Australia on Friday avoided having the Great Barrier Reef listed as an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO, despite extensive climate change-spurred damage to the ecosystem’s corals. The move by the UN body has faced criticism by environmental activists. After a concerted lobbying effort by Canberra, members of the World Heritage Committee – including leading…
Uganda handed nearly $30m to members of parliament (MPs) to buy new cars this week, sparking outrage in a poor country where the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc. Each of the 529 lawmakers received 200 million shillings ($56,500) to get new vehicles at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging. On June 18, President Yoweri…
One of the telecom giants in Nigeria, Globacom has said that it will reward subscribers with the 22 times the value of every recharge from N100. The telecommunications company, in a statement said “Customers who recharge with N100 will be credited with N2,200 value. The statement said further that subscribers would first get the N100…
When in February, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks and other financial institutions to cease transactions in cryptocurrencies and facilitating payment for cryptocurrency exchanges, several stakeholders raised concern about the directive. In the memo, dated February 5, the apex bank instructed banks and other financial institutions to identify individuals or entities that transact…
By Cecilia Ologunagba UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has welcomed Italy’s support for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and encouraged the use of 2030 Agenda as a beacon for the design of COVID-19 recovery efforts. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said this while briefing correspondents at UN headquarters in New York, on…
By Opeyemi Samuel Nigerian artist, Omokanye Olasunkanmi Muhamed better known as Sonorous, is one artiste, whose confidence lies in his passion for music, unique voice texture and skills that he has developed over time, had dropped a track Paramedic, the first single from his forthcoming album “Kanye West”. According to Sonorous who started his professional…
Canada announced on Friday it would resettle Afghan interpreters, embassy staff and their families amid a “dynamic and deteriorating” situation in Afghanistan, saying they had become targets for the Taliban. “Canada is here to support those who supported us,” said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, adding that “several thousand” people would be eligible and the first…
China said on Friday that it has imposed counter-sanctions on United States individuals including former US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in response to recent US sanctions on Chinese officials in Hong Kong. The sanctions are the first imposed by China under its new anti-foreign sanction law, passed in June, and come days before US…
The European Union’s medicines regulator has recommended authorising Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in children aged between 12 and 17, marking the first time the shot has been approved for people under 18. In a decision on Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said research in more than 3,700 children of 12 to 17 years…
