Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday tasked officials with launching mass coronavirus vaccinations from next week.
After being the first country to register a vaccine for use, Russia is looking to leap ahead of other countries in the race to inoculate its population of 146 million.
Russia in August registered Sputnik V — named after the Soviet-era satellite — months ahead of Western competitors but before the start of large-scale clinical trials, which left some experts wary.
“I ask you to begin the mass vaccination of the entire population next week,” Putin told officials at a televised government meeting.
“The Russian vaccine is the best in the world,” he said.
Putin said Russia should “get relevant infrastructure ready” to boost production of the vaccine, which Moscow is promoting to other countries as cheaper and easier to transport than others jabs.
New York City will terminate business contracts with President Donald Trump after last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday.
The Trump Organization is under city contract to operate the two ice rinks and a carousel in Central Park as well as a golf course in the Bronx.The Trump Organization profits about $17 million a year from those sites, de Blasio said.
“I’m here to announce that the city of New York is severing all contracts with the Trump Organization,” de Blasio said. An email seeking comment was sent Wednesday to the Trump Organization.It is the latest example of how the Jan. 6 breach by violent Trump supporters is impacting the Republican president’s business interests.
The PGA of America voted Sunday to take the PGA Championship away from his New Jersey golf course next year, a move that came after social media platforms disabled Trump’s accounts and Shopify took down online stores affiliated with him.
Justin Timberlake and Demi Lovato are among the superstars who will perform on Jan. 20 at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Joe Biden is getting ready to dance, dance, dance at his upcoming presidential inauguration.
Justin Timberlake, Demi Lovato, Jon Bon Jovi and R&B singer Ant Clemons will perform as part of the inauguration festivities for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
The music superstars will participate in “Celebrating America,” a live 90-minute prime-time special hosted by Tom Hanks that will air at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. The event, which will include more performers yet to be announced, will cap off a day of celebration that will see Biden sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
Justin Timberlake/ Demi Lovato
This special will feature remarks from both Biden and Harris, in addition to spotlighting American heroes who stepped up during the ongoing pandemic. It will follow the other events of this historic day, including the official Inaugural Ceremonies, a wreath-laying on Arlington National Cemetery and a “Parade Across America.” The program will air live on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and MSNBC, along with streaming live on the PIC’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch channels. Additionally, it will be carried live on Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Bing, NewsNOW from Fox, and AT&T DirecTV and U-verse.
“This inauguration presents a unique opportunity to spotlight the resilience and spirit of an America united,” PIC CEO Tony Allen said in a statement. “We have witnessed countless heroes this past year step up to the frontlines and serve their fellow Americans, so we are telling their stories, spreading their collective light and celebrating the best of our country and its people with this prime-time program. Our first priority is safety—so while many of us will be watching safely from our homes, we are creating real moments of connection that highlight a new inclusive American era of leadership that works for and represents all Americans.”
Inaugural events are certainly known for landing top-level talent. Barack Obama’s second inauguration set a high bar in 2013, counting Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor among that year’s performers.
Eddie Lee Howard was wrongfully sentenced to death in 1994. Now, after decades of fighting, he has been exonerated.
Howard, who is Black, was sentenced to death in 1994, after being wrongfully convicted for the murder and rape of 84-year-old Georgia Kemp, who is White, in Columbus, Mississippi, according to the Innocence Project, which represented Howard.
Howard was initially tied to the crime by a doctor who compared bite marks on Kemp’s body to Howard’s teeth. But in August, the Mississippi Supreme Court recognized that bite-mark comparisons were not enough to tie him to the murder, and stated that “an individual perpetrator cannot be reliably identified through bite-mark comparison.”
“After reviewing the record, we conclude that Howard’s evidence as to the change in the scientific understanding of the reliability of identification through bite-mark comparisons was almost uncontested. Based on this record, we agree with Howard that a forensic dentist would not be permitted to identify Howard as the biter today as Dr. West did at Howard’s trial in 2000,” the court wrote in August.
As a result, the case was reversed, rendered and remanded. Howard was released from Mississippi’s death row in December, and he was exonerated on Friday, the Innocence Project said.
“I want to say many thanks to the many people who are responsible for helping to make my dream of freedom a reality,” Howard said in a statement. “I thank you with all my heart, because without your hard work on my behalf, I would still be confined in that terrible place called the Mississippi Department of Corrections, on death row, waiting to be executed.”
