Politics
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Militants attack US-NATO base in Afghanistan
Militants on Saturday struck a main U.S.-NATO base in Bagram district of Afghanistan’s Parwan province, north of Kabul, with five rounds of rocket fires, a provincial government spokesperson confirmed. There was no immediate report on casualties or extent of damage. “Five rounds of rockets were fired onto Bagram Airfield from an abandoned truck parked in Qalandar Khil locality of Bagram district roughly at 5:50 a.m. local time on Saturday,’’ Wahida Shahkar told reporters via a text message. She said seven rockets failed to be fired and were defused by Afghan security forces. Further details about the incident are still forthcoming. The Bagram Airfield, some 50 km north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, has been serving as a main U.S. and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 19 yea...
Imint Joins Forces with TECNO on CAMON 16 Series Smartphones
Imint has partnered with TECNO to equip the CAMON 16 series smartphones with its Vidhance Video Stabilization solution. The inclusion of Vidhance in CAMON 16 series smartphones is expected to provide customers with a calibre of video quality often only associated with expensive professional equipment. The implementation of Imint’s technology within TECNO’s smartphones also marks the first collaboration between the two brands. “Video quality and capability has become an increasingly important factor for consumers when making smartphone purchasing decisions. In today’s world, consumers realize that content creation can be so much more than just still photography and basic video,” says Andreas Lifvendahl, CEO of Imint. “To meet the market demand, leading smartphone manufacturers like TECNO ar...
Northern governors hail release of abducted Kankara schoolboys
The Northern Governors Forum has welcomed with excitement the release of the abducted students of Government Science School Kankara, Katsina State. Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong while reacting to the development, commended President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Aminu Masari, security agencies, community leaders and all stakeholders who contributed in making sure the school boys were released unharmed. He said the release of the students will comfort and assuage the parents and the entire country which has been agonized since the children were kidnapped. Lalong said with the release of the students, further measures must be put in place to ensure that this ugly incident does not occur again while thorough investigation should also carried out to ensure...
10-year old girl throws step-brother into well in Ondo
A 10 year old girl identified as Suliyat Abubakar has allegedly thrown his step brother into the well in Akure, the Ondo State capital. The girl said she took the action because her father showed more love to her step brother more than her and her other siblings. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Bolaji Salami, who paraded the girl at the state police command, Akure said the suspect would be prosecuted accordingly. He said the young girl was arrested behind the Central Mosque, Akure. The Police commissioner said the girl threw the baby, Usman Abubakar, into the well, out of annoyance that her father was showing more care for his brother. “The girl had lied to her parents that her brother was kidnapped, but later confessed that he was inside the well,” he said. The Police Commissioner sa...
UN chief elated over release of Kankara schoolboys
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has expressed delight over the release of students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State. Guterres, in a statement issued in New York, United States, by his Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, welcomed the release of the abducted children. “The Secretary-General welcomes the release on 17 December of some of the children who were abducted from a secondary school in Katsina State, Nigeria, on 11 December. He commends the swift action taken by the Nigerian authorities to rescue the children and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of those who remain abducted. He stresses the importance that the released children and their families are provided with the necessary health and psychosocial support,” Haq s...
Tijani Babangida: Gernot Rohr to blame for Eagles poor form
Former Super Eagles winger Tijani Babangida has blamed Gernot Rohr for the national team’s poor form after ending the 2020 calendar year without a win. Babangida made this known during an interview on Friday. The Eagles drew 4-4 against Sierra Leone in Benin City and 0-0 in Freetown in their final games of 2020, and thus failed to clinch an early ticket for the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Cameroon in 2021. Former Ajax winger Babangida blamed Rohr for the national team’s woes. “The coach of the Eagles is the one to be blamed for the poor form of the team. He is the one in charge of the team and one thing I know he has deviated from is that he has not followed the football culture of Nigeria’s national team,” Babangida said. “We used wingers during our time with the team, but looking...
