The World Health Organization (WHO) said in Geneva on Wednesday that some countries in the European Union (EU) temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a precautionary measure. In a statement, the WHO said this decision was based on reports of rare blood coagulation disorders in persons who had received the vaccine. It said, however, that other countries in the EU – having considered the same information – had decided to continue using the vaccine in their immunization programmes. “Vaccination against COVID-19 will not reduce illness or deaths from other causes. Thromboembolic events are known to occur…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Holders Bayern Munich cruised into the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons. This was after beating Lazio 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory. Leading 4-1 from the first leg in Rome, Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Bayern Munich from the penalty kick spot in the 33rd minute. It was his 39th goal of the season in all competitions. The German champions took their foot off the gas before substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, having replaced Lewandowski, added the second goal in the 73rd minute. Marco Parolo…
Chelsea beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2014. Hakim Ziyech and Emerson Palmieri were on target to give coach Thomas Tuchel’s rejuvenated team a 3-0 aggregate win. Substitute Emerson made sure of victory by scoring in the fourth minute of added time for Chelsea’s second goal. Atletico Madrid were left to rue referee Daniele Orsato’s decision not to give a penalty kick when scores were 0-0. This was when Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta underhit a back pass and put his arm around Yannick Carrasco who went down in…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported nine coronavirus-related deaths and 187 new infections on Wednesday. NCDC said in its official Twitter handle that the agency recorded two deaths on March 16, adding that the country had registered 2,027 deaths since the pandemic emerged in the country on Feb. 27, 2020. The country have tested 1,684,305 people since the first confirmed case of the disease. The NCDC also said it registered 187 new COVID-19 cases in 18 states in the last 24 hours, bringing confirmed cases to 161,261 to date. It said out of the 187 registered new cases Lagos recorded…
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on the Federal Government and Inspector General of Police, IGP, to intervene in the ongoing violence over Hijab policy in Kwara. The appeal is contained in a statement by the General Secretary, CAN, Mr Joseph Daramola, in Abuja. ”We learnt that the State Government has ordered the reopening of the closed schools without resolving the crisis. ”Consequently, churches and mission schools are being vandalised with impunity by the hoodlums banking on the state government’s support in the pretext of enforcing the policy. ”Some innocent Christians are being violently abused and attacked under the watch of…
Tanzania vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan has confirmed the death of the country’s President John Magufuli from heart complications. He made the disclosure in a televised address on Thursday night, Africanews has reported. “It is with great regret that I inform you that today, 17 March 2021, at 18:00, we have lost our courageous leader, President John Pombe Magufuli of Tanzania,” said Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania Vice President. Hassan said that Magufuli was hospitalized on March 6 at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute. This comes after weeks of speculation on his whereabouts with the suspicion that he had been hospitalized for…
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the horrific attack on a convoy returning from a weekly market in Niger Republic’s Tillaberi region in which many citizens were killed. In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Wednesday, Buhari extended his condolences to families of victims and all citizens of the neighbouring country. The Nigerian leader denounced the heinous attack, declaring that Nigeria will continue to stand by all its neighbours in the fight against terrorism. According to him, the mass killings underscore the enormous security challenges facing Niger Republic as they…
A terrorist group has massacred 58 civilians in Niger Republic. The government said the attack took place on Monday in the north-west of the country in the Tillaberi region on the border with Mali. The attack was directed at traders returning from a nearby market. There are no details available about who may have carried out the attack. No group has claimed responsibility so far. Terrorist groups that have sworn allegiance to al-Qaeda or Islamic State are active in the countries of the Sahel region. The government has little control outside the cities, a fact which is not only exploited…
A bill for an Act seeking to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women has scaled second reading at the House of Representatives. Rep. Saidu Abdullahi, who sponsored the bill said that it would provide a mechanism for enforcing provisions of universal declaration on protection of human rights. He added that the bill would also enforce international covenant on civil and political rights and convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in Nigeria. He said that it would help to enforce protocol on the African Charter on human and peoples’ rights on the rights of women…
The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Bauchi State, Mr Yusuf Abdullahi, on Wednesday said six people lost their lives while 54 sustained injuries in a road crash in the state. Abdullahi said in Bauchi that the accident involved traders traveling from Darazo town in Darazo Local Government Area of Bauchi State to Dakuku Market in Gombe state. Abdullahi said that dangerous overtaking was the probable cause of the crash involving commercial Mercedes Benz truck with 72 male passengers. “It was a lone fatal accident which involved a Mercedes Benz truck with a plate number AA476MSA conveying 72…