The governor of Lagos state , Sanwo-Olu revealed the news via his Twitter page;
Today, as part of our promise to reward academic excellence in Lagos State, I presented cheques of N5 million each to the best graduating students of the Undergraduate and Masters programmes of the Lagos State University.
Shotunde Oladimeji Idris, the best graduating student was also offered automatic employment into the state’s civil service as we continue to improve the attractiveness of our civil service for the state’s best brains.
At the start of this administration, improving education in the state was highlighted as one of my biggest priorities, and we demonstrated commitment by increasing budgetary allocation to the sector as we work on improving the quality of our curriculums & welfare of our students.
The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are scheduled to start on 23 July 2021.
Manyonga is among the favourites to win gold in Tokyo after winning the 2017 World and 2018 Commonwealth titles.
In 2012, Manyonga was banned from athletics for 18 months after testing positive for crystal meth.
The AIU says athletes must provide “accurate and up-to-date” details about their whereabouts as a way to “ensure compliance to anti-doping rules”.
A whereabouts failure against an athlete will be recorded if they fail to submit their whereabouts by the required deadline, have not provided updated or sufficient details to administrators, or are not available for testing in an agreed 60-minute time slot.
Under World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures within 12 months is an anti-doping rule violation.
A ban up to two years could be imposed for the offence.
In May last year, Manyonga was fined for public drinking and contravening South Africa’s strict lockdown restrictions
Twenty-three soldiers accused of being behind the assassination of former president of Democratic Republic of Congo have been released after spending nearly two decades behind bars.
Laurent Kabila was shot dead by a bodyguard in 2001. A military trial that followed jailed dozens of soldiers, including Col Eddy Kapend, his personal aide.
Human Rights groups criticised the trial. Some in DR Congo believe the soldiers were used as scapegoats.
There has been much speculation about who gave the orders for Kabila’s assassination, including suggestions that foreign powers were involved, as it came at a time when several neighbouring countries were involved in the conflict in DR Congo.
The soldiers’ release follows pardons issued by President Félix Tshisekedi who took over from Joseph Kabila, the son of the late president, two years ago.
Mr Kabila repeatedly resisted calls to pardon the prisoners – 11 of whom died whilst in custody.
The release comes amid a power struggle between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor, who continues to wield considerable influence in the country.
Mr Tshisekedi ended his coalition with Mr Kabila’s party – which holds a majority in parliament – following years of tension.
The president is currently seeking new coalition partners that would give him a majority in parliament
Thousands of refugees and migrants urgently need proper shelter in Bosnia-Herzegovina after weeks outdoors in freezing cold, the UN has warned.
Some 2,500 people are in unheated tents or sleeping rough near the northern town of Bihac. A UN official says some are now being moved to heated tents.
Local authorities have refused to reopen a nearby reception centre.
Instead hundreds have been forced to return to a temporary camp that was ravaged by fire last month.
Peter Van der Auweraert of the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed photos of the basic tents erected at the Lipa camp by the Bosnian army a few days ago.
The camp was set up hastily in the summer when the coronavirus pandemic forced crisis measures including border closures.
But aid agencies pulled out of the camp in December, saying it was unsustainable without water and electricity.
Some residents forced to leave the facility looted equipment and set fire to tents, police said.
However, about 900 migrants had to go back there, after local officials refused to let them move to the empty reception centre in Bihac. Another 1,500 are struggling in primitive conditions elsewhere near the town.
The migrants are from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and got stuck in Bosnia while trying to reach Croatia, an EU member state seen as a gateway to the EU.
image captionThis week the Red Cross provided some hot food for the Lipa migrants
Some of the migrants have refused to use the tents in Lipa because they lack heating and sanitation. Some also went on hunger strike, angry at the lack of amenities. But on Tuesday many did receive Red Cross food parcels.
“We want people in proper reception centres where they have access to services, like the 6,000 other people in Bosnia,” Mr Van der Auweraert, the IOM’s head in Bosnia-Herzegovina, told the BBC’s Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey at Lipa.
The IOM says about 8,500 non-EU migrants are living in Bosnia, still hoping to get to northern Europe.
Embattled United States President, Donald Trump has disclosed that he will not be attending the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden.
Mr Trump who until yesterday refused to concede the 2020 election, is currently facing impeachment following the invasion of Capitol Hill by some of his supporters.
The 45th POTUS has consistently claimed that the election was rigged without providing evidence. His claims of rigging got him suspended on major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Trump
On Friday, Mr Trump tweeted that he will not be attending the inauguration.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted.
Twitter suspended the ban on his account after a 12hours suspension for violating Twitter rules.
The 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump through his official twitter account, announced that he’ll not attend the Inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion.Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history — and marks a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stands on the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin, September 3, 2020.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.
Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to
Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, and was barely in the top 50 richest people.
Tesla’s rocketing share price — which has increased more than nine-fold over the past year — along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s share price has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.
Elon Musk passed Warren Buffett in July to become the seventh richest person. In November, Musk raced past Bill Gates to become the second richest person. Musk has gained more wealth over the past 12 months than Bill Gates’ entire net worth of $132 billion.
Tesla’s shares were recently trading at about $790, up more than 4% in trading Thursday. The company’s market value has grown to $737.6 billion.
The minister said there was a committee working on the new electricity tariff regime and the committee should be allowed to complete its work
The Nigerian Government has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to suspend the recently adjusted electricity tariff.
The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, made this known in a statement on Thursday.
NERC had on Tuesday increased the electricity tariff payable by power consumers across the country. The hike in tariff which varies, based on different consumer classes, took effect from January 1, 2021.
The regulatory agency blamed the N2 to N4 adjustment in tariff on inflation and movement in foreign exchange rates. Labour unions have threatened showdown over the development, saying the government was insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, considering the fact that there was an increment in the last two months.
But in the statement on Thursday, the minister said there was a committee working on the new electricity tariff regime and the committee should be allowed to complete its work before any development or adjustment.
Mamman, therefore, directed NERC to suspend the recent increment until the committee concludes its work by end of January.
He said, “The public is aware that the Federal Government and the Labour Centers have been engaged in positive discussions about the electricity sector through a joint ad-hoc Committee led by the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity and Co-Chaired by the Minister of State for Power. Great progress has been made in these deliberations which are set to be concluded at the end of January, 2021.
“To promote a constructive conclusion of the dialogue with the Labour Centers (through the Joint Ad-Hoc Committee), I have directed NERC to forestall the implementation of the duly performed minor review (which adjusted tariffs between N2 per kWh and N4 per kWh) until the conclusion of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee’s work at the end of January 2021.
“This will allow for the outcome of all resolutions from the Committee to be implemented together. The Administration is committed to creating a sustainable, growing, and rules-based electricity market for the benefit of all Nigerians.”
US intelligence agencies have said they believe Russia was behind the “serious” cyber compromise revealed in December.
President Trump had previously suggested China might have been behind the hack, although other members of his administration had pointed the finger at Moscow.
In a joint statement, the intelligence bodies say they currently believe fewer than 10 US government agencies saw their data compromised, although other organisations outside of government were also affected.
They say work is still going on to understand the scope of the incident, which appears to have been aimed at gathering intelligence and which they say is “ongoing” a month after details first emerged.
The update on the investigation came in a statement from a task force called the Cyber Unified Coordination Group which was set up to deal with the incident. It comprises intelligence and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and NSA.
The group said it was still working to understand the scope of what had taken place.
Soon after the incident was revealed, President Trump raised the possibility that China might be responsible, but members of his own administration including the secretary of state and attorney general pointed the finger at Moscow.
The latest statement shows the assessment of US intelligence agencies is that Russia was behind it, although it does not go so far as accusing the Russian state itself, saying only that the actor was “likely Russian in origin”. Moscow has denied playing any part.
President-elect Joe Biden has previously said it was important to take “meaningful steps” to hold those responsible to account. It is not yet clear, though, what that might involve. While some US politicians suggested the breach might even be compared to an “act of war”, most cyber-experts disputed this and the US intelligence community has now played down suggestions that it could have had destructive impact.
“At this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence-gathering effort,” the latest statement says. This is significant since it suggests no evidence has been found that this was preparatory activity for a more destructive cyber-attack which might switch off systems. This may limit the US response since espionage operations do not breach the cyber norms the US itself promotes (largely because it too carries out such intelligence-gathering operations against other nations
But one surgery visited by the health secretary to promote the initiative said its delivery had been delayed.
More than 700 local vaccination sites will administer the jabs.
Another 180 GP-led sites, 100 new hospital sites and a pilot scheme involving local pharmacies will open this week.
The Oxford jab was initially given to patients in selected hospitals, including first recipient 82-year-old Brian Pinker.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was now being supplied to GP practices across the country as he visited the Bloomsbury Surgery in central London.
Mr Hancock said he was “delighted” care homes residents would begin receiving their first Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs this week.
“This will ensure the most vulnerable are protected and will save tens of thousands of lives,” he said.
But GP Ammara Hughes, a partner at Bloomsbury Surgery, told broadcasters its first delivery of the jab had been pushed back 24 hours to Thursday.
She said: “It’s just more frustrating than a concern because we’ve got the capacity to vaccinate. And if we had a regular supply – we do have the capacity to vaccinate three to four thousand patients a week.”
Mr Hancock said the “rate-limiting” factor in efforts to get people vaccinated was supply from the manufacturers.
The surgery said it was continuing to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and had so far received three deliveries of that jab.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said vaccination centres and GP surgeries needed better information about deliveries of the vaccine and how much to expect to arrive.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth tweeted that the scenes at the surgery were like something from political comedy The Thick of It, but added: “Sadly it’s no laughing matter.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved by the UK’s medicines regulator in early December, followed by the British-made Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine four weeks later.
Because it does not need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it can be transported and stored more easily, making it simpler to vaccinate housebound people and those in care homes.
Around half a million doses of both vaccines are ready to be used this week, with millions more in the pipeline in the coming weeks.
Citizens have been left stranded and frustrated outside offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as staff of the commission embarked on industrial action.
“Consequent upon the just concluded congress of the above-mentioned association that took place on January 6, 2020, the unit executive directs all members of grade level 12 and below in the head office and state offices to report to their respective duty posts tomorrow January 7, 2020, and do nothing,” the notice stated.
The notice which was signed by Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, NIMC branch, Asekokhai Michael, and its Secretary, Odia Victor also stated that “all members at the local government offices and special centres are advised to stay away from their various centres as task force and implementation committees would be on parade to ensure total compliance to the directive.”
In December, the Nigerian Communications Commission directed all telecommunication firms to disconnect the SIM cards of all persons who have not integrated their National Identity Numbers with their phone lines by the end of January.
More than 95 million Nigerians are yet to integrate their National Identification Numbers and has brought about huge crowds to gather at the offices of NIMC nationwide in breach of the COVID-19 protocol.
In this file photo taken on December 3, 2020 US President Donald Trump speaks before awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired football coach Lou Holtz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
A Baghdad court has issued a warrant for the arrest of US President Donald Trump as part of its investigation into the killing of a top Iraqi paramilitary commander.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s largely pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network, died in the same US drone strike that killed storied Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad airport on January 3 last year.
The strike on their motorcade was ordered by Trump, who later crowed that it had taken out “two (men) for the price of one”.
The UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, has described the twin killings as “arbitrary” and “illegal”.
Trump
Iran already issued a warrant for Trump’s arrest in June, and asked Interpol to relay it as a so-called red notice to other police forces around the world, a request that has so far gone unmet.
The court for east Baghdad issued the warrant for Trump’s arrest under Article 406 of the penal code, which provides for the death penalty in all cases of premeditated murder, the judiciary said.
The court said the preliminary inquiry had been completed but “investigations are continuing in order to unmask the other culprits in this crime, be they Iraqis or foreigners.”
In the run-up to Sunday’s anniversary of the twin killings, pro-Iran factions stepped up their rhetoric against Washington and Iraqi officials deemed to have colluded with it.
The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, on Wednesday mourned the death of his younger brother, Dr Haroun Hamzat.
Hamzat, who made the announcement through his Instagram page (drobafemihamzat), however called on the public to be conscious of the volatility of COVID-19 pandemic.
He implored everyone to obey all the rules of COVlD-19.
“There is urgent need for us as people to be conscious of the volatility of COVID-19.
“We should not only do this for ourselves, but for everyone we come in contact with. “Stay safe, use your masks, sanitise or wash your hands regularly and maintain social distancing,” the deputy governor said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deceased died on Tuesday at the age of 37 years.
Until his death, he was a medical doctor in one of the public health centres in Orile Agege Local Council Development Area (LCDA), in Lagos.
The deputy governor prayed for the repose of the soul of his younger brother, and that Almighty Allah should forgive him his sins, and grant him eternal tranquility and Al Jannah Firdaus.
Atiku hopes Nigerians will soon have access to the vaccines to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 2019 presidential candidate received the first of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, according to a report by TheCable.
Atiku receiving covid19 vaccine in Dubai.
“The importance of the #COVID19 vaccine in mitigating the effect of the coronavirus cannot be overstated, particularly in Africa and Nigeria,” his spokesperson Paul Ibe said.
He said Atiku, 74, looks forward to when Nigerians, especially medical professionals in the frontline and the most vulnerable, will be vaccinated. Since COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019, it has infected over 87 million people and killed nearly 1.9 million across the world.
Vaccines were deployed in a few countries late in 2020 after a couple of them were confirmed to be over 90% effective against the virus.
Nigeria hopes to start a mass vaccination campaign at the end of January, with the delivery of 42 million doses of the vaccine expected by the end of the year.
That figure is expected to inoculate less than half of the nation’s estimated population of 200 million.
Since Nigeria’s first case was detected last February, over 92,000 cases have been recorded, with a feared second wave of infections kicking off in December.
Following a formal affirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, President Trump said the decision “represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history.”
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement.
Donald Trump
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.
“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again,” Trump said while repeating false claims about the election that incited a mob to storm the Capitol. – CNN
Congress on early Thursday morning formally affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory after a mob supporting President Trump violently broke into the Capitol the day before.
The extraordinary attack on the symbolic epicenter of the U.S.’s democracy left the building in tatters, at least one rioter dead and lawmakers in both parties shell-shocked by the unprecedented threat to their safety in a building previously thought to be virtually impenetrable.
Shortly before 4 a.m., after lawmakers formally tabulated each state’s Electoral College votes, Vice President Pence announced before a joint session of Congress that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had won 306 votes over Trump’s 232.
The images of chanting Trump supporters smashing windows, brawling with Capitol Police and marching unimpeded through the Rotunda quickly ricocheted around the globe, stunning Washington, the nation and the entire free world while leading to accusations from lawmakers in both parties that it was the president himself who had incited the riot.
“There is no question that the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House Republican. “He lit the flame.”
Joe Biden & Kamala Harris.
The vote to certify the president-elect’s victory in the Electoral College, the final step before his inauguration on Jan. 20, is largely a matter of course, but party leaders in both chambers decided that delaying it, even briefly, would deliver the message that the mob had won.
Instead, they raced to finalize their votes accepting the state tallies, hoping it would send a very different signal to the stunned country: The nation’s democratic institutions remain strong even under direct attack.
“We must and we will show to the country – and indeed to the world – that we will not be diverted from our duty, that we will respect our responsibility to the Constitution and to the American people,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said while presiding over the House floor.
“The United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said as he reconvened the upper chamber Wednesday night.
The day’s proceedings were extraordinary even before the arrival of the violent mob, as more than 100 of Trump’s closest allies in both chambers had vowed to challenge the election results in as many as six battleground states where they claimed, without evidence, that fraud had been rampant.
The House and Senate were less than an hour into separately debating the first GOP objection to a state that Biden won – Arizona – when the rioters breached nearby office buildings and eventually the Capitol itself.
Both chambers went into recess for more than 5 1/2 hours as law enforcement struggled to contain the chaos unfolding inside the Capitol. The mobs breached the Senate chamber, broke the glass of one of the center doors leading into the House chamber and vandalized Pelosi’s office nearby.
Terror and chaos reigned at the Capitol as lawmakers, staff and reporters in the House and Senate chambers were told to hide under their seats, given gas masks and eventually evacuated. One of the rioters who broke into the Senate chamber sat in the chair on the dais reserved for the presiding officer while yelling in support of Trump. Another swung from the base of the visitor’s gallery, while a third was seen with his feet propped up on a desk in Pelosi’s office.
In the House chamber, police officers drew guns and improvised by placing heavy furniture against the central door to prevent the mob from making its way inside, where lawmakers, staff and journalists were scrambling for cover.
D.C. police confirmed that one unnamed woman was shot inside the Capitol and later died. Three other people – a woman and two men – died after apparently suffering “separate medical emergencies” near the Capitol grounds.
Numerous Capitol Police officers were also injured.
The rioters were mostly maskless despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic and some carried Confederate flags.
Both the House and Senate ultimately voted late Wednesday to reject the challenge to Arizona’s electoral votes on a bipartisan basis. That outcome was expected, but the day’s shocking events acted to diminish the number of Republican objectors.
Still, 121 Republicans in the House and six in the Senate voted to challenge Arizona’s results. Hours later, the House and Senate beat back a challenge to Pennsylvania’s result by similar margins. The Senate rejected it by 92-7, while the House voted 282-138.
When Wednesday began, at least 14 GOP senators and more than 100 House Republicans had been set to challenge the results under pressure from Trump.
An objection must be made by at least one lawmaker in each chamber in order to trigger two hours of debate and a vote. GOP senators and House members had planned to also launch objections to Georgia, but ultimately backed down after the day’s chaos.
“When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider and I cannot now, in good conscience, object,” Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who lost reelection in a runoff the night before, announced on the Senate floor.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) was even more terse, saying the day’s events “changed things drastically.”
“Whatever point you made before that should suffice,” Braun said. “Let’s get this ugly day behind us.”
The Capitol Police said earlier in the week that it would have extra officers on duty in anticipation of mass protests over the Electoral College count. But those reinforcements weren’t enough as the mobs breached the barricades, pushed past officers in riot gear and entered the building through broken windows.
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said the full District of Columbia National Guard, representing 1,100 troops, would be deployed to help assist with containing the riots. The governors of Virginia and Maryland also sent state troopers and members of the National Guard ahead of a 6 p.m. curfew established by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
In the days leading up to Wednesday’s Electoral College votes, Trump had bashed the election process as inherently corrupt, framing Biden’s win as a fraud and encouraging his supporters to come to Washington to protest. Shortly before the Capitol was stormed on Wednesday, he had addressed thousands of those supporters outside the White House, vowing never to concede defeat and urging the crowd to march on the Capitol.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” he told the cheering crowd. “You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
After the smoke – literal and figurative – cleared, members of both parties cast blame on Trump for egging on rioters to protest at the Capitol and continuing to falsely claim that he lost the election due to voter fraud.
“It was a tragic day and he was part of it,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told reporters when asked if Trump bore responsibility. “I think it put many people on notice that we have to be more careful and more thoughtful in how we deal with each other and how we safeguard the democracy and the freedoms we have.”
As the violence unfolded, Democrats, Republicans and former White House officials alike pleaded with Trump to defuse the mayhem by urging his supporters to leave the Capitol premises.
Trump later tweeted a video telling his supporters to “go home” but added: “We love you, you’re very special.” He also amplified the fallacious claims that the election was stolen.
The backlash was swift.
Numerous Democrats called for another round of impeachment proceedings or for invocation of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to immediately remove Trump from office, even though he is set to leave the White House in two weeks, when Biden is inaugurated.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said she will draw up articles of impeachment against Trump, who was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 over pressuring the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into Biden.
Lawmakers further called for prosecuting the rioters and investigating why the Capitol Police failed to control the situation.
“The breach today at the U.S. Capitol raises grave security concerns,” House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said in a statement, adding that she intends to have her panel work with House and Senate leadership of both parties “to address these concerns and review the response in coming days.”
But most of all, Wednesday’s chaos marked a dark day for American democracy that lawmakers warned will set back the nation’s reputation before the rest of the world and take work to repair.
The Capitol itself bore physical damage hours after law enforcement cleared the rioters out of the building. Wednesday marked the first time that a violent group breached the Capitol since the British in August 1814, according to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.
The door leading to the Capitol Rotunda from the East Front steps where the mob broke a security barrier bore glass cracks and what appeared to be bullet marks. A glass door adorning the entrance of the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber was also cracked.
And in the Rotunda itself, rioters’ litter still remained along the walls, including a Trump flag, protein bars and water bottles. The floors in the Rotunda and surrounding the House and Senate chambers were covered in dirt with shoe marks.
