Gtechone

South Africa’s Zuma says ‘people trying to kill me’ poisoned his son South Africa’s embattled ex-president Jacob Zuma said Wednesday that “people who were trying to kill me” instead poisoned and killed his son in 2018. PHOTO: Sean Gallup/Getty Images South Africa’s embattled ex-president Jacob Zuma said Wednesday that “people who were trying to kill me” instead poisoned and killed his son in 2018. Zuma claims he was the victim of several plots and assassination attempts during his nine-year rule, which was marred by graft allegations and dwindling popularity. At a corruption inquiry in July 2019 — one year after he was forced to resign — Zuma accused unnamed foreign intelligence services of plotting to kill him. His son Nhlakanipho Vusi Zuma was suffering from lupus when he died at the age of 25 on July 1, 2018. In a 45-minute video conversation with another son, Duduzane Zuma, the ex-president alleged that Nhlakanipho was poisoned by his enemies. “Here was a young ...

India embarks on ‘massive’ coronavirus repatriation Gujarat police detain stranded migrant workers during a protest demanding they be allowed to return to their homes during India’s nationwide lockdown AFP India has embarked on a “massive” operation calling up passenger jets and naval ships to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions, the government said. India banned all incoming international flights in late March as it imposed one of the world’s strictest virus lockdowns, leaving vast numbers of workers and students stranded. A defence spokesman told AFP on Tuesday that two ships were steaming towards the Maldives and another to the United Arab Emirates — home to a 3.3-million-strong Indian community, who make up around 30 percent of the Gulf state’s population. A government statement said repatriation flights would start bringing nationals home from Thursday, and that Indian embassies and high commissions...

Pompeo has no evidence about virus lab leak: China (FILES) In this file photo US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2020. – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said shots fired May 3, 2020, from North Korea towards the South in the DMZ that divides the peninsula were believed to have been “accidental.” “Handful of shots came across from the north; we think those were accidental,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”South Koreans did return fire. There was no loss of life on either side,” he added. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / POOL / AFP) China hit back Wednesday at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his claims that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, saying he “doesn’t have any” evidence. Washington and Beijing have clashed repeatedly over the virus, which emerged in China late last year but have since spiralled into a global pandemic. Conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-...

IMF rescue ‘mandatory’ for Lebanon recovery A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra on May 6, 2020 shows Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun Diab attending a meeting with the heads of the parliamentary blocs at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut. – Lebanese President Michel Aoun said that financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund was “mandatory” for an economic recovery, as the country sinks deeper into financial turmoil. Lebanon is in the thick of its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, compounded by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by – / DALATI AND NOHRA / AFP) / Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Wednesday that financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund was “mandatory” for an economic recovery, as the country sinks deeper into financial turmoil. Lebanon is in the thick of its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, compounded by the coronavirus epidemic. ...

NIS generates N62,610,229,859.50k revenue in 2019 2019 Annual Report of the Nigeria Immigration Service PHOTO:Twitter Issues 130,319 visas, 1,198,274 passports As China tops list of migrants into Nigeria The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has said that it has generated N62,610,229,859.50k revenue in 2019 which represents a sixty percent increase from the previous year. Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola made this known while presenting the 2019 Annual Report of the Nigeria Immigration Service in Abuja on Tuesday. In a statement signed by the public relations officer of the service, Sunday James, the agency said N59,654,547,856.12 was used as expenditure out of the money bringing the net revenue to N2,955,682,003.38.

Petrol tanker crashes on Niger Bridge An articulated vehicle, loaded with petrol, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), heading to Anambra from Delta, on Wednesday crashed and spilled its contents on the Niger Bridge. An eyewitness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Onitsha, that the accident occurred about 8.30 a.m., when the propeller of the vehicle with registration number NKR41XA, allegedly pulled out from the engine on the bridge. The source stated that the development resulted in the loss of control of the vehicle by the driver, and it subsequently hit the bridge to avoid collision with other vehicles. “He was lucky because the tanker is hanging on the protective side rail, which prevented it from tumbling, otherwise, it would have been a different case now,” the source said. Confirming the accident, the Spokesman of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Anambra, Mr Pascal Anigbo, however, said no death or injury was reported from the scene. “About 8.30 a.m. on May 6...

China province launches anti-racism push after outrage People wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walk on a street in Beijing on May 4, 2020. (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP) China’s southern Guangdong province has launched a raft of anti-discrimination policies targeting businesses and venues after a heavy-handed crackdown on the African community sparked international outrage last month. Authorities in the provincial capital Guangzhou had started mass testing its African community shortly after a cluster of COVID-19 cases was found in a neighbourhood with a large migrant population, and a wave of reports about discrimination and xenophobia followed. The new anti-racism rules, announced on the weekend, came after many Africans in Guangzhou said they had been forcibly evicted by police from their accommodation, refused service at shops and restaurants, and were subject to mass coronavirus testing and arbitrary quarantines. Now, bu...

Japan extends virus state of emergency until May 31 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on May 4, 2020. – Japan’s prime minister on May 4 extended a state of emergency over the coronavirus until the end of May, as the government warned it was too soon to lift restrictions. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko / POOL / AFP) Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday extended a state of emergency over the coronavirus until the end of May, warning it was too soon to begin relaxing restrictions. But Abe said a review of the situation would be conducted in about two weeks, and the measures could be lifted before the end of the month if new infections slow sufficiently. And he implied that there would be no further extension of the emergency, saying May would be when the country “presses towards the exit”. “I must be candid and ask you to continue your efforts for some time,” Abe said at a press conference after annou...

US says ‘evidence’ virus came from China lab as Europe eases lockdown US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pauses while speaking at a news conference at the State Department on April 29, 2020, in Washington,DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said: “enormous evidence” showed the new coronavirus originated in a lab in China, further fueling tensions with Beijing over its handling of the outbreak. Pompeo’s comments came as Europe and parts of the United States prepared to cautiously lift virus lockdowns as signs emerge that the deadly pandemic is ebbing and governments look to restart their battered economies. More than 245,000 people have been killed and 3.4 million infected worldwide by the virus, which has left half of humanity under some form of lockdown and pushed the global economy towards its worst downturn since the Great Depression. US President Donald Trump, increasingly critical of China’s management of the firs...

UK PM readies plan to ease lockdown with new office guidance Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson participates in a national “clap for carers” to show thanks for the work of Britain’s NHS (National Health Service) workers and other frontline medical staff around the country as they battle with the novel coronavirus pandemic, in the doorway of 10 Downing Street in central London on April 30, 2020. – ˜Britain is “past the peak” of its coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday, despite recording another 674 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 26,711. “For the first time, we are past the peak of this disease… and we are on the downward slope,” Johnson said in his first media briefing since returning to work following his own fight against the virus. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out his plan to ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown next Sunday, media reports said, as new guidance emerged on how ...

Italy begins to emerge from world’s longest lockdown A woman walks with her toddler and dog in the Villa Borghese park in Rome on May 4, 2020, during the country’s lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection, caused by the novel coronavirus. – Stir-crazy Italians will be free to stroll and visit relatives for the first time in nine weeks on May 4, 2020 as Europe’s hardest-hit country eases back the world’s longest nationwide coronavirus lockdown. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP) Stir-crazy Italians were free to stroll and visit relatives for the first time in nine weeks on Monday as Europe’s hardest-hit country eased back the world’s longest remaining coronavirus lockdown. More than four million people — an estimated 72 percent of them men — returned to their construction sites and factories as the economically and emotionally shattered country tried to get back to work. The sounds of banging and drilling echoed across Rome and a group of men drank espresso ...

Former Pope Benedict complains of attempts to ‘silence’ him Pope Francis (L) meets Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI during a meeting with five newly elevated Cardinals after a consistory at the Vatican, June 28, 2017. Osservatore Romano/Handout via REUTERS  Traditionalist former Pope Benedict XVI accuses opponents of wanting to “silence” him while attacking gay marriage in vehement terms in a new authorised biography published Monday in Germany. The 93-year-old, whose original name is Joseph Ratzinger, claims in “Benedict XVI – A Life” that he has fallen victim to a “malignant distortion of reality” in reactions to his interventions in theological debates, according to passages published by German media and news agency DPA. “The spectacle of reactions coming from German theology is so misguided and ill-willed that I would prefer not to speak of it,” he says. “I would rather not analyse the actual reasons why people want to silence my voice,” Benedict added. The German b...

Equities slide as Trump revives trade war fears Global stock markets fell Monday after US President Donald Trump sparked fears of a renewed trade war with China over its role in the coronavirus pandemic. From the outset, European equities kicked lower on simmering US-China tensions with Frankfurt and Paris playing catch-up with London after a long holiday weekend. The region’s losses came despite millions of Europeans emerging from lockdown on Monday, with hardest-hit Italy leading the way out of its two-month coronavirus confinement. Asian stocks also dipped into negative territory, tracking pre-weekend falls on Wall Street as investors returned from an extended weekend break to send Hong Kong stocks down 4.2 percent, although Shanghai and Tokyo remained shut. Oil prices declined from last week’s surge while the US dollar was on the front foot against the European single currency. “Risk sentiment is very fragile as we enter another critical week in terms of economic an...