A Nigerian-born Briton, Ernest Ezeajughi from Anambra State was re-elected the Mayor of Brent, London after what was described as splendid first term performance.
With his re-election, he has joined many blacks and Nigerians making waves in different parts of the world. The London Borough of Brent is one of the most important boroughs in London.
The major areas that form part of it are: Wembley, Kilburn, Willesden, Harlesden and Neasden.
The United Kingdom may need to consider reintroducing some national COVID-19 lockdown measures as it continues to record a steady rise in its cases, Reuters reports a leading epidemiologist to have said yesterday.
The remarks by Neil Ferguson, a professor of epidemiology at London’s Imperial College and a former government adviser, come as the country’s new cases rose to their highest level since May.
Ferguson said the UK was facing a perfect storm “of rising infections as the country continues to reopen, with people returning to work and schools beginning to reopen.
“I think some additional measures are likely to be needed sooner rather than later,” Reuters quotes Ferguson.
“Right now, we’re at about the levels of infection we were seeing in this country in late February, and if we leave it another two to four weeks, we’ll be back at levels we were seeing more back in mid-March, and that’s going to – or could – cause deaths,” Ferguson said.
The UK reported 4,422 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, 100 more than the figure posted on Friday and the highest daily total since March 8.
In total, the UK has reported 390,358 infections and 4,422 fatalities.
US President Donald Trump signaled his intention on Saturday to move forward quickly with a replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died after a long battle with cancer.
“We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices,” Trump said in a tweet also tagging the official GOP account. “We have this obligation, without delay!”
Ginsburg’s Friday death touched off a firestorm from partisans on both sides, with Republican voters eager to see a conservative replacement.
Democrats however have cried foul, citing Republican’s own precedent from 2016 that Supreme Court Justices should not be confirmed during an election year. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denied a hearing on Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to replace conservative icon Antonin Scalia who died in February 2016.
Other Senate Republicans have said they would honor it going forward.
“If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election. And I’ve got a pretty good chance of being the Judiciary [chairman]. Hold the tape,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said during an interview at the Atlantic Festival in 2018.
McConnell whose Senate majority has confirmed a record number of judges to the federal bench has long insisted he would not let the precedent stop him from sending a nominee to the high court should there be an opening.
Just hours after her death, he confirmed his intention to move forward with a replacement.
“Americans re-elected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
As part of the strategy to reduce and eliminate the spread of coronavirus through person to person contact, the Government of Ghana is promoting QR code as a preferred payment solution in the county.
The QR code allows payers of goods and services to only use their phones to tap the QR of the merchants and payments will be concluded immediately.
This, therefore, prevents the need to give your card to the receiving cashier who keys it into a point of sale terminal, pulls it out and returns it back to the customer.
The QR code does not allow contact between parties in effecting payment.
The introduction of the QR code system has received a tremendous acceptance and strong enthusiasm from the banks and the general public in Ghana.
Presently six Banks in Ghana have initiated services to allow public pay for goods and services through the Universal GH QR code.
The banks are Eco Bank, ECB Bank, Zenith Bank, Bank of Africa, Fidelity Bank and Agriculture Development Bank. Other banks are still in the process to be part of this great initiative.
The Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, launched the universal QR code in March 2020.
THE U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores tomorrow and will saddle the apps with technical restrictions that could seriously limit their functionality in the U.S.
The order, which cited national security and data privacy concerns, follows weeks of dealmaking over the video-sharing service TikTok.
President Donald Trump has pressured the app’s Chinese owner to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to a domestic company. It is not clear how the latest prohibitions will affect a deal recently struck by California tech giant Oracle aimed at satisfying U.S. concerns over TikTok’s data collection and related issues.
TikTok expressed “disappointment” over the move and said it would continue to challenge President Donald Trump’s “unjust executive order.” The Commerce Department is enacting an order announced by President Donald Trump in August.
Google and Apple, the owners of the major mobile app stores, did not immediately reply to questions. Neither did WeChat owner Tencent. Oracle, which has proposed a deal with TikTok aimed at averting such a ban, also did not reply.
“At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
The action is the Trump administration’s latest attempt to counter the influence of China, a rising economic superpower. Since taking office in 2017, Trump has waged a trade war with China, blocked mergers involving Chinese companies and stifled the business of Chinese firms like Huawei, a maker of phones and telecom equipment.
