Akon has stated that he has invested over $1 Billion in China over electricity. In his remarks, here is what he has to say;
Africa lacks electricity, water, basic infrastructure, there is a lot of progress to be made. And you see the misery, you just want to help, it's no longer a frenzy, I'm not wearing jewelry anymore.
I saw so many people in need, until I feel guilty when I visit Villages putting on earrings that cost 50,000 dollars is useless.
It's just the pat in the eye that only serves to make the beauty in front of others.That's why I decided to use my money to help others.
Austrian vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, on Saturday resigned following the release of a secret video in which he is seen appearing to offer government contracts in exchange for political support.
The far-right leader said he offered his resignation to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in order to prevent the collapse of the governing coalition between Kurz’s conservative People’s Party and his far-right Freedom Party (FPOe).
Although he insisted he did not break any law, Mr Strache admitted to the “extremely embarrassing, drunken affair,” which saw him appearing to offer infrastructure contracts to a woman posing as a wealthy potential donor from Russia while in Ibiza in July 2017.
Mr Strache also apologised to his wife and his supporters for what he called “alcohol-fuelled macho behaviour partly intended to impress the attractive woman” posing as a would-be donor during the six-hour encounter.
“I behaved like a teenager,” he said.
It is unclear who set up the apparent trap and who recorded the meeting.
Mr Strache blamed “criminal networks,”. He said the incident had been a “targeted political attack” on Austria’s right-wing government.
An inspiring opera singer who received not one but two sets of transplanted lungs over the course of her life has died at the age of 35, according to her family. Charity Tillemann-Dick was a champion of organ donation, which allowed her to continue doing what she felt she was born to do.
CBS News' Seth Doane met Tillemann-Dick back in 2012 at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic about a month after she underwent her second double lung transplant. She showed us her therapy sessions and sense of humor.
She loved to sing from an early age, but at the age of 20 developed something called idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, which is when oxygen is not absorbed by the body and forces the heart to work overtime.
She had her first emergency lung transplant in 2009 and, later, needed another after her body started to reject them. After being placed on advanced life support, they found a match.
"Organ donation, in certain respects, it brings us closer to immortality," Charity said in 2012. "Because literally a part of us goes on living after we're gone."
Live – and sing – she did.
CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook met Tillemann-Dick several years later after she wrote a book about her experiences. She held a special performance with the daughter of her lung donor.
"I think she gives me voice," Tillemann-Dick said of her donor.
Her family said humor is what got her through.
"It's each of our dreams to spend our lives with the people – with the thing that we love most – and I'm so grateful to be given another opportunity to sing and to share," she said. "And it brings me more joy than I can express. And I express a lot of things so that's saying something!"
She often went by the name "Charity Sunshine." Her husband wrote, "She passed away with family by her side and sunshine on her face."
The chief of police in Springtown, Texas, showed that when it comes to supporting local businesses, he’s not afraid of a little laxative.
The police department shared images of Chief Motley buying and eating a pizza from a restaurant that had just reopened after being shut down by the health inspector. Mr. Jim’s Pizza in Springtown was forced to close during an inspection after an employee reportedly bragged on social media about putting Miralax on another employee’s pizza without that employee’s knowledge.
According to police, three employees put the laxative on at least one pizza that another employee ate, causing that employee to get sick, CBSDFW reported. The incident took place around 8 p.m. on April 20th.
The employees claimed they did not taint any of the pizzas that were sold to customers. The Huffington Post reported that the employees involved in the incident were terminated.
Health inspectors cleared the restaurant to reopen on April 22. As an act of good faith, Chief Motley stopped by and purchased a pie. He stated “we are not going to let the foolishness of a couple individuals hurt one of our local businesses."
Several hours later, the department updated their Facebook post to let their followers know that Motley had eaten the pizza and there were no issues. He even reportedly went to the gym for leg day, and after all that, he still claimed that everything was good.
Rescue workers were digging through collapsed buildings along South Africa’s eastern coast, where more than 50 people were killed when heavy rain caused flooding and mudslides, authorities said on Wednesday.
