Global leaders were due to announce more ambitious plans to combat global warming on Saturday, on the fifth anniversary of the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement.
The Climate Ambition Summit, being held online, comes as the United Nations warns current commitments to tackle rises in global temperatures are inadequate.
Britain, the UN and France are co-hosting the summit, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson will open at 1400 GMT and which will be live-streamed at climateambitionsummit2020.org.https://d-4930840143503873098.ampproject.net/2011252111002/frame.html
China’s President Xi Jinping and France’s Emmanuel Macron are among the heads of state taking part, with speaking slots handed to leaders of countries that submitted the most ambitious plans.
These include Honduras, and Guatemala, which were both recently hit by hurricanes, as well as India, which is battling increasingly erratic weather patterns and air pollution.
Business figures set to speak reportedly include Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, which has committed to making its whole supply chain carbon neutral by 2030.
But major economies including Australia, Brazil and South Africa are absent. Australia has not committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 and has been accused of setting targets that are too weak.
Speakers will deliver short video messages, with organisers saying they will announce “new and ambitious climate change commitments” and there will be “no space for general statements”.
The 2015 Paris climate accord saw signatories commit to take action to limit temperature rises to “well below” 2.0 Celsius above pre-industrial levels and try to limit them to 1.5C.
But the UN warned this week that under current commitments, the Earth is still on course for a “catastrophic temperature rise” of more than 3.0C this century.
It warned this will create a crisis that will “dwarf the impacts of Covid-19” and has said current pledges to cut emissions to meet the Paris accord were “woefully inadequate”.
– ‘Moment of accountability’ –
Greenpeace called the summit — seen as a warm-up for the UN’s climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, next November — a “moment of accountability for leaders”.
Under the Paris deal’s “ratchet” mechanism, countries are required to submit renewed emissions cutting plans — termed Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs — every five years.
The deadline for this is December 31.
Countries are set to announce efforts to reduce national emissions, long-term strategies and financial commitments to support the most vulnerable.
More than 110 countries have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. China, the world’s biggest polluter, announced in September it plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.
The summit comes as EU leaders on Friday committed to the goal of reducing emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
Britain — out of the EU since January — this month announced it would seek to reduce emissions by 68 percent over the same period.
Johnson has presented plans for a “green industrial revolution” creating up to 250,000 jobs.
And before the summit opened, he committed to ending all direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas.
The last five years have been the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency, with concern at rising numbers of wildfires, storms and flooding.
The UN has said that the drop in emissions due to the global coronavirus pandemic is too small to halt the rising temperatures.
The United States, the world’s second-largest polluter after China, left the Paris Agreement under President Donald Trump who questioned the accepted science behind climate change.
Incoming US climate envoy John Kerry plans immediately to re-enter the accord and President-elect Joe Biden has set a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said Friday she had enough evidence to open a full probe into ongoing violence in Nigeria by both Islamist insurgents and security forces.
Fatou Bensouda’s announcement comes as violence continues to wreak havoc in the northeast, where at least 76 people were slaughtered by Boko Haram jihadists two weeks ago.
“Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met,” Bensouda said in a statement, issued at the ICC’s headquarters in The Hague.
ICC prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into the situation in Nigeria in 2010 but Bensouda now wants permission from judges to proceed to a full-blown formal probe.
Gambian-born Bensouda specifically referred to acts committed by Boko Haram, whose 11-year insurgency in the country have claimed the lives of at least 36,000 people.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.
Around two million others have been displaced, according to UN figures.
Boko Haram and its splinter groups have committed “acts that constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes” including murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and cruel treatment, Bensouda said.
But while the “vast majority” of crimes were committed by non-state perpetrators “we also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces committed acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes”, Bensouda said.
This included murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment as well as enforced disappearance and forcible transfer of the population and attacks directed at civilians. A full investigation by the ICC, set up in 2002 to try the world’s worst crimes, could eventually lead to charges over the violence in the oil-rich African nation, which has been fuelled by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Bensouda said Nigeria has made some effort to prosecute “mainly low-level captured” Boko Haram fighters, while military authorities told her they have “examined, and dismissed, allegations against their own troops”.
“I have given ample time for these proceedings to progress,” keeping in mind the ICC’s complementarity principle, which means it would only get involved in investigations and prosecutions if a member state was unable or unwilling to do so, she added.
“Our assessment is that none of these proceedings relate, even indirectly, to the forms of conduct or categories of persons that would likely form the focus of my investigations,” Bensouda said.
Boko Haram’s main group claimed responsibility earlier this month for the massacre of some 76 farm workers in an area outside Borno state’s capital Maiduguri, in which dozens of labourers were mowed down by gunmen on motorbikes.