“This will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). “But we are a resilient, forward-looking and optimistic people. And we will begin the hard work of repairing this nation tonight.”
Four people died on Wednesday, including one woman who was shot by a police officer, amid protests and rioting on Capitol Hill that resulted in dozens of demonstrators being arrested, police announced.
Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee called the rioting by pro-Trump demonstrators “shameful” during a news conference alongside Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).
Demonstrators stormed the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, forcing both chambers to evacuate as they prepared to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win.
The situation escalated quickly, with officers scrambling to prevent swarms of people from entering the Capitol building before eventually being overrun by scores of people entering the complex.
One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police during the rioting. Police said three other people – a woman and two men – died after apparently suffering “separate medical emergencies” near the Capitol grounds.
Authorities have not released additional information on the woman who was shot by the Capitol Police officer. The woman was transported to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead, Contee said.
Contee said at least 14 officers sustained injuries during the rioting, with one officer “pulled into the crowd and assaulted,” resulting in “serious injuries” that required hospitalization. Another officer was also hospitalized.
Police also recovered two pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee.
Officers from D.C. police and Capitol Police successfully cleared the Capitol grounds so Congress could resume its count of the electoral results, which resumed around 8 p.m.
Members of the D.C. National Guard had been called in earlier Wednesday as authorities attempted to gain control of the situation and secure the Capitol building.
In response to the civil unrest on Capitol Hill, Bowser issued a curfew for the District beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. She also extended an emergency declaration in the city until Jan. 21, allowing the city to access additional resources to quell any further civil disturbances.
Police began “securing the perimeter around the Capitol Building” around 7:15 p.m., Conte said, issuing verbal warnings to many of the hundreds that remained in the area after the curfew had gone into effect.
As of 9:30 p.m., police had made 52 arrests, including four for carrying pistols without a license and one for possession of a prohibited weapon. Twenty six of the 52 arrests were made on Capitol grounds, Conte said.
Conte reminded the public, “if you are not engaged in essential activities, please stay off the streets.”
Nigeria recorded 1,664 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections to 94,369. the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said.
The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the daily increase was a new record and considerably higher than Tuesday’s 1,354 confirmed cases.
It said that 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded the new infections with Lagos having the highest number of cases with 642.
The FCT, the centre said recorded 407 new cases while Plateau recorded 160 new cases. Also, it said Kaduna State recorded 83 new infections while Rivers State recorded 62.
Others state are Adamawa-47, Nasarawa-38, Abia-29, Edo-28, Anambra-27, Niger-24, Ogun-24, Imo-15, Oyo-14, Kano-12, Osun-12, Borno-nine, Delta-seven, Enugu-7, Bauchi-5, Ekiti-5, Sokoto-5 and Jigawa-2. The centre also said that Nigeria recorded 77,299 recoveries and 1,318 fatalities.
The NCDC said that there are now 14,990 active COVID-19 cases.
The centre, however said that in the last 24 hours, 903 recoveries were recorded.
It noted that the discharges included 388 community recoveries in Lagos State, 261 in Kaduna State, 87 in Plateau State and 20 in Imo managed in line with its guidelines.
The NCDC also said that Nigeria recorded five deaths in the past 24 hours.
The agency has said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre, activated at Level III, is coordinating response activities nationwide.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that from Feb. 27, 2020 till date, only 980,046 samples of suspected infected people had been tested in a population of more than 200 million people.
The country also approved 70 public, seven corporate and 32 commercial laboratories across the country with varying testing capacities.
The violence brought to a halt congressional debate over Democrat Joe Biden’s election win.
In the House and Senate chambers, Republicans were challenging the certification of November’s election results.”We will never give up, we will never concede”, Trump tells supporters
Before the violence, President Trump had told supporters on the National Mall in Washington that the election had been stolen.
Hours later, as the violence mounted inside and outside the US Capitol, he appeared on video and repeated the false claim.
He told protesters “I love you” and described the people who stormed the Capitol complex as “patriots”.
YouTube said it removed the video because it “violated policies on spreading election fraud”.
Twitter initially didn’t take down the video, instead removing the ability to retweet, like and comment on it and another tweet.
However, it later removed them, and suspended the outgoing president
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