MH17 Crash Passengers Were Unlawfully Killed – Coroner

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July 1, 2022

A Coroner has concluded that five British citizens were unlawfully killed when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine.

A joint inquest into the deaths of five of the 298 on board has been held in England, where their bodies were repatriated to.

The court heard evidence that a Buk missile was fired from Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. It exploded in front of the cockpit of the aircraft, the inquest heard.

Fragments of the missile then killed crew members in the cockpit and caused significant damage to the aircraft, causing it to break up. The inquest was held in Leicester for the following five passengers:

The aircraft was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 17 July 2014 when it was shot down.All of the 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed. Of those who died, 10 were British.

The inquest heard evidence from Det Ch Supt Dominic Murphy, from the Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) of the Metropolitan Police.

He said a criminal investigation taking place in The Hague had identified four individuals as possibly being responsible for the missile, and they were being tried in their absence.

He said the missile exploded in front of the cockpit of the aircraft, and fragments penetrated the aircraft on the left hand side of the cockpit.

He said fragments of metal were found in the bodies of crew members when their remains were recovered, and that the miissile system appeared to have been smuggled over the border to Ukraine from Russian on 16 and 17 July.

After hearing all of the evidence, coroner Catherine Mason said: “I am satisfied that MH17 was shot down by a Buk missile that was fired by pro-Russian separatists.

UK And New Zealand Expand Working Holiday Visas

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Zoe Maven

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July 1, 2022

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The UK and New Zealand will allow more younger people to live and work in both countries for longer.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Kiwi counterpart Jacinda Ardern agreed to extend the Youth Mobility and Working Holiday schemes.

The age limit for applicants will go up from 30 to 35, and the maximum length of time people can stay in the host country will now be three years.It follows similar deal to allow young people to work and travel in Australia.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the move will give even more young Brits and New Zealanders the opportunity to develop their skills, make life-long connections and contribute to their host country.

Ms Ardern, who is in London for talks with Mr Johnson, said New Zealand had long advocated for improvements to working holiday visas.

The NZ Labour Party leader previously lived in London when she worked in Whitehall as a senior policy adviser before entering politics.

The prime ministers met at Downing Street following the Nato summit in Madrid which finished on Thursday.

Ms Ardern said the pair would be discussing the free trade deal signed last year as well as the response to the war in Ukraine

Johnson praised the “very strong line” New Zealand was taking, and Ms Ardern said: “We have also provided our military aid via our partnership with you,”

The Home Office said more information on the Youth Mobility and Working Holiday scheme will be announced next year.

Germany And Nigeria Sign Historic Benin Bronzes Deal

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Zoe Maven

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July 1, 2022

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Germany and Nigeria have signed an agreement to hand over ownership of more than 1,130 Benin Bronzes looted during colonial times that are held in several German museums.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Nigerian Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed were among senior officials who inked the deal in Berlin on Friday afternoon.

Nigerian ambassador to Germany Yusuf Maitama Tugga told Newsmen this means the immediate return of two works, which are being taken to the embassy and will be back in Nigeria “possibly as early as next week”.

The UK Guardian newspaper quotes Hermann Parzinger, the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, as saying: “The return is a milestone in the process of reappraising colonial injustice in the field of museum collections.”

The term Benin Bronzes refers to thousands of metal sculptures and ivory carvings made between the 15th and 19th Centuries and looted by British troops in 1897 from the West African kingdom of Benin, in modern-day Nigeria’s Edo state.

Many of these priceless stolen artefacts are held by museums across the world – and there has been a push in recent years to get them returned home.

Abba Isa Tijani, director of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), told Germany’s Deutsche Welle news site ahead of the ceremony in the German capital, said it was a historic moment for us

The Artnet website reports that many of the artefacts will be returned to Nigeria before the end of this year while some will remain on long-term loan at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

Council Inducts 158 KWASU Medical Laboratory Scientists

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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July 1, 2022

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The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), has inducted 158 newly qualified medical laboratory scientists from Kwara State University.

The Registrar of MLSCN, Dr. Tosan Erhabor, congratulated the university for ensuring the full accreditation of the programme.