Hundreds have been displaced, mainly in the port city of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal province. Flooding also killed at least three people in Eastern Cape province, state broadcaster SABC said on Wednesday.
Victor da Silva, a resident in the coastal town of Amanzimtoti, said his family managed to evacuate before the floods destroyed their home and cars.
“On Monday, the water was just crazy. And yesterday morning I got here, everything was fine, my garage was still here, the other part of the house was still here, and it just couldn’t stop raining,” Da Silva said. “And then an hour and a half later, everything poof (vanished) because the rain just hasn’t stopped.
Reuters reported that he escaped his home in Amanzimtoti just before part of it collapsed.
“I nearly lost my life, and my neighbour, I believe, is in hospital,” Fourie said.
The region had been hit by heavy rains for days, but authorities did not foresee the downpour late on Monday, said Lennox Mabaso, a spokesman for the provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department.
“As a result, there was flooding and some structures were undermined and collapsed on people,” Mabaso said. Some people were swept away by the water, he said.
Multiple dwellings collapsed in the mudslides, said Robert McKenzie, a KwaZulu-Natal Emergency Medical Services spokesman.
South African Weather Service forecaster Edward Engelbrecht said the heavy rainfall occurs “from time to time, especially during this time of the year.”
He said the rain should start to clear by Thursday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited affected communities in KwaZulu-Natal and is scheduled to go to the Eastern Cape in the next few days.
“This is partly what climate change is about, that it just hits when we least expect it,” he said, adding that funds would be provided by the government to assist those hit by the floods.
Last week, 13 people were killed during an Easter service in KwaZulu-Natal when a church wall collapsed after days of heavy rains and strong winds.
India Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said it has appointed 17 coordinators to help Indians leave Libya, Indian External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj said.
“We have appointed 17 coordinators to help Indians leaving Libya.
“Indian Embassy is helping them with Exit Visa even in cases where their visa has expired.
“Presently, the airport is operational. Please avail of this opportunity,’’ Mr Swaraj wrote on Twitter.
Recently, the minister asked Indians in and around Libya’s Tripoli to leave the country immediately as the government of India would later be unable to evacuate them.
Mr Swaraj said in spite of massive evacuation from Libya and the travel ban, there were more than 500 Indian nationals in Tripoli.
Heavy fighting has erupted south of Tripoli after Libya’s UN-backed government announced a counter-offensive against insurgent forces.
Libya has been torn by violence and political instability since long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011.
He described how the accident occurred when he was four years old and needed to be brought home from kindergarten because there were no buses available.
Ms Abdulla’s brother-in-law drove her to school to collect Omar and the family was driving home, with mother and child in the back seat, when they were hit by the bus.
As the bus hit, Ms Abdulla threw herself around her son to protect him from the impact. While she suffered a severe head injury, he escaped with just a bruise.
Omar described how his mother was left untreated for hours because the family was unable to call for help before she was transferred to a clinic in London Dailymail said.
There, doctors diagnosed a vegetative state, meaning she was completely unresponsive but able to feel pain.
She was transferred back to the UAE and put on a ventilator and feeding tube to keep her alive, spending the next few decades hooked up to machines.
But in April 2017, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, heard of her case and gave her family a grant for treatment.
Ms Abdulla was flown to Germany where she underwent surgeries to repair her muscles while being given medication to improve her sleep patterns.
Around a year later she began making strange sounds, and within three days she called out to Omar using his name.
”It was her! She was calling my name, I was flying with joy; for years I have dreamt of this moment, and my name was the first word she said,” he said.
Now, she is able to call the names of her loved ones, recite prayers and hold conversations with people.
A medical report issued from Mafraq Hospital last month says that she is ”currently able to communicate with self and surrounding in a very reasonable manner especially in familiar situations.”
However, the report adds that she still needs regular physiotherapy to treat issues with her muscles.
Authorities here in Colombo, Sri Lanka said an international terror group likely supported an obscure local Islamist group in carrying out a series of bombings that killed at least 310 people on Easter Sunday, weeks after the government had received warnings from the U.S. and India about a possible attack.
Government officials of this island nation said some of the suicide bombers and others arrested were linked to an obscure radical Islamist group known as National Thowheeth Jamath, a group the government singled out to police for monitoring as a possible threat after the foreign security services issued their warning.
The sophistication of the Easter-morning attacks indicated to Sri Lankan and international terror experts that whoever carried them out likely had help from experienced international terrorists, perhaps even al Qaeda or Islamic State, Sri Lankan officials said.
“We have found that NTJ was involved in the attacks,” said Rajitha Senaratne, a government spokesman and the country’s health commissioner, using an abbreviation for what he called “a local organization.”
The U.S. has revoked an entry visa for Fatou Bensouda, the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor.
The office of the prosecutor confirmed the information to dpa on Friday.
The U.S. wants to prevent the court from opening an investigation into alleged crimes by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Bensouda can still travel to New York when she has to report to the United Nations Security Council, the spokesperson said, adding that the prosecutor’s work will continue despite the visa issue.
Bensouda had requested judicial approval for an official investigation, saying there is sufficient evidence of war crimes and proof that U.S. soldiers and CIA employees tortured or brutally handled prisoners in 2003 and 2004.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had already threatened to revoke entry visas for employees of the court.
The U.S. is not a signatory to the statute governing the International Criminal Court and has rejected the judicial body’s legitimacy for years.
The International Criminal Court prosecutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It is based on the Rome Statute, which entered into force in 2002.
A total of 122 countries signed the statue, including all EU member states.
Let's recall that five Nigerians allegedly broke into a Bureau De Change in Sharjah Area of Dubai and robbed it.
Shortly after the incident, a travel and tours agent, Africholidays, issued a statement online that Nigerian passport holders were no longer entitled to three months visa in UAE.
Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs, has described the action as disgraceful.
New getting to us has it that The United Arab Emirates Embassy in Nigeria has denied suspending or stopping the issuance of three months visa to Nigerians travelling to the country as a result of a robbery allegedly involving five Nigerians in Dubai.
The embassy in its Twitter handle @UAEEmbassyNGR said:
“In the light of the press report published this morning (Thursday 4/4/2019) alleging that the United Arab Emirates has suspended issuing tourist Visa to Nigerian nationals, the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Abuja would like to announce these news are inaccurate and stresses the importance of sourcing news from its official channel”.
Meanwhile, the mission told News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday that “there were no changes in the visa policy at all”.
In a statement, the embassy said:
“In light of the press reports published this morning, and alleging that the United Arab Emirates has suspended issuing tourist visas to Nigerian nationals, the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Abuja would like to announce these news are inaccurate, and stresses the importance of getting the news from its official channels."
Many Nigerians visit UAE, especially Dubai, on business trips.
Sterling will rally three per cent if the Brexit gridlock is resolved and Britain looks likely to leave the European Union with a deal, but the currency will tumble five per cent if negotiations fail, a Reuters poll found.
The pound tanked after the June 2016 referendum result — as predicted by Reuters polls beforehand — and was trading at around 1.31 dollar on Thursday, far weaker than it was ahead of the vote.
Since the decision to leave, the pound has gyrated wildly on any Brexit news and largely shrugged off economic data, including recent private surveys which suggested Britain’s economy is likely to shrink in coming months.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would seek another Brexit delay to agree an EU divorce deal with the opposition Labour Party leader, a last-ditch gambit to break an impasse over Britain’s departure.
Nearly three years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in a shock referendum result, it is still unclear how, when or even if it will ever quit the European club it joined in 1973.
May secured a Withdrawal Agreement with the EU in November, but has failed to get the support of British lawmakers, leaving the country’s road out of the EU unclear.
If that road is smooth and Britain leaves with a deal, sterling will gain around three per cent, the April 1-4 poll predicted.
If the road is blocked and no deal is made, the pound will fall five per cent.
