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Migrants march through Mexico, protest against detention 

Zainab Sa'id
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Thousands of migrants detained for months in southern Mexico are marching through Mexico in protest as they head for the capital to speed up their applications for U.S. asylum.

The migrants, mostly Venezuelans, started their march north early in Tapachula, the city bordering Guatemala whose detention centers have been overwhelmed by their vast numbers. Some said they expected to reach Mexico City in about 10 days.

The new caravan has about 3,000 migrants, some from China and other Asian countries, Tapachula authorities estimated.

Also Read: U.S, Mexico to ramp up fight against fentanyl trafficking

Irineo Mujica, director of the non-profit Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders), said the new caravan arose as a form of protest by migrants demanding the closure of detention centers.

Last month, about 40 people died in a fire in one such center in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico.

Fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, thousands of migrants walk together for safety to Mexico each year, crossing several states in hopes of finding a legal route into the United States.

“We joined the caravan to be safer and not be detained,” said Yoani, a Venezuelan migrant, who only gave his first name, by phone.

Out of money, he said his family was hoping to speed up the legal process needed for onward travel in Mexico City.

 

Zainab Sa’id

Russia claims progress in battle for Bakhmut

Zainab Sa'id
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Russia says its forces have advanced in Bakhmut and secured two blocks in the western districts while airborne units were providing reinforcements to the north and south.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private Wagner military force which is leading the Bakhmut assault, has claimed 80% control of the city.

Russia sees Bakhmut as a stepping stone to more advances in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv has repeatedly denied claims its troops are poised to withdraw.

A top Ukrainian commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said his troops were holding the frontline through the city.

Syrskyi shared images on the Telegram messaging app of him poring over a map with three other uniformed men, with the caption “Bakhmut frontline. Our defence continues.”

“We hit the enemy, often unexpectedly for him, and continue to hold strategic lines,” he wrote.

Also Read: Bakhmut: Ukrainian forces cling onto besieged city

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed to keep defending the city.

“It is impossible for us to give up on Bakhmut because this will [help] expand the battle front and will give the Russian forces and Wagner chances to seize more of our lands,” Zelenskiy said in an interview with Al Arabiya news channel published on Sunday.

On Sunday, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region denied a report by a U.S. think tank that Ukrainian forces had taken up positions on the Dnipro river’s eastern bank.

“There is no enemy foothold on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro river … our military completely controls that territory,” Vladimir Saldo wrote on his Telegram channel.

Citing Russian military bloggers embedded with Moscow’s forces, the Institute for the Study of War said Ukraine had “established positions” on the eastern bank, though it was not clear “at what scale or with what intentions”.

Russia withdrew forces from the western bank last year as part of a series of withdrawals that signified a shift in momentum in Kyiv’s favour.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command, neither confirmed nor denied the report, which she told Ukrainian television foreshadowed “very powerful shelling” in districts around the west bank cities of Kherson and Beryslav.

“Reacting to such information, the enemy has significantly intensified its attacks on the opposite bank,” she said. Civilians had been injured and about 30 buildings destroyed, including a school, she said.

 

Zainab Sa’id

Insurance Coys Pay N1.5trn Claims in Six Years

Hauwa Abubakar Anaja
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Insurance companies in Nigeria have so far paid N1.5tn claims to their customers in six years according to industry statistics.

Data obtained from the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission, reveal that the claims paid by the underwriters have been on the rise with increased awareness and premiums.

According to the industry bulletin report for 2022 financial period released by NAICOM, the industry paid claims totalling N318.2bn to its customers in the period under review.

Claims of N336.8bn was recorded in 2021, from N247bn in 2020 and N225bn in 2019.

The claims paid in 2018 and 2017 were N252bn and N186bn respectively.

Total claims paid in the six-year period amounted to N1.5tn.

The NAICOM bulletin reveals that premiums earned by the industry rose to N726bn in 2022 from N616.6bn in 2021, and N514bn in 2020.

