The 2023 presidential project of former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, got a boost on Thursday with former and incumbent speakers of state houses of assemblies in the South-West endorsing him.

This is, however, coming amidst what his loyalists and supporters see as “mounting opposition” against him within the APC.

The supporters, however, insist that no amount of opposition could stop him from succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

 Reports revealed that Tinubu has not declared interest in the position as he has consistently said the time was not ripe for 2023 politicking.

But several groups have emerged drumming support for him, the latest being current and past speakers of states in the South-West geopolitical zone who met in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to solicit support for him.

The meeting, it was learnt, was at the instance of the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, who reportedly introduced the Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Foundation and Movement to the gathering.

He explained that the BAT Foundation was set up to break the shackles of poverty in the society and to create a coordinated humanitarian image for the National leader of APC.

Obasa said while Tinubu has not indicated interest in the presidency, there was the need to deliberate on “this all-important issue on behalf of Tinubu.”

BAT National Coordinator, Ambassador Aliyu Saulawa, said the BAT Movement has a mission to actualise power shift to the South-West and promised to work for Tinubu to clinch the coveted position.

The speakers at the end of the meeting unanimously resolved among others that “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being a Yoruba man with the capacity, experience and means should be the candidate to be supported to emerge as the next president of Nigeria”.

Several support organisations have also intensified advocacy and mobilisation for Tinubu 2023 presidency.

Hospitals in the Brazilian city of Manaus have reached breaking point while treating Covid-19 patients, amid reports of severe oxygen shortages and desperate staff.

The city, in Amazonas state, has seen a surge of deaths and infections.

Health professionals, quoted by local media, warned “many people” could die due to lack of supplies and assistance.

Brazil has recorded more than 205,000 virus deaths – the second-highest tally in the world, behind the US.

A new coronavirus variant has recently emerged in Brazil, with several cases in travellers arriving in Japan traced back to the Amazonas region.

Amazonas suffered heavy losses in the first wave of the pandemic but is also being badly hit by a new rise in infections.

Refrigerated containers were brought to hospitals to help store bodies last week, as authorities declared a state of emergency.

Jessem Orellana, from the Fiocruz-Amazonia scientific investigation institute, told the AFP news agency that some hospitals in Manaus had “run out of oxygen” with some centres becoming “a type of suffocation chamber” for patients.

The researcher told Brazilian media she had received reports from the front-line of “dramatic” scenes playing out in some hospitals.

Reports in the daily Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper described desperate staff having to try to keep patients alive through manual ventilation.

In a widely shared video from the region, a female medical worker asks the internet for help: “We’re in an awful state. Oxygen has simply run out across the whole unit today.”

“There is no oxygen and lots of people are dying,” she says in the clip. “If anyone has any oxygen, please bring it to the clinic. There are so many people dying.”

Amazonas Governor Wilson Lima said the state was “in the most critical moment of the pandemic” and has announced a nightly curfew will begin at 19:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Friday to try to stem the spread.

Marcellus Campelo, a local health secretary, said the state needed three times the amount of oxygen it can produce locally and appealed for help.

Brazil’s vice-president shared images on Twitter of the air force transporting hospital supplies, including oxygen cylinders and stretchers, to the city as reports of the situation spread throughout the country.

On 16 January, India will begin what will be one of the world’s biggest inoculation programmes, aimed at protecting its 1.3 billion people from Covid-19.

The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people by early August. It will begin with an estimated 10 million health workers, followed by policemen, soldiers, municipal and other frontline workers.

Next in line for the jab would be people aged over 50 and anyone under 50 with serious underlying health conditions.

India has recorded the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world, after the US. Since the pandemic began it has confirmed more than 10.3 million cases and over 150,000 deaths.

The country’s drugs regulator has given the green light to two vaccines – Covishield that has been developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University and Covaxin by local firm Bharat Biotech.

Kim Jong-un has had a busy week. In this rare party congress at the start of a new year he’s earned a new title, pledged to build new nuclear weapons and now he’s shown the world some new missiles.

North Korea has unveiled a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, described by state media as “the world’s most powerful weapon”.

