The Federal Government has formally declared bandit groups operating in the country as terrorists.
The declaration titled ‘Terrorism (Prevention) Proscription Order Notice, 2021 is contained in Volume 108 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette.
The declaration reads in part
“Notice is hereby given that by the Order of the Federal High Court Abuja, in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1370/2021 dated 25th November 2021 as per the schedule to this Notice, the Activities of Yan Bindiga Group, Yan Ta’adda Group and other similar groups in Nigeria are declared to be terrorism and illegal in any part of Nigeria, especially in the North West and North-Central Regions of Nigeria and are proscribed, pursuant to sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011.
Consequently the general public is hereby warned that any person or group of persons participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intentions or otherwise of the groups referred to in paragraph 1 of this Notice will be violating the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and liable to prosecution.”
This comes weeks after the Federal High Court in Abuja declared bandits as terrorists following an ex parte motion the Federal Government filed before it through the Ministry of Justice.
The government had approached the court to declare bandits as terrorists in October after repeated calls from across Nigeria for them to be so designated to enable security operatives to better combat them.
The FA are investigating racist and homophobic tweets made by Northern Ireland and Bolton striker Dion Charles.
A series of historical posts including terms such as ‘gay’, ‘gay boy’, and ‘f****t’ are being looked at, as well as others referring to ‘P***es’ and ‘corner shops’.
The tweets date between 2011 and 2013 and have come to light after Charles joined Bolton from Accrington this week.
The 26-year-old said: ‘First of all, I want to say how sorry I am for the hurt I have caused to those who have read my tweets. I particularly want to apologise to the LGBTQ+ and Muslim communities for the offensive words I used.
‘There is no place in football or society as a whole for discriminatory and hateful views and I want to make it clear that I have grown up considerably since I posted those tweets many years ago. I am not racist and I am not homophobic.’
Charles – capped six times by Northern Ireland – could now face FA disciplinary action, although he looks unlikely to face any sanction from his new club.
Bolton chairman Sharon Brittan said her own faith had taught her to offer ‘forgiveness’ and that Charles had apologised ‘unreservedly’.
‘Whilst not making any excuses for him, I have spoken with Dion and he has acknowledged that he has grown up considerably since he posted those comments and that he is not racist or homophobic,’ Brittan added.
‘Through Bolton Wanderers in the Community, the club seeks to be at the forefront of making our game inclusive for everybody and Dion fully supports this.’
Tennis star, Rafael Nadal has told his rival, Novak Djokovic, to get vaccinated in order to be able to compete at the Australian Open.
Djokovic is facing being kicked out of the country next week after he arrived in Melbourne late Wednesday night without the right visa, which was rejected by border force officials over his vaccination exemption.
With Djokovic’s team prepared to fight his case in the Federal Court, Nadal weighed into the saga on Thursday.
The Spaniard is currently in Melbourne to prepare for the grand slam, just weeks after he tested positive to Covid-19.
Nadal condemned the ongoing riff and said Djokovic wouldn’t be in the predicament he’s in right now if he was vaccinated. He also urged him to get vaccinated.
‘What’s happening is not good for no one, in my opinion, the world number six said.
‘(It) is normal that the people here in Australia get very frustrated with the (Djokovic) case, because they have been going through a lot of very hard lockdowns and a lot of people were not able to come back home.
‘I believe in what the people who know about medicine say, and if the people say that we need to get vaccinated, we need to get vaccinated.
‘I went through COVID. I have been vaccinated twice. If you do this, you don’t have any problem to play here. That’s the only clear thing.
‘The rest of the things, I don’t want to have or to give to you an opinion that I don’t have the whole information.
‘The only for me clear thing is if you are vaccinated, you can play in the Australian Open and everywhere, and the world in my opinion has been suffering enough to not follow the rules.’
Djokovic will spend the next four days locked up in a refugee detention centre after the Federal Court adjourned his appeal to be let into the country ahead until Monday.
Nadal admits he feels ‘in some way’ sorry for his long-time rival but says Djokovic must face the consequences for his decisions.
‘I think if he wanted, he would be playing here in Australia without a problem,’ the Spaniard said.
‘He made his own decisions, and everybody is free to make their own decisions, but then there are some consequences.
‘I don’t encourage nobody. Everyone has to do what they feel is good for them but there are rules and without the vaccine there can be some troubles.
‘He’s free to take his own position, but then there are consequences.
‘Of course, I don’t like the situation that is happening. In some way, I feel sorry for him. But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decision.’
Five persons including women and children have been killed when suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked five village farm settlements in Mgbuji autonomous community, Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State,
According to PUNCH, the attackers invaded the community around 10am on Tuesday, January 4.
It was gathered that people carrying their belongings were seen running into the town from the troubled settlements.
At the residence of Chief Eric Ebe, one of the stakeholders in the town, over 50 women and children who reportedly escaped from the troubled farm settlements were seen in the compound.
Ebe, in an interview with PUNCH correspondent, described the invasion of his community as horrific and unwarranted.
He said since January 1, no fewer than 10 persons have been killed in his community while many others were kidnapped for ransom.
A community leader, Chief Moses Olinya, lamented that more than 24 hours after security agencies were informed of the invasion and carnage done, they were yet to see any security personnel.
Some displaced women appealed to the government to come to their aid.
The Chairman of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area, Jacob Abonyi, who confirmed the invasion, describing the frequent attacks on Mgbuji community as unacceptable,.
“When I got the information on Tuesday, I contacted the police but the Divisional Police Officer’s phone number was switched off and I immediately called the military,” he said.
“About five days ago, we were battling with kidnapping in same Mgbuji when the wife and daughter of Eugene Edeoga were kidnapped and they were just released on Monday.
“So, I called the military and we were ready this morning, including the Neighbourhood Watch and Forest Guard. Unfortunately, the soldiers that were already at Ikem said they got a call for another emergency from Uzo-Uwani and they decided to turn back and they have not returned
“That is the situation, but all our local security – Neighbourhood Watch and Forest Guards -are doing everything possible to calm the situation.” he added.
Kenyan police have launched a manhunt for a university student who allegedly killed his lover before cutting her body into pieces.
Mark Njoroge Wanjiru, 20, a student at Kibabii University is said to have committed the act after visiting his grandfather, Sebastian Njoroge Mwangi, 70, in his Molo home where the body was found.
The killing came to light after locals reported to Molo Location Chief Hassan Waweru that they had found two hands of an unknown person in Mtaa Saba village.The two human hands were found lying on an open field.
After confirming the incident, the chief informed police officers attached to Molo Police Station who visited the scene accompanied by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The police officers and sleuths were also informed of a foul smell from a house near the area. Upon gaining access to the house, the security operatives found a mutilated body of a female wrapped in a brown blanket under a bed.
The police report read;
“The police officers and sleuths were then informed of a foul smell from a house about 1.5 kilometres from the scene and proceeded to the unlocked house.
“The head, hands and legs had been cut off and are missing. The search was conducted in the house and one female human head recovered in a yellow plastic bucket under a table in the kitchen which is believed to be part of the mutilated body.”
The scene was processed and the body parts were moved to Molo Sub- County Hospital morgue pending an autopsy. Wanjiru who is studying Computer Science at the university, is said to at large
The Amalgamation of Northern Traders in Cattle, Grains, and Vegetables has announced plans by its members to cease from supplying its items to South-Eastern markets. They say this is in reaction to the ban placed on beef consumption by the Indigenous People Of Biafra in the region.
Recall that on January 3, IPOB in a statement released banned the slaughtering and eating of cows from Fulani herders during occasions in the South-East region. The secessionist group also announced the ban on singing of Nigerian national anthem in schools and on eating beef during occasions in the region. The group said these are some of its seven action plans to implement in 2022.
Reacting to the decision, the Northern traders said members were prepared to comply with the directive by discontinuing its sale of cattle, grains, onions, and other foodstuffs in the region.
Chairman of Northern Traders, Muhammad Tahir, in an interview with SaharaReporters, said members of the union were not perturbed by the IPOB ban.
“For us, we would always support the indivisibility of Nigeria; but if IPOB wants to secede, then so be it. Bilateral trade between us and them is all about wealth creation for the two regions; the cattle we take to them is food and not poison.
Therefore, if someone rejects your benevolent supply of food to their region, then you stop; because you must not feed them.
After all, it is a mere unsustainable propaganda, which we’ve been hearing over the years.”he said
Tahir further asserted that IPOB lacked the capacity to sustain the ban as their people would soon revolt due to scarcity of beef and other foodstuffs which only the North can supply.
Kim Mi-soo, star of Disney+ series Snowdrop, has died suddenly at the age of 29, her agent has said.
The actress plays Yeo Jung-min in the show.
A cause of death has not yet been revealed, but Kim’s management said she had died suddenly and asked people to refrain from spreading rumours about her death so that her family can mourn.
Her agency Lanscape said in a statement: “Kim suddenly left us on Jan. 5. The bereaved are deep in their sorrow at the sudden sadness.
“Please refrain from reporting false rumors or speculation so that the bereaved family, who are in shock and grief-stricken, can reverently commemorate the deceased.
“As per her family’s wishes, the funeral will be held quietly in private.
“Please wish for Kim Mi Soo to rest in peace, and once again, we offer our deepest condolences to the deceased.”
Kim’s funeral will be held at Taeneung Sungsim Funeral Home.
Kim was born in South Korea in 1992 and grew up to find fame as an actress and model.
During her career, she also starred in Lipstick Revolution and Hi Bye, Mama!
She is also known for her roles in movies Memories and Kyungmi’s World, both released in 2019.
Kim had also been cast to star in Disney+ drama Kiss Six Sense, which was still filming.
Following the tragic news of her death, it’s said that filming has been shut down for the day.
Pleas to grant leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu a presidential pardon, has been shut down by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Though President Buhari had in November 2021 promised to consider the request of some leaders from the South East region to release Kanu who is facing treason charges preferred against him by the Nigerian Government, in an interview with Channels Television which was aired on Wednesday Janaury 5, the Nigerian President said Kanu must answer for his actions over the years, especially while he was out of the country.
Accusing Kanu of abusing his administration while in Europe “as if he was not a Nigerian”, the President said he won’t be interfering in judicial responsibilities.
He said;
“Nigerians know that I don’t interfere with the judiciary.
“Let him be listened to. For those who are saying that we should release him, no we cannot release him.
“There is a possibility of political solution; if people behave themselves, all well and good, but you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problem against your country and thinking that you will never have to account for what you have been doing. Let him account for what he has been doing.
“There is one institution that I wouldn’t dare interfere with – that is the judiciary.
“Kanu’s case is with the judiciary, but what I wonder is when Kanu was safely in Europe abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I never thought really he wants to voluntarily come and defend himself on the accusations.
“So, we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to be abusing us from Europe as if he was not a Nigerian. Let him come here to us and then criticise us here.”
The President also noted that he doesn’t believe Nigerians really want the country to disintegrate as we are better off together. Buhari claimed that Nigerians make noise about separation because they want better things.
Pope Francis has said that people who choose to have pets instead of children exhibit “a certain selfishness”.
Speaking on parenthood during a general audience at the Vatican, the pontiff lamented that pets “sometimes take the place of children” in society.
He said: “Today … we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality.”
Pope Francis said the practice “is a denial of fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, takes away our humanity”.
Thus, he added, “civilisation grows old without humanity because we lose the richness of fatherhood and motherhood, and it is the country that suffers”.
While his predecessor, Benedict XVI, was a cat lover, Francis is not known to have a pet at his Vatican residence.
In 2014, Francis told Il Messaggero daily that having pets instead of children was “another phenomenon of cultural degradation”, and that emotional relationships with pets was “easier” than the “complex” relationship between parents and children.
On Wednesday, Jan. 5, while inviting couples unable to have children for biological reasons to consider adoption, he urged potential parents “not to be afraid” of embarking on parenthood.
“Having a child is always a risk, but there is more risk in not having a child, in denying paternity,” he said.
An Indonesian man took Covid vaccine 17 times in place of anti-vaxxers who didn’t want to take the vaccine but wanted Covid vaccine passes.
Indonesian Police are currently investigating the case of self-proclaimed “vaccine jockey” Abdul Rahim who claims he was paid £40 for each shot he took on behalf of others.
In Indonesia, you need a vaccine certificate to enter bars, cafes and shopping centres.
The MailOnline reports that Rahim from Pinrang, on the island of Sulawesi, boasted of his efforts in a video clip and even claimed he had received three shots in one day.
Police have reportedly found the people suspected of paying Rahim and are considering charges against him too under their Infectious Diseases Law.
If convicted, he could face a year in prison for hindering ‘the implementation of pandemic control.’
9-year-old boy was almost blinded after suffering a rare ‘covid eye’ which kept him in the hospital during Christmas.
Year 5 pupil, Zac Morey lost his vision in his left eye less than a week after testing positive for Covid-19 along with his mother and four siblings on December 16. His eye completely closed up during the terrifying ordeal after he was diagnosed with orbital cellulitis, a skin infection that some scientists have linked to the virus.
Doctors at Bristol Royal Hospital for children, placed him on IV drip after his eye became severely swollen.
Zac has fully recovered, but his family have issued a warning over the unusual symptom.
His 37-year-old mother, Angela said;
‘His eye looked like it was going to explode. There was no way he could open it without pulling the skin. It was swollen beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
‘I thought it just been on the computer for seven days solid so didn’t think anything of it.
‘But by Christmas Eve it was not good at all. We took him to hospital and he was put on an antibiotic drip until Boxing Day.
‘They said if it goes too far into the eye then it can cause blindness. The doctors said it was an allergic reaction to the virus that affects children.’
Zac was discharged from hospital on Boxing Day after undergoing an eye test that confirmed his vision had fully recovered.
As the world grapples with the highly contagious and mutated Omicron variant of COVID-19, France has alrrted the world to a new Coronavirus variant called IHU.
Scientists identified the new strain, B.1.640.2, at the institute IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseille and say it contains 46 mutations, more than Omicron.
France has already reported at least 12 cases of this variant. The new variant has been associated with Cameroun.
This comes days after Israel reported its first case of rare double infection of Covid-19 and Influenza, Flurona.
The variant is also yet to be spotted in other countries or labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Prof. Philippe Colson, who heads the unit that discovered the strain, said: “We indeed have several cases of this new variant in the Marseille geographical area. We named it ‘variant IHU’. Two new genomes have just been submitted.”
U.S. epidemiologist and health economist, Eric Feigl-Ding, who rung the bell about the variant, said: ‘’These observations show once again the unpredictability of the emergence of new #SARSCoV2 variants and they exemplify the difficulty to control such introduction and subsequent spread.
“However, it does not mean they will be more dangerous. What makes a variant more dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus.
“This is when it becomes a variant of concern like Omicron, which is more contagious and could evade immunity. It remains to be seen in which category this new variant will fall,” he said.
COVID-19 has killed at least 5,441,446 people globally since the outbreak in December 2019 but WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.
A three-way drama might be brewing between Miley Cyrus, Peter Davidson and Kim Kardashian.
It became quite evident that Kim Kardashian had unfollowed Miley Cyrus on Instagram after the singer’s live New Year’s Eve special with the new boyfriend of the mother of four, Pete Davidson.
A Miley Cyrus fan account, dubbed @MileyEdition, noted that Kardashian was following the “Wrecking Ball” artist’s IG account on Dec. 10, same day it was reported that Cyrus went to Davidson’s condo after their “Tonight Show” appearance.
Some American news platforms reported that during the New Year Eve special, Davidson, 28, joined Cyrus, 29, on stage to perform a version of Will Smith’s “Miami”.
Before their special, Cyrus seemingly put the moves on Davidson while promoting the event, serenading him on “The Tonight Show” and singing, “It should have been me.” The lyrics could have been a shot across the bow of 41-year-old Kardashian, whom Davidson has been dating since October 2021.
While Davidson spent his New Year’s Eve celebrations live on television with Cyrus, Kardashian was home in Los Angeles with her kids. But the couple reunited this week to travel to the Bahamas together on a private jet.
Davidson and Kim officially began dating November 2021. This was weeks after the reality show star filed to be legally single amid her divorce from Kanye West.
A husband accused of choking his wife to death has denied killing her after she asked for a divorce 20 years ago.
Zafar Iqbal, 61, allegedly strangled Naziat Khan, 38, with a scarf at their home in Norbury, southwest London, in August 2001.
Iqbal appeared in a prison tracksuit at the Old Bailey via video-link from HMP Wormwood Scrubs, where he denied murdering his wife.
After the alleged murder, Iqbal flew to Pakistan where he would remain for 20 years before he was extradited to the UK in September last year.
Iqbal is one of the first defendants to be extradited from Pakistan to the UK in the wake of improved relations between the two countries
Anthony Orchard, prosecuting, earlier told the court: ‘On Monday, 20 August 2001, shortly after 1pm in the afternoon, the defendant killed his wife.
‘He strangled her to death. ‘After killing his wife he…fled the UK to Pakistan.
‘The police were made aware the following day and the deceased was found at the address.
‘A post-mortem examination confirmed strangulation.
‘In relation to bail, the defendant fled to Pakistan and a first incident warrant was issued for his arrest in 2005.
‘After that, enquiries were made with the Pakistani authorities, because there was no formal extradition treaty with them, and an extradition warrant was issued which was executed in Pakistan finally in December 2017.
‘The defendant was remanded in custody in Pakistan and our understanding is that since that time he has fought against his extradition.
‘He was extradited to the UK on 14th September this year and arrested on his arrival.’
Iqbal will stand trial at the Old Bailey on December 5 this year.
France’s most popular twins, who became popular for hosting a TV science and science-fiction show in the 1980s on a spaceship set have died of covid six days apart.
The Bogdanoff brothers were synonymous for years with popular science and were celebrities in France during their lifetime.
They died of coronavirus within days of each other in a hospital with one dying on 28 December, 2021 while his brother died on Monday, January 3, 2022
Aged 72, the brothers had not been vaccinated against Covid-19 because they were convinced their healthy lifestyle would protect them but in Mid- December they were admitted to hospital.
Family friend Pierre-Jean Chalençon said they had left the illness to last too long in their bodies before seeking hospital treatment, deciding it was similar to flu.
“People have said they were anti-vaxxers but they absolutely weren’t,” he told BFMTV.
“Several friends told them to get themselves vaccinated but they felt because of their lifestyle and their [lack of] comorbidity, they weren’t at risk of Covid.”
According to Le Monde, The Bogdanoff brothers were icons from a kitsch period of culture as their programme on TF1 which ran for years was seen in some ways as highlighting cutting-edge technology, but when the TV channel went private in 1987, they were dropped.
During the 1990s their facial features changed dramatically, leaving them with odd-looking chins, lips and cheek-bones with some people saying they looked like aliens.
“We are proud of having faces like extra-terrestrials,” they once said.
Grichka Bogdanoff denied surgery claims saying that they never had “what people call cosmetic surgery”, insisting that he and his brother were experimental by nature and had tried out very advanced technology.
But by their friend, former education minister Luc Ferry, said they had both had Botox injections.
The brothers later started academic work, writing doctoral theses in mathematics and theoretical physics .
Ridiculed by sections of French media, they won a 2014 court case for defamation before losing a lawsuit against the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
Asked why they had chosen not to have the Covid vaccines if they were not themselves anti-vaxxers, Luc Ferry said on Monday, January 3: “Like Igor, Grichka wasn’t antivax, he was just antivax for himself.
“They were both athletic, with not an inch of fat, and they thought the vaccine was more dangerous than the virus.”
North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile into the sea, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The Japanese coast guard, which first reported the missile launch, said it could potentially be a ballistic missile, but they haven’t yet confirmed it.
Japan’s defence minister, Nobuo Kishi said the suspected ballistic missile had flown about 500 km (310 miles), according to a Reuters report.
Under UN sanctions, North Korea is prohibited from ballistic and nuclear weapons tests.
With the new year just 5 days gone, this would be the first missile launch carried by Pyongyang this year.
“South Korean and US intelligence are closely analysing for further detail,” the JCS said in a statement.
In 2017, North Korea tested the Hwasong-15, a missile that peaked at an estimated altitude of 4,500km, putting US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam well within striking distance.
The launch comes days after Kim said during a key end-of-year meeting of North Korea’s ruling party that Pyongyang would continue to strengthen its defence capabilities due to an increasingly unstable military environment on the Korean peninsula
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the latest launch “very regrettable,” pointing to North Korea’s repeated testing of missiles since 2021.
In 2021, North Korea continued the advancement of its weapons programme, testing a new hypersonic missile, as well as a train-based ballistic missile and a new long-range cruise missile.
The tests come as Pyongyang struggles with food shortages due to a coronavirus blockade that has affected its economy.
At the end-of-year meeting, Kim said the country was facing a “great life-and-death struggle”, adding that increasing development and improving people’s living standards were among this year’s goals.
Chelsea are reportedly set to fine Romelu Lukaku £417,000 over his controversial Sky Italy interview that he’s unhappy at the club.
Lukaku, 28, was dropped by Tuchel for the Blues’ clash with Liverpool on Sunday after hitting out at his manager and flirting with former club Inter Milan in a bombshell interview last week.
The Belgium star first revealed he is ‘unhappy’ with his current situation at Stamford Bridge, before also suggesting he did not want to leave Inter and return to Chelsea in the first place.
Tuchel has since confirmed an apology has been made, but Italian outlet La Repubblica claims Lukaku will still receive a €500,000 (£417,000) fine over the interview.
It will not be the first time a club has thrown the book at him, as he was also fined £400,000 by Manchester United for failing to report for training in 2019.
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Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Tuchel insisted his £97.5million striker is keen to ‘clear up the mess’ he has created over the past week.
‘For me its important to understand the overall picture we have. Does it reflect (Lukaku’s) overall mood and attitude? Absolutely clear no,’ the Chelsea head coach said.
‘Was the intention to create trouble or leave the club, put pressure on the coach? Absolutely not.
‘Of course, he should have known better, that’s why we have to clean it and clear the air together.
‘We need to be adult enough and mature enough to accept an apology and have a clear head to prepare the upcoming matches.
‘He is very aware of what happened and what he created and he feels the responsibility to clean the mess up – maybe we will have a bit of smell from it of course, but he can handle it and he has no other choice.’
A female judge is under investigation after CCTV appears to have allegedly shown her kissing a killer she recently convicted.
Mariel Suarez was allegedly filmed locking lips with cop killer Cristian Bustos in the Argentinian prison where he has just started a life sentence.
The judge was the only one of a panel of judges who argued that Bustos should escape a life sentence when they convicted him last month.
But Suarez denies any intimacy took place and insists she was only visiting the murderer to ask questions for a book she is writing.
Court officials have since confirmed that a probe has been launched into security footage which shows the judge leaning forward towards the “highly dangerous” inmate with her back to the camera.
Argentinian media outlets have claimed the clip is of the unlikely couple kissing.
Neither the judge or the inmate were officially named in a court statement confirming the investigation, but their names leaked out in local press in Argentina following the December 29 prison visit.
Bustos is being held at a jail in the southern Argentinian city of Trelew over the 2009 killing in nearby Corcovado of police officer Leandro Roberts.
Roberts was shot dead and a colleague injured after going to arrest Bustos at his home following an earlier prison escape.
He was wanted over the murder of his infant stepson who was beaten to death in a horrendous crime that led to a separate murder conviction and 20-year prison sentence.
A brother of the fugitive died in the gunfight that occurred when police tried to detain him.
Bustos was convicted of murder and given a life sentence for shooting Roberts after admitting his guilt during a trial.
Today/yesterday (TUE) Suarez told Argentinian news website Todo Noticias there was no kiss during the prison visit, adding: “We were talking and felt we were being listened to. They were secret talks and there were people walking nearby and a camera and that’s why we talked close-up.”
She added: “I don’t have any sentimental relationship with this person. I’m writing a book on him. Our relationship is a working relationship.
“I believed the version of events he gave at his trial and that’s why I voted for a lesser punishment than life imprisonment.”
The probe into the judge is being led by the Superior Court of Chubut, which said in a statement: “The judge allegedly incurred in inadequate behaviour.
“The investigation will seek to determine the circumstances of the meeting between that judge and an inmate who is regarded as highly dangerous and was recently convicted following a trial in the city of Esquel.
“It will also look at how long the meeting lasted and its characteristics, with a view to confirming whether there have been violations of the Law of Public Ethics and internal judicial authority regulations.”
President of France, Emmanuel Macron has warned he intends to make life difficult for people in France who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Macron says he wants to limit access to public space and access to activities “as much as possible” for the unvaccinated.
In his interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday, January 4, Macron, who is yet to announce if he will run for a second term in April’s presidential elections said that while he would not “vaccinate by force”, he hoped to encourage people to get jabbed by “limiting as much as possible their access to activities in social life”.
“I won’t send [unvaccinated people] to prison. So we need to tell them, from 15 January, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant. You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theatre. You will no longer be able to go to the cinema.”
“I really want to hassle them, and we will continue to do this – to the end,” he told France’s Le Parisien newspaper.
However, his opponents say the strong language he used in the interview should not come from a president.
“No health emergency justifies such words,” said Bruno Retailleau, Senate leader of the right-wing Republicans, quoted by AFP.
“Emmanuel Macron says he has learned to love the French, but it seems he especially likes to despise them.”
Far-right leader Marine le Pen tweeted: “A president shouldn’t say that… Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office.”
Meanwhile leftist politician Jean-Luc Melenchon described the remarks as an “astonishing confession”.
“It is clear, the vaccination pass is a collective punishment against individual freedom,” he added.
Macron’s comments came as a bill on Covid passes was delayed by opposition MPs working against the government.
A debate in parliament on the bill, which would ban the unvaccinated from much of public life, was prevented from continuing after midnight on Tuesday.
The legislation was expected to be approved in a vote this week, but it has angered vaccine opponents and several French MPs have said they have received death threats over the issue.
France has one of the highest Covid vaccination rates in the EU, with more than 90% of the adult population double-jabbed.
For months France has asked people to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test to access many public venues.
On Tuesday, the country reported 271,686 new daily Covid cases – the highest number of daily infections recorded in France since the start of the pandemic.
Elizabeth Anne Holmes, founder and chief executive of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company that soared in valuation after the company claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by developing testing methods that could use surprisingly small volumes of blood, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy on Monday January 3.
Holmes who was the the subject of an HBO documentary as well as a forthcoming Hulu miniseries starring Amanda Seyfried, was charged with 11 counts of fraud for claims made to investors and patients of her Silicon Valley blood-testing company, Theranos.
She was guilty of four of the 11 charges she faced in her fraud trial. The former Silicon Valley darling was convicted of one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud against Theranos investors and three counts of fraud in connection to wire transfers.
The jurors found her not guilty on four other counts, three of which related to defrauding patients, and failed to reach a verdict on three others.
Reporters in the courtroom said Holmes, 37, maintained a stoic demeanor as the judge read the verdict, then she gave her partner, parents and two friends hugs before leaving the room. Her attorneys are expected to appeal the decision.
Each count carries a penalty of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, which she would likely serve concurrently.
This is coming after jurors told Judge Edward Davila on Monday, seven days after they began deliberations, that they were deadlocked on three of the 11 counts Holmes was facing for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Davila, who sits on the federal court in the Northern District of California, asked the jurors to continue deliberating and said they should “not hesitate to reexamine your own views and change your opinion if you become persuaded that it is wrong.” Davila will likely declare a mistrial on the three undecided charges.
Holmes first rose to prominence in 2014 as the founder and CEO of healthcare start-up Theranos, which duped investors out of millions by falsely purporting that its technology could run hundreds of medical tests using just a few drops of blood.
In 2015, Wall Street Journal journalist John Carreyrou reported that the machine Holmes was selling — dubbed The Edison — did not actually work, and that the company was using outside technology and other subterfuge to fake positive test results. Federal authorities then investigated Holmes, indicting her in 2018.
During her trial, Holmes’ defense attorneys sought to portray her as naïve, saying she didn’t mean to defraud investors. According to ABC, Holmes’ attorney Kevin Downey said Holmes never cashed out any stock even as the company’s fortunes tumbled.
