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Two French soldiers have died after their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in northeastern Mali, just days after three others were killed in similar fashion.
Announcement of the death of former President Rawlings pic.twitter.com/7ext0fp4sd
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) November 12, 2020
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Malian Prime Minister Boubou Cisse has been reappointed to lead government business despite tendering his resignation letter to the president.
Government sources indicate that Cisse will be part of the forthcoming coalition government.
“All my gratitude to the President of the Republic, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, for the renewed confidence through my reappointment this June 11, 2020 in my functions as Prime Minister.
“I reiterate my commitment and that of the future government to listen to the people, whose patriotism and resilience I once again salute,” he said in a social media post on Friday, June 12.
A week ago, Thousands of people had taken to the streets of Mali’s capital demanding the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita whom they consider responsible for the ongoing unrest and dilapidated security in Mali.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Takes Immediate Action Upon Receiving Use of Force Advisory Council’s 14-day Recommendations
Atlanta — Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms received the Use of Force Advisory Council’s 14-day recommendations as mandated in Administrative Order 2020-18.
“In just 14 days, the Use of Force Advisory Council has developed meaningful recommendations to begin the process of revising Atlanta’s Use of Force polices to rebuild trust in our communities,” said Mayor Bottoms.
Upon receiving the Advisory Council’s recommendations, Mayor Bottoms immediately acted upon three of the 10 recommendations by issuing three Administrative Orders and a letter to the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB).
The recommendations that have been adopted and acted upon by the Administration are:
Commit to identifying policies to improve officer compliance and public transparency of captured body worn camera footage,
Create a centralized repository for witness footage of use of force by officers, and
Extend powers and community awareness of Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB).
The Council’s 10 early actions are outlined below:
Commit to revising the Use of Force continuum in Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to increase specificity and align with best practices;
Ensure that changes taken under the Mayor’s Administrative Orders 2020-18 align with best practice policy changes from other cities and continue measures for accountability;
Commit to identifying policies to improve officer compliance and public transparency of captured body worn camera footage;
Create a centralized repository for witness footage of use of force by officers;
Mandate immediate drug testing for officers when a use of force incident resulting in serious injury or death occurs;
Commit to re-evaluating and revising mission, vision, core values, and oath
of the Atlanta Police Department;
Conduct additional screenings – including mental health and implicit bias assessments – for all applicants during the recruiting process, and on an ongoing basis for all officers;
Require more exhaustive background checks with attention to record of complaints from other agencies, previous applications to police departments, and social media sentiment;
Extend powers and community awareness of Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB); and
Begin to evaluate policies, procedures, and partner organizations for least harm approach to reduce the likelihood of use of force long-term, including use of non-law enforcement officials for community crisis response and expansion of the pre-arrest diversion program.
The charismatic Ann Wolfe was a force of nature in professional boxing as she devastated the women’s rankings in multiple weight divisions.
Ann “Brown Sugar” Wolfe had a very brief amateur career as she fought under Billingsley and went 3-1, her sole loss being via disqualification.
Along the way she picked up the World Super Middleweight and World Super Welterweight titles of the International Female Boxing Association.
In addition to these titles, Ann Wolfe was also the Women’s International Boxing Association World Super Welterweight and World Light Heavyweight champion.
This path of dominance in women’s boxing established Ann Wolfe as one of the sport’s most powerful punchers and most powerful female boxer of all time.
November 19, 1919 marks the date that 35-year old James Wormley Jones–known as Jack Jones–began his federal agent service.
Prior to entering federal government work, Jack Jones attended college at both Norfolk Mission College and Virginia Union University before joining the Washington Metro Police in 1905.
Jones would make his way through the department’s ranks before becoming a detective just before World War I.
James Wormley Jones began his military training in 1917.
Upon completion, he was made a captain and put in charge of the 368th Infantry’s Company F. Months later Jones and company were sent to serve in France where he led his men in trench warfare.
When the war ended, James Wormley Jones returned home to Washington D.C to continuing being a detective.
Ben Stokes' father Ged Stokes, a New Zealand rugby league international, has died after a battle with brain cancer.
