Nigerian singers, Omah Lay and Tems have been arraigned before the Makindye Division court in Kampala for flouting COVID-19 guidelines in Uganda.
The fast-rising stars were on Sunday December 13, arrested together with their managers for holding an illegal concert at Ddungu resort in Munyonyo where they gathered big crowds, contrary to President Museveni’s directives on the prevention of the spread of Covid-19.
It was gathered that the organizers of the event disguised the show as a lunch and dinner event but it turned out to be a concert with large crowd in attendance.
Omah Lay, Tems, and the others were arrested and charged with doing “acts that are likely to cause the spread of infectious disease, Covid-19,” according to him Assistant Superintendent of Police and Deputy Police Spokesperson, Luk Owoyesigyire, Kampala Metropolitan Police. Earlier in March, Museveni banned all music concerts, closed down bars, banned fans at all sporting events, and reduced the numbers of people who could attend church services.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health on Sunday reported 461 new confirmed coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases in the country to 27,532.
Omah Lay via his tweets disclosed the following;
Yes I’m with the Ugandan police… something about the show from last night. Everything would be fine…
Omah ?
I’m in cuffs in Uganda right now with Tems.
I’m just a singer trying to entertain, why am I being set up in Uganda?
I didn’t organize a show, I came on stage and saw teeming fans and sang to them…
Why am I being detained? Why am I not been given a right to a fair hearing?
Why is Uganda not letting @NigeriaMFA step into this? They have been trying to secure our release to no avail.
Is there something bigger at play in Uganda? Why do I have to take the fall for it???
Senior members of the Trump administration will be among the first people to be vaccinated against coronavirus in the US, officials say.
The officials said some White House staffers are expected to be given the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine this week.
But on Sunday, President Donald Trump said early vaccinations would only be offered in specific cases.
The vaccine offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 and was deemed safe by US regulators on Friday.
The first three million doses of the vaccine are currently being distributed to dozens of locations in all 50 states across the US.
The first shipment of those doses left a facility in Michigan on Sunday, with health workers and the elderly in line to receive the first shots as early as Monday.
Coronavirus deaths have been rising sharply since November in the US, with a world-record daily increase of 3,309 reported on Saturday.
But the vaccine’s roll-out has been framed as a turning point in the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken the lives of almost 300,000 people in the US.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said its emergency-use authorisation of the vaccine, announced on Friday, was a “significant milestone” in the pandemic, after coming under intense pressure from the Trump administration to approve the jab.
A mass inoculation drive using doses of the same vaccine has already begun in the UK. The Pfizer vaccine has received regulatory approval in Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as well.
Who will get the first vaccines in the White House?
Some of the first vaccines will be reserved for those who work in close proximity to Mr Trump, officials said told several US media outlets.
But eventually the vaccines will be offered to officials across all three branches of government, including the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court.
One unnamed official told Reuters news agency the vaccinations will ensure the government can “continue essential operations, without interruption”.
image captionWhite House chief of staff Mark Meadows is among those within President Trump’s team
One aim of the programme was to build public confidence in the vaccine, he said.
“The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government on the advice of public health professionals and national security leadership,” Mr Ullyot said.
image captionBoxes containing Pfizer’s vaccine are being shipped across the US
Later on Sunday, Mr Trump clarified in a tweet that “people working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the programme, unless specifically necessary”.
Mr Trump, who contracted coronavirus in November and recovered after treatment in hospital, added: “I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time.”
There have been a number of coronavirus outbreaks in the White House, with several senior staffers and officials testing positive for the disease.
It was not clear if President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and members of their team would be offered early vaccinations.
How does the vaccine work?
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the first coronavirus jab to show promising results in the latter stages of its testing process.
It is a new type called an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity.
“The vaccine contains a small piece of the [Covid-19] virus’s mRNA that instructs cells in the body to make the virus’s distinctive ‘spike’ protein,” the FDA said.
“When a person receives this vaccine, their body produces copies of the spike protein, which does not cause disease, but triggers the immune system to learn to react defensively, producing an immune response against [Covid-19].”
The vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.
The vaccine must be stored at ultra-low temperatures, which makes distribution difficult. Special shipping containers that use dry ice will be used to transport frozen vials direct to the point of vaccination, Pfizer says.
The pharmaceutical company has agreed a deal to supply the US with 100 million doses of the vaccine by March.
An additional 200 million doses of a second vaccine, developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, will be provided by June. However this vaccine is still seeking approval in the US.
