Greece will reopen private beaches on Saturday and museums next week, health officials said Friday as the tourism-dependent country gears up for a May 15 travel restart.
Museums are to reopen on May 14 — a day before Greece officially launches its travel season — followed by reduced-capacity outdoor cinemas on May 21 and theatres on May 28.
The government began in early April to relax lockdown restrictions originally imposed in November by reopening most retail shops except malls.
This was followed by high schools reopening a week later, and by outdoor restaurants and cafes on May 3.
However, tourism operators do not expect major travel arrivals before July.
Reverend Franklin Graham reacted on “Fox News Primetime” Thursday to President Biden being the first commander-in-chief to omit “God” from his address on the National Day of Prayer.
The holiday, first celebrated by Democrat Harry Truman and later formalized by Republican Ronald Reagan, is celebrated the first Thursday of May.
Biden, who identifies as a devout Roman Catholic, neglected to mention God during his formal Proclamation.
Graham, who now leads the Asheville, N.C.-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that his late father founded, told Fox News host Pete Hegseth he cannot figure out why Biden left the name of the Creator out of his proclamation.
“I’m not sure that [Biden] even knows. It was probably a staff person that wrote it and maybe not even ran it by him — because I don’t think Joe Biden would have approved that one,” Graham said.
“This is a National Day of Prayer. Of course we need to call on God – and not just some generic ‘gods’ or some ‘power’ in the air – but on God himself, the Creator who made and created this Earth and who sent his Son, Jesus Christ from Heaven to this Earth to save mankind from sin by dying on a cross.”
“There is no one else to pray to except to God,” the 68-year-old Evangelist added.
Host Pete Hegseth noted that just prior to his interview, Graham separately opined on Facebook about the president leaving God out of his proclamation:
“Why would President Biden omit God? … I was deeply saddened to read that President Biden is the first president to omit the word “God” in his proclamation. That speaks volumes doesn’t it? It is hard to believe we have come this far,” he wrote.
President Biden on Wednesday issued a National Day of Prayer proclamation that touted the “power of prayer” and invited Americans to “give thanks,” although the proclamation’s absence of the word “God” sparked criticism and marked the first time that’s happened in modern history.
By a 1952 law, every U.S. president must issue a proclamation designating a National Day of Prayer. This year the day fell on May 6.
“Today, we remember and celebrate the role that the healing balm of prayer can play in our lives and in the life of our Nation,” the proclamation reads. “As we continue to confront the crises and challenges of our time – from a deadly pandemic, to the loss of lives and livelihoods in its wake, to a reckoning on racial justice, to the existential threat of climate change – Americans of faith can call upon the power of prayer to provide hope and uplift us for the work ahead.”
On the National Day of Prayer, “we unite with purpose and resolve, and recommit ourselves to the core freedoms that helped define and guide our Nation from its earliest days,” it reads.
“We celebrate our incredible good fortune that, as Americans, we can exercise our convictions freely – no matter our faith or beliefs,” it reads. “Let us find in our prayers, however they are delivered, the determination to overcome adversity, rise above our differences, and come together as one Nation to meet this moment in history.”
The proclamation, though, omits the word “God,” making Biden the first president not to include “God” in his proclamation in the modern history of National Day of Prayer proclamations.
According to the text of proclamations at UC Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project, every proclamation since 1953 – the first year proclamations were required under law – had included “God” until this year. Most proclamations mentioned “God” multiple times.
David Brody, the chief political analyst for CBN News, criticized the proclamation for what it didn’t include.
“Joe Biden’s National Day of Prayer Proclamation has been released and it doesn’t even mention God once! How do you release a proclamation about prayer and not mention God at all?” Brody wrote in a tweet.
President Trump’s 2018 proclamation mentioned “God” multiple times, such as: “On this National Day of Prayer, let us come together, all according to their faiths, to thank God for His many blessings and ask for His continued guidance and strength.”
President Obama’s 2015 proclamation referenced God three times, including in the following phrase: “Through prayer we find the strength to do God’s work.” Obama’s 2010 proclamation read, in part, “On this day, let us give thanks for the many blessings God has bestowed upon our Nation.”
President George W. Bush’s 2003 proclamation read, “We come together to thank God for our Nation’s many blessings, to acknowledge our need for His wisdom and grace, and to ask Him to continue to watch over our country in the days ahead.”
