Casinos set to reopen in Nevada

The Governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak has announced that from June 4, the casinos of the state including gambling meccas Las Vegas, are allowed to reopen.

This is coming after two and a half months of unprecedented shutdowns. But with social distancing guidelines and other protective measures in place, betting against the house will likely look different for the foreseeable future.

It is possible that plexiglass barriers will likely be new features at card tables and slot machines, along with regulations limiting three players at a time for blackjack and four for poker.

According to the Associated Press, there are three Nevada businesses that won’t be cleared for reopening come June 4. They include brothels, night clubs and strip clubs.

See the new normal life for post COVID-19

While we all are hoping and praying for the total eradication of the deadly COVID-19 from the world, a fact remains that life will not go back to the normal that we were used to. Even if it will, it'll probably take months or years for us to get there.

But for now, we hope and pray. When the virus is gone, we'll figure ourselves out and every other thing will fall in place for life.

Some places across the globe are already beginning to ease their coronavirus restrictions. Businesses are reopening, and so are some schools and sports leagues. But everything looks much different than what we are used to.

These pictures go a long way to show just how much our daily lives have changed because of Covid-19.

CAN meets on the issue of church reopening

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) are to hold a virtual meeting with Christian leaders yesterday to review guidelines, which would prevent the spread of COVID-19 in churches after the reopening of worship centres in the country.

We learnt that the guidelines would be submitted to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control for review and advice.

This was prompted by a call by the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, at the press conference of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, that faith-based organisations, including churches and mosques, should submit guidelines for reopening to the NCDC to review and advise them.

In an interview, the Special Assistant on Media and Communications to CAN President, Adebayo Oladeji, revealed that the association was working on the guidelines.

A top official of CAN told reporters that consultations with various groups within the blocs in CAN were ongoing in anticipation of the Wednesday meeting.

“The CAN President, Reverend Supo Ayokunle, is very busy at the moment as he has been having a series of meetings with various groups for hours. We are not sure of how long the meeting would last because there are two more groups waiting to meet with him separately this evening.

This is related to the guidelines on modalities to follow after the lockdown is lifted. There will be a clearer picture by tomorrow (Wednesday). After the consultation with the leaders of the blocs in CAN, a virtual meeting would hold. Perhaps, the online meeting on Wednesday (today) would lead to the constitution of a committee that would make a recommendation on the final steps to be taken.

After the meeting, a clear picture will be given. I think the foundation upon which steps to follow would be based is being laid at the moment,” he said.

Breaking : Trump threatens to close down social media

President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has threatened to close down social media platforms after Twitter labelled two of his tweets “unsubstantiated” and accused him of making false claims. He tweeted :

“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down before we can ever allow this to happen."

COVID-19 : French Government stops use of hydroxychloriquine

The French government said Wednesday that doctors can no longer treat COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine, a controversial and potentially harmful drug nonetheless being promoted by US President Donald Trump.

The move came after two French advisory bodies and the World Health Organization warned this week that the drug, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, had been shown to be potentially dangerous in several studies.

The urgency of the coronavirus outbreak has prompted some doctors to prescribe the drug despite a lack of research to demonstrate its effectiveness against the new coronavirus.

A French infectious disease specialist, in particular, insists he has successfully treated dozens of patients with hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin.

The doctor, Didier Raoult, has caught the ear of Trump, who stunned his own administration last week by revealing he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against COVID-19.

Raoult has already rejected a comprehensive study published last week in The Lancet medical journal, which found that administering hydroxychloroquine or its related compound chloroquine actually increased the risk of dying for many patients.

“How can a messy study done with ‘big data’ change what we see?” Raoult asked in a video posted this week. Here we have had 4,000 people go through our hospital, you don’t think I’m going to change because there are people who do ‘big data,’ which is a kind of completely delusional fantasy,” he said.

Under the new French rules, the drug can be used only in clinical trials — making it unclear if Raoult would be able to continue using it at his hospital in Marseille.

Hydroxychloroquine, also used to treat malaria, is sold under the brand name Plaquenil by French pharma giant Sanofi, which promised to offer governments millions of doses if studies proved it could be safely used in the coronavirus fight.

It has long been known to produce serious side effects, including heart arrhythmia, in some people.

The French government changed the rules in March to let doctors prescribe it for coronavirus infection, hoping to find a treatment quickly since a vaccine is not expected until next year at the earliest.

President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Marseille to meet Raoult, a move critics warned could be interpreted as endorsement of a treatment that has sharply divided medical experts.

A few weeks later, France’s ANSM drugs agency warned of a sharp rise in reports of hydroxychloroquine side effects since the outbreak.

On Tuesday, the agency said it would suspend clinical trials with the drug for COVID-19, in line with a move by the WHO to pause trials for a safety review.

France’s HCSP health advisory council also advised Tuesday against using the drug as a coronavirus treatment.

US regulators have also advised against taking the drug because of health risks, but that has not deterred Trump, who said last week that “I’ve heard a lot of good stories” about its potential in the coronavirus fight.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is also promoting hydroxychloroquine, and the country’s health ministry said Monday that it would keep recommending it despite the WHO suspending trials.

"Consider yourself sacked" - El Rufai to striking health workers

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai has warned health workers in the state on strike against industrial action. He made it clear that any worker who fails to report for duty should consider himself/herself sacked.

The threat came after the seven-day strike called by the health workers in the state for the deductions carried out by the government on their salaries.

However, El Rufai vowed to keep the health facilities running and to protect staff members willing to provide services to the public. In his official response to the notice of strike issued by the health workers, said that he would not succumb to blackmail.

A statement signed his by Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, warned:

“Government rejects the strike threat and will regard persons who fail to show up at their assigned places of work as having forfeited their employment. Every health worker that is willing to work is required to sign the register at the Ministry of Health and the health institutions to which they are deployed.”

Amnesty International demands release of Jolayemi

Amnesty International, a human rights group has called on the Nigeria Police Force for the immediate release of broadcast journalist, Rotimi Jolayemi, who has spent three weeks in custody for criticising the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Jolayemi, who anchors a Yoruba radio programme, ‘Bi aye se ri’ on Osun State Broadcasting Service and Radio Kwara, was arrested on May 5, 2020 by the police for reciting a poem which criticised the minister.

It was reported earlier that Jolayemi’s wife, Dorcas, and his two brothers were arrested and they spent over a week in police custody when they could not produce him. They were only released when the journalist turned himself in.

Jolayemi, who is the Vice-Chairman, Freelance and Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria, Osun State Chapter, was subsequently brought to Abuja where he has remained since May 7.

Reacting to the arrests, in a tweet, Amnesty International said that the arrest of the journalist and his wife was unlawful.

“Jolayemi, a journalist was unlawfully arrested on May 6, 2020, over a poem considered critical of the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed. His wife too was unlawfully detained for eight days in squalid condition. We are calling on authorities to immediately release him,” the tweet read in part.

China to loosen flight restrictions

After fierce criticism from citizens stranded abroad, China will loosen a cap on flights into the country that was imposed to block coronavirus infections from abroad.

"The country drastically cut international flight routes in March and slapped an entry ban on most foreigners over fears about importing a second wave of infections.

Authorities currently allow domestic and foreign airlines to maintain only one weekly route either to or from China.

But from June, the number of permitted flights will nearly triple to 407 per week", Civil Aviation Administration of China Li Jian said in an interview with state media.

That is still just a fraction of the roughly 9,000 flights a week handled by the country’s airports before the pandemic.

The move comes after thousands of frustrated social media users vented their anger on the CAAC’s official Weibo page, often with expletive-laden comments about the high price of tickets on the limited number of flights.

Some said they had been asked by airlines to pay as much as 30,000 yuan ($4,200) for the few seats available.

“Do you think we’re all money-printing machines?” one user wrote.

Many of the Chinese nationals waiting to return home are among China’s population of 1.6 million students studying abroad.

Beijing arranged emergency flights to repatriate its citizens stranded abroad as the virus spread around the world, but demand has far outstripped supply.

Dozens of people were arrested in Nepal earlier this month after a protest in Kathmandu by stranded Chinese nationals turned violent.

The demonstrators held placards with messages such as “I want to go home!” and threw stones at police, local authorities said.

Friday will see the first mass trip by Europeans to the country in months.

Some 200 people will fly from Frankfurt to the eastern city of Tianjin on Friday, German Chamber of Commerce in North China executive director Jens Hildebrandt told AFP.

A second flight from Frankfurt to Shanghai is scheduled for June 3.

All international arrivals in China are currently required to undergo a COVID-19 test and complete a mandatory quarantine.

Zlatan releases pictures of his son

Nigerian rapper, Zlatan Ibile has released adorable photos of his son today, to celebrate him on children's day.

Zlatan welcomed the cute baby boy, Toluwalase Shiloh Ainoghena Omoniyi with his partner on 29th of March, 2020.

He also flaunted a tattoo of the baby's name that ran the length of his arm.

He posted adorable photos of his son and wrote,

"29/03/2020 A LEGEND WAS BORN 🌎. Toluwalase Shiloh Ainoghena Omoniyi❤️.
Happy Children’s Day ✌🏽️"

Meet man who makes love to shoes!

Have you ever seen anyone make love to shoes? We wake up everyday to new cases of weird and abnormal, and we think we've seen it all with nothing more new to see.

It's a thing to have a fetish for shoes, it's an entirely different thing to look at them and desire to cuddle, kiss and make love to shoes! This is the case here.

A 24 year old man who was identified as Theerapat Klaiya has an unusual fetish for shoes. He was arrested by police in Thailand after his neighbors complained severally that their shoes had gotten missing. Thailand Police said,

"Theerapat Klaiya, was found with 126 pairs of flip flops that he had stolen from locals in Nonthaburi, central Thailand, and when questioned he said he stole them to 'kiss, cuddle and have sex with them.'"

Officers apprehended Klaiya using footage from CCTV set up outside his latest alleged victim’s home.