The presidency on Sunday countered the Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari, on the number of students abducted by armed bandits from a government college in the state.o
Masari, who met with a Federal Government’s delegation led by the Minister of Defence, Major Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd), had said at least 333 students are still missing.
However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a chat with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said only 10 students are with the bandits.
The bandits had on Friday night attacked the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, and took away an unspecified number of students from the college.
The BBC Hausa bulletin read: “The Government of Nigeria has said its security forces have surrounded the location where gunmen have kept schoolchildren abducted from a secondary school in Katsina State.
“Spokesman for the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, told the BBC only 10 students were remaining in the hands of the gunmen according to their colleagues who escaped from the gunmen.
“The number is below figures released by school authorities at the beginning. Garba Shehu said the school children who escaped said 10 of their friends were still with their abductors.”
Some members of the family of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Boss Mustapha, have tested positive for the virus.
He announced this in a statement that he personally issued in Abuja on Sunday night.
The SGF informed that they tested positive on Saturday and are presently asymptomatic.
According to him, both himself and wife, however, tested negative.
He said in the statement: “I would like to inform the general public that some members of my household tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday evening.
Although they are currently asymptomatic, they have been isolated and are receiving care in one of the government treatment centres.
“My wife and I tested negative but will remain in self-isolation and work from home according to protocols by the health authorities.
“I would like to remind all Nigerians that COVID-19 is real. As the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced last week, we are recording an increase in cases across several states.
Please stay safe and protect yourself. Adhere to all public health and safety measures so that we do not lose the gains we have made in the fight against COVID-19.
“As a family, we covet your prayers. Please take responsibility for yourself and protect our country!”
Celebrated US actress Carol Sutton, 76, has died from coronavirus complications in her home city of New Orleans where she began her career on the stage.
She was being treated in hospital and died on Thursday night.
For half a century, she appeared in Hollywood films and TV series including Steel Magnolias, Queen Sugar, and True Detective.
Stars, directors and politicians who knew Sutton have been paying tribute to her.
“We celebrate the life of the stellar Carol Sutton. It was our honour to welcome this veteran actress of stage and screen to our show,” tweeted Ava DuVernay, who directed the series Queen Sugar with Oprah Winfrey as executive producer.
The series, which began in 2016, addresses themes of racial profiling, slavery and inequality facing African-Americans.
“May she rise and rest in peace and power,” Ms DuVernay added.
People must think “really carefully” about the risk of more social contact over Christmas, NHS bosses have warned.
“I don’t want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas,” said Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers.
But he pointed out that the US saw “record numbers” of cases and deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday – and said the NHS was worried about January.
The government’s Dominic Raab said people needed the five-day relaxation of Covid rules on “an emotional level”.
Meanwhile, the chances of the Oxford University vaccine being rolled out by the end of the year are “pretty high”, the vaccine’s architect Prof Sarah Gilbert has told the BBC.
A further 18,447 cases were recorded across the UK on Sunday, along with another 144 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
The number of deaths recorded tends to be lower over the weekend because of reporting delays.
Between 23 and 27 December, coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed across the UK, allowing three households to form a “bubble” and mix indoors and stay overnight.
But NHS Providers – which represents hospital trusts in England – has written to the PM urging him to “personally lead a better public debate about the risks inherent in the guidance” – although it stopped short of calling for a review of the rules over Christmas.
“There seems to be a sense at the moment that, ‘hey because the government’s put these rules down, there’s no risk to people having more social contact over Christmas’,” Mr Hopson told BBC Breakfast.
“Of course, part of it is about sticking to the rules but any kind of extra social contact over Christmas – particularly with those who are vulnerable to the virus – actually is very risky”
With communications gradually being restored to parts of Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region, survivors and residents in the town of Mai Kadra have been able to share harrowing accounts of the slaughter of civilians more than a month ago, the worst confirmed atrocity in a weeks-long conflict between government forces and the now-fugitive regional government.
On November 12, nearly two weeks after the start of the fighting in the northern region, an Amnesty International investigation cited witnesses as saying that forces linked to the embattled Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) had gone on a rampage in the small town three days earlier.
Armed with weapons including machetes and knives, the attackers hacked and stabbed residents to death, the witnesses told Amnesty, which said it could confirm “the massacre of a very large number of civilians” after examining and verifying gruesome photographs and videos from the scene.