President Clinton’s 1995 proclamation read, “Let us not forget those painful lessons of our past, but continue to seek the guidance of God in all the affairs of our Nation.”
President George H.W. Bush’s 1991 proclamation read, “As one Nation under God, we Americans are deeply mindful of both our dependence on the Almighty and our obligations as a people He has richly blessed.”
President Reagan’s 1987 proclamation encouraged Americans to “turn our faces and our hearts to God not only at moments of personal danger and civil strife, but in the full flower of the liberty, peace, and abundance that He has showered upon us.”
President Carter’s 1979 proclamation read, “We endure and remain a land of hope because of the basic goodness and strength of our people and because the God of us all has shown us His favor.”
President Ford’s 1976 proclamation, issued during the nation’s bicentennial celebration, read, “Let us also reflect on the profound faith in God which inspired the founding fathers.”
President Nixon’s 1973 proclamation read, “America is a nation under God.”
President Johnson’s 1967 proclamation read, “Let each of us pray that God will endow us with the constancy to prevail in defense of freedom, and with the courage and resolution to preserve and extend His blessings of liberty.”
President Kennedy’s 1962 proclamation read, “May we especially ask God’s blessing upon our homes, that this integral unit of society may nurture our youth and give to them the needed faith in God, in our Nation, and in their future.”
President Eisenhower’s 1959 proclamation read, “Let us remember that our God is the God of all men, that only as all men are free can liberty be secure for any, and that only as all prosper can any be content in their good fortune.”
President Truman’s 1952 proclamation encouraged Americans to “beseech God to grant us wisdom to know the course which we should follow.”
In 1952, Truman signed a bill into law requiring presidents to issue a National Day of Prayer proclamation.
Ericsson has reached a “multi-year” agreement on global patent licences with Samsung, the Swedish telecom equipment maker said on Friday, ending a dispute that hit its first-quarter revenue.
Ericsson said it had not disclosed how many years the deal, which includes patents for all cellular technologies, would last. It said it now expects second-quarter patent licensing revenue to be 2 billion crowns ($237 million) to 2.5 billion crowns.
The settlement, which ends ongoing lawsuits in several countries, was done in record time as patent disputes between technology companies can often take years to settle.
The current dispute started in December, while the last tussle between the two companies was in 2012 and took two years to resolve.
The cross-licence agreement covers sales of network infrastructure and handsets from Jan. 1, 2021, it said in a statement. The companies declined to disclose the terms citing confidentiality.
Ericsson invests about 40 billion crowns every year in research and has a portfolio of more than 57,000 patents.
Its Nordic rival Nokia, which also has a substantial patent portfolio, settled a patent issue with Samsung earlier this year.
In the first quarter, Ericsson’s patent licensing revenue fell to 0.8 billion crowns from 2.5 billion crowns a year earlier. Royalties from its patent portfolio account for roughly a third of Ericsson’s operating profit.
Childish Gambino is being sued for alleged copyright infringement over his Grammy-winning hit song “This Is America”.
An American rapper Emelike Nwosuocha, who goes by the stage name Kidd Wes says the viral hit song was lifted from his song, “Made In America”.
According to US federal court documents Nwosuocha says the 2018 rap smash from Donald Glover, whose alter ego is Childish Gambino, is “glaringly similar” to “Made In America” which he released two years prior on the Soundcloud platform.
The complaint filed in New York cites “nearly-identical unique rhythmic, lyrical, and thematic compositional and performance content contained in the chorus — or ‘hook’ — sections that are the centerpieces of both songs.”
“This Is America” in 2019 become the first rap song to win the prestigious Grammys honouring best song and best record.
The song is packed with social commentary and juxtaposes an up-tempo rhythm, layered with church hymns and Afrobeats, with a heavier, more foreboding bassline.
Nwosuocha says the flow of his song and Gambino’s are “unmistakably substantially similar, if not practically identical.”
He cited a musicologist he employed to compare the two tracks, who said “similarities in melodic contour, rhythmic triplet flow in each performance, and the lines ‘Made in America’ and ‘This is America’” are “likely not coincidences.”
Nwosuocha is seeking a trial and damages, including for lost profits and opportunities.
Among the defendants named in the complaint are Gambino’s record label RCA, along with Roc Nation and the rapper Young Thug, who is credited as a writer and performing backing vocals.
