Mohammed Adamu, Inspector-General of Police, has said that his officers did not use force on peaceful #EndSARS protesters, rejecting a report from Amnesty International that over the issue.He made the denial in a statement on Friday.
Adamu said, “During the protests, officers of the Force used legitimate means to ensure that the protests were carried out in a peaceful manner and in most cases, physically protected and walked side-by-side with the protesters.
“Even when the protests turned violent in some parts of the country, the officers still maintained utmost restraint and did not use excessive force in managing the situations.
“Available Reports show that 22 police personnel were extra-judicially killed by some rampaging protesters and scores injured during the protests. Many of the injured personnel are in life-threatening conditions at the hospitals.
“205 police stations and formations including other critical private and public infrastructure were also damaged by a section of the protesters.
“Despite these unprovoked attacks, our police officers never resorted to use of unlawful force or shooting at the protesters as alleged in the report.
“It is also beggars imagination that Amnesty International failed to mention or pay tribute to Police officers who were gruesomely murdered during the protests while serving their fatherland.
“The Force decries the discriminatory tendencies exhibited by Amnesty International as seen in the report. One wonders if in the estimation of Amnesty International, police officers are not also human beings equally entitled to the protection of their fundamental rights to life and dignity of human person.”
A study of dog DNA has shown that our “best friend” in the animal world may also be our oldest one.
The analysis reveals that dog domestication can be traced back 11,000 years, to the end of the last Ice Age.
This confirms that dogs were domesticated before any other known species.
Our canine companions were widespread across the northern hemisphere at this time, and had already split into five different types.
Despite the expansion of European dogs during the colonial era, traces of these ancient indigenous breeds survive today in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
The research fills in some of the gaps in the natural history of our close animal companions.
Dr Pontus Skoglund, co-author of the study and group leader of the Ancient Genomics laboratory at London’s Crick Institute, told BBC News: “Dogs are really unique in being this quite strange thing if you think about it, when all people were still hunter gatherers, they domesticate what is really a wild carnivore – wolves are pretty frightening in many parts of the world.
“The question of why did people do that? How did that come about? That’s what we’re ultimately interested in.”
To some extent, dog genetic patterns mirror human ones, because people took their animal companions with them when they moved. But there were also important differences.
image captionThe Rhodesian Ridgeback retains ancestry from an ancient African dog lineage
For example, early European dogs were initially diverse, appearing to originate from two very distinct populations, one related to Near Eastern dogs and another to Siberian dogs.
But at some point, perhaps after the onset of the Bronze Age, a single dog lineage spread widely and replaced all other dog populations on the continent. This pattern has no counterpart in the genetic patterns of people from Europe.
Anders Bergström, lead author and post-doctoral researcher at the Crick, said: “If we look back more than four or five thousand years ago, we can see that Europe was a very diverse place when it came to dogs. Although the European dogs we see today come in such an extraordinary array of shapes and forms, genetically they derive from only a very narrow subset of the diversity that used to exist.”
An international team analysed the whole genomes (the full complement of DNA in the nuclei of biological cells) of 27 ancient dog remains associated with a variety of archaeological cultures. They compared these to each other and to modern dogs.
The results reveal that breeds like the Rhodesian Ridgeback in southern Africa and the Chihuahua and Xoloitzcuintli in Mexico retain genetic traces of ancient indigenous dogs from the region.
image captionThe New Guinea singing dog is one representative of a lineage found in dogs across Asia and Oceania
The ancestry of dogs in East Asia is complex. Chinese breeds seem to derive some of their ancestry from animals like the Australian dingo and New Guinea singing dog, with the rest coming from Europe and dogs from the Russian steppe.
The New Guinea singing dog is so named because of its melodious howl, characterised by a sharp increase in pitch at the start.
Greger Larson, a co-author from the University of Oxford, said: “Dogs are our oldest and closest animal partner. Using DNA from ancient dogs is showing us just how far back our shared history goes and will ultimately help us understand when and where this deep relationship began.”
Dogs are thought to have evolved from wolves that ventured into human camps, perhaps sniffing around for food. As they were tamed, they could then have served humans as hunting companions or guards.
The results suggest all dogs derive from a single extinct wolf population – or perhaps a few very closely related ones. If there were multiple domestication events around the world, these other lineages did not contribute much DNA to later dogs.
Dr Skoglund said it was unclear when or where the initial domestication occurred. “Dog history has been so dynamic that you can’t really count on it still being there to readily read in their DNA. We really don’t know – that’s the fascinating thing about it.”
Many animals, such as cats, probably became our pets when humans settled down to farm a little over 6,000 years ago. Cats were probably useful for controlling pests such as mice, that were attracted by the waste generated by dense settlements. This places their domestication in cradles of agriculture such as the Near East.
“For dogs, it could almost have been anywhere: cold Siberia, the warm Near East, South-East Asia. All of these are possibilities in my mind,” Pontus Skoglund
Covid-19: Nearly 100,000 catching virus every day – study
Nearly 100,000 people are catching coronavirus every day in England, a major analysis suggests.
The study, by Imperial College London, says the pace of the epidemic is accelerating and estimates the number of people infected is now doubling every nine days.
The authors say we are at a “critical stage” and “something has to change”.
The UK government is sticking to its regional strategy in England.