Survivors of the massacre recovering at the Gondar University Hospital in Gondar [File: Eduardo Soteras/AFP]
Days later, a preliminary investigation by a government-appointed rights watchdog stated that there may be as many as 600 victims, saying the killings were committed by a local youth group with the support of other Tigrayan civilians, police and militia.nullThe massacre in Mai Kadra is the worst known attack on civilians during the conflict [File: Eduardo Soteras/AFP]Home to up to 45,000 people of Tigrayan, Amhara and other ethnic origins, Mai Kadra had been under the control of the TPLF until its forces retreated from the town a day after the massacre as Ethiopian government troops made advances in western Tigray.
Despite the Ethiopian government’s capture of the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle on November 28, fighting between the TPLF and Ethiopian army units is believed to be continuing in parts of rural Tigray. Swaths of the region remain inaccessible to journalists and aid workers, making it hard to verify claims from all sides and leaving observers fearing that additional war crimes may yet be uncovered.
The federal government imposed a communications blackout when it began its military operation on November 4, but Mai Kadra has had its phone services restored for a little more than a week now. Al Jazeera has been able to communicate with a total of six survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims who were in Mai Kadra on November 9 and said the bloodletting went on unabated for nearly 24 hours. Solomon Chaklu said he had come to Mai Kadra from the town of Dansha to inspect a vehicle he had intended to buy.
“Police and TPLF youth militias went all over town searching for non-Tigrayans to kill,” Solomon told Al Jazeera on the phone. “At around 3pm, police and the youths with machetes came to the home we were hiding in,” he said.
“They dragged me outside, where I saw maybe 20 or 30 bodies of people who lay dying or were dead. I thought it was the end for me.”
A member of an Amhara militia pictured in Mai Kadra on November 21 [File: Eduardo Soteras/AFP]
The Ethiopian government maintains that a TPLF-backed Tigrayan youth militia dubbed the “Samri” singled out men like Solomon and Ferede, who are of ethnic Amhara descent. There have been long-standing tensions between Tigrayans and Amhara and militia members from the Amhara region neighbouring Tigray have taken part in fighting against the TPLF’s forces alongside the Ethiopian army.
Solomon said he, his friend Ferede Leu and a third man were asked to produce ID cards that would identify their ethnic group. The third man was left alone after he pleaded for his life in Tigrinya, the language of the assailants, according to Solomon.
“They tried to kill me,” he said. “I was surrounded by four men and one of them struck me in the head and back with his machete. I remember the others laughing as they watched him.”
When he regained consciousness, Solomon was informed that his friend, Ferede, had been hacked to death. He himself was bleeding profusely and the next day was taken to hospital in the city of Gonder some 260km (162 miles) away. Discharged after two weeks, he is currently recovering from multiple machete blows and a broken leg in his home in Dansha.
“Men turned into bloodthirsty beasts that day,” he said. Ethiopian state media reported that the massacre was the result of surviving TPLF units taking out their frustration on the town’s residents after having been routed in battles with the Ethiopian army.
Hadas Mezgebu, whose husband of 17 years was murdered in front of the family’s home in Mai Kadra, said she believed the attackers “had planned this for days”.
“They had asked to see people’s identity cards. When the killings started, they knew which homes to go to. They knew my husband was Amhara.”
On the day of the killings, Tilahun Getnet says he hid in the home of his half-brother, Tebekaw Zewdu, who had lived in Mai Kadra for nearly 30 years.
“We heard the Samri gang wasn’t targeting women and children, so we lay hidden just above the ceiling of my brother’s home for hours,” Tilahun said on the phone. “Twice they searched the home and left after only finding my brother’s wife and children.”
But the machete-wielding killers came back for a third search of the home and grew frustrated when they could not locate Tebekaw, 37. They began threatening his wife and son.
“When she refused to reveal where her husband was hidden, they seized their 11-year-old son and threatened to slaughter him if she didn’t reveal his husband’s whereabouts. That’s when my brother came out from hiding. They hacked him to death there, in front of his wife and son who screamed for mercy.”
Tilahun said his half-brother’s family has since moved out of Mai Kadra. “We can still hear the horrific sounds of that day when we dream at night.”
Thousands of people are thought to have been killed since fighting began in Tigray on November 4, with the United Nations saying that an estimated one million people have been displaced across the region, in addition to the nearly 50,000 who have fled to neighbouring Sudan.
In the Sudanese refugee camps, a number of Tigrayan refugees have told journalists they escaped after Tigrayan civilians in Mai Kadra had been killed by Ethiopian federal forces and members of an Amhara militia. Some said they had seen hundreds of bodies and described scenes of ethnically motivated attacks, including killings with knives and beatings.
