The Nation Newspaper

Category: Foreign

  • ‘Chinese group visa will boost business, tourism’

    Nigeria-based travel agency, 1860 Travels, has said China’s group visa deal will boost business and tourism by simplifying in-bound and out-bound travel between Nigeria and China.

    The firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Francis Daodu, said the scheme, which began on August 1, had enabled Nigerian businessmen, from five persons or more, to apply for and obtain a group visa through a clear and faster process.

    He said the large number of Nigerian firms, government agencies, business people and tourists interested in the scheme suggests its impact on China-Nigeria trade and tourism would be huge.

    Daodu, who spoke to reporters at the firm’s Lagos office, said 1860 Travels was promoting the group visa scheme through its Tours2china package, which offers three flexible, convenient ways to tour several Chinese cities for business and pleasure.

    Read Also: China launches world’s first intelligent mega oil tanker

    The Chinese government approved the group visa programme last month, after nearly one year of negotiation, and 1860 Travels was the only agency through which Nigerian travellers could process the group visa in Nigeria.

    The firm is the Nigerian partner of Bravo International Tour Service of China, through which the Chinese government approved the… scheme.

    Daodu said: “We are …experiencing both out-bound and in-bound travel (through the Tours2china brand). So, it is not just going to be Nigerians going to China. This brand has created a platform for Chinese to visit Africa and Nigeria.

    “This is the best of cultural exchange between China and Nigeria. During the Yuletide … we will be expecting quite a lot of Chinese to visit Nigeria.”

    The CEO, however, noted that a refundable fee will be charged in order to prevent abscondment.

    He advised interested travellers to get more details on www.tours2china.com

    “We don’t want this platform to abruptly come to an end in the name of abscondment.

    “It is expected that this will be a legitimate means for those who wants to travel to China for leisure or personal business.

    “This brand has put together a package for those who want to travel to China for personal reasons. For any travel tourist anywhere in the world, your intention is to go see, explore and exploit. And then, rake in all the benefits you can rake while still in that country” The CEO said.

    Speaking on the security of the travellers, Dauda assured that “It is pretty safe and pretty secure, coupled with the knowledge of the low crime rate in China compared with other climes.

    “We have an already waiting team as soon as you arrive at any airport in China and you are ushered to a waiting transportation that will take you to your already booked hotel.”

  • Face behind new media in S/A unveiled

    THE man behind the opening of a new media outlet operating from South Africa has been unmasked as a controversial figure in Cote d’Ivoire and former colonial master, France.
    Alain Toussaint, the publisher, of Open Africa (corporate.openafrica.com), first opened as African Daily Voice (ADV), is alleged to be creating fake news,  and other nefarious activities, according to CAJ News.
    It was registered in Johannesburg but not listed as the official South African media.
    The website was targeted at French-speaking communities and  specialises in media tech news.
    However, the controversies of its exec go beyond the media industry.
    CAJ News report said he is alleged to be aware of the murder of the Ivorien junta leader, Robert Guiei, in 2002.
    The military ruler who assumed power after a coup in 1999, was killed alongside his wife and minister. Some four senior army officers serving under then-president, Laurent  Gbagbo. Toussaint was Gbagbo’s advisor.
    However, CAJ News reported that during an interview back in 2015, the advocate of the Guei family, Singo Tia, mentioned Toussaint.
    “Very early in the morning, we heard Alain Toussaint make statements from the Vatican when the Kalashnikovs crackled in Abidjan. The Ivorians holed up in their homes, we were told on the radio that ‘what was happening in Côte d’Ivoire we know who is behind: it is Gal Robert Guei,” Tia was quoted as saying.
    His branding himself as a patriot was dismissed as fake for his holding European nationality and having bank accounts overseas.This, while he advocated for nationalism towards France and international community.
    After Gbagbo was defeated in the 2011 elections but refused to cede power, Toussaint alleged a conspiracy by France and United States against Cote d’Ivoire
    “You have benefited and you continue to take advantage of the social, educational, medical European system, while you mount your compatriots against this Europe that has made you what you are today,” Kakou Valencia, wrote to Toussaint. The aide has also been suspected of having connections with Russians after posting a photo with Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation.
    It is against this backdrop that the opening of his publication has raised dust.
    Toussaint on Wednesday returned home after eight years in exile. “I come back all happy and animated by a sincere desire for reconciliation and peace. Without peace, no possible is possible (sic),” he stated.
    – read also: Buhari, South Africa President to meet over xenophobic attacks