Several of the missiles were displayed at a parade overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, reported state media.

The show of military strength comes days before the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president.

It also follows a rare political meeting where Mr Kim decried the US as his country’s “biggest enemy”.

Images released by North Korean state media showed at least four large black-and-white missiles being driven past flag-waving crowds.

Analysts noted it was a previously unseen weapon. “New year, new Pukguksong,” tweeted North Korea expert Ankit Panda, using the North Korean name for their submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Clad in a leather coat and fur hat, Mr Kim is pictured smiling and waving as he watched the display in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, which also included infantry troops, artillery and tanks.

“The world’s most powerful weapon, submarine-launch ballistic missile, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the might of the revolutionary armed forces,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.

The event on Thursday did not showcase North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which was unveiled at a much larger military parade in October. That colossal weapon is believed to be able to deliver a nuclear warhead to anywhere in the US, and its size had surprised even seasoned analysts when it was put on show last year.

In his address to members at the end of a five-yearly congress of the ruling Workers’ Party last week, Mr Kim had pledged to expand North Korea’s nuclear weapons and military potential, outlining a list of desired weapons including long-range ballistic missiles capable of being launched from land or sea and “super-large warheads”.

He also said that the US was Pyongyang’s “biggest obstacle for our revolution and our biggest enemy… no matter who is in power, the true nature of its policy against North Korea will never change”.

The unveiling of the new missiles appears designed to send the incoming US administration a message of the North’s military prowess, say experts.

“They’d like us to notice that they’re getting more proficient with larger solid rocket boosters,” Mr Panda tweeted.

Thailand has been attempting to re-open its borders to international tourism. One of the ways it has been doing this is by offering extended 90-day tourist visas, which can be renewed twice.

Visitors to Thailand will now be able to spend their quarantine playing golf, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Six resorts have been approved by the government for quarantine for foreign golfers with advance arrangements.

Quarantining visitors will be able to move around the resorts and also play golf, rather than just isolate in their rooms.Thailand’s tourism industry has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tourism is a major industry for Thailand and the country attracted 40 million tourists in 2019 who spent $63.4bn (£46bn). The six resorts include three in Kanchanaburi, West of Bangkok, one in Nakhon Nayok, North of Bangkok, and one in Petchaburi, south of the Thai capital. There is also an approved resort in Chiang Mai, in the country’s north.

An earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has killed at least seven people and injured hundreds.

More than a dozen patients and staff are reported to be trapped in the rubble of a hospital that was damaged in the quake.

The 6.2-magnitude quake on Friday morning came just hours after an earlier, smaller quake.

Indonesia has a history of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis with more than 2,000 killed in a 2018 Sulawesi quake.

The epicentre of Friday’s earthquake was six kilometres (3.73 miles) northeast of Majene city at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Tremors were felt at around 01:00 local time on Friday (17:00 Thursday GMT) for about seven seconds. No tsunami warning was issued.

Thousands are reported to have left their homes, fleeing to safety.

Authorities have warned that strong aftershocks could follow the two main quakes and that they could still trigger a tsunami.

Local reports say among the badly damaged buildings include homes, two hotels, the governor’s office and a mall.

Authorities said four people died in Majene and more than 600 were injured, while another three people died in neighbouring Mamuju.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because it lies on the so-called Ring of Fire – a line of frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions on the Pacific rim.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced a new evening curfew will begin nationally across France starting at 18:00 (17:00 GMT) Saturday.

The move is a tightening of a curfew already in place since December, which restricts movement from 20:00-06:00.

Announcing the measure on Thursday, Mr Castex described the country’s situation as “worrying” with infections remaining at a “high plateau”.

He also announced new restrictions for people arriving into the country.

All those arriving from outside the EU will now have to test negative for the virus within 72 hours before their travel into France, and then isolate for seven days and test negative again, Mr Castex said.

The border controls are partly to limit the extent to which new mutant strains of the virus spreading abroad can become dominant in France. There is particular concern over the more transmissible variant first detected in the UK – which the French health minister says now accounts for about 1-1.5% of new cases nationally.

“We must do everything to prevent this variant from spreading in France,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told a Thursday news conference.