The United States has some of the highest incarceration rates in the world. By the end of 2019, more than 1.4 million people were incarcerated in the nation, according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Black Americans are disproportionately affected, and in Mississippi more than half of the prison population is Black, according to a report by the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit criminal justice research organization.
Indonesia has rolled out a mass free Covid-19 vaccination programme in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus and get its economy going again.
But the country is taking a markedly different approach to others. Instead of vaccinating elderly people in the first phase, after frontline workers, it will target younger working people aged 18 to 59.
President Joko Widodo, 59, was the first person in the country to receive the vaccine shot on Wednesday. Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin, 77, will not get the jab early as he is too old.
Professor Amin Soebandrio, who is on a board that has advised the government on its “youth first” strategy, argues that it makes sense to prioritise immunising working people – those “who go out of the house and all over the place and then at night come back home to their families”.
“We are targeting those that are likely to spread the virus,” he told BBC Indonesia.
He argues this approach will give the country the best chance of achieving herd immunity, something that occurs when a large portion of a community becomes immune through vaccinations or the mass spread of a disease.
image captionPresident Joko Widodo got the first shot of the vaccine
It was thought that 60-70% of the global population must be immune to stop the coronavirus spreading easily. However, those figures will rise considerably if the new, more transmissible, variants spread widely.
“That’s the long-term objective – or we at least reduce significantly the spread of the virus so that the pandemic is under control and we can get the economy going again,” said Prof Soebandrio.
Indonesia, with its population of 270 million, has the highest cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia. According to government data, about 80% of cases are among the working population.
While schools and government offices have been closed for almost a year, the government has resisted putting in place strict lockdowns, fearing the impact on the country’s economy. More than half of the population works in the informal sector, so for many working from home isn’t an option.
The country’s new health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, defended the strategy and insists it is not just about the economy but about “protecting people and targeting first those who are likely to get it and spread it”.
“We are focusing on people who have to meet lots of people as part of their work; motorbike taxi, police, military. So, I don’t want people to think this is about just the economy. This is about protecting people,” he said.
The government also argues it will offer some protection to the elderly.
“Immunising the working members of a household will mean they are not bringing the virus into the home, where their older relatives are,” said Dr Siti Nadia Tarmizi, the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson for the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Most elderly people in Indonesia live in intergenerational households, and isolating them from the rest of the family is often impossible.
“So, it’s one additional benefit from this approach, that by vaccinating people 18-59 years old we are also offering some protection to the elderly they live with,” she said.
image captionIndonesia has recorded more than 600,000 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began
But this relies on the vaccine preventing people from carrying the virus and passing it on.
“We simply don’t have that information yet,” said Professor Robert Read, a member of the vaccination and immunisation committee (JCVI) that advises the UK health departments on immunisation.
“The reason the UK hasn’t gone for the younger population, of course, is that A, they don’t get such a severe disease and B, we haven’t been able to demonstrate yet that the vaccines have any impact at all on transmission,” he said.
The Indonesia approach, he said, would need a very high vaccine uptake – “at least 50% in all likelihood, to stop death and hospitalisation in their older population”.
“It’s possible that if they get very high coverage rates then there will be some impact on transmission, although we haven’t seen it obviously yet.”
Bulldozers returned to Dakibiu, a suburb of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Tuesday, about four months after authorities demolished some popular brothels within the area that were tagged illegal structures.
The chairman Federal Capital Territory (FCT), taskforce on COVID-19, Attah Ikharo, said the brothels operators attracted the wrath of the authorities by their violation of the COVID-19 safety protocols inside the structures, which are illegal, in the first place.
“We have repeatedly asked them to stop operations but they refused. If you come here at night, you will (see) about 5, 000 people in a place that should have contained 500 people even in pre-COVID-19 era,” the official said.
He said their operations are endangering lives and aiding the spread of the disease amid the second wave of the pandemic.
It was reportedhow in late last September the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA) arrived in Dakibiu with bulldozers and demolished several structures mostly brothels, a booming market in the area.
Dakibiu is a suburb within the Jabi area of Abuja, known as a discreet haven for fun-seekers. Back in 2016, investigation revealed how several brothels in the area were attracting many visitors seeking fun.
The three most popular brothels in the area are Chris garden, Gidan drama and Gidan Karuwe. The latter two are run by Hausa socialites. They were all levelled in late September.
But within a few weeks after the demolition in defiance to warnings by the FCT authorities, proprietors of the Gidan drama and Gidan Karuwe re-erected the destroyed structures and went back to business attracting Tuesday’s second demolition.
Gidan drama and Gidan Karuwe are located directly opposite the code of conduct tribunal in Jabi. As early 9 a.m., the area was already flooded with people, including shop owners who were trying to cart away their properties as the bulldozers moved straight into the brothels.
The police, officials of the FCDA, and scores of journalists all thronged the area, which is usually serene in the morning.
Owners of the brothels were still packing their belongings when the exercise started. Within 15 minutes, the structures were demolished.
Some of the sex workers watched in agony as their former abode was pulled down.
“This place is what they call Gida Ndrama and Gida Ndebiu, a wrestling and a drama zone that has thousands of persons visiting everyday, even with the second wave of COVID-19”, Mr Ikharo explained.
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Tuesday was informed that he and other top former state officials including the Michigan health director will face charges resulting from an investigation into the Flint water crisis, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Defense attorneys were informed by the state attorney general’s office to expect an initial court appearance soon, the AP reported, citing two people familiar with the prosecution. The two sources familiar with the matter spoke to the wire service on the condition on anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the charges.
The specific charges Snyder and his former top officials will face were not named.
A spokesperson for the state AG told the AP that state officials “will share more [information about the charges] as soon as we’re in a position to do so.” The Hill has reached out to both the Michigan attorney general’s office.
Rick Snyder
Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D), whose district includes parts of Detroit, tweeted her approval of the news Tuesday 8, writing: “The justice train is coming through.”
Snyder’s administration was heavily criticized over the water crisis, which exposed thousands of Flint residents including young children to water with dangerously high levels of lead. Lead is an element that can cause brain damage and other defects with high exposure.
The water supply issue was linked to an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease which sickened dozens in the area.
Scientists determined in February 2019 that the drinking water provided by the city’s taps was finally safe to drink, an outcome that resulted from years of efforts to replace and reinforce piping across the city.
However, due to the toil, much skepticism toward the water system reportedly remains among the city’s populace.
According to Bureau De Change operators figures, the naira exchanged to the dollar for 473/$ at the parallel market.
The naira suffered further setback at the parallel market and Investors and Exporters forex window on Tuesday.
According to Bureau De Change operators figures, the naira exchanged to the dollar for 473/$ at the parallel market.
It had earlier gained in recent times after it closed the year 2020 at 467/$.
At the I&E window, the naira fell by 0.17 per cent to close at 394/$ on Tuesday.
It reached a low of 401 at the I&E window at the close of 2020.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria maintained the official exchange rate at N379/$ on its website.
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria recently appealed to the CBN to make BDCs payout agents for diaspora remittances.
The President, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the apex bank should leverage the over 5,000 licensed BDCs to get dollars seamlessly to beneficiaries.
Gwadabe said this would help provide a more convenient channel for Nigerians in the diaspora to remit funds back to the country to boost economic development, Punch reports.
An Egyptian appeals court has overturned prison sentences for two well-known TikTok influencers, in a high-profile public morality case, state news outlet Ahram Online reported on Tuesday.
Haneen Hossam and Mawada Eladhm had been charged with “violating family values and principles and establishing and running online accounts to commit this crime.”
In July 2020, they were sentenced to two years in prison, and fined EGP 300,000 (around $19,000 USD) each.
They and three others involved in the case have now been acquitted, Ahram Online said.
Mawada Eladhm, who is in her early 20s, had 3.1 million followers on TikTok and 1.6 million followers on Instagram, and gained fame for posting lip syncing and dance videos.
“The charges are very vaguely worded,” her lawyer Ahmed Bahkiry told the BBC after the initial verdict was announced last year. “Prison cannot be a solution, even if some of her videos go against our social norms and traditions.”
Haneen Hossam, a university student in archaeology, had 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and was arrested a few days after she posted a video encouraging women to publish live videos and talk with strangers via short video sharing platform Likee.
She has denied the charges and said that her videos were been taken out of context.
Hossam’s lawyer Mahmmed Sammer told local media Youm7 that her mother fainted at news of the acquittal, while both Hossam and Eladhm shouted in joy.