Experts are warning that we are fast approaching the peak in infections seen in the spring.
The React-1 study is highly influential because it is the most up-to-date assessment of Covid-19 in the country, with the last swabs taken only on Sunday and nearly 86,000 volunteers taking part.
It shows cases are rising in every age group and in every region of England.
While cases are currently highest in the North, infections are surging more rapidly in the South.
The study compared the latest swabs collected between 16 and 25 October with the last round of swabs, between 18 September and 5 October.
It suggests:
The number of people infected has more than doubled since the last round, with one in every 78 people now testing positive.
The hardest hit area is Yorkshire and the Humber, where one every 37 people has the virus, followed by the North West region.
Three times as many people aged 55-64 are infected and twice as many over 65s.
Overall, the number of people infected is doubling every nine days.
The South East, South West, east of England and London all have an R above 2.0. London has an estimated R of 2.86.
Cases are spiking in young people in the South West in a repeat of the pattern seen in northern England just over a month ago.
96,000 people are now catching the virus every day.
Prof Steven Riley, one of the authors, said he was “really disappointed” when the data started coming in and said it meant the “current measures are not sufficient”.
“There has to be a change, the rate of growth is really quite rapid, one way or another there has to be a change before Christmas,” he said.
He argued this could be either the general public following the rules more closely or government imposing tougher restrictions on our lives.
“If we are going to consider at some point over the winter something much more stringent it becomes a question of timing. I think these results do argue for something sooner rather than later,” Prof Riley said.
The U.S. says it supports the Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee as the next WTO Director-General.
The United States’ government has explained why it is opposed to the selection of former Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The U.S. made its position known late Wednesday in a statement by the Office of the US trade representative on the WTO director-general selection process.
The United States said it supported the selection of Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee as the next WTO Director-General because she is “a bona fide trade expert who has distinguished herself during a 25-year career as a successful trade negotiator and trade policy maker.”
The statement said the minister has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organization.
“This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade,” the statement said.
“There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations.
Although the U.S. did not mention Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, it however said that “The WTO is badly in need of major reform. It must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field.”
Setback
This newspaper reported Wednesday that although she won the overwhelming support of the World Trade Organization’s 164 members, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s ambition suffered a setback as the United States failed to endorse her for the top job.
The former Nigerian minister had moved a step closer to becoming the first woman and the first African to be director of the global trade watchdog as she secured the support of a key group of trade ambassadors in Geneva.
But the U.S. raised last-minute objections to the process by which the new director general was being picked. A spokesperson for the WTO on Wednesday said Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy would be put to a meeting of the body’s governing general council on November 9.
The Osun State Government has relaxed the 24-hour curfew earlier imposed across the State.
The curfew will now run from 8:00pm to 6:00am daily, starting from Thursday, October 29.
Security operatives will still remain on the streets to enforce the new curfew directive, with a view to further maintaining law and order.
Also, all motorcycle operators will now operate from 6:00am to 8:00pm daily as earlier announced. This will subsist even after the curfew is completely lifted.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Wole Oyebamiji on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Osun government, however, effective from today, Thursday, October 29, said it will arrest, investigate and prosecute anyone found to be in possession of any looted item.
The state government appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari and all the security agencies for their various roles in ensuring that normalcy and peace returned to the State.
Oyebamiji also commended the residents and citizens of the State for their show of understanding and cooperation in the last five days of the curfew.
Oyebamiji said, “Government also commends those who took advantage of the amnesty period to return looted items in line with the Omoluabi ethos for which we are known.
“Whistle Blowers could still reach out to us on 08187187678 for information on looted items.”
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), says the families of #EndSARS protesters killed by soldiers at the Lekki toll gate are afraid to speak out because they “understand the environment under which we operate”.
Falana spoke on Wednesday at an ‘#EndSARS Zoom Meeting Global’ hosted by Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore.
At the virtual meeting , Falana urged Nigerians and the international community not to believe the explanations offered by the Nigerian Army on the Lekki shootings.
The Nigerian Army, after an initial denial, yesterday, admitted that its operatives were at the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.
The military authorities also claimed they were invited by the Lagos State Government, noting that they acted within the rules of engagement.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, however, said the army has “a history of lies, fraud and deception” while making reference to the Shiites incident of December 2015.
Falana said, “Nobody should believe the military because it has a history of lies, fraud and deception.
Femi Falana (SAN)
“Just in December 2015, the same Chief of Army Staff, General (Tukur) Buratai claimed that there was a traffic jam in Zaria and the big man wanted to move and because of that traffic, he got soldiers from the first division in Kaduna to mow down Shiites.
“And what was the explanation? That the Shiites wanted to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff…and about six or seven persons died.
“But in the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government, we were told that indeed 347 Nigerians were killed by the military. No autopsy, no postmortem, nothing was done. Their bodies were taken away in the dead of the night and given a mass burial.
“And people will ask you, if anybody lost his child in Lekki, why have they not come up? Who has come up in the case of Zaria? Because you must understand the environment under which we operate.
“By the way, some of those injured in Lekki had to forcefully discharge themselves because they were told in the hospital that they were going to be held liable for the riot in town. And so, everybody had to move.
“But as of today, the governor of Lagos State has admitted that two people lost their lives. The circumstances would have to be explained later but those two were among those shot by the soldiers.”
