Wednesday after she was detained overnight and charged with murder over the killing of her husband’s estranged wife. Maesaiah Thabane, 42, had been placed in custody after turning herself in on Tuesday, ending a weeks-long disappearance. She was charged after police quizzed her on the brutal murder of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s wife two days before his inauguration in June 2017. The couple had been embroiled in bitter divorce proceedings when Lipolelo Thabane was gunned down in front of her home in the capital Maseru. Thomas Thabane agreed to step down last…
A baby in China’s epidemic-hit Wuhan city has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus just 30 hours after being born, Chinese state media reported Wednesday. The infant is the youngest person recorded as being infected by the virus, which has killed nearly 500 people since emerging late last year. CCTV quoted experts as saying it may be a case of “vertical transmission”, referring to infections passed from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or immediately after. The mother had tested positive for the virus before she gave birth. The official Xinhua news agency reported Monday that a baby born last…
The announcement of the Visa on Arrival policy last December by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aswan Forum, in Egypt, was greeted with loads of condemnation from some quarters, largely due to misconception, and, perhaps, mischief. Chief among the allegations was that it was a ploy to import more killers into the country under official cover and that foreigners would come to make available job opportunities meant for Nigerians. With the official launch of the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) 2020 by President Buhari on Tuesday, here are some salient points to note: -A greater part of 2019 was devoted to…
The Lagos State Government has directed the management of Lagos Bus Services Limited (LBSL) to deploy a fleet of 65 buses to join some major routes as from Monday to ease commuters’ pain. The Public Affairs Officer of the LBSL, Mr. Afolabi Olawale, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos. Olawale said that the step was part of the ways of providing succor and ameliorating the hardship that the commuting public might be facing as a result of the restriction order on the operators of motorcycles and tricycles in some parts of the State. He stated that the…
At least 259 people have died and nearly are 11800 infected with the novel coronavirus, health officials said on Saturday, adding the hardest-hit central Chinese province of Hubei reported 45 new fatalities until Friday midnight. The coronavirus numbers in Hubei continue to balloon, 1347 new cases were reported taking the total to 7153. Overall, 2012 new cases were reported from across China until Friday midnight. As many as 1795 are critical, officials said, adding that there were at least 17,988 suspected cases of the virulent virus. The official figures, however, pale in comparison to an estimate made by University of…
