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Presidential Polls: Iran Says Seven Candidates Approved To Run

Iran on Tuesday approved seven hopefuls to run in next month’s presidential poll, with judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi among the mainly ultraconservative candidates, while heavyweights Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Larijani were barred.

“As announced by the interior ministry, Ebrahim Raisi, Mohsen Rezai, Saeed Jalili, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi, Abdolnasser Hemmati, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, and Alireza Zakani were approved by the Guardian Council for the 13th presidential election,” IRNA state news agency reported.

UTME 2021: JAMB To Conduct Mock For 160,617 Candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says a total of 160,617 candidates will be taking part in its mock unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) which is slated to hold on June 3.

The examination, which had earlier been scheduled to hold on May 20 before it was postponed, will be conducted at the approved 802 computer-based centres (CBT) located in 104 designated examination towns across the country.

The head of JAMB’s public affairs and protocol unit, Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this on Monday in an exclusive interview with journalists.

Benjamin advised all candidates who had registered for the examination and indicated interest to sit the mock examination to reprint their notification slips.

Meanwhile, one week after the announcement of the registration deadline for the examination, JAMB has only recorded an additional 200,000 candidates comprising both the UTME and direct entry candidates.

According to the examination body, a total of 124,519 candidates, who have indicated interest to register for the examination and had procured profile codes, are yet to obtain the required registration pins.

Fabian enjoined interested prospective candidates not to wait till the last minute to register for the examination, saying the body would no longer consider adjustment to its calendar.

Blinken Pledges U.S. Support To Rebuild Gaza

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday pledged on a Middle East mission that Washington would rally support to rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between its Hamas Islamist rulers and Israel.

Blinken however made it clear that the United States would ensure that Hamas, which it regards as a terrorist organization, did not benefit from the humanitarian aid.

Blinken started his regional visit in Jerusalem, where he held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who alongside the top U.S. diplomat at his side, threatened a very powerful response if Hamas renewed cross-border rocket strikes.

The truce, brokered by Egypt and coordinated with the United States, began on Friday after 11 days of the worst fighting between Palestinian militants and Israel in years. Now in its fifth day, it has been holding.

Blinen said the United States, would work to rally international support around that effort and make its own “significant contributions,” to be announced later in the day.

Blinken will be in the region through Thursday, and will also travel to Egypt and Jordan. In tandem with his visit, Israeli authorities allowed fuel, medicine and food earmarked for Gaza’s private sector to enter the territory for the first time since the hostilities began on May 10.

Blinken, who said he hoped to rebuild relationships with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority, was due to meet Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank later in the day.

Breaking: Suicide Bomber Blown To Pieces In Ebonyi State

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A suicide Bomber was blown to pieces after failing to gain access into a primary school in Ebonyi state.

The incident happened in Afikpo town, Afikpo local government area of Ebonyi state at around 12 noon on Tuesday.

Sources say the man made an attempt at entering Amaizu/ Amangballa Primary School but was turned back by school security since he couldn’t justify the reason for his visit. He immediately started running inside a nearby bush before an explosion was heard.

On hearing the explosion, residents scampered to safety but reconvened at the scene of the incident few minutes after to discover the suspected suicide bomber laying dead in the pull of his own blood.

The incident happened close to the Eke Market Afikpo which is said to be the biggest market in the area, this has caused tension and panic in the community.

It was gathered that the upper part of the suspected suicide bomber’s body was completely destroyed from the impact of the bomb.

Africa Day 2021 Comes Amid New Challenges On The Continent

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Tuesday 25 May is commemorated by African governments “Africa Day”.

The day, formerly known as African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day is the annual commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity on 5 May 1963.

The organisation was later transformed into the African Union on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, but the holiday continues to be celebrated on 25 May. It is celebrated in various countries on the African continent as well as around the world.

This year’s theme of Africa Day is Arts, Culture And Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.

The celebration however comes on a backheel of a number of issues; the Covid-19 pandemic having piled up pressure on the African economy.

Only last week, Democratic Republic of Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi who is also the current head of the African Union alongside a dozen other African heads of state, concluded a summit in Paris where they argued among other issues for an increase in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from 33 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars.

Chad’s military government after the sudden death of president Idris Deby has raised concerns while Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict which has led to thousands of civilian deaths and displacements and allegations of war crimes.

There is Ethiopia, the second most populous country on the continent also has a dispute with Sudan and Egypt concerning its dam on the Nile River’s main tributary.

ICC Prosecutor Pins Bashir Ally In Darfur Case

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ICC Prosecutors say Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, Leader of Sudan’s infamous Janjaweed militia, personally committed murders in Darfur.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known by the nom du Guerre Ali Kushayb, was in court for a hearing to decide if there is enough evidence for a full trial on 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors told the court in The Hague that Abd-Al-Rahman, an ally of deposed Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, was an energetic perpetrator of murders in the Darfur war in 2003-04.

The 70-year-old suspect, who becomes the first to face charges at the International Criminal Court over the conflict and who handed himself in last year after more than a decade on the run, denies the charges.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the court in The Hague that Abd-Al-Rahman was feared and revered in equal measure as the colonel of colonels and was a senior leader of the infamous Janjaweed militia

The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million people were displaced in the Darfur conflict.

Fighting broke out in 2003 when ethnic African rebels, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against Bashir’s government.

Khartoum responded by unleashing a notorious Arab-dominated militia known as the Janjaweed, recruited from among the region’s nomadic tribes. Abd-Al-Rahman fled to the Central African Republic in February 2020 when the new Sudanese government announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation

Volcano Aftershocks Rattle DR Congo City As Death Toll Rises

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Powerful aftershocks from the Mount Nyiragongo volcano have rocked the eastern DR Congo city of Goma as the death toll from the disaster climbed to 32 and thousands were feared homeless.

Tremors were reportedly shaking the region every 10 to 15 minutes three days after Africa’s most active volcano roared back into life, spewing lava that reached the outskirts of the city.

Two rivers of molten rock flowed from the volcano at a height of 1,800 metres with one heading towards Goma, stopping at the very outskirts of the city.

It engulfed homes in its wake, smothering the surrounding area with suffocating gas and cutting off the road between Goma and Butembo, the main highway in North Kivu province.

Tens of thousands of residents fled in panic, many of them to neighbouring Rwanda, when the much-dreaded volcano began erupting on Saturday evening.

The lava flow stopped on Sunday, but there have been repeated earthquakes since the eruption and the lava lake in the volcano’s crater appears to have refilled, prompting fears of new fissures opening or another eruption.

Humanitarian groups estimate that between 900 and 2,500 dwellings were destroyed, he said, adding that this meant at least 5,000 people were without a home.

Reports have also said that many of these displaced people have started to return to Goma, with some coming back to the site of the disaster, near the lava flow.

Air France Among Airlines Suspending Flights Over Belarus

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Air France, Finnair and Singapore Airlines have become latest carriers to suspend flights over Belarus on Tuesday after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident.

Air France said in a statement it had “taken note” of the conclusions of Monday’s EU summit and had suspended flights over Belarus “until further notice”.

The announcements came a day after European Union leaders called on EU-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and banned the country’s airlines from the 27-nation block.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.

Singapore Airlines was also rerouting flights “that are bound for Europe to avoid the Belarusian airspace” and would continue to “closely monitor the situation.

Finnair said the next flight that will be affected by its decision to reroute planes is one that was heading to the Turkish coastal town of Gazipasa on Wednesday.

Scandinavian airline SAS, Germany’s Lufthansa and Latvia-based regional airline Air Baltic made similar announcements on Monday.

Britain also issued instructions for British aircraft to avoid Belarusian airspace while Ukraine decided to halt direct flights between the two countries and over Belarus.

Iran Agrees To Extend Deal On Cameras At Its Nuclear Sites

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Iran and the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has agreed to a one-month extension to a deal on surveillance cameras at Tehran’s atomic sites, buying more time for ongoing negotiations seeking to save the country’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

Last-minute discussions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency pushing back a statement planned for Sunday, further underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran.

Speaking at a news conference Monday in Vienna, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told journalists that came after a discussion with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s civilian nuclear program. He acknowledged that challenges remain, however, as the agency still can’t access images taken by its cameras.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s representative to the IAEA, acknowledged the deal at the same time on Twitter stating that Tehran’s civilian nuclear agency, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, would keep the material already recorded by the IAEA cameras.

Under a confidential agreement called an “Additional Protocol” with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyzes images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran’s hard-line parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February.

More Airlines Suspend Flights In Belarus Airspace

Air France, Finnair and Singapore Airlines became the latest carriers to suspend flights over Belarus on Tuesday after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident.

The announcements came a day after European Union leaders urged EU-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and banned the country’s airlines from the 27-nation block.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.

Air France said in a statement it had “taken note” of the conclusions of Monday’s EU summit and had suspended flights over Belarus “until further notice”.

Planes already in the air will have their flight plans modified, the French company said.

Singapore Airlines was also rerouting flights “that are bound for Europe to avoid the Belarusian airspace” and would continue to “closely monitor the situation”, a spokesperson said.

“The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority,” a spokesperson told AFP.

Finnair said the next flight that will be affected by its decision to reroute planes is one that was heading to the Turkish coastal town of Gazipasa on Wednesday.

Scandinavian airline SAS, Germany’s Lufthansa and Latvia-based regional airline Air Baltic made similar announcements on Monday.

Britain also issued instructions for British aircraft to avoid Belarusian airspace while Ukraine decided to halt direct flights between the two countries and over Belarus.

Western leaders have accused Belarusian authorities of essentially hijacking a European plane, while Minsk claimed it had reacted to secure the flight after receiving a bomb threat.