Falana also stressed that the military has no business enforcing curfew under the Nigerian laws.
“We are involved in the investigation and we are going to unravel the entire mystery surrounding the attack in Lagos,” he insisted.
The Lekki attack has been condemned by both local and global civil rights personalities and organisations including Amnesty International which claimed at least 10 protesters were killed by the Nigerian forces at the Lekki toll gate.
Turkey’s Erdogan urges French goods boycott amid Islam row
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Turks to boycott French goods amid a row over France’s tougher stance on radical Islam.
In a televised speech, he urged world leaders to protect Muslims “if there is oppression against Muslims in France”.
Mr Erdogan has angrily criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for pledging to defend secularism against radical Islam.
It comes after a teacher was killed for showing Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
Samuel Paty was beheaded on 16 October by 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov outside Paris. France “will not give up our cartoons”, President Macron said earlier this week.
Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are widely regarded as taboo in Islam, and are offensive to many Muslims.
But state secularism – or laïcité – is central to France’s national identity. Curbing freedom of expression to protect the feelings of one particular community undermines unity, the state says.
Mr Erdogan called for the boycott in a televised speech on Monday.
“Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don’t buy them,” he said in the capital Ankara.
He said Muslims are now “subjected to a lynch campaign similar to that against Jews in Europe before World War II”, adding that “European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign”.
It came after Mr Macron pledged to defend secularism and tackle radical Islam in the wake of the killing of Mr Paty.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.35.13/iframe.htmlmedia captionRallies in Paris, Toulouse, Lyon and other French cities in support of Samuel Paty
France has Western Europe’s largest Muslim population, and some accuse the authorities of using secularism to target them.
European leaders have come out in support of France. Germany expressed “solidarity” with Mr Macron after the Turkish president’s comments, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert calling the remarks “defamatory” and “completely unacceptable” and foreign minister Heiko Maas calling Mr Erdogan’s personal attacks “a particular low point”.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands “stands firmly with France and for the collective values of the European Union”, while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also expressed his “full solidarity” with Mr Macron.
“Personal insults do not help the positive agenda that the EU wants to pursue with Turkey,” he wrote in a tweet.
A placard placed in a supermarket in Amman, Jordan tells people that French products are being boycotted
Citing Turkey’s statistical institute, Reuters news agency reports that France is the 10th biggest source of imports into Turkey. The French company Renault is reportedly one of the leading car brands by sales in the country.
Car ownership is booming all over the world with an estimated 1.4bn vehicles on the roads, a number that’s expected to reach around two billion by 2040.
Much of that growth is happening in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In their three-year analysis, researchers found that regulations on car imports in the majority of the 146 countries they studied were “weak” or “very weak”.
“What we can say is that of those 14 million vehicles up to around 80% are not roadworthy and don’t meet a vehicle emission standard that is called Euro 4,” said Rob de Jong, from Unep, one of the report’s authors.
The Euro 4 car standard came into force in Europe in January 2005.
“That means that those vehicles emit 90% more emissions because they are not meeting this minimal standard,” said Mr de Jong.
image captionUsed Chinese cars being made ready for export to Africa
According to the authors, these cars are both “dangerous and dirty.”
They believe these imports are responsible for increased levels of road accidents in many poorer African and Asian countries. The cars are also pumping out fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, which are major sources of air pollution in many cities.
“In 2017, the average age of a diesel vehicle imported into Uganda was over 20 years old,” said Jane Akumu, also from Unep.
“This is the same story for Zimbabwe. In fact, around 30 countries of Africa do not have any age limit on cars. So, any kind of car of any kind of age, can come in.”
As well as failing to meet road safety and environmental standards, a significant number were tampered with and had important equipment removed.
“They cut out catalytic converters, because the platinum value is worth $500. And they put in a piece of steel pipe and weld it back in,” said Rob de Jong.
“They have illegally removed the airbags, because they have a value in Europe, they have illegally removed the anti-lock brake system because it has a value and is being sold on the black market.”
Of the vehicles in the report, more than 54% came from Europe. Many were exported through the Netherlands.
The Dutch authorities are concerned about the trade and want action taken at the European level.
image captionCars on the quay at a port in Morocco; the country has banned imports of vehicles more than five years old
“The Netherlands cannot address this issue alone,” said Stientje van Veldhoven, the Netherlands minister for the environment.
“Therefore, I will call for a coordinated European approach, and a close cooperation between European and African governments, to ensure that the EU only exports vehicles that are fit for purpose, and compliant with standards set by importing countries.”
The growing realisation of the dangers posed by these cars has seen several importing countries stiffen their regulations.
Morocco only permits cars less than five years old to be imported. Kenya also has an age limit of eight years for imported cars.
On a regional level, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), representing 15 countries, has set cleaner fuel and vehicle standards from January 2021.
But to really deal with the issue will require action at both ends of the supply chain.
“On one hand, I think it’s unethical that these developed countries export vehicles that are not roadworthy on their own roads,” said Rob de Jong.
“On the other hand, why have the importing countries been waiting so long to put in place some minimum standards?
“So I think the onus is not only on the exporting country, it’s really a joint responsibility
Coronavirus: New lockdown for Germany as France awaits decision
Germany will have a November lockdown but schools and shops will stay open, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, calling for a “major national effort” to fight coronavirus.
