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Australia, New Zealand allow quarantine-free travel after a year

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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Hundreds of passengers from Australia began arriving in New Zealand airports on Monday after authorities reopened borders, a pandemic milestone that allows quarantine-free travel between the countries for the first time in over a year.

Though most Australian states have allowed quarantine-free visits from New Zealand residents since late last year, New Zealand had enforced isolation for arrivals from its neighbour, citing concerns about sporadic virus outbreaks there.

“The bubble marks a significant step in New Zealand’s reconnection with the world and it is one that we should all take a moment to be very, very proud of,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Adern told reporters in Wellington.

With the borders open, Ardern said Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison would visit New Zealand in the “not too distant future”. Ardern said Australia Foreign Minister Marise Payne would travel to New Zealand on Wednesday.

Television footage showed emotional scenes at the airports with families reuniting and scores of passengers thronging the international departure terminals at Australian airports.

Passengers flying to New Zealand capital of Wellington were greeted from the air with a ‘Welcome Whanau’- the Maori term for extended family – painted in huge white letters near the runway.

At the Auckland airport, a choir was singing Dave Dobbyn’s ‘Welcome Home’ as people hugged and kissed their dear ones.

Qantas (QAN.AX) will ramp up flights between the countries to about 200 each week, while Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ) said it had quadrupled its flights to 30 on Monday, with its airplanes flying into New Zealand 97% full.

Despite the excitement of open borders, Morrison and Ardern warned travellers to prepare for disruptions to their travel at short notice in the event of COVID-19 outbreaks, and said the risks of quarantine-free travel will be under “constant review”.

Both leaders also flagged the possibility of extending quarantine-free travel to other countries in the Pacific region when “it is safe to do so.”

About 1.5 million Australians visited New Zealand in 2019, the year before the pandemic closed international borders, making up about 40% of all visitors, spending NZ$2.7 billion ($1.93 billion) in the country, official data showed.

More than half a million New Zealand-born people live in Australia, just over 2% of Australia’s population of near 26 million.

Both Australia and New Zealand had largely closed their borders to non-citizens and permanent residents more than a year ago, helping to keep their COVID-19 numbers relatively low compared with several other developed countries.

Other international arrivals into both countries must go through a two-week hotel quarantine at their own expense.

Australia has recorded just over 29,500 virus cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began, while New Zealand has had just over 2,200 confirmed cases and 26 deaths.

Reuters

Cape Town’s Table Mountain fire burns into second day

Nnenna Okoronkwo
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A fire broke out Sunday on Table Mountain, the iconic peak overlooking the city of Cape Town on the tip of South Africa, and was not under control by Monday morning, according to the city.

The flames destroyed part of the restaurant next to a monument to British colonist Cecil Rhodes, which offers an exceptional view of the harbour, houses and several buildings of the prestigious Cape Town University below, including the library, the city said in a statement.

One firefighter was hospitalized with burns, the city said, while his colleagues continued to fight the fire in the evening.

Hundreds of students had left their residences on foot, walking along the main road to escape the smoke and find shelter, according to AFP journalists on the scene. They were all evacuated in the evening, the city said, as “strong winds” spread the fire.

The Table Mountain National Park, which extends over much of the undeveloped areas of the city, had asked in the morning, including on social networks, to hikers to evacuate the area immediately and motorists to pick up their vehicles parked nearby.

The firefighters had received the first alert shortly before 09:00 local (07:00 GMT). Reinforcements were deployed and three helicopters were assisting in the efforts, dropping water packs on the flames.

In the university library, “literary treasures have tragically disappeared” but “some of the most valuable works could be saved thanks to the activation of rolling doors,” the city said.

Suzan O/AFP

Bangladesh arrests Islamist group members after anti-Modi protest

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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Hundreds of members and supporters of an Islamist group, Hefazat-e-Islam, including its influential leader, have been arrested in Bangladesh over the past week, officials said, over deadly protests against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month for the country’s golden jubilee celebrations of independence.

The protests across several districts in Bangladesh were mostly led by the Hefazat-e-Islam group, whose members accused India’s Hindu nationalist leader of stoking religious polarisation and discriminating against minorities, particularly Muslims, in his country.

At least 13 Hefazat supporters died in police firing during the days-long demonstrations against Modi’s two-day visit as they attacked a police station and other government buildings, and blocked highways elsewhere in the country.

In the capital Dhaka, they clashed with police outside the country’s main Baitul Mukarram National Mosque during the visit.

On Sunday, the group’s joint secretary, Mamunul Haque, was arrested at a madrasa (Islamic school) in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur neighbourhood, Harunur Rashid, a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police official, said.

Haque, 47, faces charges of instigating violence but police did not provide details on specific cases or whether the charges stem from Modi’s visit.

A further 298 Hefazat members and supporters were arrested in the eastern rural district of Brahmanbaria where anti-Modi demonstrations were also held, police said on Sunday.

“We arrested them by identifying them through video footage,” Brahmanbaria police’s deputy chief, Mohammad Roish Uddin, told the AFP news agency.

Hefazat spokesman, Jakaria Noman Foyezi told AFP that 23 leaders of his organisation had been detained by police, calling the police claims against them “false and fabricated”.

In a speech to Bangladesh’s parliament earlier this month, Hasina warned the group and its leaders they would face consequences if they continue to resort to violence.

Haque and his associates led a recent campaign against building a sculpture of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father, saying sculptures are unIslamic. The government backed off.

Founded in 2010, Hefazat is Bangladesh’s largest hardline Islamist outfit and draws its support from millions of students and teachers in thousands of religious schools in the Muslim-majority nation.

Although the organisation says it is not a political party, it has gained eminence after the fall of Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist political party.

Hefazat leaders in their sermons regularly talk about the country’s politics, advocating an Islamic revolution in the nation of 160 million people.

Hefazat-e-Islam also wants Hasina’s government to enact blasphemy laws, under which anyone convicted of criticising Islam’s prophet would face the death penalty.

A 2013 rally in Dhaka by thousands of Hefazat supporters demanding a blasphemy law ended in unrest and dozens of deaths.

Aljazeera

Guinea receives 300,000 shipment of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines

Kamila Bello
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Guinea received 300,000 shipment of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines purchased from China.

Guinean Foreign Minister, Ibrahima Khalil Kaba, said it is set to receive a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm shots and gave no further details on the Sinopharm donation.

The West African country has administered at least 109,296 doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far.

Assuming every person needs two doses that is enough to have vaccinated about 0.4% of the country’s population.

Guinea reports 93 new coronavirus infections on average each day, 59% of the peak in March. There have been 21,460 infections and 138 coronavirus related deaths reported since the pandemic began.

 

READ ALSO: Zimbabwe Receives 200,000 China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 Vaccine

 

 

 

Kamila/Reuters

 

Cape Verde Elections: Outgoing Prime Minister returns

Nnenna Okoronkwo
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The outgoing Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva has retained a positive come back as Cape Verdeans are trusting him to turn around the archipelago’s economy, which has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The people showed their loyalty by granting a large victory to his centre-right formation in Sunday’s legislative elections, according to near-complete results released overnight.

In power since 2016, the 58-year-old head of government, a former senior executive of the Bank of Cape Verde, ex-minister and ex-mayor of the capital Praia, claimed before the press his victory, celebrated at the same time by his supporters in front of his party headquarters and in the rest of the city.

“It is a great victory, the victory of Cape Verde. We managed to convince the Cape Verdeans of the correctness of the government’s line of action during a very difficult period and of the correctness of our proposals for the future,” said Correia e Silva.

His party, the Movement for Democracy (MPD), won 36 of the 72 seats in the National Assembly, according to the results of the national electoral commission, which covered almost 98.2 per cent of the polling stations.

The party, which had 40 elected members in the outgoing assembly, can expect to win at least 37 deputies, synonymous with an absolute majority when the results of the last three diaspora seats still to be counted are known.

In any case, the centre-right formation is ahead of Janira Hopffer Almada’s PAICV (socialist), which has 29 seats, as in 2016.