Premiums of N508.23bn, N426.2bn and N372bn were earned in 2019, 2018 and 2017 respectively.

The premium in the periods under review amounted to N3.16tn.

NAICOM states in the 2022 bulletin that “the insurance claims reported during the fourth quarter stood at N318.2bn representing 31.2 per cent QoQ growth.

“Possible attainment as a result of growing awareness and market expansion as well as consumer’s confidence.”

Fire insurance was the least at about 46.3 percent, the only class below average proportion.

All other portfolios of general accident insurance at 80.7 percent, oil & gas at 51.6 percent, marine & aviation at 74.4 percent, miscellaneous insurances at 86.1 percent recorded a proportion above the average, of paid claims against gross claims reported.

Life insurance business on the other hand reported two points less in comparison to the position held in the prior period of 94.6 percent of net claims paid compared to total claims reported during the same period of 2021.

NAICOM, recently, said it will revisit the decision to publish the list of claims-paying underwriting firms.

Punch/Hauwa Abu

Nigeria Taekwondo Federation resumes National Team Camp

Mosunmola Ore
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The Nigeria Taekwondo Federation will begin a two-week national camping for its athletes in Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State.

READ ALSO: Taekwondo President Says Kebbi State Has Potentials In Sports

Speaking to the media inside the Dojang constructed inside the sport complex compound Birnin-Kebbi, the organization’s president, Alhaji Abdullahi Saidu Baba, said that 32 athletes and three officials will be in camp for intensive training.

“Let me tell you that this camp is organized by the board of the federation where we felt that we should not keep our athletes idle for a long time because there are many upcoming competitions like the Africa Games and Olympics, so we concluded that it is necessary for them to into camping, every now and then.”

Alhaji Abdullahi Saidu Baba maintained that Birnin-Kebbi has all the facilities required for the camping and that it will allow the proper bonding of the athletes so that they are prepared mentally and psychologically for the task at hand. He reaffirmed the reasons why the camping has been held in the capital city of the land of Equity.

“You can all see that these facilities are of an international calibre, and we have made this location incredibly ready so that the athletes can come here and focus because they will all be in one place where they won’t need to move up and down and they will be closely supervised.”

The Nigeria Taekwondo Federation’s president continues by saying that preparations for the organization’s inaugural President Cup National Open Championship are ongoing.

Although we have not yet declared a financial prize, the board has been working hard to secure sponsors for the National Taekwondo Federation Opens, which will take place in Abuja next month.

China, Singapore to hold joint military drills

Zainab Sa'id
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China and Singapore are set to hold their first joint military exercise since 2021 as Beijing deepens its defence and security ties with Southeast Asia.

Chinese defence ministry said in a statement on its website on Monday that its navy will deploy a missile-bearing frigate, the Yulin, and a mine-hunting ship, the Chibi, to the joint maritime exercise which will last from late April to early May, without specifying the location.

Two years ago, China and Singapore held a combined military drill in international waters at the southern tip of the South China Sea, following the upgrade of a bilateral defence pact in 2019 to include bigger-scale exercises among their army, navy and air force.

Also Read: Quadri Falls To Brazilian Caldenaro At Singapore Smash

The deeper China-Singapore military cooperation comes as a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea, an area spanning 3.5 million square km (1.4 million square miles) that is often traversed by Western navies including U.S. vessels conducting freedom of navigation operations.

Such passages annoy China, which lays claims to nearly all of the South China Sea despite an international ruling to the contrary.

In August last year, the U.S. military conducted an expanded Super Garuda Shield exercise with Indonesia that saw the participation of Singapore, Japan and Australia for the first time.

Around the same time, China sent fighter-bombers to Thailand in joint air force drills code named Falcon Strike 2022. Both countries say the exercises, in northeast Thailand near the border with Laos, were defensive in nature.

The drills last summer also took place against the backdrop of elevated tensions in the Taiwan Strait following the visit of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

China’s increased military engagement in Southeast Asia is widely expected to challenge the influence that the United States has shaped with countries including Singapore and Indonesia in coming years.

 

Zainab Sa’id

UK, Netherlands plan cross-border power link

Zainab Sa'id
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The Netherlands and Britain plan to build what would be Europe’s biggest cross-border electricity link connected to an offshore wind farm.

The “LionLink” interconnector will be able to transfer 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of power to Britain from a Dutch wind farm, or the same volume of electricity produced in Britain to the Netherlands, energy ministers of both countries said in a statement ahead of a leaders summit on energy in Ostend, Belgium.

The link, being developed by Britain’s National Grid and Dutch electricity network operator TenneT, will move enough surplus power between the countries to power the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland, or the British cities of Birmingham and Manchester combined, the ministers said, without specifying the route of the cable.

“This new connection further boosts energy security and energy independence in Europe,” Dutch Energy Minister Rob Jetten said in a statement.

Britain’s energy minister Grant Schapps said the countries were “sending a strong signal to Putin’s Russia that the days of his dominance over global power markets are well and truly over.”

Also Read: Netherlands To Ban Sale Of All Nicotine Pouches

Britain and the Netherlands currently have one power interconnector, the 1GW BritNed link.

The new project is part of a broader pledge the governments of nine countries around the North Sea will make on Monday, to develop renewable energy in the region as they strive to avoid a repeat of their over-dependence on a single foreign source like Russia.

The countries’ leaders will commit to rapidly building wind farms and developing energy “islands”, or connected offshore green power generation sites, according to a draft of their summit declaration.

The countries, which also include Germany, France and Norway, aim to develop a combined 120 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, the draft said.

 

Zainab Sa’id

Nigeria’s Vice President Kicks off 2023 IBB Golf Tournament

Mosunmola Ore
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Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has Kicked started the 2023 Captain Mike Okoja Golf Tournament at the IBB International Golf tournament in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

READ ALSO: Chief of Army staff Golf Tournament ends in Abuja

The Vice President who was represented by the Director General of the National Yourh Service Corps, Brigadier General Yusha’u Ahmed commended members of the Golf Club and appreciate them for their dedication and distinguish service to the nation.

Speaking after the ceremonial Tee off, the Captain of the Golf Club, Mr. Mike Okoja appreciated members for turning out in mass to be part of the 2023 edition of the competition and expressed his goodwill that deserving competitors would emerged winners at the end of the tournament.

Among dignatries that graced the occasion included; the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Umana Umana,Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, former Corps Marshall Federal Road Safety Corps,
Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi and a number of sponsors of the tournament from the organised private sector and other captains of industries among others.

National Population Commission discredits claims of hacked server

Nnenna Okoronkwo
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The National Population Commission in Nigeria says its attention has been drawn to misleading and false information made by an uninformed staff of the Commission and Comptroller of Chanchaga LGA in Niger State, Mr Sanusi Maigida that the Commission’s Website has been hacked.

The information reaching the Commission stated that this led to “the postponement of the LGA-level training of the Supervisors and Enumerators for the 2023 Population and Housing Census.”

The Commission through the Director of the Public Affairs Department Dr Isiyaka Yahaya stated that: “the statement made by Mr Sanusi Maigida is false and does not represent the true position of things as regards the Commission’s server.”

Yahaya also stated that Mr Sanusi Maigida “acted without directive and authorization from the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja and currently facing disciplinary action for such embarrassing misinformation.”

Dr Yahaya noted that “As a staff in the LGA Office of the NPC, Mr Maigida has limited knowledge about the NPC server or its workability.”

“The Commission wishes to state that its server is solidly intact and ready to be deployed for the upcoming 2023 Population and Housing Census exercise,” he noted.

The Commission stated that it has implemented comprehensive security measures to safeguard our servers, applications, and IT infrastructure, “as part of measures to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of data for the 2023 Census”.

