US Official Claims Putin Seeking To Stay In Power For Life

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation via teleconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on May 11, 2020. – President Vladimir Putin on May 11, 2020 said Russia’s non-working period imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus will be lifted from May 12. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / AFP)

 

A top US official said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seeking to stay in power for life ahead of a controversial constitutional referendum.

Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun said both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping “seem intent on putting themselves into office for life, or at least until they otherwise choose on their own initiative to leave.”

“In the Russian system, which has at least the trappings of a democratic system, President Putin will go to a referendum in just a couple of days which many consider to have a foregone conclusion,” Biegun, whose academic background is in Russia, told a forum of the German Marshall Fund.

Biegun said the goal of the referendum for the 67-year-old Putin was “the extension of his rule for what effectively is his natural life.”

Russians have already started early voting in the July 1 referendum which could keep Putin in power until 2036.

Putin has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999. Opposition campaigners including Alexei Navalny have also said that Putin is seeking to be president for life.

The Kremlin reluctantly postponed the referendum from its original date of April 22 due to a spurt in cases of COVID-19.

Biegun’s remarks come amid fresh tension between the United States and Russia over reports that a Russian spy unit put bounties on Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill US troops.

President Donald Trump has said he was not briefed on the intelligence and has sought a warmer relationship with Putin.

[AFP]

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India Bans Almost 60 Chinese Apps, Including TikTok

The move is part of the tit-for-tat retaliation after the Indian and Chinese militaries clashed earlier this month.

 

Filming a TikTok video in Hyderabad, India, in February.Credit...Noah Seelam/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

By Maria Abi-Habib

 

India’s government banned nearly 60 Chinese mobile apps Monday, including TikTok, citing national security concerns, part of the larger tit-for-tat retaliation that is unfolding between the countries after their militaries clashed earlier this month.

The move comes after a deadly clash between the Chinese and Indian militaries along their shared, disputed border earlier this month. The fighting left 20 Indians dead and an unknown number of Chinese casualties.

While India has vowed to retaliate, it lags far behind China in military and economic power, leaving it with few options. But Chinese telecommunication and social networking companies have long eyed India’s giant market and its enormous potential. Only about 50 percent of India’s 1.3 billion citizens are online.

In addition to TikTok, the popular social networking platform, the banned apps include UC Browser, Shareit and Baidu Map.

 

The mobile apps on Android and iOS platforms were “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India,” India’s ministry of electronic and information technology said in a statement Monday.

“The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” the statement added.

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COVID-19 Origin: WHO To Send Team To China Next Week

 

File: A TV grab taken from a video released by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attending a virtual news briefing on COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) from the WHO headquarters in Geneva on April 6, 2020. AFP

 

The World Health Organization said Monday it was sending a team to China next week in connection with the search for the origin of the virus that sparked the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN health agency has been pressing China since early May to invite in its experts to help investigate the animal origins of the novel coronavirus.

“Knowing the source of the virus is very, very important,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing.

“We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started,” he said.

“We will be sending a team next week to China to prepare for that and we hope that that will lead into understanding how the virus started.”

He did not specify the make-up of the team, nor what specifically its mission would consist of.

Scientists believe the killer virus jumped from animals to humans, emerging in China late last year, possibly from a market in Wuhan selling exotic animals for meat.

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Iran Puts Out An Arrest Warrant For Donald Trump, Seeks Interpol’s Help

 

U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board in the East Room of the White House on June 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

 

Iran said Monday it has called for Interpol to help arrest President Donald Trump and 35 other US officials for the January killing of its top general in an American drone strike.

Tehran prosecutor Ali Qasi Mehr, quoted by state news agency IRNA, said 36 US political and military officials “involved in the assassination” of General Qasem Soleimani “have been investigated and were ordered to be arrested through Interpol”.

“These people have been charged with murder and terrorist acts,” he said.

“At the top of the list is US President Donald Trump, and his prosecution will continue even after the end of his term,” said the prosecutor, referring to his bid for re-election in November.

Qasi Mehr, quoted on the judiciary’s Mizan Online official website, said “the Iranian judiciary has issued arrest warrants against the 36”.

He called for the international police agency Interpol to issue red notices, which are not arrest warrants but issued for those wanted for prosecution or sentencing.

Interpol, however, told AFP that any such intervention would be contrary to its constitution, without directly confirming it had been contacted by Iran.

Under Article 3 of the constitution, “it is strictly forbidden for the Organisation to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”, said the agency based in the French city of Lyon.

“Interpol would not consider requests of this nature.”

Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike near Baghdad international airport.

Soleimani, a national hero at home, was “the world’s top terrorist” and “should have been terminated long ago”, Trump said at the time.

Brian Hook, the US pointman on Iran policy, scoffed at the Iranian request to Interpol as a “propaganda stunt”.

