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Algeria’s COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Kicks Off With Sputnik V

By
Zoe Maven
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Algeria has kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination campaign with the first dose of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine given to a 65-year-old retiree at a health unit in Bilda, southwest of the capital, Algiers.

It was in this town that the country’s first coronavirus infection case was confirmed in March and Algerians have been frustrated by repeated broken promises of an imminent vaccine rollout,

There have also been growing concerns about President Abdelmadjid Tebboune who has been in Germany since early January for treatment of coronavirus-related complications.

Algeria received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines on Friday at Boufarik military airport, west of Algiers.

Authorities did not indicate how many doses arrived, though the government stated it had ordered a first batch of 500,000 doses and is also negotiating the acquisition of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Yacine Ali Messaoud, a health worker, came out to set an example for his peers and patriots by taking the Vaccine.

Newly confirmed secretary of state vows to promote LGBT agenda

By
Henry Williams
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The newly confirmed U.S. secretary of state has vowed to support the LGBT agenda by flying pride flags at United States embassies and resurrecting the “special envoy for the human rights of LGBTI persons.”

Antony Blinken, who was confirmed 78-22 by the United States Senate Tuesday, shared his thoughts about LGBT issues during his Senate confirmation hearing last week, which took place before President Joe Biden took office.

During the Trump administration, U.S. embassies were told not to fly the pride flag, which consists of the rainbow colors and is designed to show support for LGBT rights. Then-Vice President Mike Pence defended the State Department’s declaration that “on the flagpole of our American embassies that one flag should fly and that’s the American flag,” saying “I support that.”

As Markey explained, the special envoy for the human rights of LGBTI persons was “left vacant in the Trump years.” The position was created during the latter part of the Obama administration.

The first special envoy for the human rights of LGBTI persons was Randy Berry, who served in the position from 2015 to 2017 before former President Donald Trump appointed him to the position of United States Ambassador to Nepal.

Stakeholders and pro-life activist say morality in the United States is on a downward spiral warning that church persecution will be on a high as values drop. Recently a church in Florida was bombed by LGBTQ movement for its position of dissent.

Oyo crisis: My family has relocated temporarily to Ilorin, says Seriki Fulani

By
Henry Williams
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Saliu Abdulkadri, Seriki Fulani of Igangan, Oyo state, says he is on a short visit to the north while his family members have settled temporarily in Ilorin, the Kwara capital.

Abdulkadir and his family left Igangan in Ibarapa local government area (LGA) of Oyo state last week, after his house and cars were torched by suspected thugs following an eviction notice issued by Sunday Adeyemo, a youth leader better known as Sunday Igboho.

Igboho had asked the herdsmen to vacate the area after accusing them of kidnapping and killing Yoruba people.

Speaking in Ilorin on Thursday, Abdulkadir said he has a house in Ilorin where his family has now moved to.

The Seriki, who said seven of his people were killed during the attack, added that he is open to moving back to Igangan if given the opportunity.

Chinese biotech firm offered to build COVID labs in US, likely to try to collect Americans’ DNA

By
Henry Williams
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A Chinese company offered to build COVID-19 testing labs in the U.S. at the start of the pandemic, with intelligence officials warning it might have been an effort to collect DNA from American citizens, according to a “60 Minutes” report.

BGI Group, touted as the largest biotech firm in the world, offered to build and run testing labs in Washington, New York and California, among other states.

The offer raised suspicions and led Bill Evanina, then-director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, to warn the states against the offer.

“Foreign powers can collect, store and exploit biometric information from COVID tests,” Evanina said in a public notice, according to “60 Minutes.”

Evanina, like many officials, worries that China might use companies like BGI Group to collect biodata, which he believes poses a national security threat as the world starts to pay more attention to such assets.

Biodata can determine the path of health care, indicating the kinds of medical concerns prevalent now or in the future, allowing an entity to create a monopoly over the therapy or drugs necessary to treat them, he told “60 Minutes.”

Facebook shuts stock trading group after GameStop frenzy

By
Henry Williams
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FILE PHOTO: The Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile phone in this picture illustration taken December 2, 2019. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Illustration/File Photo

Facebook Inc took down a popular Wall Street discussion group, Robinhood Stock Traders, in a move its founder said was an unjustified response to conversations that have buoyed shares in GameStop Corp and other companies.


GameStop, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc and BlackBerry have been at the centre of a market battle as individual investors coordinating on social media, including Reddit, and using trading apps such as Robinhood, bought shares and squeezed hedge funds that had bet big the companies would fall.

Allen Tran, a 23-year-old from Chicago who created Robinhood Stock Traders, said he woke up on Wednesday to a notification that Facebook had disabled the 157,000-member group. The notification, seen by Reuters, said without detail that the group violated policies on “adult sexual exploitation”.

Some of his group’s members made tens of thousands of dollars in trades first popularised on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum, he said.

Tran, who also runs the 20,000-member HaiKhuu Trading group on chat app Discord, said he has never seen adult content on the Facebook group.