The electoral commission last week told the nation to prepare for an unusual election where campaigning will be done digitally, as the destabilizing effects of the coronavirus continue.
Justifying scientific elections
\tUganda which currently has over 700 confirmed cases of the coronavirus has been slowly easing restrictions and emphasizing measures of social distancing for all activities in the country.
The commission says it is bound by Article 61 (2) of Uganda’s constitution which tasks it to organize elections within 120 days before the expiry of the term of president, parliament or local government.
In conducting a scientific election, the commission hopes to exercise its duty to facilitate Ugandans’ right to choose their leaders in a healthy and safe environment.
The opposition politicians accuse the electoral commission of not consulting them as it drafted the revised election roadmap.
The Philadelphia Orchestra announced Nicole Jordan will be its principal librarian, making her the first Black woman to hold a full-time position with the organization since it was founded 120 years ago.
“Nicole will be an invaluable partner to me and my colleagues on the stage, and those in the administration, as we look to the future of the Philadelphia Orchestra,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the orchestra’s music director, said in a statement.
Matías Tarnopolsky, President and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra, told 6ABC he believes Jordan’s hiring will help the organization “become more and more representative of the communities that we serve.”
Jordan, a Philadelphia native, studied viola performance at University of Minnesota-Duluth before she pursued a master’s degree in music history at Temple University, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Marilyn Rife, director of orchestra personnel, oversaw Jordan’s audition process and highlighted several qualities that factored into the hiring decision.
Limpopo's Provincial Coronavirus Command Council (PCCC) has accused some teachers of submitting fake doctor's certificates, on their vulnerability to Covid-19 because of comorbidities, to avoid returning to work on 6 July.
In a statement released after its meeting on Sunday, the council said education authorities had received more than 700 applications from teachers to be exempt from attending school due to comorbidities, but only 400 had been granted.
'Concerned all schools will not be ready'
All teachers and pupils are expected to return to school on 6 July, as positive cases of Covid-19 stand at 14 in schools in the province.
To meet the challenge, a rotational model of teaching in about 80% of schools would be adopted, meaning that some pupils may attend classes on specific days of the week.
ALSO READ | More than 700 school staff, 88 pupils tested positive for Covid-19 in Western Cape to date - MEC
Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Education was also briefed about schools reopening last week.
By Associated Press Undefined PARIS (AP) — Thousands of people around France protested a proposed bill that could make it more difficult for witnesses to film police officers, with tensions quickly rising at the Paris march Saturday as intruders set fire to several cars, pillaged a bank and tossed objects at police. The protest-crashers, who disrupted a similar demonstration a week ago, formed a barricade on a section of the march route in eastern Paris, temporarily blocking the march. Dressed in black and known as 'black blocs,' the aggressive interlopers are a feared element at French demonstrations. Police officers who […]
The post Intruders crash Paris protest of law on use of police images appeared first on Black News Channel.
President f Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré has condemned the
suspicious death of 12 people in police custody in east of the country mid-May.
As investigations into the suspicious death of the 12 in a Tanwalbougou police station continues, the Burkina president said the incident was ‘‘unacceptable’‘.
President Kaboré urged people to avoid stigmatization.
Burkina Faso’s security forces and self-defence groups, have in the last 3 years been regularly accused of blunders or abuses, particularly against Fulani populations.
Some Fulanis have joined jihadist groups that have killed nearly 900 people since 2015 in Burkina Faso.
June is African American Music Appreciation Month and the 2020 recognition jumped off with music expressing mixed emotions of sadness, anger and melancholy in many folks.
In musing over changes in society, music often becomes the playlist of life experiences.
Music has positive effects on reducing stress and anxiety, lowering blood pressure, aiding in pain management and encouraging rhythmic movement.
In addition to music’s positive impact on well-being, music enjoyment elicits dopamine release.
One study found that people who participated in making music by playing percussion instruments or singing have their immune system boosted more than if they passively listened to music.
The Water Replenishment District (WRD) has received a $844,240 grant from the California State Water Resources Control Board to remove inactive water wells from production.