“Our assessment is that Interpol does not intervene and issue red notices that are based on a political nature,” he told a news conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“This has nothing to do with national security, international peace or promoting stability,” Hook said.

“We see it for what it is. It’s a propaganda stunt that no-one takes seriously and makes the Iranians look foolish.”

The killing of Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, provoked massive outpourings of grief at home.

Iran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq, but Trump opted against responding militarily.

While the attack on the western Iraqi base of Ain Al-Asad left no US soldiers dead, dozens suffered brain trauma.

 

AFP

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Dream or an Ambition ?

Everyone has an aim in life, Aim or Ambition is what we want to be in future and chose a career after studies. His aim in life was to become a doctor, the life of a doctor is a noble life. The doctor is a saver of life and they can help the peoples who need them when they feel sick.

As a young professional who has knowledge, what they are looking for- what he likes to call for an interstitial person. That is a person who can talk to a president because he wants to achieve his aim. To defend the sick, the vulnerable, etc. He is not out to get any personal vendetta for himself, but at the same time he is the person who says, here is what the poor are facing in life and these are what he can do to alleviate poor life.

He is a fresh doctor in town. He attended Frank Ogden School of Medicine, Hope Africa University, -Burundi. The man who had studied French for a year interval before he was given a chance to continue in his carrier studies. Just because he wanted to accomplish his ambition. Notwithstanding, the nativity of the said country made it more difficult for him in his practical field as he was forced to learn their local language as well or else nothing important, he would achieve. He underwent all these because of his aim.

He is now a general practitioner fallen into the most difficult year of medical practice due to Coronavirus (COVID-19). He started the medical college with difficulties and finish it in the most complex year of his life. How does COVID-19 affect his life, carrier and the next future?

As a young ambitious man, he is eager to do everything to protect himself, the public and the environment. As we all know how deadly is COVID-19, the young doctor withstands the pressure from his friends and family not to attend to any public area, like attending to clinical activities during this pandemic period. But he resisted every pressure demanded him to stay at home and be safe. He got enrolled into Van Norman Clinic in the month of march 2020, where he volunteered as a general practitioner, working both in Maternity and Pediatrics wards helping in-patients, women in labor and particularly those who needed operations (Cesareans).

As a young ambitious general practitioner, he is here again with a new dream. The dream of opening a Pharmacy, thereby creating the availability of pharmaceutic products within the reach of the population. He took it to his Instagram page in a video, clamoring for a financial aid to achieve his new dream. You find it needful to support him, kindly go through the video.

View this post on Instagram

This’ always my aim since 2019 until thisday @octafx_official #octafxgoalbooster

A post shared by man (@peace_man4real) on Jun 28, 2020 at 9:45am PDT

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US Election: Obama Helps In Raising $11m For Biden Campaign

File: This screen grab from a video released courtesy of The Obama Foundation shows MBK (My Brother’s Keeper) Alliance Virtual Town Hall with President Obama on “Reimagining Policing in the Wake of Continued Police Violence” live streamed on June 3, 2020. THE OBAMA FOUNDATION / AFP

 

 

Barack Obama helped raise $11 million for White House hopeful Joe Biden during a Tuesday virtual fundraiser where the former president said a “great awakening” among Americans could help defeat Donald Trump in November’s election.

The two-term Democrat proved a major draw, bringing in a substantial audience and raising over $11 million in total, making it the most successful finance event of the entire campaign, according to Biden press secretary TJ Ducklo.

Some $7.6 million of that came from 175,000 grassroots donors “who continue to power this campaign every single day,” Ducklo tweeted.

Obama’s split-screen appearance with the Democratic presidential candidate was his first with Biden since he endorsed his former vice president in mid-April.

“I am here to say the help is on the way if we do the work, because there’s nobody I trust more to be able to heal this country and get back on track than my dear friend Joe Biden,” said Obama.

“What makes me optimistic is the fact that there is a great awakening going on around the country, particularly among younger people” who are “fed up with the shambolic, disorganized, mean-spirited approach to governance that we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” he added.

Biden said he agreed with Obama’s remarks on political change. He also suggested world leaders have grown weary of Trump, saying “they’re desperately, desperately waiting for American leadership.”

Biden has held no in-person campaign rallies since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He has largely remained in his Delaware home, using social media, television interviews or advertisements to attack Trump for what he says is an inadequate, failed effort to contain the virus’s spread or improve economic conditions for millions of suffering Americans.

Trump, meanwhile, has disregarded his own government’s guidelines and held several in-person events, including a weekend rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The president followed up with a Tuesday rally in Phoenix. Both locations are experiencing spikes in new coronavirus cases, but most attendees did not wear masks.

Biden’s online event confirmed the continued popularity of the nation’s first black president, and the campaign said it “highlights the power of the grassroots movement” as it launches a more intense spirit of campaigning.

