International Archives - Page 10 of 14

Nigeria, Jamaica to begin direct flight 12th March 2025

Nigeria and Jamaica are set to explore the possibility of a direct flight route as both countries strengthen the Bilateral Air Service Agreement.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Tunde Moshood, on Wednesday.

Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, welcomed the Jamaican Ambassador to Nigeria, Lincoln Downer, and his Consular, Andre Hibbert, to his office in Abuja for this engagement.

Downer emphasised the potential for mutually beneficial diplomatic engagements between Jamaica and Nigeria.

He highlighted the importance of improving and enhancing bilateral relations, including reviewing the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement.

“I have been tasked by my country to review and improve on the diplomatic engagements between Jamaica and Nigeria, especially concerning air services,” said Downer.

The Jamaican ambassador also shared the growing interest in Nigerian culture, particularly Afrobeat music and Nollywood films, which are trending in Jamaica.

This cultural exchange, he noted, further reinforces the need for enhanced diplomatic and air connectivity.

“There is no reason why we should not have a direct flight between our countries. Nigerians love Jamaica, and there is a rising demand for Jamaican spices in Nigeria,” Downer added.

Keyamo in his response, welcomed the ambassador’s proposals and expressed his eagerness to take the next steps.

“I am delighted to start the BASA arrangements. To ensure a swift resolution, we will set up a committee to expedite the process,” said Keyamo.

He further committed to visiting Jamaica if necessary, stating that he would be willing to travel to Jamaica to finalize and sign the BASA agreement in person.

It was noted that Downer disclosed that Jamaica currently lacks a national carrier, relying on neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago for air transport.

He proposed the idea of combining the BASA between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to address the air services gap, underscoring the increasing demand for travel from Nigeria to Jamaica.

Downer expressed his deep appreciation for Nigeria, revealing an intriguing discovery from his four months as the Jamaican envoy to Nigeria.

“I have since discovered that Nigeria might be my ancestral home after all,” said the ambassador

EPL: Arteta has transformed Arsenal, but don’t see him winning league – Mikel Obi

Former Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, has shared his thoughts on Arsenal’s Premier League title aspirations under manager Mikel Arteta.

Mikel stated that while the Spaniard has improved the team, he is unsure if he is the right man to lead them to ultimate success.

Speaking on the Gunners’ progress in his Obi One Podcast posted on YouTube on Monday, Mikel acknowledged Arteta’s impact since taking over the club but insisted that Arsenal must move beyond merely competing and focus on actually winning major trophies.

“Has he done well for Arsenal? Yes. Has he improved Arsenal? Yes. There’s no doubt about it. Mikel Arteta has improved Arsenal from where they were before he took over.

“He’s massively improved the squad, the team, the way they play, and the way the fans want to see an Arsenal team play. He’s massively improved the team,” Mikel said.

Despite these advancements, the former Chelsea midfielder cast doubt on Arsenal’s ability to win the Premier League or Champions League under Arteta’s leadership.

“Now, is he the guy to take Arsenal to the next level, which is winning the Premier League, the Champions League? I don’t see that. Because it’s not about competing,” he argued.

Mikel stressed that Arsenal’s mentality should be about securing trophies rather than just being in the title race.

“People talk about competing. Yes, Arsenal need to compete to win. No, Arsenal should be talking about winning the league, not competing to win.

“When was the last time Arsenal won it? The Invincibles in 2004? What is it now, 20 years? 21? 22? Arsenal fans keep talking about competing. No. They’ve got to win it. Win it.”

Arsenal, currently positioned second in the race for the Premier League title, will be looking to prove their credentials as they push for their first league triumph in two decades.

Musk says X hit by major cyber attack

Elon Musk said X was hit by a major cyberattack on Monday as outages plagued users of the platform once known as Twitter.

“There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X,” Musk said in a post on the platform.

Musk blamed a cyberattack, providing no evidence, for crashing the site last year when an interview with Donald Trump was to be streamed.

In his post Monday, Musk included an X post from a DogeDesigner account that some on Reddit speculated could be a puppet of the tycoon himself.