Just in: Hoodlums set Church pavilion on fire in Southern Kaduna

By
Henry Williams
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Governor Nasiru Ahmad El-Rufa’i of Kaduna state has urged for diligent investigation into the burning of pavilion in Zangon Kataf LGA of Kaduna state Malam El-Rufai condemned the burning of the pavilion arranged for a church conference in near a local monarch’s palace.

Malam El-Rufai condemned the burning of the pavilion arranged for a church conference in near a local monarch’s palace.

Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State, said on Friday that the Government of Kaduna state received security report detailing the incident, which stated that a pavilion erected by the leadership of the ECWA Church ahead of its conference was set ablaze by unknown persons at a location near the Palace of the Agwatyap.

US Embassy in Jerusalem plans ambitious expansion

By
Henry Williams
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When former US president Donald Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem three years ago, he upheld a promise given decades earlier and fueled a vision of Israel’s capital as a world metropolis.


The hope was that once the US does it, other nations would follow and Jerusalemites would live in what once seemed a Messianic dream: a city filled with embassies, consulates and cultural centers hard at work building the best possible relations between the Jewish state and the nations of the earth.


Two new permits the city green-lighted recently – one an expansion of the current location on the slopes of Arnona to a five-floor building and the other a construction of a 10-floor building as part of a larger compound at northern Arnona (or Talpiot) on the corners of Hebron Road, Daniel Yanovski St. and Hanoch Albek St. – envision the US Embassy being an “anchor” that will transform the entire urban space around it into a diplomatic sector, Deputy Mayor for Foreign Relations, Economic Development and Tourism Fleur Hassan-Nahoum said.


She pointed out that the current plans have been deposited at the local council, the next stage will be to show them to the district committee, after which members of the pubic may present their objections.


When the US Embassy in London opened its new location in Nine Elms on the banks of the Thames four years ago, the impact of the $1b. project on the southwest district there was so big it merited its own term, “the embassy effect,” Hassan-Nahoum explained.

In her vision, once the complete US Embassy in Jerusalem opens its gates everything will improve. Facing Hebron Road, the planned American Embassy will be easily reached by foot for those using the nearby light-rail station, also meant to be operational by that time.

NITDA urges alignment of school curriculum with 4IR

By
Henry Williams
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The Director General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has called for immediate review of the curriculum of Primary and Secondary schools across the country reflect what is needed to prepare the workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).


He made the position known at the National Olympiad Award Ceremony organised by the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) in Abuja, where over 90 students from secondary schools across the federation who have performed exceptionally well in mathematics, were recognized and awarded.


The DG urged stakeholders in the education sector to brace up for the challenge and ensure that the curriculum of every school in the country is in tandem with the realities on ground, to enable the workforce be more relevant for the 4IR.


Abdullahi, who represented at the occasion by the Director, Corporate Planning Strategy, Dr Agu Collins Agu, underscored the importance of reviewing the curriculum of primary and secondary schools to have subjects that will help in inculcating future workforce and prerequisite skills needed to thrive in the 4IR by providing mathematical toolkits to the students.

He noted that the greatest achievement of man was achieved through mathematics, adding that technologies like computers, Big Data Analytics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence etc, are innovations derived from mathematics.

Hollywood: Iconic Actress, Cicely Tyson dies at 96

By
Koko Lawrence
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Cicely Tyson, the pioneering African-American actress and honorary Oscar winner, died Thursday aged 96, her manager said.

Known best for Emmy-winning television movie “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and her Academy-nominated turn in 1972 film “Sounder,” Tyson’s acting career spanned seven decades and often tackled issues of racism and social justice.

She frequently turned down roles she saw as reinforcing negative Black stereotypes, including maids and prostitutes, and was seen as recently as last year on the small-screen thriller “How to Get Away with Murder.”

“With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon,” manager Larry Thompson said in a statement to AFP.

“I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing,” Thompson wrote, without further details of the cause of death.

Tyson’s highly decorated career included multiple Emmys and a Tony in 2013 for “A Trip to Bountiful.”

Beside Depression-era drama adaptation “Sounder,” her other film credits include “Fried Green Tomatoes” and “The Help”.

In 2018, at the age of 93, Tyson was granted an honorary Oscar for her life-long work as an icon for two generations of African American actresses.

“She’s a queen to us, Afro-Americans,” the actor and producer Tyler Perry said at the glitzy Hollywood ceremony.

“She had to work ten times harder to be paid a hundred times less” because she was a black woman, Perry said.

The composer Quincy Jones, in an emotional tribute, said Tyson “opened the door” for Black actresses from Angela Bassett to Lupita Nyong’o.

Oscar-winner Cloris Leachman dies aged 94

By
Koko Lawrence
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US actress Cloris Leachman, who won an Oscar for The Last Picture Show and brought her comedic talents to numerous US sitcoms, has died at the age of 94.

Leachman died of natural causes at her home in California, with her daughter by her side, her publicist confirmed.

Her memorable roles included Phyllis on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein.

Reese Witherspoon said she would be “deeply missed”, while Mel Brooks described her as “insanely talented”.

Leachman enjoyed a long career as a character actress, portraying Ida in Malcolm in the Middle and Timmy’s mother in the Lassie series.

Over her career Leachman, who was once a beauty queen, also starred in films Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and Crazy Mama.

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