Gambino has not publicly responded to the allegations.
In 2018 a blogger wrote of a similarity between “This Is America” and a track from rapper Jase Harley called “American Pharaoh.”
Harley declined to pursue legal action, as Gambino’s manager rejected the plagiarism allegations, saying computer files dating back to 2015 proved Gambino’s song was original.
In a luxury villa on Lake Togo, ten young West African screenwriters are getting a rare chance to hone their skills and see their work on the small screen.
The Togo initiative by Maison Junior association brings together writers from five countries with the idea of eventually crafting the second season of the French series “Junior des idees au Or” –- “Junior with the golden ideas” — to become the first major French series written entirely in French-speaking West Africa.
The animated film takes a look at the daily lives of a group of African schoolchildren, including the hero Junior.
“In Season 1, it was French screenwriters who made this series and who spoke about the daily life of African children,” said Christophe Guignee, screenwriter, cartoonist and co-founder of Maison Junior.
“Now we are turning it around: it is African screenwriters who will talk about the daily life of African children. It must be accessible for Europeans and at the same time, something Africans can identify with.”
Accompanied by two French professionals and one Togolese, the ten have already completed a four-month distance course.
After the stay in Togo, the young screenwriters will have another two-month period of distance training.
“This training is interesting, because it allows us to offer content that is modelled on our realities, on what we are experiencing in Africa,” said Odilon Edjedji, a 25-year-old from neighbouring Benin.
For the young writers, it is a real chance at sharpening their skills.
“In Africa, it is not always easy to train in cinema. And as for scriptwriting, it is not easy, because training is rare,” said Anais Kere, a 23-year-old Burkinabe journalist, screenwriter and film critic.
The training is both theoretical and practical. But it also has a new challenging aspect.
Two famous Togolese slam-rappers, are also supervising the students in conceiving a song for the series.
Sitting around a table in the middle of the villa’s lush garden not far from the Togo capital Lome, the young screenwriters have trying to adapt text to music.
“There are things that I did but did not understand,” said Yoann Feteke, a young Togolese screenwriter. “With this training, I gradually mastered all the stages of writing.”
The Senate has passed a bill for establishment of Nigeria Steel University, Ajaokuta, Kogi.
This followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND at plenary.
The Senate also passed the Agricultural Research Council Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021; and the Federal Medical Centre Mubi, Adamawa State (Establishment) Bill, 2021.
Senator Sam Egwu presented the report of the Committee on behalf of the Chairman, Senator Ahmed Kaita.
He said that the Nigeria Steel University, when established, would provide the required manpower needs of the country in the areas of metallurgical and technological advancement.
According to him, the institution will provide specialised services in engineering and training in every aspect of education and fields of applied learning.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks, said the future growth of the Nigerian economy would be based on the revival of the steel industry.
Lawan said that the University would provide the required manpower for the industry to thrive successfully.
Obi Emelonye’s anticipated biopic ‘Badamasi’ is finally coming to the screens. The US-based filmmaker recently announced an official release date for the film via his Instagram handle.
While Emelonye did not clarify the medium of release, he confirmed that fans will finally be able to experience the film from June 12, 2021. “It’s here…finally! June 12 unraveled on June 12,” the filmmaker wrote.
The Obi Emelonye directed biopic garnered a lot of media attention due to its delayed release in 2019. Originally slated for a November 29 release, the film’s delayed cinema release was reportedly influenced by ‘powerful people’ who did not want the film in circulation.
In an exclusive interview with Pulse, the award-winning filmmaker said that it took him four years to convince the General to grant him permission to work on the story.
Shot in Lagos, Minna, Abuja and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the film portrays the former Nigerian military head of state as a man with flaws but a deep sense of patriotism.
‘Badamasi’ stars Enyinna Nwigwe as Ibrahim Babaginda alongside Charles Inojie, Sani Danja, Yakubu Mohammed, Okey Bakassi, Kalu Ikeagwu, Julius Agwu and Erick Didie.
THE Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), has developed a new curriculum that will cater for the education of the over-age and vulnerable children under the accelerated basic education programme.
According to the council, the curriculum is designed for the education of children who are over-age to continue schooling from where they stopped after a long period and those whose education had been interrupted due to conflicts, disaster and socioeconomic reasons.
It is also for those who are identified as internally-displaced persons; street children from ages 10-18, who never enrolled in school or dropped out before completion of their basic education.
Executive Secretary of NERDC, Professor Junaidu Ismail, said the new curriculum was developed in collaboration with Plan International, under the EU-Borno project being funded by European Union.
He spoke at the formal presentation of the curriculum to the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu in Abuja, disclosing that the accelerated basic education programme and the curriculum was approved for implementation by the National Council of Education at its 64th meeting in Port Harcourt in 2019.
He said the programme was piloted in Borno with 54 learning centres with over 8,000 learners enrolled adding that preliminary result from the pilot programme shows that initiative is indeed a way out of the menace of out-of- school children in Nigeria.
Ismail added that the programme was designed to provide the recipients with equivalent certified competences for basic education using effective teaching and learning that match their cognitive maturity.
It is a flexible age appropriate programme which aim is to provide access to education for disadvantaged over-aged out-of-school children and youths between ages 10 and 18 years.
The NERDC boss said: “It has prospects for mainstreaming learners to move into relevant levels of schooling. The target groups for this accelerated basic education programme are; those who never started schooling and are over-aged to start from the foundation which is primary one.
“It is for this reason that the curriculum selected strategically subjects to be taught in this programme namely; English Language, (for reading and writing skills,) Mathematics, Nigerian history and values, basic science and technology and one Nigerian language.
“These are the five subjects that have been selected. The structure is from level one – this level has stage one, which covers primary one curriculum context and stage two which consists of primary two curriculum context and stage three with primary three curricula.
“The Level two: consists of primary 4, primary 5 and primary 6 curricula. The level three covers curriculum context of JSS1 – JSS3 curriculum. Each level will run for one academic year, with three terms similar to the regular school programme but with a flexible timetable and learner friendly centre”.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu in his remark, announced plans to embark on national rollout of the accelerated basic education programme as part of efforts to reduce the number of out-of-school children and improve literacy in the country.
He said the projection of the government was that in the next five years, the country should attain 90 per cent literacy rate, stressing that the government would work assiduously towards achieving that.
The minister who was represented by the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Arc. Sonny Echono, bemoaned the problem of obsolete curriculum being used in schools over time, saying the review of the basic education curriculum was long overdue.
He revealed that the National Universities Commission (NUC) had commenced review of curriculum of universities and that this would be ready for a formal launch.
Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said the accelerated basic education programme would have a lot of impact on basic education in the country.
He noted that the last National Personnel Audit conducted by the commission indicated that Nigeria has over 10.1 million out-of-schools; this he described as worrisome.
Bobboyi further expressed concern that the number of out-of-school children is expected to go higher with the abductions of school children, saying that is why the programme is very important.
The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination for External Candidates.
This is contained in a statement signed by Head, Information and Public Relations Division of council , Azeez Sani, in Abuja.
The Council Registrar, Prof. Godswill Obioma, during the announcement of results, said 41,459 candidates registered for the examination out of which 39,503 actually sat for it.
Obioma explained that a total of 26,277 candidates obtained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics while 34,014 candidates also obtained five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.
The registrar, who reiterated the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, noted that appropriate standards and excellence were maintained right from the planning stage to the release of results.
He added that 6,465 cases of examination malpractice were recorded in the 2020 SSCE External as against 17,004 cases in 2019.
He said that the reduction in the level of malpractice was as a result of deepened monitoring of the examination by members of the Governing Board, Management and Senior Staff of the Council.
He further explained that in line with the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, four supervisors who were found culpable of aiding and abetting malpractice had been blacklisted and would no longer be engaged in the conduct of NECO examinations.
Obioma said that the results of 256,000 candidates who missed some papers during the 2020 SSCE (Internal) due to the ENDSARS Protests in some states and who sat for those papers during the 2020 SSCE (External) are being released alongside external candidates.
The Registrar said some challenges which occurred in the year 2020 necessitated the rescheduling of various examinations organised by NECO, for instance, 2020 SSCE (External) which ought to have been concluded in November/December 2020 was conducted in February/March 2021.
According to him, “in spite of these, we were not deterred rather we remained resilient and resolute in the conduct of our activities”.
The registrar reiterated the council’s commitment to conducting credible examinations to improve the quality of education in the country.
He enjoined candidates to access their results on NECO website www.neco.gov.ng using their examination registration numbers.
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