Farm workers were also tied up and had their throats slit in the attack believed to be seeking revenge on villagers for seizing the group’s fighters and handing them over to the authorities.
The massacre provoked widespread international condemnation including by the head of the Catholic Church.
“I want to assure my prayers for Nigeria, where blood has unfortunately been spilled once more in a terrorist attack,” Pope Francis said at the Vatican during a weekly general audience earlier this month.
Meanwhile, state security sources said 10 Nigerian troops were killed on Monday in clashes with IS-linked jihadists in Borno state.
Fighting erupted when a team of soldiers stormed a camp of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Alagarno village in Damboa district.
Alagarno, which lies 150 kilometres (90 miles) from regional capital Maiduguri, is a stronghold of ISWAP, which split from the Boko Haram jihadist group in 2016 and rose to become a dominant force.
ISWAP has increasingly been attacking civilians, killing and abducting people on highways as well as raiding villages for food supplies.
Violence in Nigeria has spread to neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militant groups.
READ THE ICC PROSECUTOR’S FULL STATEMENT:
Today, I announce the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Nigeria.
As I stated last year at the annual Assembly of States Parties, before I end my term as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”), I intend to reach determinations on all files that have been under preliminary examination under my tenure, as far as I am able. In that statement, I also indicated the high likelihood that several preliminary examinations would progress to the investigative stage. Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met.
Specifically, my Office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of Boko Haram and its splinter groups have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder; rape, sexual slavery, including forced pregnancy and forced marriage; enslavement; torture; cruel treatment; outrages upon personal dignity; taking of hostages; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance; intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to education and to places of worship and similar institutions; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed groups and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and religious grounds; and other inhumane acts.
While my Office recognises that the vast majority of criminality within the situation is attributable to non-state actors, we have also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces (“NSF”) have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment; enforced disappearance; forcible transfer of population; outrages upon personal dignity; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such and against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; unlawful imprisonment; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and political grounds; and other inhumane acts.
These allegations are also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my Office, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. My Office will provide further details in our forthcoming annual Report on Preliminary Examination Activities.
The preliminary examination has been lengthy not because of the findings on crimes – indeed, as early as 2013, the Office announced its findings on crimes in Nigeria, which have been updated regularly since. The duration of the preliminary examination, open since 2010, was due to the priority given by my Office in supporting the Nigerian authorities in investigating and prosecuting these crimes domestically.
It has always been my conviction that the goals of the Rome Statute are best served by States executing their own primary responsibility to ensure accountability at the national level. I have repeatedly stressed my aspiration for the ability of the Nigerian judicial system to address these alleged crimes. We have engaged in multiple missions to Nigeria to support national efforts, shared our own assessments, and invited the authorities to act. We have seen some efforts made by the prosecuting authorities in Nigeria to hold members of Boko Haram to account in recent years, primarily against low-level captured fighters for membership in a terrorist organisation. The military authorities have also informed me that they have examined, and dismissed, allegations against their own troops.
I have given ample time for these proceedings to progress, bearing in mind the overarching requirements of partnership and vigilance that must guide our approach to complementarity. However, our assessment is that none of these proceedings relate, even indirectly, to the forms of conduct or categories of persons that would likely form the focus of my investigations. And while this does not foreclose the possibility for the authorities to conduct relevant and genuine proceedings, it does mean that, as things stand, the requirements under the Statute are met for my Office to proceed.
Moving forward, the next step will be to request authorisation from the Judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court to open investigations. The Office faces a situation where several preliminary examinations have reached or are approaching the same stage, at a time when we remain gripped by operational challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, on the one hand, and by the limitations of our operational capacity due to overextended resources, on the other. This is also occurring in the context of the pressures the pandemic is placing on the global economy. Against this backdrop, in the immediate period ahead, we will need to take several strategic and operational decisions on the prioritisation of the Office’s workload, which also duly take into account the legitimate expectations of victims and affected communities as well as other stakeholders. This is a matter that I will also discuss with the incoming Prosecutor, once elected, as part of the transition discussions I intend to have. In the interim, my Office will continue to take the necessary measures to ensure the integrity of future investigations in relation to the situation in Nigeria.
The predicament we are confronted with due to capacity constraints underscores the clear mismatch between the resources afforded to my Office and the ever growing demands placed upon it. It is a situation that requires not only prioritization on behalf of the Office, to which we remain firmly committed, but also open and frank discussions with the Assembly of States Parties, and other stakeholders of the Rome Statute system, on the real resource needs of my Office in order to effectively execute its statutory mandate.
