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US: First Arrest Made In Sacramento Mass Shooting

By
Zoe Maven
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Police have arrested a 26-year-old man in connection to a shooting in downtown Sacramento that killed six and injured 12. Authorities said more arrests are likely to be made.

Police said multiple shooters opened fire on a crowd of people gathered outside after bars closed

Sacramento police announced on Monday that they arrested a suspect in a shooting that killed six people in the capital of California. They said a 26-year-old man was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and being a convict carrying a loaded gun.

Detectives worked overnight to comb the crime scene spread out in the center of the capital of California.

District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said that the man was not arrested on suspicion of homicide, but suggested investigators were making progress.

SWAT teams have so far raided three homes in connection with the shooting, with at least one handgun recovered.

District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert told Newsmen that the investigation is highly complex, involving many witnesses, videos of numerous types and significant physical evidence, adding that more arrests in the case are anticipated.

Authorities had said they were looking for at least two people involved with the shooting. Detectives are still trying to determine the motive.

The shooting happened in Sacramento’s downtown area near the state capital building in the early hours of Sunday morning as bars were closing and people gathered in the streets.

Police said multiple shooters fired more than 100 rounds.

The victims included three men and three women, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester told reporters.

Salmonella, A Leading Cause Of Foodborne Outbreaks

By
Zoe Maven
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Salmonella, fears over which sparked a cautionary recall of Kinder chocolate eggs in several European countries on Tuesday, is one of the most common causes of food-borne outbreaks.

Named after the American veterinarian who helped discover the bacteria, Daniel Elmer Salmon, salmonella often causes mild illness, but can be life-threatening in extreme cases.

It is most often transmitted to humans who eat food contaminated with the faeces of an infected animal, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

This often happens when people consume raw or undercooked food like meat and eggs, or when people handling food fail to wash their hands.

Less often, unwashed fruits and vegetables can become infected. Whether or not a person contracts salmonellosis, the infection caused by salmonella, depends on the type of bacteria and the quantity consumed.

While an estimated 94 percent of salmonellosis is transmitted by food, contact with chicks and pet turtles can be a source of infection, the CDC said.

If contaminated foods are distributed widely across borders, it can infected vast numbers of people.

Around 224,000 people were made sick by infected ice cream in the United States in 1994.

A decade earlier in France, at least 25,000 were infected by a food source that was never identified, according to the Pasteur Institute.

Symptoms usually show up around three days after infection and often include diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps.

A healthy adult normally recovers within a few days but in some cases, an infection can be dangerous or even fatal.

Spanish PM To Visit Morocco On Thursday As Ties Improve

By
Zoe Maven
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The Moroccan royal palace said on Tuesday that King Mohammed VI will meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday in Rabat, as the two countries seek to patch up a diplomatic dispute that flared last year.

Spain is Morocco’s main trading partner and the two countries have worked together on issues including migration, militancy and energy.

Relations have improved between them after Spain announced last month its support for Morocco’s autonomy plan “as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for settling the dispute” over Western Sahara.

The language reflected a shift in Spanish policy in favor of Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that Morocco considers its own but where the Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks to establish its own state.

In April last year, Morocco was angered after Spain admitted Polisario leader Brahim Ghali for medical treatment, saying it had not been informed.

Morocco warned that if Ghali left Spain, where he faced human rights charges, without a trial it could cut diplomatic ties.

Rabat then appeared to relax border controls with Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, leading to an influx of at least 8,000 migrants, most of whom were later returned.

The Spanish support for the autonomy plan comes after similar positions by the United States, Germany, France, Israel and other countries in Africa and the Arab world.

Rabat says its 2007 autonomy initiative is the most it can do as a political solution to the conflict.

The Polisario and its ally Algeria reject this and insist on holding an independence referendum.

UK, U.S., Australia Agree To Work Under Defence Pact

By
Zoe Maven
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Britain, the United States and Australia on Tuesday agreed to cooperate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said, following a call between leaders of the new defence alliance.

