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Ukraine War: Australian Billionaire Launches $25bn Fund For Reconstruction, Commits $500m

By
Angel Gimalo
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Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched an investment fund that is hoped will be worth at least $25bn (£21bn) to help rebuild war-torn Ukraine.

Mr Forrest and his wife have committed $500m to the fund, which its organisers say could eventually grow to $100bn.

The Ukraine Green Growth Initiative plans to invest in primary infrastructure such as energy and telecoms networks.

President Zelensky welcomed the move.

“We will take advantage of the fact that what the Russians have destroyed can readily be replaced with the latest, most modern green and digital infrastructure,” Mr Zelensky said.

The fund said it had been working with Larry Fink, the chairman of investment giant BlackRock, and hopes to gain the support of sovereign wealth funds and other professional investors.

Since starting work on the investment fund in early March, Mr Forrest said he had discussed the plan with a number of world leaders including US President Joe Biden, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“The president [Zelensky] sees that as an opportunity to completely replace old coal-fired [and] nuclear power stations with brand new green energy,” Mr Forrest told the BBC.

“That capital would be available the instant that the Russian forces have been removed from the homelands of Ukraine,” he added.

Mr Forrest made his fortune from Australia’s mining boom. He is the founder and executive chairman of iron ore giant Fortescue Metals.

In recent years he has turned his attention to sustainable technology, with initiatives to decarbonise his mining operations and become a major producer of green hydrogen.

Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Moved To Solitary Confinement

By
Angel Gimalo
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FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny arrives for a hearing for his appeal at a court in Moscow, Russia June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he has been transferred permanently to solitary confinement.

Mr Navalny said the move took place just days before a planned family visit, and was aimed at silencing him.

He was already facing 11 and a half years in prison on a range of charges, including for fraud, which he said are trumped-up.

The 46-year-old has long been the most prominent face of Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Navalny was already being held in solitary confinement, also called a “punishment cell”, but he could only be held there for 15 days, according to a post of his Instagram account.

But in a series of tweets on Thursday, the high-profile Kremlin critic said he had been accused by prison officials of being an “egregious offender” and moved to a “cell-type room”. His visitation rights have also been curtailed.

He said his new confinement is “a regular cramped cell, like the punishment cell, except that you can have not one but two books and use the prison kiosk, albeit on a very limited budget.”

Family members, – including his mother, father and wife Yulia – were due to visit him four days after he was moved, Mr Navalny said. He accused the Kremlin of “bestiality” and manually controlling his “entire incarceration”.

“They’re doing it to shut me up. So what’s my first duty? That’s right, to not be afraid and not shut up,” he wrote.

Mr Navalny is being held in a penal colony more than 250km (150 miles) east of Moscow. He was arrested on his return to Russia from Germany, where he had been treated after being poisoning with a nerve agent.

He was initially jailed for two and a half years for breaking bail conditions while being treated in hospital, but was then given an extra nine years for fraud and contempt of court.

In May he lost an appeal against a nine-year prison term on fraud charges, during which he launched a blistering attack on Russia’s war in Ukraine. He said the rulings against him were no different from the lies used by “madman” President Vladimir Putin and state TV to justify the war.

“You will suffer a historic defeat in this stupid war that you started. It has no purpose or meaning. Why are we fighting a war?” he said.

Russia has repeatedly silenced criticism of its war in Ukraine, prosecuting those who have refused to use the term “special military operation” and blocking independent media outlets.

Guernsey Environment: Beach Litter Volunteers Collect 48,000 Items

By
Angel Gimalo
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A local charity organising litter picks on Guernsey beaches collected more than 48,000 pieces during 2021.

The Clean Earth Trust (CET) said it analysed 122 beach litter collections, taking volunteers more than 2,000 hours.

The results showed that 48,924 pieces of marine litter weighing more than two tonnes were collected.

Paul Bugden, policy officer of CET, said the report was a “ground-breaking piece of citizen science”.

He added that it demonstrated the “shocking impact of marine plastic pollution in Guernsey and globally and is a call for action which we will be addressing with the States of Guernsey”.

The report found 76% of the items were plastic and 33% of all items were single-use plastic.

A total of 7,275 cigarette butts were collected.

Celtic Ruler’s Ring Goes Sold For £36,000 At Auction

By
Angel Gimalo
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A 2,000-year-old gold ring believed to have been worn by a Celtic ruler could go on display in York after being sold at auction for £36,000.

The “jaw-dropping” jewellery was bought by a British private collector on Wednesday after it spent the last 28 years in its previous owner’s cupboard.

The Yorkshire Museum is now in talks with the buyer about displaying the “rare and beautiful object”.

The Iron Age ring was unearthed in a field in North Yorkshire in the 1990s.

Dating back to about 100BC, it was thought to have been worn by a chieftain of the Corieltauvi tribe, which ruled parts of what are now the Midlands and Yorkshire before the Roman invasion.

Auction house Noonans had expected the ring to fetch between £24,000 and £30,000 on Wednesday.

Nigel Mills, specialist in ancient jewellery at the firm, said: “We were delighted with the result of this beautiful ring.”

He added the auctioneers were “so pleased” the item was staying in the UK and said the buyer now wanted to loan the ring so the public could view it.

Chinese police stations in U.S. worry FBI, China denies running overseas stations

By
Angel Gimalo
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The FBI is “concerned” by reports that secret “police stations” linked to China have been set up across the US.

A September report issued by the NGO Safeguard Defenders revealed the presence of these stations around the world, including in New York.

The FBI’s director, Christopher Wray, told senior politicians that the agency was monitoring reports of such centres across the country.

“We are aware of the existence of these stations,” Mr Wray said.

“To me, it is outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop, you know, in New York, let’s say, without proper coordination,” he added. “It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes.”

Asked if the stations violated US law, Mr Wray said the FBI was “looking into the legal parameters”.

The senior intelligence official was speaking at a US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, where he was grilled by senior lawmakers.

According to the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, Chinese public security bureaus established the “overseas police service stations” in several continents, including two in London and one in Glasgow. In North America, it found stations in Toronto and in New York.

The units were reportedly created to tackle transnational crime and to provide administrative services to Chinese nationals abroad, such as renewing drivers’ licences abroad and other consular services.

However, Safeguard Defenders said they also serve a “more sinister goal”, by contributing to “cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese”.

Chia has denied running the overseas stations.

Mr Wray said the United States had opened a number of charges related to the Chinese government harassing, stalking, monitoring and blackmailing people in the US who had been critical of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“It’s a real problem and something that we’re talking with our foreign partners about, as well, because we’re not the only country where this has occurred,” he said.

In October, the US unsealed criminal charges against seven Chinese nationals accused of spying on and harassing a US resident and his family as part of efforts by the Chinese government to return one of them to China.

Last month, one of the Chinese “police stations” in the centre of the Irish capital Dublin was ordered to close by the government as a result of Safeguard Defenders’ work.

And Canadian intelligence officials recently said they were investigating accusations that China had opened unofficial “police” stations on Canadian soil.

Nancy Pelosi Stands Down As Leader Of US House Democrats

By
Angel Gimalo
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Nancy Pelosi, who has led Democrats in the US House of Representatives for almost two decades, has announced she is standing down from the role.

The 82-year-old is the most powerful Democrat in Congress and the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.

She will continue to represent her California district in the lower chamber of Congress.

It comes as Republicans are projected to take back control of the House following the midterm elections.

Republican Kevin McCarthy has won the party’s nomination to be speaker in the new Congress and is likely to succeed Mrs Pelosi.

“I never would have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker,” Mrs Pelosi said in a statement in the chamber on Thursday.

“I will not seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress. The hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus,” she said.

Mrs Pelosi will serve as speaker until January when a new Congress takes over, and will remain in the seat she first took up in 1987 until January 2025.

Russian Strikes: 10 Million Without Power – Zelensky

By
Angel Gimalo
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Catherine, 70, looks out the window while holding a candle for light inside her house during a power outage, in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. Airstrikes cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on Tuesday, part of what the country's president called an expanding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark and make peace talks impossible. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says 10 million Ukrainians are without power after a fresh wave of missile strikes by Russia.

At least seven people were killed in the strikes, with the number expected to rise.

“We are doing everything to normalize the supply,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

Ukraine’s air defence managed to shoot down six cruise missiles and five drones, he added.

On Thursday, Russia pounded Ukraine with a fresh missile barrage, hitting more energy installations and other civilian buildings less than two days after one of its heaviest bombardments yet.

Seven people died when a missile hit their apartment block in Vilnyansk, near the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, the Ukrainian presidency said.

A gas production plant in the east and a missile factory in Dnipro were among the latest targets, officials say.

Those suffering power outages are mainly in the capital, Kyiv, the western city of Vinnytsia, the port city of Odesa in the south-west and Sumy in the north-east.

Mr Zelensky accused Russia of destroying his people’s supplies of electricity and heat.

The Ukrainian leader repeated his calls for Ukraine’s partners to offer “full protection of the Ukrainian sky”, saying that to do so would encourage Russia to end the war.

Moscow has looked to justify its recent strikes by accusing Kyiv of “unwillingness” to negotiate.

Once Upon A Time – November 18 – 1913 – Lincoln Deachey Becomes 1st American Pilot To Perform An Aircraft Loop-The-Loop

By
Angel Gimalo
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1477 First English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by William Caxton at his press in London

1626 St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site and becoming the world’s largest Christian basilica

1916 British General Douglas Haig finally calls off the 1st Battle of the Somme in World War I after more than 1 million soldiers had been killed or wounded

1978 In Jonestown, Guyana, 918 members of the Peoples Temple are murdered or commit suicide under the leadership of cult leader Jim Jones

1993 Black and white leaders in South Africa approve new democratic constitution

Historical Events Today

Today In Film & Tv

1928 Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” released, first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon

Today In Music

2011 “The X Factor” group One Direction release their debut album “Up All Night” in Ireland and the UK

Today In Sport

1990 1st Solheim Cup Women’s Golf, Lake Nona G & CC: US beats Europe 11½-4½ in inaugural event; Kathy Whitworth US captain; Mickey Walker Europe skipper

1902 Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michton names the teddy bear after US President Teddy Roosevelt

1913 Lincoln Deachey becomes the first American pilot to perform an aircraft loop-the-loop in his Curtiss aeroplane near San Diego

Famous Weddings

1794 2nd Earl Grey Charles Grey (30) weds only daughter of 1st Baron Ponsonby Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby

1948 KFC founder Colonel Sanders (58) weds his long-time employee Claudia Price

1952 “Rock Around The Clock” rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bill Haley (27) weds second wife Barbara Cupchak

Africa Real Estate Summit and Awards Holds In Lagos, Housing Concerns Addressed

By
Angel Gimalo
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The Africa Real Estate Summit and Awards held a two-day summit, exhibition and awards ceremony designed to create an opportunity for low, middle, and high-income earners in Africa to invest in the real estate sector and for stakeholders to discuss the future of real estate in Africa through discussions, networking and masterclasses.

This event was for CEOs, CFOs & CXOs, Realtors, Investors, Architects & Interior Designers.

The theme of the event was Real Estate Opportunities and the Future of Real Estate in Africa.

The virtual/physical exhibition allowed participants and stakeholders to meet and network with exhibitors from across Nigeria, West Africa and other parts of the world.

Head Of Business, Noble Guard Security Adelakun Kehinde spoke on security of property in all spheres.

During the event, there were two interactive sessions with distinguished guests.

The first session had Gbadebo Patrick Rhodes-Vivour. He is a Nigerian architect, activist and politician.

He is also the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour party for Lagos State in the upcoming 2023 Lagos State gubernatorial election.

He was Represented by Dapo Adaramewa – businessman, educationist and governance consultant, special adviser to the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour party for Lagos State.

He spoke on Real Estate Policies For Lagos State with Environment correspondent, Gimalo-Angel Olowogoke as Anchor and an award recipient (Real Estate Media Personality of the year)

The second interactive session had a Nigerian human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner and the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore.

He spoke on use of locally sourced materials to reduce importation, Lagos as a sinking city, abandoned buildings all over Nigeria and other salient points concerning the growth of the real estate in Nigeria.

Other issues discussed in the sessions were Infrastructure, Housing deficit, Security, challenges in the real estate industry and Technology Acceleration and Innovation.

Convener of the event, Mr. Onyeka Matthew Onwuka was organized for the real estate to move forward in Nigeria and also contribute to the GDP of the country. He said people should look forward to another edition which comes up in 2023.

Beautiful Nigeria: Tulo-Tulowa, Yobe State

By
Angel Gimalo
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0

Also known as “The Desert Land of Hope”, Tulo-Tulowa is located in Yusufari LGA of the Yobe State and it is a mushy oasis with abundant water in a low valley providing magnificent picturesque view in the desert.

“Tulo-Tulo” simply means marshy land with abundant water. The village is located in low valley and surrounded by palm trees between five hills. Tulo-Tulowa came into existence about a century ago when nomadic rearers from Geidam Local Government migrated there in search of greener pastures.

The settlement is located near an OASIS on the Desert Island, and about 105km north of Nguru at the desert fingers bordering the Republic of Niger. The village has other Oasis with reddish undulating landscape, giving it magnificent picturesque scenery.

Tulo-Tulowa is endowed with fertile soil and rich mineral resources. Potash, which is also known as black salt (Kanwa) is available in commercial quantities.

Camel caravans could be seen conveying potash to Geidam and Gashua to be exchanged for food stuff.

It recalls to memory the ancient Trans-Saharan Trade. Accessibility to Tulo-Tulowa is by 4-wheel drive vehicles.

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