As we move towards the next steps concerning the situation in Nigeria, I count on the full support of the Nigerian authorities, as well as of the Assembly of States Parties more generally, on whose support the Court ultimately depends. And as we look ahead to future investigations in the independent and impartial exercise of our mandate, I also look forward to a constructive and collaborative exchange with the Government of Nigeria to determine how justice may best be served under the shared framework of complementary domestic and international action.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC conducts independent and impartial preliminary examinations, investigations and prosecutions of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Since 2003, the Office has been conducting investigations in multiple situations within the ICC’s jurisdiction, namely in Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; the Central African Republic (two distinct situations); Kenya; Libya; Côte d’Ivoire; Mali; Georgia, Burundi Bangladesh/Myanmar and Afghanistan (subject to a pending article 18 deferral request). The Office is also currently conducting preliminary examinations relating to the situations in Bolivia; Colombia; Guinea; the Philippines; Ukraine; and Venezuela (I and II), while the situation in Palestine is pending a judicial ruling.
Prominent German news magazine Der Spiegel on Thursday named President Trump its “loser of the year,” the same day Time magazine named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its “Person of the Year.”
In an article titled “Der Verlierer des Jahres,” which translates as “The Loser of the Year,” the publication’s Washington bureau chief Roland Nelles and Berlin-based correspondent Ralf Neukirch described Trump as “a man who … was never concerned with the common good, but always with one thing – himself.”
“Nothing is normal under Trump,” the article added. “He refuses to admit defeat. Instead, he speaks of massive electoral fraud, although there is no evidence for it. The whole thing is not surprising. Trump’s presidency ends as it began. Without decency and without dignity.”
While several major news outlets declared Biden the projected winner of the election on Nov. 7, Trump has since refused to concede, repeating unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud as part of a Democratic attempt to steal the election from him.
Since the election, Trump’s legal team has launched a multistate legal battle challenging election results and claiming voting irregularities. Several of these lawsuits have been thrown out by courts, citing a lack of evidence.
The article came as Time published its selection of Biden and Harris as their top people of the year Thursday evening, noting the challenges facing the duo as they take on rapid coronavirus surges across the country, as well as Harris’s historic win as the first African American, first woman and first South Asian American to serve as vice president.
Germans have consistently shown unfavorable views of Trump, with a January poll from the Pew Research Centershowing that roughly 3 in 4 or more lacked confidence in the American president in Germany, a view shared by people in Sweden, France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Trump previously vied for Time’s “Person of the Year” title before receiving it himself in 2016, writing the year prior when German Chancellor Angela Merkel received the recognition that Merkel was “ruining Germany.”
“I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite,” he wrote in 2015.
The death of Dapo Ojora, a socialite and brother-in-law of former Senate President Bukola Saraki, has generated controversies.
Dapo, one of the sons of the boardroom guru, Otunba Adekunle Ojora, was said to have shot himself in the head Friday evening, The Street Journal quoted sources as saying.
It was reported that his death might be connected to the marital crisis with his wife, Patricia, a lawyer and an entrepreneur.
They started having a strained relationship a few years ago and they both decided to go their separate ways for undisclosed reasons.
“His marital woes were a huge blow to him especially because of the love he shared with his wife, Patricia. And much as he tried to put up a brave face, his marriage problems were too hard for him to handle as he couldn’t bear to lose his loving wife,”
The couple, however, reconciled last year when they hosted the crème de la crème to the wedding of their daughter, Tara, in their family house in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige has announced that Chadwick Boseman’s character of Black Panther will not be recast after the actor’s death following a long battle with cancer.
King T’Challa’s story on the dystopian sci-fi blockbuster is coming to an end along with that of Boseman, the man who brought him to life onscreen.
Ryan Coogler has manned the director’s chair for a sequel which is set to move forward with focus on the other characters introduced in the 2018 films.
That sequel is due in July 8, 2022, according to Feige’s remarks at Disney’s Investor Day conference.
“I want to acknowledge the devastating loss of a dear friend and a member of our Marvel Studios family. Chadwick Boseman was an immensely talented actor and inspirational individual who affected all of our lives both personally and professionally,” Feige said.
“His portrayal of T’Challa, the Black Panther, is iconic, and transcends any iteration of the character from any other medium in Marvel’s past. It is for that reason that we will not recast the character.”
“To honor the legacy that Chad helped us build with his portrayal of the King of Wakanda, we wanted to continue exploring that world and all the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film,” Feige added.
A 70-year-old Edo chief, Clement Garuba, has urged the state panel of inquiry for into police brutality to compel the police to compensate him after tear gas left him blind on January 13 this year.
Garuba stated that life had been difficult for him since he became blind due to the negligence of the police officers.
He said, “We were having a meeting in our village in Ekpesa community, in the Akoko-Edo Local Government Area when some policemen stormed the gathering and shot tear gas into my eyes. “The police also arrested my fellow chiefs and I and took us to the station where we were detained for three days.