But prosecutors said Holmes knew exactly what she was doing. “The person on trial is 37 years old,” U.S. Attorney John Bostic said in his closing arguments, The Wall Street Journal reports. “That is certainly old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.”
In addition to accusations of misleading patients and physicians about the efficacy of Theranos’ blood tests, Holmes was also accused of lying to investors in 2015, telling them that Theranos would generate $1 billion in revenue when she allegedly knew the company would only generate a few hundred thousand dollars that year.
Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest living person has turned 119.
Tanaka, from Japan, was born in 1903, and married a rice shop owner at the age of 19. She worked in the family store until she was 103.
Tanaka who has seen two world wars, survived the 1918 Spanish flu, seen 49 Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
She reached the 119 year milestone on Sunday, January 2, according to a Twitter post published by her great-granddaughter, Junko Tanaka.
“Great achievement. (Kane Tanaka) reached 119 years of age,” Junko tweeted, with a photograph of her great-grandmother, whom she saw in December.
“I hope you’ll continue to live life cheerfully and to the fullest.” she added 1
Junko also shared a photo on Twitter of two commemorative Coca-Cola bottles that Tanaka was given for her birthday, the labels personalized with her name and age.
“Birthday gift 1: Introducing the presents received for Kane’s birthday. Really appreciate this gift. Coca-Cola company made a commemorative birthday bottle. It seems (Kane) is still drinking Coca-Cola as usual,” Junko tweeted.
“I might be biased because I’m related to her but I think it’s kind of amazing — I wanted to share that with the world and for people to feel inspired and to feel her joy,” Junko said.
She lives in a nursing home in Fukuoka prefecture. Her family said she keeps her mind and body engaged by doing math, and remaining curious.
In 2019 she was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest living person.
Ferran Torres has tested positive for Covid-19 just hours after being unveiled by Barcelona following a £55m signing from Manchester City.
The 21-year-old Spain international has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract, which is understood to be worth an initial £46.7million, and a further £8.5m in potential add-ons. Barca have set a €1billion (£841million) buyout clause into the deal.
Torres had hoped to be back in action for the Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Real Madrid on January 12, but his debut could be delayed after the Catalan club announced he had tested positive for Covid-19 along with team-mate Pedri.
A Barca statement on Monday evening read: ‘Pedri and Ferran Torres have tested positive for Covid-19. The players are in good health and are isolated at home.’
Torres was presented at the Nou Camp on Monday morning and spoke of having his focus set firmly on taking LaLiga giants back to their former glories.
‘I am facing this challenge with ambition, humility, and a lot of desire,’ he said.
‘When I left Manchester City I had the idea of coming back to LaLiga and Barca showed an interest. I am an ambitious player and I like a challenge. I want to take Barca back to where it belongs.’
Torres signed for City from Valencia in the summer of 2020 for £20.9m, but spent just 16 months at the Etihad Stadium, scoring 16 goals in 43 appearances in all competitions.
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two fleeing suspects, Farouk Mohammed and Jamiu Kasali, who murdered Pastor Babatunde Dada of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG on 6th Avenue, Festac Town.
The suspects, who claimed to be upcoming musicians, stabbed the 46-year-old pastor to death on December 2, 2021, and fled with his bag containing some money.
It was gathered that the suspects had approached the unsuspecting pastor on the pretext of being strangers in Lagos who had no place to stay.
The deceased lodged them in a room in the church which also served as his residence only to be attacked at about 12 noon the next day and abandoned in the pool of his blood to die.
It was further gathered that the suspects attended church service the Sunday before the incident, and also came out during an altar call to ‘surrender their lives to Jesus’
The Commissioner of Police in Lagos, AIG Hakeem Odumosu, who confirmed the arrest, disclosed that Mohammed was tracked to Ilorin, Kwara State, while his partner in crime, Kasali, was apprehended in Festac Town, Lagos.
In an interview published by Vanguard, Kasali, said, “On the day we struck, the Pastor came to Church in morning, gave us money for food and left. Later, he came in with a bag containing money,”
“Few hours before then, Farouk got a telephone call from his mother, urging him to come home quickly that she was sick. We were contemplating on how he would get money to take his mother to the hospital when the Pastor walked in with the bag containing money.
“We followed him upstairs, hit him with a plank, before stabbing him with a broken bottle in the neck. He fell down. We grabbed the bag and left the house.
On his part, Mohammed, 15, said he lied to his parents that he was coming to Lagos for a show, being an incoming Musician.
“I lied to my mother that I would get at least, N200,000 from the show. We are upcoming musicians. We have been in the industry for three years. When things were not going on as planned, we decided to do something else , in order to invest in our music industry. My stage name is Zealight while Kasali’s J Fresh,” he said.
“Our mission in Lagos was to look for where to perform. But that plan changed immediately we saw Pastor with the bag containing money.” he added.
Meanwhile, Odumosu said the exhibits used to commit the act have been recovered, adding that the suspects would be charged to court.
Nigerian lady based in Vienna, Austria, Susan Edeh, has accused a pastor of Omega Fire Ministries, Jesse, of brutalising her for asking him to pay back a loan she gave to him to pay church rent.
According to SaharaReporters, the lady said Jesse had reached out to her to support him with the payment of church rent to avoid eviction.
Susan, who is also a member of the church founded by Apostle JohnsonSuleman, said she had agreed to support and took a loan from her bank for the purpose.
The lady said the pastor had promised to pay back the loan after the church’s next service but failed to keep to the promise after five years.
According to her, each time she asked Jesse for the money, the pastor usually ended up abusing and also inflicting bodily harm on her.
Susan said that on Sunday she visited him again in the church to ask about the loan as the bank was already pressuring her but that the Omega Fire Ministry pastor threw a metal microphone and attacked her while he also ordered church members to beat up.
The pastor and other members thereafter restricted Susan’s daughter and husband from contacting the police by seizing their phones after the assault, SaharaReporters gathered.
A relation of the victim called on Apostle Suleman to ensure justice was served on the matter.
“She has lost a lot of blood in ITU due to the harm done to her.
“We want the General Overseer (Apostle Suleman) to investigate this abuse and attempted murder with the intention to cover the debt, while police should prosecute Pastor Jesse and everyone involved,” he said.
A mayor in Northern Niger has been arrested after 200kg of cocaine worth around $8.7 million, was found in his official car.
Sources told Reuters that the mayor and his driver, who were in the vehicle at the time, were arrested with 199 bricks of cocaine at a checkpoint on the road heading north out of the desert trading hub of Agadez on Sunday January 2.
A statement from Niger’s Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking (OCRTIS) confirmed that there had been a record seizure of more than 200 kg of cocaine in Agadez, but did not give details.
This is coming after 17 tonnes of cannabis resin worth around $37 million were seized in the West African country last May.
The ban on Twitter operation in the country may soon be lifted as the social media giant has reportedly met six conditions imposed on it by the Nigerian government.
The Nation reported that the Technical Committee raised by the government to resolve the impasse between the two parties is fine-tuning the offers by the micro blogger before making a final recommendation to President Muhammadu Buhari.
It was also reported that though the President has agreed in principle that Twitter’s social networking operation be restored in Nigeria, he is awaiting the report of the committee to lift the ban it imposed on Twitter on June 4, last year.
There are also speculation that the federal government might amend the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act to include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
Some of the conditions Twitter agreed to include;
Open an office in Nigeria
Have a country representative
Register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)/get National Broadcasting Commission’s licence
Payment of fair taxes
Sensitive to national security and cohesion. It must not undermine the nation’s security
Train Nigerian IT personnel and strategic intelligence officers on how to report twitter abuse /infractions noticed by the government.
A source told the publication;
“From the records, Twitter has finally met six conditions set by the Federal Government for the lifting of the ban on its service in Nigeria as at the close of business in 2021.
“The operation of Twitter will now be fully regulated, including opening of office and deployment of a Country Representative. We can now hold an officer responsible for any infraction.
“Twitter only requested that the Federal Government should allow it to open the office in 2022 because there was no provision for it in its last year’s budget. Since we are in a new year, we are expecting that the office will take off soon.
“With payment of taxes, we are hopeful that the government will earn enhanced revenue from Twitter. This ban has helped to correct the lapses of the past. For instance, Twitter has been raking huge cash from Nigeria without legal backing and compliance with our revenue laws.
“Although it was alleged that Nigerians have lost over N6billion to the ban but the Federal Government has lost much more in revenue.
“In spite of recourse to VPN by some users in Nigeria, Twitter revenue slumped considerably because this alternative does not fetch income to it.
“Now, the era of impunity is gone. Twitter must register with CAC and operate in Nigeria as a business concern which it is in other parts of the world.”
Apple Inc has become the first ever public company to reach $3 trillion in market value after the stock rallied 3% on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.
On the first day of trading in 2022, the Silicon Valley company’s shares hit a record of $182.88 around mid-day.
The tech giant’s rise to a $3 trillion market cap, which is based on its stock price, comes less than two years after its market cap hit $2 trillion.
Apple’s rise to $3 trillion comes on the back of the incredible success of its iPhone line, which has spawned accessories like the Apple Watch and AirPods, not to mention services like AppleCare, the App Store, Apple Music+, and Apple TV+.
“It’s a fantastic accomplishment and certainly worthy to be celebrated,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “It just shows you how far Apple has come, and how dominant it is seen as in the majority of investors’ eyes.”
Apple shared the $2 trillion market value club with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), which is now worth about $2.5 trillion. Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Amazon.com Inc and Tesla (TSLA.O) have market value above $1 trillion.
The Malaysian government has now unveiled the world’s second-tallest building.
