The International Committee on Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IFRC), on Friday, welcomed the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), a joint statement they issued from Geneva and New York has said. The statement quoted the President of ICRC, Peter Maurer, as saying “Today is a victory for humanity. “This Treaty – the result of more than 75 years of work – sends a clear signal that nuclear weapons are unacceptable from a moral, humanitarian and now, a legal point of view. “It sets in motion even higher legal barriers and an…
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Nigeria on Friday, announced five deaths and 1,483 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 118,138. The NCDC disclosed this on its official website on Friday. The country has so far tested 1,225,179 people since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was recorded on February 27, 2020 in the country. The public health agency also confirmed additional five coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll in the country to 1,490. The NCDC said that the new infections were from 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It stated that…
Two ministers serving in the Zimbabwean government died of COVID-19 within a matter of days, prompting the country to announce on Saturday plans to further tighten lockdown measures. Late on Friday, the government announced that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died after falling ill with COVID-19, less than two days after the country lost Foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo to the same disease. Four government ministers have succumbed to the coronavirus in Zimbabwe so far. According to unconfirmed media reports, several other cabinet ministers are fighting for their lives in a private hospital. “We are in a dark cloud that we…
Nigeria has expanded its public health response capabilities and is making progress in the public health sector after the nation’s first COVID-19 case last year. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated this on Friday at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Reference Laboratory, Gaduwa, Abuja, where he underwent a facility tour. He was in company with the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of State for Health, Dr Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora; and the Director-General, NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu. While noting “that we have a critical situation on our hands currently with the increasing number of cases being recorded”, the…
A Swiss criminal court on Friday found billionaire Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz guilty of corruption and sentenced him to five years in jail. The court also ordered him to pay 50 million Swiss francs ($56.48 million) fine. The judgment is a landmark verdict in one of the mining world’s most high-profile legal disputes. Delivering judgment, the judge, Alexandra Banna, said, “It is clear from what has been presented that the rights were obtained through corruption and that Steinmetz cooperated with others to obtain them.’’ The court, she said, had therefore sentenced him “to a deprivation of liberty for five years”,…
The Supreme Court, has for the second time, refused the request by Alhaji Ali Abacha, a brother to the late Head of State, Sani Abacha, to unfreeze accounts traced to him and relatives of the late Abacha in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. In a unanimous judgment on Friday, a five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta held that Ali Abacha’s case was statute barred, as at when it commenced in April 2004, at the Federal High Court in Kaduna. The judgment was in the appeal marked: SC/359/2010, filed by Alhaji Ali Abacha, said…
The CBN has expressed displeasure over continued diaspora remittances into the country in Naira, instead of dollars, by International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) and unlicensed companies, contrary to its directives. Dr O.S. Nnaji, Director Trade and Exchange Department of CBN, said in a circular, on Friday, that the action contravened the apex bank’s directive that all remittances be paid to beneficiaries in dollars. The circular, entitled, “Modalities For Payout of Diaspora Remittances”, was posted on the CBN website on Friday. “Further to our circular titled” Receipt of Diaspora Remittances: Additional Operational Guidelines “, it has come to our notice that…
The CBN has advised all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) accredited Cheque Printers/Personalisers, and the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), to enlighten their customers on the revised cheque book, introduced across all banks. Mr Sam Okojere, Director, Banking Services Department, who gave the advice in a circular posted on the CBN website, said it had become imperative for the Apex bank to enlighten stakeholders about the circular, which had been interpreted differently from the intended purpose. He explained that based on the CBN’s circular dated Dec. 9, 2020, referenced BKS/DIR/CIR/GEN/02/042 on the subject, the parallel run, in which old and new…
The U.S. House of Representatives will on Monday, deliver to the Senate, its impeachment charge against former President Donald Trump to the Senate. Senate’s new Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, announced the move on the Senate floor on Friday, against former Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s request that the delivery be delayed. Schumer displaced McConnell as the chamber’s leader after Democrats won two Georgia runoff elections this month. “The House will deliver the article of impeachment to the Senate. The Senate will conduct a trial of the impeachment of Donald Trump. “It will be a full trial. It will be…
The Acting Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Mr Hillary Madu has been confirmed as substantive boss of the Corps. In a statement by the spokesperson of the Corps, DCC Emmanuel Okeh on Friday, the new NSCDC boss appreciated the federal government “for the opportunity given to me to steer the affairs of the Corps in acting capacity and promised to continue in the execution of the Corps mandate to justify the confidence reposed in him.” He assured the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola of his “determination to rejig the system and personnel in order…