The first effective coronavirus vaccine can prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19, a preliminary analysis shows.
The developers – Pfizer and BioNTech – described it as a “great day for science and humanity”.
Their vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.
The companies plan to apply for emergency approval to use the vaccine by the end of the month.
A vaccine – alongside better treatments – is seen as the best way of getting out of the restrictions that have been imposed on all our lives.
There are around a dozen in the final stages of testing – known as a phase 3 trial – but this is the first to show any results.
It uses a completely experimental approach – that involves injecting part of the virus’s genetic code – in order to train the immune system.
Previous trials have shown the vaccine trains the body to make both antibodies – and another part of the immune system called T-cells to fight the coronavirus.
Two doses, three weeks apart, are needed. The trials – in US, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Turkey – show 90% protection is achieved seven days after the second dose.
Pfizer believes it will be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of this year, and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.
The UK should get 10 million doses by the end of the year, with a further 30 million doses already ordered.
However there are logistical challenges, as the vaccine has to be kept in ultra-cold storage at below minus 80C.
It has been an astounding feat to get this far so soon.
No vaccine has gone from the drawing board to being proven highly effective in such a short period of time.
And this vaccine seems to be even more effective than people were hoping.
There are still questions – how long does immunity last, does the vaccine work as well in high-risk elderly people, does it stop you spreading the virus or just from developing symptoms?
And the journey ahead is long and complicated.
Manufacturing enough doses and then actually immunising hundreds of millions of people around the world is a monumental challenge.
Hospital and care home staff will be prioritised along with those at highest risk from Covid-19.
So face masks and social distancing are likely to feature of our lives for some time to come.
But at last, the gloom of Covid is starting to give way to the hope that it might one day be over.
Dr Albert Bourla, the chairman of Pfizer, said: “We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis.”
Prof Ugur Sahin, one of the founders of BioNTech, described the results as a “milestone”.
The data presented is not the final analysis. It is based on the first 94 volunteers to develop Covid – the precise effectiveness of the vaccine may change when the full results are analysed.
Pfizer and BioNTech say they will have enough safety data by the third week of November to take their vaccine to regulators. Until then it is not possible for countries to begin their vaccination campaigns.
But the companies’ announcement was welcomed as a significant development.
“This news made me smile from ear to ear,” Prof Peter Horby, from the University of Oxford.
“It is a relief… there is a long long way to go before vaccines will start to make a real difference, but this feels to me like a watershed moment.”
The UK Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the results were “promising” and that “the NHS stands ready to begin a vaccination programme for those most at risk once a Covid-19 vaccine is available
After nearly 50 years in public office, and a lifetime of presidential ambitions, Joe Biden has captured the White House.
It was not the campaign anyone predicted. It took place amidst a once-in-a-century pandemic and unprecedented social unrest. He was running against an unconventional, precedent-defying incumbent. But in his third try for the presidency, Biden and his team found a way to navigate the political obstacles and claim a victory that, while narrow in the electoral college tally, is projected to surpass Trump’s overall national total by millions of votes.
These are the five reasons the son of a car salesman from Delaware finally won the presidency.
1. Covid, Covid, Covid
Perhaps the biggest reason Biden won the presidency was something entirely out of his control.
The coronavirus pandemic, as well as claiming more than 230,000 lives, also transformed American life and politics in 2020. And in the final days of the general election campaign, Donald Trump himself seemed to acknowledge this.
“With the fake news, everything is Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid,” the president said at a rally last week in Wisconsin, where cases have spiked in recent days.
The media focus on Covid, however, was a reflection rather than a driver of the public’s concern about the pandemic – which translated into unfavourable polling on the president’s handling of the crisis. A poll last month by Pew Research, suggested Biden held a 17 percentage point lead over Trump when it came to confidence about their handling of the Covid outbreak.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionHow much is Covid-19 an election issue?
The pandemic and the subsequent economic decline knocked Trump off his preferred campaign message of growth and prosperity. It also highlighted concerns that many Americans had about his presidency, over its occasional lack of focus, penchant for questioning science, haphazard handling of policies large and small, and prioritisation of the partisan. The pandemic was a lead weight on Trump’s approval ratings, which, according to Gallup, dipped to 38% at one point in the summer – one that the Biden campaign exploited.
2. Low-key campaign
Over the course of his political career, Biden established a well-earned reputation for talking himself into trouble. His propensity for gaffes derailed his first presidential campaign in 1987, and helped ensure that he never had much of a shot when he ran again in 2007.
In his third try for the Oval Office, Biden still had his share of verbal stumbles, but they were sufficiently infrequent that they never became more than a short-term issue.
Part of the explanation for this, of course, is that the president himself was an unrelenting source of news cycle churn. Another factor was that there were bigger stories – the coronavirus pandemic, protests after the death of George Floyd and economic disruption – dominating national attention.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionTrump and Biden stage duelling rallies in Florida
But at least some credit should be given to a concerted strategy by the Biden campaign to limit their candidate’s exposure, keeping a measured pace in the campaign, and minimising the chances that fatigue or carelessness could create problems.
Perhaps in a normal election, when most Americans weren’t worried about limiting their own exposure to a virus, this strategy would have backfired. Maybe then Trump’s derisive “hidin’ Biden” jabs would have taken their toll.
The campaign sought to stay out of the way and let Trump be the one whose mouth betrayed him – and, in the end, it paid off.
3. Anyone but Trump
The week before election day, the Biden campaign unveiled its final television adverts with a message that was remarkably similar to the one offered in his campaign kickoff last year, and his nomination acceptance speech in August.
The election was a “battle for the soul of America”, he said, and a chance for the national to put what he characterised as the divisiveness and chaos of the past four years behind it.
image captionThe election became a referendum on Trump
Beneath that slogan, however, was a simple calculation. Biden bet his political fortunes on the contention that Trump was too polarising and too inflammatory, and what the American people wanted was calmer, steadier leadership.
“I’m just exhausted by Trump’s attitude as a person,” says Thierry Adams, a native of France who after 18 years living in Florida cast his first vote in a presidential election in Miami last week.
Democrats succeeded in making this election a referendum on Trump, not a binary choice between the two candidates.
Biden’s winning message was simply that he was “not Trump”. A common refrain from Democrats was that a Biden victory meant Americans could go for weeks without thinking about politics. It was meant as a joke, but it contained a kernel of truth.
4. Stay in the centre
During the campaign to be the Democratic candidate, Biden’s competition came from his left, with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who ran well-financed and organised campaigns that generated rock-concert sized crowds.
Despite this pressure from his liberal flank, Biden stuck with a centrist strategy, refusing to back universal government-run healthcare, free college education, or a wealth tax. This allowed him maximise his appeal to moderates and disaffected Republicans during the general election campaign.
This strategy was reflected in Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate when he could have opted for someone with stronger support from the party’s left wing.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionWhat do young Democrats think of Joe Biden?
The one place where Biden moved closer to Sanders and Warren was on the environment and climate-change – perhaps calculating that the benefits of appealing to younger voters for whom the issue is a priority was worth the risk of alienating voters in energy-dependent swing-state industries. It was the exception, however, that proved the rule.
“It’s no secret that we’ve been critical of Vice-President’s Biden’s plans and commitments in the past,” said Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the environmental activist group the Sunrise Movement in July. “He’s responded to many of those criticisms: dramatically increasing the scale and urgency of investments, filling in details on how he’d achieve environmental justice and create good union jobs, and promising immediate action.”
5. More money, fewer problems
Earlier this year, Biden’s campaign coffers were running on empty. He entered the general election campaign at a decided disadvantage to Trump, who had spent virtually his entire presidency amassing a campaign war chest that approached a billion dollars.
From April onward, however, the Biden campaign transformed itself into a fundraising juggernaut, and – in part because of profligacy on the part of the Trump campaign – ended up in a much stronger financial position than his opponent. At the beginning of October, the Biden campaign had $144m more cash on hand than the Trump operation, allowing it to bury the Republicans in a torrent of television advertising in almost every key battleground state.
image captionA Biden supporter in Texas, where a cash advantage enabled him to spend campaign money
Money isn’t everything, of course. Four years ago, the Clinton campaign had a sizeable monetary lead over Trump’s shoestring operation.
But in 2020, when in-person campaigning was curtailed by coronavirus and Americans across the country spent considerably more time consuming media in their homes, Biden’s cash advantage let him reach voters and push his message out until the very end. It allowed him to expand the electoral map, putting money into what once seemed to be longshot states like Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Iowa. Most of those bets didn’t pay off, but he put Trump on the defence, flipping what was once reliably conservative Arizona and staying highly competitive in Georgia.
Money gives a campaign options and initiative – and Biden put his advantage to good use.
Congratulations to US President-Elect Joe Biden on his election at a time of uncertainty and fear in world affairs. His election is a reminder that democracy is the best form of government because it offers the people the opportunity to change their government by peaceful means.
In a democracy, the most powerful group are not the politicians, but voters who can decide the fate of the politicians at the polling booth. The main fascination of democracy is the freedom of choice and the supremacy of the will of the people.
Respect for the will of the people is the very reason why democracy remains the best form of government, despite its limitations from one polity to another, and from one society to another.
President-Elect Biden’s remarkable track record gives us hope that he will add value to the presidency and world affairs. We look forward to greater cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, especially at economic, diplomatic, political and security levels.
I urge Mr. Biden to deploy his vast experience in tackling the negative consequences of nationalist politics on world affairs—which have created divisions and uncertainties—and to introduce greater engagement with Africa on the basis of reciprocal respect and shared interests.
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish: Donald Trump and the End of a Thrashy Presidency, By Toyin Falola
Now the elections are over, and all speculations have been put to sleep. Let us do what humans are wont to: look back at how we dodged a bullet by not getting hit twice by the same absurdity called Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the worst joke democracy ever told, and by some demonstration of that famous resilient American spirit, the men and women of the United States of America, of every race and creed listened, and let us hope we heard it well.
America had made some progress in its role as the world’s shinning beacon of hope and democracy, and except for some infrequent cloudy days, it was still looked upon to intervene in world issues as a voice of reason. One of such bright days of American democracy, a lot of people will agree, was the inauguration of the first African American, in the person of Barack Obama as President of the USA. This occasion was not only going to be a sign that America had just successfully shown the world how effective democracy is as a socio-political model of societal organization, but also that its electorate had matured enough in proving that racism cannot deny them the possibilities inherent in common sense. Obama represented possibilities for America, but all these was soon to seem like the heady days of youth, all thanks to the political space-drop that were the last four years with Donald Trump piloting the affairs of the United States.
Like a bad movie playing out but with a little uncertainty, Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed billionaire real-estate tycoon, and television star dispelled all uncertainties by originating a very disturbing bit of news for an average American, “demonic” Russia might have influenced their elections and contributed in installing Trump. After investigations that led to the sacking of James Comey as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, there were some internal political shuffling that resulted in an ambiguous verdict that ‘exonerated’ Donald Trump, and American democracy lived yet another day. But a long and precarious journey filled with presidential scares was to follow. On this phase of the journey, our self-acclaimed protagonist decides to open up migrant detention facilities where undocumented and overstayed guests were locked-up, separated from their kids who were shut in metal cages while the parents awaited their immigration status verdict leaving the media awash with scenes from a Hollywood holocaust video. This grew into attempts to build a wall round most of its southern border and have Mexico pay for it; issuing visa bans to mostly countries with sizeable Muslim populations; engaging China in trade wars; befriending North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un; and ordering missile strikes on Syria in search of ISSIL. And as if in a shock induced trance, the rest of the world watched the staggering giant lumber on in fear of enemies both real and mostly imagined.
Things seemed to take an even worse turn when four officers of the Minneapolis, the Minnesota Police Department wrestled down and choked the life out of an African American in broad day light. His name, George Floyd, would resonate around the world calling attention to that ever patient, in-house American enemy that has kept it divided, and always finds ways to embarrass and almost tear it up from within. Racism which has been in America from the very day it was christened, was yet again stirring up disruptive protests and looting that threatened to collapse law and order in the union. The President rose to the occasion in his usual brash, entitled white male manner to declare the protesters enemy of the state, and deploying the national guard. But as things deteriorated, and even in the White House members of staff were either being summarily fired or resigning with amusing frequency, the die-hard Trump supporters still pointed to economic indications to chant “this is the best American economy in a long while” with the unemployment rate 3.5%. But, 2020 was to come bearing its own Donald Trump lessons.
Early in the year 2020, coinciding with American election year, the world was greeted with news of a Sci-Fi sounding acronym COVID-19, a virus allegedly spreading from China to the rest of the world. With the scale, and restriction (to animals) of a prior virus also “made in China,” most people assumed it was just another regular new-year scare, until cases of mortality (amongst humans!) started to spring up rapidly around the globe and everything was shut down. A couple of months—of indoor restrictions and some thousands of American deaths–down the line, there were growing rumours that Donald Trump was made aware of the virus, earlier enough for most of the now over 230,000 American deaths, which he (Trump) responded to with attacks on the World Health Organization (WHO) whom he alleged was colluding with China to spread fake news. This was followed with numerous other conspiracy posts on twitter, Trump’s conduit for spreading rumour, unfounded conspiracy theories, and poorly veiled public attacks on anyone who dared speak critically of himself or his administration’s behaviour. He totally discredited the world acclaimed immunologist and foremost authority on communicable diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who seemed to be the only one around him telling the truth about the danger of COVID-19. In the end, his behaviour in “combating” the virus; flaunting preventive measures, prescribing bizarre “medications” and claiming immunity after having been treated for the virus.
Then the elections came and Trump the showman donning on his “Make America Great Again” cap embarks on another round of salesmanship. But this time, with over 12.6 million out-of-job people at an unemployment rate of 7.9%, a case against public healthcare subsidy (‘‘Obamacare’’) in court, and a fellow septuagenarian, Joe Biden were going to give him a run for his money. In the subsequent election debates, Trump who was to field questions on the last four years of his turbulent presidency turned the event into a Trump-only affair, interrupting and turning the event into an incoherent affair. The world waited in tense anticipation while voting commence, waiting to see if Donald Trump could pull another 2016 and have the electoral college come to his rescue like it did with Hilary Clinton.
In the meantime, democratic candidate Joe Biden, an experienced public official with six elections to the Senate and eight years as Obama’s Vice President was armed with a mixed-raced, female Vice-presidential candidate in Kamala Harris and together they stood to expose the Trump farce for what it was, a dangerous game with a shallow, self-indulgent poser in charge of powerful tools for good and destruction. They stood alongside the American people to say: no to abuse of power and office; no to the demeaning of the American image; no to forces of division and hate; and most importantly, no to another four years brink walking with Donald Trump. And now that the verdict is finally out, that Trump’s mostly conservative republican crowd could not save him from the truth of his actions, America can continue building; fix its image, and the damages done to its internal social as well as international relations.
Also, at this time when the United States has successfully terminated its contract with bad rubbish, the circumstances that brought Donald Trump to power should be a lesson; if we let down our guard, right in front of our very noses, we shall end up with one error that can send us and everything we worked for and believe, into oblivion. That is how close we came. Some might argue that Trump was exactly what the world needed in these periods, but they never could have been farther from the truth. Donald Trump represented the end of effective round table diplomacy and a misguided notion that America’s status as the ‘‘sole superpower’’ meant that it was not answerable to the rest of the world. In fact, Trump took pleasure in associating these other parts of the world with debasing titles like ‘‘shit-hole’’ among instances of verbal diarrhoea. One person who also seemed to appreciate the fact of Trump’s unsuitability was his predecessor Barack Obama, who came out to warn voters about what the brash acts of egomania and a reputation for telling lies could mean to the name of the American people.
Another four years with characteristic madness in the White House could only be imagined. Definitely, not his winning would be bad for America going forward, but the 99% of Trump gloating about it throughout his second term and rubbing it not only on Democrats’ face but also Americans would have been very bad to stand. Even more, a second term would have been an endorsement of his uncouth rhetoric, a seal of approval for his racism, global discrimination, international terrorism, and other tomfoolery unbecoming of a POTUS. Indeed, there is something to merry about in 2020, the exit of madness, and restoration of a bit of sanity!
Toyin Falola is the University Distinguished Teaching Professor and Humanities Chair at The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday his campaign would begin challenging US election results in court next week after media outlets called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, saying “this election is far from over.”
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,” he said in a statement. He added that “the simple fact is this election is far from over.”
Trump has repeatedly made unfounded claims of fraud in the election.
However, legal experts have said that the flurry of lawsuits may have little chance of changing the outcome but might cast doubt on the process.
Notably, the campaign sued in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia and asked to join a pending case at the US Supreme Court.
Experts said the litigation serves to drag out the vote count and postpone major media from declaring Biden the victor, which would have dire political implications for Trump.
“The current legal maneuvering is mainly a way for the Trump campaign to try to extend the ball game in the long-shot hope that some serious anomaly will emerge,” said Robert Yablon, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. “As of now, we haven’t seen any indication of systematic irregularities in the vote count.”
Trump campaign manager, Bill Stepien said in a statement Wednesday that the lawsuits were aimed at ensuring legal votes were counted.
“The lawsuits are meritless,” said Bob Bauer, who is part of Biden’s legal team. “They’re intended to give the Trump campaign the opportunity to argue the vote count should stop. It is not going to stop.”
Ultimately, for the lawsuits to have an impact, the race would have to hang on the outcome of one or two states separated by a few thousand votes, according to experts.
Edward Foley, who specializes in election law at the Moritz College of Law, said the cases might have merit but only affected a small number of ballots and procedural issues.
“But merit in that sense is very different from having the kind of consequence that Bush v. Gore did in 2000,” said Foley.
In that case, the Supreme Court reversed a ruling by Florida’s top court that had ordered a manual recount and prompted Democrat Al Gore to concede the election to Republican George W. Bush.
Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has congratulated Mr. Joe Biden of Democratic Party on his victory as the President-elect of the United States of America.
Obasanjo, in a statement by his Media Assistant, Kehinde Akinyemi, described Biden’s win as a victory of good over evil.
Biden is projected to have defeated the incumbent US President, Donald Trump, having garnered more than 270 Electoral College votes as of Saturday.
Reacting, Obasanjo tasked Biden to “restore confidence in the role of America as the largest economy in the world which has a very significant responsibility for the peace, security, stability and progress of the world, saying “the election was a victory of good over evil” which was for most people of the world.”
He lamented that “the majority of the people had watched helplessly as the world was being pulled down.”
“Not that the world was perfect and equitable, but it was reasonably predictable with some measure of rule of law and respect for international agreements and treaties,” it was stated.
Obasanjo said he was reasonably sure that the first Africa-America female Vice President-elect of the US, Kamala Harris, “will have some Nigerian DNA in her as most of those taken to the carribean from Africa went from Nigeria of today.”
President Donald Trump has insisted that he won the 2020 presidential election in the United States of America.
The US President shared series of tweets on Saturday November 7, in which he made unsubstantiated allegations of illegality in the voting process – all of which were labelled as disputed and potentially misleading by Twitter. He also insisted he had won the election “by a lot”.
CNN also reported that sources in the White House have disclosed that the President said he won’t be accepting the election result. They also disclosed that he will be challenging the election result in court from Monday November 9.
LIB reported that Joe Biden has been elected the 46th president of the United States, achieving a decades-long political ambition and denying Donald Trump a second term after a deeply divisive presidency defined by a once-in-a-century pandemic, economic turmoil and social unrest.
Trump tweeted;
Biden won the presidency by clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, after several days of painstaking vote counting following record turnout across the country. The win in Pennsylvania, which the Associated Press called at 11:25am EST on Saturday with 99% of the votes counted, took Biden’s electoral college vote to 284, surpassing the 270 needed to win the White House.
President-elect Joe Biden (D) will address the nation on Saturday night, his first formal remarks since clinching the White House.
