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Rescuers searching the wreck of a superyacht that sank off Sicily brought ashore a fifth body on Thursday, leaving one person still unlocated, as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly.
A Nigeria Railways Corporation official said the train departs Ibadan for Lagos at 8am daily with a return trip scheduled at 4pm.
The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is notorious for heavy trucks and traffic gridlocks that can stretch for several kilometres.
The Lagos-Ibadan line is the first part of a new 2,733km Lagos-Kano standard gauge line. The total cost of the project was valued at $11.117bn.
… and a small group of African-American men populated the military’s … on to become the first African-American to lead NASA. The two … in 1877 became the first African-American graduate of West Point and …
Deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the frightening peak reached last April, and cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis all but certain to get worse because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Virtually every state […]
CHILD-FOCUSED non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Africa often use international policy guidelines in their efforts to protect children. They also depend on international donors to fund their activities. guest column:Sampson Addo Yeboah NGOs rely on standardised childhood policy frameworks, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Little attention is given to indigenous knowledge on childhood and its inclusion in child-focused interventions. We conducted a study to explore the interplay between these two worlds. The study, using an ethnographic method of participant observation and interviews, explored indigenous knowledge on child protection in a rural cocoa growing community of Ghana. We explored rural parents’ attitudes to an NGO intervention on children’s rights to basic schooling and the illegality of child labour. We focused mainly on the effects of indigenous knowledge on the outcomes of a child-rights based intervention; and interactions between parents and staff of a child-focused NGO. Using ethnographic methods enabled us to capture insights behind practices on rural childhood which would have been impossible with a quantitative approach. Findings from the study shows that parents perspectives on child protection were fundamentally different from those promoted by NGO frontline workers and the UNCRC. Rural parents viewed child protection as providing for the physical wellbeing of children and making sure they were trained in the norms and customs of the community. Based on our findings we recommended that for sustainable child protection interventions in rural Africa, child-focused NGOs working in these settings should meaningfully include local knowledge on childhood in their intervention programmes. This may ensure long-term local ownership by rural stakeholders and sustainability of the intervention. The history The idea of a “normative child” only came into being in Western Europe between the 17th and 19th century. During this period, childhood was constructed as a distinct phase of life separate from adulthood and children were seen as needing an enabling environment to play, receive formal education and to be free from work. Today these constructs are the embodiment of childhood in Western countries and are enshrined in documents such as the UNCRC which has become the conveying instrument of this approach. Organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and United Kingdom and US aid bodies work mostly with countries that have ratified the UNCRC. In most African countries, too, the legal construction of what a proper childhood should be is guided by the UNCRC. But, as realised in our study, traditional African childhoods differ from the child-rights based on UNCRC. The organisation and coherence of African childhoods are usefully oriented toward different contextual purposes to those reflected in the UNCRC approach. In traditional African societies, children get to know the ways of their community through family traditions. They work alon
An Anti-Jihadist Military Operation in Egypt
The Egyptian army said Tuesday its air force had \"managed to eliminate 25 takfiri elements” i.e. jihadists and that another 15 suspected Islamist militants had been killed \"in special operations\" since September with combined ground operations in the northeastern Sinai region, the site of an Islamist insurgency in the country. In addition, the army said the operations also \"resulted in the arrest of 12 other\" suspected extremist fighters and that it had destroyed 437 weapons caches, defused 159 improvised explosive devices, and confiscated dozens of other types of weapons.
The statement also mentioned that its own army personnel had been either wounded or killed, without specifications.
Background
Egyptian forces have fought the jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula for years. A problematic presence led mainly by the local branch of the Islamic State group.
Terrorist attacks have multiplied in the region since the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.
Egyptian authorities have been conducting a nationwide operation against Islamist militants - mainly focused on the northern Sinai and the Western Desert, since February 2018.
About 970 suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been killed in the Sinai, according to official figures. However, as North Sinai is off-limits to journalists n o independently-sourced death toll is as yet publicly available.
[Africa Renewal] First of its kind #AfricaYouthLead policy paper is a result of continent-wide consultations, focus groups and surveys in English, Swahili, French, and Arabic.
An Unfortunate Passing of a Senegalese Boy
Three men were each sentenced to two years in prison — of which 23 months are suspended, by a court in Senegal on Tuesday in a high-profile case that saw three fathers facing charges of \"placing the lives of others in danger,\" after the trio urged their sons to embark upon a risky migration trip to Europe by sea which left one of the boys pronounced dead. The men were acquitted of the charge of abetting migrant trafficking at the insistence of their defence attorney.
An Untimely Death Borne of Desperation
Their sons were with other migrants who boarded a canoe to make the crossing from Senegal to Spain's Canary Islands, the first step in a plan to reach continental Europe. But one of them, a boy aged about 15 nicknamed Doudou, fell ill and died after having problems eating\" during the trip — as per a source close to the investigation.
Further details are unclear, as according to local media his body was tipped overboard after he died.
The children of the two other fathers survived the attempted crossing and have since returned home.
The fathers of the three — who are fishermen in the coastal town of Mbour, were arrested a couple of weeks afterwards.
The father of the deceased child had paid 80 euros to a smuggler, who was to take the boy to Spain. His ultimate destination was Italy where he hoped to sign up for a football training academy in the hopes of launching a lucrative professional career to help his family.
The Economic State of Affairs in Senegal
Doudou's untimely and unfortunate passing triggered an uproar in Senegal - prompting anguished debates about poverty, parental pressure and the allure of life in societies abroad that are perceived to have a better standard of living. The pressure to migrate is especially strong among fishing communities as coastal villages in Senegal have been badly hit by dwindling catches that many allege are due to the disruptive presence of foreign factory ships - in addition to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Canary Islands lie more than 100 kilometres from the coast of Africa at their closest point, and many boats —big canoes also called pirogues, are overcrowded, underpowered and in poor shape for such migration trips.
Over 500 people have died this year, mostly in October and November, according to the United Nations’ International Office for Migration (IOM), compared to 210 fatalities for the whole of last year.
Twitter users used the hashtag #CrybabyTrump to poke fun at President Donald Trump's cries about the 2020 election results.
By YULIA ALEXEYEVA Associated Press IRKUTSK, Russia (AP) — As coronavirus resurged across Russia this fall, one of the most common complaints from people with symptoms who were self-isolating at home was that they had to wait hours or sometimes days before a visiting doctor would arrive to check on them. Record-breaking numbers of confirmed infections have strained the country's health care system to its limits and left doctors all across Russia inundated with demands for house calls for virus patients. 'We have already started to choke, with our doctors making 20-25 house calls a day,' Vera Klyuyeva, head of […]
The post Siberians fight the pandemic by giving weary doctors a lift appeared first on Black News Channel.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have begun releasing plans on their inauguration ceremony set for January 20.
Fifteen minutes into the match, the Champions League soccer game between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir was suspended on Tuesday due to allegations of racism directed at Basaksehir's side assistant coach. According to players from the Turkish team, fourth official Sebastian Coltescu had used a racial term against assistant coach Pierre Webo, who is Cameroonian. […]
[Dalsan Radio] A number of youths from Somaliland are trooping Mogadishu ahead of the polls scheduled to begin next month, government sources told Dalsan.
Dr. Anthony Fauci wants people who still believe Covid-19 is a hoax to know it's real and that the US needs everyone to get behind public health measures. Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and other health experts have said the next few months will be a challenging time, but Americans can help […]
I have read with great consternation and utter dismay that the Government is giving serious consideration to the abolition of August 1st as Emancipation Day and August 6th as our Independence Day.
A pilot who was flying alone has died in a crash in the Bronkhorstspruit Nature Reserve.