Akwa Ibom bans large gatherings as coronavirus surges
As a precautionary measure against the second wave of COVID-19, the Akwa Ibom State government has announced the cancellation of “all state government events requiring large crowds”. The Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Emmanuel Ekuwem, who disclosed in a statement on Friday, said “test results from our PCR laboratory clearly indicate a sharp increase in the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our state”. The statement said Governor Udom Emmanuel has directed strict enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines and protocols at the Christmas village in Uyo, the state capital. The government said large political meetings are to be discouraged until the current spike of COVID-19 infections is reduced. It said the use of face mask and adherence to other COVID-19 guidelines and proto...
Jose Mourinho drums support for under-fire Steven Bergwijn
Tottenham Hotspur coach Jose Mourinho said the team are supporting Dutchman Steven Bergwijn who missed two clear chances in Wednesday’s top-of-the-table clash at Liverpool and received criticism on social media after the 2-1 defeat. “I don’t know what I can do apart from the player knowing in this club we are all together,” Mourinho told a news conference ahead of Sunday’s game at home to Leicester City. “We lose, we win and we draw all together. So he has us and we have him. In here we don’t feel any individual criticism, we never feel it that way, it is always about us, so no problem. “He’s one of my boys, period. There is no point to boo, to individualise. He’s a good professional, he works hard for the team, he gives everything he can.” Second-placed Spurs slipped three points behind L...
Mali shuts bars, schools, restaurants to fight novel coronavirus
Mali on Friday said it would close bars and restaurants for two weeks, close fairs and shutter schools until January 10 to fight the novel coronavirus. Hospitals are overwhelmed with Covid-19 cases in the vast Sahel country, torn by jihadist attacks and currently under a shaky caretaker government following an August coup. The closure of bars and restaurants will start from midnight Saturday, government spokesman Hamadoun Toureh said after a cabinet meeting. The cabinet also decided to declare a six-month health emergency, he said, adding that public gatherings would be limited to under 50 people until January 10. Mali has so far officially recorded 6,049 Covid-19 cases of which 211 have been fatal in a country of 20 million. Daily cases this month have surpassed 150 and hospitals in the c...
California hospitals overrun even as vaccine is rolled out
Even as high profile figures like U.S. Vice President Mike Pence rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 vaccinations, patients already ill with the disease crowded emergency rooms and overran intensive care units in California, now a worldwide epicenter. Another 41,000 people tested positive in the most populous U.S. state on Thursday, and 300 died, state public health officials said. In a state with 40 million residents, only about 1,200 intensive care beds remained available by Friday – just 2.1% of the total, the California Department of Public Health said. “We anticipated a surge, but I’m not sure if anyone imagined it would be as bad as it has been,” said Adam Blackstone, a spokesman for the Hospital Association of Southern California. Hospitals are strained under the press of patients,...
Barack Obama Clarifies Defund Police Statement: “That Actually Was Not The Point I Was Making”
Source: – / Getty Former President Barack Obama is setting the record staright regarding his stance on the ideology of defunding the police, after being miquoted during a recent interview. On Tuesday (Dec 16), President O appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and clarified his stance on the matter, stating that the point he was trying to mke was missed by the masses after he was dragged online for seemingly criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement—a takeaway that the former President is calling false. “I have consistently believed that their courage, activism, media-savvy, strategic resolve far exceeds anything I could have done at their age, and I think has shifted the conversation in ways that I would not have even imagined a couple of years ago,” Obama said. In regard...
AFCON: Golden Eaglets fail MRI test three weeks to kick-off
In another embarrassing age-related moment for Nigerian football, 40 out of the 60 boys pencilled down as part of the Golden Eaglets contingent to prosecute the Under-17 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers in Benin Republic failed the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age test. Coming just three weeks to the qualifiers, this means the coaching crew will have to race against the clock to pick a squad qualified enough to represent the country at the West African Football Union (WAFU) Group B qualifiers billed to kick-off on Tuesday, January 5. Out of the 20 players who passed the tests, only five of them are part of the main squad and just two of the five are included in coach Fatai Amoo’s preferred starting lineup for the competition. Most of the players the coach banked on d...