The new Merdeka 118 skyscraper, located in Kuala Lumpur, is set to open officially by the end of 2022 and has replaced the 2,073ft- (632m) high Shanghai Tower as the world’s second-tallest tower.
When it opens, Merdeka 118, standing at 2,227ft tall will feature an observation deck, a Park Hyatt hotel, and rentable office spaces .
The building, second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in terms of height has now reached its maximum height and it’s a sight to behold, as pictures show.
With the completion of the spire at its tip the skyscraper is a staggering 2,227ft (678.9m) tall meaning it’s more than double the height of London’s Shard, which is 1,017ft (310m) high.
Merdeka 118, which is officially classed as a ‘megatall’ skyscraper, was designed to overlook a significant historical landmark in Kuala Lumpur – Stadium Merdeka, the site of the declaration of independence of the country in 1957.
The sleek exterior of the tower was designed by the Australian firm Fender Katsalidis Architects, and is made up of triangular glass panels, inspired by shapes ‘found in traditional Malaysian arts and crafts’.
A 24-year-old man identified as Chisom Johnchris Ezeh, has died after he was allegedly shot by unknown gunmen in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra state.
It was gathered that the the deceased who came home for the Christmas holidays was shot along Uga Ezinifite road, on December 26 and died the following day.
He will be laid to rest in his hometown, Umudieleke Umuoru in Uga on January 6, 2022.
“They brought him down from his car in the hold up and shot him. It’s probably a gang war, or a revenge assassination” one Kelechi Obi wrote on Facebook.
“God knows the best, but your demise is painful! Late Chisom Johnchris Ezeh who his sudden painful death occurred on Monday 27th December 2021, will be buried on Thursday 6th January 2022 @ his father’s compound in Umu-Umeabiaka Umudieleke Umuoru Uga, Aguata LGA, Anambra State.” one Umelechi wrote.
“May God console his parents, his siblings, his relations, his business associate, his friends and well wishers. May the soul of Late Chisom Johnchris Ezeh and souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace, Amen. It’s well, but he is too young to die. RIP “
Suspected Fulani herdsmen dressed in military uniform have reportedly invaded a farming community, 2nd Abumere Ojigbelu Camp in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
According to PUNCH the marauders invaded the community on Sunday, January 2, chased the villagers away and took over their farms, homes and properties. .
Some of the villagers who ran away for their lives and now taking refuge in other communities around Okada have cried out for help.
One of the victims, Mr Mattu Alli, from Taraba State while narrating his ordeal said he has been living in the community for over two decades.
“In fact, I’m short of words to explain what I witnessed yesterday in our community. I have been here for the past 20 years with my family farming. I was in my compound with my family having a good time when we started to hear the sound of guns and people running in different directions. I saw one Benin man running towards my compound and asked him where are you running to, he said herdsmen have taken over the village chasing people away from their houses,” he said.
“So, I called my wife and we had to run for our lives. I did not see my children every one of us ran in different directions. As I speak to you now, I don’t know the whereabouts of my wife and children.
‘Another thing that put fear into our minds is that one of the Fulani herdsmen pointed a gun at me and said look man, we are for peace, we would only kill you people if you refuse to allow our cows to feed on your crops. The yams you people have are for our cows, the cassava and all that you have are for our cows. If you people touch our cows we will kill everybody in this village. For us to be safe, we ran to the next community,’ Alli added.
Speaking in the same vein to journalists, another victim, Mr Sunday Chimen, said: ‘I have been in this village for over 20 years plus farming, what we saw yesterday surprised us. Suddenly, we heard gunshots and people running, we later discovered that Fulani herdsmen have taken over our community with sophisticated AK-47s and threatened to kill us if we didn’t cooperate with them. For us to be alive, we decided to run for our dear lives leaving our properties with our children running to an unknown place. We are calling on the security agencies to come to our aid as our community is under siege”.
On her part, Mrs Ngozi Chimen, said: ‘The nefarious activities of these Fulani herdsmen have been on in our community since last two months, they enter into our farms put our plantain to feed their cows, chase us away from farms. You dare not look at their faces. Some of them were in Army uniform. Just on the 2nd of January 2022, they invaded our village and chased everybody away. We need help, we need security, we need government assistance”, she stressed.”
The Edo State Police Command is yet to comment on the incident.
French scientists have detected another Covid variant in France.
The mutant strain has 46 mutations that are thought to make it both more vaccine-resistant and infectious than the original virus. Some 12 cases have been spotted so far near Marseille, with the first linked to travel to the African country, Cameroon.
According to reports, the strain was discovered by academics based at the IHU Mediterranee Infection on December 10, but has not spread rapidly since.
It is yet to be spotted in other countries or labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organization.
Professor Philippe Colson, who heads up the unit that discovered the strain, said: ‘We indeed have several cases of this new variant in the Marseille geographical area.
‘We named it “variant IHU”. Two new genomes have just been submitted.’
The variant has been dubbed B.1.640.2 and its discovery was announced in a paper posted on medRxiv.
Scientists say the lineage is genetically different to B.1.640, which is thought to have emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in September.
Tests show the strain carries the E484K mutation that is thought to make it more resistant to vaccines. It also has the N501Y mutation, first seen on the Alpha variant, that experts believe can make it more transmissible.
It is a distant relative of Omicron, which scientists say likely evolved from an older virus.
The scientists say in their paper: ‘These observations show once again the unpredictability of the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and their introduction from abroad.
‘And they exemplify the difficulty to control such introduction and subsequent spread.’
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has announced a ban on the singing of Nigeria’s national anthem in schools across the Southeast.
IPOB’s Head of Directorate of State, Chika Edoziem, made the announcement as part of its action plan for the year 2022.
He also announced the ban on the use of “Fulani cows” during festive seasons in the Southeast.
Edoziem also said IPOB would campaign for the unconditional release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Edoziem said IPOB members should prepare for a worldwide protest with a focus on the British Embassy, Nigerian Embassy, Kenyan Embassy, and the United Nations.
A statement signed by Edoziem and IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, reads: “The following are some of the programs and actions which the leadership will vigorously pursue in 2022.
“These are the ones we can make public for now. Others will be made known at the appropriate time.
“Worldwide campaign for the unconditional release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (A Prisoner of Conscience). The Campaign will be called THE PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE CAMPAIGN. In furtherance of this CAMPAIGN, all IPOB family members, Biafrans and friends of Biafra are hereby urged to change their profile pictures on social media with our official campaign poster.
“Secondly all IPOB families worldwide are hereby directed to activate the earlier instruction passed down to them. We shall embark on a worldwide protest in cities and capitals around the world. The focus of our protest shall be British Embassies, the British Parliament, 10 downing street, the Kenyan Embassies, the Zoo Nigerian Embassies and International Organizations like the UN, the EU, Amnesty International and Media houses.”
The group said a new department known as the Education Department would be created.
IPOB said the department would be saddled with the responsibility of teaching Igbo history in primary and secondary schools.
The statement added: “The DOS will be creating a new department in IPOB to add to those already existing under the Directorate of State. The department will be designated as IPOB EDUCATION DEPARTMENT. Primary responsibility is to teach our history, language, tradition and culture to our children. We have about three books that will be published this new year in furtherance of this. After the head of this department is made public, Biafran writers will be called upon to bring forward books and educational materials to be published for our children in primary and secondary schools.
“Beginning from tonight, no more Nigerian National Anthems in all Schools in Biafraland. Our Children must no longer be reminded daily that they are under oppression by singing the national anthem of the oppressor. School authorities and proprietors have a responsibility to teach our children our national anthem. The Biafran National Anthem.
“The ban placed on Fulani cows will take effect in April 2022. Effective this month Fulani cows will not be used for any social or ceremonial events and festivals in Biafraland. Our native cows will be used instead for these events Traditional Custodians of our Culture, the Clergy and Town Unions must ensure that this message gets to the grassroots. We cannot continue to eat and bring cause and damnation upon our land and upon ourselves by consuming cows that were used for bestiality.”
Police have shut down an app in India that puts up Muslim women for sale.
It comes after two Indian states registered reports after an app shared photos of more than 100 Muslim women saying they were on “sale”.
The police have now arrested the developers of the app and Twitter handles that shared the images and content.
The open source app known as Bulli Bai – was hosted on web platform GitHub, which has also been taken down.
Many of the women whose photos were uploaded on the Bulli Bai app tweeted over the weekend that they felt “traumatised” and “horrified”.
The new development comes after an app and website called “Sulli Deals” created profiles of more than 80 Muslim women – using photos they uploaded online – and described them as “deals of the day” back in July 2021.
Police say that in both cases, there was no real sale of any kind – but the purpose of the app and twitter advert was just to degrade and humiliate Muslim women by sharing their personal images.
Sulli is a derogatory Hindi slang term right-wing Hindu trolls use for Muslim women, and “bulli” is also pejorative.
Journalist Ismat Ara, whose name and photo also appeared on the Bulli Bai app, filed a police complaint on new year’s day in Delhi.
“It is indeed disappointing to see the impunity with which such hate-mongers continue to target Muslims women, without fear of any sanction whatsoever,” she wrote in her complaint.
A 2018 Amnesty International report on online harassment in India showed that the more vocal a woman was, the more likely she was to be targeted – the scale of this increased for women from religious minorities and disadvantaged castes.
Thomas Tuchel will hold crisis talks with Romelu Lukaku today after the Chelsea boss axed the club’s record-signing for Sunday’s 2 – 2 draw against Liverpool.
Lukaku was completely omitted from the game over his unauthorized interview with Sky Sport Italy in which he confessed to being unhappy at Chelsea.
