Foreign News

Published

1 year ago

July 9, 2023

We’ll build a ‘virile force’, Tinubu tells Nigerian military in Guinea-Bissau

By Mathew Dadiya

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Saturday arrived Bissau, the capital of Republic of Guinea-Bissau, for the 63rd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The President also used the opportunity of the summit to visit the Nigerian contingent stationed in the country under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Force and told the troops that his administration will build a ‘Virile Force.

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Tinubu, whose plane touched down at the International Airport in Bissau at exactly 5.

30pm local time was expected to be the centre of attraction at the summit, according to his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake.

He expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the soldiers and their Commander, General Al-hassan Grema, for their dedication and service to Nigeria and their host country, adding that Nigeria would continue to support democracy in West Africa and around the world.

“I am here to show solidarity with you. I want to assure you we are committed to support peace and democracy not only in West Africa but around the world.

“Nigeria is a giant that has made its mark in Sierra Leone and Liberia and other places. We count on your support for the defence of constitutional order. I heard your allowances have been paid up to date. Nothing else should make you angry. We will continue to build a virile force.

“We are proud of you. Proud of your loyalty. Nigeria depends on you. There will be peace and progress in our country,” President said.

Brigadier General Grema expressed the appreciation of the troops to President Tinubu for being the first Commander-in-Chief in Nigeria’s history to visit his soldiers outside the shore of the country.

The 63rd Ordinary Session summit, which will open on Sunday July 9, 2023, will be the first international engagement of the President within the African continent since he assumed office on May 29, 2023.

The 16 regional leaders are expected to address memoranda on pressing sub-regional issues including Report of the 50th Ordinary Session of the Mediation and Security Council (MSC) covering security challenges faced by the member countries, Report of the 90th Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Council of Ministers on the financial situation of the body and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Other matters slated for consideration by the leaders are the Report on the status of Transition in the Republics of Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, Memoranda on the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme and the Report on Obstacles to Free Movement of Goods on the Abidjan- Lagos corridor.

While in Guinea-Bissau, the Nigerian leader is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings and have other engagements on the sidelines of the summit.

On the entourage of the President on the trip are National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Acting Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Folashodun Shonubi; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Adamu Ibrahim Lamuwa; Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, Dr. Ibrahim Kana; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Aliyu Ahmed, and ECOWAS Permanent Representative, Ambassador Musa Nuhu.

Others on the entourage include former Governors, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Senator Abu Ibrahim from Katsina State.

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Foreign News

Microsoft Boss Warns of Meddling Ahead of U.S. Presidential Election

Published

14 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Editor_01

Brad Smith, the president of technology giant Microsoft has issued a stark warning regarding foreign attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in November.

“The most perilous moment will come, I think, 48 hours before the election,” Smith told a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“That’s the lesson to be learned from, say, the Slovakian election last fall,” he added.

Smith said two days ahead of the parliamentary election vote in the European country “a Russian group” released and pushed, including by amplifying the story with a top Russian official, a deep fake audio purporting to reveal a vote-stealing plot.

“The Russian government is very capable, very sophisticated, not just in technology but in social science,” Smith said.

The Microsoft boss stressed that “there are real and serious threats,” including in the upcoming U.S. presidential election set to take place on Nov. 5.

The race for the White House may be between Republican candidate Donald Trump and the Democrats’ Kamala Harris, “but this is also becoming an election of Iran versus Trump and Russia versus Harris,” the Microsoft boss said.

“It is an election where Russia, Iran, and China are united with the common interest in discrediting democracy in the eyes of our voters,” Smith warned.

Just a few days ago, U.S. authorities exposed a Russian-sponsored campaign that deployed right-wing influencers.

Accounts masquerading as the websites of news outlets like conservative channel Fox News and newspaper The Washington Post posted fake stories.

On Wednesday, a Russian group published a video of Harris, manipulated with the help of artificial intelligence, in which words were put into her mouth that she never said, said Smith.

The administration in Washington has accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. presidential election campaign.

Similar accusations had been made in previous elections.

Smith testified alongside Meta’s Nick Clegg and Kent Walker, president and chief legal officer for Google’s Alphabet. (dpa/NAN)

Foreign News

Gaza: 6 UNRWA Staff Killed in Strikes on School

Published

1 week ago

September 12, 2024

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Six staff members with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) were killed in Gaza on Wednesday when two Israeli airstrikes hit a school-turned-shelter and its surroundings.“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident,” UNRWA said in a post on the social media platform, X.

At least 34 people were killed in the strikes, according to media reports.

UNRWA said the shelter manager and other team members were among the victims.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres deplored the bloodshed.“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” he wrote on X.“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.”The UNRWA school in Nuseirat, located in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, was sheltering around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.

This marked the fifth time that it had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago.Earlier on Wednesday the UN said the site had been previously deconflicted with the Israeli forces.UNRWA called on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes.“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared. Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target,” the tweet said.UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini lamented the “endless and senseless killing, day after day” in Gaza.Writing on X, he said at least 220 agency staff have lost their lives since the war began.“Humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he said.He warned that “the longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant.”In a related development, the UN reported that health workers continue efforts to vaccinate young children in northern Gaza against polio, part of a wider campaign to defeat the disease, which can cause paralysis.More than 81,600 boys and girls were vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).Polio was detected in Gaza in June and UN agencies and partners launched a two-round campaign this month to provide over 640,000 children with two doses of novel oral polio vaccine type 2.So far, nearly 528,000 children have been reached in the first round. (NAN)

Foreign News

1 Dead, 10 Injured as Israel Strikes in Southern, Western Lebanon

Published

1 week ago

September 10, 2024

Editor_01

An Israeli drone on Tuesday fired several missiles at a flat in a five-story building in the market town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.Eight people were injured, according to an initial toll announced by the Lebanese Health Ministry.It was not immediately clear whether there were any Hezbollah members were in the targeted building.

Earlier, an Israeli drone assassinated a Hezbollah fighter riding a motorbike on the Bab Mareaa-Saghbine road in Western Bekaa and wounded two passersby.

Hezbollah said that one of its fighters, Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, was killed but did not specify where and when he was killed.The Israeli army confirmed it “struck and eliminated” the terrorist Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, who served as a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander, in the area of Qaraoun,It added that the Israeli artillery struck the areas of Sawaneh and Aita al-Shaab.

Since the war began between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas in Gaza last October, there have been clashes between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon in the border area.There have been casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah, which says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. (dpa/NAN)

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