Amid the divergent accounts, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael has dismissed accusations of his forces’ involvement in any mass killings as “baseless”, while Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said the federal forces have not killed a single civilian during their operation against the TPLF.
When probed by Al Jazeera, TPLF official Fesseha Tessema said the group is aware of killings involving Tigrayan victims. “The heinous crime committed against Tigrayans in Mai Kadra is just one among similar crimes that should be investigated by an international body,” he said.
Earlier this week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said there is “an urgent need” for independent monitoring of the developments in Tigray, warning that the “exceedingly worrying and volatile” situation “is spiralling out of control, with appalling impact on civilians”.
Amnesty, meanwhile, concursthere may be victims of additional atrocities among people of both ethnicities during the fighting, but its lead Ethiopia researcher said the organisation has no doubt as to who was behind the killings of November 9.
“We have had follow-up interviews with victims, who say the killers were provided support by armed local [TPLF] militia,” Fisseha Tekle, Amnesty’s lead Ethiopia researcher, told Al Jazeera. “Youth groups were armed with axes, machetes and knives and told to go home to home in search of Amhara men.”
While Ethiopian officials say the conflict is dwindling down and reject what they describe as outside “interference”, the United Nations continues to press the government to grant it access to people in war-torn areas to provide much-needed humanitarian aid.
WBC champion, Tyson Fury is eager to fight British boxer, Anthony Joshua and believes he can win him in three rounds.
“Well there you go everyone,” Fury began in a video posted on his Twitter handle a few hours after Joshua knocked out his mandatory challenger, Kubrat Pulev, in round nine on Saturday night.
“Anthony Joshua just s*** himself live on television. He got asked if he wants the fight and he went around the bushes and put his a* in the hedge. “I want the fight, I want the fight next. I’ll knock him out inside three rounds. He’s a big, bum dosser, I can’t wait to knock him out.”
In front of 1,000 fans with attendance limited due to coronavirus restrictions, Joshua ensured there was no repeat of a shock defeat in his first clash with Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019 as the 39-year-old Pulev was swotted aside.
Attention will now turn to the possibility of a much-anticipated clash with WBC champion Fury in 2021.
“I’m up for anything. Who wants to see Anthony Joshua box Tyson Fury in 2021?” Joshua asked the crowd to a chorus of cheers.
“I started this game in 2013 and I’ve been chasing the belts ever since.
“Whoever has got the belt, I would love to compete with them. If that is Tyson Fury then let it be Tyson Fury.”
Pulev had lost just once previously in his career to Wladimir Klitschko in 2014, but was outclassed by Joshua, who could have had victory wrapped up within three rounds. Anthony Joshua (R) lands a punch on Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev (L) during their heavyweight world title boxing match at Wembley Arena in north west London on December 12, 2020. ANDREW COULDRIDGE / POOL / AFP
Twice Pulev was given a count by the referee in round three after he was left flailing on the ropes by an explosive burst of punches from Joshua.
The IBF, WBA and WBO world champion then surprisingly took his foot off the accelerator to allow Pulev to hang in the fight.
But in round nine three uppercuts in quick succession put Pulev back on the canvas and this time he did not get back up in time as Joshua took his career record to 24-1.
An agreement in principle for Joshua and WBC champion Fury to finally go head-to-head has been in place since earlier this year.
“Starting from tomorrow, we make the Tyson Fury fight straight away. It’s the only fight to be made in boxing. It is the biggest fight in British boxing history,” said Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn.
“I know he (Joshua) wants it. He is the best heavyweight in the world, I promise you. He’ll break him down, he’ll knock him out.”
President Muhammadu Buhari celebrates the decisive victory of Nigerian-born boxer, Anthony Joshua, over Kubrat Pulev Saturday night.
The President says by retaining his IBF, WBA, and WBO titles, Joshua has given boxing lovers round the world, and particularly in Nigeria, something to cheer.
He recalls his meeting with the heavyweight champion in London earlier in the year, describing Anthony Joshua as a humble, well brought up young man, “who will still go places.”President Buhari wishes Joshua all the best in his dream fight against Tyson Fury, saying he has the prayers and goodwill of Nigerians going with him.
A throng of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to voice support for President Trump and protest the results of the election after the push to overturn them suffered a major court defeat.
Organizers planned demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court, Capitol and Department of Justice as part of the events Saturday, the second time a major march has been organized to back Trump since Election Day.
Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whom the president pardoned after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador, key-noted an event outside the Supreme Court.
“We’re in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country,” Flynn told those gathered. “We will win.”
Trump touted the demonstrations in a tweet, saying “thousands” were gathering in D.C. to march in support of his efforts to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. He also indicated he planned to see supporters.
“Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA,” the president tweeted.
Trump’s presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew over the National Mall as Trump departed the White House en route to the Army-Navy football game on Saturday afternoon at West Point.
Supporters gathered a day after the Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow for the president’s ongoing efforts to overturn election results.
The court rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to overturn election results in four key battleground states – Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia – with justices ruling that the Lone Star State did not have the legal right to litigate over how other states carry out their elections.
Trump has ripped the decision, saying the court “let us down.”
Demonstrators began gathering early Saturday morning in D.C., with vendors setting up stands selling Trump merchandise and flags as supporters filed into Freedom Plaza.
Organizers with Jericho March and Let the Church Roar prayer rallies plan to convene at a stage near the National Mall until 4 p.m. Saturday, local Nexstar affiliate WDVM reported.
According to the group’s webpage, the Jericho March is gathering in support of Trump and “election integrity, transparency, and reform to preserve free and fair elections in America for this generation and generations to come.”
Last month, Trump supporters gathered for the “Million MAGA March” on Freedom Plaza, where the president drove by in his motorcade to greet the thousands who turned out.
That evening, some supporters of the president and counterprotesters clashed in the streets amid the president’s continued refusal to concede the 2020 election.
The Washington Post reported that permits for Saturday estimate crowds up to 15,000 in size, though noted experts think the gathering will be significantly smaller than last month’s pro-Trump rally.
Since major news outlets called the 2020 election in favor of Biden last month, Trump and his allies have promoted unsupported claims of fraudulent activity and filed various lawsuits ultimately rejected in court.
The Electoral College will vote Monday to make Biden’s win official, paving the way for him to take office Jan 20.
A driver who ploughed into a crowd of 50 protesters in New York City on Friday has been charged with reckless endangerment, the city’s police department says.
Six people at the Black Lives Matter racial justice protest in Manhattan were hit by the vehicle.
A number were taken to hospital though none of the injuries were life-threatening, police said.
The woman driving was detained and questioned by police.
“After the initial investigation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the operator of the vehicle has been charged with reckless endangerment,” the New York City police department tweeted on Saturday.
Hundreds of students are feared missing after gunmen raided a secondary school in north-western Nigeria.
The attackers arrived on motorbikes and started shooting in to the air, causing people to flee, witnesses said.
They targeted the Government Science Secondary School – where more than 800 students are said to reside – in Katsina state on Friday evening.
More than 200 students have been rescued, while the army and air force have joined the search for the missing.
Residents living near the all-boys boarding school in the Kankara area told the BBC they heard gunfire at about 23:00 (22:00 GMT) on Friday, and that the attack lasted for more than an hour.
Security personnel at the school managed to repel some of the attackers before police reinforcements arrived, officials said.
In a statement on Saturday, police said that during an exchange of fire, some of the gunmen were forced to retreat. Students were able to scale the fence of the school and run to safety, they said.
However, witnesses said they saw a number of students being carried away.
One police officer was taken to hospital after being shot and wounded, police said.
Several local residents on Saturday said they had joined the police in searching for the students who remained missing, while many parents said they had withdrawn their children from the school.
“The school is deserted, all the students have vacated,” one witness, Nura Abdullahi, told AFP news agency.
“Some of the students who escaped returned to the town this morning, but others took a bus home,” he added.
Katsina is the home state of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently there for a week-long private visit.
The attack on Friday came two days after the kidnapping of a village leader and 20 others in another part of the state.
The US green lighted the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine late Friday, paving the way for millions of vulnerable people to receive their shots in the world’s hardest-hit country.
President Donald Trump immediately released a video on Twitter, where he hailed the news as a “medical miracle” and said the first immunizations would take place “in less than 24 hours.”
It comes as infections across America soar as never before, with the grim milestone of 300,000 confirmed deaths fast approaching.
The US is now the sixth country to approve the two-dose regimen, after Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
The move came earlier than expected, and capped a day of drama after it was widely reported that the White House had threatened to fire Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn if he did not grant emergency approval Friday.
Trump’s intervention reinserts politics into the scientific process, which some experts have said could undermine vaccine confidence.
The US is seeking to inoculate 20 million people this month alone, with long-term care facility residents and health care workers at the front of the line.
The government also said Friday that it is buying 100 million more doses of the Moderna vaccine candidate, amid reports the government passed on the opportunity to secure more supply of the Pfizer jab.
The purchase brings its total supply of Moderna doses to 200 million, enough to immunize 100 million people with the two-shot regimen that could be approved as early as next week.
Both frontrunners are based on mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid), a major victory for a technology that had never previously been proven.
Two other vaccine candidates stumbled Friday: France’s Sanofi and Britain’s GSK said their vaccine would not be ready until the end of 2021.
And in Australia, the development of a vaccine at The University of Queensland was abandoned Friday after clinical trials produced a false positive HIV result among subjects involved in early testing. The mixed news on the vaccine front comes as infections accelerated fast in North America and parts of Africa but started to stabilize in Europe and drop in Asia and the Middle East. Around the world more than 1.58 million lives have been lost to Covid-19 since it emerged in China a year ago, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
Brazil on Friday crossed 180,000 deaths, despite President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence the crisis was at the “tail end.”
But across the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, which has been praised for its handling of the virus, took its first tentative steps towards reopening its borders — with the tiny Cook Islands.
Countries which have approved the Pfizer-BioNTech jab meanwhile were preparing for roll out, as the World Health Organization warned of a potentially grim Christmas season.
Following Britain’s lead, the first vaccine shipments to 14 sites across Canada are scheduled to arrive Monday with people receiving shots a day or two later.
Israel, which accepted its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday, is targeting a rollout on December 27.
And Hong Kong said Friday it had struck deals for two vaccines — one from Pfizer and the other from Beijing-based Sinovac — with plans to launch a campaign in early 2021.
A new combined approach is also being tested by AstraZeneca, whose Russian operation said it would mix its shot with the locally-made Sputnik V vaccine in clinical trials.
Russia and China have already begun inoculation efforts with domestically produced vaccines that have seen less rigorous vetting.
EU countries are eagerly awaiting clearance on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, in late December and early January respectively.
As Europe’s surge eases off slightly, France is planning to lift a six-week-long lockdown from Tuesday but impose a curfew from 8.00 pm, including on New Year’s Eve.
Greece also announced new plans Friday to slash quarantine time for incoming travelers and reopen churches for Christmas.
But Switzerland, which is seeing a sharp resurgence in cases, announced a 7:00 pm curfew for shops, restaurants and bars.
While lockdowns have brought economic pain, boredom and myriad other woes, the effect on the environment has been more positive.
Carbon emissions fell a record seven percent in 2020 as countries imposed lockdowns, according to the Global Carbon Project.
The Kaduna State Government has warned that it will have no option than to shut down public spaces, including schools, markets, offices and places of worship if the current rate of Covid-19 infection persists.
There has been a steady raise in the rate of infection with 117 positive cases recorded on Friday.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday in Kaduna, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Mohammed-Baloni, said: “If the rate of spread retains or exceeds the current pace, then we will have no option than to recommend the temporary closure of public spaces, including schools, markets, offices and places of worship.”
Giving an update on the rising cases of the infection in the state, the commissioner appealed for urgent action by residents to help stop the spread of the disease and save lives.
“In absolute and relative terms, Kaduna State is now recording high infection figures reminiscent of the first wave of Covid-19 spread in April, May and June 2020.
“The lowering of the infection rate following the first wave encouraged the government to approve the recommendation of the state Covid-19 Taskforce for a significant reopening of the state.
However, we are saddened to report that the conditions that compelled the 75-day lockdown of the state are now being replicated,” the commissioner said.
According to her, “On 26th November, 2020, the state recorded 74 positive results from 531 samples.
“The quantum of infections since then suggest both high infection rates and the reality that a new wave of infections is spreading across the state.
“As at yesterday, 11th December, the state recorded 117 positive cases from 518 samples. This translates to almost one in four samples testing positive.”
She said the Ministry of Health expected some increase in infections after the reopening of schools, markets, places of worship and recreational centres, noting however, that the figures easily outstripped the estimated projection.
“While infections cut across age groups, this new wave especially affects those aged between 10 and 35.
“There is now a veritable danger to lives and livelihoods with the renewed Covid-19 infections.
“If the spread continues at the current rate, it may challenge and overwhelm the health system despite our efforts to improve the resilience of that sector.
“We cannot allow this to happen. Kaduna State contained the first wave because, among other measures, most citizens observed and practised the Covid-19 prevention protocols,” Baloni said.