FireEye, one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the US, said on Tuesday that foreign government hackers with “world-class capabilities” broke into its network and stole tools it uses to test the defenses of its thousands of customers, who include federal, state and local governments and major global corporations. The hackers “primarily sought information related to certain government customers”, said FireEye’s CEO, Kevin Mandia, in a statement, without naming them. He said there was no indication the hackers got customer information from the company’s consulting or incident-response businesses or threat intelligence data it collects. “I’ve concluded we are witnessing an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities,” Mandia said, deeming it “different from the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years”. The hack of FireEye, a company with an array of business contracts across the national security space in the US and among its allies, is among the most significant breaches in recent memory. “I do think what we know of the operation is consistent with a Russian state actor,” said the former NSA hacker Jake Williams, president of Rendition Infosec. “Whether or not customer data was accessed, it’s still a big win for Russia.” The FireEye breach was disclosed in a blogpost authored by Mandia. The post said “red team tools” were stolen as part of a highly sophisticated operation. It is not clear exactly when the hack initially took place. Beyond the tool theft, the hackers also appeared to be interested in a subset of FireEye customers: government agencies. “We hope that by sharing the details of our investigation, the entire community will be better equipped to fight and defeat cyber-attacks,” Mandia wrote. The company itself has partnered in recent weeks with different software makers to share defensive measures. There is no evidence yet that FireEye’s hacking tools have been used or that client data was exfiltrated. But the investigation, which includes help from the FBI and Microsoft, is in its early phases. “This incident demonstrates why the security industry must work together to defend against and respond to threats posed by well-funded adversaries using novel and sophisticated attack techniques,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The stolen computer espionage kit targets a myriad of different vulnerabilities in popular software products. It is not yet clear exactly which systems may be affected. But Mandia wrote that none of the red team tools exploited so-called “zero day vulnerabilities”, meaning the relevant flaws should already be public. Experts say it can be difficult to measure the impact of a hacking tool leak which focuses on known software vulnerabilities. When a private company becomes aware of a vulnerability in their software product, they often try to offer a “patch” or upgrade that nullifies the issue. Yet users do not always download these patches quickly, leaving themselves exposed for month
Press Release International Anti-Corruption Day Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) and the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zimbabwe Chapter join the rest of the world in commemorating the 2020 International Anti-Corruption Day, under the theme United Against Corruption. The Global commemorations are coming against a backdrop of social and economic impacts of corruption in Zimbabwe. The Commemorations are therefore aimed at raising public awareness about these socio-economic effects of corruption and encourage participation of stakeholders in the fight against the scourge of corruption. Additionally, it is a reflective moment for all stakeholders to take stock of the progress made towards the anti-corruption agenda globally and Zimbabwe in particular. Corruption continues to be one of the governance challenges in Zimbabwe. This is despite the existence of robust legal, policy and institutional frameworks including Prevention of Corruption Act [Chapter 9:16] and the recently launched National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2020-2024. Evidently, corruption is entrenched in the political and socio-economic spheres, and it is increasingly becoming a cultural attribute in public and private sectors. COVID-19 brought to light the rot in the public sector especially in the health sector, a case in point being that of the DRAX Scandal. Consequently, government’s failure to curb corruption results in skewed service delivery and exclusion of vulnerable and minority groups in development processes. TIZ and APNAC, Zimbabwe Chapter underscore the fact that corruption tears down the social fabric and negates any progressive efforts in realising development initiatives such as Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, all stakeholders, public and private, should collectively respond to the call for collective action against corruption in Zimbabwe. Transparency and accountability remain key principles of good governance and both TI Z and APNAC Zimbabwe have been making clarion calls for government to uphold these two key pillars of good governance. However, we would like to acknowledge the development and implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy which places emphasis on strong institutions to promote good governance. Citizens remain key stakeholders in the fight against corruption. Nevertheless, for them to play an active role, they require protection both at law and in practice. To this end, the government must guarantee the protection of whistle-blowers through the enactment of a Whistle-blower Protection Legislation consistent with Article 33 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) on protection of reporting persons which Zimbabwe is a signatory to. We therefore implore all law enforcement agencies to cooperate in the fight against corruption. This enjoins law enforcement agencies to effectively handle corruption cases to enable the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and courts of law to act upon the cases in a timely and effective manner. Responsible anti-co
With the seven-day average of active COVID-19 cases reaching 4,490 in early December according to the city’s dashboard, Mayor Martin Walsh said his goals are to get students back to school, find ways to support restaurants through the winter and increase COVID testing.
The post Pols struggle with COVID response appeared first on The Bay State Banner.
Press Release - Amnesty warns troop withdrawal does not necessarily mean end to military action
[HRW] Washington -- The World Bank's Covid-19 support project does not adequately address the Egyptian government's arrests and intimidation of health professionals, Human Rights Watch said today.
The crew of a Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter hoisted four men from a pleasure craft Sunday night after the vessel ran aground on Pelican Cay off St. Thomas.
FOW-chee, CAW-ma-la….dah-VIN-chee? America’s preeminent infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, and its incoming vice president, Kamala Harris, join the Renaissance master himself, Leonardo da Vinci, atop this year’s list of most mispronounced words, as compiled by the U.S. Captioning Company, which captions and subtitles real-time events on TV and in courtrooms. The list released Wednesday identifies […]
School officials disclosed that Johns Hopkins, the 19th-century businessman with a university and hospital named after him, owned slaves. According... View Article
The post Johns Hopkins, patron of namesake hospital and university, owned slaves appeared first on TheGrio.
Zambia has formally requested a financing arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with its debt crisis, the Fund said in a statement on Tuesday. The IMF is “currently assessing this request,” it said. The administration of President Edgar Lungu released a photo showing him in a meeting with officials of the IMF...
The post Zambia requests for cash from IMF to help navigate debt crisis appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
[Monitor] Government has cleared Chinese Community of Liao Shen Industrial Park to import 4,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine (Vero Cell) into the country for their own use.
It’s the news we have all been fearing - if not expecting. Zweli Mkhize has revealed a second wave of COVID-19 is now sweeping across South Africa.
Many Remember Their British Pop Star
Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of the death of John Lennon — a quarter of the internationally celebrated English band The Beatles, who was fatally shot outside his New York City apartment building on the evening of December 8, 1980, at coincidentally just 40 years old. His former bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, his surviving widow Yoko — as well as other family members, took to social media to post messages in remembrance of the singer-songwriter.
Four friends from Liverpool, England, formed a music group that would become a worldwide phenomenon in the early 1960s, The Beatles.
The Black-American Influenced Beatles
The rock and roll musical style they adopted had its roots in Black American music and Lennon, in particular, was outspoken on the impact black artists had on the group’s sound and songs. Music stars like Elvis Presley were never known to publicly admit to the imitation and — in several occasions, the alleged outright stealing of musical styles and songs from black American artists who typically did not have access to the same platforms and production technology. A symptom of a structurally and historically racist and segregated society at the time in the USA.
The Beatles, however, were more open and honest about the musical and artistic influences on their songs — even naming highly innovative and legendary black American talents such as Chuck Berry, Arthur Alexander, and Barrett Strong.
Following the band’s breakup, Lennon sent a handwritten response to a piece published by the New York Times entitled 'So in the End, the Beatles Have Proved False Prophets,' accusing the band, among other things, of making off with black music for their own benefit.
Lennon’s reply read, \"We didn’t sing our own songs in the early days — they weren’t good enough. The one thing we always did was to make it known that there were black originals, we loved the music and wanted to spread it in any way we could.”
A sentiment apparently shared by bandmate McCartney who has also admitted, “We were the biggest nickers in town. Plagiarists extraordinaires.”
Nevertheless, both The Beatles and John Lennon were beloved worldwide by many of their fans, who continue to remember him on the anniversary of his passing.