Biden is slated to deliver remarks from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, his campaign said. He will be joined by his wife Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.
Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday morning by the major networks and the Associated Press after clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. With his victory in the Keystone State, Biden was able to overtake the 270 electoral-vote threshold needed to win the White House.
President Trump has not yet conceded the race to Biden, and his campaign has said that it plans to contest the results in several states through recounts and legal action. Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina remain uncalled, though Biden leads in both Arizona and Georgia. Trump has no viable path to a second term.
(CNN)America has chosen Democrat Joe Biden as its 46th president, CNN projects, turning at a time of national crisis to a man whose character was forged by aching personal tragedy and who is pledging to restore calm and truth after Donald Trump’s, exhausting and manic single term.
In a written statement Saturday, Biden, who is expected to address the American people later in the day, said he was “honored and humbled” by the trust the American people have placed in him.
“In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America,” Biden said. “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.”
Democratic Candidate for the US presidential Elections, Joe Biden has emerged winner.
Biden, 78, is the 46th President of the United states. Biden will be 78 at the end of this month, becoming the oldest president when he is inaugurated in January in the midst of the worst public health crisis in 100 years.
His vice, Kamala Harris will be the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Asian-American to be the vice president of the United States.
A thief who stole two necklaces from a gold shop in Bangkok, Thailand was arrested after he accidentally dropped his ID card while fleeing.
The suspect, Pathompong Sukane, 34, was arrested two hours later at his house on Soi Phattanakan 38 in Suan Luang district on Thursday, November 5.
Pathmong, a food delivery man, was charged with stealing the necklaces from Pornsuphan gold shop, in the Phattanakan branch of Tesco Lotus store.
According to the employees, the suspect walked into the gold shop and asked to see necklaces. One staffer showed him two gold necklaces weighing 2 baht.
He asked the cost but as the employee was calculating the price, he grabbed both necklaces and ran from the store. He fled on a motorcycle parked outside, evading the security guards who tried to stop him.
The shop notified Khlong Tan police. They found an ID card on the ground and soon tracked the person named on it to his residence.
They found Mr Pathompong, the two necklaces and the motorcycle he used to make his escape.
He told police he delivered food for a living but was not making enough money to make ends meet so he decided to to rob the gold shop.
Former Nigerian Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Saturday, highlighted six economic opportunities for Nigeria and other African countries as they strive to recover from the negative shocks of the pandemic.
She made this known today at the 15th Convocation of Bowen University in Iwo, Osun State.
Okonjo-Iweala, who is the leading candidate for the job of director-general of the World Trade Organization, spoke on ‘Revisiting Africa’s Economy Post-COVID-19’.
The convocation lecturer said the impact of the pandemic on Africa’s economy has been devastating, urging African leaders to look inwards and grow capacities for their respective economies.
The former World Bank director said, “As Africa recovers from the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, it must learn from the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has highlighted the existing structural and institutional weaknesses of Africa’s economy but it has also cast a light on existing opportunities and opened up new ones. Africa must seize all these factors to re-fashion its economy and build it with more resilience.
“Let me highlight six opportunities and approaches for re-fashioning a post-COVID-19 African economy.”
According to her, increasing the industrialization on the continent will provide more jobs for Africa’s youthful population.
“COVID-19 brought into relief Africa’s undiversified commodity-dependent economy. The lack of diversification relates to both products and sources of revenue.
“Africa must manufacture more through value-addition to the raw materials it exports. The transformation of cocoa into delicious Ivorian chocolate provides a good example.
“There is no doubt that African countries need to make the requisite investment in infrastructure, skills, and a conducive business environment,” she said.
The former Economy Minister also harped on more digitization of economic, health, and educational activities in Africa going forward.
One of the opportunities highlighted by the pandemic is the potential of the digital economy including e-commerce, e-learning, e-health, she said.
She noted that African governments must grow the continent’s about 90 million Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises through free registration, access to grants, soft loans, amongst others to ensure business owners grow and create jobs.