She appealed to residents to recommit themselves to behaviours that protect them and their families from the infection by voluntarily complying with the Covid-19 protocols to avoid the worst case scenarios and limit the spread of the disease.
“We had previously observed the wholesale abandonment of any compliance with protective measures.
We cautioned against this and reminded citizens that the relaxation of lockdown measures did not mean that Covid-19 had been defeated or disappeared.
“The rising infection is a reminder that Covid-19 remains a potent danger to lives and livelihoods. Anyone who remembers the pains and sacrifices of the lockdown period will not want that to be repeated,” she stated.
The commissioner said that as the lead agency for implementing Covid-19 containment, the Ministry of Health will be availing the state Covid-19 Taskforce of all the relevant data to monitor and access the rate of voluntary compliance.
If the rate of spread retains or exceeds the current pace, then we will have no option than to recommend the temporary closure of public spaces, including schools, markets, offices and places of worship. But there is a less costly way out. And that involves citizens living their lives and conducting themselves in ways that do not spread the disease. That way, lives and livelihoods are protected, while public health officers try to contain and manage the disease without causing painful disruptions.
“I urge all citizens, businesses and organisations to appreciate the danger that we face and let us all work together to avoid emergency conditions. We have done it before. Let us do it again,” she said.
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Saturday ordered the immediate closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state.
The directive followed the abduction of an unspecified number of students of the Government Science Secondary School Kankara by bandits on Friday night.
The Governor gave the directive during his visit to the school on Saturday for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.
He was accompanied by his Deputy, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu, and other top government officials.
The Governor, during the visit, also met with the school officials, some parents, traditional and religious leaders as well as security officials.
The Governor pleaded with residents to be patient and show restraint and understanding, assuring them that the government will do every necessary thing to ensure the release of all the abducted students. He said security officials comprising the military, the police, and the Department of State Security had swung into action and were on the trail of the abductors.
Governor Masari further assured that both the Federal and the state governments were doing their best to bring an end to banditry and other debilitating crimes in the state.
According to him, the government is very firm in its resolve to be ruthless in any engagement with the bandits.
The Auditor-General Office of the Federation has said the Ministry of Petroleum Resources spent N116 million for the supply of pens, letter heads, papers and toners.
The findings of the Auditor General’s Office on mismanagement of public funds contained in its 2015 audit report was presented to the Senate Committee on Public Account by the AuGF on Thursday, December 10.
A breakdown of expenditure showed the disbursement of N14.5 million for the supply of Schneider biros, N46 million for letter head papers and N56 million for toners. The query issued to the Ministry by the AuGF reads in part:
“The contract for the supply of Schneider biros worth N14.5 million was split into smaller packages of less than N5 million each was awarded to four different company in order to circumvent the permanent secretary’s approval threshold of N5 million,”
“Similarly, the contract for the printing of the ministry’s letter head worth N46 million was also split and awarded to 11 different contractors. Also, the contract for the supply of toners worth N56 million was split and awarded to seven different contractors. The Permanent Secretary has been requested to explain this contravention of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.”
At the PAC session, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Mathew Urhoghide accused the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of frivolous expenditures and asked the representative of the Ministry, Godwin Akubo, to respond to the query by the Auditor General of the Federation.
In his response, the Permanent Secretary, however, justified the expenditure, insisting that no law was breached.
“The action of the ministry was a quick response to need of the various department in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources,” stated Mr Akubo.
“These awards followed normal rules and procedures. The contract were not split. They were awarded to the various contractors at different times when item were needed. The sum of N46.6 million used for printing of letter head papers followed due process and large sum of money is explained by the volume of the letter head papers produced for most of department as per attached different letter headed papers.” he added.
However, the Chairman of the Committee expressed dissatisfaction with the defence of the Perm. Sec and therefore directed his Committee Secretariat to document the money spent and asked for refund from the officers involved in the ministry.
American media house, Cable News Network, has shunned a summons issued on it to appear before the Lagos State Panel of Judicial Inquiry probing the alleged killing of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki tollgate, Lagos on the night of October 20.
The foreign media house contended that it does not fall under the territorial jurisdiction of the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel to warrant being summoned to appear before the panel.
The CNN had, in a two-part report backed with pictures and video clips, implicated the Nigerian Army in the alleged killing of peaceful protesters at the Lekki tollgate.
But the Federal Government condemned the CNN report, describing it as irresponsible, while the Nigerian Army denied shooting at or killing protesters.