Tuchel will now have a meeting with his striker during which he will decide whether he is recalled for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup crunch against Tottenham.
When asked about the summit, Tuchel said: ‘First we need to evaluate the situation, not listen to media or pressure, understand what he said and why he said it.
‘Then we will take the decision if he is good to go for Wednesday.’
Following the game at Stamford Bridge that saw Chelsea share the spoils with Liverpool, former Blues striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was adamant Lukaku needed to find a way back into the side.
‘There has to be a way back as he’s an asset at the club,’ Hasselbaink said on Sky Sports.
‘They’ve spent money, I don’t see a club giving them the same money back.
‘So it’s an investment and you need to find a way back with Lukaku and he has to understand that these are the terms and way forward.
‘You’ve come in as the main striker but you need to show you’re the main striker and show you’re in line with all the others.’
Hasselbaink’s co-pundit Graeme Souness said Lukaku needed to apologise ‘to everybody in the stadium’ on Sunday.
‘Firstly to his manager and his team-mates,’ he added. ‘To everyone else at Chelsea and all the supporters.
‘He needs to hold his hands up and say for whatever reason I wasn’t in the right place and made a mistake. I apologise unreservedly.
‘He’s lit a fire and one only he can put out.He’s to find a way of saying sorry I got it wrong.’
Iranian backed hackers have attacked the cyberspace of Israel.
On Monday, January 3, Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper said its website had been hacked, in what it said was an apparent threat to the country.
Instead of displaying a main news page, the hackers showed an illustration that appeared to remind Israelites of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a Donald Trump ordered drone strike in Iraq on this day in 2020.
The homepage illustration showed a bullet-shaped object shooting out of a red ring worn on a finger, an apparent reference to a distinctive ring Soleimani used to wear while he was alive.
The Jerusalem Post, a very popular English-language daily news website, tweeted that it was working to resolve the issue.
“We are aware of the apparent hacking of our website, alongside a direct threat (to) Israel,” it said.
The mobile app of the Jerusalem Post did not appear to be affected, and other major Israeli news websites were working normally as at press time.
Iran and Israel are eternal enemies and in recent months Israel has warned Iranians that all options are on the table if the Islamic nation doesn’t curb its nuclear program.
Chelsea lost a fully deserved three points against Liverpool on Sunday, January 2, 2022 as they played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.
AFCON bound players, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah’s early strikes were cancelled out by Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic just before half-time, with the first half full of missed chances and excitement.
In the second-half, Chelsea stepped up the pressure but were unable to score the third goal despite having lots of possession. Liverpool had few opportunities to win the match in the second half too, but the away team devoid of coach Jurgen Klopp due to COVID-19 will be happy to go back home with a draw .
With the result, Manchester City now lead the Premier League table by 10 points.
Thomas Tuchel’s side will stay above Liverpool by a point for the time being though Jurgen Klopp’s side do have a game in hand over Chelsea in the Premier League.
See more photos of the match and the premier league table below.
Rapper Kanye West was spotted out on a date with actress Julia Fox in Miami on January 1.
Celebrating the new year in style, the pair shared a candlelit dinner at the celeb-hotspot Carbone. In one snap, while the two are entering the establishment, Kanye gazes intently at Julia, who wears a huge smile and appears to be hanging on his every word.
Sources told TMZ that the date was “nothing serious,” and that Ye is simply trying to have fun amid his ongoing divorce from Kim Kardashian.
Kanye and Julia’s date night comes a week after the “Famous” hitmaker dropped $4.5 million to buy the house directly across the street from his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian. It was reported he paid $420,000 over the asking price and is planning to tear it down to the studs to build his own brand-new abode.
Kim Kardashian filed to be declared legally single amid her divorce proceedings with West on Dec. 10. The Skims founder who has since moved on with “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson, shares four kids with West: North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2.
Sudan’s Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok has resigned after another mass protests rocked the capital Khartoum.
Thousands reportedly marched against a recent deal he had done to share power with the army, who staged a coup in October. Taking to the streets, chanting “power to the people”, protesters called for a return to full civilian rule. But military forces staged another violent crackdown, leaving two people dead.
Mr Hamdok’s decision to quit leaves the army in full control of the government.
In a televised address, Mr Hamdok said the country was at a “dangerous turning point that threatens its whole survival”.
He said he had tried his best to stop the country from “sliding towards disaster”, but that “despite everything that has been done to reach a consensus… it has not happened”.
Civilian and military leaders had made an uneasy power-sharing agreement after the army staged a coup on 25 October and initially placed Prime Minister Hamdok under house arrest.
Under the agreement reached with Mr Hamdok in November, the reinstated prime minister was supposed to lead a cabinet of technocrats until elections were held. But it was unclear how much power the new civilian government would have, and protesters said they did not trust the military.
Thousands of people were on the streets of the capital Khartoum and the city of Omdurman on Sunday, chanting and calling on the military to leave politics alone.
Activists have said 2022 will be “the year of the continuation of the resistance”.
More than 50 people have been killed at protests since the coup, including at least two on Sunday, according to the pro-democracy Sudan Central Doctors’ Committee.
Coup leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has defended last October’s coup, saying the army had acted to prevent a civil war that was threatening to erupt. He says Sudan is still committed to the transition to civilian rule, with elections planned for July 2023.
Thousands of women accused of witchcraft in the 16th-18th centuries which led to their executions are set to receive official apology and pardons from the Scottish government.
The people accused of witchcraft were mostly women and were leveled with allegations from cursing the king’s ships, to shape-shifting into animals and birds, or dancing with the devil, to a ‘satanic’ panic.
Now, three centuries after the Witchcraft Act was repealed, campaigners are on course to win pardons and official apologies for the estimated 3,837 people tried as witches, of which two-thirds were executed and burned.
This comes after a two-year campaign by the Witches of Scotland group, resulting in the passing of the member’s bill by the Scottish parliament to clear the names of those accused, according to a report by the Sunday Times.
The move follows a precedent by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the US that proclaimed victims of the Salem witch trials innocent in 2001.
Scotland’s indefatigable pursuit of witches between 1563, when the Witchcraft Act was brought in, and 1736, when it was finally repealed, resulted in five “great Scottish witch-hunts” and a series of nationwide trials.
The earliest witch-hunts were sanctioned by James VI of Scotland, later James I of England and Ireland, who believed witches plotted against his Danish bride by summoning up storms to sink his ships. Among those accused in 1590 was Geillis Duncan who admitted under torture to meeting the devil to thwart the king’s ships.
Another accused person, Agnes Sampson, had confessed that 200 women witnessed the devil preach at North Berwick on Halloween where the king’s destruction was plotted.
Other well-known cases include Lilias Adie, from Torryburn, Fife, who was accused of casting a spell to cause a neighbour’s hangover; while Issobell Young, executed at Edinburgh Castle in 1629, was said to have shape-shifted into an owl and accused of having a coven.
As at then witchcraft was a capital crime, so the convicted were usually strangled to death then burned at the stake so as to leave no body to bury.
Many of the accused confessed under torture, which included sleep deprivation, the crushing and pulling out of fingernails, and pricking of the skin with needles and bodkins to see if the accused bled.
The Witches of Scotland website notes that signs associated with witchcraft – broomsticks, cauldrons, black cats and black pointed hats – were also associated with “alewives”, the name for women who brewed weak beer to combat poor water quality. The broomstick sign was to let people know beer was on sale, the cauldron to brew it, the cat to keep mice down, and the hat to distinguish them at market.
Claire Mitchell QC, who leads the Witches of Scotland campaign, said on Sunday, January 2, 2022 that it was seeking pardons, apologies and a national monument to the mainly female victims of the witch-hunts.
“Per capita, during the period between the 16th and 18th century, we [Scotland] executed five times as many people as elsewhere in Europe, the vast majority of them women,” she told the Sunday Times.
“To put that into perspective, in Salem 300 people were accused and 19 people were executed. We absolutely excelled at finding women to burn in Scotland. Those executed weren’t guilty, so they should be acquitted.”
A musician was dismembered by his wife while he was still breathing, according to new forensic evidence in a high profile Russian case.
The evidence appears to show that rapper Andy Cartwright, 30, was still alive when “his wife began dismembering him”, after having been starved of oxygen.
Cartwright, whose real name was Alexander Yushko, died in July 2020 at his home in St Petersburg in what had until now been described as the “perfect murder”.
His wife, Marina Kokhal, 37, had admitted to cutting up Cartwright’s body and storing body parts in the fridge but insits that he died of a drug overdose.
She claims to have cut him up to prevent his fans from finding out he had died such an “inglorious” death. She had instead planned to tell them he had gone missing.
Russian law enforcement had not found enough proof Kokhal had murdered her husband or that he had even been killed on purpose.
However, she remains the only suspect, despite being released from jail in October.
Cartwright had allegedly been having an adulterous affair with a 26-year-old fan Nadia Romanenko up until his death.
Nadia Romanenko
Now, the new forensic evidence, which partly used tests carried out on his eyes, has found that he died of oxygen starvation and that he was still breathing after he had begun to be cut up said gazeta.ru, who have been in contact with informed legal sources.
The evidence suggests the dismembering “occurred shortly – a few minutes, dozens of minutes – before death”.
Some reports have indicated his death may have taken several hours.
Many of Cartwright’s organs are believed to have been disposed of by Kokhal, with forensic experts saying eight key organs were either missing or had been put through a washing machine.
Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that “not a drop of blood” had been found in his remaining organs.
