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Air Bag Concerns: Volkswagen To Write Owners Of Audi A3s In The U.S.

By
Angel Gimalo
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Carmaker Volkswagen has issued a recall for more than 150,000 Audi vehicles in the United States on concerns that their passenger air bags might not activate, according to a filing to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The recall is expected to affect 153,152 Audi A3 cars built between 2015 and 2020, including the Sedan, Etron and Cabriolet models, as well as certain S3 Sedans.

The system which detects whether the passenger seat is occupied might malfunction and switch off the air bag even if a person is sitting there, the filing said.

  • MEDLEY, FL – MAY 22: A deployed airbag is seen in a 2001 Honda Accord at the LKQ Pick Your Part salvage yard on May 22, 2015 in Medley, Florida. The largest automotive recall in history centers around the defective Takata Corp. air bags that are found in millions of vehicles that are manufactured by BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Volkswagen will write to owners of the affected vehicles by May 21 and will contact them again once a solution to the problem has been found.

Cabinet Appointments: Lebanon’s Largest Christian Bloc Warns Against Sidelining President Aoun

By
Angel Gimalo
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Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), warned prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Saturday against sidelining President Michel Aoun and other parliamentary interests in talks over forming a cabinet.

Hariri and Aoun have been at loggerheads over the cabinet for months, dashing hopes of a reversal of Lebanon’s deepening financial meltdown. Hariri has said Aoun’s party is trying to dictate cabinet seats in order to gain veto power.

The FPM, which is headed by Gebran Bassil, who is also Aoun’s son-in-law, accused Hariri of trying to orchestrate a majority for his own supporters.

The party said its priority remained forming a government of non-partisan specialists to halt the financial collapse.

Veteran Sunni politician Hariri was nominated in October to form a cabinet after Hassan Diab’s government resigned in the wake of the Beirut port blast, which killed 200 people and damaged large swathes of the city.

Diab’s government has stayed on in a caretaker capacity. On Monday, the 18th meeting between Hariri and Aoun failed to produce any concrete results.

Lebanon is in the throes of a deep financial crisis that is posing the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war. A new cabinet is needed to carry out reforms that could unlock foreign aid.

Domestic Violence Treaty: Turkish Women Protest Erdogan’s Exit

By
Angel Gimalo
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Turkey has reversed its decision to withdraw from an international treaty against domestic abuse which it once championed and this move has brought several thousand women to the streets in Istanbul on Saturday to demand a rescind in the decision.

President Tayyip Erdogan stunned European allies with last week’s announcement that Turkey was pulling out of the Istanbul Convention, named after the Turkish city where it was drafted in 2011.

Turkey was one of the first signatories and women say their safety has been jeopardised by Erdogan’s move against the European treaty.

World Health Organization data shows 38% of women in Turkey are subject to violence from a partner in their lifetime, compared with 25% in Europe.

Estimates of femicide rates in Turkey, for which there are no official figures, have roughly tripled over the last 10 years, according to a monitoring group. So far this year 87 women have been murdered by men or died under suspicious circumstances, it said.

Conservatives in Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party say the convention, which stresses gender equality and forbids discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, undermines family structures and encourages violence.

    25-Year Cooperation Agreement Brings Iran Into China’s Belt And Road Initiative

    By
    Angel Gimalo
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    Two countries subject to U.S. sanctions, China and Iran, have signed signed a 25-year cooperation agreement on Saturday to strengthen their long-standing economic and political alliance.

    The accord brings Iran into China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure scheme intended to stretch from East Asia to Europe.

    The project aims to significantly expand China’s economic and political influence, and has raised concerns in the United States.

    China has spoken out often against U.S. sanctions on Iran and partly contested them. Zarif called it “a friend for hard times”.

    Wang met President Hassan Rouhani ahead of the signing in Tehran. The agreement was expected to include Chinese investments in sectors such as energy and infrastructure.

    Rouhani expressed appreciation of Beijing’s support for Iran’s position on its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, in which it agreed to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

    UEFA Set To Decide On 36-Team Champions League

    By
    Emenike Agu
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    GENEVA (AP) Changing the Champions League to a 36-team format featuring games from 2024 could be agreed by UEFA next week, a member of its executive committee said Friday.

    Lars-Christer Olsson, who represents Europe’s domestic leagues on the UEFA ruling committee, said it plans to meet on Wednesday if a proposal is ready to be approved.

    The preferred option that includes abolishing the traditional group stage could be agreed Tuesday by UEFA’s club competitions committee.

    There is consensus between UEFA and leaders of European soccer’s top clubs and leagues to add four entries to the Champions League with the teams playing in a single 36-team standings from the 2024-25 season — a variation of the so-called “Swiss system” used in chess tournaments.

    Where clubs and leagues differ is how to award the extra places, how many games each team should play and how to distribute the prize money.

    The European Club Association wants two entries reserved for teams who did not qualify on merit but are highly ranked by UEFA based on results in past seasons. Critics say that would bail out storied clubs with tens of millions of dollars in UEFA prize money.

    The clubs also want to play 10 different opponents in a format creating 100 extra games in total and four extra midweeks exclusively for the Champions League.

    The 30-nation European Leagues group wants three places kept for national champions in its mid-ranked members, and a schedule of eight games for each team. That would create 64 extra Champions League games and save two midweeks for domestic games.

    However, the UEFA panel meeting on Tuesday is stacked in the clubs’ favor.

    “We have to be honest and say that the clubs have had more influence (at UEFA) than we have had,” Olsson acknowledged.

    UEFA has hoped to reach a deal on the post-2024 look of club competitions before its annual congress of 55 member federations on April 20.

    Olsson said many of those UEFA members are supporting the leagues’ ideas for fairer distribution of Champions League entries and money.

    The Champions League currently shares $2.4 billion among 32 clubs each season.

    UEFA officials have predicted a “significant increase” in broadcast and sponsor revenue for the 2024 changes which will create more prize money.

    Olsson cautioned “less is more” for the value of Champions League games.

    The Swedish official was part of UEFA management 20 years ago when clubs pushed for a second group stage that created more guaranteed games by replacing some knockout rounds.

    “It was a total disaster,” said Olsson, who went on to be UEFA’s chief executive from 2003-07. “I hope we are not making the same mistake now.”

    Climate Summit To Underscore Urgency And Economic Benefits Of Climate Action

    By
    Angel Gimalo
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    Leaders Summit on Climate is billed for April and U.S. President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders.

    The virtual meeting will hold April 22nd and 23rd.

    Also invited are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and leaders from Europe.

    The White House says the summit will underscore the urgency and the economic benefits of more decisive climate action, adding it will be a milestone on the road to the UN Climate Change Conference this November.

    It is yet to be seen whether Xi and Putin will cooperate with Biden on climate, as Beijing and Moscow have recently been confronting Washington on various topics.

    Moroccan Who Officiated Nigeria’s Defeat Of South Africa To Referee Benin-Super Eagles Match

    By
    Emenike Agu
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    Redoune Jiyed, the Moroccan who handled the Nigeria versus South Africa quarter-finals clash at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations has been assigned the same roll in the Benin-Nigeria qualifying duel for Cameroon 2021.

    He along with two of his compatriots, Lahsen Azgaou and Mostafa Akarkad who will be the assistant referees has landed in Benin Republic.

    Nicknamed the ‘Child of Sous’ a region in the mid-southern Morocco, Redoune Jiyed, 40 is often compared with the late Said Belqola, the Moroccan who was the only African to officiate a World Cup final match.

    Belqola, who had officiated in Nigeria in a World Cup encounter against Guinea in 1996 as well as a Shooting Stars Champions League duel with South Africa’s Orlando Pirates, was the referee of the France versus Brazil World Cup final match in 1998.

    The fourth official for the Benin-Nigeria match is Burkina Faso’s David Yaméogo Koudougou. The Beninese doctor Sylvestre Parfait Aivodji is responsible for the Covid-19 tests while the security officer is the Ghanaian Julius Ben Emunah.

    Super Eagles Hit Cotonou in Style for Squirrels

    By
    Emenike Agu
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    Reminiscence of the arrival of Nigeria’s first national team in Liverpool 72 years ago, the current crop of players, the Super Eagles have made similar arrival in Cotonou in Benin Republic as they get set for a crunchy Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Porto Novo.

    “We have arrived in Porto Novo”, the team’s official twitter handle announced at a little past 3pm Nigerian time. It was the first time in 72 years that a Nigerian national team had travelled by sea for an assignment. They travelled to Cotonou in six boats.

    When it first happened 72 years ago, the Nigerian side won by 5-2, the first match they played after disembarking. The game was against Marine Cosby.

    Will the Super Eagles recreate this by winning by a three goal margin on Saturday?

    The team will on Saturday moved to Porto Novo venue of the match. In Cotonou, they are staying at the Golden Tulip Le Diplomat Hotel.  They also had their mandatory Covid-19 test.

    After the match, they will return to Cotonou and leave again by boat for Lagos on Sunday morning.

    Nigerian stocks end slightly red amid strong gains from GUINNESS, PRESTIGE

    By
    Emenike Agu
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    The market breadth closed positive as GUINNESS led 20 Gainers, as against 13 Losers topped by SOVRENINS.

    Nigerian bourse ended Friday’s trading session on a slightly negative note, The All Share Index dipped by 0.20% to close at 39,216.20 index points as against the +0.53% surge recorded on Thursday.

    • Nigerian Stock Exchange market value currently stands at N20.51 Trillion. Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stand at -2.62%.
    • Nigerian bourse trading turnover ended high as volume ticked up by 9.37% as against 36.61% drop posted on Thursday.
    • The market breadth closed positive as GUINNESS led 20 Gainers, as against 13 Losers topped by SOVRENINS at the end of today’s session – an unimproved performance when compared with the previous outlook.

    Top gainers

    1. GUINNESS up 9.89% to close at N30
    2. PRESTIGE up 9.76% to close at N0.45
    3. SOVRENINS up 9.09% to close at N0.24
    4. UACN up 8.75% to close at N8.7
    5. ABCTRANS up 7.14% to close at N0.3

    Top losers

    1. FTNCOCOA down 9.80% to close at N0.46
    2. JAIZBANK down 9.23% to close at N0.59
    3. ROYALEX down 7.69% to close at N0.24
    4. WAPIC down 7.27% to close at N0.51
    5. AFRINSURE down 4.76% to close at N0.2

    Outlook

    Nigerian Stocks ended the last trading session of the week on a slightly bearish note amid soaring oil prices. Trading turnover at Friday’s trading session was boosted by Zenith Bank, Union Bank, and GTBank.

    China Sanctions UK After Being Accused Of Rights Abuses

    By
    Zoe Maven
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    China on Friday imposed sanctions on British individuals and entities after the UK joined the EU and others in sanctioning Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

    A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the move by the Western bloc was based on lies and disinformation, and severely undermined China-UK relations.

    At a daily news briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the Sanctions against Chinese officials over Xinjiang were part of an elaborate plot to destabilize the region and do not reflect any real concern for the rights of Muslims.

    Sanctioned individuals and groups would be barred from visiting Chinese territory and banned from having financial transactions with Chinese citizens and institutions.

    Hu added that Beijing’s response was necessary to defend China’s interests and dignity insisting the Western nations had been collaborating to subvert China’s unity and development.

    Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab denounced the sanctions and urged Chinese authorities to allow representatives from the UN into Xinjiang to “verify facts” before it can credibly rebut claims of human rights abuses.

    China has rejected all criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, along with its crackdown on opposition figures in Hong Kong and threats against Taiwan.

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