“Before the incidents, I was seeing with my two eyes, going to the farm and taking care of my nine children and my wife but now, I can’t. I am suffering.”
He said he decided to approach the panel for compensation, as well as invite the police officers who detained him and his fellow chiefs, so that they could face the full wrath of the law.
US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have been chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2020.
“The Biden-Harris ticket represents something historic,” Time tweeted.
The Democratic pair beat three other finalists: frontline healthcare workers and Dr Anthony Fauci, the racial justice movement, and President Donald Trump, who lost the White House race.
Time has been choosing the year’s most influential person since 1927.
“For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year,” wrote Time’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.
Mr Biden and Ms Harris, who was not mentioned on Time’s initial shortlist, are yet to publicly comment on the announcement.
In 2016, Mr Trump, then also president-elect, received the same recognition from the magazine.
Every year, Time chooses a person, a group, an idea or an object that “for better or for worse” has had the most impact on the events over the 12 months.
In 2019, the publication expanded Person of the Year to include such categories as a Businessperson of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Athlete of the Year and the Guardians of the Year.
So, this year’s winners are:
Guardians of the Year:
Dr Anthony Fauci, a key member of the Coronavirus Task Force, and frontline health workers. “On the front line against Covide-19, the world’s health care workers displayed the best of humanity – selflessness, compassion, stamina, courage – while protecting as much of it as they could,” Time wrote
Porche Bennett-Bey, Assa Traoré, and racial-justice organisers “When George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in May, it was proof – if anyone needed it – that Black lives are still not treated as equal in America. In the aftermath of his death, a wave of outrage surged and was harnessed by organisers, both veteran and newly energized, to bring millions to the streets and spotlight the inequities in a world that claims to be far better than it is,” Time said
Businessperson of the Year:
Zoom’s founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan. “Zoom… became a lifeline for fostering community at a moment of acute isolation,” Time stated
Athlete of the Year:
LeBron James, US basketball star
Entertainer of the Year:
South Korean pop group BTS
Last year, Time’s Person of the Year was Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change. Thunberg, who was 16 at the time, was the youngest person to have won the nomination.
Heroes and villains: Previous winners
Pope Francis
In 2013, the world’s first pontiff from the Americas was chosen as Person of the Year.
Argentina’s Jorge Mario Bergoglio had become Pope Francis in March of that year, and had already made his mark, rejecting the glittering trappings of the role to focus on the poorest in society.
Vladimir Putin
In 2007, the title went to a man who Mr Trump has repeatedly said he admires: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, whether Time Magazine admires Mr Putin is less clear.
“TIME’s Person of the Year is not and never has been an honour. It is not an endorsement,” it wrote in an editorial explaining the decision that year.
“It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world – for better or for worse.”
Martin Luther King
The civil rights activist was named Person of the Year in 1963 – the same year he stood at the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his acclaimed “I Have a Dream” speech.
He was the first African American to grace the cover, and publically said later he saw it not simply as a personal victory, but a victory for the civil rights movement.
King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
Adolf Hitler
If there was ever a recipient to prove the claim that Person of the Year was not an “honour”, it was the choice for 1938.
Among other things, 1938 was the year Adolf Hitler “had stolen Austria before the eyes of a horrified and apparently impotent world”.
But it is the final line that is perhaps the most chilling: “To those who watched the closing events of the year it seemed more than probable that the Man of 1938 may make 1939 a year to be remembered.”
Wallis Simpson
image captionWallis Simpson, pictured with her husband, the Duke of Windsor
The first woman to be named what had been until then the “Man of the Year” was Wallis Simpson, the divorcee who had almost brought the British monarchy crashing to the ground.
She is still one of the few women to grace the cover alone. Others include Queen Elizabeth II, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.
“We’ve seen the character develop and grow over a period of time and it’s perfectly appropriate and OK for him to come back again with a great movie around him,” he said at the time, stressing that Indiana Jones did not have to be so action-oriented.
“To me, what was interesting about the character was that he prevailed, that he had courage, that he had wit, that he had intelligence, that he was frightened and that he still managed to survive.
“We are working on the script,” he said. “There will only be one Indiana Jones, and that’s Harrison Ford.”
The actor first appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), followed in 1984 by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, and in the fourth instalment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in 2008.
The fifth instalment has long been in the making, with several screenwriters coming and going, and was further slowed down by the outbreak of the global Covid pandemic.
At the Disney Investor Day announcement, the company also said it had plans for 10 Star Wars series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series to launch on Disney+. Also to debut directly on the subscription streaming service would be 15 live-action, Pixar and animated movies, it said.
Disney+ subscribers worldwide had reached 86.8 million, exceeding most forecasts when it was launched in November last year, it added.
The federal government has said health workers and vulnerable citizens will be the first beneficiaries of the 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered to the country in early next year.
The development was confirmed in a statement by the executive secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, during the presidential task force on COVID-19 press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, December 10.
Shuaibu stated yesterday that Nigeria is a member of COVAX, an international coalition under the WHO umbrella, adding that upon arrival of the vaccines, it will first be given to workers in the health sector and vulnerable citizens.
He said; “We are on course to access safe vaccine in the first quarter of 2021. We will be leveraging on the polio platform to ensure effective delivery of vaccines to our vulnerable population. We have established a supra-ministerial advisory committee to ensure a seamless administration. A technical group meets every week and has devised a risk communication plan to deliver safe vaccines to Nigerians.”
In another news earlier, Naija News reported that the federal government of Nigeria has put all COVID-19 isolation centres nationwide on a re-opening alert over the recent increases in daily records of Coronavirus infection. The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, made this known on Thursday while speaking at the presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing.
Some COVID-19 isolation centres located inside Karu and Asokoro general hospitals had earlier been closed following reduction in the number of patients.
Ahead of a possible second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Nigerian government has ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centres in the country.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, made this known at a Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19briefing on Thursday.
He said the move was to prepare the country for a possible second wave of the pandemic which some European countries are already battling with.
He said everyone had a role to play in the effort to prevent explosive spread of the infection in the country.
“We are seeing the increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last few days, which we have frequently alluded to in recent times. This rightly suggests that we may just be on the verge of a second wave of this pandemic.
To prepare ourselves, I have directed that all Isolation and Treatment Centres, which were hiterto closed due to reduced patient load, to be prepared for reopening and the staff complement put on alert,” he said.
Countries across Europe are seeing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases after successfully slowing outbreaks early in the year, declaring more cases each day now than they were during the first wave earlier in the pandemic.
England, Portugal and Hungary are among nations in a second lockdown as the new wave of infections sweeps through, shattering efforts and responses to keep the contagion at bay.
Cases in the U.S. are also smashing new records with over 15 million infections thus far.
Mr Ehanire urged the public to continue to adhere to all non-pharmaceutical measures to limit the spread of the virus.
“Until vaccines are available, our best bet is still the appropriate use of face masks, physical distancing, hand sanitizers and observance of respiratory hygiene, for prevention and control,” he said.
He advised strongly against throwing caution to the wind during the upcoming Yuletide
“We must not forget that Covid will not take a holiday. Please endeavour to protect yourselves and others and still obey the measures at Christmas,” he said.
In his remarks, the chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, said the team was fully aware of the global race and discussions around the vaccine.
He said technical machinery had been set up to ascertain the most effective, safe and prudent vaccine for Nigerians.
“One assurance we wish to give is that any vaccine that will be approved for Nigeria will be endorsed by the WHO and must be certified safe for Nigerians to use by our research and scientific bodies,” he said.
The Nigerian Army has cancelled the remaining activities in the ongoing Chief of Army Staff’s annual conference 2020 after a participant died in Abuja, on Tuesday.
The victim, identified as Maj. Gen. John Irefin, the General Officer Commanding, 6 Division, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, reportedly died of complications from COVID-19.
A senior military officer confirmed Irefin’s death to The PUNCH on Thursday, describing it as devastating.
The acting Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sagir Musa, in a statement on Thursday, said all the conference participants had been directed to immediately proceed on self-isolation in line with the protocol for COVID- 19.
The annual conference which started on Monday had the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and some dignitaries as virtual participants while the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi and a few others participated physically.
Those who attended the event physically including senior military officers, GOCs, principal military officers and guests were expected to go into self-isolation.
The statement read, “All the participants have been mandated to immediately proceed on self-isolation in line with the Federal Government’s protocol for COVID- 19 and to prevent any further spread of the disease.”
“However, due to the resurgence of the pandemic in the FCT, General Buratai will be unable to personally attend to, receive or meet you at the event. All inconveniences hereby regretted please,” the statement added.
The army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sagir Musa, failed to confirm the demise of Irefin as calls to his phone rang out.He had yet to respond to a WhatsApp message as of the time of filing this report.
New York(CNN Business)Time magazine has named Joe Biden and Kamala Harris 2020’s Person of the Year.
The two made history on November 7 when they beat Donald Trump in a bitter election that put him in a small club of presidents who served only one term. Harris on that day became the country’s first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect.
“For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year,” wrote Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan was named Businessperson of the Year. The video chat service spiked in popularity amid a health crisis that forced people to work and learn from home.