The post noted protests against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that Trump entrusted to Musk, along with Tesla shops being vandalized, suggesting a cyberattack could signal another burst of animosity towards Musk.

Musk is chief or Tesla, his electric car company.

“It would take a lot of (money) to do an attack of this magnitude,” read a post in the exchange by the account of Jammies

Musk also maintained such an attack would take tremendous resources, speculating it was the work of a country or large coordinated group.

Outages on the X social media platform left tens of thousands of users unable to access the site, according to monitors.

Reports of problems with X started in the early hours of Monday, with users in Asia, Europe, and North America saying they could not access the platform, according to the Downdetector tracking site.

At the peak, more than 40,000 people reported outages, the site said.

The bulk of the reports were from people trying to use X on smartphones, but people on web browsers also reported the service down.

“Twitter keeps breaking?” asked a post by @Lalaslovely in the Downdetector chat section.

After Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022, the majority of employees left or were fired, raising concerns about whether staffing was in place to keep the platform safe and stable

IRP: UK Entices Nigerian Teachers with £10,000 Relocation Payment

Sometimes last year, the government of the United Kingdom decided to open its doors to teachers from Nigeria and the rest of the world who are willing to relocate to the county to continue their career. In the information made available the the UK is looking to recruit about 500,000 teachers by 2024, but more than a year into the exercise there seems to be a low response and this has forced the British government to change tactics and that now included the introduction of International Relocation Payment (IRP), for international teachers willing to make the move.

The international relocation payment (IRP) is a single payment of £10,000 which is available to eligible non-UK trainees and teachers of languages and physics.

The payment is designed to cover:

the costs of visas
the immigration health surcharge
other relocation expenses

The IRP offers financial support to teachers and trainees from Nigeria and all over the world who wish to come to train and work in English schools. It will be paid around the end of the teacher’s or trainee’s first term. It will not need to be repaid.

If eligible, trainee teachers can receive both the IRP and a bursary or scholarship.

The IRP is being run as a pilot in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Eligibility

To be eligible, teachers or trainees must:

be coming to England to work or train in the 2023 to 2024 academic year
not be already living in the UK

The Get into Teaching website has full details of the eligibility requirements for teachers and trainees.

How the scheme works

The scheme works differently for fee-paying trainees, salaried trainees and teachers.

Trainees on fee-paying courses

Trainees on fee-paying courses do not need to apply for the IRP. Training providers will pay the IRP directly to these trainees along with any bursaries they are entitled to.

Fee-paying trainees should receive the IRP around the end of their first term.

Full details of how providers will receive this funding can be found in the ‘Initial teacher training (ITT) bursary: funding manual’.

Teachers and salaried trainees

Teachers and salaried trainees who have started their teaching job or salaried teacher training course should apply for the IRP from the Get into Teaching website.

Applications are open from 4 September to 31 October 2023.

Eligible applicants should receive the money by 31 January 2024.

Teachers and trainees who miss this deadline must apply at the next opportunity after the start of their job or course to remain eligible for the IRP.

Applications will re-open in January 2024.

Future applications

Teachers and trainees are encouraged to express an interest in the IRP by emailing IRP.ExpressInterest@education.gov.uk if they:

start their job or course after the 31 October 2023
miss the October 2023 deadline for applications

DfE will then email them when applications open in 2024.

Employment and immigration checks

Before any payments are released DfE will:

work with the Home Office to check all visa and immigration requirements
contact the employing school of teachers or salaried trainees who have applied to check their:
- employment status
- teaching subject

Contact us

If you have questions about the international relocation payment email teach.inengland@education.gov.uk.

4 Places Where S*x in Public is Legal

**4 Places Where S*x in Public is Legal**

According to CriminalDefenseLawyer.com: S*x in public can lead to charges for public lewdness, indecent exposure, or even disorderly conduct. In most states, the laws that criminalize public sex make it a misdemeanor crime. Some state laws explicitly criminalize public sexual activity. Other laws are broader and cover a variety of indecent or lewd conduct.

It is important to note that showing too much skin is forbidden in many countries, some countries are just coming to terms with nudity in selected locations which made them more significantly open to nudity. The topic of public sex is still iffy at best. In fact, there are only four places in the world that allow it:

Germany

There is a recent legislation that allow women in Berlin to swim in general swimming pool topless in a law under gender equality. It is right to say Germany has a long history of being comfortable with nudity, and the country’s laws allow mixed-sex public nudity in designated areas such as beaches and parks.

It’s also legal to have sex in public, as long as nobody complains. However, there is one caveat – you have to be covered (a blanket or towel is fine) while you’re in the middle of the act. Being exposed during sex in public can earn you a fine.

Guadalajara, Mexico

In the summer of 2018, a new law was passed in Guadalajara – public sex was no longer a criminal act. The law wasn’t passed because of open-mindedness as much as police extorting couples caught in the act.

The new legislation was meant to protect “vulnerable groups,” such as young couples who, in the presence of parents at home, would go to parks and vehicles for intimate relations. And this way police could pay attention to more serious crimes.

Ørstedsparken, Denmark

Public sex in Denmark is legal in just one designated place – Ørstedsparken, which is a public park in central Copenhagen.

The rules for sex in the park are on display:

“Sex in the park is allowed but show some consideration. Many children institutions use the park.

Therefore, please avoid:

Sex in the playground and visible places between 9 am and 4 pm.
Loud sex in hiding between 9 am and 4 pm.

Remember to:

Remove semen from the benches after the act.
Leave condoms and used napkins in the bin.

The city hall of Copenhagen calls for safe sex.

Vondelpark, the Netherlands

Attracting 10 million visitors per year, the Vondelpark is Amsterdam’s largest – and most famous – municipal park. The lush 45-hectare site includes a famous open-air theatre, numerous children’s playgrounds and several cafés and restaurants, making it a thriving hub of activity in any season.” (Holland.com)

Not only is it the largest city park in Amsterdam, but Vondelpark also holds the status of being the only place in the Netherlands where public sex is legal.

As of September 2008, adults were legally allowed to have sex in the park. The 3 caveats of participation are:

Sexual activities were to be limited to the evening hours and night
People take their garbage with them when they’re done
Never have intercourse near the playground

I’d say that’s all pretty reasonable. It sure made dog owners really mad, though.

See, the park had originally been owned by the foundation that developed it. When ownership of the park was transferred to the Municipality of Amsterdam in 1953, one of the stipulations was that dogs must be able to run loose in the park at all times.

But then the public sex rule came down in 2008 and the city tried to get more control on the loose dogs.

29 Years Old Man Sentenced to 11,196 Years in Prison for Fraud

A disgraced Turkish crypto founder who fled to Albania and his two brothers have been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison each, the Anadolu state news agency reported Friday.

Prosecutors had asked for Thodex boss Faruk Fatih Ozer, 29, to be sentenced to 40,562 years in prison for money laundering, fraud and establishing a criminal organisation.

“If I were to establish a criminal organisation, I would not have acted so amateurishly,” Anadolu quoted Ozer as telling the court.

His two brothers, Serap and Guven, received the same sentence, which was issued late Thursday after a brief trial, Turkish media reports said.

Turkey is known for issuing massive prison sentences, which became more common after it abolished the death penalty in 2004 to help its efforts to join the European Union.

Ozer was initially reported to have fled Turkey in April 2021 with $2 billion in investor assets, although that figure has since been disputed.

Prosecutors said Ozer had transferred 250 million liras in user assets (worth about $30 million at the time) to three secret accounts when he fled Turkey in April 2021, with much of the money ending up in a Malta bank.

The indictment said the Ozer brothers had caused 356 million liras of damage to clients in all.

The case grabbed local headlines because it coincided with a Turkish crypto boom that has since largely subsided due to heavier government regulation.

Turks began turning to various cryptocurrencies as a defence against a deep slide in the value of the lira that began more than two years ago.

Ozer gained further celebrity status after being pictured meeting with ultranationalist pro-government figures.

He was arrested last year in Albania on an international arrest warrant from Interpol.

AFP

UAE Announces 40 Days Mourning Over President’s Death

The United Arab Emirates Government has announced a 40-day state mourning over the death of the country’s President, Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Friday.

The official news agency of the United Arab Emirates tweeted on Friday that he passed on at the age of 73.

“The Ministry of Presidential Affairs mourn the people of the UAE, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the whole world. The leader of the nation and the patron of its march, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, passed away to the Lord’s side today, Friday, May 13.

“The Ministry of Presidential Affairs also announced that the UAE will observe a forty-day state mourning with the flag flown at half-mast starting today, and suspend work at all ministries, departments, and federal, local and private entities for three days,” the agency tweeted.

Prior to his death, Al Nahyan served as the Emir of Abu Dhabi and led the territory’s modernization.

Poland defy Russia, sends T-72 tanks, Thunderbolt, drones, rockets to Ukraine

Poland has sent reinforcements to Ukraine despite earlier warnings from Russia.

The country has supplied their neighbours with equipment, such as dozens of infantry fighting vehicles and the 2S1 Carnation self-propelled howitzers, drones, Grad multiple rocket launchers and Piorun (Thunderbolt) man-portable air defense systems.

It has also sent over 200 T-72 tanks over the past few weeks, CNN reports, quoting Polskie Radio, Poland’s national public-service radio.

The report said that Poland has so far provided military equipment worth $1.6 billion to Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki made this disclosure last week.

This move, however, is against Russia’s earlier warning that any country, especially in the European Union that provides lethal weapons to Ukraine during the ongoing war, would face the consequences.

Ukraine Crisis: Russian TV Declares World War III

A Russian State television has announced the beginning of ‘World War III.’

The Kremlin’s main propaganda mouthpiece revealed how the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet was defeated.

Olga Skabeyeva, a leading propagandist for Vladimir Putin told viewers that Western support for Ukraine amounted to direct conflict with Russia, saying: ‘What it’s escalated into can safely be called World War Three. That’s entirely for sure.

‘Now we’re definitely fighting against Nato infrastructure, if not Nato itself. We need to recognise that.’

Dmitry Drozdenko, military commentator said on separate state-run Channel 1: “In actual fact a full-scale multi-level war is underway with the collective West.

“And the West has long been preparing for the war”.

Anchor Olesya Loseva, host of Vremya Pokazhet, told her viewers that the West was providing “zillions of weapons” to Ukraine.

She stated that Ukraine was doing the West’s bidding by carrying out “yet more provocations, bloody, horrible, completely unthinkable.”

These will “force people to shudder once again and say that Russia Is a country which is unworthy of even being on the world map and that all Russians should simply be wiped off the face of the earth”.

Mass Graves In Ukraine: UK, France Call For Action Against ‘Cowardly’ Russia

The Governments of the United Kingdom and France on Monday said they are not happy with footage of mass graves in Bucha, Ukraine, days after the Russian military forces withdrew from the area to another part of the country.

The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Emine Dzheppar, tweeted photos of “people deliberately killed by Russian occupants” in Bucha but the Russian Defence Ministry denied the development describing it as a “hoax”.

The defense ministry stated that all Russian Units withdrew completely from Bucha by March 30 while the photos were circulated from April 4.

It added: “During the time that the town has been under the control of the Russian armed forces, not a single local resident has suffered from any violent action.

“The so-called evidence of crimes in Bucha did not emerge until the fourth day, when the security service of Ukraine and Representatives of Ukrainian media arrived in the town. “

But UK prime minister, Boris Johnson refused to agree with the Russia side.

“The discovery of more mass graves outside Kyiv is sickening. The UK will not stand by whilst this indiscriminate and unforgivable slaughter takes place.
“We are working to ensure those responsible are held to account. We will not rest until justice is done,” Johnson tweeted on Monday.

On its part, the France government said Russian government must answer for “these crimes”.

“The images coming from Bucha are unbearable. In the streets, hundreds of civilians were cowardly murdered. We express our sympathy for the victims, our solidarity with the Ukrainians,” the France government tweeted on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Russian government has requested for a United Nation Security Council meeting today so as to defend itself on the recent development around Bucha.