UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced the commencement of the 2021 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC) in Nigeria with a call for entries. The National Essay Competition (NEC) is part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative which is aimed at promoting literacy […]
Continue Reading
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says African countries may miss the goal of vaccinating 10 percent of their most vulnerable populations against COVID, before the end of September. WHO Africa, in a statement on Thursday, said new data shows that 42 out of Africa’s 54 nations may miss the target with the current pace of delivery and […]
Continue Reading
The U.S. government has confirmed that 13 of its military personnel were killed in the bomb explosions at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. Apart from the U.S. soldiers, about 77 people were killed in the explosion, AlJazeera reports. More than 150 wounded persons are being treated at the emergency hospital in Kabul and other locations. […]
Continue Reading
Afghanistan president, Ashraf Ghani, has resurfaced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he has been received on “humanitarian grounds”. Recall that Ghani had fled Kabul, the country’s capital, last Sunday after Taliban fighters surrounded the city. In a Facebook post after his departure, Ghani said he believed “countless patriots would be martyred and the city […]
Continue Reading
Imagine if your mobile phone could be used to spy on you, listen to your conversations and send information and images from your device to a third party? This is not an imagined, dystopian future, it is the story of the Pegasus spyware put on mobile devices by clients of Israeli spyware software firm NSO. […]
Continue Reading
The President of the United States, Joe Biden says he stands by his decision to withdraw his country’s troops from Afghanistan, in spite of the current developments. Afghanistan has witnessed a gradual takeover of various provincial cities — including Kabul, the country’s capital — by Taliban fighters over the recent weeks, following the withdrawal of […]
Continue ReadingMembers of staff of the state house have taken an oath of secrecy and were warned against divulging classified information. Tijani Umar, permanent secretary, state house, sounded the warning on Tuesday in Abuja. The oath was administered by Hamza Muazu, a judge of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court. The permanent secretary said the breach of […]
Continue Reading
Commonwealth countries are estimated to have lost up to US$345 billion worth of trade in 2020, including $60 billion in intra-Commonwealth trade, according to 2021 Commonwealth Trade Review on “Energising Commonwealth Trade in a Digital World: Paths to Recovery Post-COVID”. Released today, the Commonwealth Trade Review provides a timely and comprehensive analysis of the impact of […]
Continue Reading
The dramatic plunge in global tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic is having far-reaching and devastating effects, particularly for Small States. Yesterday, during a Commonwealth Tourism Seminar, the Commonwealth Secretariat proposed the development of a global ‘Tourism Action Plan’ to help spur a much-needed recovery. Tourism is the economic lifeblood for many Commonwealth Small States, in […]
Continue ReadingA former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for the murder of George Floyd. Delivering judgement on Friday, Peter Cahill, the presiding judge, said the sentence was not based on public opinion. “The sentence is not based on his emotion or sympathy, but at the […]
Continue Reading