Category: Foreign

Our Reporter

The European Commission also on Thursday decided to require most of its staff to work from home with effect from March 16 due to the coronavirus.

The president of the EU executive stated this to employees in a video recording yesterday.

Mr. Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson to the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while briefing UN correspondents in New York yesterday, said: “The Secretary-General has taken the decision to cancel all UN systems-sponsored side events at the headquarters from March 16 until the end of April.

“He also strongly urges all member states to consider cancelling all side events for the meetings that they are sponsoring.

“The SG will be communicating with member states and staff in a short while to update them on the preparation measures the UN has undertaken to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak,’’ Dujarric said.

He quoted Guterres as saying in a letter to member states that a three-phase response activation system to manage and coordinate health emergencies is already in place in the organisation.

According to him, the headquarters in New York is currently in Phase 2, which is an “active risk reduction mode”.

The European Commission has decided to require most of its staff to work from home with effect from March 16 due to the coronavirus, the president of the EU executive told employees in a video recording yesterday.

“As of Monday, all colleagues in non-critical functions will have to telework,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told staff.

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“Colleagues who ensure critical functions will need to be present at work,” she said, adding that they would work in shifts.

Around 32,000 people are employed by the European Commission, mainly in Brussels but also in Luxembourg.

Von der Leyen said six Commission staff members have tested positive for the virus.

The schools for children whose parents work in EU institutions, which are known as the European Schools, will also close from Monday, von der Leyen said.

Britain and the European Union agreed to cancel face-to-face trade negotiations planned for next week in London due to the coronavirus outbreak, the UK government said yesterday, adding however that alternatives were being explored.

The move threatens a timeline which many in the EU thought was already optimistic, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking a new deal by the end of the year.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has hit financial markets hard and forced governments to take unprecedented measures to restrict citizens’ movements and limit the spread of the disease.

“Given the latest COVID-19 developments, UK and EU negotiators have today jointly decided not to hold next week’s round of negotiations in London, in the form originally scheduled,” a British statement said.

“Both sides are currently exploring alternative ways to continue discussions, including if possible the use of video conferences.”

Also, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told staff: “As of Monday, all colleagues in non-critical functions will have to telework,” Commission

“Colleagues who ensure critical functions will need to be present at work,” she said, adding that they would work in shifts.

Around 32,000 people are employed by the European Commission, mainly in Brussels but also in Luxembourg.

Von der Leyen said six Commission staff members have tested positive for the virus.

The schools for children whose parents work in EU institutions, which are known as the European Schools, will also close from Monday, von der Leyen said.

Britain and the European Union agreed to cancel face-to-face trade negotiations planned for next week in London due to the coronavirus outbreak, the UK government said yesterday, adding however that alternatives were being explored.

The move threatens a timeline which many in the EU thought was already optimistic, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking a new deal by the end of the year.

Our Reporter

UNITED States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has authorised the American military to respond to Wednesday’s rocket attack by Iran-backed militia in Iraq that killed two American troops and a British service member, the Pentagon has said.

Defence Secretary Mark Esper and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped short of blaming Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah or naming any specific militia.

But they were clear that they believe Iran backed the fighters who carried out the attack, and warned that all options were on the table.

“I have spoken with the president. He’s given me the authority to do what we need to do, consistent with his guidance,” Esper told reporters at the Pentagon.

Asked if a U.S. response could include strikes inside Iran, Esper hinted that strikes against the militia itself were the priority.

“I’m not going to take any option off the table right now, but we are focused on the group — groups — that we believe perpetrated this in Iraq, as the immediate (focus),” he said.

Trump gives Pentagon authority for potential response after deadly Iraq attack.

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Trump told reporters at the White House it was not “fully determined it was Iran” and declined to say what the United States might do.

“We’ll see what the response is,” he said.

The United States has repeatedly and publicly warned that killing Americans overseas constituted a red line that would trigger a U.S. response.

“We gotta hold the perpetrators accountable. You don’t get to shoot at our bases and kill and wound Americans and get away with it,” Esper said.

Washington blamed Kataib Hezbollah for a strike in December that killed a U.S. contractor, leading to a cycle of tit-for-tat confrontations that culminated in January’s U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and a retaliatory Iranian missile attack that left more than 100 U.S. troops with brain injuries.