“Looser fiscal policy and a Brexit deal could lead to higher interest rates and push up the pound,” said Thomas Pugh at Capital Economics.
Another option is that Britain asks for a long delay to Brexit which would prolong the uncertainty.
“But if it looks like the road out will be extended, the pound will edge up around 1.75 per cent, according to the poll.
“Political clouds could be darkening the skies over the outlook for GBP for a long time yet,” said Jane Foley at Rabobank.
Foley was the most accurate forecaster for major currencies in Reuters’ polls last year.
The wider poll of nearly 70 foreign exchange strategists said the pound would be trading at 1.32 dollar in a month, 1.35 dollar in six months and have strengthened to 1.38 dollar in a year, indicating respondents do not expect a disorderly Brexit.
But highlighting the uncertainty, the 12-month forecast range was wide, going from 1.27 dollar to 1.56 dollar.
A Reuters’ poll of economists last month found the vast majority of them saying the two sides would settle eventually on a free-trade deal, as they have in all Reuters’ polls since late 2016.
That poll also predicted the Bank of England would raise borrowing costs towards the end of this year and then again in the latter half of 2020.
In contrast, the European Central Bank will not be raising interest rates until at least July next year, another Reuters’ poll predicted, but that differential won’t give the pound any support against the common currency.
Across all four touch points in the forecast horizon — one, three, six and 12 months — one euro was predicted to be worth 85.0 pence.
It was valued at around 85.3 pence on Thursday.
A young Nigerian woman who is helping thousands of sexual and domestic abuse victims has been named Commonwealth Young Person of the Year.
Twenty-eight-year-old Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi is among four exceptional young people from India, Nigeria, the Solomon Islands and Saint Lucia have won prizes at the 2019 Commonwealth Youth Awards in recognition of their efforts to end hunger, sexual violence, sanitation issues and climate change.
A ceremony was held today at the Commonwealth’s headquarters in London, where winners shared a £12,000 grant for their innovative projects.
The Commonwealth Youth Awards regional winners are:
- Africa and Europe: Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, Nigeria, focus on SDG 5: Gender Equality
- Asia: Padmanaban Gopalan, India, focus on SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- The Caribbean and Canada: Johanan Dujon, Saint Lucia, focus on SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- The Pacific: Bobby Siarani, Solomon Islands, focus on SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Oluwaseun, who also scooped the overall prize of 2019 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year, set up the ‘Stand to End Rape’ (STER) initiative.
A survivor of sexual violence herself, she set up the service to offer support to women, men and young people who have experienced any form of gender-based abuse in Nigeria.
STER trains healthcare workers how to deal with survivors and provides them with free health kits such as HIV tests.
Speaking at the awards, she said:
“I dream of a future where this work is not required. I dream of the day when sexual violence is completely eradicated from this world.”
Oluwaseun’s work has reached over 200,000 people providing pro-bono medical, legal, mental health, educational and empowerment services.
Her sentiments were echoed by an Indian socio-entrepreneur, Padmanaban Gopalan, who hopes to end hunger.
He founded the ‘No Food Waste’ programme in India which sees 12,000 volunteers collect surplus food from parties and restaurants. The volunteers then deliver it to ‘hunger spots’ in India to feed the hungry.
He said:
“My programme has recovered over 650,000 meals in my country which have benefited nearly one million people.”
From Saint Lucia, Johanan Dujon founded an indigenous biotechnology company ‘Algas Organics’. His company develops commercial agricultural products from harmful Sargassum seaweed.
These products unblock fish landing sites and reduce the harmful effect of the seaweed’s hydrogen sulphide emissions on local communities.
Speaking at the ceremony, he said: “Saint Lucia heavily depends on tourism. This seaweed problem has been having a crippling effect on our tourism and local fishery sector.
“We have developed a process to transform this seaweed to highly quality fertiliser that we now export to other countries.”
Johanan hopes to use his grant to expand his work to other affected small island states in Africa and the Pacific.
