University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom has appointed a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Debora Kayembe as the first colored Rector.
According to the University Debora Kayembe was elected unopposed and will serve as the University’s 54th Rector.
This is the first time a black woman is taking on the role in over 400 years.
She will assume the role of Rector on 1 March, 2021, replacing Ann Henderson who served as Rector for 3 years.
As Rector Kayembe will be a member of the University’s most powerful decision-making body, the University Court.
She will be playing a presiding role to ensure all voices are heard in making important decisions that affect students and staff.
In recent times, Rectors have often seen their role as a point of contact for the University community, seeking to assist with difficulties or issues where they arise.
Debora Kayembe fled her home in the Democratic Republic of Congo 16 years ago as her life was under threat after she helped expose a gun-running militia group.
She settled in the United Kingdom where she worked as a human rights lawyer.
The World Health Organization has alerted six countries to watch out for potential Ebola cases after fresh outbreaks in Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Guinea declared a new Ebola outbreak on Sunday in the first resurgence of the disease there since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while the Democratic Republic of Congo reported a resurgence of the virus on Feb. 7.
Harris added that health authorities had identified close to 300 Ebola contacts in the Congo outbreak and around 109 in the Guinea one.
Gene sequencing of Ebola samples from both Congo and Guinea to learn more about origins of new outbreaks and identify the strains was under way, she said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has named Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa as the new Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
He has therefore requested the Senate to confirm Bawa’s nomination.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday titled “President Buhari requests Senate to confirm Abdulrasheed Bawa as EFCC boss.”
The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to confirm Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa as substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“In a letter to President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the President said he was acting in accordance with Paragraph 2(3) of Part1, CAP E1 of EFCC Act 2004.
“Bawa, 40, is a trained EFCC investigator with vast experience in the investigation and prosecution of Advance Fee Fraud cases, official corruption, bank fraud, money laundering, and other economic crimes.
“He has undergone several specialised trainings in different parts of the world and was one of the pioneer EFCC Cadet Officers in 2005.
“Bawa holds a B.Sc degree in Economics, and Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy.”
The statement is silent on the fate of Ibrahim Magu, a police officer, who was suspended as the commission’s acting chairman last year.
The Lekki Concession Company (LCC) has again appealed for the understanding of aggrieved youths who are bent on preventing the company from commencing the evaluation of the extent of the damage done to its assets on the night of Tuesday, October 20, 2020, citing the subsisting bank debts and the fate of its over 500 workers as compelling reasons the process ought to begin now.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, Managing Director of the LCC, Mr. Yomi Omomuwasan, expressed regret that some people were using fake news to misinform Nigerians about the company’s ownership and whip up public sentiment against its return to business.
Omomuwasan said while LCC empathises with Nigerians who suffered one loss or the other during the #EndSARS protest, continuing to punish LCC whose facility was forcefully taken over by the protesters for whatever happened on October 20, 2020, would be a regrettable double whammy for the company.
He explained that the non-return of the company to operation is negatively affecting LCC’s subsisting loan obligations to local and international lenders, maintenance of the road, its ancillary services and most importantly, the welfare of its staff some of whom have been home since the incident in October.
He disclosed that LCC owed N23.9 billion and $49.6 million to local and foreign lenders as of December 31, 2011. He, however, lamented that the forceful takeover of the Tollgate by #ENDSARS protesters and its subsequent destruction had affected its ability to service its debts.
Researchers are working long shifts on Cuba’s best shot to solve its coronavirus crisis.
It is called Soberana 2, the island’s domestically-produced Covid-19 vaccine.
Soberana (Spanish for “sovereign”) 2 is a conjugate vaccine – meaning an antigen is fused to a carrier molecule to bolster the vaccine’s stability and effectiveness.
Within weeks, it will be tested on tens of thousands of volunteers.
The results from the first clinical trials were “encouraging” and “very important”, says the institute’s director, Vicente Vérez Bencomo, and the Communist-run government hopes to give the vaccine to everyone on the island by the end of the year.