  • Despite court order, EFCC moves Dalori’s trial to another court

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday August 22 failed produce businessman, Babagana Abba Dalori before a Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of fraud via a ponzi scheme.
    Instead, the EFCC filed a different criminal charge against the suspect before an FCT High Court in Nyanya, Abuja, while he remains in detention.
    Dalori was arrested on March 29 after his company, Galaxy Transportation and Construction Services Ltd, which is involved in quarry, mining and sand operations in Jere and Kwali of Kaduna and FCT, received funds from investors but could not pay up due to some natural disaster and other setbacks.
    He however denied any wrongdoings,citing many certifications of his business transactions with clients and positing that he would have resolved payments to clients after the flood diasater but for his incarceration since March and the distruption of his business by the EFCC.
    Ruling on a fundamental rights application by his counsel, Joe Gadzama (SAN), Justice Taiwo Taiwo had on August 9 ordered the urgent hearing of Dalori’s enforcement suit before the Federal High Court and adjourned the matter to August 22.
    Following the failure to produce the suspect on August 22, Justice Taiwo frowned at the conduct of the anti-graft agency in filing charges against the suspect in a different court 24 hours to the date despite the pending order of the court. The matter is now slated for September 10 for hearing.
    The ruling is the second such order after another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu had on May 30 restrained the EFCC from taking any step which would be inimical to the guaranteed fundamental rights of Dalori as provided under sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
    “It is hereby ordered as follows that the respondent is hereby ordered to release the applicant forthwith or grant him Administrative Bail where there is prima facie evidence that the applicant has committed an offence pending the outcome of investigation,” she said.
    Following his compliance with the bail in June, the EFCC in July rearrested the businessman.
    The spokesman of the commission, Tony Orilade could not be reached on the phone on Sunday but he had on July 8 confirmed the re-arrest of Dalori after fulfilling his bail terms but added: “I don’t have the details, please.”
    In his defence papers, Dalori denied running a ponzi scheme tendering copies of licences of compliance with regulations in the operation of a mining business. Some of them are: Federal Ministry of Mining and Solid Minerals, National Inland Waterways Authority, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Nigeria Industrial Training Fund, Bureau of Public Procurement, National Pension Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service and the EFCC Special Control Against Money Laundering (SCUML).

  • Video: America’ll end AIDS epidemic, says Trump

    U.S. President Donald Trump has promised America would “very soon” find a cure for AIDS and childhood cancer.

    The president made the promise at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio in continuation of a similar promise during his June campaign kickoff when he vowed to come up with the cures to many diseases including cancer and others.

    “We’re getting closer all the time.”

    “We will achieve new breakthroughs in science and medicine.

    Read Also; Trump attacks another Democrat Congressman

    “I see what they are doing. I see it; they show me.

    “The things we are doing in our country today. There’s never been anything like it. We will be ending the AIDS epidemic shortly in America, and curing childhood cancer very shortly,” Trump said Thursday night.

  • German minister worried about Russian nuclear weapons as treaty set to expire

    German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has expressed concern over Russian nuclear weapons in proximity to European countries, in remarks published on Thursday by the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland media group.

    “Despite all the appeals and offers of dialogue, Russia is refusing to destroy systems banned under the treaties and has stationed the most modern nuclear weapons in our neighbourhood,” Maas wrote.

    He was referring to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a cornerstone of post-Cold War security, which is set to expire on Friday.

    “This causes us Europeans a lot of worry.

    “If we do not halt the decay of the global armaments control architecture, this will have serious consequences – for our security and for global peace,” he said.

    Maas added that the aim of a world without nuclear weapons was increasingly receding.

    “And when we wake up tomorrow, one of the most successful disarmament treaties of all time will be history,” he added.

    Russian nuclear weapons
    Russia’s controversial 9M729 missile

    The U.S announced its withdrawal in February from the treaty, which was signed in 1987 and ratified the following year.

    NATO countries backed the decision on the grounds that Russia had infringed its provisions for years with the SSC-8 medium-range missile system.

    However, Russia has rejected that accusation.

    Russia, however, says it is ready to hold consultations with the U.S. about the treaty at diplomatic and military levels, the state-run TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Jan. 7.

    READ ALSO: ‘Why Nigeria needs nuclear energy’

    “We are ready for dialogue if the U.S. will be ready for this.

    “If it happens tomorrow, then we are ready tomorrow. But the dialogue should be on the basis of equality of rights,” Ryabkov told reporters in New Delhi, TASS reported.

    Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website at the time that it “can’t destroy the 9M729 (missile) complexes, which Washington had declared in violation of the treaty without any reason.”

    Ten days later, the U.S. rejected the Russian offer to save a landmark treaty that keeps nuclear missiles out of Europe because it could not be properly verified, setting the stage for Washington to withdraw from the pact.

    After a meeting in Geneva between Russian and U.S. officials, U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson said that Moscow was refusing to allow proper inspection of a new Russian missile system that Washington says breaks the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

    The INF treaty, negotiated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ratified by the U.S. Senate, eliminated the medium-range missile arsenals of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers and reduced their ability to launch a nuclear strike at short notice.

    The treaty bans land-based missiles with a range between 500 kilometers and 5,500 kilometers.

    (dpa/NAN)

  • US believes Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza is dead – official

    The United States believes that Hamza bin Laden, a son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and himself a notable figure in the militant group, is dead, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

    The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, provided no further details, including when Hamza died or where.

    President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday declined to comment after NBC News first reported the U.S. assessment. Asked if he had intelligence that bin Laden’s son had been killed, Trump told reporters: “I don’t want to comment on it.”