China-backed hackers, meanwhile, have been blamed for data breaches of U.S. federal databases and the credit agency Equifax, and the Chinese government strictly limits what U.S. tech companies can do in China.
The order requires WeChat, which has millions of U.S. users who rely on the app to stay in touch and conduct business with people and companies in China, to end payments through its service as of Sunday and prohibits it from getting technical services from vendors that could seriously impact its functions.
Similar technical limitations for TikTok don’t go into effect until Nov. 12, shortly after the U.S. election. Ross said early Friday on Fox Business Network that access to that app may be possible if certain safeguards are put into place. TikTok says it has 100 million U.S. users and 700 million globally.
WeChat users have sued to stop the ban, and a federal judge in California appeared sympathetic to WeChat users in a hearing Thursday, but did not issue an injunction against the government. The Justice Department said in a filing in that case that they would not target WeChat users with criminal or civil penalties for using the app for messaging.
Like most social networks, TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, collects user data and moderates users’ posts. It grabs users’ locations and messages and tracks what they watch to figure out how best to target ads to them.
Similar concerns apply to U.S.-based social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but Chinese ownership adds an extra wrinkle because the Chinese government could demand cooperation from Chinese companies. The administration has provided no specific evidence that TikTok has made U.S. users’ data available to the Chinese government.
TikTok says it does not store U.S. user data in China and that it would not give user data to the government, and does not censor videos per dictates from China.
Somali President Mohamed Farmajo has appointed Mohamed Roble as the country’s new prime minister to replace Ali Khaire, who was impeached by parliament in July.
Farmajo, who made the announcement, directed Roble to form a new government to lead the country through the transition period as Somalia prepares for the 2020/2021 general elections.
The President said he made the appointment of Roble on the basis of his knowledge, experience, and ability to take the government initiative, building efforts, and the development of national plans.
He directed Roble to make significant efforts to consolidate security gains, rebuild the armed forces, and develop infrastructure.
Roble, a graduate of Somali National University in civil engineering, is an international civil servant who worked at the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
In a statement after his appointment, Roble, who once worked at the University of London and lived in New York, said he will cooperate with all Somalis as he leads the delicate transition period.
“It is clear that the country is in a state of transition which requires real compromise and cooperation,” he said in his social media posts.
He expressed the hope that Somalis would support him and become part of the new political arrangement.
The appointment of Roble, a humanitarian, came shortly after a major breakthrough in the talks between Farmajo and five regional state leaders to reach a new agreement on the conduct of 2020 to 2021 parliamentary and presidential elections.
Analysts describe the appointment of Roble, who appears non-aligned in the Somalia political landscape, as a sign of hope and a major compromise on the process to be followed in electing the incoming federal government of Somalia.
The tenure of the current parliament ends on Dec. 27; the tenure of office of President Farmajo ends on Feb. 7, 2021.
Analysts say holding the 2020 universal vote is critical to entrenching the federal system of governance, which is required to appease communities and regions complaining of systematic exclusion and marginaliation for decades.
(Xinhua/NAN)
Former U.S. President Barack Obama plans to release in November the first volume of a memoir covering his political rise, the 2008 election, and his first years in the White House.
The 768-page book, entitled A Promised Land, will be released in multiple languages at the same time on Nov. 17, two weeks after the U.S. election.
There is not yet a date for the publication of the second volume.
The publisher said that details of a book tour will be made available later this year.
In the book, Obama describes “in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency,” according to the publisher.
Obama, and former first lady Michelle Obama, sold the rights to their memoir to Crown, a part of Penguin Random House, for 65 million dollars.
Michelle Obama’s memoir, ‘Becoming’, was a smash hit, and the interest in the former president’s book is also expected to be high.
In a statement, the former Democratic president said he would go through his mistakes, as well as his achievements, promising “an honest accounting.”
Obama had publishing success even before becoming president.
Dreams of My Father, from 1995 and The Audacity of Hope, from 2006, sold millions of copies.
Obama served as president for two terms, the limit under the constitution, from 2009 until January 2017.
The first years of his presidency included the economic downturn of the Great Recession, healthcare reform and the killing of Osama bin Laden.
(dpa/NAN)
SOME professionals have faulted a report by a United States (U.S.) agency, Heritage Foundation, which alleged that China might be spying on African countries.
The experts described such report as mere speculations and hearsays that cannot be substantiated, since there are no concrete evidence to support the claim.
A report released by Heritage Foundation had alleged that Beijing likely has better surveillance access to Africa than anywhere else, having built or renovated at least 186 African government buildings.
