King Charles will host his first state visit since his accession to the British throne when he welcomes South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. Charles, 74, has played a leading role in many of the recent official visits by the 112 foreign heads of state during the record-breaking seven decades on the throne of his mother Queen Elizabeth, but will roll out the traditional pomp and ceremony for the first time in his own reign. The last state visit hosted by Elizabeth was that by former U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania in 2019.…
Author: TheStories
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and South Sudan have reached a staff-level agreement for the release of about $112.7 million in emergency financing. IMF in a statement on Tuesday said “this emergency financing under the new Food Shock Window will help South Sudan address food insecurity, support social spending, and boost international reserves.’’ The IMF’s executive board will approve the financing in the coming weeks, the fund said. In early November, United Nations agencies said up to 7.8 million people in South Sudan, two-thirds of the population, may face severe food shortages during next year’s April-to-July lean season due to…
The member representing Bodinga/Dange-Shuni/Tureta federal constituency of Sokoto state, Balarabe Shehu Kakale has called on security agencies in the state to call the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the constituency, Nasiru Shehu (alias Bobo) to order against repeated political violence allegedly linked to him. This is contained in a statement titled: “CONDEMNATION OF REPEATED VIOLENCE AND DEATH ASSOCIATED WITH POLITICAL ACTIVITIES OF NASIRU SHEHU BOBO (APC FLAG BEARER OF BODINGA/DANGE-SHUNI/TURETA FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY)”, which he personally signed and made available to newsmen on Monday. “I write to condemn in the strongest terms, the repeated reckless and barbaric political…
This is a corollary to my two articles published in this column on 16th October 2020 and 23rd June 2021, which can be accessed via www.deepthoughtwithmkothman.blogspot.com and it is the concluding part of last week’s piece. As mentioned earlier, an Inter-ministerial Committee was set up for the Development of a National/Multi-Sectorial Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan. Despite the committee’s effort to address the flood tragedy, the nation lost 70 people in the 2021 flooding with over 200,000 people displaced. This year, 2022, the flood incidences occurred with catastrophic severity. Already, over 600 people were reported killed by the flood with millions…
Ghanaian scientists and relevant stakeholders will tomorrow November 21, 2022 commence the development of a Genome Editing National Communication Strategy to deepen understanding and importance. Genome Editing (GEd) can be described as a technique to improve food crops such as yam, plantain, beans and tomatoes to extend shelf life, enhance yield, quality and increase quantity. With application of genome editing, Ghana can reduce postharvest losses, ensure food security, availability, live with impacts of climate crisis and achieve key development milestones. Dr Francis Djankpa, Molecular and Cellular Biologist, and Department Head of Physiology School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast,…
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that former President Jacob Zuma should return to prison to finish his sentence for contempt of court. The court said the decision to release Zuma on early medical parole was unlawful. Zuma was sentenced in 2021 to 15 months’ imprisonment after ignoring a court order to testify at a government inquiry into widespread corruption during his time as president. Zuma was released on medical parole in September 2021 after only serving a fraction of the sentence however, in December the high court set aside the parole decision and ordered him to…
Around 300 victims of gang violence have been found dead in similar circumstances in recent months in Guanajuato, an industrial hub in Mexico. As applause rang out at a nearby international arts festival, Bibiana Mendoza unearthed human remains from a clandestine grave in a Mexican region where prosperity, culture, and cartel violence converge. The 32-year-old woman, who is looking for her missing brother, arrived at the site in the town of Irapuato in Guanajuato state after residents reported seeing a dog carrying a human hand in its mouth. “While people from all over the world were celebrating the Cervantino festival,…
Poland along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, will ask Hungary to promptly ratify the documents on Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said. The two Nordic countries forsook their decades-long neutrality after Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a conventional military conflict that Europe had not seen since World War Two. Morawiecki made the declaration on Sunday in Helsinki where he met with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. “In a few days, I am meeting Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban as part of the Visegrad Group format. I am sure that together with our friends from…
“These letters essentially tell a story that is as deeply personal as it is painstakingly national, and global”, Ololade Bamidele, who coordinated the production of the book, said. “This tour de force of historical writing situates Musikilu Mojeed as a witness and skillful raconteur who deftly manages to braid far-flung pieces into a magisterial whole that unveils the attitudes, worldview, relationships, emotional complexity and stewardship of this enigmatic global statesman, through the correspondences he exchanged with others” The Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed will on 1 December, 2022, release his debut book to the Nigerian public. The book, The Letterman: Inside the…
“India is an important case study for the Sustainable Development Goals, the first of which is to end poverty in all its forms and to reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions by 2030” The number of poor people in India dropped by about 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, a historic change and a demonstration that the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty…