Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Kukah has reacted to criticisms that greeted his Christmas message and educated such critics that he never called for any coup. The Bishop, at a media conference with select journalists at St Bakhita Secretariat in Sokoto Monday night, called on Nigerians to try to understand his message rather than deliberately peddle lies against him. He displayed his disgust that some section of Nigerians failed to understand the purport of his message, which pronged from his love for the country. “I am pained and very sad that my emergency critics never see that many innocent…
Author: Editor
Iran tested its locally developed Coviran Barekat Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine for the first time on Tuesday. According to the state broadcaster, three test subjects were given the vaccine in the presence of the Iranian health minister. An additional 56 people are set to receive the vaccine in the first phase of testing, and results should be announced in less than a month. President Hassan Rowhani said Iran would import foreign vaccines as well as use those produced locally. Due to U.S. sanctions, Iran doesn’t have access to the global banking system, leading to issues with payments and consequently with ordering…
The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA). One hundred and nine Republican lawmakers backed the decision, which came in a 322-87 vote by the Democratic-led House. Twenty Democrats, including prominent progressive and former presidential aspirant, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, opposed the override. Congress passed the $740 billion (N287 trillion) defence spending bill on Dec. 11, but the president blocked it on Dec. 23 over certain provisions. They include one limiting U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Germany, and another removing Confederate leaders’ names from military bases. Trump also…
In a 275-134 vote on Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives backed President Donald Trump’s demand for 2,000 dollars (N776,000) coronavirus stimulus cheque for American workers. The vote came barely 24 hours after Trump reluctantly signed the 900 billion dollars (N349.2 trillion) COVID-19 relief bill, which includes a $600 (N232,800) stimulus package. The president initially rejected the bill on the ground that the 600 dollars provided was too small, besides containing “unnecessary and wasteful items”, In a statement on Sunday, Trump urged Congress to make more amendments to the legislation, including increasing the stimulus cheque to 2,000 dollars. Most Democrats in…
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said the outgoing Donald Trump administration was doing “enormous damage” to agencies critical to the nation’s security. Biden made the allegation in a speech from his home state of Delaware after receiving a briefing from his aides on national security and foreign policy. He alleged that his team was not getting all the needed information, including on defence matters, for a smooth transfer of power. He specifically mentioned the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget, accusing them of setting up “roadblocks” to information flow. “Many of the agencies that are critical…
U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Tuesday said she would, on assuming office, bring a bill to Congress with a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people. Harris said on Twitter that her first priority after assuming office would be to save American lives from the coronavirus pandemic. Together with Biden. she also vowed to join the Paris climate agreement from which the Trump administration had withdrawn earlier. “Day one @JoeBiden and I will act to get COVID-19 under control and save American lives. ”We’ll take action to protect Dreamers and send a bill to Congress with a roadmap…
The federal government has commenced the enrolment of additional 32,236 Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs) beneficiaries in Kaduna state, in its ongoing Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme. The Head of Cash Transfer Unit in the State, Hajiya Hauwa Abdulrazaq, made this known in an interview in Kaduna, on Tuesday. The CCT is a household uplifting programme targeting poorest of the poor households in the country with cash transfer, capacity building, mentoring and livelihood support, under the national social investment programme. Abdulrazaq said that a total of 34,946 PVHHs were already benefiting from the programme in nine local government areas of…
A total of 50 media workers have been killed worldwide while performing their duties this year, mostly in peaceful countries, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) non-governmental organisation said on Tuesday.According to the RSF, among journalists killed in 2020, 45 were professional reporters, one deemed non-professional and four were media workers. Also, 42 of those on the RSF list were “murdered or deliberately targeted,” and the rest killed while performing their work.“Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has tallied 50 cases of journalists killed in connection with their work in 2020 (from Jan. 1 to De. 15),” the organisation said in its annual…
The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 10 deaths and registered 397 new infections of COVID-19 in the country. The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Monday. The country has so far tested 932,327 people since the first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced on February 27. The public health agency said that the new infections were reported from 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which brought the country’s total number of infected people to 84,811. The NCDC also stated that there were 12,126 active cases across the country. The…
The International Football Federation (FIFA) will finance the construction of a technical centre, at Kabala, near the Malian capital, Bamako, a sports source told PANA on Monday. FIFA will also implement a Technical Support Programme (TSP) to strengthen the National Technical Directorate of the Malian Football Federation (FEMAFOOT). A mission from FIFA and the French Football Federation (FFF) paid a visit to Mali last week to assess the project to build the technical centre. The mission consisted of the FIFA Regional Director for West Africa, El Hadj Wack Diop, the consultant in charge of the TSP for the FFF, Ludovic…