COVID-19 : US companies lay off 44.2m workers

It has been reported that the total number of US layoffs caused by the coronavirus pandemic has reached 44.2 million. This is coming even as businesses try to reopen, and analysts warn of continuing damage to the world’s largest economy as COVID-19 shows few signs of abating.

Wall Street stocks plunged on Thursday, reversing recent momentum as traders became spooked by resurgent cases of the virus in parts of the country and new Labor Department data showed another 1.54 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week.

The massive layoffs have become routine since shutdowns to stop the coronavirus from spreading began in mid-March, reaching their peak later that month and declining since.

Some workers are back on the job as states reopen, but the total for the week ended June 6 is still well above any figure seen during the global financial crisis in 2008, even though it fell 355,000 from the prior week.

Rubeela Farooqi of High-Frequency Economics said that the data shows the US economy is clearly not back to normal.

“States and businesses have reopened, but activity remains restricted and subdued, which will likely result in ongoing layoffs over coming weeks,” she said in an analysis.

COVID-19 remains a stubborn threat in the United States, which continues to record around 20,000 new cases every day with few signs of reduction. States like Texas and North Carolina are seeing more patients hospitalized with the virus than a month ago.

Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday released forecasts projecting the US economy would contract by 6.5 percent this year, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that some workers may not find jobs for a long time.

The Labour Department data showed about 20.9 million people were receiving unemployment payments in the week ended May 30, down from 21.3 million the week before – indicating that people were either returning to work or had their initial claims denied.

All told, the report was in line with May’s unemployment rate, which declined to 13.3 percent from 14.7 percent in April as the US economy added 2.5 million jobs.

Lady blames 2 year old for rape, loses custody of her children

Remember the lady who blamed her 2  year old child and beat her up for being raped? She has lost custody of her children, including the 2 year old.

It was reported that the Lady recently  beat up her 2-year-old daughter and called her a prostitute. This was after she allegedly caught a man raping her. 

After the video of the evil she did went viral, actions were put in place to take her two children away from her.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mrs. Yewande Falugba, led the rescue of the children at Oniru beach, where they lived with their mother.

She said that the two children, believed to have been abused, were taken for medical examination and treatment, adding that they are currently placed in one of the government-approved orphanages in the State for adequate care.

Falugba added that their mother, who was discovered to be mentally imbalanced, has since been taken to the State-owned rehabilitation center for mentally challenged persons.

Photo credit - Instablog 

Quarantine : British airways, others sue UK govt

British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair are the three airlines that announced that they are taking legal actions against the UK government. 

They made the disclosure today and said that it is in relation to the flawed mandatory 14-day quarantine for international travellers by the UK government.

The policy was introduced earlier this week as part of measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus disease with UK being one of the most hit by the virus.

British residents and overseas visitors must comply with the 14-day self-isolation rules or face a £1,000 ($1,250, 1,125-euro) fine or prosecution.

The two-week quarantine measure has, however, sparked condemnation from the ailing aviation sector which has been paralysed by the pandemic since March.

The three airlines said the policy will “have a devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy and destroy thousands of jobs” and they have asked for their judicial review “to be heard as soon as possible”.

“There was no consultation and no scientific evidence provided for such a severe policy,” they added as among the reasons for instituting the legal action.

Critics continue to question why the British government was bent on inflicting more pain on hotels and airlines by reducing travel from countries with fewer virus cases.

The airlines disagreed with the move, insisting that the government reinstate measures introduced on March 10 which saw only passengers from “high risk” countries quarantined.

“This would be the most practical and effective solution and enables civil servants to focus on other, more significant, issues arising from the pandemic while bringing the UK in line with much of Europe which is opening its borders mid-June,” they added.

According to the World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Situation Dashboard as of Friday morning, Britain has reported 290,147 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 41,128 associated deaths.

Court remands journalist who criticised Lai Mohammed

Rotimi Jolayemi, the Journalist who criticised Lai Mohammed has been remanded on the order of the Federal High Court in Abuja. This took place on Thursday. 

