The FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, has disclosed that the FCT administration spent about N8 billion annually on waste management in the Federal Capital City (FCC) and the satellite towns.

Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister of State, has warned graded traditional rulers in the Federal Capital Territory against harbouring foreigners under the cover of mining activities, as this could pose a security danger to their domains.

At the fourth security meeting between the office of the Minister of State, Area Council Chairmen, and the FCT Council of Graded Chiefs, the minister further urged traditional rulers to report any suspicious foreigner within their realm to security agencies for profiling.

Aliyu warned that the Federal Capital Territory, as the country’s seat of government, would continue to defend against illegal miners infiltrating the territory and posing security threats to people, as seen in Zamfara and other afflicted states in the country’s North-West.

She took advantage of the opportunity to declare that the Administration was working with the Ministry of Mines and Steel to impose a mining moratorium in the nation’s capital.

“Please let us save our territory, let us save our people, let us save our patrimony, let us save our right to live peacefully and coexist. It is better than silver and gold. I am appealing to our royal fathers to watch out and report immediately any of these activities or any foreign body within your domain. We cannot allow what is happening in Zamfara and other states to happen in the seat of government,” Aliyu stated.

The Israeli Electricity Company (IEC) is to cut the electricity supply to several parts of the occupied West Bank in response the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s debts.

According to the Israeli Public Broadcaster Kan, the energy company, the action is being taken as a result of the 500-million-shekel ($157 million) debt not paid by the PA.

This is not the first time the electricity supply has been cut to the occupied West Bank, in December 2019 the IEC put in place daily power cuts which lasted three hours disrupting the supply to a number of Palestinian cities.

The cuts were to press for payment for what it said to be $519 million owed by the Palestinian electricity company.

The cuts lasted a little over a month, until the Palestinian run Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), which buys electricity from the IEC and then sells it to customers in the West Bank, signed a loan agreement with several Palestinian banks in order to pay off the debt it owed

Palestinians in the West Bank rely on IEC for over 95 per cent of their electricity supply.

Top executives at ExxonMobil and other oil giants are set to testify at a landmark House hearing Thursday as congressional Democrats investigate what they describe as a decades-long, industry-wide campaign to spread disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming.

Top officials at four major oil companies are testifying before the House Oversight Committee, along with leaders of the industry’s top lobbying group and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Company officials were expected to renew their commitment to fighting climate change.

The much-anticipated hearing comes after months of public efforts by Democrats to obtain documents and other information on the oil industry’s role in stopping climate action over multiple decades.

The appearance of the four oil executives — from ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP America and Shell — has drawn comparisons to a high-profile hearing in the 1990s with tobacco executives who famously testified that they didn’t believe nicotine was addictive.

“The fossil fuel industry has had scientific evidence about the dangers of climate change since at least 1977. Yet for decades, the industry spread denial and doubt about the harm of its products — undermining the science and preventing meaningful action on climate change even as the global climate crisis became increasingly dire,″ said Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

Maloney chairs the Oversight panel, while Khanna leads a subcommittee on the environment.

More recently, Exxon, Chevron and other companies have taken public stances in support of climate actions while privately working to block reforms, Maloney and Khanna charged.

Oil companies frequently boast about their efforts to produce clean energy in advertisements and social media posts accompanied by sleek videos or pictures of wind turbines.

For centuries, Lake Tuz in central Turkey has hosted huge colonies of flamingos that migrate and breed there when the weather is warm, feeding on algae in the lake’s shallow waters.

The 1,665 square kilometer (643 square mile) lake — Turkey’s second-largest lake and home to several bird species — has entirely receded this year.

Experts say Lake Tuz (Salt Lake in Turkish) is a victim of climate change-induced drought, which has hit the region hard, and decades of harmful agricultural policies that exhausted the underground water supply.

“There were about 5,0000 young flamingos. They all perished because there was no water,” said Tunc, who also heads the regional branch of the Turkish environmental group Doga Dernegi. “It was an incredibly bad scene. It’s not something I can erase from my life. I hope I do not come across such a scene again.”

Several other lakes across Turkey have similarly dried up or have receded to alarming levels, affected by low precipitation and unsustainable irrigation practices.

Climate experts warn that the entire Mediterranean basin, which includes Turkey, is particularly at risk of severe drought and desertification.

Environmental groups say poor government agricultural policies play a significant role in the deterioration of Turkey’s lakes.

Zimbabwe seeks to benefit from the experience of Seychelles in the tourism sector as part of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, said new Zimbabwean ambassador.

Dave Hamadziripi became the first ambassador of Zimbabwe to Seychelles after presenting his credentials to President Wavel Ramkalawan on Tuesday at State House, Victoria.

“Zimbabwe is also a very attractive tourist destination. Even if we offer a different package altogether, we can still benefit from the experience of Seychelles in marketing, training and other related areas in the tourism sector. We have agreed to work closely together also with the minister of foreign affairs and tourism to develop that relationship,” Hamadziripi told reporters.

Seychelles and Zimbabwe are both members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA), the African Union and the United Nations.

The newly accredited ambassador also met with the Seychelles’ Minister of Finance, Naadir Hassan and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde.

“I am looking forward to meeting the chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI). We are having all these meetings with the view to explore ways in which we can improve the trade relations between Zimbabwe and Seychelles and also improve the people-to-people relations between the two countries. I am hoping to also meet the minister of education as we believe there is a number of possible potential cooperation in that area as well,” said Hamadziripi.

Hamadziripi will be based in South Africa.