Home Blog Page 2204

Nollywood Actress Jemima Osunde Goes To NYSC Camp

Nollywood actress Jemima Osunde has joined thousands of Nigerian graduates for the mandatory National Youths Service Corps orientation programme.

The movie star took to her Instagram page on Monday, June 7, 2021, where she shared photos from the orientation camp.

“Is it just me or is the sun generally HOTTER at NYSC camp????? What in the name of hellfire is always going on here? See how I was smiley and what not when I got to camp in the morning,” she captioned the photos.

The movie star is a trained Physiotherapist from the University of Lagos

IAEA Asks Iran To Explain Uranium Particles At Sites

0

The head of the global nuclear watchdog is expressing deep concern that Iran has still not explained the presence of uranium particles at three undeclared sites.

Rafael Grossi told the International Atomic Energy Agency’s member states that nuclear material or contaminated equipment had been at the locations and warned that the lac o progress is seriously affecting the ability of the agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.

It is thought that possible nuclear-related activities took place at the locations in the early 2000s, long before Iran struck a deal with world powers that placed limits on its nuclear programme.

Iran insists it has never sought to develop a nuclear weapon, but evidence collected by the IAEA suggests that until 2003 it conducted “a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.

In 2019, the IAEA requested that Iran answer questions about possible undeclared nuclear activities and materials.

The move came after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had obtained documents showing Iran surreptitiously continued nuclear weapons work beyond 2015.

Netanyahu also identified a “secret atomic warehouse” in a district of Tehran, believed to be where IAEA inspectors subsequently detected the presence of man-made] origin and isotopically altered particles of low enriched uranium. Enriched uranium is used to make reactor fuel, but also nuclear weapons.

Inspectors also detected uranium particles at two more unidentified locations – one where there was “the possible presence of natural uranium in the form of a metal disc”, and another where there was possible use or storage of nuclear material and/or conducting of nuclear-related activities.

Opportunity for micro-insurers as 18m Nigerians show interest

0

Some 18 million uninsured adult Nigerians have indicated interest in microinsurance products, according to the result from EFInA’s 2020 survey on Access to Financial Services in Nigeria released on Thursday.

This opens a huge opportunity for insurers in the country who are struggling to grow their customer base.

Currently, nine out of 10 Nigerians do not have any insurance subscription. Top among reasons for this are lack of tailor-made insurance products and low disposable income on account of the sluggish economic growth that has remained fragile since 2015.

The unwillingness by many Nigerians to take up insurance products has kept the insurance penetration rate in Africa’s largest economy at less than 1 percent in the last decade.
Going by EFInA’s data that put Nigeria’s adult population at 106 million (18 years and above), 103 million are outside the insurance scheme as only 2 percent or 2 million adults were insured as of 2020.

Namibia Forward Shalulile Voted Best Player In South Africa

0

Mamelodi Sundowns forward Peter Shalulile was 450,000 rand richer on Monday after winning the two major annual South African football awards after he scored 22 goals in all competitions for the Pretoria club, and was voted Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season.

Coaches of the 16 top-flight clubs chose the Player of the Season. The other prize was decided by a poll of Premiership footballers.

Windhoek-born Shalulile began his professional career with local club Tura Magic in 2011 and joined then second-tier South African outfit Highlands Park four years later.

He moved to Sundowns last year and enjoyed an outstanding first season as his team won a fourth straight Premiership title and reached the CAF Champions League quarter-finals.

Although Shalulile consistently creates headlines because of his scoring exploits, Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi said it was the selflessness of the Namibian that impressed him.

It was a profitable virtual awards ceremony for non-South Africans, with fellow Namibian Deon Hotto, Zimbabwean Washington Arubi and Ugandan Denis Onyango also winning.

Winger Hotto was voted the best player in the MTN 8, an early season knockout competition reserved for the clubs finishing first to eighth in the previous Premiership.

Goalkeeper Arubi, back in top-flight football last season at the age of 35, was voted the outstanding FA Cup player after helping rank outsiders TTM lift the trophy.

Nigeria’s Senate President says Work completed, PIB to be passed in June

0

Ahmed Lawal, Nigeria Senate President has said that lawmakers will pass the PIB this month as bot committees in the upper and lower chambers are now writing the final report.

Lawal said this in a speech at the fourth edition of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) on Monday.

His speech followed remarks by Femi Gbajabiamilia, speaker of the House of Representatives who said that though the lawmakers imposed a deadline of April to pass the bill but it could not meet the deadline because it was important to get it right after 20 years of failed attempts.

The Senate President said previous attempts from 2007 were unsuccessful because either the lawmakers or members of the executive branch decided to go it alone.

The Senate President further said that the corporative approach where the National Assembly is working with the executive had been proven to be successful.

FG Gives Condition For Lifting Twitter Ban

0

The Federal Government said in a meeting with representatives of foreign embassies that the Twitter ban would be lifted if the social media company would foster the “responsible” use of its platform.

This was disclosed by the Foreign Minister, Godfrey Onyeama, on Monday after he met with the foreign dignitaries.

What the Minister said

“The condition would be responsible use of the social media and that really has to be it.

We are not saying that Twitter is threatening the country or any such thing; why we have taken this measure is to stop them to be used as platforms for destabilisation and facilitation of criminality or encouragement of criminalities.”

The Minister added that the FG wants to use Social Media for good, citing that Nigerian lives matter and the government will do everything to preserve Nigerian lives, “when we feel our goals are threatened, actions need to be taken,” he said.

In case you missed it

Western nations including the European Union, Canada, Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, released a joint statement on the Twitter ban.

“We convey our disappointment over the Government of Nigeria’s announcement suspending #Twitter and proposing registration requirements for other social media.

We strongly support the fundamental human right of free expression and access to information as a pillar of democracy in Nigeria as around the world and these rights apply online as well as offline,” they said.

Mexico President Upbeat Despite Election Setback

0

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday his ruling coalition was on course to retain its control of the lower house, despite a setback in legislative elections he called “free and fair.”

Initial results indicated that Lopez Obrador’s Morena party lost the absolute majority it held in the lower house of Congress, complicating his promised “transformation” of the country.

But he struck an upbeat tone, noting that together with its political partners, Morena was still projected to hold more than half the seats.

The vote was seen as a referendum on Lopez Obrador’s more than two years in office overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic and cartel-related violence.

Dozens of politicians were murdered in the months leading up to the polls for the lower house of Congress, 15 of 32 state governors and thousands of local politicians.

On the eve of the elections, gunmen killed five people helping to organize voting in southern Mexico, while two human heads were left at polling stations in the border city of Tijuana on election day.

A quick initial vote count suggested Lopez Obrador’s Morena party alone was set to take between 190 and 203 of the 500 seats in the lower house, the National Electoral Institute said.

Lopez Obrador was elected in 2018 for a term of six years, vowing to overhaul Mexico’s “neoliberal” economic model, root out corruption and end profligacy by a privileged elite.

But his presidency has been largely dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, which has left more than a quarter of a million people dead in Mexico and devastated the economy.

Nigerian Singer Wizkid Changes Signature Name On Social Media To Big Wiz

Grammy award-winning Nigerian singer, Ayo Balogun, also known as Wizkid, shocked his fans on Monday as he changed his Instagram name from Wizkid to Big Wiz.

Without a formal announcement, the artiste has hinted on how he would rather be addressed by fans.

Fans of the 30-year-old singer had in the past suggested that the singer remove the suffix ‘-kid’ from his name, based on his age and achievements in the Nigerian music industry over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the singer is not the first Nigerian musician to change names, either formally or informally.

For instance, Legendary singer, Tuface, changed his name to 2baba; iconic rap artiste, Sauce Kid, changed his name to Sinzu; and Kiss Daniel changed to Kizz Daniel.

Trial Of MH17 Crash Victims Moves Into Crucial Phase

0

Dutch judges said Monday they wanted relatives of victims to finally have “clarity” about the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine as the trial of four suspects entered a key phase.

Some relatives were in court for the start of a week in which judges will at last examine evidence against the three Russians and one Ukrainian who are on trial in absentia over the July 2014 disaster.

The trial formally began in March 2020 but has until now dealt with legal arguments, mainly about the admissibility of evidence in the crash in which all 298 passengers and crew on the Boeing 777 were killed.

Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis told the court up until today no one has come forward and said they are even partially responsible for the crash of MH17

Steenhuis said it was crucial for the evidence to be heard in open court despite the absence of Russian nationals Oleg Pulatov, Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko.

Judges said the court will this week look at evidence about three key questions: whether the Boeing 777 was shot down by a Russian-made missile; the location the missile was fired from, and the role of the four suspects in the crash.

The idea that the plane had been downed by a BUK surface-to-air missile operated by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was the “main scenario”, Steenhuis added, but they would also look at theories including that a plane had shot down MH17.

The court would be highlighting key parts of the evidence and not going over every part in court, he warned.

France’s Anti-Trust Watchdog Fines Google €220 Million

Google is being fined 220 million euros by France’s antitrust watchdog for abusing its ‘dominant’ position in online advertising.

The head of the authority, Isabelle de Silva, said the decision was unprecedented in the way that it delved into the complex algorithmic auctions that power Google’s online display advertising business.

She said, the fine, along with Google’s commitment to changing its practices, “will make it possible to re-establish a level playing field for all players, and the ability for publishers to make the most of their advertising space.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, did not dispute the facts and opted to settle after proposing some changes, according to a prepared statement from the Competition Authority.

Google France’s legal director, Maria Gomri, said in a blog post Monday that Google has been collaborating for the past two years with the French watchdog on issues related to ad technology, notably the platform known as Google Ad Manager.

She wrote that commitments made during negotiations would “make it easier for publishers to make use of data and use our tools with other ad technologies.”

The French authority’s investigation was prompted by complaints from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., French newspaper group Le Figaro and Belgium-based Rossel La Voix. Le Figaro later withdrew its complaint.

U.S. tech giants have been facing intensifying scrutiny in Europe and elsewhere over their business practices.

Germany became the latest country to launch an investigation of Google, using stepped up powers to scrutinize digital giants.