Eladhm’s father, Fathy Rashad, told reporters after court that his daughter had been “devastated from oppression and sadness” and would need psychological treatment, Youm7 reported.
The other three defendants had been charged with helping one of the girls evade arrest, concealing evidence of the crime, and publishing materials to influence public opinion about the case. One was also charged with possessing illegal software to facilitate the social media activity.
President Trump on Tuesday said his remarks to supporters just before they stormed the U.S. Capitol last week were “totally appropriate,” even as they have become the basis for an article of impeachment against him.
“They’ve analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence, and everybody, to the T, thought it was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters as he departed Joint Base Andrews to visit the border with Mexico.
He also sought to redirect focus from the deadly rioting to comments from other politicians made last summer during protests against racial injustice, saying they were “a real problem,” though he did not elaborate.
Donald Trump
The president has yet to acknowledge his own role in the violence last Wednesday at the Capitol, where pro-Trump rioters clashed with law enforcement and broke into the building. The ensuing mayhem led to multiple deaths, including that of a Capitol Police officer.
Thousands of the president’s supporters descended on Washington, D.C., to protest the certification of the electoral results affirming Joe Biden as the next president after Trump spent weeks refusing to concede and insisting the election had been “stolen.”
Trump held a rally at the Ellipse just outside the White House, where he whipped up supporters with unproven claims and urged them to march on the Capitol.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” Trump told the crowd.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated.” he continued. “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
A short time later, rioters overwhelmed law enforcement and breached the Capitol complex. The vice president, lawmakers, staff and journalists were evacuated or ordered to shelter in place.
Video and firsthand accounts have since emerged of the mob assaulting police, breaking down doors and shattering windows and carrying zip ties. Dozens have been arrested in connection with the chaos, including one man who entered Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office.
Democrats and Republicans have widely condemned Trump’s role in the riots. Two Republican senators have called for Trump to resign before his term ends on Jan. 20, and House Democrats are scheduled to vote Wednesday on impeaching him for a second time.
The article of impeachment, co-authored by Democratic Reps. David Cicilline (R.I.), Ted Lieu (Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.), states that Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”
YouTube said on Tuesday night it was barring new content from being posted on President Trump’s channel for at least a week over a violation of its policies, the latest move by a social media giant to crack down on the president following last week’s Capitol Hill riots.
“After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies. It now has its 1st strike & is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a minimum of 7 days,” YouTube said in a statement on Twitter.
“Given the ongoing concerns about violence, we will also be indefinitely disabling comments on President Trump’s channel, as we’ve done to other channels where there are safety concerns found in the comments section.”
Donald Trump
The decision comes days after Twitter banned Trump from its platform completely, a stunning move that drew the ire of conservatives in the U.S., as well as criticism from around the world.
YouTube did not specify the nature of the content that prompted Tuesday’s action. According to CNN Business, it concerned a video that promoted violence.
The video-sharing website had recently pulled former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast from its platform, citing noncompliance with its guidelines.
The recent actions from social media companies follow in the wake of deadly riots at the Capitol last week that have been blamed on Trump by members of both parties.
The Nigerian government had declared on December 15, 2020, that after December 30, 2020, all SIM cards not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has asked Nigerians to complete their National Identification Number (NIN) registration irrespective of whether they generated the same through bank verification number (BVN).
The Nigerian government had declared on December 15, 2020, that after December 30, 2020, all SIM cards not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.
But on December 21, 2020, it extended the December 30, 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement.
The government gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020, to January 19, 2021.
It also gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020, to February 9, 2021.
According to the NIMC, as of October, the total number of mobile network connections was 207.58 million, but currently, only 43 million Nigerians have NIN, thus 164 million telephone users are at the risk of being deactivated.
Amidst the rush to get registered, a viral message circulating on social media claims that those who had registered for Bank Verification Number already have NIN. Thus, they do not need to register for NIN.
“Good news: So many Nigerians have NIN and they are unaware. The truth is that everyone that did their BVN when it was introduced in 2014 has NIN automatically assigned to them.
“Just dial *346# with the same number you registered for BVN and retrieve your NIN. Don’t go to NIMC centres to queue, Covid19 is real,” the message read.
But in a tweet on Tuesday, NIMC said the NIN registration must be completed despite NIN generation through BVN.
The agency warned that an incomplete registration will hinder the user’s access to the NIMC mobile application and render the NIN-SIM integration invalid.