A post-COVID-19 African economy cannot grow unless there is continuous investment in Africa’s infrastructure, she stated, adding that investment in human development especially education and health is also key to Africa’s emergence post-pandemic.
Okonjo-Iweala added that African governments must improve governance, transparency and accountability.
“A post-COVID-19 modern African economy must be anchored on these values of open, transparent and accountable governance; governance that gives youths, women and other marginalized people increased voice,” she stated.
President Donald Trump’s two sons have rebuked Republicans for failing to back the president as he struggles to win re-election.
Mr Trump’s eldest son Don Jr accused the party of being “weak”. His brother Eric warned: “Our voters will never forget you if your [sic] sheep!”
The spat reflects an emerging rift between Trump disciples and the party.
The election still hangs in the balance but Democratic candidate Joe Biden appears to be closing in on victory.
Mr Trump has vowed to mount legal challenges to the vote-counting process after claiming, without evidence, that there is widespread voter fraud.
Senior Republicans such as Utah Senator Mitt Romney and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan have warned against undermining the democratic process.
But Don Jr, who is thought to have political aspirations of his own, reserved his ire for those who may be eyeing up a presidential run in 2024.
He wrote on Twitter: “The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP [Republican] hopefuls’ is pretty amazing.
“They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing & able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead. Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight & they can watch as usual!”
The tweet was in response to one from Mike Cernovich, a men’s rights activist and Trump supporter, who had criticised the president’s former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley.
She is widely thought to be preparing a White House bid in 2024.
Mr Trump Jr continued: “Republicans have been weak for decades which has allowed for the left to do these things.”
His brother, Eric, tweeted: “Where are Republicans! Have some backbone. Fight against this fraud. Our voters will never forget you if your [sic] sheep!”
A total of 6,000 prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps are to resume for the 2020 “Batch B” one-year mandatory program of the scheme across the country.
Brigadier General Shaibu Ibrahim, Director-General of the NYSC, made the disclosure on Thursday, saying that the authorities had gone round the country to ensure that the facilities were ready.
He said, “We are prepared to deploy six thousand corps members to participate in the 2020 Batch B exercise.
“We have gone around the country to ensure that the camps are also ready.
“We are going to merge those who suspended their orientation in March to also participate for the forthcoming National orientation exercise.”
According to him, the NYSC management had put in place all COVID-19 protocols in a bid to contain the pandemic to curtail community transmission in the camps across the country.
“We have been interfacing with the relevant bodies such as the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, NCDC and state Ministries of Health on ways of ensuring safe and efficient of the orientation course.
“I am pleased to report that all our orientation camps have been prepared and remodeled with the approved safety protocols,” he added.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials.
It’s not uncommon for Cabinet secretaries to prepare undated letters of resignation during a presidential transition, giving the commander in chief the chance to replace them for a second term. The president decides whether to accept the resignation letters, and the process usually occurs after the election results are clear.
But defense officials say Esper prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election.
As his tenure may be coming to an end, Esper is helping members of Congress draft legislation that will strip names of Confederate leaders from military bases in a move that could put him further at odds with President Donald Trump.
While Esper considered issuing a directive that would order the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force to change the names in their respective services — an order that could be overturned by Trump, who has strongly opposed renaming bases — he now plans to work with Congress to put language in the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) so the name changes will be written into law.
This week Esper provided a written framework to Pentagon leaders for renaming installations, and possibly even ships and street names on bases, that honor Confederate generals or leaders, the officials said. For example, the framework suggests that the NDAA could say that military installations cannot be named after someone who has betrayed the U.S. or committed a felony, and instead must be named after people who have met certain criteria, like having earned a Medal of Honor or Silver Star, Est or achieving the rank of general.
The speculation about potential resignations of Cabinet officials is a well-worn, D.C.-insider, post-election parlor game,” said Jonathan Hoffman, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, in a statement. “[Secretary Esper] continues to serve the nation as the secretary of defense at the pleasure of the president and is at the Pentagon today working on the irreversible implementation of the National Defense Strategy.”
