Politics
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Mississippi governor signs bill removing confederate symbol from flag
The Republican governor of the southern US state of Mississippi signed a bill Tuesday removing the Confederate battle standard from the state flag, after nationwide protests drew renewed attention to symbols of the United States’ racist past. “This is not a political moment, it is a solemn occasion to come together as a Mississippi family, reconcile, and move forward together,” Governor Tate Reeves wrote on Facebook. Mississippi is the only American state to incorporate the Confederate standard on its official flag, after nearby Georgia dropped it in 2003. Tate said a commission on the flag would “begin the process of selecting a new one — emblazoned with the words ‘In God We Trust.’” The swift signing comes after state lawmakers voted Sunday to remove the emblem in a 91-23 majority vote i...
Kenya Introduces Digital Tax for Online Sales
Sourced from Phys.org. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has approved the 2020 Finance Bill, proposing amendments to multiple statutes including the Income Tax Act, the Value Added Tax Act of 2013, the Excise Duty Act of 2015 and the Tax Procedures Act of 2015. The most notable aspect of the approval of this new bill is the foundation of the Digital Services Tax. This new bill will see the introduction of a digital tax at 1.5% the gross value of any online transaction. Taxing online transactions What this means is that people whose income is from the “provision of services and products” sourced through the digital marketplace will have to pay the tax. What’s more, the digital service tax will be payable at the time of transfer of payment to service providers. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ecc.td-a...
FIRS generates N66 billion from stamp duties
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has generated the sum of N66 billion from stamp duties between January and May. The FIRS Director, Communications and Liaison Department, Abdullahi Ahmad, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday. Ahmad said the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nami, disclosed this at the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Audit and Recovery of Back Years Stamp Duties and the unveiling of the FIRS Adhesive Stamp in Abuja. Mr Nami said the money realised in the first five months of the year from stamp duties represented about 1,000 per cent increase. He stated that the increment was unprecedented when compared to six billion naira collected from January to May 2019. The FIRS boss attributed this increase to the dynamism triggered by Fin...
CAF cancels 2020 AWCON, keeps mum on qualifiers
Getty Images Apparently not ready to risk the lives of players, officials and other stakeholders during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday cancelled the 2020 African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON). This was one of the many crucial decisions taken by the Executive Committee headed by CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad during a video-conference Executive Meeting held Tuesday, June 30, 2020. The Committee which also discussed the future of competitions and other related issues following the disruption of football activities across the world including Africa by the COVID-19 pandemic opted to cancel the 2020 AWCON. “Due to challenging conditions, the 2020 edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has been cancelled”,...
774,000 jobs: National Assembly can’t suspend selection process – minister
The Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo (SAN), says members of the National Assembly cannot stop the selection process of the 774,000 Special Public Works Programme jobs. He stated that the Joint Committees on Labour of both the Senate and the House tried to “control the programme as to who gets what, where and how”. The minister insisted that he would not surrender the programme to the lawmakers’ control “since their powers under the constitution does not extend to that”. He, therefore, directed the state selection committees to proceed with the recruitment process. Keyamo, in a statement issued after his meeting with the NASS committee ended in a fiasco on Tuesday, said, “There was a misunderstanding between us when they questioned why I did not privately submit the programme to ...
Suspension: Adams Oshiomhole withdraws application against Appeal Court ruling
Mr Adams Oshiomhole, on Tuesday, withdrew his application for stay of execution of the June 16, 2020 judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal which affirmed his suspension as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress. The withdrawal, his lawyers said, was in line with his concession to the dissolution of the National Working Committee and the subsequent appointment of a caretaker committee by the National Executive Committee of the party on June 25. Following the withdrawal of the motion, the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Eunice Onyemenam unanimously dismissed in a short ruling on Tuesday. Oshiomhole’s Ward 10 in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State had in November 2019 suspended him as a member of the party for anti-party activit...