In the latest attack, some 14 U.S.-led coalition personnel were wounded, including American, British, Polish and others. Private industry contractors were among the wounded. Milley said five of the wounded were categorized as “urgent,” suggesting serious injuries that could require rapid medical evacuation.

Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the military’s Central Command, noted that only Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah had been known to wage such an attack in the past.

“While we are still investigating the attack, I will note that the Iranian proxy group Kataib Hezbollah is the only group known to have previously conducted an indirect fire attack of this scale against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq,” McKenzie told a U.S. Senate hearing.

Our Reporter

This development is coming barely two days after the organisation announced the restriction of public access and all guided tours at the headquarters.

Also yesterday, the African Union (AU) stressed the crucial importance of fostering a continent-wide collective response in containing the spread of COVID-19 across the African continent.

The urgent call was made by the Peace and Security Council of the 55-member pan-African bloc in a statement issued, which followed the council’s latest meeting that dwelt upon the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa.

The council “stressed the importance of a continent-wide collective response to the COVID-19.

The council also underlines the importance of emulating the best practices and lessons learnt from the successful fight against the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola virus disease outbreak.

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This could include the need to mobilise private sector resources,” an AU statement read.

The council described the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Africa and beyond as an “existential threat to human life.”

It also stressed the outbreak’s “potentially devastating consequence on macro-economic fabric throughout the African continent as the situation continues to evolve.”

It also welcomed the recent communique adopted during African health ministers’ emergency meeting on the coronavirus outbreak, which was held on Feb. 22 in the Ethiopian capital.

The Africa CDC, a specialised healthcare agency of the AU, had disclosed that more than 100 COVID-19 cases were reported in 12 African countries.

The countries are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, and Tunisia.

Our Reporter

Thai media reported yesterday that thousands of monkeys from three separate tribes engaged in an all-out war in the middle of a Thai city.

Footage of the monkey hordes running around and fighting each other in Lopburi city centre was widely shared on social media and published by Thai media.

The battle was between monkeys from different parts of the province.

One tribe claims the territory of a historic temple, another tribe inhabits a nearby shrine, and another typically roams around a food market down the street.

The report said the monkey fights broke out due to extremely hot weather conditions, which surpassed 40 degrees Celsius.

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It added that a lack of food for the apes also aided the fight because of the lack of tourists over the past year and the country’s ongoing drought conditions.

Lopburi province, around 140 km north of Bangkok, is home to thousands of monkeys that typically roam around the city and have become the province’s main tourist attraction.

The Thairath report cited Lopburi local Beaw Aum-in, a 65-year old motorcycle taxi driver, who has been hanging out with the monkeys for all his life, as saying that it was the first time he had ever seen such a large fight between them.

Thairath also reported that monkeys from Lopburi have been known to hitch on trains to pick fights with monkeys in Nakhon Sawan province, a further 140 km north of Lopburi.

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

NIGERIA’S new visa policy has been received with great excitement by foreign diplomats.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently announced visa on arrival policy for members of African Union (AU) bloc and investors. The aim is to improve the ease of doing business with the ultimate aim of attracting investments into the country.

The new visa regime, which is an improvement on the former one, accommodates diplomats’ aged family members.

The visa categories, increased from six to 79, allows for visa waiver for international organisations, holders of diplomatic passport, non-accredited diplomats.

Besides, spouses of accredited diplomats and family members are now captured under a specific visa regime.

It also accommodates religious tourism, sport, entertainment and study.  There is also business visa and medical visa.

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Expressing the excitement of the accredited diplomats in the country, Head of Diplomatic Corps in Nigeria, Ambassador Salaheddine Abbas Ibrahima of Cameroon, said they are happy with the news that they can bring in their age parents to stay with them while working in Nigeria.

He said: “We are glad that we can have our aged parents to come here with us.”

Sierra Leone High Commissioner to Nigeria Dr. Solomon Christopher Momoh Gembeh, who expressed confidence in Nigeria’s ability to overcome the Coronavirus, said the new visa policy was a welcome development.

Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration Mrs. Victoria Isangedighi said the new regime is based on reciprocity.

She said for countries that give Nigerians multiple entry visa, Nigeria will also reciprocate.