“These security measures include robust firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, regular security audits, encryption protocols, and multi-factor authentication for privileged accounts,” the Commission reiterated.

The Commission also gave the assurance that “the public that the security of the data for the 2023 Population and Housing Census is absolutely guaranteed.” and “The Commission is committed to upholding the highest standards of data protection and maintaining the trust placed in us by the Nigerian population”.

Consequently, the public is advised to disregard the false statement trending online about the hacking of the Commission’s server and the subsequent travel of the NPC Chairman to restore the purported hacked server.

The Commission has assured Nigerians and development partners that it will “continue to update the populace on developments regarding the 2023 Population and Housing Census as events unfold”.

The Commission also called on “everyone to support the Commission to ensure a secure and successful 2023 Census exercise”.

Setting the record straight on recent time the Chairman of the National Population Commission in Nigeria Mr Nasir Kwarra on a mission to attend the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development “presented Nigeria’s statement on ‘Population and Development’ at the global event and has returned to continue the NPC’s preparations towards the conduct of the first digital and green Census in Nigeria”.

Over the years, it has been the standard practice for the Chairman of the Commission to attend the annual event on Population and Development in line with the mandate of NPC as the coordinating agency on population matters in Nigeria.

 

N.O

Nine shoot in Texas after-prom party

Zainab Sa'id
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At least nine teenagers were shot at an after-prom party in Jasper, Texas. None of the gunshot wounds were life-threatening.

Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the shooting took place at a residence in Jasper, a town of about 7,200 people some 134 miles (215 km) northeast of Houston.

“This investigation is ongoing and people of interest are being questioned,” the statement said.

The victims were taken to two hospitals, the sheriff’s office said, without reporting on the number of shooters.

Also Read: At Least 46 Found Dead in Abandoned Truck in Texas

The superintendent of the Jasper Independent School District, John Seybold, pledged full cooperation with any law-enforcement investigation “to bring these perpetrators to justice.”

“There will be a much larger law enforcement presence this week to ensure student safety, as well as counselors on hand for any students who need their assistance,” Seybold said in the statement as reported by local media.

The victims ranged in age from 15 to 19, KBMT-KJAC television news reported.

Jasper High School held its prom, a right of passage for American secondary schools, at a church meeting hall on Saturday night, the TV news reported.

A week ago, four people were shot dead and 32 wounded at an Alabama “Sweet 16” birthday party in the small town of Dadeville. Five suspects have been charged with murder in that shooting.

Firearms have become the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year.

 

Zainab Sa’id

Akpom Wins Championship Player Of The Season Award

Mosunmola Ore
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0

Middlesbrough striker Chuba Akpom has been named Sky Bet Championship Player of the Season at the EFL Awards on Sunday evening.

READ ALSO: Akpom Wins Third Potm Award

Akpom is rewarded for a terrific season that has seen him score 29 goals in 38 games – 28 coming from 33 league starts.

Barring1 a late flurry of goals elsewhere he will become the first Boro player to scoop the Golden Boot since John Hickton bagged 25 during the 1970/71 Second Division season.

The former Arsenal man set a new Sky Bet Championship high for successive home strikes when he scored his ninth against Hull City at the Riverside in midweek.

“It means a lot to get acknowledged for the work during the season and I’m really grateful for it,” said a delighted Chuba, who was also named in the Sky Bet Championship Team of the Year.

“There’s a lot of quality players in this league so for me to even be on the shortlist was an amazing accomplishment.

Chuba was quick to pay tribute to his Boro team-mates for what has been an amazing season so far.

“I always try to tell people it’s not just me,” he said. “It’s about the team. I couldn’t do it. I feel like the manager has got the perfect players for the way we want to play.

“The changing room is amazing, there’s a good relationship s between everyone and I’m grateful to everyone for their support and I wouldn’t have been nominated without them.”

Meanwhile, Burnley handler and former Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany won the Manger of the Season award.

The former Belgian international guided Burnley back to the Premier League.

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