Dr. Erhabor, who was represented by MLSCN Director of Education, and Deputy Registrar, Dr. Godwin Aikpitianyi, advocated for the training of more personnel in the health sector to meet the needs of the nation.

He noted that the strides made by the university would boost the profile of the medical laboratory science programme.

The registrar said more should be done to ensure staff and students work with the best tools with which to push the frontiers of training and research

He also charged the newly qualified medical laboratory scientists to avoid quackery and sharp practices, urging them to take their oath as binding them to professional conduct.

In his opening address, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Mustapha Akanbi SAN, stated that the induction ceremony was an important event and contribution to the country’s medical sector.

Represented by Prof. Omololu Fapojuwo, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Administration, Akanbi said the newly inducted scientists would contribute to ameliorating personnel shortage in the profession.

“KWASU is the first institution in the North Central zone to mount and graduate medical laboratory scientists and we are committed to producing total graduates who will drive various sectors of the nation’s economy,” he said.

Akanbi added that the induction ceremony brought the total of medical laboratory scientists produced by the institution to 364.

He urged the inductees to be good ambassadors of the institution through hard work, honesty and service to humanity.

The Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Prof. Emmanuel Ajani, said the university has achieved in the areas of procurement of laboratory equipment, a new laboratory complex, a departmental building and an endowment of the Faculty Lecture.

The event was climaxed with the administration of the Hippocratic oath and induction of the medical scientists into the profession and the council.

The oath taking and induction ceremony was the third of its kind in the institution.

Nigerian Customs Seizes Contraband Goods In Kaduna

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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July 1, 2022

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The Nigerian Customs of the Federal Operation Unit Zone B, Kaduna Command, has made about 105 seizures worth N236,834,525.53 between April to June, 2022 at various locations within the Zone.

The Comptroller, Albashir Hamisu who is in charge of the unit made the revelation to newsmen at a news briefing in Kaduna.

He listed the seized items to include 882 bags of foreign parboiled rice in 100kg, 50kg, and 25kg size bags, 34 of which were ingeniously concealed in 17 bags of 100kg local beans and 38 in 18 bags of 100kg local maize.

Other items presented at the briefing include 11 units of vehicles, 124 cartons of unregistered pharmaceutical products, 273 gallons of 30litres premium motor spirit (PMS), 177 bales of foreign second-hand clothing, 282 cartons of foreign spaghetti and Macaroni, 73 pieces of foreign used tyres and 52 bundles of foreign new textiles.

The Comptroller attributed the success of the unit to the improved capacity as a result of logistics and support received from customs headquarter, inter-agency collaboration and sharing of intelligence among sister agencies as well as information received from some patriotic Nigerians.

Tiktok Strives To Reassure Lawmakers On U.S. Data Security

By

faith Jegede

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July 1, 2022

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Chinese-owned social media company TikTok told US senators it is working on a final agreement with the US government that “will fully safeguard user data and US national security interests,” according to a letter seen on Friday.

TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew told senators in a letter dated on Thursday the short video app was working with Oracle on “new advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future.”

Last month, TikTok said it has completed migrating information on its US users to servers at Oracle but it still is using US and Singapore data centres for backup.

TikTok’s letter acknowledged that China-based employees “can have access to TikTok US user data subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our US-based security team.”

TikTok said as it continues to work on data issues it expects “to delete US users protected data from our own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US”

Us Queries Tiktok Over Citizens Data Security

By

faith Jegede

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July 1, 2022

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The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks, in 2020 ordered Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok because of fears that U.S. user data could be passed on to China’s communist government.

U.S. President Joe Biden in June 2021 withdrew a series of executive orders by former President Donald Trump that sought to ban new downloads of the apps and ordered the Commerce Department to conduct a review of security concerns posed by the apps.

The senators said the proposal for TikTok to store its U.S. users’ information without ByteDance access “would do little to address the core security concerns.”

According to several sources, the CFIUS has been in extensive discussions with TikTok on security issues.

