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WORLD NEWS 26-08-2021

12 months ago Editor

HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS

EX-PRESIDENTIAL AIDE BERATES PRESIDENCY ATTACK ON GOVERNOR ORTOM.
3 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES CALL FOR RESIDENTS EVACUATION AT KABUL AIRPORT.
FLOOD KILLS 20 IN VENEZUELA.
ON SPORT, TIJANI SECURES NIGERIA’S FIRST GOLD AT TOKYO PARALYMPICS.

OMOKRI/PRESIDENCY

The former aide to ex-president goodluck jonathan, reno omokri has slammed the presidency for attacking benue state governor, samuel ortom over his criticism bothering on cattle ranching.

The presidency had in a statement issued on august 25 by the senior special assistant to president buhari on media and publicity, garba shehu accused governor ortom of inciting ethnic hatred in the country, saying he had changed political parties five times, therefore he has no right to criticize the president.

However, reacting on his verified facebook page, omokri said president buhari had also changed parties almost as much as governor ortom, stating that he should not be the one to criticise the governor.

YOBE/BOKO HARAM

Yobe state governor, mai mala buni has described as a positive development the recent massive repentance of boko haram insurgents.

Buni, in a statement by his spokesman, mamman mohammed said the massive repentance of boko haram members in recent times should be seen as a positive development.

While calling on the people of the state to continue praying for the state and the country at large, governor buni expressed hope that with the development and prayers, there would be end to insurgency soon.

Report says buni is the latest prominent personality in nigeria who expressed optimism on boko haram repentance which has continued to generate mixed reactions among nigerians as some nigerians are
of the view that the repentant insurgents should be prosecuted for war crimes against nigeria while many others are holding different opinions about the development.

However, it would be recalled that the minister of information and culture, lai mohammed, in a recent interview with newsmen said calls for the prosecution and killing of the repentant fighters rather than granting them amnesty were against global best practices.

SOUTH AFRICA/WORKERS

Workers of South Africa’s ruling party across the country are due to begin a strike today, august 26.

The africa national congress, in a statement issued to journalists said they had received a notice from their staff that they would go on strike for grievances including late payments of salaries.

The congress added that all its offices would be shut but would continue to engage with the staff over the matter.

US/AFGHAN

The united states, australia and the united kingdom have urged people to move away from the international airport in kabul due to the threat of an attack by an islamic state of iraq and the levant, offshoot in afghanistan.

The charge came as western troops hurried to evacuate as many of their citizens and vulnerable afghans before a withdrawal deadline on august 31.

The us embassy in kabul had on august 25 issued an alert advising us citizens to avoid travelling to the airport, adding that those already at the gates should leave immediately as it cited unspecified security threats while british foreign office issued a similar advisory, telling people in the area to move away to a safe location.

According to the us military, planes are now taking off the equivalent of every 39 minutes as it was said that the us and foreign forces only have until august 31 to withdraw and find means to end evacuation flights.

Meanwhile, australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade had also urged australians and afghans with a visa for australia to leave the airport.

N’KOREA/ECONOMY

North korea’s supreme people’s assembly, spa the isolated state’s rubber-stamp parliament will meet next month to discuss economic policy and other issues as the country faces mounting economic crises.

Spa’s standing committee made this known, saying the decision to convene the parliament came at a plenary meeting held on august 24.

The committee said the agenda for the september 28 meeting to be discussed are modification and supplementation of the national economic plan as well laws related to city and country development.

Meanwhile, the north korean parliament rarely meets and usually serves to approve decisions on issues such as governing structures and budgets that have been created by the state’s powerful workers’ party, members of which form the vast majority of the assembly.

Report says the upcoming meeting in late september will be the second such event of the year after a session was held in january.

JAPAN/VACCINE

Japan has suspended the use of about 1.63 million doses of the moderna vaccine due to contamination.

The country’s health ministry made this known in a statement released to newsmen, saying foreign materials were found in some doses of a batch of roughly 560,000 vials.

The ministry therefore revealed that it had published the batch numbers of the affected doses so that people who had received their shot before the suspension could check if they had gotten a potentially contaminated shot.

Reacting, takeda pharmaceutical, which sells and distributes moderna vaccine in japan said it had put three batches of the vaccine on hold, saying an issue at a manufacturing contract site in spain was likely the cause but did not elaborate.

It would be noted that japan who is battling a spike in covid cases, with eight more province placed under a state of emergency had already approved the pfizer and astrazeneca vaccines for use but started using moderna in may.

VENEZUELA/FLOODS

Not fewer than 20 people have been confirmed dead in the western venezuelan state of merida following intense rains that caused mudslides and rivers to overflow.

A ruling socialist party official in merida made the confirmation in an interview with newsmen, saying the death toll had risen and authorities were working to restore telephone service in some areas as floodwaters had damages transformers, roads and bridges.

Also confirming the incident, state governor, ramon guevara had earlier revealed that more than 1,200 houses had been destroyed and 17 people remained missing as rescue workers search the wreckage caused by flood.

Reacting, venezuela interior minister, remigio ceballos said over 54 thousand people in 87 municipalities had been affected in addition to damaged roads and bridges but noted that so far 80 firefighters and 60 civil protection officials from merida have been deployed for emergency operations in addition to members of the armed forces stationed in the area.

SPORT

Nigeria has won its first gold medal at the ongoing tokyo paralympic games.

Latifat tijani who defeated china’s zhe cui to lift 107kg won the country’s first gold earlier today in women’s 45kg powerlifting.

It was revealed that tijani who was gold medalist at the brazzaville 2015 africa games and silver medalist at the rio 2016 paralympics will also be in the women’s 45kg straight gold medal contest today.

On his part, team nigeria’s yakubu adesokan missed out on a podium placement in men’s 49kg powerlifting, finishing fourth with his best lift of 155kg.

Adesokan had attempted 161kg on his last attempt to snatch bronze from azerbaijan’s parvin mammadov who lifted 156kg, but failed to lift it.

Report says adesokan was a london 2012 paralympic and 2014 world para powerlifting championships gold medalist.