Social contacts will be limited to two households, and bars, catering and leisure facilities will shut.
France is also expected to announce new lockdown measures in the coming hours.
Covid daily deaths have risen above 500 there and officials say everything must be done so it “does not overwhelm us”.
EU special adviser Prof Peter Piot has warned that some 1,000 Europeans are now dying every day from the virus.
Night curfews are in force in several countries, including for 46 million people in France. However, one minister has complained that they have failed to halt social interactions.
“[The curfew] has simply shifted them – instead of getting together at 21:00, people meet up at six,” the unnamed minister was quoted as saying.
The German government is keen to enable families and friends to meet at Christmas, but daily infections have soared to a new high of 14,964, with 85 more deaths reported in the latest 24-hour period.
Ireland imposed tight measures last week with the aim of reopening before Christmas and Italy shut cinemas and gyms this week in an attempt to “save Christmas”. Now the UK government is under pressure to act too.
A broad but limited German lockdown will now start on Monday 2 November, under terms agreed during a video conference involving Mrs Merkel and the 16 state premiers:
Schools and kindergartens will remain open
Social contacts will be limited to two households with a maximum of 10 people and tourism will be halted
Bars will close and restaurants will be limited to takeaways
Tattoo and massage parlours will shut
Smaller companies badly hit by the lockdown will be reimbursed with up to 75% of their November 2019 takings
Mrs Merkel and the state premiers are expected to reconvene on 11 November to reassess the situation
“We have to act now,” the chancellor explained, to avoid a national emergency.
Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the new Director-General at the World Trade Organization. She is the first woman, and the first Africa, to lead the institution.
Today’s announcement that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is to be the new director-general of the World Trade Organization is a tremendous boost for Africa and lines her up for one of the toughest jobs in the international system.
She will have to lead the charge for a revival of multilateralism, in the negotiating chambers of the WTO and for a better deal for developing economies, as well as for the practical matter of how reforming trade and patent rules can allow the distribution of life saving vaccines and therapeutics as the corona virus pandemic rips across the world on its second wave.
As the first woman and African to head the trade body, Okonjo-Iweala has shattered a couple of ceilings at the same time. She also has a chance to put Africa’s plans to build the world’s biggest free trade area on the top table, pointing to the productive and market opportunities on the continent.
At the same time, she has won the race for the job from hell. That much was clear when her predecessor Brazil’s Robert Azevêdo quit the post early after years of frustration at the logjams in negotiation on reforming the WTO.
Those negotiations have been made harder still by the eruption of a trade war between the US and China alongside sporadic outbreaks of economic nationalism across the globe.
Surely this must be the worst time to take over an organization dedicated multilateral trade agreements, the Africa Report asked Okonjo-Iweala during the campaign:
“Multi-lateralism has never been needed more than now. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that this is the time we need to act in solidarity to have multilateral solutions, because there are simply some things in the world that bilateral or even sub-regional solutions cannot solve.”
On the distribution of vaccines and drugs to fight the pandemic, Okonjo-Iweala said she would prioritize open access: “ Being involved in COVID-19 and vaccines now as the chair of GAVI and an envoy on the Act accelerator, I’m seeing it from the front lines and we want to make sure that we don’t have a situation where access to vaccines for other countries where they are not made is blocked … The world is so interconnected now that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and no country is safe until all countries are safe.”
This, she acknowledged, will take tough negotiations with the drugs companies and with national governments but she insisted it would take top priority: “This is an area where we really need to think through the trade regime and the rules that will govern these kinds of products, whilst respecting country’s desires to do a minimum for their security.”
Early votes in the 2020 US presidential election hit 69.6 million on Tuesday, according to the United States Election Project.
This represents more than half of the total 137 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.
The data came in the “2020 General Election Early Vote Statistics” published on the website of the body, which serves as an information source for the country’s electoral system.
Many early voters interviewed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday said the corona virus pandemic informed their decision to vote ahead.
Others cited the “chaos and long wait” on queues on Election Day as the reasons for their decision.
A breakdown of the early vote figure shows that 46.5 million ballots were cast through mail and 23.1 million through in-person voting.
The Director of US Elections Project, Prof. Michael McDonald, described the development as good news, citing initial doubt about election officials’ ability to conduct the election during the pandemic
“There were many concerns about election officials’ ability to conduct an election during a pandemic.
“Not only are people voting, but they are voting over a longer period of time, thereby spreading out the workload of election officials,” McDonald said in a statement.
According to the statistics, Democrats were leading Republicans in mail-in voting for states that report party data, while Republicans were leading in voting in person.
Of the 26 million mail-in ballots recorded by the US Elections Project, 51.3 per cent came from Democrats, and 25.5 per cent from Republicans.
On the other hand, Republicans led with 41.7 per cent of the 7.4 million in-person votes tracked by the project as against 36.9 per cent by Democrats.
Election Project said no fewer than 30 million requested mail ballots had not been returned, with deadlines for absentee ballots near.
It stated that the pending ballots include over 11 million from registered Democrats.
However, it was quick to note that the data was inconclusive as some states do not differentiate between mail ballots and in-person votes.
Reports say Republicans are hoping to bridge the gap with a strong turnout in person.