Tanzanian FinTech Launches Personal Finance App
Mipango Fintech has launched a new app that will provide free personal financial management to Tanzanians on IOS and Android mobile devices. The app – which is underpinned by AI and operates in Swahili – aims to support Tanzanians to better manage their expenses, provide an opportunity to set up budgets, view, analyze expenses and track personal finances. “Financial literacy is a key gap in the growth and development of this market. Over 50% of Tanzanian adults do not keep track of their expenditures and have no financial goals. This factor leads many citizens to engage in bad debt practices which in turn leads many people into abject poverty,” says Lilian Makoi, co-founder of Mipango Fintech. “We see the launch of this application as an opportunity to change the way our citizens run their...
India Bans TikTok and Other Chinese Apps Amid Border Tensions
Sourced from Gadgets 360. Popular Chinese video and music app TikTok has been banned in India, along with 58 other apps – most of which are Chinese. This comes as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. Developed by Chinese company Bytedance, TikTok allows users to share short videos usually set to music. The app and its developers have long denied allegations of being involved in any way with the Chinese government, going as far as to say that its data centres are kept outside of China and therefore is not under the sovereignty of Chinese law. India’s Reaction The Indian government has seen fit to block the app from Indian phones, as well as 58 others. Amongst them Alibaba’s UC Browser and Tencent’s WeChat which is also alleged to be working with the government of China. Even...
75% of Nigerians at risk for non-communicable diseases – study
Three quarters of Nigerians are at risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), a nationwide study by WellNewMe, a health technology company, has revealed. According to the study, the situation needs to be urgently addressed, especially in the present COVID-19 pandemic era, as persons with underlying conditions are most vulnerable to the deadly virus. Dr Obi Igbokwe, the Co-founder of WellNewMe and author of the pilot report, told newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday that in 2019, the company partnered Novartis to run a year-long pilot to determine Nigerians’ risks for developing chronic diseases. Igbokwe quoted the World Health Organisation (WHO) as saying that the COVID-19 pandemic might have had significant impacts on the health of people with NCDs, such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, di...
NAF chief inaugurates officers’ quarters in Calabar
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, has commissioned a two blocks of single officer’s quarters at the 305 Special Mobility Group on Tuesday in Calabar. Abubakar, who was represented at the occasion by AVM Mohammed Yakubu, the Chief of Logistics, Nigerian Air Force, said the welfare of their personnel was very critical to the growth of the force. Abubakar said that when personnel are well cared for with good accommodation, they are more likely to do their job better. According to him, other projects were ongoing in the Command for Airmen, adding that in the coming weeks, they would also be inaugurated and put to use. “We are in Calabar today to commission the officers quarters for our men as part of the effort to boast their morale and dedication to their statutory duties...
Police arrest 46 ‘criminals’, recover N1.5m in Nasarawa
The Nigerian Police Nasarawa State Command has arrested 46 suspected criminals and recovered 1.5 million naira from its operations recently. Commissioner of police in Nasarawa, Bola Longe, disclosed this known to newsmen today at the police headquarters in Lafia. According to the police chief, 46 suspected criminals have been apprehended by police personnel. “We have arrested 46 sophisticated criminals and their breakdown is as follows: 1. armed robbery suspects – 19, 2. kidnapping suspects -14, number of suspected cultists – 6, number of fire arms recovered 11, number of live ammunitions recovered – 63, money recovered N1, 486, 40, number of motorcycles recovered -1“ he said. The CP stated that an official complaint was filed at the police station in Garaku at about 10:50pm on 4/4/2020, f...
Google confirms AirDrop-like feature coming soon
After months of rumors, Google has finally confirmed that its “Nearby Share” feature is on the way. Some Android users are already testing a beta version. “We’re currently conducting a beta test of a new Nearby Share feature that we plan to share more information on in the future,” Google told Android Police. “Our goal is to launch the feature with support for Android 6+ devices as well as other platforms.” The feature started showing up in Chrome OS Canary builds earlier this month, indicating that it will work on Chromebooks as well. Nearby Share looks to function as an Android version of Apple’s AirDrop. You can use it to quickly and wirelessly transfer files between proximate Android phones. Android Police, which got a hands-on with the feature, says it works for photos and videos as w...