Obama spoke of the urgency of advocating for broader systemic change during a period of heightened tensions over racial injustice and police brutality.

“Whatever you have done so far isn’t enough,” Obama told listeners, urging them to use the momentum of recent coast-to-coast street protests as a catalyst for political change.

“We have this unique chance to translate a growing awareness of injustice in society into actual legislation and institutional change,” Obama said.

In May, Biden and the Democratic Party raised nearly $81 million, 10 percent more than Trump, although the president has more overall campaign cash.

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VIDEO: A Nigerian Military Officer Openly Challenged The Army Chief On The Daily Killings By Terrorists In Nigeria

A courageous Nigerian Military Officer brought it to video speaking blatantly against the ongoing violences and killings carried out on daily attacks by the Islamic terrorists (Boko Haram), the bandits, Fulani terrorists referred to as herdsmen governed by Myetti Allah.

These killings have been ongoing for several years now in Northern Nigerian. Many homes are destroyed, many residents dispersed yet the government of Nigeria is saying less or nothing about it.

Question: Does it means that the Nigerian government is in support of banditism? 

This courageous soldier has opened up in a video challenging the present Nigerian Army Chiefs of their incapacity to target the killings going on in northern Nigeria.

Currently some bases of southeast Nigeria are repeatedly attacked by the Fulani herdsmen and they are always defended by the Miyetti Allah.

Miyetti Allah “Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria” sometimes called MACBAN is a loose partisan advocacy group centered on promoting the welfare of Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria. The organization was founded in the early 1970s with headquarters in Kaduna.

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Former South Africa President, Zuma risks arrest over corruption charges

Jacob Zuma failed to appear in the Pietermaritzburg high court on Tuesday for his corruption trial, citing a medical condition. His lawyer submitted a sick note but the judge said it had inconsistencies. File photo. Image: ESA ALEXANDER

 

South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, alongside French arms company, Thales, are to face corruption charges in court.

A judge had in February issued a stayed warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear.

 

Zuma had cited illness but the court rejected his “sick note” presented by his lawyer.

The judge told him to provide adequate proof at his next appearance.

Dpa reports that the trial was postponed to May 6 but did not hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Zuma may be taken into custody if he does not appear in court or fails to provide an adequate reason.

The charges are on alleged kickbacks in a multibillion-dollar arms deal in 1999.

The deal, with co-accused, Thales, was overseen by Zuma when he was vice president.

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A Man Stabbed Wife To Death, After Took His Own Life

By Our Correspondents

A Nigerian man simply identified as Femi, stabbed his wife to death, and thereafter committed suicide in their home in Victory Park estate in Lagos state on Sunday, June 21.

According to residents of the estate, the couple moved into the estate three weeks ago with their two young children. Not much was known about the couple but just a day before the murder-suicide, they were spotted jogging together on Saturday night June 20.

However, on Sunday, the man who is said to have always questioned the paternity of their second child, stabbed his wife to death, and then took his own life.

A neighbor who spoke on condition of anonymity to LIB, said

On Sunday afternoon, neighbors close to the couple's apartment heard loud music emanating from their home and this lasted for many hours.

The neighbors went to the estate office to complain about the loud music and insisted the estate officials go there and caution the couple.

The estate authorities went to the couple's compound to appeal to them to turn down the volume of the music coming from their apartment.

Whole story at:

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WHO calls for more production of Dexamethasone as new COVID-19 drug

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday called for an increase in production of dexamethasone.

Dexamethasone is a cheap steroid, which has been shown to reduce deaths in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

 

WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a virtual news conference that demand had already increased, after a British trial of the drug became public.

About 2,000 patients were administered the drug by Oxford University researchers and it reduced deaths by 35 percent among the most sickly.

“Although the data are still preliminary, the recent finding that the steroid dexamethasone has life-saving potential for critically ill COVID-19 patients gave us a much-needed reason to celebrate,” Tedros said.

 

“The next challenge is to increase production and rapidly and equitably distribute dexamethasone worldwide, focusing on where it is needed most,” he added.

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Magufuli To Be Challenged By The Ex-Tanzania Minister For Ruling Party Ticket

 

A former Tanzanian foreign minister is set to challenge president John Magufuli, for the ruling party’s nomination for presidential candidate ahead of keenly awaited polls.

 

Bernard Membe has asked the Central Committee of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi, CCM, party to allow him challenge the incumbent for the party’s candidature. The CCM party has governed the country for more than four decades since independence.

His announcement comes after the ruling party in February announced he had been expelled, a move Membe has rejected, saying the party’s National Executive Committee is yet to communicate that to him. 

Since taking over the reins in 2015, president John Magufuli has boosted government revenue, reformed the mining industry and increased spending on roads, railways and power projects. 