Coronavirus: Europe’s daily deaths rise by nearly 40% compared with last week – WHO
Europe’s daily Covid deaths rose by nearly 40% compared with the previous week, the World Health Organization (WHO) has told the BBC.
WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris said France, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands and Russia accounted for the majority of cases which increased by a third.
“The concern… is that intensive care units in hospitals are now beginning to fill with very ill people,” she warned.
Russia reported a daily record of 320 deaths, pushing the tally to 26,589.
There has been a sharp increase in Italy too, with 221 fatalities announced in the past 24 hours. The total number of fatalities in Austria went above 1,000 on Tuesday.
Russia has the world’s fourth highest number of Covid-19 cases after the US, India and Brazil. It recorded another 16,550 infections on Tuesday alone and authorities have now made the wearing of face masks compulsory in all crowded places.
While infections surged in Italy too, to almost 22,000 in the past 24 hours, officials said testing had also been ramped up. Protests took place in towns and cities across Italy on Monday evening against a new round of restrictions.
Speaking to the BBC’s World at One programme on Tuesday, Dr Harris said: “Across the European region we’re seeing an intense and indeed alarming increase in cases and deaths.
She said daily cases rose by a third compared with the previous week, while daily deaths increased by “close to 40%”.
“Despite better management of hospital capacity, hospitals in several countries are filling up fast,” she warned.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionEurope’s streets empty
Dr Harris said the effectiveness of new restrictions imposed in a number European nations could only be analysed in two weeks’ time because of “the lag”.
“We will see the reduction in cases, but you don’t see it overnight,” the WHO spokeswoman said.
And asked whether the second wave would be worse than the first one, she replied: “We’re going to see a different sort of peak.
“The good news is our hospitals are much better at understanding what’s going on here, but the reverse of that is in gaining that experience they’ve been working incredibly hard for a very long time and they also know that what they are going to face is going to be grim.
“The other good thing in a sense is that the very large numbers we’re seeing are in groups that ideally won’t progress to the more severe illness – that’s the younger groups. But that’s not a guarantee.
“Those two factors suggest that we may not see the terrible rise in deaths that we saw in April,” Dr Harris said.
The Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) has asked the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to withdraw its sanctions against three TV stations for their coverage of the #EndSARS crisis, saying the regulator took action
BON is the main association of public and private broadcasters in the country.The chairman of the association, Sa’a Ibrahim says in a statement published today that the organisation believes NBC must follow due process before taking action.
“BON wishes to call on the NBC to issue a formal query to each of the stations involved and give [them a] stipulated period to formally respond before taking the application of sanction laws,” the statement says.
“Therefore, we kindly request that the sanctions on AIT, Channels TV and Arise TV be withdrawn immediately pending formal responses by stations.”
NBC fined AIT, Channels TV and Arise TV N3 million each yesterday. The regulator said the TV stations contravened the Nigeria Broadcasting Code pertaining to ‘editorial responsibility’.
“Channels TV, Arise TV and AIT especially continued to transmit [footage] from unverified and unauthenticated social media sources,” said NBC.
The regulator said the footage shown by the three stations ‘stimulated anger’ and ‘heightened the violence’ but activists point to the freedom of the press and say the regulator’s descriptions threaten that freedom.
Activists at SERAP yesterday told NBC to cancel the sanctions or the nonprofit will challenge the sanctions in court.
Ariyo-Dare Atoye of the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy also told newsmen that the public “must see the latest action of the NBC, done at the command of the Minister for Information and the federal government, as a threat to free press, free speech and democratic governance.”
Police officers fatally shot a 27-year-old Black man armed with a knife during a confrontation Monday afternoon in West Philadelphia that quickly raised tensions in the neighborhood
Walter Wallace
Late into the night, growing anger turned into a violent standoff at the local police district headquarters with several police officers injured by bricks or other objects hurled from the crowd. Late Monday into early Tuesday, police struggled to respond to vandalism and looting along the commercial corridor of 52nd Street. At least one police vehicle was set on fire and destroyed.
The episode began shortly before 4 p.m., police said, when two officers responded to the 6100 block of Locust Street after a report of a man with a knife. Family members identified him as Walter Wallace Jr.
A video posted on social media showed that Wallace was an undetermined distance from the officers and appeared to be multiple feet from them when they fired numerous shots. The video depicts Wallace walking toward the officers and police backing away. The video then swings briefly out of view, and in that moment, police fire at Wallace.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said officers were called to the block and encountered a man who was holding a knife. Gripp said the officers ordered him to drop the weapon, and he “advanced towards the officers.” Gripp said investigators are reviewing footage of what happened. Both officers were wearing body cameras.
He said both officers fired “several times.” After the man was shot, he fell to the ground, and Gripp said one of the officers drove him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Gripp said it was unclear how many times the man was shot or where he was struck. The officers fired possibly a dozen or more times, according to an account by witnesses and family members. Police marked the crime scene with at least 13 evidence markers.
Both officers were taken off street duty pending an investigation.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw arrived at the scene shortly after the incident as a crowd of neighbors yelled at police and questioned the use of force. By 6:30 p.m. police reopened the street and the crowd had largely dispersed
Dozens of protesters then gathered at Malcolm X Park at 51st and Pine Streets, chanting “Black Lives Matter.” They marched to the police station at 55th and Pine Streets as they chanted, “Say his name: Walter Wallace.”