By properly destroying inactive water supply wells that have the potential to spread contamination to deeper aquifers in the Central Basin and West Coast Basin; WRD will help ensure the protection of those aquifers, which is one of the district’s key missions.
“For over 60 years, The Water Replenishment District has been responsible for managing two of the most utilized groundwater basins in the country,” said Director Vera Robles DeWitt, President of the WRD Board of Directors.
Groundwater provides 50% of the water used in Southern Los Angeles County and WRD is the only dedicated groundwater replenishment district in California.
“Through partnerships with regulatory agencies like the State Water Resources Control Board, WRD can continue working on water projects that protect our groundwater aquifers and increase our resiliency.”
Now, many Americans are experiencing, for the first time, a reality that Black people in this country have been living with since 1619: white supremacist terrorism supported by technology.
While many are appropriately focused on the intense and indiscriminate state violence and abuse currently being meted out by police and military, we cannot forget about the technology and systems that support these practices.
In fact, assessing the bluetooth-powered contact tracing technology deployed by the Indian government, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) warned that the app is a “privacy minefield” that could become a permanent surveillance tool even after the pandemic recedes.
While white supremacist violence powered by technology may be troubling for many Americans, it will disproportionately be aimed at and affect Black people.
In America, technology has always been deployed to subject Black people to intense surveillance and violence from the state as well as broader society.
In Jan. 2007, the U.S. launched airstrikes on the retreating Islamists, who they believed included three members of al-Qaeda suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The air strikes were strongly criticized in a number of Muslim countries, which accused the Americans of killing Somali civilians. Battles between the insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian troops intensified in March, leaving 300 civilians dead in what has been called the worst fighting in 15 years. The fighting created a humanitarian crisis, with more than 320,000 Somalis fleeing the fighting in Mogadishu in just two months. In July, a national reconciliation conference opened in Mogadishu but was quickly postponed when leading opposition figures failed to appear. The fighting intensified once again in October. The Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, a coalition of moderate Islamist leaders, and the transitional government agreed to a cease-fire in June 2008 that called on Ethiopian troops that were propping up the fragile government to be replaced by UN troops. The future of the deal was tenuous from the start and was greeted by much skepticism. Indeed, it was unclear if the UN could assemble a force willing to be deployed to the troubled region, and several powerful Islamist groups did not participate in the negotiations.
Al-Shabab, the militant wing of SICC, began gaining strength in 2007. It allied itself with al-Qaeda and won the support of many local warlords, primarily in the south. The group has raised alarms in the U.S. that its brand of militant Islam would spread throughout eastern Africa and beyond. The group seeks to return Somalia to an Islamist state and has intimidated civilians with stonings, by chopping off hands, and by banning many forms of technology, while continuing to wage war against the transitional government. Al-Shabab has taken advantage of the power vacuum and weak transitional government. By February 2009, the group controlled almost all of southern
Read more – Bikes, balls, boots with Nkurunziza: Burundi’s sportsman president
\tBunyoni becomes the first person to be named premier in 22 years.
The post has been restored by President Ndayishimiye, who was sworn into office last week.
Prosper Bazombanza was also approved by the national assembly as Vice president.
Pascal Nyabenda, President of the National Assembly announced the election of the VP: “In the name of the National Assembly of the Republic of Burundi, we approve the election of Prosper Bazombanza as Vice-President of the Republic of Burundi.”
These appointments are the first key moves by president Ndayishimiye, whose investiture was moved forward from August to last week following the sudden death of president Pierre Nkurunziza on June 8.
By The Associated Press
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said June 27 that it will remove words like “whitening” from its skin care products, a move that comes amid global protests against racism sparked by the death of George Floyd in the United States.
The company said in a statement June 27 that it “has decided to remove the words white/whitening, fair/fairness, light/lightening from all its skin evening products.”
L’Oreal’s decision follows a similar move by Anglo-Dutch firm Unilever on June 25.
The post drew a negative reaction from people who see the company’s business model and advertising as focused on White consumers.
Bergdorf was sacked as L’Oreal UK’s first openly transgender model in 2017 for decrying “the racial violence of White people.”
JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian authorities said Tuesday they 'no longer hope to find survivors' of a landslide that swept away homes in a residential area almost a week ago, killing seven people. Three people are still missing from the Dec. 30 disaster that destroyed at least nine buildings with more than 30 apartments in the village of Ask, located 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of Oslo. The landslide was among the worst in modern Norwegian history. 'It is with great sadness that I must say that we no longer have any hope of finding […]
The post Norway: 'No longer hope' of finding landslide survivors appeared first on Black News Channel.
[East African] Somalia's army remains \"incapable\" of ousting Al-Shabaab from its strongholds, enabling the insurgents to exercise continued control over large parts of the country, the US State Department said on Wednesday.
The United Nations expressed its horror Thursday after discovering mass graves in Libya in an area that fell last week to forces of Fayez el Sarraj, who have been at war for more than a year against forces of Khalifa Haftar.
According to the UN support mission, at least 8 mass graves have been discovered in Tarhouna, 65 km south-east of Tripoli.
We call on the members to quickly begin work to secure the mass graves, identify the victims, establish the causes of death and return the bodies to their relatives.
“The mission to Libya welcomes the decision of the Minister of Justice to establish a committee to investigate these mass graves and we call on the members to quickly begin work to secure the mass graves, identify the victims, establish the causes of death and return the bodies to their relatives”, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General said.
In addition, 160 bodies were discovered at the morgue of the Tarhouna hospital by forces of the Government of National Unity.
The hunt continues
The hunt is continuing in the Sahel for the killers of eight people in Niger on Sunday.
The killers were believed to be armed motorcyclists who came through the bush on motorbikes, to arrive at the vicinity of the town of Koure. The eight victims consisted of six French nationals, and a Nigerian guide and driver. They were a team from the French humanitarian aid organisation ACTED.
The killings, an hour from the capital Niamey in a nature reserve considered relatively safe, shocked many; foreign nationals and members of aid organisations have previously not been considered in danger in such areas.
Troops in Niger backed by French air support are searching for the killers of the eight strong team.
Operation Barkhane
French soldiers have been engaged in Operation Barkhane , an ongoing anti-insurgent mission targeting Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region, since 2014. It's previously concentrated on the tri-border region between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso with the backing of the G5 Sahel member nations after the group's formation a few months earlier.
G5 Sahel
The G5 Sahel was formed to closely link economic development and a united front of security against jidahist organisations between the members: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The United Nations Security Council has also approved G5 Sahel counterterrorism operations.
Jihadists change approach?
The killings in Kouré have suggested to some analysts that jihadist groups are moving to different areas to avoid direct confrontation with the military forces of Operation Barkhane, despite the cooperative framework provided by G5 Sahel.
In Niger, as elsewhere in the Sahel, these groups thrive on a perception of the abandonment of rural populations and pre-existing conflicts between communities.
Although they have in the past been able to collaborate episodically on targeted attacks, the various jihadist groups in the Sahel have been fighting each other since early 2020.
In a recent report , the think-thank International Crisis Group explained that the conflict in the Tillabéri area is \"fundamentally motivated by inter and intra-community competition over rights and resources, a conflict that the Islamic state has been able to exploit to its advantage\".
Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail, President of Saint Augustine University in Raleigh, North Carolina has died due to the COVID-19 virus.
June 13: Mauritius lifts lockdown, beaches to reopen
\tMauritius has been cited as an example in the fight against the COVID-19.
VIDEO
May 30: Mauritius ends lockdown
\tMauritius’ lockdown will be lifted midnight Saturday, May 30 per Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth’s announcement on Friday.
Confirmed cases = 335
Number of deaths = 10
Recoveries = 322
Active cases = 3
\tAll stats valid as at May 30, 2020 07:00 GMT
May 12: Mauritius virus-free after total recoveries
\tMauritius declared total recoveries from coronavirus infections as of May 11, 2020.
May 4: No new case in 8 days amid lockdown extension
\tMauritius recorded no new COVID-19 cases for the past eight days, according to statistics provided by the National Communication Committee on Monday 4 May.
The sanitary curfew put in place on March 20, and which should have ended today, has been extended until June 1, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced last Friday.