    Separately, the White House declined comment on whether any announcement was imminent.

    Hamza, believed to be about 30 years old, was at his father’s side in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and spent time with him in Pakistan after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan pushed much of al Qaeda’s senior leadership there, according to the Brookings Institution.

    Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces who raided his compound in Pakistan in 2011. Hamza was thought to be under house arrest in Iran at the time, and documents recovered from the compound indicated that aides had been trying to reunite him with his father.

    The New York Times reported that the United States had a role in the operation that led to Hamza’s death, which it said took place in the past two years. Reuters could not immediately verify those details.

    Still, the U.S. government’s conclusion appears to be a recent one. In February, the State Department said it was offering a reward of up to $1 million (822,571.36 pounds) for information leading “to the identification or location in any country” of Hamza, calling him a key al Qaeda leader.

    Read Also: Buhari hails appointment of UK-born Nigerian Kemi Badenoch as British Minister

    Introduced by al Qaeda’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in an audio message in 2015, Hamza provided a younger voice for the group whose ageing leaders have struggled to inspire militants around the world galvanized by Islamic State, according to analysts.

    Hamza has called for acts of terrorism in Western capitals and threatened to take revenge against the United States for his father’s killing, the U.S. State Department said in 2017 when it designated him as a global terrorist.

    He also threatened to target Americans abroad and urged tribal groups in Saudi Arabia to unite with Yemen’s al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to fight against Saudi Arabia, it said.

    In March, Saudi Arabia announced it had stripped Hamza bin Laden of his citizenship, saying the decision was made by royal order in November 2018.

     

    NAN

  • British, Irish leaders clash over Brexit border backstop

    British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar, have aired their disagreement over the backstop provision to guarantee an open Irish border after Brexit, the two sides say.

    Varadkar told Johnson on phone that the backstop clause in Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement was necessary and the agreement could not be reopened, the Irish government says.

    He said London and Brussels can negotiate alternative arrangements to replace the backstop if Britain leaves EU under the withdrawal agreement, which was forged by Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May.

    Read also: Brexit and the triumph of Boris Johnson

    Downing Street says Johnson made clear that the UK will be leaving the EU on Oct. 31, no matter what.

    “He told Varadkar that his clear preference is to leave the EU with a deal, but it must be one that abolishes the backstop,’’ it says. (Dpa/NAN)

  • U.S. citizens confess to killing Italian police officer

    Two 19-year-old U.S. citizens have confessed to a fatal knife attack on a Carabinieri police officer in Rome, police said on Monday.

    The alleged perpetrators were arrested after they were located in a hotel room, where police also found the knife believed to have been used in the attack behind a ceiling panel.

    They both confessed to the attack during an interrogation after being taken into police custody.

    “Police officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was fatally stabbed eight times overnight into Friday in Rome’s central Prati district near the Vatican.

    Rega was among several officers involved in a plainclothes operation against two thieves who had stolen a backpack from an Italian man.

    Read Also; Suspect beats up policewoman

    “The thieves had offered to return the backpack to the victim in exchange for 100 euros and a gram of cocaine, after reporting the crime to police, the man arranged a meeting point with the thieves.

    “When the Carabinieri showed up instead, they were attacked with a knife. ”

    Police had previously said that the perpetrator of the stabbing was probably an African citizen, a description that unleashed caustic commentary from the ruling far-right League party.

    However, a police statement did not clarify which of the two teens carried out the attack.

    NAN

  • Trump attacks another Democrat Congressman

    American President Donald Trump on Saturday attacked another prominent African- American lawmaker, tweeting that his Baltimore district is a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess.”

    The morning tirade was against Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

    President Trump had two weekends ago told four progressive Democratic congresswomen of color to go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.

    Three of the four were born in the US and the fourth is a Somali born naturalised US citizen.

    Trump, in his Saturday tweet, suggested that the conditions in Cummings’ district, which is majority black and includes parts of Baltimore, are far more dangerous than those at the US-Mexico border.

    Read also: We are already effectively in Trump impeachment probe – U.S. Democrats

    Trump said: “Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA.

    “As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.

    “Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States? No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!”

  • Woman hacks off ex-husbands manhood, flushes it down toilet

    A woman in Taiwan’s Hukou has cut off her ex-husband’s penis and testicles to punish him for being unfaithful to her while the couple was still married, according to the territory’s police.

    The angry ex-wife, 58-year-old Ms Lee, reportedly attempted to seduce her former spouse at the couple’s home and then grabbed his genitals and sheared them off with sharpened scissors.

    Ms Lee then doused the severed private parts with acid and flushed them down the toilet.

    READ ALSO: Woman cuts off cheating ex-husband’s genitals

    According to the local precinct, the victim, 56-year-old Mr Chen called the police after the incident.

    Both the victim and the suspect, who was found unconscious, were rushed to the hospital.

    They are currently in stable condition.

    The police are awaiting the couple’s recovery so they can give formal written statements.

    The pair divorced less than a month ago, but Mr Chen continued to live with his former spouse.

    (www.newsnow.co.uk)