It said, “You must complete your NIN registration even if your BVN has generated a NIN,” the tweet read.
“If your NIN was generated due to the BVN record harmonisation with the National Identity Database, you will not have access to the NIMC mobile app and your NIN-SIM integration will be invalid. Visit an enrollment centre to complete NIN registration.”
Uganda’s communications regulator has ordered the shutdown of social media and messaging applications, ahead of a highly-charged election on Thursday.
The vote will come after one of the bloodiest campaigns in years, as Yoweri Museveni seeks a sixth term against popstar-turned-MP Bobi Wine, who has managed to fire up a youthful population that has mostly known only one president.
Wine, who has spent most of the campaign in a bulletproof vest and combat helmet facing teargas, bullets and numerous arrests, on Tuesday, urged his supporters to “protect” the election from rigging.
Despite the 38-year-old’s popularity, few observers believe he can pull off a victory against Museveni, a 76-year-old former rebel leader who has ruled since 1986 and effectively crushed any opposition.
Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter were down in the East African nation on Tuesday, after the communications regulator ordered a social media shutdown.
In a letter seen by AFP, Uganda Communications Commission executive director Irene Sewankambo ordered telecommunications companies to “immediately suspend any access and use” of social media and online messaging platforms.
An industry insider who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said that the order was first communicated in “nasty and aggressive” phone calls to the telecommunications companies on Tuesday morning.
The calls made it clear the order was retaliation for Facebook deleting pro-government accounts for seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of the election.
Facebook said Monday that the accounts were linked to the ministry of information and technology.
UCC spokesman Ibrahim Bbosa told AFP, “I am not aware of a directive to switch off the internet or social media platforms.”
“There has been slow connectivity on the platforms which can be partly due to heavy traffic due to the forthcoming elections,” he said.
Some 18 million voters are registered for the presidential and parliamentary ballot, which takes place after a chaotic campaign.
Journalists covering opposition rallies have been attacked, government critics locked up, and election monitors prosecuted, raising concerns over the electoral process’s transparency.
Two days of protests in November left 54 people dead.
European Union High Representative Josep Borrell said in a statement calling for a credible vote that “the excessive use of force by law enforcement and security agencies has seriously tarnished this electoral process.”
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, told journalists his home had been raided and his staff beaten by security forces on Tuesday morning.
He said the ruling party was trying to scare voters away from the ballot box and urged them to record any abuses or irregularities on polling day.
“We are telling you, you will not be breaking the law when you stay and protect your vote. We encourage you to use your phones, use your cameras. Your phone is a very powerful weapon, that camera is very powerful, use it.”
Wine’s rise has rattled Museveni, who has outlasted all but two of Africa’s long-serving rulers, and watched as ageing strongmen elsewhere on the continent have been ousted in popular, youth-led uprisings.
Museveni presides over a population with a median age less than 16, that is increasingly urban and educated.
Though he has campaigned under the slogan “securing your future”, the economic boom enjoyed during his early years has faded.
Only 75,000 new jobs are created each year for the 700,000 youth reaching working age, trapping most in poorly-paid farm labour, the World Bank says.
“We want change. There are no jobs, no money, we can’t go to study, and when we go to the hospital, there is no medicine,” said 23-year-old Dorah Wasswa, hawking cheap wares on a pot-holed Kampala street.
A wily strategist, Museveni has outfoxed challengers to remain firmly in control, though analysts say his position is largely assured through patronage and force, rather than popular appeal.
In this election, he confronts a divided opposition, with ten candidates tackling him individually rather than presenting a united front.
Uganda is experiencing a rise in coronavirus cases and the United Nations, and rights watchdogs say special election measures to contain the pandemic have been weaponised to browbeat Museveni’s opponents while leaving the ruling party untouched.
Wine says his supporters are “peaceful but assertive” and vows nonviolent protest should the election appear rigged.
Maduabuchi had in July 2020 fired at least five shots at the late Ngorgi, while the latter was on the telephone with his newly married wife.
A court-martial sitting in Borno State has sentenced Trooper Azunna Maduabuchi to death by firing squad for killing his commander at 202 Battalion of the 21 Special Armoured Brigade in Bama, Lieutenant Babakaka Ngorgi.
Maduabuchi was on Tuesday sentenced to death by firing squad after he was found guilty at the court session held at the Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri.