“As is normal and expected, the department works with Congress to provide the administration’s concerns and views regarding proposed defense-related legislation — particularly when House and Senate versions of defense bills are being reconciled and finalized. This does not indicate support for previously proposed legislative language. Out of respect for the members of Congress who havnue sought technical assistance in good faith, we generally do not discuss these efforts.”
The NDAA, which outlines the military’s budget and policies, is expected to be passed during the lame duck session of Congress in coming weeks, and Trump would have to sign it for it to become law.
Two current defense officials said Esper believes that if he announces the renaming it could lead Trump to fire him. But Esper is not pushing the renaming because he wants to get fired, according to two other defense officials, who insist he believes this issue is important.
Esper is also thinking about his legacy, said the two officials. He earned the nickname “Yesper” from lawmakers and White House officials for, in their view, his willingness to implement Trump’s agenda without pushing back. “He cares about his legacy and prefers to be remembered as someone who was fired because he stood up to the president, rather than being remembered as ‘Yesper,'” one defense official said.
Trump has denounced the idea of stripping Confederate names from bases several times. In June, he tweeted, “The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.”
A court in Georgia has thrown out a lawsuit by US President Donald Trump’s campaign team, asking that the county followed state laws on processing absentee ballots, according to Associated Press.
Chatham County Superior Court Judge, James Bass, did not however give an explanation for his decision on Thursday, following a one-hour hearing.
The county includes the heavily Democratic city of Savannah.
The suit had raised concerns about 53 absentee ballots, which poll observers claimed were not part of an original batch of ballots.
But County elections officials testified that all 53 ballots had been received on time.
By flipping the northern battlegrounds of Michigan and Wisconsin, and also winning formerly pro-Trump Arizona, Biden reached 264 electoral votes against 214 so far for Trump.
To reach 270, Biden hopes to add the six electoral votes from Nevada, where he had a small and shrinking lead, or the larger prizes of hard-fought Georgia or Pennsylvania.
The Chinese government has announced the temporary suspension of entry into China of non-Chinese nationals in Nigeria holding visas or residence permits.
The Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria in a statement issued Wednesday, however, said that holders of diplomatic, service, courtesy or C visas would not be affected.
It however added that foreign nationals visiting China for emergency needs may apply for visas at Chinese Embassy or Consulate.
It stated: “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, China has decided to temporarily suspend entry into China by non-Chinese nationals in Nigeria holding visas or residence permits still valid at the time of this announcement. The Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria will no longer issue Certified Health Declaration Form for the above-mentioned personnel.
“Entry by holders of diplomatic, service, courtesy or C visas will not be affected. Foreign nationals visiting China for emergency needs may apply for visas at Chinese Embassy or Consulate. Entry by non-Chinese nationals in Nigeria with visas issued after 3 November 2020 will not be affected.
“The suspension is a temporary response necessitated by the current situation of Covid-19. The above-mentioned measures will be assessed in accordance with the evolving situation and any adjustment will be announced accordingly.”
Indonesia has fallen into its first recession in 22 years as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take it toll.
South East Asia’s biggest economy saw growth fall 3.49% in the third quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2019.
Following a fall of 5.32% in the second quarter of 2020, this has pushed Indonesia into a recession.
The last time this happened was during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
Authorities in Indonesia have predicted that 3.5m people could lose their jobs due to the coronavirus downturn.
Indonesia has the highest infection rate in the region.
While agriculture is a major component of its economy, Indonesia relies heavily on tourist dollars.
Millions of foreigners fly to Bali each year in search of deserted beaches, terraced rice fields and sprawling Hindu temples.
But their numbers have dropped sharply since Indonesia closed its borders to non-residents, like other countries battling with the pandemic.
The 3.49% fall in economic growth during July to September is slightly worse than the 3% that economists had predicted.
The capital city Jakarta went into a second semi-lockdown for four weeks starting in mid-September with rising cases straining its health system.
“All in all, Indonesia’s economy is past its weakest point, but with the domestic outbreak not under control yet, economic activity is likely to remain under pressure,” wrote ANZ bank.
Government officials have pledged to accelerate spending to counter the pandemic’s impact and push Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) back into growth.
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