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Kebbi State Governor Approves Renovation of 36 PHC’s

Olasunbo Okoromi
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Kebbi State Governor Approves Renovation of 36 PHC’s

Kebbi state Governor, Abubakar Bagudu, has approved the renovation of 36 Primary Healthcare Centres across the state to improve health care delivery.

This was announced by the Commissioner for Health, Jafar Muhammad he noted that the renovation of the 36 PHCs was under the auspices of the Saving One Million Lives Programme in the state towards achieving universal healthcare coverage for all.

“Already, 134 PHCs have been revitalized towards improving quality of healthcare service at the grassroots level. “The renovation of the 36 PHCs is going to improve healthcare services at the grass-roots level,” he said

EU And UK Criticised For ‘Flawed’ Protocol Approach – Brexit

Elizabeth Williams
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EU And UK Criticised For ‘Flawed’ Protocol Approach – Brexit

U.K and E.U have both taken a fundamentally flawed approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol.  Lord Jay of Ewelme, committee chairman, said it was an absolute necessity that the UK and EU urgently worked together to ensure Northern Ireland did not become a “permanent casualty of the Brexit process”.

The peers said there had been a lack of clarity, transparency and readiness on the part of the UK government.

The EU was described as lacking “balance, understanding and flexibility”.

The committee said both sides needed to be prepared to compromise.

Lord Jay of Ewelme, committee chairman, said it was an “absolute necessity” that the UK and EU urgently worked together to ensure Northern Ireland did not become a “permanent casualty of the Brexit process”.

He added that the political qualities of patience, dialogue and “most of all, trust”, which had been seen during the Northern Ireland peace process, needed to come to the fore.

The UK and EU agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol in 2019 as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

It prevents a hard border in Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods.

It began operating in January and has led to difficulties and increased costs when transporting goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Unionists say it also undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.

U.S Economic Recovery Making Progress – Fed

Elizabeth Williams
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U.S Economic Recovery Making Progress – Fed

The U.S Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold near zero, saying that inflation largely reflected factors that would pass in time.

The announcement, following the end of its two-day meeting, comes amid concerns that rising prices could prompt the Fed to push up interest rates, increasing the cost of borrowing for businesses and consumers.

The central bank will continue to monitor economic progress before easing pandemic support.

Inflation, which measures the rate at which the prices for goods and services increase, continued to surge in the US in June as the cost of energy and used cars in particular increased.

Consumer prices jumped 5.4% in the 12 months to the end of June, up from 5% the previous month.

It marked the biggest 12-month increase since August 2008, according to the US Labor Department.

The Fed’s chairman Jerome Powell has insisted, however, that cost increases would be “transitory” due to prices ticking up in areas associated with the economy reopening such as travel or hospitality, as well as supply bottlenecks.

Inflation is the rate at which the prices for goods and services increase.

It’s one of the key measures of financial well-being because it affects what consumers can buy for their money. If there is inflation, money doesn’t go as far.

It’s expressed as a percentage increase or decrease in prices over time. For example, if the inflation rate for the cost of a litre of petrol is 2% a year, motorists need to spend 2% more at the pump than 12 months earlier to get the same amount.

And if wages don’t keep up with inflation, purchasing power and the standard of living falls.

Israel To Give Work Permits To 16,000 More Palestinians

Elizabeth Williams
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Israel To Give Work Permits To 16,000 More Palestinians

The Israeli government is set to increase the number of work permits for West Bank Palestinians by 16,000 amid calls by Israeli officials to strengthen the ailing Palestinian Authority economy.

According to the Defense Ministry, the Israeli military body charged with handling Palestinian civilian affairs — known by its acronym COGAT — informed senior Palestinian officials on Wednesday of the intention to offer additional permits.

The plan was first announced by Regional Affairs Minister Issawi Frej, who said he had developed the initiative along with Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin. But while the proposal was originally set to be approved by the government this past Sunday, it was subsequently delayed due to “technical issues” with the Defense Ministry, Frej’s office said.

Around 87,000 Palestinians work legally in Israel, according to official figures, and another 35,000 work in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The vast majority work in agriculture and construction.

Most of the new permits — some 15,000 — will be issued specifically for construction workers, according to the proposal. Another 1,000 will be granted for Palestinians who work at hotels across Israel.