Solomon Island’s advocate for sustainable livelihoods, Bobby Siarani, founded a bio-gas initiative to address waste disposal and sanitation issues. The project delivered biogas-based construction workshops to over 500 young people and has provided clean energy to hundreds of people in rural areas of his country.
Bobby plans to use his Commonwealth grant to take his initiative to remote areas in the Solomon Islands.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, who presented the awards, said:
“The pace, depth and scope of development in any society depend on how well its youth are nurtured and supported.
“This means providing the space for young people to thrive, to contribute and to realise their potential.
“In such an environment, they are able to exercise their rights and citizenship, and to find fulfilment and purpose; passing on to others the gains and positive values that come from the true community.”
Every year the Commonwealth Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work recognise the exceptional contribution of young people, aged 15-29, of 53 Commonwealth countries who are leading initiatives in view of the sustainable development goals.
From more than 500 nominations from over 45 countries, 16 finalists were chosen by a panel of judges including representatives of high commissions, partner organisations and young leaders.
The 12 additional finalists for the awards were:
Africa and Europe:
- Alice Mukashyaka, Rwanda
- Brenda Katwesigye, Uganda
- Turatsinze Mafigi Victor, Uganda
Asia:
- Siti Najihah Kamilah Binti Latif, Brunei
- Sai Venkata Satya Kedar Illa, India
- Shanza Khan Shahani, Pakistan
The Caribbean and Canada:
- Ryan Robinson Perinchief, Bermuda
- Ashley Komangaapik Rose Cummings, Canada
- Curmira Gulston, Trinidad and Tobago
The Pacific:
- Sivendra Michael, Fiji
- Zoe Paisley and Lisa Paisley, Fiji
- Angelica Salele and Isabell Rasch, Samoa
This is the 30th year of the Commonwealth Youth Awards which are run by the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) to promote the innovation, creativity and potential of young people in solving socio-economic and environmental challenges.
News just reaching us has it that the Nigerian Government have banned Boeing’s 737 Max 8 aircraft from operating in its airspace.
The decision was announced by the Minister of Aviation (State), Hadi Sirika, at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which held Wednesday in Abuja.
The meeting was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, Mr Sirika said the decision follows the recent crash involving the aircraft type owned by Ethiopian Airline.
The crash killed all 157 persons on board on Sunday morning. The flight was heading for Nairobi, Kenya.
The Ethiopian crash occurred about five months after Indonesia’s Lion Air-operated Boeing 737 Max also crashed into the sea killing all on board after taking off.
Mr Sirika said he had earlier tweeted that there was no cause for alarm as no operator in Nigeria was using the type of airplane.
He said the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has already issued an advisory statement saying
“that nobody should fly out of Nigeria or into Nigeria using the 737 Max pending the determination of the actual cause of the crash in Ethiopia and also pending the outcome of the response of the manufacturer themselves which is Messrs Boeing”.
The minister said regardless of the enormous safety records of the 737, it has caused concern for the world of aviation.
“We have issued directives that no operators with 737 (8) or (9) should operate into or out of our airports,” he said.
The decision by the Nigerian Government follows a similar decision taken by several other countries.
Black box found among the wreckage of doomed Ethiopian Airlines plane as eyewitnesses describe the horror
As passengers and governments grow increasingly nervous about MAX 8 aircraft, the regulators have issued strict orders to Boeing.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has demanded Boeing make design changes to its 737 MAX aircraft by next month as doubt continues to set in over the safety of the best-selling aircraft used worldwide.
In a notice to the international community a day after the fatal crash of an Ethiopian Airlines MAX 8, the FAA deemed the US-made 737 MAX planes airworthy but outlined changes Boeing needed to deliver by April.
They included “flight control system enhancements” and changes to an automated protection system called the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.
The FAA also said Boeing would update training requirements and flight crew manuals to reflect those updates.
It had been reported Boeing had planned design changes after the fatal crash of a Lion Air 737 MAX 8 in October, but the FAA notice is the first public confirmation of this.
The notice from the FAA also noted external reports had drawn similarities between both crashes.