The new Aukus defence alliance, launched in September last year, prompted Australia to cancel a contract for a conventional French submarine in favour of a nuclear submarine program supported by the United States and Britain, damaging relations with French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a joint statement, AUKUS leaders Johnson, U.S. President Joe Biden and Australian PM Scott Morrison said they were pleased with the progress of the programme for conventionally armed, nuclear powered submarines for Australia, and the allies would co-operate in other areas too.

The United States and Australia already have a hypersonic weapon programme called SCIFiRE, and British officials said that though Britain would not join that programme at this point, the three countries would work together on research and development in the area to increase their options.

Biden’s administration is investing in the research and development of hypersonic missiles, which travel at five times the speed of sound, as Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine has intensified concerns about European security.

The leaders said, “In light of Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and unlawful invasion of Ukraine, we reiterated our unwavering commitment to an international system that respects human rights, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes free from coercion.

They also reaffirmed their commitment to a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.

U.S. NTSB Assisting In China Crash Flight Data Recorder Review

By
Zoe Maven
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1

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed on Tuesday it is assisting Chinese investigators with the review of the flight data recorder in a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crashed March 21 killing all 132 onboard.

The NTSB was reportedly assisting the Civil Aviation Administration of China with the download of the cockpit voice recorder at the U.S. lab in Washington.

NTSB had repeatedly declined to answer questions about the status of the flight data recorder until Tuesday when it confirmed assistance with that recorder as well.

The plane crashed into a mountainside in southern China on March 21 killing all 132 on board. It was mainland China’s deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years.

Heading to coastal Guangzhou from the southwestern city of Kunming, the plane dove from cruising altitude around the time it should have started its landing descent. The flight data recorder could shed light on the cause of the crash.

The flight briefly appeared to pull out of its nosedive before resuming its plunge to earth, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24. Its data showed the aircraft was plummeting 31,000 feet per minute.

The pilots did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers and nearby planes during the rapid descent, authorities said.

The cockpit voice recorder will likely provide investigators with details of communications between the flight’s three pilots, which is one more than is normally required on board the Boeing plane.

On Saturday, a team of three NTSB investigators arrived in China to assist in the crash probe. The NTSB also said Friday a small team from Boeing was traveling to China to assist in the investigation.

MSF Halts Operations In Cameroon’s Anglophone Region

By
Zoe Maven
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Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced the suspension of its humanitarian activities in an English-speaking area of Cameroon due to the detention four local employees accused by local authorities of “complicity” with separatists.

In a statement on Tuesday the NGO said the organisation decided to stop its work in one of the two English-speaking regions three months after the arrest and detention of four members of its staff in connection with the organization’s “medical work.

Scheherazade Bouabid, MSF’s head of communications for Central and West Africa said MSF said it had ceased its activities “as of March 29, in order to focus on securing the safe release of its staff”. This is the first time MSF has publicly mentioned the arrests.

At the end of 2020, the Cameroonian government suspended MSF operations in the northwest, the country’s second largest English-speaking region, accusing its medical teams of “collusion” with armed separatist groups.

In these two regions, where most of the English-speaking minority lives in a predominantly French-speaking country ruled with an iron fist for nearly 40 years by 89-year-old Paul Biya, the army and separatist groups have been clashing almost daily for five years.

Civilians are caught in the middle and are victims of abuses committed by both sides, according to international NGOs and the UN. The conflict has left more than 6,000 people dead and forced more than a million to flee their homes.

Sylvain Groulx, MSF’s head of programs in Central Africa, said conditions need to be in place to allow them carry out their activities in a safe and secure environment, so they can fulfill their obligations to patients.

25 Abandoned Migrants In The Niger Desert Are Rescued

By
Zoe Maven
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0

 Twenty-five Niger migrants, including women and children, abandoned by their driver, were rescued last week in the middle of the desert in northern Niger.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday, the migrants were rescued “last weekend in the Sahara desert by (teams of) IOM and the Directorate of Civil Protection of Niger.

In a Facebook post the UN agency stated that the survivors, whose destination was not specified, remained without food and water for three days” before being found.

Rescue operations for migrants are frequent in the hostile Nigerian desert, mainly in areas close to Libya as many West African migrants try to cross through Libya to reach the Mediterranean coast and thus reach Europe.

They usually gather in Agadez, the large city in northern Niger, where there are networks of smugglers and “ghettos” (backyards) in which they are housed before crossing the desert.

According to authorities in Agadez, vehicles carrying migrants often break down in the desert or smugglers get lost, abandoning their passengers for fear of checkpoints or military patrols. Some migrants die of dehydration.

In April 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 250 stranded West African migrants were found near Madama, on Niger’s border with Libya, abandoned by their smugglers, according to the IOM.

In an effort to discourage smugglers, Niamey passed a law in 2015 making migrant smuggling a crime, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. However, despite this measure, migrants are taking “new and more dangerous routes” to enter Libya, according to a security source.

Several NGOs and UN agencies regularly denounce the deplorable conditions in Libyan detention centers.

Ex-Sudanese Militia Leader Pleads Not Guilty At ICC Tri

By
Zoe Maven
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0

An alleged leader of a Sudanese militia has rejected all charges against him as the International Criminal Court opened trial on Tuesday.

The 72-year-old defendant, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, pleaded innocent to all 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. “

This is the first ICC trial to deal with atrocities by Sudanese government-backed forces in the Darfur province nearly two decades ago.

Prosecutors say al-Rahman was a senior commander in the janjaweed militias during the Darfur conflict that erupted when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in the capital, Khartoum.

Then-President Omar al-Bashir’s government responded with a scorched-earth campaign of aerial bombings and raids by the janjaweed, who often attacked at dawn, sweeping into villages on horseback or camelback.

The campaign included mass killings and rapes, torture and persecution. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes in Darfur over the years.

Prosecutor Karim Khan said that al-Rahman was “a willing and knowing participant in crimes” and “one of the key senior janjaweed militia leaders” who worked “hand-in-glove” with the Sudanese government in its counterinsurgency campaign.

Al-Rahman is suspected of crimes allegedly committed between August 2003 and at least April 2004 in Darfur including murder, torture, rape, persecution and attacking civilians.

The trial opens amid a recent rise in violence in Darfur, which has seen deadly clashes between rival tribes in recent months as the country remains mired in a wider crisis following last year’s coup, when top generals overthrew a civilian-led government.

Exploring Dômes De Fabedougou, Burkina Faso

By
Angel Gimalo
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1

Les Dômes de Fabedougouare not well known limestone formations that can be seen in the south western part of the African nation of Burkina Faso.

Located more precisely to the north part of the town of Banfora, these incredible high rocks are considered to come from the Mesoproterozoic Era where they’ve been formed over the millennia by water and erosion.

Different in size, the rocks are certainly high, looking like tall buildings which allow you to climb to the top of them, however, only if one has the necessary sports or climbing shoes, and if the rock itself is not so steep.

Once on the top, it can be seen that Les Dômes de Fabedougou are surrounded mostly with cane fields, while the landscape views are mesmerizing as one is able to see quite far from the impressive Burkina Faso.

All in all, perfect for “getting lost” in between the tall rocks, these formations will capture and inspire every visitor to stay as much longer as possible since it is one of the few attractions in Burkina Faso that are not well known around the world.

Ajaokuta Steel: Russia-Ukraine Crisis Delayed Delivering Project – Minister

By
Angel Gimalo
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0

The Federal Government of Nigeria Has Blamed the Outbreak of Covid-19, and Now the Russian/ukrainian Conflict, for Its Inability to Meet Its Earlier Target of Delivering the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill Project This Year.

Minister of Mines and Steel, Olamilekan Adegbite, Disclosed This During the Weekly Ministerial Briefing Organised by the Presidential Communication Team, Held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Nigeria’s Seat of Power.

The Minister Revealed That President Muhammadu Buhari Had Approved the Release of $2million for the Conduct of a Technical Audit of the Mill as Demanded by Russia. He Said the Money Is Still Intact as It Has Not Been Paid Out.

According to Him, the Government Had, Before the Pandemic, Successfully Convinced Russia to Complete the Steel Facility, but Could Not Proceed With the Negotiations Due to Force-majeure.

He Further Disclosed That the Government Moved to Continue the Negotiations With Russia After the Lockdown, but Progress Was Stalled Again Due to the Conflict Between the Country and Ukraine.

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