The government is scheduled to approve the plan next week, according to to both Frej and Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s office. Freij has pledged more such civilian-led economic programs could be en route.

Israeli Filmmakers Released From Nigerian Prison After 20 Days, Land In Israel

Elizabeth Williams
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Israeli Filmmakers Released From Nigerian Prison After 20 Days, Land In Israel

Three Israeli filmmakers who were imprisoned in Nigeria for nearly three weeks landed back in Israel Thursday morning, after they were released two days earlier.

They had been arrested in a synagogue on July 9 by masked agents of Nigeria’s internal security agency, the Department of State Services, on suspicion of contact with Biafran separatists in the southeast of the country.

“I am very happy that Rudy, Andrew and David were freed from detention in Nigeria and returned to Israel this morning,” said Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in a statement released shortly after the three landed.

“My thanks to the staff of the Foreign Ministry, the Consular Department, and especially to the Nigerian authorities and the deputy ambassador in Nigeria, Yotam Kreiman, on their unceasing efforts to help secure their release,” he said.

Lapid stressed that Israel’s envoy had worked daily with the French and US embassies in the country on the issue, and noted that the local Chabad center provided the three men with kosher food.

One of the men entered Nigeria on a French passport, and the other two used their American passports.

Nigerian authorities released the trio from prison Tuesday evening and handed them over to US custody. American embassy staff then took them to the local Chabad center to spend the night.

The three were given their passports and phones just before their flight took off for Istanbul Wednesday night. Kreiman accompanied them from their release until they boarded their flight.

Rudy Rochman, a pro-Israel activist with almost 95,000 followers on Instagram, filmmaker Andrew Noam Leibman, and French-Israeli journalist Edouard David Benaym were in Nigeria to film “We Were Never Lost,”  a documentary exploring Jewish communities in African countries such as Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda and Nigeria. They were focusing on the Igbo Jewish community in Nigeria.

The families of the three Israelis had said that local political elements had “twisted” the gifting of a Torah scroll to a local community to claim it constituted support for separatist political ambitions. The Torah scroll is currently with the local community.

The men landed in Nigeria on July 6. According to locals, the crew was detained at a synagogue during services in the Igbo village of Ogidi. The Igbo consider themselves a lost tribe of Israel. The filmmakers were aware of the political sensitivity surrounding the filming of the Igbo community, noting on their documentary’s Facebook page: “We do not take any position on political movements as we are not here as politicians nor as a part of any governmental delegations.”

Israeli FM Says Weighing Israel’s Return To UNESCO, Two Years After Leaving

Elizabeth Williams
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Israeli FM Says Weighing Israel’s Return To UNESCO, Two Years After Leaving

The Israeli government is considering rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), from which it withdrew in 2019, the Axios news site reported Wednesday.

According to unnamed officials, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid asked his office to review the case several weeks ago and its International Organizations Department is expected to present a recommendation soon.

Israel left UNESCO, as did the United States during the Trump administration, over the international body’s alleged anti-Israel bias.

However, according to Axios, Lapid believes Israel’s withdrawal from the international forum only made foreign policy less effective.

Several weeks ago, the foreign minister received a phone call from Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, who urged him to rejoin the agency, sources told the site.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Axios that Israel would coordinate any decision it makes regarding UNESCO with the US.

A Palestinian-led 2016 UNESCO resolution that ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall caused then-education minister Naftali Bennett to cut ties between his office and the agency. Bennett is now Israel’s prime minister, after replacing Benjamin Netanyahu in June.

Lapid Set To Visit Morocco, First For Israeli Foreign Minister

Elizabeth Williams
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Lapid Set To Visit Morocco, First For Israeli Foreign Minister

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will be traveling to Morocco for an official visit on August 11-12, the Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel Wednesday.

The trip will be the first for an Israeli foreign minister. Lapid will officially open up the Israeli diplomatic mission in the country.

The announcement came days after the first direct commercial flights between Israel and Morocco took off, seven months after the countries normalized diplomatic relations in a US-brokered deal.

While Jerusalem and Rabat did not in the past have full relations — with diplomatic offices in each other’s capitals instead of embassies — they maintained close official ties until Morocco suspended them with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000.