It has been alleged his fingertips were fed to rats outside, with other body parts found in bin bags.
It had previously been thought the popular star had died from injection from a hard-to-trace substitute for insulin that is used to treat people with diabetes.
Kokhal and Carwright’s child was sent to an orphanage following the murder, but the judge has since allowed a reunion.
Kokhal’s lawyers said their client had initially been accused by detectives of “drinking her dead husband’s blood and having sex with his corpse”.
Her defence claim she was illegally made to testify through taunts about her son being sent to an orphanage.
A new trial is due to be arranged for later this month with Kokhal under house arrest as further investigations are carried out.
A law enforcement operation in the New Orleans area in the United States, led to the discovery of five missing teenagers as well as the arrest of 30 sex offenders.
The US Marshals Service revealed in a press release that in an annual multi-agency initiative dubbed “Operation Boo Dat,” conducted between mid-October and Dec. 24, 17 of the arrests were of those accused of felony sex offender registration violations. All five of the found teenagers were girls ranging between the ages of 14 and 17, according to the news release.
US Marshals said that among the arrests were one of a man wanted for raping a 12-year-old girl victim in an abandoned home on the West Bank of New Orleans. Another man was arrested for an alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in June in San Patricio County, Texas, according to the US Marshals.
Of the discoveries of the missing teenage girls’, one was a 16-year-old who ran away from her home in Marrero, New Orleans, by allegedly stealing a relative’s car and a handgun, according to the release. That girl was discovered in a home with “multiple adults including a strip club dancer,” the US marshal service said.
Two of the other discoveries were sisters ages 15 and 16 who were found in an apartment in Baton Rouge who “may be victims of adult(s) felony criminal sexual activities,” the US Marshals said.
“During Operation Boo Dat over one hundred sex offender compliance checks were also attempted or completed in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes,” said the US Marshal Service. “Sex Offender compliance checks require law enforcement officers to go to the sex offender’s reported address of residence to verify that the person still lives at the provided address. Often countless hours of follow-up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check.”
The US Marshals Service said it carried out the operation along with the New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police, and USMS New Orleans Task Force.
A California mother gave birth to twins just 15 minutes apart but in different years.
Mother Fatima Madrigal gave birth to baby boy Alfredo Antonio Trujillo at 11:45 p.m. on Friday night, Dec. 31, 2021.
Just 15 minutes later, Alfredo’s sister Aylin Yolanda Trujillo was born exactly at midnight on New Year’s Day, Saturday, Jan 1. 2022.
“It’s crazy to me that they are twins and have different birthdays,” mother Madrigal said in a press release, obtained by People. “I was surprised and happy that she arrived at midnight.”
Dr. Ana Abril Arias, a family doctor at the hospital, called the uniquely timed births “one of the most memorable deliveries of my career.”
“It was an absolute pleasure to help these little ones arrive here safely in 2021 and 2022,” Arias said in the release. “What an amazing way to start the New Year!”
The two babies will return home with their mother and father Robert Trujillo to meet three older siblings – two girls and a boy.
Pelumi Olajengbesi, one of the lawyers of Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Igboho has resigned from his position.
Olajengbesi noted that he said in the beginning, that the scope of his work would only be within the purview of his professional duty as a lawyer to Mr Igboho and his aides.
He also disclosed that while he is a strong believer in constitutional democracy, civil liberty and human rights which includes the right to self-determination, he is not a Yoruba nation agitator nor a member of any like organization.
The statement read;
This is to officially announce my resignation as counsel involved further in any matter relating to Chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho and the Yoruba Nation Agitators.
As a firm, we are satisfied with our little best in contributing to providing legal solutions and representations to Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) and associated Yoruba Nation Agitators as far as ensuring the protection and enforcement of their rights in this matter. We were able to secure the release of twelve (12) persons brutally and unlawfully arrested by the reckless State Security Service (SSS), and also secured the release of an innocent herbalist equally unlawfully arrested and detained by the SSS. We have two persons with on-going terrorism trials at the Federal High Court and our firm will dutifully continue and close the trial having commenced their matter.
While thanking everyone, particularly Chief Yomi Aliyu SAN for the opportunity, and freehand service, Dr. OLASUPO Ojo for his fair leadership and Chief Femi Falana for allowing his industry to be tapped and for the moral support, I most respectfully wish to now step aside.
I have stated ab initio that the scope of my work will only be within the purview of my professional duty as a lawyer to Sunday Igboho and his aides . I am a strong believer in constitutional democracy, civil liberty and human rights which includes the right to self-determination but I am not a Yoruba nation agitator nor a member of any like organization. My reaction to Prof. Akintoye was not to undermine the Yoruba struggle but is based off my personal convictions which I am entitled to. I do hope my friends in the struggle will allow me enjoy the benefit of my right to such a choice as a person of thought and conscience.
A Pastor has been seen in a live streamed video, carrying out a bizzare crossover ritual for his female church members.
The Pastor was seen asking his church members to hurry up and come for the “holy bath”. The church members stripped naked and were seen tying towels while being rubbed olive oil by another Pastor after the bath.
The cleric also claimed that he got the directive from above and knows it might cause controversy even though he has no option than to obey the spirit.
Local news platforms in Ghana reported that the Pastor engaged in the ritual to cleanse his members so they will be “holy and pure”‘.
A lady has been seen in a viral video complaining about how her boyfriend handles her in bed after smoking weed and taking tramadol.
According to the Ghanaian lady, her boyfriend sleeps with her aggressively after getting high on weed popularly called wee in local parlance and tramadol.
She said the situation is so alarming as she sometimes bleeds during the process and even worst, her boyfriend doesn’t stop until he ejaculates.
Her boyfriend who was sitting beside her during the interview session in the studios of Akoma FM, could not defend himself as he flashed smiles in between her statements instead.
President Buhari has signed a record N17.13 trillion 2022 appropriation bill into law. He signed the bill at the statehouse this morning December 31.
The president also signed the 2021 finance bill into law.
President at the signing ceremony was the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget, and national planning.
This is coming less than a week after the house of representatives and senate passed the appropriation bill. The two chambers increased the budget spending by N735.8 billion from the proposed N16.391tn to N17.126 trillion. They also raised the oil benchmark from $57 per barrel proposed by the executive to $62.
The National Assembly also fixed oil production at 1.88 million barrels per day, exchange rate at N410.15 to the dollar, GDP at 4.2 percent and inflation at 13 percent.
Speaking at the event, Buhari said the 2022 Budget, just signed into law, provides for aggregate expenditures of N17.127 trillion, an increase of N735.85 billion over the initial Executive Proposal for a total expenditure of N16.391 trillion. The president explained that N186.53 billion of the increase however came from additional critical expenditures that he had authorized the minister of finance, budget and National Planning to forward to the National Assembly.
‘‘The Minister will provide the public with the details of the budget as passed by the National Assembly, and signed into law by me,’’ he said.
He announced that as the 2023 Budget is going to be a transition budget and that work will start in earnest to ensure early submission of the 2023-2025 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper as well as the 2023 appropriation bill to the national assembly.
He directed heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to cooperate with the ministry of finance, budget and national planning, more specifically with the budget office of the federation, to realize this very important objective.
China has banned it’s national team footballers from getting tattoos and has also instructed players to remove or cover the ones they have.
In the latest development, China’s sporting administration body has also prohibited the football selectors from recruiting new players with tattoos at both the national and the youth squad levels.
According to the Chinese administration, this move would help create a ‘good example for society.
As part of the new rules, popular and experienced international footballer Zhang Linpeng has been told to cover up his tattoos while playing for both the national team as well as club Guangzhou FC.
According to a statement issued on Thursday, December 30, China’s General Administration of Sport (GAS) instructed national players to remove or cover their tattoos during both trainings and competitions.
“National teams at all levels will strictly implement the relevant requirements of the management measures… (and) fully demonstrate the positive spirit of Chinese football players and set a good example for society.
The national team and the U23 national team athletes are strictly prohibited from having new tattoos, and those who already have tattoos are advised to remove them themselves.
If there are special circumstances agreed by the team, (players) must cover up the tattoos during training and matches.”
In China tattoos historically have had a negative impression as they were used to brand criminals while some organized crime groups in east Asia use tattoos to identify themselves.
Since 2018, China’s ruling Communist Party has stepped up laws to disapprove of tattoos,
The deadline for linkage of the Subscribers Identity Module (SIM) cards with the National Identity Numbers (NIN) has been extended till March 31, 2022, by the federal government.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, conveyed the approval of the Federal Government in a joint statement by the Director of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Ikechukwu Adinde and the Head of Corporate Communications of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr Kayode Adegoke.
It was also revealed that 71 million citizens have been captured in the national database as of December 30.
The statement read;
“As of 30th December 2021, the NIMC has issued over 71million NINs with over 14,000 enrolment centres set up across the country.
“Furthermore, the NIMC has also set up enrolment centres in over 31 countries to cater for Nigerians in the Diaspora.
“The unprecedented growth in the National Identity Database to over 71 million unique NINs in such a short period, with about three to four SIMs linked to a NIN, reflects the concerted effort of the Federal Government, the Nigerian populace and legal residents and this is truly commendable.
“Following the request by stakeholders, including citizens, legal residents and Nigerians in the diaspora, the Federal Government has extended the deadline of the exercise to the 31st of March, 2022.
“This extension would enable the Federal Government to consolidate the gains of the process and accelerate the enrolment of Nigerians in key areas like the remote areas, diaspora, schools, hospitals, worship centres, and the registration of legal residents.