It can be recalled that the journalist was arrested for his Yoruba poetic song which criticised the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Justice Anwuli Chikere ordered Jolayemi’s remand after he was arraigned on six counts including alleged spreading of an audio file said to have caused annoyance, ill will, hatred, and insults towards the minister.

The judge ordered the defendant to be remanded in the Nigeria Police Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department headquarters, in Abuja, pending the hearing of his bail application.

The arraignment took place after the prosecuting counsel, Joseph Offor, announced an amendment to the charges marked FHC/ABJ/CB/104/2020 on Thursday.

As part of the amendment, the prosecution sought to add to its list of witnesses. Jolayemi’s lawyer, Soji Toki, did not oppose the request for amendment.

The accused journalist, who complained of ill health, pleaded not guilty to amended charges of six counts. The case was adjourned till June 16.

EFCC is probing ex and serving Governors - Magu

It has come to our notice that the EFCC is investigating ex and serving state governors for graft. This was made known by the acting Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Magu.

He also said that suspects who worked hand in hand with the governors were being invited for questioning. However, he did not disclose the identities of those under probe, his reasons being that saying such would jeopardise investigations.

Speaking at a press conference marking the 2020 Democracy Day in Abuja on Thursday, Magu said the agency had recovered assets in excess of N980bn in the last five years.

He also disclosed that the commission within the same period recovered a large array of non-monetary assets that include real estate, private jets, oil vessels, filling stations, schools, hotels, trucks, cars, jewellery, shopping malls and electronics. He noted, 

“We are on course in all the cases we are prosecuting, our scorecard in the area of conviction is 2,240 in the last five years and we covered assets in excess of N980bn, with quite a large array of non-monetary assets. 

We are also investigating serving and former governors and questioning those conniving with them.”

On the case of former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Kalu, Magu said the EFCC would go back to court.

The Commissioner of Police added that the investigation by the United Kingdom police into activities of a former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke was taking too long, adding that the EFCC had placed her on a watch list and on red alert by the Interpol system.

Meanwhile, the Lagos zonal office of the EFCC said on Thursday that secured 257 convictions and recovered the sums of N14, 099,952,688.22, $5, 723, 042 and €31,500 in the last one year.

The anti-graft agency added that it arrested 1,444 suspects with over 300 of them, including Internet personality, Ismaila Mustapha, alias Mompha, “and his conspirator, Hamza Khoudeih,” arraigned in court.

A statement on Thursday by the zone’s Head of Public Affairs, Ayo Oyewole, quoted the Lagos Zonal Head of the EFCC, Muhammed Rabo, to have given the figures. Rabo said, 

“In fact, we are prepared, more than ever before, for a more robust collaboration with the FBI this year”.

Netflix partners with Mo Abudu to create magic for our screens

Mo Abudu is a legend and badass when it comes to the world of producing great movies. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

But her going into partnership with Netflix to whip up very big things? We never saw that coming! It's sort of a lot to take in.

Netflix Naija has taken to their Twitter handle to announce that they're partnering with Mo Abudu and her #EbonyLifeTV to bring two of Nigeria’s loved literary classics to our screens.

They revealed the classics to be “Death and the King’s Horseman” by Wole Soyinka and “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives” by Lola Shoneyin.

We are really anticipating! See pictures for more details 

Beelalgy, a police impersonator tracked and exposed!

Beelalgy, a Nigerian man has been tracked down and arrested by the Police on the grounds of impersonation. 

He reportedly lives in Kano and has been spicing up his Instagram page with photos of himself in the Police uniform.

It turned out that Beelalgy isn't a Policeman, but has been posing to be one online. He has been flaunting a lot of pictures of himself in the uniform.

He was tracked by police officers and after series of investigations, it was discovered that he wasn't a policeman afterall.

Here are some pictures from his Instagram page 

June 12 : President Buhari set to address Nigerians on June 12

President Buhari is set to address Nigerians on June 12. In a statement signed by Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, he urged television and radio stations to link up with the network services of the NTA and FRCN for the live broadcast.

As part of programmes to commemorate this year’s June 12, Nigeria’s Democracy Day, President Buhari will address the country on Friday at 7:00am. The statement reads, 

“To commemorate Nigeria’s Democracy Day, President Buhari will broadcast to the Nation on Friday, June 12, 2020 at 7am. 

Television and radio stations as well as other electronic media outlets are enjoined to hook up to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority and Radio Nigeria respectively for the broadcast."

Teacher gets killed in a stabbing attack

The Police has revealed that a teacher died in a stabbing attack in an elementary school in central Slovakia on Thursday. They also added that officers responding to the incident killed the assailant.

Police identified the killer as a 22-year old male, a former student of the school in the town of Vrutky, some 180 kilometres (110 miles) northeast of the capital Bratislava.

The assailant stabbed and killed the deputy principal and injured several others, including a female teacher and two children.

Officers opened fire on the man, killing him around 200 metres (yards) from the school.

“He broke the glass door to get in, the staff tried to stop him and he used a knife he had brought with him,” Slovak police chief Milan Lucansky said on his official Facebook page.

“He dealt a lethal injury to a deputy principal and injured the caretaker, then he got inside the building where he caused a serious injury to a female teacher and then injured two kids with multiple stab wounds,” he said.

“He then tried to escape with the caretaker running after him. A policeman chased him, but he tried to defend himself with the knife so they used their guns and killed him.”

Police had no immediate comment about the motives of the attacker. The injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Martin.

Prime Minister Igor Matovic conveyed his “sincere condolences” to the family of the victim. The interior minister was flying to the scene, Matovic told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of central European leaders in the neighbouring Czech Republic.

Senate confirms appointment of designate ambassadors

On Thursday, the Senate confirmed the appointment of 42 designate ambassadors. 

In a related development, the Upper Chamber confirmed the nomination of James Jiya John Kolo as Commissioner of the Federal Character Commission.

The confirmation of the nominees was sequel to the consideration of the reports of the Senate Committees on Foreign Affairs; and Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd.), in a letter dated May 6, 2020, said that the appointment of the nominees was in accordance to section 171 (1),(2)(c) and subsection (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

A statement from the senate listed the designate ambassadors as C.O Nwachukwu, Abia; A. Kafas, Adamawa; R. U. Brown, Akwa-Ibom; G. A. Odudigbo, Anambra; O. C. Onowu, Anambra; Y. S. Suleiman, Bauchi; E S. Agbana, Bayelsa; B. B. M. Okoyen Bayelsa; G. M. Okoko Benue; A. M. Garba, Borno; M. l. Bashir, Bomo; M. O. Abam, Cross River; A. E. Allotey, Cross River; G. E. Edokpa, Edo; and A. N. Madubuike, Enugu.

Others are Adamu Lamuwa, Gombe; Mr. Innocent A. lwejuo, lmo; M. S. Abubakar, Jigawa; Y. A. Ahmed, Jigawa; S. D. Umar, Kaduna; A. Sule, Kano; G. Y. Hamza, Kano; N. Rimi, Katsina; L S. Ahmed-Remawa, Katsina; M. Manu, Kebbi; l. R. Ocheni, Kogi; l. A. Yusuf, Kogi; M. Abdulraheem, Kwara; Mrs. W. A. Adedeji, Lagos; and A. U. Ogah, Nasarawa.

Also among career designate ambassadors confirmed are A. A. Musa, Niger; N. A. Kolo, Niger; S. O. Olaniyan, Ogun; A. R. Adejola, Ogun, E. Awe Ondo; O. Aluko, Osun; I. A. Alatishe, Osun; V. A. Adeleke, Oyo; M. S. Adamu, Plateau; l. N. Charles, Rivers; Z M. lfu, Taraba; and B. B. Hamman, Yobe.