In the category of Guardians of the Year, Time named activists Assa Traoré, Porche Bennett-Bey and racial-justice organizers; frontline health workers fighting the pandemic; and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Time magazine’s tradition of singling out an especially influential person started in 1927, launching as Man of the Year. The name was later changed to Person of the Year, which is bestowed on an individual, a group, a movement or an idea that had the most influence in the past year. In 2006, Time named “You” as Person of the Year to recognize the millions of people who contribute to content on the internet. Not everyone who made the cut wielded positive influence. Adolf Hitler, for example, was Man of the Year in 1938. In 2019, Time picked young climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
The shortlist unveiled earlier Thursday was a clear reflection of the year’s most dramatic events. Biden, Trump, Frontline Health Care Workers and Dr. Fauci and the Movement for Racial Justice were all major characters in a tumultuous year that included a deadly pandemic, social unrest over racial injustices and a contentious election.
NBA star LeBron James was named Athlete of the Year and Korean pop group BTS was Entertainer of the Year, both of which were revealed on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday morning. The Person of the Year was introduced in a special prime time broadcast on the network, marking the first time that NBC has partnered with the magazine’s Emmy-winning Time Studios on coverage of this scale for Person of the Year.
Actors Issa Rae and Matthew McConaughey kicked off the hour-long, star-studded event that included appearances by Vanessa Bryant, John Cena, Yo Yo Ma, BTS and H.E.R. Bruce Springsteen presented the Person of the Year.
Time expanded its Person of the Year franchise last year by introducing four additional categories including Businessperson of the Year. The decision came after Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff bought Time in 2018 from magazine conglomerate Meredith Corp (MDP), which had acquired Time Inc. in 2017.
Time’s cover for Athlete of the Year features a painting of LeBron James by 14-year-old Tyler Gordon
The TV event is the third such broadcast partnership for Time Studios this year. In place of its annual TIME100 gala, Time revealed its list of the 100 most influential people in September with a TV special on ABC. Last week, Time named its first-ever Kid of the Year on a TV special that aired on Nickelodeon and CBS.
The former dictator, whose election defeat to Adama Barrow in December 2016 forced him to flee, was one of three from the West African nation on an updated list targeting ten people across the globe.
Britain on Thursday slapped sanctions on The Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh as it widened travel bans and economic sanctions for human rights abuses worldwide, AFP reports.
The former dictator, whose election defeat to Adama Barrow in December 2016 forced him to flee, was one of three from the West African nation on an updated list targeting ten people across the globe.
Jammeh, his wife Zineb, and the former director-general of the country’s National Intelligence Agency, Yankuba Badjie, are all now subject to asset freezes and a UK travel ban.
London said Jammeh was behind “inciting, promoting, ordering and being directly involved in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, kidnappings, torture, rape, as well as wider human rights violations” after he seized power in a coup in 1994.
Zineb Jammeh was sanctioned for the same reason, and for using charities as a cover for the illicit transfer of funds between herself and her husband. Both are already under similar sanctions from the United States.
Others on the list include three members of the Venezuelan military, and the speaker of the parliament of the Russian region of Chechnya as well as the region’s Terek Special Rapid Response Unit.
It is accused of extrajudicial killings and torture, and a crackdown on gay men that drew international condemnation.
In Pakistan, Anwar Ahmed Khan, a former Karachi police “encounter specialist” suspected of being behind more than 190 “hits” that led to more than 400 deaths, also faces restrictions.
“Today’s sanctions send a clear message to human rights violations that the UK will hold them to account,” said UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
Britain, which left the European Union in January, introduced its own sanctions regime in July, identifying 49 “notorious” individuals and organisations accused of human rights abuses.
The first included 25 Russians allegedly involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, and 20 Saudis suspected of involvement in the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was sanctioned in September in response to the disputed recent elections and crackdown on protesters.
There are now 65 people on the UK sanctions list and three organisations.
The government is coming under pressure to impose similar sanctions on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam over abuses by the police against pro-democracy protesters, AFP reports.
New Hampshire House Speaker Dick Hinch (R) died due to coronavirus complications, a medical examiner ruled Thursday, with the 71-year-old state lawmaker dying one week after being sworn in as Speaker.
Attorney General Gordon MacDonald (R) announced that the state’s chief medical examiner had determined “the cause of Speaker Hinch’s death was COVID-19.”
Hinch died on Wednesday, though the cause of his death was not initially revealed. The attorney general released the results of the autopsy after receiving authorization from the lawmaker’s next of kin.
Gov. Chris Sununu (R) has ordered flags in the state to fly at half-staff. “Speaker Hinch was a fierce defender of the New Hampshire Advantage, a close friend, and a respected public servant,” Sununu said in a statement. “His loss will be greatly felt by the people of this state, and I ask Granite Staters to join me in praying for his family during this incredibly difficult time.”