The report also concluded that Beijing likely uses surveillance to, among other things, advantage its companies competing for contracts, spy on U.S. officials and influence African officials, advising that the U.S. should try to complicate Beijing in Africa as part of a strategic response to the China’s effort to reshape the global order.
In an interview, the Acting Director of Research and Studies of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Dr. Efem Ubi, said the allegation was “a mere speculation that lacks concrete evidence”.
According to Ubi, spying is part of international political activities engaged in actively by the world super powers.
The international affairs expert queried: “Who among the super powers is not spying on the developing world and other countries and among themselves? So, espionage or spying is part of international politics and I think a whole lot of countries are involved in it.”
He noted that the claim of espionage against China was baseless as the foundation itself does not have concrete evidence in support of its assertions.
Ubi, however, advised that irrespective of the speculation from differing quarters, African nations should nevertheless continue its fruitful economic relationship with China.
‘‘Irrespective of the position of heritage foundation, and a whole lot of Sinophobia or Sino skeptics, I will also say that we shouldn’t stop our relationship. You must relate. That is where foreign policy comes from. So, I think we shouldn’t bother about espionage. But, we have to also be cautious of the fact that we could be spied on. Be cautious of the fact that a lot of countries may want to infiltrate us especially with the advent of technology’’
He observed that the super-power nations who control the internet and major internet platforms like Google and other social media channels should instead be seen as the greatest spies since these technologies sometimes engaged in individual profiling, which can be termed spying.
President of the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, when approached on the allegation, declined to comment on what she described as “hearsays, which according to her, did not have basis in law”.
Mrs. Mabogunje said: “Primarily, in law, we call it hearsay. We don’t act on hearsays, we don’t act on rumours. We act on things that are evident. With my job, I will need to first find out. Is it true? So, I cannot comment on hearsay. It’s got to be proven. It’s got to be proven facts for me to be able to make a comment.
West African leaders have emphasised that Mali’s junta should nominate civilian transitional leaders within days to lead the nation toward elections, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said following a regional summit.
Six leaders from the West African regional economic bloc, ECOWAS, met with Mali’s junta Tuesday in Ghana, whose president now serves as the bloc’s new chairman. They agreed the junta must install a civilian president and vice president.
ECOWAS insisted that the transitional leaders must be civilians, rejecting the junta’s suggestion that the leaders could come from the military.
“We need a civilian leadership of the transition,” Akufo-Addo said after the summit.
“From the minute that leadership is put in place,” the regional sanctions on Mali will be lifted, he said. This should be accomplished within days, not weeks, he said.
The military junta staged a coup on Aug. 18, deposing Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who still had three years remaining in his second term in office. The military leaders held talks with various political and civil society groups to come up with an outline for a transition to civilian rule last week.
The regional leaders appear to have accepted the junta’s call for an 18-month transitional period to new elections, instead of the one-year timeline that the regional bloc originally proposed.
Mali’s junta had earlier floated the idea of waiting three years before holding a new election, a proposal quickly rejected by both ECOWAS and former coloniser France, which maintains a large military presence in Mali, where it has been fighting Islamic extremists.
ECOWAS also called for the dissolution of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People as soon as the transitional government is in place.
The regional bloc has already closed Mali’s borders with neighbouring countries and halted financial links in order to put pressure on the junta. Those sanctions could be lifted once a transitional civilian government is in place, ECOWAS said Tuesday.
Col. Assimi Goita, who leads the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, asked ECOWAS to allow him to consult his military comrades before giving a response to the recommendations.
Other leaders were pleased with the meeting’s outcome.
Oshihide Suga has been elected Japan’s new Prime Minister, following a vote in the country’s Parliament on Wednesday.
The vote confirmed the former cardboard factory worker and farmer’s son as leader of the world’s third largest economy.
The 71-year-old head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) replaces outgoing leader Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, who announced his intention to resign in August due to health problems related to colitis – a non-curable inflammatory bowel disease that he was able to manage for most of his tenure.
Suga was elected LDP leader on Monday with about 70% of the votes, but he still required the backing of the country’s national legislature, the Diet, before he could officially become Prime Minister.
He won the Diet vote with 314 out of 465 votes in the lower house and 142 out of 240 votes in the upper chamber.
Shortly after his confirmation, the new Prime Minister announced his cabinet lineup, which included a large number of former Abe appointees, likely to promote the impression of stability and continuity between the two leaders.