“The Honourable Minister has, however, implored Nigerians and legal residents to enrol for their NINs and link with their SIMs during this period of extension as more services will be requiring the NIN for identification.
“He also reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to support the NCC and the NIMC in ensuring that the objectives of the exercise are achieved.”
About 12 people have been crushed to death and 17 other left injured in a New Year’s Eve stampede at a hilltop shrine in India.
The horror incident unfolded at around 2.40am as people gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve at the famous Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra.
According to local reports, an argument broke out as the huge crowds got out of control, triggering a stampede.
Authorities said at least 12 people were killed in the stampede, while more than a dozen were rushed to hospital – some with “serious” injuries.
Gopal Dutt, block medical officer of Community Health Centre, said the wounded were transported to Naraina Hospital after a rescue operation.
Officials said the bodies of the victims, said to be from Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab, were taken to a hospital in the Katra base camp for identification.
Dilbag Singh, Jammu, and Kashmir Director General of Police, said there appeared to have been a “minor altercation” between a group of young boys before the stampede.
According to India TV, he said: “Police and officials of the civil administration were quick to respond, and the order within the crowd was immediately restored, but by that time, the damage had been done.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “extremely saddened” by the horror.
He said: “Extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to a stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon.”
Mr. Modi also said the families of the victims and those injured in the stampede would be given compensation from the Prime Minister National Relief Fund.
An investigation is now underway by the shrine board representatives and senior officials.
In december of 2003, Joyce Vincent died of an asthma attack in her North London flat. The television was left on. he mail continued to be delivered. Her rent was set up to be automatically deducted.
The days rolled by and no one noticed she was gone.
Those days turned into weeks and the weeks into months.
There were large trash dumpsters on the side of the building next to her unit, so the neighbors never thought much of the smell emanating from her flat.
The floor was full of noisy kids and teenagers and no one questioned the constant thrum of television noise in the background.
Eventually, Joyce’s bank account dried up.
Her landlord sent her letters of collection. These letters, like the others, simply fell into the stacks scattered about her floor. They went unanswered.
Finally, with more than six months of overdue rent, the landlord got a court order to forcibly remove her from the premises.
The bailiffs broke down the door, and it was only then her body was discovered.
By then, it was January, 2006, more than two years after she passed away.
In that time, nobody ever came looking for Joyce Vincent. No family or friends. No co-workers. No neighbor knocked on the door to see if things were all right.
TRY AND KEEP AT LEAST ONE FRIEND
- Morals -
*Fellowship in small congregation so that your pastor would notice your absence
*Set close friends and family on speed Dail
*Be there for others. We owe each other love, affection
*Let know your view about this post and please Share this with your love ones
My Vag!na Almost Caught Fire After Vibrator Exploded Inside Me While Masturbating -Nigerian Lady Narrates.
Taking to her social media handle, she wrote
"I was home alone so I decided to use my Vib on the highest and most violent setting for the first time. I never crank it high cos it’s super loud, it vibrates so hard that in the event that it doesn’t rip my clit to shreds, I’m unable to hold on to it when things get slippery"
A heartbroken man has sought advice from Nigerians after his wife sent him a divorce letter because she wants to link up with an ‘oyibo’ man.
According to him, his wife who earned a scholarship overseas, refused to return back home after completing her studies.
After months of probing her about her reason for staying back, she sent him a divorce letter, informing him of her plans to get married to a white man.
Read His Story Below:
“I am a married man with 2 children. My wife traveled to UK after successfully scholarships for 2years only, but still now is 4yrs she has not yet returned back every time I ask her why she has not returned as we agreed she will complained about different challenges she is going through over there.
Early this year, she met a white man who promised to help her have a stay and better life on a condition of divorcing me and getting married to him.
“My wife sent me a divorce letter which I need to sign to prove we are no more married . She told me I should act along because through the White man she will have more opportunities over there and also have financial stability and be given a stay in UK and she will be sending me money to support our 2 children.
“If I didn’t sign it, she might be deported anytime. She also warned me not to tell anyone including our families because she told me we should make it a secret. I am confused. 🙆♀️🙆♀️ Pls advice before its to late. 🤔🤔.”
The United States government has sanctioned China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and 11 affiliated research institutes for using ‘biotechnology’ that ‘controls the brain’s to support the armed forces.
The US Commerce Department, which blacklisted the Chinese institutes, did not go into detail about the weapons – but another separate cache of military documents from 2019 gives hints that China is focusing on ‘paralyzing and controlling the opponent’ by ‘attacking the enemy’s will to resist’, instead of destroying the enemy.
The 2019 documents obtained and translated by the Washington Times show that the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences and its affiliates are now on the ‘entity list’, meaning American firms cannot export or transfer goods to them without a licence.
One US official, speaking to the FT, said the technology that China is trying to develop includes ‘gene editing, human performance enhancement [and] brain machine interfaces.’
Gina Raimondo, the US commerce secretary, said there are concerns that China will use any of such weapons to maintain control over its own citizens – including ethnic minority Uighur Muslims.
‘Unfortunately, the People’s Republic of China is choosing to use these technologies to pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups,’ she said.
‘We cannot allow US commodities, technologies and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to US national security.’
The Commerce Department also blacklisted companies from China, as well as Georgia, Malaysia and Turkey, for allegedly diverting US items to the military of Iran, a US adversary.
The Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences was allegedly involved in the creation of the covid-19 vaccine according to the former Trump administration.
This year however , the academy has been active in development of a Covid-19 vaccine even though the United States has been increasingly alarmed by the connections between civilian and military research in China.
Former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated the holiday season by donating 25 tiny homes to veterans.
Fox11 reported that the 74-year-old actor paid $250,000 to purchase the structures, located in West Los Angeles.
Schwarzenegger had taken to social media to explain the project dear to his heart. He wrote;
“Today, I celebrated Christmas early. The 25 homes I donated for homeless veterans were installed here in LA. It was fantastic to spend some time with our heroes and welcome them into their new homes.
“I want to thank @villageforvets for arranging the homes and being a fantastic partner, @secvetaffairs, @amvetshq and everyone who worked with us and made this possible. We proved that when we all work together, we can solve any problem.”
Village for Vets also told The Post that there were “just under 4,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles at the last count in 2020.”
They said in a statement;
“The tiny shelter project to which Governor Schwarzenegger so generously donated is a partnership with the VA and is designed to be a transitional respite for homeless Veterans between living on the street and entering a higher level of care – ultimately permanent housing.”
Village for Vets said their programs “make an immediate impact on the lives of the Veterans we serve,” evident in an account from one of the vets, named Bruce Henry Cooper, who told the local station that the project has been a “life-saver” for him. “He has not forgotten us,” Cooper said of Schwarzenegger.
Police in Busia County, Kenya have arrested a 40-year-old man ferrying bundles of marijuana in a bag strapped around his body.
The man identified as Albert Wabwire was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, December 30, at the Sio area walking on from Busia to Matayos.
Police said that upon conducting a search, they found him with marijuana in the bag he was carrying while the other was strapped around his body in sacks and rubber bands.
The man is currently being held at Busia police station awaiting arraignment on Friday.
A woman named Eileen, 90, married her late husband’s best friend earlier this week and her story is going viral.
Eileen and Vince Triggs, who died at 96, were married for 71 years. They have four kids, four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Eileen and Vince
However, before Vince died, he told his wife that he wanted her to move on and be with someone who would love her as much as he did and he suggested his best friend Ron Fulton is the one person he knows who would.
Eileen and Vince’s son Mike Triggs narrated his late father’s dying wish this week after his mother’s wedding to his late father’s best friend.
Mike Triggs wrote a Facebook post on his dad’s final day, saying his dad “expressed his desire that mom not spend too much time grieving and it was his desire that at some point she might remarry and be able to share the rest of her life with someone who would care and love her as he did.”
Mike wrote that his mum called it “crazy talk.”
Mike also wrote that his father said: “While there would sure to be many, the only man that he knew that would treat her as he would want her to be treated was his best friend, Ron Fulton.”
The two men met in 2015 and became fast friends. Ron’s wife, Melba, was a friend of Eileen’s until she passed away in 2019.
After Vince’s death, Eileen and Ron spent time together. He helped her clean out Vince’s closet. They shared meals and watched football games. They went to concerts.
“One day Ron had asked if I would consider going to Arizona for a couple of months and I said no because I would not consider going with someone I was not married to,” Eileen told TODAY Parents. “The next day he came back and said, ‘would you consider going to Arizona if we got married?’ and I said yes.”
They wed on December 26.
The couple’s former spouses and friends were very much on everyone’s minds the day of the wedding, Mike Triggs told TODAY.
“Both are convinced that their spouses would approve and give their blessing because neither would want the other to be alone and would want them to be happy,” he said.
Mike Triggs said in many ways, it’s like a “Cinderella story.”
While his mum and Ron were cleaning out Vince’s closet, they came across a pair of custom-made boots.
Ron was going to try them on but Eileen told him they would never fit. His dad’s boots, Mike said, were a perfect fit. The same thing happened with a ring Eileen had planned to sell. It belonged to her deceased husband, but Ron tried it on and it fit just right.
Triggs said Ron will never take his dad’s place. But, he wrote in his Facebook post, “Obviously, this came as a shock to all of us. The timing seemed to be a bit soon but after thinking about it Mom is 90 and Ron is 87.
“Neither is getting any younger and it just makes sense that they are able to be happy, go places and do things as a couple while they are both in good health.
“And after all that is what Dad wanted. He didn’t have a stipulation that she wait two and half years, he just wanted his wife of 71 years to be loved and be happy.”