It is an ambitious goal but a realistic one as Cuba has more than 30 years of experience in biotechnology and immunology.
However, it remains beyond the island’s production capacity to make 100 million doses of the vaccine without some form of international assistance.
Still, even if the US government under President Joe Biden reverses the hard line former President Trump took towards Cuba, the US will not play a role in producing Soberana.
Chad plans to deploy 1,200 troops to combat armed groups in a violence-wracked Sahel border zone as France eyes a reduction of its military presence in the vast, volatile region.
Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and France are holding talks on the future of their military campaign against violent groups in the Sahel, which according to the UN have killed thousands and displaced more than two million.
Chadian soldiers patrol in the Nigerian border town of Gamboru on February 4, 2015, after taking control of the city. Around 2,000 Chadian troops backed by armoured vehicles poured across the border into Gamboru on February 3 after the African Union last week backed a regional force to take on the extremists. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE YAS (Photo credit should read STEPHANE YAS/AFP/Getty Images)
The Chadian soldiers will be deployed to the border zone between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno said on Twitter during the two-day regional summit on Monday.
Chad, which reputedly has the best-armed forces among the G5 Sahel nations, promised a year ago to send a battalion to the area.
The Jerusalem Regional Planning Committee has approved plans to expand the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
The plans are now open to objections and then the municipal committee, which already approved the plans, will review any proposed changes.
The approved plan for a project to be completed by 2026 includes two properties, the embassy’s current location in Arnona – which would expand to five floors – and a ten-story building in the nearby Allenby area, or northern Arnona.
The second property could include the ambassador’s residence, staff housing, a recreation center and other diplomatic uses.
A flag flutters outside the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv August 4, 2013. President Barack Obama’s top national security advisers met at the White House on Saturday to discuss the potential threat of terrorist attacks that caused Washington and its allies to issue travel warnings and close embassies throughout the Middle East. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL – Tags: POLITICS) – RTX12A28
The new embassy campus would have 630 office workers, 400 of whom are meant to be locals, and 450 non-office workers, 380 of whom would be locals.
Among them is Miryam Shomrat, who was the Israeli ambassador to Finland from 2000 to 2003 and to Norway from 2005 to 2008.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2017, a decision President Joe Biden said he will not reverse.
The first worldwide test of drone flights in GPS-denied environments was successfully carried out in Israel last week.
The delivery was part of the Israeli drone delivery pilot program, NAAMA, which is operated by the Transportation Ministry, Civil Aviation Authority, Israel Innovation Authority, and Ayalon Highways, and was carried out in a special test zone in Yeruham.
The current test sought to examine the usability of Beyond Visual Line of Sight navigation solutions, due to the increasing possible threat of GPS signal disruption.
As drones rely heavily on GPS for navigation, finding a BVLOS navigation solution is critical.
The solution that was tested was made by Sightec, in collaboration with Simplex Interactive.
Called NavSight, the system is camera-based and allows for artificial intelligence to assess the visual situation for autonomous day and night missions. Essentially, it lets the drone understand the surrounding environment like a human pilot.
The successful test is a major step on the road to establishing commercial drone delivery operations in Israel.
Another drone test program was announced last week, with Pizza Hut Israel planning to launch a pilot program in the summer in Kfar Yona to test autonomous drone pizza deliveries.
Leading American retailers like Amazon and Walmart have also been developing drone delivery capabilities, as well.
President Muhammadu Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to confirm Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa as substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a letter to President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the President said he was acting in accordance with Paragraph 2(3) of Part1, CAP E1 of EFCC Act 2004.
Forty year old Bawa, is a trained EFCC investigator with vast experience in the investigation and prosecution of advance fee fraud cases, official corruption, bank fraud, money laundering, and other economic crimes.
Bawa also holds a B.Sc degree in Economics, and Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy.
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