An Israeli diplomatic source said Sunday that the ties with the North African kingdom “will turn into full diplomatic relations.”

Israel and Morocco renewed their ties late last year, amid a wave of normalization agreements between Jerusalem and Arab countries.

Earlier this month, Lapid invited his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, to visit Israel.

“After my trip to Morocco, Minister Bourita will come visit Israel to open missions here,” Lapid said at a Yesh Atid faction meeting in the Knesset last week.

In late June, Lapid made a historic trip to the United Arab Emirates to open the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai.

Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz was in Morocco three weeks ago and delivered Lapid’s written invitation during his meeting with Bourita.

U.S. Studies Plan to Pay Fishing Industry for Offshore Wind Impacts

Elizabeth Williams
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U.S. Studies Plan to Pay Fishing Industry for Offshore Wind Impacts

The Biden administration is considering ways to ensure U.S. commercial fishing industry is paid for any losses it incurs from the planned expansion of offshore wind power in the Atlantic Ocean, according to state and federal officials involved in the matter.

Discussions between state and federal officials, are aimed at addressing the top threat to President Joe Biden’s efforts to grow offshore wind – a centerpiece of his clean energy agenda to fight climate change.

Commercial fishing fleets have vehemently opposed offshore wind projects, labeling them a significant threat to catches of crucial stocks including scallops, clams, squid and lobsters, by interfering with navigation and altering ecosystems.

That opposition has contributed to delays in permitting the nation’s first commercial-scale projects and is among the reasons the U.S. has lagged Europe in offshore wind development. Minimizing those conflicts could speed the lengthy federal permitting process as Biden seeks to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind to the nation’s waters in just nine years.

The U.S. commercial fishing industry provides over $170 billion in annual sales, to which offshore wind development represents a threat. Adding to the industry’s concerns is the overall lack of information regarding the environmental impacts of offshore wind farms in the U.S. In particular, the effects of wind farms on fish populations is not yet completely understood. Combining this with perceived exclusion from the decision-making process for project development, fishing groups have strongly opposed proposed offshore wind projects.

Russia Says U.S. Wants China Included In Arms Control Talks

Elizabeth Williams
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Russia Says U.S. Wants China Included In Arms Control Talks

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says on Thursday that the United States wanted China to be included in wider talks on nuclear arms control.

Ryabkov made the comments a day after senior U.S. and Russian officials restarted talks in Geneva to ease tensions between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers.

Senior U.S. and Russian officials met in Geneva on Wednesday to restart talks to ease tensions between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers with ties at post-Cold War lows.

Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said it was inevitable the powers would eventually have to discuss broadening the arms control talks to include more powers and that Moscow saw Britain and France as priorities in that regard.

“This question has taken on particular relevance in light of London’s recent decision to increase the maximum level of nuclear warheads by 40% – to 260 units,” Antonov said in comments published by the foreign ministry on Thursday.

In separate comments, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the United States wanted China to be included in wider talks on nuclear arms control, the Interfax news agency reported.

Infrastructure Deal: U.S Senate Advances In Major Bipartisan Breakthrough

Elizabeth Williams
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Infrastructure Deal: U.S Senate Advances In Major Bipartisan Breakthrough

U.S. Senate advanced a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure package in a Wednesday evening procedural vote, a significant development for legislation brokered by both parties and the White House as they seek to clinch a rare bipartisan victory on Capitol Hill.

After Republicans blocked the package last week, 17 GOP senators joined all 50 Democrats in the motion to proceed after a month of negotiations on a top Biden agenda item.

Senate Democrats and Republicans banded together on Wednesday to advance a roughly $1 trillion proposal to improve the country’s aging infrastructure, overcoming months of political deadlock on one of President Biden’s signature economic policy priorities.

The day of breakthroughs began with news of a deal, as a bipartisan bloc of 10 negotiators coalesced around a package to upgrade the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections. The announcement from some of the group’s leaders, including Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), capped off a series of frenetic talks that nearly collapsed amid behind-the-scenes battles about the new spending and how to pay for it.

With that once-elusive agreement finally in hand, the Senate hours later then took its first formal legislative step. Lawmakers voted 67-32 to put themselves on track to begin debating infrastructure reform this week, clearing the first of many hurdles toward adopting a proposal that the White House has described as historic.

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