Equatorial Guinea slams ‘unilateral’ sanctions against vice President

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July 25, 2021

Equatorial Guinea has demanded the lifting of “unilateral and illegal” sanctions imposed for corruption by the United Kingdom against the son of the president of this Central African country, in a statement released Saturday by the Equatorial Guinean authorities.

Teodorin Obiang Mangue, vice-president of Equatorial Guinea and son of the president, was sanctioned on Thursday by London for the “misappropriation of public funds” and bribes that enabled him to finance a lavish lifestyle.

He allegedly spent more than $500 million on luxury homes around the world, a private jet, cars, and collectibles related to the singer Michael Jackson.

Somalia delays key election over candidate names

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Henry Williams

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July 25, 2021

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The start of the elections in Somalia, scheduled for Sunday and at the center of a political crisis that has agitated the country for months, has been delayed, said official sources interviewed by correspondents.

The volatile Horn of Africa country was due to begin a long election cycle on Sunday, starting with the Senate election and ending on October 10 with the presidential election, according to the official calendar.

The federal state’s regions have failed to submit the list of candidates who will participate in the polls on time or to form the local committees that will vote, the sources added.

Federal government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu briefly told AFP on Sunday that the elections were “delayed,” but said the process would continue.

Korean Athletes Win First Olymipics 2020 Medal in Archery

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Angel Gimalo

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July 24, 2021

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South Korea has won the gold medal at the Archery Mixed Team final match on Saturday at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Korean duo An San and Kim Je-deok, who were making their Olympic debut, won against the Netherlands team 5-3.

It’s the very first medal to be won by Korean athletes at the 2020 Olympics.

The Mixed Team events have been introduced for the first time at Tokyo 2020.

Child Marriage Ban Takes Effect In New York Next Month

By

Angel Gimalo

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July 24, 2021

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation raising the age of consent for marriage to 18 in New York State.

Cuomo released a statement following the development: “This administration fought hard to successfully end child marriage in New York and I’m proud to sign this legislation to strengthen our laws and further protect vulnerable children from exploitation.”  He added, “Children should be allowed to live their childhood and I thank the many legislators and advocates who worked diligently to advance this measure and further prevent forced marriages in this state.”

The new legislation builds upon a move in 2017 when New York State legislated to raise the age to marry from just 14 to 18.

However, at that time, the law still allowed anyone aged more than 16 to marry if parental or judicial consent was given.

The new law will come into affect in the state next month, and makes New York just the 6th state to end all marriages earlier than 18 years of age without exception.

Unchained At Last, an advocacy group fighting to end arranged, forced or child marriages, has celebrated the latest development. Its executive director, Fraidy Reiss, has said in a statement released by the group: “We have been pushing to end child marriage in New York since 2015. Along with our allies in the New York Coalition to End Child Marriage, we met with or called every state legislator multiple times.

“We submitted memos of support. We Chained-In in Manhattan and Albany to demand an end to child marriage.”

The group added that this was “a good day for girls in New York.”

“Now let’s do the same for girls in another 44 states. #18NoExceptions.”

In the United States between 2000 to 2018, there were nearly 300,000 children who were legally married while under the age of 18, according to the advocacy group. A majority of those were aged 16 or 17, but there were cases where children as young as 10 were married.

Just a month ago, Rhode Island also signed a bill banning marriages before the age of 18. Of the 50 states in the U.S. only Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and now New York have such a blanket ban in place.

Plateau Potato Production Increase Significantly With 960,000 Metric Tons Annually

By

Angel Gimalo

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July 24, 2021

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The Plateau Value Chain Support Project is yielding results as the production capacity of potatoes farmers in the state has hit 960,000 metric tons annually.

Mr Thomas Muopshin, the state Project Coordinator, made the disclosure in an interview with News men in Jos.

Muopshin said that the production capacity had significantly increased following the introduction of diseases-tolerant specie of the potatoes and the use of fungicide.

He also said that the project had linked up many potatoes farmers with agro- dealers who now worked closely with them.

“The farmers that got frustrated out of business came back and are now established potatoes farmers,” he said.

The project coordinator also disclosed that some companies which wanted good working relationship with farmers now followed them to their farms and purchased the commodity directly from them.

“Potatoes farmers now have readymade market, thereby making huge profit from the produce more than ever before,” he said.

No Crash In Ilorin, Tyre Bursted After Landing – Accident Investigation Bureau

By

Angel Gimalo

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July 24, 2021

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The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has denounced the rumour making the rounds that Air Peace plane crashed in Ilorin.

Tunji Oketunbi, AIB General Manager, Public Affairs, said this in a statement on Saturday in Lagos, South-west Nigeria.

Oketunbi said that “there was no crash whatsoever,” adding that the tyres bursted after landing.

“This is to confirm an incident involving Air Peace B737-500 with registration Mpmarks 5N-BQR that occurred on July 23 in Ilorin, at about 10:30 a.m local time.

“There were 66 passengers and six crew members onboard. AIB safety investigators did an evaluation of the occurrence and decided not to investigate.

“The aeroplane has been released to the operator (Air Peace).

“The delay in opening the airport is down to the recovery of the Aeroplane from the Runway by FAAN and Air Peace. The aeroplane had a tyre burst on landing roll.

“We enjoin all media practitioners to verify all information before going to press.”

Similarly, Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), cautioned against sensationalism and noted that such would damage the reputation of the industry if care was not taken.

Nuhu also said that the aircraft had the incident around 10:00 a.m on Friday after landing from Abuja but after evaluation by the AIB safety inspectors, decided not to investigate.

Meanwhile, Air Peace spokesperson, Mr Stanley Olisa, in a statement explained that the company’s attention was drawn to misleading online reports purporting that the Ilorin bound B737-500 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQR from Abuja, was involved in a crash around 10:00 a.m. on July 23.

“For the records, no such thing happened. The reports misrepresented and exaggerated the facts. We can confirm that the aircraft in question landed safely but had a minimal tyre burst while taxing.

“This debunks all the mischievously headlined reports circulating online, which should be disregarded.

“Our aircraft neither crashed nor crash landed in Ilorin or in any place for that matter. This kind of sensationalism is bad and is intended to cause panic in the minds of the flying public,’’ Olisa said.

He said the incident was duly reported to the authorities and passengers disembarked seamlessly.

“The tyres have, however, been fixed and aircraft is intact. We condemn sensational publication of falsehood.

“Air Peace is committed to providing peaceful connectivity across cities and relentlessly observes the highest standards of safety in its operations,” he added.

Ruling All Progressives Congress Win Most Slots In Lagos Local Govt. Elections

By

Angel Gimalo

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July 24, 2021

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Strong indications have emerged that the All Progressives Congress, APC, may win all the slots of the Saturday, Local Government elections to elect Chairmanship and vice-chairmanship, as well as councilorship officers into 20 Local Government Areas, LGAs and 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, going by results from wards and council areas so far.

Though, the exercise, marred with apathy, hitches and pockets of violence, was adjudged to be generally peaceful across the state.

Security apparatus were adequately deployed across the polling areas in the metropolis to ensure safety of lives and property of citizens. They were seen moving in convoy patrolling some areas.

Commander of the Rapid Response Team, RRS, of the Lagos Police Command, Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Yinka Egbeyemi, led a t of personnel to trouble
prone areas to maintain peace.

LASIEC, had earlier stated that the results of the polls would be announced by the presiding officers at each polling unit and subsequently, the final results will be
announced by it after collations across councils.

One of the early results received by Vanguard showed APC sweeping the votes in Iba LCDA. Ward E, pulling unit 022 update showed councilorship, APC 93, APGA 1, PDP. 11

While chairmanship recorded APC 98, APGA 0, PDP 3, void 4.

Vanguard also gathered that the youngest council chairman, under the APC platform in Coker-Aguda LCDA, emerged winner with an emphatic result.

Details of results were still been awaited as of press time.

Same reports of APC winning filtered in from such councils as; Oriade, Oshodi, Apapa, Ono, Amuwo-Odofin, Surulere, Agege, Alimosho, Ikeja, Ikoyi, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Ikorodu, Epe, Ipaja Mosan -Okunola, riverine areas in Badagry, among others.

NASA Is Giving Spacex $178 Million To Launch Its Mission To A Jupiter Moon

By

Zoe Maven

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July 24, 2021

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NASA has awarded SpaceX a $178 million contract to launch a spacecraft to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The Europa Clipper aims to search for signs of aquatic alien life in Europa’s vast underground ocean.

The mission is now set to launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in October 2024.

NASA has chosen SpaceX to launch its next alien-hunting mission to a Jupiter moon.

The mission, called Europa Clipper, is designed to fly past Jupiter’s moon Europa 45 times, getting as close as 16 miles above its surface. Scientists believe the moon conceals a global ocean beneath its icy crust, and alien life could thrive deep within it.

On Friday NASA announced that it set a date for the mission and awarded the $178 million launch contract to SpaceX. Now Europa Clipper is scheduled to blast off aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket in October 2024.

Europa Clipper’s main objective is to determine whether Europa could host life at all.

It aims to take high-resolution images of the moon’s surface, chart the composition and thickness of its icy crust, look for lakes below the surface, and measure the depth and saltiness of the ocean below.

The spacecraft could even fly through plumes of water vapor that shoot through Europa’s ice, since those are known to crest more than 100 miles above the surface.

This water seems to come from the ocean below, and it could contain signs of life.

VP Osinbajo To Pioneer Technological Advancement In Judiciary

By

Angel Gimalo

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July 24, 2021

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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is breaking new frontier in the judiciary when he launches Africa’s first court recording.

The launch of Africa’s first court recording system which will be launched on July 26th will eliminate most manual proceedings and speedy up court judgments.

Osinbajo who has pioneered technological advancement in judiciary from his time as Attorney General of Lagos will again take the lead on the continental stage.

Speaking on the topic of virtual court proceedings in Nigeria at the Gavel webinar on September 3, 2020, Prof. Osinbajo said, “Reporting of court proceedings is a crucial exercise of the right to a fair hearing, a cornerstone of which is that hearings must be held in public. How that right will be given full expression when court proceedings are within the encrypted confines of virtual platforms is really the subject of our conversion today.

“The Attorneys General of Lagos and Ekiti States deserve our commendation for bringing the matter before the Supreme Court. They asked the court to determine whether having regard to the constitutional requirement that court proceedings, save for some exceptions, must be held in public and whether court hearings by the use of technology, by remote hearings of any kind, whether Zoom or WhatsApp, Microsoft Themes, Skype or any other audio-visual or video-conference platform are constitutional.

Prof Osinbajo noted that, “The Supreme Court while dismissing the suits themselves as premature and speculative nevertheless said that as things stood today virtual proceedings were Constitutional. This wise approach of the Court probably saved our system of justice another catastrophic round of technical decisions around the constitutionality of virtual proceedings

The Vice President stated that, “It may also be cautiously taken as a signal that the Supreme Court expects the lower courts to go down this new path with as little attention to technicality as possible.
“So, we are at a point where at least we know that virtual hearings are legal. This means that the Supreme Court is satisfied that appropriate means can be found to ensure that hearings are public and that the press and indeed members of the public can access the proceedings,” Prof Osinbajo added.

The event which will be held virtually will also have in attendance Honourable Justice Monica Dongban Mensem, President of the Court of Appeal.

Also in attendance is the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Funmi Quadri, Principal of Funmi Quadri SAN & Co; Olumide Akpata, President of Nigerian Bar Association and Haliru Nababa, Comptroller General of Nigeria Correctional Services.

Venezuela Says U.S. Military Plane Violated Its Airspace

By

Zoe Maven

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July 24, 2021

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Venezuela’s armed forces said on Friday that a U.S. military plane violated its airspace along the South American country’s border with Colombia in what it said was a “flagrant provocation.”

Venezuela, whose socialist government is under heavy sanctions from Washington, has on several occasions in recent years reported alleged airspace violations.

It said that on Thursday evening, a C-17 plane from the U.S. Air Force flew over the Perija mountains in western Zulia state for three minutes.

In a statement the Venezuelan armed forces said reconnaissance tasks were being performed on Venezuelan geophysical space, and so they do not rule out other possible hostile actions that violate sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Washington accuses President Nicolas Maduro of corruption, human rights violations and rigging his 2018 re-election, and has pressured him to step down.