During negotiations on the draft, Russia pressed unsuccessfully to include an exception for “anti-terrorist operations.”
AFP
Thursday 19 September 2019
Russia, China Veto UN Resolution On Syria Ceasefire
Just In: Lawmakers Ask CBN To Suspend New Charges On Transaction
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The House of Representatives on Thursday directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend the new charges placed on Nigerians under its new cashless policy, with immediate effect.
CBN had announced an increase in charges on withdrawals and deposits exceeding N500,000, however, in a plenary session, the Lower House
ordered the apex bank to suspend the policy until appropriate consultations have been concluded.
The tweets read:
40 people are talking about this
The suspension is until appropriate and comprehensive consultation is made and the outcome of the interface of the House on the matter is concluded.
See Speaker of the House of Representatives's other Tweets
NEC Approves N100bn For Implementation Of National Livestock Transformation Plan
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The National Economic Council has proposed a budget of a 100 billion naira for the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan.
Chairman of the sub committee on farmer herders crisis, Governor of Ebonyi state, Dave Umahi told State House Correspondents that it was agreed that the Federal Government would bear 80 percent of the amount while participating states would support with 20 billion naira and provision of lands for the programme.
He reiterated that states are free to use any animal of their choice in the implementation of the programme and that a date for the effective take off of the programme will be decided at its next meeting in October.
The Edo state Governor says Nigeria has so far lost 1.3 billion dollars worth of crude oil to theft and pipeline vandalism in the first quarter of 2019.
Mr Obaseki who chairs a thirteen man NEC sub-committee mandated to investigate the impact of the attacks on oil installations in the creeks of the Niger Delta, warned that from the committee’s findings, the nation stands to loose as much as 2.7 billion dollars by the end of the year if the situation is not urgently checked.
The Edo Governor disclosed a number of recommendations by the Council to include the need to restructure the maintenance and ownership of pipelines in the country, prosecution of criminals and creation of special court to handle the cases.
The committee according to him also recommended that the NNPC work with the National Intelligence Agency to track countries benefiting from the stolen crude oil.
The Council he says have resolved to submit the recommendations to President Muhammadu Buhari.
At a separate briefing, the inspector General of police, Mohammed Adamu declared that there a drastic reduction in the spate of kidnapping, banditry and cultism in the country compared with the last quarter.
P&ID, Another Plead Guilty To 11 Charges Of Economic Sabotage, Money Laundering
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The Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) and P&ID Nigeria Limited (P&ID) have pleaded guilty to the 11 charges brought against them by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the charges against the two on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges through their representatives when they were arraigned before Justice Inyang Ekwo.
They pleaded guilty to intent to defraud by obtaining property from the Cross River State government, and a second count of obtaining land from the state government with the intent to defraud, as well as ‘count three’ for conspiring with certain individuals to commit a felony by dealing with petroleum product without the appropriate licence.
The defendants also pleaded guilty to ‘count four’ which was a similar charge to ‘count three’, as well as pleaded guilty to counts five, and count six which bordered on the charges of tax evasion.
They pleaded guilty to count seven, and count eight of concealing the origin of over N3 million operated by P&ID when they knew that the money formed part of proceeded of an unlawful act.
The companies pleaded guilty to count nine that between January and December 2009, they concealed the unlawful origin of over N2 million in a commercial bank when they reasonably ought to know that the proceeds formed part of their unlawful act of tax evasion.
They pleaded guilty to concealing the origin of over N1 million in a commercial bank operated by P&ID when they ought to reasonably know that it formed part of proceeds of tax evasion by the company.
The defendants also pleaded guilty to the last ‘count 11’ for failing to comply with the requirements of submitting a declaration of their activities to the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
Wednesday 18 September 2019
Traditional Beliefs, Rituals Fuel Tensions Over Mugabe’s Funeral
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As public wakes for late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe have drawn to a close, traditional chiefs are demanding the body be buried according to spiritual traditions.
Those requests have been part of a dispute over the final burial of Mugabe, who died September 6 almost two years after a coup ended his increasingly autocratic 37-year rule.
Liberia School Fire Kills At Least 26 Children
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A fire at a Koranic school near the Liberian capital Monrovia overnight killed at least 26 children and two teachers, the president’s office said Wednesday.
Emergency services had told President George Weah 28 people had died, his spokesman Solo Kelgbeh told AFP, as the president visited the site in Paynesville, on the outskirts of the capital.
AFP
India Bans Electronic Cigarettes Amid Vaping Concerns
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India announced on Wednesday a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes, as a backlash gathers pace worldwide due to health concerns about a product promoted as less harmful than smoking tobacco.
The Indian announcement, also outlawing production, import and distribution, came a day after New York became the second US state to ban flavoured e-cigarettes following a string of vaping-linked deaths.
“The decision was made keeping in mind the impact that e-cigarettes have on the youth of today,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in New Delhi.
E-cigarettes do not “burn” but instead heat up a liquid — tasting of everything from bourbon to bubble gum and which usually contains nicotine — that turns into vapour and is inhaled.
The vapour is missing the estimated 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke but does contain a number of substances that could potentially be harmful.
They have been pushed by producers, and also by some governments including in Britain, as a safer alternative to traditional smoking — and as a way to kick the habit.
However critics say that apart from being harmful in themselves, the flavours of e-cigarette liquids appeal particularly to children and risk getting them addicted to nicotine.
Some 3.6 million middle and high school students in the United States used vaping products in 2018, an increase of 1.5 million on the year before.
The New York emergency legislation followed an outbreak of severe pulmonary disease that has killed seven people and sickened hundreds.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced last week that it would soon ban flavoured e-cigarette products to stem a rising tide of youth users.
Big E-Tobacco
Although few Indians vape at present, the Indian ban also cuts off a vast potential market of 1.3 billion consumers for makers of e-cigarettes.
Tobacco firms have been investing heavily in the technology to compensate for falling demand for cigarettes due to high taxes and public smoking bans, particularly in the West.
In 2018 Altria, the US maker of brands such as Marlboro and Chesterfield, splashed out almost $13 billion on a stake in one of the biggest e-cigarette makers, Juul.
A few Indian states have already banned e-cigarettes although the restrictions have been ineffective since online sale of vaping products continue.
The new ban does not cover traditional tobacco products in India.
According to the World Health Organization, India is the world’s second-largest consumer of tobacco products, killing nearly 900,000 people every year.
Nearly 275 million people over 15, or 35 percent of adults, are users, although chewing tobacco — which also causes cancer — is more prevalent than smoking.
India is also the world’s third–largest producer of tobacco, the WHO says, and tobacco farmers are an important vote bank for political parties.
According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, an estimated 45.7 million people depend on the tobacco sector in India for their livelihood.
Tobacco is also a major Indian export, and the government holds substantial stakes, directly or indirectly, in tobacco firms including in ITC, one of India’s biggest companies.
AFP
Thai PM Under Fire For Omitting Oath During Inauguration
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Thai opposition MPs demanded Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha resign following weeks of uproar over the ex-junta head’s omission of a vow to uphold the constitution during his inauguration, raising questions of his legitimacy.
The mastermind of a 2014 coup, Prayut headed the junta regime for five years before a disputed March election tilted to the military formally ushered him in as a civilian premier.
But the new government has struggled to maintain a foothold as it is dogged by scandals — from a cabinet member being accused of serving time in jail for drug-dealing in Australia to Thais angered by a slow response to floods in the rice bowl northeast.
Questions over his administration’s legitimacy have also been raised after it was revealed Prayut and his cabinet had pledged loyalty to the king but failed to recite allegiance to the constitution when he was sworn in as civilian premier in July.
The Constitutional Court last week had declined to deliberate on his omission.
But in parliament Wednesday, opposition lawmakers called for his resignation, saying the incomplete oath showed his “ignorance of the constitution”, and questioned whether he can be trusted to uphold the rule of law.
It has “destroyed public confidence as well as his credibility”, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, secretary general of the youth-driven Future Forward Party, said.
“Prayut’s incomplete oath-taking makes the public doubt whether he will uphold and comply with the constitution,” he said.
The omission could also mean that the ex-junta chief “may have thought of staging another coup”, said Thai Liberal Party leader Sereepisuth Temeeyaves.
Prayut was present for part of the parliament session, held only for one day without a vote before MPs go for recess on Thursday.
Speaking briefly after listening to MPs hammer him for several hours, Prayut proclaimed “respect for all the principles in the constitution”.
Coups and street protests have plagued Thailand’s politics for almost two decades, with the putsch-happy army pressing the reset button on previous administrations.
But political divisions remain deep as Thais in the latest March election have shown a weariness towards a conservative arch-royalist elite, choosing instead to vote in MPs vowing to remove the military from politics.
AFP
Barnier To Hold EU Lawmakers Responsible For No-Deal Brexit
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The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier angrily told Brexit Party MEPs Wednesday that they will be held responsible for the negative fallout if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.
“British citizens as well as other European citizens are entitled to the truth, about the consequences of Brexit,” Barnier told MEPs during a debate on Brexit in the European Parliament.
“These consequences are much more serious, much more numerous than you want to say. After Brexit, you will be accountable to the citizens,” he said in remarks directed towards lawmakers from Britain’s Brexit Party, including its leader Nigel Farage.
AFP
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