In an objection filed through their lawyer, Olumide Babalola, the CNN, its reporter, Stephanie Busari, and her team, said the November 28 summons issued on them was invalid as they were not within the geographical territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and do not have any physical or business presence in Nigeria.
“We submit that since the objectors are not ‘persons in Nigeria’ as envisaged by the provision of Section 5(c) of the Tribunals of Inquiry Law Of Lagos State, Cap. T6, then this Honourable Tribunal is, with respect, bereft of territorial jurisdiction to compel their attendance to give evidence before it. “We rely on the decision in Joshua Dariye v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2015) LPELR-24398(SC), where the Supreme Court of Nigeria held that: Territorial jurisdiction implies a geographical area within which the authority of the court may be exercised and outside which the Court has no power to act,” Babalola said.
The lawyer urged the panel to withdraw the summons issued on his clients and to instead, watch the CNN report on the Lekki shootings. He said, “The objectors respectfully refer the tribunal to the link for the published version of the story as reported on their website, ‘How a bloody night of bullets quashed a young protest movement’ to aid the tribunal’s fact-finding mission.”
Also speaking on Saturday, Babalola said on the invitation of the panel to its private hearing room at the Lagos Court of Arbitration in Lekki, met the panel and reiterated CNN’s objection to the summons. He said the panel eventually agreed to excuse CNN from appearing to testify before it, noting that it would record the objection in its final report.
Bandits Friday night invaded Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, in Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State and kidnapped many students.
It was learnt that the bandits had operated at the Kankara town where they abducted some people before finally invading the boarding school at about 10:00 pm Friday.
President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in Daura, his hometown, for a week-long priThe incident forced the remaining students, who survived the invasion, to vacate the school in the night as parents were said to be busy searching for their children up till Saturday morning.
The bandits riding on motorcycles, according to a credible source in the school, came in large numbers and started shooting sporadically.
He said: “They abducted many of our students who were inside their hostels. I cannot say how many people were kidnapped, but they went away with many students.
“As we speak this morning (Saturday), our remaining students have left the school and their parents are here with us trying to know their whereabouts,” a source said.
Iran on Saturday executed Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and was implicated in anti-government protests, days after his sentence was upheld.
State television said the “counter-revolutionary” Zam was hanged in the morning after the supreme court upheld his sentence due to “the severity of the crimes” committed against the Islamic republic.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili had on Tuesday said Zam’s sentence was upheld by the supreme court “more than a month ago”.
London-based rights group Amnesty International, in a statement after his verdict was confirmed, described Zam as a “journalist and dissident”.
It said the confirmation marked “a shocking escalation in the use of the death penalty as a weapon of repression.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced the arrest of Zam in October 2019, claiming he had been “directed by France’s intelligence service”.
State television said he was “under the protection of several countries’ intelligence services.”
The official IRNA news agency said he was also convicted of espionage for France and an unnamed country in the region, cooperating with the “hostile government of America”, acting against “the country’s security”, insulting the “sanctity of Islam” and instigating violence during the 2017 protests.
At least 25 people were killed during the unrest in December 2017 and January 2018 that was sparked by economic hardship.
Zam, who was granted political asylum in France and reportedly lived in Paris, ran a channel on the Telegram messaging app called Amadnews.
Telegram shut down the channel after Iran demanded it removes the account for inciting an “armed uprising”.
Zam was charged with “corruption on earth” — one of the most serious offences under Iranian law — and sentenced to death in June.
State television aired an “interview” with him in July, in which he appears as saying he believed in reformism until he was detained in 2009 during protests against the disputed re-election of ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He also denied having instigated violence through his Telegram channel.
Amnesty has repeatedly called on Iran to stop broadcasting videos of “confessions” by suspects, saying they “violate the defendants’ rights”.
Zam is one of several people to have been put on death row over participation or links to protests that rocked Iran between 2017 and 2019.
Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler, was executed at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz in September.
The judiciary said he had been found guilty of “voluntary homicide” for stabbing to death a government employee in August 2018.
Shiraz and several other urban centres across Iran had been the scene of anti-government protests and demonstrations at the time over economic and social hardship.
Three young men were also sentenced to death over links to deadly 2019 protests, but Iran’s supreme court said last week that it would retry them over a request by their defence team.
Their sentences were initially upheld by a tribunal over evidence the judiciary said was found on their phones of them setting alight banks, buses and public buildings during the wave of anti-government protests.
Amnesty International said Iran executed at least 251 people last year, the world’s second-highest toll after China.
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