“However, this investigation has just begun and to date, we have not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions,”
according to the Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community for Boeing 737 MAX 8 operators.
Airlines in China, Indonesia, Ethiopia, the Cayman Islands and Singapore have grounded MAX 8 jets in the wake of Sunday’s tragedy while passengers grow increasingly nervous about flying the planes.
Earlier, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said there would be “immediate action” if regulators identified any safety issue with the 737 MAX planes.
“If the FAA identifies an issue that affects safety, the department will take immediate and appropriate action,” Ms Chao told reporters.
“I want people to be assured that we take these incidents, these accidents very seriously.”
BLACK BOXES RECOVERED
Investigators have recovered both black box recorders from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 that crashed just outside Addis Ababa, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew.
It’s hoped the flight recorders will help piece together the plane’s final minutes, as witnesses describe the horrific sight of the plane before it crashed.
An airline official said one of the recorders was partially damaged and “we will see what we can retrieve from it.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.
The plane was making a strange rattling noise and trailed smoke and debris as it swerved above a field of panicked cows before hitting earth, according to witnesses.
Flight 302 took off from the Ethiopian capital on Sunday morning bound for Nairobi with passengers from more than 30 countries.
All on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 died.
The pilot had requested permission to return, saying he was having problems — but it was too late.
Eyewitness Gebeyehu Fikadu, 25, told CNN he saw it come down while collecting firewood with other locals.
He said:
“I was in the mountain nearby when I saw the plane reach the mountain before turning around with a lot of smoke coming from the back and then crashed at this site.
“It crashed with a large boom. When it crashed luggage and clothes came burning down.
“Before it crashed the plane was swerving and dipping with a lot of smoke coming from the back and also making a very loud unpleasant sound before hitting the ground.”
Half a dozen witnesses interviewed by Reuters in the farmland where the plane came down reported smoke billowing out behind, while four of them also described a loud sound.
“It was a loud rattling sound. Like straining and shaking metal,”
said Turn Buzuna, a 26-year-old housewife and farmer who lives about 300 metres from the crash site.
“Everyone says they have never heard that kind of sound from a plane and they are under a flight path,” she added.
Malka Galato, 47, a barley and wheat farmer whose field the plane crashed in, also described smoke and sparks from the back.
“The plane was very close to the ground and it made a turn … Cows that were grazing in the fields ran in panic,” he said.
Tamirat Abera, 25, was walking past the field at the time. He said the plane turned sharply, trailing white smoke and items like clothes and papers, then crashed about 300 metres away.
“It tried to climb but it failed and went down nose first,” he said.
“There was fire and white smoke which then turned black.”
As the plane had only just taken off, it was loaded with fuel. At the crash site, men in Red Cross jackets and face masks picked through a large crater, stacking clothes in a heap on one side and wrapping corpses in white body bags.
Others sifted gently through victims’ belongings. Children’s books — Dr Seuss’ Oh The Thinks You Can Think and Anne of Green Gables — lay near a French-English dictionary burnt along one edge.
A woman’s brown handbag, the bottom burnt, lay open next to an empty bottle of perfume.
The smell of jet fuel mixed with burned flesh hung in the air, as local villagers watched.
Another heap contained twisted green-and-yellow metal from the fuselage. A lone engine with dents around the edges and several damaged tyres lay nearby.
The aircraft was broken into small pieces, the largest among them a wheel and a dented engine. The debris was spread over land roughly the size of two football fields.
“When it was hovering, fire was following its tail, then it tried to lift its nose,” said another witness, Gadisa Benti.
“When it passed over our house, the nose pointed down and the tail raised up. It went straight to the ground with its nose, it then exploded.”
Local resident Nigusu Tesema helped gather victims’ scattered identity papers to hand to police.
“We are shocked and saddened,” he said.
Botswana has agreed to extend a 95 million U.S. dollars credit line to Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube, said on Thursday.
He told Xinhua on the sidelines of the inaugural session of the Botswana-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission (BNC) in Harare that the details of the facility were still being worked out.
“I cannot say much because the Presidents of the two countries are still working out the details but I can confirm that Botswana has agreed to extend a 1 billion Pula credit line to Zimbabwe,’’ Mthuli Ncube said.
Earlier, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi confirmed the monetary deal, saying his country had raised the facility from the initial to 1 billion in response to a question during the BNC meeting.
Both Masisi and Ncube did not specify what the credit line will be used for.
The announcement of the credit line came a day after the Botswana government denied media reports that it had extended a 600 million U.S. dollars credit facility to Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a crippling foreign currency shortage that has affected the importation of essential commodities such as fuel and medical drugs.
In a bid to tame the thriving foreign currency black market that has eroded currency value and competitiveness of the country’s exports, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe earlier introduced a foreign exchange inter-bank market where the local currency can be traded against the U.S. dollar and other currencies at market rates.
The local currency debuted at 2.50 against the U.S. dollar Feb. 22, lower than black market rates of around 3.60.
After Successful 111th Winter Meeting in Washington, Governors to Talk Jobs of the Future in Des Moines
WASHINGTON — Forty-eight governors were among 1,911 attendees who converged on Washington for the 111th annual Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association, which brought together leaders from around the world with leading thinkers and doers in finance, criminal justice, technology, energy, health, trade and more.
Turnout was the second-highest in the history of the annual meeting in Washington, exceeded only by the 1,983, including a large delegation from Ghana, who attended the 2018 Winter Meeting.
Governors spent time with President Trump, Vice President Pence, Cabinet secretaries, and representatives of countries including Canada, Mexico, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Egypt, the Philippines, Croatia, Slovenia and more.
In a White House meeting Monday, the final day of the four-day Winter Meeting, President Trump highlighted prospects for federal legislation on infrastructure, which is a top priority for governors.
In addition to the vast majority of governors of states and territories, the Winter Meeting was attended by 35 governors’ spouses and174 staff members.
Building off of the success of the conference at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, Governors Steve Bullock of Montana, the NGA chair; Larry Hogan of Maryland, the vice chair; and Kim Reynolds of Iowa are scheduled to meet in Des Moines March 4-5 for a workshop on Gov. Bullock’s Good Jobs for All Americans initiative. The media are invited to cover much of the first day of the workshop, which will cover strategies to empower rural communities, reskill mid-career workers and create a future-ready workforce.
NGA’s Summer Meeting, its other large annual convening of governors, is scheduled for July in Salt Lake City.
The Nigerian government says the UK Commercial Court has granted its request for ‘relief from sanction’ over the $6.59 billion award against it by the District Circuit Court in Washington DC for alleged breach of contract.
Following Nigeria’s refusal to enter an appeal for over five years, the award attracted an additional $2.3 billion in accumulated interest at 7 percent rate per annum.
On January 31, 2017, the three-man tribunal constituted under the rules of the Arbitration Act 1996 (England and Wales) and the Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act (CAP A18 LFN 2004), gave the final award of $8.9 billion against Nigeria.
In March 2018, P & ID initiated recognition and enforcement proceedings against Nigeria in both UK and us courts.
But the Nigerian government’s defense team, led by the UK Law Firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, had argued in the U.S. proceedings that confirmation and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award against a foreign state would violate the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
The team said confirmation of the award was also against the Federal Arbitration Act and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”).
On June 5, 2018, P&ID moved to obtain a clerk’s entry of default against Nigeria. But the federal government challenged the District Court’s jurisdiction in the U.S., demanding the dismissal of P&ID’s petition.
In July 2018, a Nigerian government legal team led by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was in Washington DC to ask the court to set aside the award.
The legal team, which also included the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Apata, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, was joined by the team of foreign solicitors.
But, the court presided over by Justice Christopher Cooper denied the team’s request for the dismissal of the petition for being belated.
However, a statement from the Attorney-General’s office sent to COLOSSUS GISTS on Wednesday said the Nigerian government’s request for a stay of proceedings in the case was granted on October 9, 2018 pending a determination of its appeal.
On its part, P&ID also filed motions asking the court to dismiss Nigeria’s appeal as frivolous and allow proceedings in the District Court to continue pending determination of the appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The AGF said the US District Court on November 1, 2018, upheld Nigeria’s request and rejected P & ID’s attempt to lift the stay of proceedings.
At the hearing held on December 21, 2018 in the UK, P & ID sought to obtain a default judgment against Nigeria on account of its late filing of an acknowledgment of service, which was outside the period prescribed by the Commercial Court.
But the Court of Appeal last week Friday, February 15, dismissed P&ID’s motion and summarily affirmed the scheduling order of the US District Court.
The statement said the Court of Appeal’s ruling will offer Nigeria an extension of time to file its arguments on the merits at a subsequent hearing originally billed for last Friday, but now re-listed for hearing on May 21.
“The Federal Government intends to vigorously defend its interests in the United Kingdom. It is entirely proper for Nigeria to raise and to strongly assert all available and proper defenses to the claims brought by P&ID,” the statement from the Attorney-General’s office said.
The Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata, has always insisted Nigeria did not default in the contract as P&ID never began the construction of the project to warrant its $40 million claim allegedly incurred as preliminary expenses.
HOW THE BATTLE BEGAN
On January 11, 2010, P&ID signed a gas supply and processing agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on behalf of the Nigerian government.
Under the terms of the agreement, P&ID was to build and operate an Accelerated Gas Development project at Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The federal government was to source for natural gas from oil mining leases (OMLs) 123 and 67 operated by Addax Petroleum and supply to P&ID for 20 years to refine into fuel suitable for power generation in the country.
The lean gas to be produced from the wet gas was to belong to the government, while ownership of the residual hydrocarbons would be vested in P&ID as consideration for processing the wet gas to lean gas.
Initial volume was about 150 million cubic feet of gas per day, and eventually to ramp up to about 400 million cubic feet per day during the 20-year period.
However, P&ID alleged that after signing the agreement, the federal government reneged on its obligation after it opened a negotiation with the Cross River State government for allocation of land for the project.
P&ID said the failure to construct the pipeline system to supply the gas frustrated the construction of the gas project, thereby depriving it the potential benefits expected from 20 years’ worth of gas supplies.
The company said several attempts to settle out of court with the federal government failed.
In August 2012, P&ID served the Nigerian government a Request for Arbitration.
The federal government argued before the tribunal that the failure of P&ID to acquire the site and build the gas processing facilities was a fundamental breach, as no gas could be delivered until this was done.
But the tribunal ruled that the Nigerian government’s obligations under Article 6B of the agreement were not conditional upon P&ID constructing the gas processing facilities.
The tribunal upheld P&ID’s application requesting damages for alleged breach of contract by the government.
Two members of the three-man tribunal, Lord Hoffmann and Anthony Evans, held that P&ID’s expenditure and income should have been about $6.597 billion if the GSPA was duly performed by government.
Both officials said the award should be paid together with interest at the rate of 7 percent from March 20, 2013.
The other member, who is Nigeria’s former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Bayo Ojo, in his minority ruling said although P&ID was entitled to compensation for the breach, its damages could not have been more than three years from the date of the alleged breach.
Mr Ojo said P&ID should not be paid more than $250 million as damages.
The tribunal said damages were calculated as the present value of 20-year income, minus certain capital and operating costs incurred from building and running the refining facility.
And considering that the award was unpaid since 2013, accumulated uncollected interest at 7 percent per annum would be about $2.3 billion as of March 2018.
Although the federal government challenged the award, P&ID said Nigeria was bound by a treaty to pay up, having waived its right to immunity as a sovereign nation when it signed the agreement.
On March 16, 2018, P&ID in its application seeking enforcement of the award said “The final award is governed by such a treaty — the New York Convention. So, Nigeria’s status as a foreign sovereign does not deprive the court of jurisdiction to confirm the award,” the company said.
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