This, according to the court, is in accordance with Section 106 of the Armed Forces Act.
Maduabuchi had in July 2020 fired at least five shots at the late Ngorgi, while the latter was on the telephone with his newly married wife.
He was said to have embarked on the shooting spree shortly after the troops returned from scanning the environment to wade off Boko Haram terrorists.
Maduabuchi
SaharaReporters gathered that the shooter aimed at the officer’s chest and released rapid rounds, stunning his colleagues who were present.
“We were all shocked because we did not expect that such a thing could happen at that moment. Soldiers and officers were in a sad mood to the extent that they wanted to go and kill the shooter in the guardroom but the Brigade Commander ordered that they should not kill the guy.
“Later, we tried to verify if there were issues between them but nothing personal was established. We only found out that the soldier’s bank account had been blocked for several months so he could not collect his office allowance and salary. He had been complaining that he was also not even given a pass so he could go out. We are in a sad mood already here,” a source said.
Away from the political debate about President Trump’s future, a huge figure behind his rise has died.
Sheldon Adelson made his money in the casino industry. He made his mark on American history as one of the most influential funders of the modern US conservative movement-the Republican
Adelson operated behind the scenes, but any Republican politician with ambition for higher office knew his name – and knew his largess could be the key to success.
Adelson and Trump
After sitting out the Republican primaries, Adelson in May 2016 called on the party’s biggest donors to support Donald Trump’s candidacy. It heralded the Republican establishment’s at-first grudging acceptance of Trump’s political rise.
Adelson would later direct $25m toward Trump’s successful presidential campaign, going on to fund his 2017 inauguration, legal defence and 2020 re-election bid.
As Adelson became a close ally of Trump’s, and he realised several of his top priorities – the relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement. Adelson’s influence on Trump has been seen as a major factor in the president’s assertive foreign policy on Israel, including his decision to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a deeply controversial move as parts of the city are also claimed by Palestinians.
In 2018, Trump gave Miriam Adelson the highest US civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom
Trump may have become the face of today’s Republican Party, but for nearly a decade Adelson was the party’s financial backbone.
Tesco, Asda and Waitrose have become the latest supermarkets to say they will deny entry to shoppers who do not wear face masks unless they are medically exempt.
It follows a similar move by Morrisons, while Sainsbury’s says it will challenge those who flout the rules.
Retailers have been criticised for not doing enough to stop people breaking Covid rules as infections spread.
But enforcement of face coverings is officially a police responsibility.
However, supermarkets can deny entry to their premises which is private property, and can call the police if someone refuses to follow the rules or becomes abusive.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) has arrested one Okeke Uchenna Aloy Pascal, a ‘fugitive’ with 13kg of cocaine ‘cleverly’ concealed in packet shirts.
It was the first seizure recorded by the command in the year 2021 after making a total seizure of 3,413.463kgs of illicit drugs comprising Cocaine, methamphetamine, Cannabis Sative, Khat leaves, Ephedrine and psychotropic substances in the year 2020.
Also no fewer than 60 suspects made up of 52 males and eight females were arrested last year, according to the NDLEA commander at the airport, Garba Ahmadu.
Ahmadu who briefed newsmen on Tuesday expressed concern that the drug peddlers seem to be getting more emboldened in their acts with the arrest of Uchenna on January 6, 2021 with ‘Grade A drug.’
Incidentally, Uchenna, 30, was initially arrested in 2014 for the same offence with his case still pending in court but he reportedly jumped bail only to commit the same offence.
He was arrested last week during the inward screening of Ethiopian Airline passenger flight from Brazil.
“The said Okeke Uchenna is a second time drug offender and also a fugitive wanted by Federal High Court Lagos for jumping bail for a drug related offence in 2014,” the commander said.
Also, one Azubuike Jeremiah Emeka was also arrested on January 8 with 7.8kg of cocaine neatly concealed in embroidery (tailoring) material. He was also arrested during inward clearance of passengers on ET flight from the same destination.
On the same day, one Abdul Musa, a freight forwarder, was arrested with 117 grams of cocaine destined for India at SAHCO export cargo shed. The drug was said to have been wrapped and concealed in hair relaxer labeled ozone.
The commander said all the suspects would be charged to court soon, describing the seizure early in the year as worrisome because “they are significant seizures and the drugs being seized are all Class A drugs which are cocaine.”