Protesters confronted police who stood in a line with riot shields behind metal barricades at the police station at 55th and Pine Street and remained there in a standoff for several hours. People in the crowd could be seen throwing objects at the officers. A group also marched into University City, at least one TV news vehicle was vandalized, and police reported that windows had been broken on Chestnut Street.
Walter Wallace Sr., the man’s father, said his son appeared to have been shot 10 times.
“Why didn’t they use a taser?” Wallace Sr. asked outside a family residence on the block. “His mother was trying to diffuse the situation.”
Wallace Sr. said his son struggled with mental health issues and was on medication. “He has mental issues. Why you have to gun him down?”
Mayor Jim Kenney, in a statement Monday night, pledged a full investigation. “My prayers are with the family and friends of Walter Wallace,” he said. “I have watched the video of this tragic incident and it presents difficult questions that must be answered. I spoke tonight with Mr. Wallace’s family, and will continue to reach out to hear their concerns firsthand, and to answer their questions to the extent that I am able.”
Outlaw, too, said the department would conduct an inquiry. “Residents have my assurance that those questions will be fully addressed by the investigation,” she said. “While at the scene this evening, I heard and felt the anger of the community. Everyone involved will forever be impacted. I will be leaning on what the investigation gleans to answer the many unanswered questions that exist. I also plan to join the Mayor in meeting with members of the community and members of Mr. Wallace’s family to hear their concerns as soon as it can be scheduled.”
Maurice Holloway was on the street talking to his aunt when he saw police arrive. Wallace had a knife and was standing on the porch of his home, Holloway said, and officers immediately drew their guns.
Wallace’s mother was with him and chased after him as he walked down the steps of his porch, still holding the knife. His mother tried to shield him, Holloway said, and tell police he was her son.
“I’m yelling, ‘put down the gun, put down the gun,’ and everyone is saying, ‘don’t shoot him, he’s gonna put it down, we know him,’” said Holloway, 35.
The woman tried to grab her son, but he brushed her off and walked behind a car before emerging again, Holloway said.
“He turns and then you hear the shots,” Holloway said.
“They were too far from him,” he said, “it was so many shots.”
Arnett Woodall, a community organizer who lives a few blocks away, came to the scene shortly after the incident. He said he immediately saw how many evidence markers were in the street and felt it was “a textbook example of excessive force.”
Then he saw the video. “Why not a warning shot?” Woodall, 56, asked. “Why not a Taser? Why not a shot in the leg?”
He said the incident shows why police must implement stronger community policing protocols and why the city should invest in town watch programs.
“The city of Philadelphia can do better,” he said.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement Monday evening: “The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office takes its obligation to try to be fair and to seek evenhanded justice seriously. The DAO Special Investigations Unit responded to today’s fatal shooting of a civilian by police shortly after it occurred, and has been on scene with other DAO personnel since that time investigating.”
Krasner encouraged witnesses or others with information to contact the District Attorney’s Office.
”In the hours and days following this shooting, we ask Philadelphians to come together to uphold people’s freedom to express themselves peacefully and to reject violence of any kind,” he said.
John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said in a statement: “Our police officers are being vilified this evening for doing their job and keeping the community safe, after being confronted by a man with a knife. We support and defend these officers, as they too are traumatized by being involved in a fatal shooting.
“We ask the public for its patience as investigators work to gather all the facts of this tragic incident in West Philadelphia today.”
Belarus protests: Nationwide strike to go ahead, says opposition leader
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has called for nationwide strike action to go ahead on Monday after police fired stun grenades at crowds marching against the president.
Ms Tikhanovskaya issued an ultimatum earlier this month threatening a strike if Alexander Lukashenko did not resign.
Protests have swept the country since Mr Lukashenko claimed victory in an August poll widely viewed as rigged.
Social media posts suggest the strike has already begun.
Videos posted to independent media site Tut.by show empty factories and students walking out of their universities.
More than 200 people were detained on Sunday, according to rights group Vesna.
“Today the regime has once again shown Belarusians that violence is the only thing it is capable of,” Ms Tikhanovskaya said in a social media post, adding: “Therefore tomorrow, October 26, a national strike will begin.”
Earlier, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched for the 11th successive Sunday of protests.
Footage showed people running from flashes and loud bangs as they tried to make their way to Mr Lukashenko’s residence at the Independence Palace in the capital, Minsk.
Ms Tikhanovskaya issued her ultimatum on 13 October, threatening a mass walkout by workers if Mr Lukashenko – who has ruled Belarus for 26 years – ignored their demands.
On Sunday, protesters gathered in the streets of Minsk and other cities across Belarus, many waving the opposition’s red and white flags and chanting “strike” as they marched.
Local media estimated that about 100,000 people had joined the demonstration in the capital.
image captionBelarusian police blocked roads in central Minsk as tens of thousands of protesters marched on Sunday
The country’s interior ministry told Russia’s Tass news agency that riot control weapons were deployed as darkness fell and large crowds continued to make their way through the streets of the capital.
According to other Russian news agencies, citing their correspondents at the scene, at least 10 stun grenades went off. There were also reports that riot police had fired rubber bullets.
Security forces also blocked roads in central Minsk and water cannon were put in place.
image captionThe opposition rally in the capital Minsk drew tens of thousands of people
Videos posted on social media earlier showed buses transporting security personnel to central Minsk.