The candidate of the former single party, a 42-year-old former minister, thus loses her bid to bring the historic left-wing formation back to power and become the first woman to head the government of the former Portuguese colony.

In front of her supporters, she acknowledged her defeat, congratulated the outgoing prime minister and announced her forthcoming resignation from the leadership of her party, of which she had become the first woman to assume the presidency in 2014.

The elections took place at a time when the country’s economy has been severely affected by the epidemic. Last year, the archipelago of 550,000 inhabitants located about 600 km off the coast of Senegal, which is heavily dependent on tourism -25% of its GDP-, recorded a historic recession of 14.8%.

The country has recorded a total of 20,254 infections with Covid-19 and 190 deaths, relatively low figures compared to the situation elsewhere in the world.

But it is currently experiencing a major surge and its incidence rate of 189 cases per 100,000 population is the highest in Africa, according to figures for the period April 5 to 11.

To boost the economy, both leading candidates have promised to provide vaccinations to a large part of the population and to diversify the country’s income. Ulisses Correia e Silva, who has a modern, grassroots image, had the added advantage of more experience than his opponent.

“He has demonstrated his skills, he has proven himself. It was important to keep a form of continuity in this difficult period that is the Covid”, congratulated after the announcement of his victory one of his young voters of 25 years dressed in a red T-shirt, the colour of the party, Cleidiria Fernandes Moreira.

Far behind the two major parties, the Cape Verdean Independent and Democratic Union (Ucid, Christian Democrat) won 4 seats, according to these partial results. Three other small parties also in the running will not be elected.

Since the free elections of 1991, the small West African country has been considered a model of democracy on the continent and has not recorded any incident of violence related to the elections and their results.

“Stability… is our oil, our diamond,” Correia e Silva told AFP a few days before the election.

Cape Verde has a semi-parliamentary system where the Prime Minister dominates the executive, with the President (Jorge Carlos Fonseca, MPD) acting as an arbitrator.

Suzan O/AFN

Five shot, critically injured in third US shootings in one day

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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Five people that were shot and critically injured in a drive-by shooting at a liquor store in Shreveport, Louisiana, have been hospitalized, CBS-affiliated television station KSLA reported late Sunday.

With details still scarce hours after the shooting, authorities describe the injuries as life-threatening, with police on the lookout for a white Ford car, the report said.

The incident was the third multiple shooting reported within 24 hours in the United States, already on edge over a surge in shootings in recent weeks.

A gunman killed eight workers and himself at an Indianapolis FedEx center on Thursday night, with at least seven deadly mass shootings in the United States over the past month.

In Sunday’s Shreveport incident, four people were outside the store, in Hearne Avenue, while one person was inside the store when the shooting happened, according to the KLSA report.

Multiple police units were dispatched to the scene of the incident, which happened around 9 p.m. local time Sunday, the report said.

Earlier on Sunday three people died at an apartment complex in Austin, Texas and authorities were hunting for a former deputy sheriff wanted in connection with the fatal shooting.

Separately, three people were killed and two wounded in a shooting at a bar in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, in the early hours of Sunday.

The spate of shootings has increased public pressure to tighten gun regulations.

Most Americans support tougher gun laws, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, but Washington has done little to address the problem in recent years.

Reuters

COVID-19 vaccine: China trials mixing from CanSinoBIO and Zhifei Longcom

Kamila Bello
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Chinese researchers are testing mixing two COVID-19 vaccines developed by CanSino Biologics and a unit of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products as a way of further boosting vaccine efficacy.

The director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), Gao Fu, earlier this month said the country was formally considering giving people COVID-19 vaccines developed with different technologies.

A trial expected to involve 120 participants will test the safety and ability to trigger immune response of a dose of CanSinoBIO’s Ad5-nCoV treatment, followed by a dose of ZF2001 from Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, at 28-day or 56-day interval.

CanSinoBIO said interim data from overseas Phase III clinical trials showed its Ad5-nCoV vaccine was 68.83% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease two weeks after one injection, while the rate fell to 65.28% four weeks after one shot.

The researchers are also running trials for two dose based vaccination of Ad5-nCoV, as well as an inhalation version of the vaccine.

No efficacy readings has been made available from Phase III trials for Zhifei Longcom’s ZF2001 vaccine, which requires three injections when used on its own.

CanSinoBIO and Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products were not immediately available for comment.

Both vaccines are included in China’s mass vaccination drive.

 

READ ALSO: China considers mixing vaccines to increase its Efficacy

 

 

 

Kamila/Reuters

 

COVID-19: Nigeria confirms 26 new cases

Peace Piak Kanu
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Nigeria has recorded 26 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of persons who have tested positive in the country to 164,233.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced this via its official Twitter handle.

According to the tweet, the 26 new cases were from 6 states. Ebonyi state reported the highest number with 10 new cases, Lagos was second with 9 while Oyo states had the lowest 1 new case.

“Ebonyi-10 Lagos-9 FCT-2 Kano-2 Osun-2 Oyo-1.”

The NCDC also tweeted that as of 198April, 164,233 cases had been confirmed, 154,332 cases treated and discharged, while 2,061 deaths were recorded.

PIAK

 

Samuel Chukwueze’s Double inspires Villarreal To Victory

Chidi Uduma Nwoke
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Super Eagles winger Samuel Chukwueze’s double inspired Villarreal to a commanding 5-1 away victory against Levante in match day 31 of the Spanish La Liga at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia.

The victory took the Yellow Submarine to 49 points in the Spanish top-flight and kept alive their hopes of finishing in the European places.

Unai Emery’s team got ahead very quickly as Sergio Postigo turned Mario Gasper’s cross into his own net in the ninth minute, before in-form striker Gerard Moreno doubled the advantage with a brilliant effort.

Villarreal striker Gerard Moreno (L) celebrates goal with Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze (R)

Levante managed to pull a goal back through Mickael Malsa before the interval.

In the 63rd minute, a quick piece of play between Moreno, Paco Alcácer and Chukwueze ended in the Submarine’s third goal.

Moreno played a long ball over the top for Alcácer, who controlled the ball perfectly and played it for the Nigerian to calmly beat Levante goalkeeper Aitor Fernández.

Super Eagles and Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze scores against Levante

With 70 minutes on the clock, the Yellows were in complete control. An Alcácer shot blocked by Fernández ended up in an goal after hitting Rubén Vezo, making the scoreline 1-4.

Villarreal’s fifth arrived just three minutes later. After a great run by Chukwueze to get away from his markers, the Nigerian got on the edge of a ball over the home defenders and finished calmly.

Super Eagles and Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze scores second goal against Levante during La Liga match

It was the Nigerian international’s first double in La Liga since his debut back in the 2018-2019 season.

The match finished 5-1 to the visitors, who have been in fine form.

“It’s a convincing win that gives us a lot of confidence and reinforces the work we’re doing,” Villarreal coach Unai Emery said. “We’re focused on continuing to find resources that help the team’s internal competive nature and help us grow as a team.”

Emery also highlighted Samuel Chukwueze’s influence in the match, with the Nigerian scoring twice against Levante.

“He’s a very young player who has to find consistency. We need to take steps forward with him and be demanding,” Emery added. “He’s a footballer with great quality. He has a lot of talent, but he needs to improve in front of goal. Today he put in a great performance and managed to score.”

PDP wins all seats in Rivers LG polls

Zainab Sa'id
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The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has declared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the overall winners of the Local Government Area elections held on April 17, in Rivers state.

Justice George Omereji, the Chairman of RSIEC and the Presiding officer of the concluded election made the declaration at the commission’s secretariat in Port Harcourt.

Omereji announced that PDP won in all the Chairmanship positions and the councillorship seats in the 23 Local Government Areas.

Also Read: PDP urges youths to shun violence

He stated that certificates of return would be issued to the winners on Monday, April 19 at the Commission’s secretariat.

Omereji urged the elected Chairmen and councillors in the 23 local government areas to ensure good governance to the people.

 

Zainab Sa’id

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