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) also mourned Hinch’s death while highlighting his record of public service. The New Hampshire Republican was starting his seventh two-year term when he died.
“Serving in our legislature – and especially in leadership positions as Speaker Hinch did – requires tremendous effort, all in essentially a volunteer capacity,” Hassan said in a statement. “Speaker Hinch was deeply committed to this service, and I am grateful for all he gave to our state and our country. I join all Granite Staters in mourning his loss.”
Hinch’s office announced the state lawmaker’s death on Wednesday night but did not give details, calling it an “unexpected tragedy,” local media reported. Further details on his diagnosis were not immediately available.
New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services said last week that it was investigating after several GOP lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19 after an indoor caucus meeting held on Nov. 20, the Concord Monitor reported at the time.
Hinch at the time confirmed “a very small number of people” tested positive, according to the newspaper, but did not specify how many or go into detail on which members had tested positive. Sununu later said that the meeting was “horribly managed,” according to a local NBC affiliate. He noted that “a lot” of attendees were not wearing masks or socially distanced.
The news of the meeting came just a day before the new legislature-comprising of 400 House members and 24 senators-was to be sworn in at an outdoor event. As a result, a number of lawmakers skipped the outdoor ceremony, The Associated Press reported.
The Netherlands has expelled two alleged Russian spies who were working in the country as diplomats, its intelligence service says.
They are accused of targeting the high-tech sector and building a “substantial network of sources” in the industry.
The two individuals were working for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Dutch officials said.
Russia described the accusations as “unfounded” and said the decision to expel its citizens was “provocative”.
The expelled Russians were accredited diplomats working from the country’s embassy in The Hague, Dutch officials said on Thursday. They have been declared persona non grata and must now leave the Netherlands.
Both were part of a “substantial espionage network” that was “recently rolled up”, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) said in a statement.
One of the individuals had “built a substantial network of sources, all of which are or have been active in the Dutch high-tech sector,” the AIVD said.
They targeted companies dealing with artificial intelligence, semi-conductors and nanotechnology, the statement added. Nanotechnology is a field of research that involves studying and building things at the atomic and molecule scale, sometimes for use in the military.
Shortly after the announcement, Dutch Interior Minister Karin Ollongren said the Russian ambassador had been summoned to the foreign ministry.
Ms Ollongren said the newly uncovered spy network had “likely caused damage to the organisations where the sources are or were active and thus possibly also to the Dutch economy and national security
With President-elect Joe Biden set to be sworn into office in 41 days, precautions are being taken to prevent any infections among new White House staff.
Dozens of cases have been tied to the White House or people who spent time near President Trump over the past several months.The General Services Administration will deploy a team to “thoroughly clean and disinfect” every part of the White House before Biden settles into the Oval Office, Politico reports.A private contractor will also provide “disinfectant misting services” to remove any lingering droplets.
The White House will be thoroughly disinfected following President Trump’s exit in January and before the incoming Biden administration moves in to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Trump administration has seen its fair share of COVID-19 infections as it has continued to hold events amid a global pandemic that often disregard its own public health guidance on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Dozens of cases have been tied to the White House or people who spent time near President Trump over the past several months, including members of Trump’s family, campaign, administration and staff. The president himself announced in October he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, and he was treated at Walter Reed Medical Center.
The virus that causes COVID-19 mostly spreads through respiratory droplets or small particles produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes. Droplets can also land on surfaces and objects and be transferred by touch, although it’s not the primary way the virus spreads, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus can survive on surfaces for hours and possibly days.
With President-elect Joe Biden set to be sworn into office in 41 days, precautions are being taken to prevent any infections among the new White House staff.
The General Services Administration will deploy a team that will “thoroughly clean and disinfect” every part of the White House touched by human hands, including furniture, doorknobs, handrails and light switches, before Biden settles into the Oval Office, Politico reports.
A private contractor will also provide “disinfectant misting services” to remove any lingering droplets.
The Biden team also plans to have a skeleton staff working onsite with the majority of staff working remotely from home.
Biden has made an effort to strictly adhere to public health guidelines outlined by the CDC over the course of the campaign and following his victory in the presidential election. He has consistently stressed the importance of social distancing and mask-wearing to the public as the outbreak in the U.S. continues to rage on.
Incoming second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, is set to join the faculty of Georgetown Law in January.
The law school, the nation’s largest, announced that Emhoff will serve as a distinguished visitor from practice, “drawing in part on his deep expertise in media and entertainment matters to teach related coursework, starting with ‘Entertainment Law Disputes’ in the upcoming spring semester.” He will also serve as a distinguished fellow of Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy.