According to him, the last five seizures made from the end of the year till date are cocaine.
He said throughout 2020 despite the COVID-19 lockdown and passenger flight restrictions, there was no month that the command did not make seizure.
According to the figure of the 2020 seizure, the command intercepted 51.404 kg of cocaine; 103.84 Kg of cannabis sativa; 19.935kg of methamphetamine; 19.811 kg of ephedrine; 2993.350 kg of khat leaves.
Others are 158.632 kg of tramadol; 42.0 kg of diazepam and 24.491 kg of nitrazepam.
The commander explained that the successes recorded last year and in recent times were achieved “through the selfless sacrifice exhibited by the officers and men of the command even in the face of serious dangers/challenges.”
He said the leadership provided by the NDLEA management and the partnership with UK border force, British National Crime Agency which paved way for the creation of Joint Border Task Force Project (JBTF) which has transformed the NDLEA MMIA Command.
Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whose gambling and hotel businesses turned him into a major political power broker in the US and Israel, has died.
Sheldon Adelson
He died at the age of 87.
The founder of the Las Vegas Sands casino company, Mr Adelson was known for his support of conservative causes and Israel.
He was a significant backer of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His death was caused by complications related to his treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the Las Vegas Sands company said in a statement.
In a statement, former US president George W Bush said he mourned the passing of a “friend”.
“He was an American patriot, a generous benefactor of charitable causes, and a strong supporter of Israel,” Mr Bush said. “He will be missed by many – none more than his beloved family.
The prime minister of Israeli has this to say in his tweet today
SaharaReporters gathered that the incident happened at Challenge junction, along a road under construction in the town.
Youths in Saki, a town in Oyo State, on Monday burnt a truck taking cattle out of Saki, for killing a boy, Ayuba Raji.
SaharaReporters gathered that the incident happened at Challenge junction, along a road under construction in the town.
A resident of the town, Kazeem Adeniyi, told reporters in Ibadan on Tuesday that the ongoing road construction was responsible for the accident.
According to him, motorists are fond of wrong-way driving on the road, accounting for crashes in recent times.
He also blamed the problem on speeding and reckless driving by truck drivers.
Another resident of the town and advocate of Saki Town Development, Mr Adekunle Lawal, popularly known as Saki First, condemned the contractors handling the Saki dual carriageway.
He blamed the handling of the project for many of the crashes occurring in the area. He said: “Yesterday, Monday, 11th of January, 2021, around 10pm, an accident occurred at Challenge junction which claimed the life of a boy, Ayuba Raji, who was the younger brother of a popular Yoruba presenter and musician, Monsurat Raji. The boy was riding a motorcycle when he was hit by a truck transporting cows out of Saki.
“An angry mob burnt the truck. It was late before Saki First (Lawal) could get in touch with the police to prevent more damage from being done. Speeding and reckless driving are what we know those cow transporters for. It’s now the right time for us to ensure the Federal Road Safety Corps trains people properly on how to drive. We took the step last year but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented us from going ahead with it.
“We commiserate with the family of the deceased; the contractors need to do something urgently too. That was the second accident in just three months.”
Democrats have introduced an article of impeachment against US President Donald Trump for his role in last week’s deadly invasion of the Capitol.
The article filed in the House on Monday accuses Mr Trump of “incitement of insurrection”.
The article of impeachment is posted below
Democrats say a vote on the article will go ahead in the House on Wednesday unless Vice-President Mike Pence invokes constitutional powers to remove Mr Trump from office.
Mr Pence is said to oppose the idea.
“The president represents an imminent threat to our constitution, our country and the American people, and he must be removed from office immediately,” Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Calls for Mr Trump’s resignation, removal from office or impeachment have grown among Democrats and some Republicans in the days following the riots in Congress in which five people died.
The impeachment resolution accuses the president of encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol building at a rally in which Mr Trump alleged, without evidence, that November’s presidential election was “stolen” from him.
He is due to leave office on 20 January, when Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as president. Mr Trump has said he will not attend Mr Biden’s swearing-in ceremony.
This is the second time Democrats have pursued impeachment against President Trump in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress.
In December 2019, the House impeached Mr Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But the Senate acquitted him on both charges in February 2020.
No US president has ever been impeached twice.
However, the prospect of an impeachment conviction is unlikely because of Mr Trump’s broad Republican support in the Senate.
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