The social media platform, has risen through the ranks to become one of the world’s most popular social media apps, with more than 1 billion active users globally, counting the U.S. as its largest market.

Nigeria To Acquire Disability Friendly Vehicles

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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July 1, 2022

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Nigerian government has concluded plans to purchase disability vehicles for civil servants.

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan disclosed this in Abuja, Nigeria at the launch of a pilot phase of the Federal Civil Servants Bus Scheme.

The Head of Service said the move was aimed at improving the welfare of Civil Servants by providing an efficient, affordable and safe transportation system.

“For the social inclusion of Persons With Disabilities, arrangements have been concluded with the private sector operators to acquire customized buses that will be Wheelchair accessible”.

“This implies that the buses will have lower sets , automated ramps and spaces within the buses to enable our physically challenged officers on wheelchairs or crutches commune with ease.

According to her, the Scheme is being implemented through a private sector operations by providing high capacity intra-city buses with automated paying system.

Yemi-Esan admonished Civil Servants to take proper care of the buses and use the opportunity to their best advantage.

“We’ve tried so hard to make sure it’s comfortable both in the bus and also very comfortable to the pockets. We’ve also made it possible for us to pay in advance, to pay on pay day. You can actually buy as much tickets as you want for the month so that you don’t wait until the last day of the month when there isn’t much in the pocket to say ‘I didn’t have much money to come to work’. So we looked at all these and ensure that it’s Civil Servants friendly.

“Rather, the value proposition is for government to create a transport system that is convenient, comfortable and affordable for all Federal Civil Servants to enjoy.

She added that 20 more buses will soon be added to the ones launched.

Indonesia Leader Targets Food Crisis In Russia-Ukraine Mission

By

Zoe Maven

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July 1, 2022

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Indonesia’s president has expressed hope for progress in reintegrating global food and fertilizer supply lines disrupted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and he offered to be a diplomatic bridge between the two nations.

President Joko Widodo, who is the G-20 president this year, was speaking at a news conference alongside his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after a bilateral meeting in Moscow on Thursday.

His trip followed a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Jokowi said he had urged leaders of the G-7 during a meeting he attended in Germany this week to ensure sanctions on Russia did not affect food and fertilizer supplies.

The war in Ukraine has caused major disruptions to global trade, with the prices of grain and wheat soaring amid a blockade of Ukrainian seaports and sanctions on Russian commodities such as oil, gas and fertilizer.

Speaking alongside Jokowi in Moscow, Putin denied Russia was blocking Ukrainian grain exports.

As G-20 president this year, Jokowi has sought to patch up divisions in the group exposed by the war in Ukraine and threats to boycott the summit if Russia attended, as well as leveraging his country’s non-aligned position to push for peace.

On Thursday, he said he had conveyed a message from Zelenskyy to Putin, and said Indonesia remained willing to be a “communication bridge” between the two leaders. He did not say what was in the message.

Separately, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she had held phone calls with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, among others.

Iran Says Ready For New Talks With US On Nuclear Deal

By

Elizabeth Williams

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July 1, 2022

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Iran said on Thursday it is ready for new indirect talks with the United States to overcome the last hurdles to revive its tattered 2015 nuclear deal with major powers amid a growing crisis over the country’s atomic program.

Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi told the UN Security Council that the Iranian “negotiating team is ready to engage constructively again to conclude and reach [an] agreement.”

“The ball is in US’ court, and if the US acts realistically and shows its serious intention to implement its obligations, the agreement is not out of reach,” he added.

Ravanchi’s remarks came a day after indirect negotiations between Iran and the US ended in Qatar after failing to make significant progress. Yet Ravanchi described the Qatar talks as “serious and positive.”

He said Iran will contact the European Union coordinators “for the next stage of talks.”

During intensive consultations with EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Tehran last week “Iran once again emphasized its willingness to provide creative solutions to the remaining issues in the hope of ending the deadlock,” Ravanchi said.

He spoke at a Security Council meeting on the UN resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal and its five permanent members — the US, Russia, China, Britain and France — and Germany. In 2018, then-US president Donald Trump pulled America out of the agreement, known as the JCPOA, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents.