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The Mount Merapi volcano on Indonesia’s Java island has spewed searing ash and other volcanic debris that poured down its slopes on Wednesday, the country’s geological agency said.
Pyroclastic flows – a fast-moving mixture of extremely hot rock fragments, gas, and ash – blasted from the volcano for four hours in the early morning, according to the Research and Development Center for Geological Disaster Technology, which monitors the volcano.
There were no reports of casualties and the alert level remained at the second-highest level, it said.
This was Mount Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised its danger level in November, said Hanik Humaida, head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.
Authorities in November had evacuated nearly 2,000 people living on the mountain in Magelang and Sleman districts on Java Island but most have since returned. There has been no new evacuation.
The alert was being maintained at the second-highest level and authorities told people to stay out of the existing 5-kilometre (3-mile) danger zone around the crater as the local administrations in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces closely monitor the situation.
The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) volcano is on the densely populated island of Java and near the ancient city of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of dozens of Indonesian volcanoes and has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds recently.
Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.

Source : https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/1/27/in-pictures-indonesian-volcano-unleashes-river-of-lava

The Nigerian government has said it will shut down National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps that fail to comply with protocols put in place to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, while speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Monday, said the government was concerned about the number of corps members recently infected with the virus.
He said the management of the NYSC cannot afford to risk the lives and health of the corps members.
“Going forward, any state that refuses to cooperate fully in the aspect of COVID-19 protocol adherence, full testing using the Rapid Diagnostic Test kits and data management by the NCDC and also the trained doctors, will have its orientation camp shut down,” he said.
Mr Dare noted that corps members, who may be affected if the camps were shut will be reposted to the adjoining state.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how 731 corp members tested positive to COVID-19 about three weeks ago.
NYSC camps for orientation activities were recently reopened after a period of shutdown following the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/438701-nigeria-to-shut-nysc-camps-disregarding-covid-19-protocols-official.html

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-currency-idUSKCN0XH21W

Anti-slavery crusader Harriet Tubman will become the first African-American on the face of U.S. paper currency, and the first woman in more than a century, when she replaces former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday that Tubman, who was born into slavery in the early 1820s and went on to help hundreds of slaves escape, would take the center spot on the bill, while Jackson, a slave owner, would move to the back.
Introduced alongside a slew of changes to the $5 and $10 notes as well, the redesign gives the Treasury “a chance to open the aperture to reflect more of America’s history,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said.
A new $10 bill will add images of five female leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, including Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to the back, while keeping founding father Alexander Hamilton on the front.
The reverse of a new $5 note will show former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., officials said. Former President Abraham Lincoln will remain on the front.
Lew said the designs should be unveiled by 2020 and go into circulation “as quickly as possible,” although he declined to say when. He said the $10 bill was scheduled to go out first, citing security needs.
The long-awaited decision to replace the seventh president of the United States with Tubman followed months of outreach by the Treasury regarding which woman should be featured on a bill.
The debate began when the Treasury announced plans in June to feature a woman on the $10 note, prompted partly by a young girl’s letter to President Barack Obama that criticized the lack of women on U.S. currency and a social media campaign last year called “Women on 20s.”
A MUSICAL
Hamilton’s growing celebrity status, due largely to a Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical about his life, “Hamilton,” created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, propelled an effort to keep the first U.S. Treasury secretary on the $10 note and to replace Jackson on the $20 bill instead.
Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812’s Battle of New Orleans, was president from 1829-1837. But he has been criticized for his treatment of American Indians and ownership of slaves.
After considering hundreds of candidates, Lew said Tubman was chosen for her leadership and work helping others.
“It’s the essential story of American democracy about how one person who grew up in slavery, never had the benefit of learning how to read or write, could change the course of history,” he said.
Tubman grew up working on a Maryland plantation and escaped in her late 20s. She returned to the South to help hundreds of black slaves to freedom and worked as a Union spy during the Civil War. She died in 1913.

An investigation by US broadcaster National Public Radio published on Monday found that 135 unarmed Black people have been killed by police since 2015, often by police with red flags on their record.
NPR looked at “thousands of pages” of police records in its reviews of the deaths and found that 75 percent of the officers are white. Nineteen officers involved in the shootings had little time on the force. One had been an active police officer for four hours before the shooting.
The report also found officers who had “troubled pasts” of domestic violence and drug abuse, repeated citizens complaints and use of force incidents, officers convicted of crimes and others who violated departmental policies.
One officer, Zechariah Presley, who is white, performed poorly during interviews with the St Marys Police Department in 2016, who did not offer him a job.
Presley travelled about 13 kilometres (eight miles) to a nearby town and applied for a position in the Kingsland Police Department.
He was found to have 10 red flags by hiring authorities, the report notes, including admitting to being involved with domestic violence, assault and buying or selling drugs. Presley was still hired.
In 2018, Presley saw Anthony Green, a 33-year-old Black man, driving and knew he did not have a valid licence. Presley fired eight shots at Green after he fled on foot following a vehicle pursuit, NPR sad.
Green was hit at least five times and died.
Police killings are often costly for the force. The family of George Floyd, the man whose death in police custody sparked nationwide protests and a continuing national discussion,
sued the city of Minneapolis in July for an undisclosed amount. That lawsuit is continuing.
The city of Louisville agreed to pay the family of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who died after police fired on her home during a raid in March 2020, $12m in September, after the parties reached a settlement.
Presley was fired and charged with voluntary and involuntary manslaughter and fired. A jury found him not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of violating the oath of office.
A judge sentenced Presley to a year in prison, four years of probation and a $1,000 fine.
NPR found that of the 135 deaths, 30 judgements and settlements awarded over $142m. Many more are pending.
Charges are rare. In more than 80 cases, no charges were brought against officers. However, 33 of the killings saw officers resign or be fired, the report found.
Only 13 officers involved in the deaths were charged with murder over the last five years. Two have been convicted, with seven cases pending. There were seven charged with manslaughter and two were found guilty.


SOURCE : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/25/us-police-have-killed-135-unarmed-black-people-since-2015-npr

Indian and Chinese troops have brawled on their contested Himalayan border, leaving injuries on both sides, India’s military and media reports said.
“It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols,” the Indian army said in a statement on Monday.
Naku La connects the Indian state of Sikkim to the Tibet region in China.
Media reports quoted Indian military officials as saying there were casualties on both sides in the brawl last week.
A Chinese patrol tried to cross into Indian territory and was forced back, the officials said.
The incident came six months after a pitched battle which killed at least 20 Indian troops and an unknown number of Chinese forces.
Hand-to-hand fighting on the Sikkim border in May last year set off the latest frontier tensions between the world’s two most-populous nations.
In June, troops from the two sides fought with fists and wooden clubs in the Galwan valley of the Ladakh region, killing 20 Indian and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers.
China and India, who fought a border war in 1962, blamed each other for the dispute and each has poured tens of thousands of extra troops into border zones.
The latest de-escalation talks between military commanders were held on Sunday.


SOURCE :https://www.aljazeera.com:443/news/2021/1/25/india-china-troops-in-new-clash-along-contested-border-reports

SOURCE: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/22/what-legal-woes-does-trump-face-as-he-begins-civilian-life

Former US President Donald Trump could face serious legal challenges as his return to civilian life strips him of numerous legal protections after his electoral loss and the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
A norm in US law holds that sitting presidents are immune from indictment. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has regulations that prevent federal law enforcement agencies from indicting the president.
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential polls that saw Trump elected, referenced guidance from the OLC to justify not indicting Trump for obstruction of justice while clarifying the decision did not exonerate the president.
Now, as Trump returns to normal life, the former president faces court cases without presidential shielding.
Federal charges and the secret self-pardon?
Trump could face charges on the federal level related to financial activities and his tax returns.
Perhaps the most fleshed-out case centres on testimony from Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who in 2018 pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a range of crimes including sending hush money to an adult actress as Trump was running for president, making the payment illegal campaign spending.
Cohen has stated he committed these crimes at Trump’s behest, though prosecutors have thus far only referred to this person as “Individual 1”.
Trump has denied any misconduct.
The former president could also face an indictment related to his much-hidden tax returns.
The New York Times obtained and released copies of Trump’s tax records going back more than 20 years.
Experts say there are indicators of possible tax evasion and other financial crimes. Records show Trump, who is a billionaire, paid $750 in federal income tax for 2016 and 2017, which appears to be suspiciously low for a man of his wealth.
Nick Akerman, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN in September it “looks like Trump has done a whole series of activities that could qualify as tax fraud, not tax avoidance. This is a very important distinction”.
Trump has denied allegations related to his taxes and said he pays millions in taxes.
Even if Trump were to face federal charges, there is the possibility he issued pardons for himself and family members without the public’s knowledge.
Trump issued 70 pardons on his last day in office, to political allies like Steve Bannon and Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy.
It appears Trump did not issue a self-pardon, which would have tested legal jurisprudence and possibly paved the way for illegal activity with impunity on the part of the US head of state. But some legal scholars have not ruled it out.
Trump could have issued a self-pardon without alerting the public. The pardon would have been recorded but will not be known unless there are federal charges filed.
Empire State legal woes
A presidential pardon does not shield individuals from state and city charges. Trump could possibly face numerous ones.
New York appears to hold the most legal landmines for Trump. New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance has conducted a criminal investigation into Trump for more than two years, though the exact nature of the investigation is unknown.
Vance’s team said in court filings the investigation could delve into allegations of tax and insurance fraud and falsification of business records.
They are currently waiting for a Supreme Court order that would secure eight years of Trump’s tax returns, though reports say Vance is already in possession of some Trump tax documents.
State Attorney General Letitia James has opened an inquiry into the Trump Organization’s finances, resulting from Cohen’s claims it inflated assets to attain loans while deflating assets to avoid taxes.
That investigation is civil and would not result in jail time, but fines.
Trump also faces legal proceedings resulting from allegations of sexual misconduct and rape.
E Jean Carroll, a writer, alleges in a defamation suit that Trump raped her in a New York department store in the 1990s and then accused her of lying about it to sell books.
Trump has denied the allegation. During Trump’s term, the Justice Department attempted to shield the former president from the case.
It attempted to replace Trump as the defendant in the case and claimed he enjoyed broad immunity since he spoke about Carroll in his role as president.
It appears unlikely Biden’s Justice Department will continue to shield Trump, though it has yet to make filings in the case.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, the reality television programme of which Trump was the host for 14 years, has also accused Trump of sexual misconduct, unwanted kissing and groping.
The case was on hold while Trump was in office as courts decided whether he needed to face allegations while in office. Trump previously claimed immunity as president.
That claim is unlikely to stand after his return to civilian life.
Impeachment
Trump still faces a trial in the Senate resulting from the House of Representatives impeaching him for an historic second time a week before he left office.
Trump faces a single charge of incitement over the January 6 Capitol riot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to send the article to to the Senate on Monday, beginning the trial.
“There will be a trial,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday. “It will be a full trial, it will be a fair trial.”
Legal questions remain over whether a former president can be impeached after they leave office, though there is nothing explicitly stated in the US Constitution that bars it.
Trump faced intense criticism from Democrats and Republicans and was deplatformed across social media following a speech he gave to his supporters ahead of their assault on the US Capitol.
Trump had long repeated baseless claims the election was stolen from him by voter fraud. His campaign mounted numerous legal challenges to election results, most of which were swiftly thrown out.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has proposed the trial be delayed as the Senate confirms Biden’s appointments.
Biden has said the Senate can do both.


SOURCE :

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jum@t Kareem pals

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Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country reeling from deep political divides, a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans.

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/1/20/in-pictures-6

Twitter has locked the account of China’s embassy in the United States for a social media post that defended China’s policies towards Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, which the platform said violated the firm’s policy against “dehumanisation”.
The Chinese Embassy account, @ChineseEmbinUS, posted a tweet this month that said that Uighur women were no longer “baby making machines,” citing a study reported by state-backed newspaper, China Daily.
The tweet was removed by Twitter and replaced by a label stating that it was no longer available.
Although Twitter hides tweets that violate its policies, it requires account owners to manually delete such posts. The Chinese embassy’s account has not posted any new tweets since January 9.
Twitter’s suspension of the embassy’s account came a day after the Trump administration, in its final hours, accused China of committing genocide in Xinjiang, a finding endorsed by the incoming Biden administration.
The new administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Twitter’s move.
Dehumanising Uighurs
“We’ve taken action on the Tweet you referenced for violating our policy against dehumanisation, where it states: We prohibit the dehumanisation of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious disease, national origin, race, or ethnicity,” a Twitter spokesperson said on Thursday.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a emailed request for comment.
Twitter is already blocked in China but is an increasingly favoured platform by China’s diplomats and state media.
China has its own Twitter-like microblogging application called, Weibo, which has more than 400 million active users. However, the site is being strictly monitored by state censors.
China has repeatedly rejected accusations of abuse in its Xinjiang region, where a United Nations panel has said at least one million Uighurs and other Muslims had been detained in camps. China has acknowledged the centres’ existence saying they are necessary for “vocational training” to combat “extremism”.
Last year, a report by German researcher Adrian Zenz published by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation think-tank accused China of using forced sterilisation, forced abortion and coercive family planning against minority Muslims. The Chinese foreign ministry said the allegations were groundless and false.
Twitter’s move also follows the removal of the account of former US President Donald Trump, which had 88 million followers, citing the risk of violence after his supporters stormed the US Capitol this month.
Twitter had locked Trump’s account, asking for deletion of some tweets, before restoring it and then removing it altogether after the former president violated the platform’s policies again.


SOURCE : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/21/twitter-locks-account-of-chinas-us-embassy-for-post-on-xinjiang

China imposed sanctions on 28 individuals from the United States, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, over “crazy actions that have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs”.
A statement from China’s foreign ministry came as Joe Biden was being sworn in as the new US president on Wednesday, ending Donald Trump’s reign during which bilateral ties between the two world powers suffered.
According to the statement, those sanctioned also include Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs David Stilwell, health secretary Alex Azar and UN envoy Kelly Craft.
Beijing also sanctioned former Trump national security adviser John Bolton and former adviser Stephen Bannon.
The ministry said the sanctioned US citizens, out of their selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China showed no regard for the interests of the people of China and the US.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/20/china-sanctions-pompeo-trump-officials

"This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope.
"Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested and it has risen to the challenge. Today we celebrate a triumph not of a candidate but of a cause, a cause of democracy"

Leaders from around the world react as the transfer of power takes place in Washington, DC.
Joe Biden is due to be sworn in as president of the United States, following his election victory over Donald Trump last year.
Here are some of the global responses to Wednesday’s transfer of power in Washington, DC. This list will be updated as more reactions from leaders around the world pour in.

United Kingdom

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he looks forward to working with the incoming president.
“I look forward to working with him [Biden], and with his new administration, strengthening the partnership between our countries and working on our shared priorities: From tackling climate change, building back better from the pandemic and strengthening our transatlantic security,” Johnson said.

Germany

In a video statement, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Biden taking the helm was a “good day for democracy”.
“In the United States of America, it [democracy] has faced tremendous challenges – and endured. Despite the attempts to tear at America’s institutional fabric, election workers and governors, the judiciary and Congress, have proven strong,” he said.

European Union

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the US was “back”.
“Europe stands ready. To reconnect with an old and trusted partner,” she wrote on Twitter.

Italy

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he was “looking forward” to working with the Biden presidency.
“We have a strong common agenda, ranging from the effective multilateralism that we both want to see to climate change, green and digital transition and social inclusion,” Conte said.

Iran

President Hassan Rouhani hailed the departure of “tyrant” Trump, who in 2018 reimposed punishing sanctions against Iran following Washington’s unilateral decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal signed between Tehran and world powers in 2015.
A “tyrant’s era came to an end and today is the final day of his ominous reign,” Rouhani said.
“We expect [the Biden administration] to return to law and to commitments, and try in the next four years, if they can, to remove the stains of the past four years.”

NATO

NATO said it hoped to boost transatlantic ties under Biden.
“We look forward to working with President-elect Joe Biden to further strengthen ties between the United States and Europe, as we face global challenges none of us can tackle alone,” the military alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.

Russia

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia will seek “good relations with the United States”, but whether or not the latter works towards the same goal will “depend on Mr Biden and his team”.
Peskov said President Vladimir Putin has “consistently” advocated for the preservation of a landmark nuclear weapons treaty and it was now up to Washington to preserve the pact.

France

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Biden’s commitments to rejoin the World Health Organization (WHO) – which leads the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic – and the Paris climate treaty are “extremely important” following Trump’s exit from them.
“We are impatient to build with President Biden a strong, useful and renewed relationship,” Attal said after a cabinet meeting. “We have aims and colossal challenges to take together.”

Spain

The spokesman for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Biden’s victory represents the victory of democracy over the extreme right.
“Five years ago, we believed without [a] doubt that Trump was a bad joke. Five years later, we realise that he endangered the world’s most powerful democracy.”

Mexico

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he shared Joe Biden’s policy priorities and wished him success ahead of his inauguration.
“I agree with his three main approaches … (tackling the) pandemic, economic reactivation and migration. And of course, wishing that President Biden does very well in his administration,” he told reporters.
Lopez Obrador added that he hoped for a smooth and peaceful inauguration ceremony for the Democrat.


SOURCE : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/20/biden-becomes-president-how-the-world-reacted

sai Mai rusau, kosuna so koh basaso

The United States is due to swear in Democrat Joe Biden as its 46th president, who is inheriting a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a coronavirus pandemic.
The inauguration event, scheduled to start after 10:30am local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday, will be organised amid unprecedented security in the wake of the storming of the US Capitol building on January 6 by supporters of the outgoing President Donald Trump.
The crowd size will be extremely limited as the capital Washington, DC, has been under lockdown due to security fears prompted by the deadly riot at the Capitol – the seat of the US government.
Trump was impeached for his role in the Capitol mayhem, becoming the first president in US history to be impeached twice. Critics say the outgoing president’s repeated false claims that the November election was stolen triggered the Capitol violence.
Breaking with tradition, Trump will not attend Biden’s swearing-in and the subsequent gathering of all living presidents.
Here are some of the latest updates:
24 mins ago (10:07 GMT)
Biden to sign 15 actions to address US ‘crises’
Joe Biden will sign 15 executive actions after he is sworn in as US president on Wednesday, aides said, undoing policies put in place by outgoing President Donald Trump and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change.
To address the “crises” of the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial inequity, Biden will sign the executive orders and memorandums in the Oval Office in the afternoon, and ask agencies to take steps in two additional areas, said incoming Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
The actions include a mask mandate on federal property and for federal employees and an order to establish a new White House office coordinating response to the coronavirus.
Biden will also begin the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and issue a sweeping order tackling climate change, including revoking the presidential permit granted to the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Among a raft of orders addressing immigration, Biden will revoke Trump’s emergency declaration that helped fund the construction of a border wall and end a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.
Further actions will include revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans, and reversing a policy that blocks US funding for programs overseas linked to abortion.
1 hour ago (09:07 GMT)
EU’s von der Leyen says Europe ‘has a friend in the White House’
The European Union’s chief executive hailed on Wednesday as a new dawn Joe Biden’s term as US president but warned that the bloc would strive to regulate American technology companies, calling for global standards.
“After four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, who welcomed outgoing President Donald Trump’s ban on Twitter.
But she added: “This kind of decision must be taken in accordance with laws and rules … not by an arbitrary decision in the power of Silicon Valley CEOs.”

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/20/us-set-to-swear-in-joe-biden-as-46th-president-live-updates

Egyptian security forces have arrested a pastry chef who supplied cupcakes with penis decorations for a private birthday party at a sporting club in a wealthy Cairo neighbourhood.
In the latest example of the Egyptian state’s attempts to control public morality, which tend to target women, the female chef was arrested at her home after party attenders shared photos of the cupcakes with members of the Gezira club and on social media.
State media reported that security forces identified the baker after taking statements from eyewitnesses.
The case attracted the attention of the minister for youth and sports, Dr Ashraf Sobhy, who oversees clubs such as Gezira. Sobhy said his department would form a committee to investigate the incident and punish alleged perpetrators.
The baker has been interrogated by the same misdemeanour court that recently tried the Egyptian actor Rania Youssef on charges of “contempt of Islam and infringing Egyptian family values”, after she commented on her own physique during a television programme.
Earlier this month two female TikTok influencers who served jail terms last year for “violating family values” and harming public morals were acquitted.
In June 2020 the renowned bellydancer Sama El Masry was
jailed for three years and fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds (equivalent to £14,025) for violating family values and “immorality”.
Egypt’s tabloids delighted in
publishing pictures of the cupcakes, with the offending decorations blurred out. Egypt’s largest state-owned newspaper, Al Ahram, described the confections as “indecent and immoral shapes”.
Timothy E Kaldas from the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy said: “On one level it’s hard not to be initially struck by the absurdity of penis cupcakes garnering the attention of state prosecutors, police investigators, members of parliament and the regime-controlled press. At the core of the matter is not the banning of sexuality in the public sphere, it is restricting sexuality that is outside the control of men.”
Al Masry Al Youm newspaper reported that the pastry chef was in tears when she arrived at a prosecution office in Cairo. According to the paper, she told interrogators that patrons of the club “came to my shop and handed me pictures of genitals, and asked me for cakes in these forms”.
After questioning by prosecutors, the baker was released on a bail of 5,000 EGP (£233).

Source : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/egyptian-chef-arrested-after-making-cupcakes-with-penis-decorations

Video footage from Wuhan during the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak shows how the Chinese government could have done more to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, and its attempts to stop journalists from reporting on it.
In 3 Days that Stopped the World , two Chinese journalists, through undercover filming and diaries, reveal the almost overnight transformation of the city of 11 million people as nonchalance about the virus was replaced by panic and overcrowded hospitals within hours. The journalists’ names have been not been disclosed for their safety.
The exclusive footage, recorded between January 19 and January 22, 2020, has never been seen before. Unable to publish it inside China, the journalists gave it to Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit, which smuggled it out of the country.
Yang Jun and Chen Wei, whose names have been anonymised for their protection, travelled to Wuhan days before the city went into a full lockdown, when the official number of cases was only in the low hundreds and the Chinese government was tight-lipped with the amount information it shared.
As the journalists moved between hospitals increasingly full of patients and the Huanan seafood market, regarded as the epicentre of the outbreak, they were stopped time and again by police and security guards.

Crucial first days
Initially, as the journalists arrived in Wuhan on January 19, 2020, the severity of the virus was still unknown and human-to-human transmission was not yet confirmed.
As a result, citizens responded relatively nonchalantly to questions about the outbreak. People did not wear masks and called it worse than the flu, but not as bad as the SARS outbreaks between 2002 and 2004, which killed almost 800 people worldwide.
“When I arrive, people seem to have no fear or concern about the virus at all. Some haven’t even heard about it,” Jun wrote in his diary.
“A stall owner asks me to take off my mask. He says ‘You are obviously an over-worried outsider. Everything is fine here,'” Jun continued.
The Huanan Market, however, had at that point already been closed off, as authorities conducted investigations into the origins of the virus. But neither officials in Wuhan nor in Beijing were forthcoming with information about the potential severity of the situation, leaving citizens in the dark.
Although the World Health Organizations (WHO) at that point had been made aware of the outbreak, both China and the WHO did not know human to human transmission was possible.
As millions of people travelled and gathered to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, the government announced the city would go into lockdown. Then, almost overnight, the lackadaisical approach by its inhabitants turned into panic, with almost everyone wearing masks while public places in the city closed down.
But it was too late, as millions had moved throughout the country, giving the virus ample opportunity to start its spread through China, and, not long after, the world. Information about the outbreak is hidden in secrecy and very difficult to get, said
YANG JUN.
The lack of communication and transparency by the Chinese government during these first crucial days is seen widely as one of the reasons the virus was able to spread as fast as it did, leading to the most severe pandemic in 100 years, with
more than two million people dead as a result of the disease.
“The lack of staff and equipment in Wuhan caused many infected patients to be denied treatment,” Jun wrote in his diary.
“It’s a joke and the hospitals were hiding the truth.”
Government censorship
The footage and diaries also reveal how authorities tried to stop the journalists from doing their jobs, even though they worked for Beijing-based state media and had permission from Wuhan’s municipal media affairs department.
At every turn, from the seafood market to hospitals, police tried to hinder reporting on the story.
“I can’t report with freedom. As long as the government institutions are involved, I am constantly followed and spied on,” Jun wrote in his diary.
“Information about the outbreak is hidden in secrecy and very difficult to get.”
Jun continued, writing: “During the three days of my reporting in Wuhan, I was constantly stopped by the police and hospital personnel. So, I realised how serious the virus is and how sensitive and difficult it is to report this topic. It’s totally beyond my imagination.”
Police officers repeatedly told the journalists, who continued to film surreptitiously during the questioning, they could not film, as the areas were closed off.
“There are some topics and stories that could not be reported in China. Such as the discussion of the pandemic control measures, the protocols for confirming infected patients, and also anything related to organisation or government department cover-ups. These were all impossible to touch or report,” Wei wrote in her diary.
Since the start of the outbreak, nine Chinese journalists have been arrested or disappeared.
In December, a prominent citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for her reports on the outbreak.
“Chinese media and social media talk about the crisis and despair around the world except for China,” Wei wrote. “But no one in China dares talk about the origin of the virus starting from Wuhan or early mistakes caused by the local government in Wuhan,” she continued.
“The only things allowed to be discussed about this pandemic is how the well the government has done and how thankful the Chinese people should be to the government.”
Worldwide pandemic
In the days and weeks following the events from 3 Days that Stopped the World , COVID-19 spread to one country after another, eventually reaching all continents and infecting more than 91 million.
Over the last couple of weeks, dozens of countries have started vaccination campaigns against the virus after governments and pharmaceutical companies scrambled to develop vaccines that would decrease the infection and mortality rate of the disease.
However, it will take considerable time and resources before most of the world is inoculated against COVID-19, meaning both the human and economic impact will be felt for several years to come.
Wuhan, however, has gone back to relative normality, Wei wrote in her diary.
“People here don’t really talk about the virus anymore. It’s like history that has passed long ago,” she wrote.
“People feel very lucky and proud to be in China because it is the only country that has controlled the virus,” she added.
“This may not be the truth but that’s how most Chinese people feel.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Al Jazeera that the measures taken during the early stages of the pandemic significantly prevented further spread of the virus.
However, a study by the University of Southampton
alleges the number of cases could have been significantly reduced if the government had taken action sooner.
The Chinese government did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions on journalistic freedom.


SOURCE : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/18/new-footage-shows-wuhan-during-earliest-days-of-covid-pandemic

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Hundreds of youths have clashed with police in cities across Tunisia, throwing stones and petrol bombs in the capital as security forces fired tear gas and water cannon to try to quell the unrest.
Rioting and protests have followed the 10th anniversary of a revolution that brought democracy but few material gains for most Tunisians, with anger growing at chronic joblessness and poor state services.
However, with no clear agenda, political leadership or backing from major parties, it is not clear whether the demonstrations will gain momentum or die down, as many previous rounds of protests have since 2011.
An interior ministry spokesman said on Monday that police detained 632 people on Sunday alone after what it called rioting across the country that included looting and attacks on property. Most of the detainees were aged 15-20, it said.


Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/1/19/in-pictures-tunisian-troops-quell-unrest

Tribal clashes in Sudan’s Darfur region have killed at least 48 people in the latest bout of violence, according to state media.
“The death toll from militia attacks in al-Geneina yesterday reached 48,” the SUNA news agency said on Sunday, referring to the capital of West Darfur state and quoting the local branch of the country’s doctors’ union.
“The bloody events which are still ongoing since Saturday morning [have] also left … 97 wounded.”
Saturday’s clashes initially pitted the Massalit tribe against Arab nomads in al-Geneina, about two weeks after the United Nations and African Union ended a 13-year peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The violence morphed into broader fighting involving armed militias in the area, which left several buildings, including houses, scorched.
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Twitter on Saturday he had ordered a “high-profile” delegation, including security services, be sent to West Darfur to follow up on the situation.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said that displaced people in the Darfur region say that the withdrawal of the hybrid United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has “created a vacuum”.
This is “especially because the joint force that was created by the government – which includes the police, the military, and the paramilitary rapid force – is a joint force that is not accepted by most of the displaced people”.
But, Morgan said that “inter-communal violence” is not new to Darfur, even when the UNAMID peacekeeping mission was still active and had a mandate to protect civilians.
The vast Darfur region was the scene of a bitter conflict that erupted in 2003, leaving about 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced, according to the UN.
At the time, fighting erupted when ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which responded by recruiting and arming a notorious Arab-dominated militia known as the supporter of APC.
The main conflict has subsided over the years but ethnic and tribal clashes still flare up periodically, largely pitting nomadic Arab pastoralists against settled farmers from non-Arab ethnic groups.
The violence often centres on land and access to water.
Rocky transition
Sudan is undergoing a tumultuous political transition after the overthrow of longtime President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 after mass protests against his rule.
The transitional government, a power-sharing arrangement comprising generals and civilian figures, has pushed to build peace with rebel groups in Sudan’s main conflict zones, including Darfur.
But two rebel groups refused to join a recent peace deal, including the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by Abdelwahid Nour, which is believed to maintain considerable support in Darfur.
The UNAMID formally ended its operations on December 31 last year.
It plans a phased withdrawal of its 8,000 armed and civilian personnel within six months.


SOURCE :https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/17/at-least-48-people-killed-in-sudans-darfur-clashes

The FBI is investigating whether foreign governments, organisations or individuals provided financial support to people who helped plan and execute the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a news report said on Sunday.
As part of the investigation, the FBI is examining payments of $500,000 in bitcoin, apparently by a French national, to key figures and groups in the far right before the riot, one current and one former FBI official told NBC News.
The payments were documented and posted online last week by a company that analyses cryptocurrency transfers. Bitcoin payments can be traced because they are documented on a public ledger.
The current FBI official was quoted as saying the bitcoin transfers appear to have been made by a French computer programmer who took his own life on December 8 last year after triggering the transfers, according to French media.
The cryptocurrency payments prompted the FBI to examine whether any of the money was used to fund illegal acts, which, if true, raises the possibility of money-laundering and conspiracy charges, the FBI official said.
On December 8, Chainalysis reported the donor sent 28.15 BTC – worth about $522,000 at the time of transfer – to 22 separate addresses, many of which belong to far-right activists.
The Chainalysis blog post, first highlighted by Yahoo News, said far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes received the most money, 13.5 BTC – worth about $250,000.
Separately, a joint threat assessment issued last week by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and various other federal and DC-area police agencies noted since the deadly January 6 riot, “Russian, Iranian, and Chinese influence actors have seized the opportunity to amplify narratives in furtherance of their policy interest amid the presidential transition.”
Russian state and proxy media outlets “have amplified themes related to the violent and chaotic nature of the Capitol Hill incident, impeachment of President Donald Trump, and social media censorship”, the unclassified intelligence report said.
“In at least one instance, a Russian proxy claimed that
ANTIFA members disguised themselves as supporters of President Trump, and were responsible for storming the Capitol building.”
Chinese media, meanwhile, “have seized the story to denigrate US democratic governance, casting the United States as broadly in decline – and to justify China’s crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong”.
The examination of possible foreign influence related to the Capitol riot, which involves the FBI’s counterintelligence division, comes after years of what current and former FBI officials say is mounting evidence that Russia and other foreign adversaries have sought to secretly support “political extremists” on the far right and far left.
‘Mutual affection’
Law enforcement officials and security analysts say there has long been “a mutual affection between Western white supremacists and the Russian government”, as two scholars put it in a February paper on the JustSecurity website.
Some senators were concerned enough about the issue that they inserted a requirement in the 2021 defence bill that the Pentagon “report to Congress on the extent of Russian support for ‘racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist groups and networks in Europe and the United States’ – and what can be done to counter it”.
Fuentes, who spoke at pro-Trump rallies last year in Michigan and Washington, DC, told the ProPublica news organisation he was at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Wednesday, January 6, but did not follow the mob into the Capitol.
One group of Fuentes’ supporters, which calls itself the Groyper Army, was filmed running through the Capitol carrying a large blue flag with the America First logo, ProPublica reported.
“We’re looking at and treating this just like a significant international counter-terrorism or counter-intelligence operation,” Michael Sherwin, the US attorney in Washington, DC, said at a news briefing last week.
“We’re looking at everything: Money, travel records, looking at disposition, movement, communication records.”


SOURCE : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/17/fbi-probing-capitol-riot-link-to-foreign-governments-groups

United States President Donald Trump now plans to leave Washington the morning of Inauguration Day next Wednesday after considering a departure on Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday, the Reuters news agency reports.
He will be sent off with a departure ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, said a person familiar with the planning who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Trump’s plans have not been formally announced. Officials are considering an elaborate event that would have the feel of a state visit, with a red carpet, colour guard, military band and 21-gun salute all being discussed.
Trump, who had already announced plans not to attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, will then fly on to Palm Beach, Florida, to begin his post-presidency at his Mar-a-Lago Club, the source told Reuters.
Trump will begin his post-presidency at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida [File: Carlos Barria/Reuters]
Trump will be the first president to skip his successor’s inauguration since President Andrew Johnson refused to attend Ulysses S Grant’s swearing-in ceremony in 1869. Vice President Mike Pence will attend in Trump’s place.
Trump broke another tradition by not officially conceding the election to Biden, becoming the first not to offer a concession since the presidential tradition began in 1896. The president has not reached out to Biden or invited him to the White House for a meeting prior to his swearing in as many others have in recent history.
Pence, for his part, did speak with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Thursday, the Associated Press reports, citing two people familiar with the conversation.
It’s the first known contact between the elected members of the outgoing and incoming administrations.
One of the people familiar with the Thursday afternoon conversation described it as a “good call,” with Pence congratulating his successor and offering assistance. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.
Trump will leave Washington after spending months making baseless allegations of voter fraud in an attempt to delegitimise Biden’s presidency and two weeks after he incited a violent insurrection, with his supporters storming the US Capitol building in an attempt to halt the peaceful transition of power.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/15/trump-to-leave-washington-just-before-biden-is-sworn-in

More than 93,418,283 cases of the virus have been confirmed worldwide since the start of the pandemic.


The global death toll from COVID-19 has now crossed two million.
The landmark was reached on Friday amid a vaccine roll-out so immense but so uneven that in some countries there is real hope of vanquishing the outbreak, while in other parts of the world, it seems a far-off dream.
The numbing figure was crossed just more than a year after the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The number of dead, tallied by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the population of Brussels, Mecca, Minsk or Vienna.
More than 93 million cases of the virus have been confirmed worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Europe is the continent where the health crisis has proved most deadly, with 650,560 deaths to date.
Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded 542,410 deaths, while the United States and Canada have counted 407,090.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for global solidarity in tackling the pandemic as he marked the “heart-wrenching” milestone.
“Sadly, the deadly impact of the pandemic has been made worse by the absence of a global coordinated effort,” he said in a video.
In wealthy countries including the US, the United Kingdom, Israel, Canada and Germany, millions of citizens have already been given some measure of protection with at least one dose of a vaccine developed with revolutionary speed and quickly authorised for use.
But elsewhere, immunisation drives have barely gotten off the ground. Many experts are predicting another year of loss and hardship in places like Iran, India, Mexico and Brazil, which together account for about a quarter of the world’s deaths.
“As a country, as a society, as citizens, we haven’t understood,” lamented Israel Gomez, a Mexico City paramedic who spent months shuttling COVID-19 patients around by ambulance, desperately looking for vacant hospital beds.
“We have not understood that this is not a game, that this really exists.”
Mexico, a country of 130 million people that has suffered mightily from the virus, has received just 500,000 doses of a vaccine and has put barely half of those into the arms of healthcare workers.
In the US, despite early delays, hundreds of thousands of people are rolling up their sleeves every day. But the virus has killed about 390,000, the highest toll of any country.
The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility – COVAX, a UN-backed project to supply shots to developing parts of the world – has found itself short of vaccines, money and logistical help.
As a result, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist warned it is highly unlikely that herd immunity – which would require at least 70 percent of the globe to be vaccinated – will be achieved this year.
Health experts fear, too, that if shots are not distributed widely and fast enough, it could give the virus time to mutate.
Dr Julian Tang, from the University of Leicester, said this number is not that surprising given the circumstances.
“This is a new virus to which no one really has any immunity, and we are going through the winter season where these respiratory viruses traditionally peak,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The coronavirus vaccines have come rather late, so we put all that together, the winter season, the delay [in] vaccination, indoor crowding that comes with the winter season, this type of peak and mortality… it is probably not that surprising,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Wuhan, a global team of researchers led by the WHO arrived on Thursday on a politically sensitive mission to investigate the origins of the virus, which is believed to have spread to humans from wild animals.
The Chinese city of 11 million people is bustling again, with few signs it was once the epicentre of the catastrophe, locked down for 76 days, with more than 3,800 dead.
“We are not fearful or worried as we were in the past,” said Qin Qiong, a noodle shop owner.
“We now live a normal life. I take the subway every day to come to work in the shop … except for our customers, who have to wear masks, everything else is the same.”
While the death toll is based on figures supplied by government agencies around the world, the real number of lives lost to is believed to be significantly higher.


SOURCE : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/15/this-is-not-a-game-two-million-people-dead-from-covid-19

At least 34 people have been killed and more than 600 injured after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck and toppled buildings in Indonesia’s Sulawesi island in the early hours of Friday, according to authorities.
The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres (3.73 miles) northeast of the city of Majene, at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles).
Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from Jakarta, said the situation was still developing in the area.
“Authorities in west Sulawesi are still working to restore communications. Electricity is down. Once communications are restored we should have a clearer picture of the exact extent of the damage,” she said.
“So far we know that eight people are confirmed dead in the city of Majene, 26 in the nearby city of Mamuju. There are 10 evacuation centers set up in the city of Majene and five in the city of Mamuju.”
President Joko Widodo offered condolences to the victims in a video statement, urging people to stay calm and authorities to step up search efforts.
Residents inspect earthquake-damaged houses in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia on Friday [Rudy Akdyaksyah/AP]
At least 15,000 people have been displaced following the quake.
North of Majene, more than a dozen patients and staff are trapped beneath the rubble of a hospital that was flattened by the quake.
“The hospital is flattened – it collapsed,” said Arianto from the rescue agency in Mamuju city, who goes by one name.
“There are patients and hospital employees trapped under the rubble and we’re now trying to reach them,” he told AFP news agency, without giving a specific figure.
Images and videos posted online showed damaged buildings and several people trapped in collapsed structures.
The disaster mitigation agency said a hotel and the office of the West Sulawesi governor were also severely damaged, and electricity supplies were also down.
Some roads and bridges were also damaged slowing down the rescue operation.
Several thousand panicked residents fled their homes to seek safety after the quake, which did not trigger a tsunami warning but was felt strongly for about seven seconds, the statement said.
An expert from the country’s meteorology, climatology, and geophysical agency, BMKG, warned that aftershocks could trigger a possible tsunami.
In an online press conference, BMKG Prof Dwikorita Karnawati has advised residents in the area to take precaution and move to higher ground.
“There is potential for a tsunami from subsequent aftershocks … Don’t wait for a tsunami first because they can happen very quickly,” she added.
Hours earlier, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the same district, damaging several houses.
Straddling the so-called Pacific ‘ring of fire’, Indonesia, an archipelago of high tectonic activity, is regularly hit by earthquakes.
In 2018, a devastating 6.2 magnitude quake and tsunami struck the city of Palu, further north in Sulawesi, killing thousands of people.
In December 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off the north of Indonesia’s Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that swept over coastal areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries, killing more than 230,000 people.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Agency rescuers look for survivors trapped in a collapsed building in Mamuju on Friday.


SOURCE :https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/15/hotel-collapses-as-deadly-quake-hits-indonesias-sulawesi

meccuno:
Useless app by a useless Aboki. He should focus on his cattle rearing and suya selling. Education is not for them.

ar u sure u ar not a goat, bcs u sound like one.

Source: https://www.dateline.ng/in-night-raid-security-agents-take-away-dahiru-bauchi-students-in-kaduna/

Security agents have stormed the Kaduna residence of Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi at night and took away students who were sleeping in the premises.
The head of the Dahiru Bauchi schools in Kaduna and Imam of the mosque on Western bypass (Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway), Fatahu Umar Pandogari, confirmed the raid.
“Around 12am, security agents comprising soldiers, policemen, Kaduna traffic agency, Federal Road Safety Corps, stormed the house of Maulana Shehu, the school and took students away at night,” Pandogari told the BBC.
He said they have not been told the reason for the raid, but that since the first outbreak of the coronavirus disease, the school was shut and students sent home. He said those arrested were living in the residence of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, not those who come from other states.
Pandogari also said it is difficult to ascertain the number of students taken away because it happened at night.
He said they attempted reaching the Kaduna State Government authorities but did not succeed. The government has also not commented on the raid