All shops and businesses will have to close at that time, except for emergency services.
The tighter evening restriction was already in place in some hard-hit eastern regions of the country before Thursday’s announcement and, according to the French Scientific Council, has led to infection rates slowing.

The prime minister said Thursday that the situation in France is “under control compared to neighbouring countries but still fragile” with pressure on hospitals remaining high.

The curfew is seen as a way to avoid a full national lockdown, but Mr Castex said further restrictions would be imposed “without delay” if the situation deteriorated further.

The country will aim to carry out at least one million Covid-19 tests per month in schools to help keep them open, but indoor sport activities have been banned again.

The government is also aiming to have more than one million people vaccinated against the virus by the end of January, amid criticism of a slow rollout by some.

“The sooner we can vaccinate the most vulnerable, the sooner our hospitals will be spared the risk of being overwhelmed,” Mr Castex said Thursday.

A US pet food manufacturer is recalling several of its products following the deaths at least 70 dogs and illness in another 80.

Midwestern Pet Foods, based in Indiana, said the recall affected its Sportmix brand and other labels.

Tests showed the food had potentially unsafe levels of aflatoxins, a by-product of mould that grows on corn and other grains.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is carrying out an investigation.

“As of January 11, 2021, FDA is aware of more than 70 pets that have died and more than 80 pets that are sick after eating Sportmix pet food,” the agency said in a statement.

The company originally announced a recall of some of its Sportmix products in December following the deaths of 28 dogs, CBS News reported.

Tests by the Missouri Department of Agriculture found high levels of aflatoxins, according to the FDA.

The recall was expanded this week to include others brands after more deaths came to light.

Symptoms among animals poisoned by aflatoxins include vomiting, sluggishness and loss of appetite.

Midwestern said the product recall now included Sportmix, Pro Pac Originals, Splash, Sportstrail and Nunn Better dry dog and cat foods produced at its Oklahoma plant that had an expiration date on or before 9 July 2022.

“We continue a thorough review of our facilities and practices in full co-operation with FDA in an effort to better serve our customers and pet parents who have put their trust in us,” the company said.

In an alert on Monday the FDA said it was advising the public “about the potentially fatal levels of aflatoxins in Midwestern pet food products that may still be on store shelves, online or in pet owners’ homes”.

The family-owned company was founded in 1926 and is based in Evansville, Indiana. In its statement, it said it had never had to recall a product before.

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has said banning US President Donald Trump was the right thing to do. However, he expressed sadness at what he described as the “extraordinary and untenable circumstances” surrounding Mr Trump’s permanent suspension.

He also said the ban was in part a failure of Twitter’s, which hadn’t done enough to foster “healthy conversation” across its platforms.Twitter has been praised and criticised for freezing Mr Trump’s account.In a long Twitter thread, Twitter’s chief said he did not celebrate or feel pride in the ban – which came after the Capitol riot last week.

Nigeria recorded 1,398 new cases of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) as active cases being managed across isolation and treatment centres in the country rose to 20,062. The NCDC disclosed this on its official website on Wednesday.

The centre also confirmed nine new deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the nation’s death toll to 1,382. It stated that 1,398 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours across the country, bringing number of confirmed cases to 103,999. It added that 1,033,858 people had so far been tested since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was recorded on Feb. 27, 2020 in the country.

The health agency said that the new infections were recorded from 22 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).It disclosed that Lagos recorded the highest toll with 542 cases, FCT 131, Oyo 120, Rivers 113 and Plateau, 111.Others were Kaduna (71), Kwara (71), Akwa Ibom (34), Sokoto (31), Benue (28), Ogun (27), Kano (26), Kebbi (17), Osun (12), Nasarawa (11), Delta (10), Gombe (10), Bayelsa and Borno (9) each, Edo (8), Ekiti (3) Jigawa and Katsina (2) each.

The NCDC advised Nigerians that “not every COVID-19 individual shows symptoms.“Everyone needs to maintain HIGHER index of suspicion for COVID-19, adhere to all preventive measures.”Always wear a face mask. Wash your hands regularly with soap under running water.