But opposition parties have accused him of cracking down on dissent and muzzling the media, allegations he denies. Magufuli last week picked up nomination forms to contest as a presidential candidate for the ruling party. 

 

[AfricaNews]

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Ghana apologises to Nigeria over attack on high commission’s building

 

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has apologised to the Nigerian government over an attack on the Nigerian High Commission’s building in Accra.

Some armed men reportedly invaded the building in the Ghanaian capital, on Friday night, destroying some apartments under construction.

Ghanaian media reported that a businessman had earlier accused the high commission of encroaching on his land.

This paper said the demolished building was recently acquired by the Nigerian embassy.

Angered by the incident, some Nigerians in the country protested the destruction, calling on the Ghanaian authorities to act.

HOPE FOR AFRICA obtained videos of the protesters lamenting how the armed men broke into the building and destroyed it.

However, In a press statement, Ghana’s foreign affairs ministry said it views the act as a breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations – an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between countries.

It expressed regrets over the demolition, saying; “Investigations are ongoing to unravel the facts of the matter and bring perpetrators to book. Meanwhile, the Government of Ghana has beefed up security at the said facility and the situation is under control.”

“While expressing regrets over the incident, the Ministry wishes to reassure the diplomatic community in Ghana and the Nigerian High Commission in particular that Ghana remains a law abiding country that upholds the principle of the rule of law.”

It should be noted that the Nigerian government had vowed to investigate the demolition.

Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, in a tweet on Sunday condemned the development, describing it as ‘criminal and Outrageous’.

“We are engaging the Ghanaian Government and demand urgent action to find the perpetrators and provide adequate protection for Nigerians and their property in Ghana.”

In a separate tweet, the Director-General of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, assured that the agency will reach out to its citizens in Ghana.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs @GeoffreyOnyeama will update appropriately . @nidcom_gov is in touch with Nigerians in Ghana,” she wrote, replying a social media user who urged that the lives of Nigerians in the country should be secured.

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You are doing stupidity if you spend money on your girlfriend — Reno Omokri

NIgerian Author and lawyer, Reno Omokri has taken to micro-blogging site, twitter to kick against guys who spend money on their girlfriends.

According to the former presidential aide, the act of spending or sponsoring your girlfriend’s lifestyle is stupid. He also stated that if a guy wants to express love to his girlfriend, he should write her a letter.

 

His tweet reads ;

 

Don’t think you are doing charity by sponsoring your girlfriend’s lifestyle. Actually, you are doing stupidity. God blesses you for blessing your mother, wife and sister. It is satan that ‘blesses’ foolish men who waste their money on loose women!

* To express love to girlfriend, writer her a letter
* To express love to wife, writer her a fat check
* To express love to mother, writer her a fatter check

ONLY your wife, mother, daughter & unmarried sister are entitled to your money

Dear men,

* To express love to girlfriend, writer her a letter
* To express love to wife, writer her a fat check
* To express love to mother, writer her a fatter check

ONLY your wife, mother, daughter & unmarried sister are entitled to your money#FreeLeahSharibu #RenosNuggets

— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 17, 2020

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VIDEO: Nigerian Government Condemns Attacks On Embassy In Ghana

 

The Federal Government of Nigeria has strongly condemned what it terms ‘attacks’ on a residential building within its diplomatic premises in Ghana.

Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, disclosed the Federal Government’s displeasure in a series of tweets posted on his timeline on Sunday.

Onyeama’s tweets come on the heels of several reports that buildings at the diplomatic premises were brought down by a bulldozer late Friday, June 19, following claims by a businessman who said he owned the piece of land where the Nigerian High Commission’s staff quarters was erected.

It took a timely intervention by the Ghanaian police to stop more buildings from being destroyed.

In reaction, Mr Oyeama condemned the attack and urged the Ghanaian government to take precise actions against the perpetrators of the attacks.

Onyeama tweeted, “We strongly condemn two outrageous criminal attacks in Accra, #Ghana, on a residential building in our diplomatic premises by unknown persons in which a bulldozer was used to demolish the building.

“We are engaging the Ghanaian Government and demand urgent action to find the perpetrators and provide adequate protection for Nigerians and their property in Ghana. #StayHomeSaveLives #COVID19 @NigeriaGov @DigiCommsNG @GhanaMFA” 

We strongly condemn two outrageous criminal attacks in Accra, #Ghana, on a residential building in our diplomatic premises by unknown persons in which a bulldozer was used to demolish the building.

— Geoffrey Onyeama (@GeoffreyOnyeama) June 21, 2020

We are engaging the Ghanaian Government and demand urgent action to find the perpetrators and provide adequate protection for Nigerians and their property in Ghana. #StayHomeSaveLives #COVID19 @NigeriaGov @DigiCommsNG @GhanaMFA

— Geoffrey Onyeama (@GeoffreyOnyeama) June 21, 2020

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