“I am delighted that Douglas Emhoff will be joining our faculty,” said Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor. “Doug is one of the nation’s leading intellectual property and business litigators, and he has a strong commitment to social justice. I know our students will greatly benefit from his experience and insight, and I am eagerly looking forward to his arrival.”
Emhoff is an entertainment litigator with decades of legal experience. He became a partner at DLA Piper in 2017, though he took a leave of absence from the firm after Harris was tapped as President-elect Joe Biden’s running mate and will permanently leave the firm prior to Inauguration Day. “I’ve long wanted to teach and serve the next generation of young lawyers,” Emhoff said. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the Georgetown community.”
The Biden transition did not respond to a request for comment regarding the Emhoff’s role.
Emhoff will not be the only White House spouse to hold a teaching job during the new administration. Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, is set to continue teaching classes at Northern Virginia Community College.
Prominent Black Lives Matters activists and celebrities have written to Nigeria’s president demanding justice over the treatment of people during protests against police brutality.
The group, which includes singer Alicia Keys and campaigner Greta Thunberg, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to free jailed protesters.
They also called for a “transparent investigation” into the alleged killing of protesters by armed forces.
“We cannot stay silent,” they said.
Witnesses say they saw soldiers open fire on protesters in Lagos on 20 October after weeks of protests, which began against the much-hated police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), but then morphed into greater calls for better governance.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, your people sought to bring peace and justice to their land, and they made Africa and its diaspora proud in doing so,” the letter to President Buhari said.
“Yet their peaceful requests were met with state-sanctioned violence and suppression, as your administration meted out unwarranted force against its own unarmed citizens.”
The letter was organised by #BlackLivesMatter movement co-founder Opal Tometi, and timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day.
Other signatories included actors Kerry Washington, Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo, as well as writers Afua Hirsch, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Naomi Klein.
“As people who have supported the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and throughout the diaspora, we cannot be silent when similar atrocities take place in African countries,” the letter said.
“We demand respect for the Nigerian people, especially as they engage in their constitutional right to protest grave injustices.”
As well as demanding the release of all jailed protesters, activists and journalists, the signatories demand that all soldiers and security officials responsible for the alleged shooting at Lekki Toll Gate on 20 October are held to account, and that the ban on peaceful protests is lifted.
A judicial panel has been set up in Lagos to investigate both events at Lekki and the activities of Sars. While it promises neutrality and justice, some protesters say they fear government retribution if they speak out.
Since the protests, a number of activists say they have been targeted by the authorities, the BBC’s Mayeni Jones reports. Some have had their bank accounts frozen by the Nigerian Central Bank and some have been detained without charge, before being eventually released.
A former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Force Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, collapsed during the resumed hearing in his N2bn money laundering trial on Thursday, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The sitting was scheduled for the hearing of the defendant’s no-case submission, following the close of the prosecution’s case with nine witnesses on Wednesday.
The defence elawyer, Anayo Adibe, was briefing the judge, Justice Okon Abang, that his team was yet to receive the records of proceedings requested from the court’s registry when Maina’s collapse attracted attention from from the dock.
Prison officials immediately rushed to attend to him.
Justice Abang said the court would rise for about five minutes.
Canada’s health regulator has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, the day after the UK became the first country in the world to roll it out.
Health Canada called the authorisation a “milestone” in the country’s fight against coronavirus.
The agency said the vaccine met its “stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is set to receive up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine this month.
In total, the Canadian government has purchased 20 million doses of the vaccine – enough to inoculate 10 million people – with the option to buy 56 million more.
Health Canada said it approved the vaccine on Wednesday “after a thorough, independent review of the evidence”.
The announcement clears the way for doses to be delivered and administered across the country. Officials say Canada has 14 distribution sites equipped with the necessary cold storage for the vaccine.
Healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, will be among the first to receive it.
The vaccine has initially been authorised for use on people aged 16 and over.
Pfizer Canada said the approval marked “a historic step forward in our efforts to reduce the number of Canadians suffering from this devastating virus”.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford reacted to the news on Twitter, saying the province would be ready to deliver and administer doses “as soon as vaccines arrive on Ontario soil”.
“Friends, the light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter,” he wrote.
An official with Health Canada said the regulator was looking into reports of allergic reactions to the vaccine in Britain, to see if there were any implications for Canada, according to Reuters news agency.
Professor Stephen Powis, medical director for the NHS in England, said this was “common with new vaccines”, describing it as a precautionary measure.
Canada also has contracts with several other vaccine manufacturers.
Mr Trudeau has said most Canadians should be vaccinated by September 2021.
The People’s Vaccine Alliance – a network of organisations including Amnesty International, Oxfam and Global Justice Now – claims Canada has ordered enough vaccines to protect each Canadian five times, if all the vaccines are approved for use
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