Ms Tikhanovskaya had earlier this month called for a nationwide strike because Belarus had “had enough” after two months of “political crisis, violence and lawlessness”.
She issued three demands from a location in Lithuania, where she has been in exile since August.
The ultimatum is an attempt to increase the political pressure on Mr Lukashenko but it also seems intended to inject new energy into the street protests.
Chileans have voted overwhelmingly in support of rewriting their constitution, which dates to the dictatorship of Gen Augusto Pinochet.
With nearly 90% of the vote counted, 78% of people had voted “yes” in a referendum that was called after mass protests against inequality.
President Sebastian Piñera acknowledged the result and praised the peaceful vote. According to him, the exercise was “the beginning of a path that we must all walk together”.
A mass anti-government protest movement began in Chile a year ago. From the beginning one of the demonstrators’ key demands was that the country needed a new constitution to be able to fix deep inequalities in society.
“Until now, the constitution has divided us,” Mr Piñera said as people took to the streets in celebration. “From today we must all work together so that the new constitution is the great framework of unity, stability and the future.”
The referendum was delayed by seven months due to the coronavirus pandemic
The referendum asked Chileans two questions – firstly, if they wanted a new constitution, and secondly, what kind of body they would want to draw it up.
A large majority have voted for the new constitution to be drafted by a convention made up entirely of elected citizens, as opposed to one that would also include lawmakers.
The National Examinations Council has postponed the ongoing nationwide Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations indefinitely due to the current security challenges, occasion by the #EndSARS protests.
This was contained a statement signed by the Head of Information and Public Relations Division NECO, Azeez Sani, and made available to newsmen in Minna on Sunday.
Sani said the #EndSARS protests disrupted the smooth conduct of the examinations in some parts of the country.
He said, “The Governing Board of the National Examinations Council at its Special Meeting held on Thursday, 22nd October, 2020 reviewed the on-going 2020 SSCE (internal) nationwide. The Council had in a press release, dated 21st October 2020, informed the general public of rescheduling some papers of the 2020 on-going SSCE.
Arising from that meeting, today (Sunday) the Governing Board resolved that the 2020 SSCE (Internal) be postponed indefinitely in view of the current security challenges, occasioned by the ENDSARS protests, which disrupted the smooth conduct of the examinations in some parts of the country.
The Indian doctor taking care of thousands of elephants
Dr Sharma says he has treated over 10,000 elephants
Kushal Konwar Sarma is affectionately known as the “elephant doctor” in India’s wildlife community. He has spent 35 years of his life caring for elephants, saving the lives of thousands of them in the forests of India and Indonesia, writes BBC Hindi’s Dilip Kumar Sharma.
“I am the happiest when I am around elephants,” says Dr Sarma. “The amount of time I have spent with elephants is more than the time I have spent with my family.”
The 60-year-old grew up in a village called Barma in India’s north-eastern state of Assam, which is home to around 5,000 of the country’s more than 27,000 elephants, according to the last survey conducted in 2017.
He says he has been able to understand the “language” of elephants. “In addition to feeding them, I communicate with them through signs,” he says, adding that “now most of the elephants here recognise me”.
Dr Sarma was awarded Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honours, for his work earlier this year. According to his own estimate, he has treated more than 10,000 elephants so far.
It all began in 1984, when he first treated a sick elephant under the tutelage of his mentor, Professor Subhash Chandra Pathak.
“I remember the first time I went with him to Manas National Park to treat elephants. I was very excited that day,” Dr Sarma says.
image captionAssam state is home to around 5,000 of India’s elephants
His connection to elephants can be traced to his childhood, when his family took care of a female elephant called Laxmi in their home. “When I was about seven, I used to sit on Laxmi and go around the village – it’s one of my most vivid memories of her. That’s how I began to love elephants.”
This love and bond with elephants has cemented his career as the go-to doctor in the state, especially during the monsoon season. Assam is particularly prone to heavy flooding, often putting the animals there at risk.
The Kaziranga National Park, a Unesco Heritage Site in the state, is one such area. Most recently, the state was hit by flooding in July and officials said at least 51 animals in the park died.
“Animals suffer greatly during the flooding season in the park. Many animals die and even elephants get washed away,” Dr Sarma, who often helps officials with their animal rescue efforts, says. “It’s common for baby elephants to get separated from their mothers. In such situations, they need extra care and support. That’s why I help out during the floods.”
He isn’t always officially asked to go and help during the floods. “But I always go because I want to try and save as many animals as possible.”
image captionDr Sharma’s says he’s risked his life numerous times as part of his job
Dr Sarma has covered over 300,000km (186,411 miles) of dense forest in Assam, encountering and treating thousands of elephants. But in addition to his childhood elephant, another one remains close to his heart – Geeta, a female elephant who lives in the Kaziranga National Park.
“Once when I was visiting the US, I got news that someone had shot Geeta while she was in the Kaziranga National Park. Fortunately, none of the five bullets hit any vital organs, but I was very anxious,” he recalls, adding that he even considered abandoning his trip to fly back to India.
“But instead, I assisted in Geeta’s treatment over the phone,” he says. As soon as he returned a week later, he drove straight to the park to meet Geeta.
image captionAnimals at the Kaziranga National Park are at high risk during monsoon floods
“I assured her that I would treat her well and that I would extract all the bullets from her body. After locating the bullets with a metal detector, I removed the first three bullets through surgery.”
He says the other two were lodged deep inside her body, making it difficult to extract them. “But I continued my treatment and finally after five surgeries, even the last bullet was taken out of her body. My dear Geeta is still alive and very much healthy.”
Even though Dr Sarma loves his job, he knows it comes with risks.
He says he’s probably risked his life various times as part of the job. “I often wonder, how did I survive?” he muses.
“Once I had to spend the whole night on a tree in order to try and sedate a wild elephant that we were trying to capture for treatment.”
But despite the dangers involved, he says the work has been fulfilling. He hopes to inspire his daughter, who has completed a degree in veterinary science, and often helps him with his work.
“I want my daughter to carry forward the responsibility of treating elephants after me.”
Covid-19: Poland President Duda tests positive for virus
Polish President Andrzej Duda has contracted Covid-19 but is feeling “good”, he says.
Mr Duda, 48, was tested on Friday and found to be positive, but it is not clear when he contracted the virus.
He joins a handful of world leaders who have been ill with Covid-19, among them US President Donald Trump and UK PM Boris Johnson.
Poland faces a surge in the coronavirus pandemic, with a daily record of more than 13,600 new cases on Friday.
The country has now entered a nationwide “red zone” lockdown that includes the partial closure of primary schools and restaurants.
Mr Duda attended an event in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Monday where he met Bulgarian President Rumen Radev who later went into quarantine. He also met Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, who has since tested negative.
“I didn’t have and I don’t have any symptoms, especially the serious ones like lack of taste or lack of smell, but the result of the test is absolutely clear,” Mr Duda said in a video message posted on Twitter.
“I feel good right now. I will spend the upcoming days in self-isolation along with my wife and I will be working remotely; it’s not a problem at all.”
Mr Duda visited a field hospital under construction to Poland on Friday
Presidential minister Blazej Spychalski, who first gave details of the president’s positive test, has himself tested positive and is going into quarantine.
On Friday, Mr Duda visited a field hospital under construction at the National Stadium in the Polish capital, Warsaw. Pictures show the president wearing a face mask while meeting workers at the site.
He also met 19-year-old tennis star Iga Swiatek, winner of the French Open this year, to award her the Gold Cross of Merit for achievements in sport.
“Neither I nor members of my team have symptoms of coronavirus. We carry out tests regularly. We will quarantine ourselves in accordance with current procedures,” Ms Swiatek said in a Twitter post (tweet in Polish).
The second wave of infections is hitting Poland hard, with the number of new cases 22 times higher than the highest number of cases in the spring, although testing is now more prevalent.
The number of hospital beds in use by coronavirus patients rose by 6.5% on Friday to 11,496, which means 60% of the total available are now filled.
Under the new restrictions, gatherings of more than five are banned, and children must be accompanied by an adult when outdoors. People aged over 70 are being urged to stay at home.
Tinubu visits Sanwo-Olu, says I didn’t go nowhere, I’m still Jagaban
All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bola Tinubu, has lamented the invasion and wanton looting of public and private assets in the state of late.
Tinubu made this known on Saturday when he paid a visit to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the State House in Marina.
Addressing journalists after the meeting with the governor, Tinubu said he did not travel out of the country as reported by some sections of the media He told reporters that the purpose of his meeting with Sanwo-Olu was to ask him if he had ordered soldiers to attack #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday.
The former Lagos governor said he asked Sanwo-Olu “if he didn’t order the attack, who ordered the attack? That’s all I needed from him.”
Tinubu has come under fire in the last few days over the Lekki incident as rampaging hoodlums burnt down investments reportedly linked with him including a television station, a newspaper house as well as assets of the Lekki Concession Company, the managers of the toll gate.
Speaking on Saturday, Tinubu stressed the need for a thorough investigation into Tuesday night attack.
He said, “First, we have to segregate the calendar – those who suffered casualty before the protests from the hands of SARS. You have to separate that from those who suffered casualty due to what happened at the toll gate.
“For those who suffered casualty from SARS, the Commission of Inquiry that is already set up will unearth that and will make their recommendations. I trust the calibre and the character of the people there, they are independent. That is one.
“Those who suffered casualty during the gunshots need to answer some questions too. Even though we want to help, we still must extract information that will help the government to prepare in future and understand how and when to react because the governor, in particular, is a youth.
“As a youth himself, he (Sanwo-Olu) quickly went to Abuja with the 5/5. The government immediately put into action, dissolved the SARS and had to work through other recommended actions, the needs they demanded. Within a few days, he reported back to the public. That is responsive enough.
“But where are we getting the looting, the carnage, the burning, the invasion of police stations, stealing of arms, maiming of the innocent? It is a handshake beyond the elbow.”
Asked about his whereabouts in the past few days, Tinubu said, “I didn’t go nowhere; I’m a Lagosian and I still hold the title of Asiwaju of Lagos and I am still a Jagaban.
“Fake news is all over the place. They say Seyi my son was kidnapped and was chased but look at him. I didn’t pay a penny to bring him here.”
Tuesday night attack at the Lekki toll gate has been condemned by both local and international civil rights organisations and personalities.
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