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Author: Cecilia Odey

  • Ukraine’s energy infrastructure targeted in latest Russian attack

    Ukraine’s energy infrastructure targeted in latest Russian attack

    Infrastructure

    Kiev, Jun e 20, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Several Ukrainian energy facilities have been hit in a severe Russian aerial attack, Ukraine’s national energy provider, Ukrenerho said on Thursday morning, while Ukrainian drones targeted fuel depots in Russia overnight.

    Ukrenerho reported damages from the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kiev regions, saying that the exact extent was still being investigated.

    The damage in Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region was caused by debris from a downed Russian combat drone, regional governor Serhiy Borsov said on Telegram.

    A power line and an unspecified industrial plant were hit in the Kiev region, according to the regional administration.

    Explosions were reported overnight from the city of Dnipro and the Zaporizhzhya region.

    According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia used four cruise missiles, two guided missiles and 27 combat drones in the combined attack.

    All drones and five of the other missiles were intercepted, according to Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

    According to the Ukrainian army, three Iskander-M ballistic missiles could not be intercepted.

    Iskander missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometres, were rarely intercepted.

    Meanwhile Ukrainian drone attacks caused fires at two fuel depots overnight, according to Russian authorities.

    A fuel depot in the town of Enem near Krasnodar in southern Russia and a depot in the Tambov region south of Moscow were affected.

    According to the Russian Defence Ministry, 15 drones were shot down.

    It was not possible to independently verify the claim from either warring party.

    Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years.

    Its attacks on targets in the Russian hinterland are primarily intended to disrupt fuel supply to Moscow’s forces. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Buhari Bolaji

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  • Scholz to consult German state premiers on irregular migration

    Scholz to consult German state premiers on irregular migration

    Migration

    Berlin, June 20, 2024 (dpa/NAN) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz would discuss the problems arising from irregular migration with the leaders of the country’s state governments in Berlin on Thursday.

    The premiers would first meet for separate talks at midday, before meeting Scholz later in the afternoon.

    The states led by the conservative CDU/CSU parties are primarily pushing for asylum procedures to be carried out in third countries outside the European Union.

    Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has had this idea examined by experts on the subject, many of whom are skeptical.

    The results are to be discussed at the meeting on Thursday.

    The meeting is also likely to focus on the chancellor’s support in lifting a ban on deporting serious criminals from Afghanistan and Syria.

    The problem is that Afghanistan is ruled by the hardline Taliban and Syria by the dictator Bashar al-Assad.

    Both regimes have gruesome records of serious human rights abuses. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Ekemini Ladejobi

  • Depressed German tourist arrested after violent outbursts

    Depressed German tourist arrested after violent outbursts

    Arrest

    Jakarta, June 20, 2024 (dpa/NAN) A German citizen has been arrested on the Indonesian resort island of Bali after a string of assaults and property damage, fuelled by depression over family turmoil back home, police said.

    Police said the suspect, 37, has been in Bali for the past seven months seeking solace from his parents’ divorce and his father’s subsequent death.

    He is accused of slapping a motorcyclist on June 12, causing minor injuries to the woman.

    He reportedly later vandalised a villa in the popular resort area of Kuta on Saturday, where he also allegedly threatened an employee with a knife.

    He’s admitted to being depressed due to his parents’ divorce and his father’s passing,’’ Kuta police chief I Ketut Agus Pasek Sudina told reporters.

    “We plan to conduct a psychological evaluation and further investigation.’’

    Ketut said the German had also shoplifted a beverage from a mini market prior to these incidents.

    He also resisted arrest, throwing stones at officers before being subdued.

    Police said the man was facing charges of assault, property damage, and making threats, offences punishable up to 10 years in prison under Indonesian law. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Ekemini Ladejobi

     

  • German Vice-Chancellor backs deporting terrorists

    German Vice-Chancellor backs deporting terrorists

    Terrorists

    Berlin, June 19, 2024 (dpa/NAN) German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has spoken out in favour of deporting suspected terrorists and dangerous individuals who had immigrated to the country.

    However, Habeck, a member of the Green Party, said that anyone convicted of a serious crime such as murder should not enjoy a right to asylum in Germany even as they trample the country’s laws and order.

    That could mean sending people back to countries considered unsafe, even if they potentially faced persecution there.

    “In plain language, this means that someone like the perpetrator of the police murderer must be convicted, must serve his sentence and can then be deported and should be deported,” Habeck said.

    Those remarks referred to a recent violent attack in the German city of Mannheim, where a knife wielding migrant killed a policeman.

    Habeck noted that the Interior Ministry was looking closely at what was possible with regard to the deportation of serious criminals.

    Interior Ministers from all 16 German States are meeting now in Berlin to discuss the immigration policy.

    This includes the controversial proposals to allow the deportation of serious criminals and people deemed Islamist extremists to countries including Syria and Afghanistan. (dpa/ Nan) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Bashir Rabe Mani

     

     

     

  • China takes firm steps to prevent exchange rate surge

    China takes firm steps to prevent exchange rate surge

    Prevention

    Shanghai, June 19, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) China has taken firm steps to prevent the risks of exchange rate overshooting, said Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, on Wednesday.

    The RMB (Renminbi, the currency system in China), exchange rate has remained basically stable in complicated circumstances, Pan said at the 15th Lujiazui Forum held in Shanghai.

    Entering this year, the major advanced economies have postponed, yet again, their monetary policy reversal timing and the China-U.S. interest rate spread has continued to be relatively high, he added.

    Letting the market play a decisive role in the formation of exchange rates, China’s central bank has maintained the flexibility of the exchange rate.

    While strengthening guidance of expectations and taking firm steps to prevent the risks of exchange rate overshooting, Pan said.

    The governor said that through sustained efforts over the years, China’s foreign exchange market has achieved substantial progress, with market participants becoming more mature and transacting in a more rational manner.

    He added that as the RMB cross-border receipts and payments now account for 30 per cent of trade in goods, the exposure of enterprises to currency exchange risks has been reduced.

    An increasing number of business entities are using the tools for exchange rate risk hedging, Pan said.

    Pan said China is also more experienced in coping with foreign exchange market fluctuations.

    As major economies are gradually reversing their monetary policies this year and the dollar appreciation is weakening, the difference between the monetary policy cycles at home and abroad is narrowing, he said.

    Pan said  that these factors combined would help keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable and balance cross-border capital flows, thereby gaining more space for China’s monetary policy manoeuvres. (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Bashir Rabe Mani

  • Explosions occur at ammunition depot in Chad

    Explosions occur at ammunition depot in Chad

    Explosions

    Yaounde, June 19, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) Explosions has occurred on Tuesday night at an ammunition depot in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, authorities reported on Wednesday.

    “A fire broke out in a military ammunition warehouse located in Goudji, causing major explosions.

    “We urge the population to remain calm,’’ Koulamallah Abderaman, Chadian government spokesman and foreign minister, said on social media.

    The exact cause of the explosions remained unclear at the time of the report . (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey and Abiemwense Moru

     

  • COVID-19 hit German Olympic qualifying in athletics

    COVID-19

    Munich, June 19, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Corona virus infections have hit some athletes ahead of the German Athletics Championships, which acted as a last chance for Olympic qualification.

    German Athletics Association head of sport Jörg Bügner said on Wednesday that infections had been reported following this month’s European Championships in Rome.

    The majority of these were among the support staff but also among the athletes, he said in anonymity.

    COVID-19 cases have plummeted over the last two years.

    Few sporting events have been affected, in contrast to the height of the pandemic, which even led the Tokyo Olympics to be delayed by a year.

    The team have allocated 23 places via direct qualification for the Paris games, which runs from July 26 to Aug.11.

    Konstanze Klosterhalfen, the German 5,000 metre runner, is expected to return in at the German championships in Braunschweig.

    After missing out on defending her title at the European Championships due to illness.

    “I am positive that she’ll get the hang of it for the Olympic Games,’’ said Bügner.

    Germany won 11 medals at the European Championships including gold for Olympic champion long jumper Malaika Mihambo. (dpa/ NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Rotimi Ijikanmi

  • 3 men collapse after smoking contaminated cigarettes

    3 men collapse after smoking contaminated cigarettes

    Smoking

    Berlin, June 19, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Two men collapsed in western Germany on Tuesday after smoking cigarettes containing an unknown substance which they are believed to have purchased from the same vendor.

    However, another person fell ill over the weekend because of this same substance.

    The police said that paramedics had revived an unconscious 52-year-old man in the city of Duisburg who collapsed after smoking a cigarette laced with an unknown substance on Saturday evening.

    According to the police, the man is no longer in critical condition.

    In two similar incidents on Tuesday, a 43-year-old and a 45-year-old man collapsed after smoking contaminated and both men survived.

    However, after questioning witnesses and obtaining a description of the potential cigarette vendor.

    A suspect was detained on suspicion of violating the New Psychoactive Substances Act.

    However, a search at the suspect’s home revealed no further evidence.

    Investigators believe that the consumption of a cigarette containing an unknown substance caused severe cardiovascular complications that could have been fatal. (dpa/ NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    (Edited by Cecilia Odey/Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Researchers discover world’s oldest wine preserved in Roman grave

     

    Wine

    Madrid, June 19, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Researchers have identified the world’s oldest wine, a drop of white discovered in an ancient Roman burial site in southern Spain found to be some 2,000 years old.

    The wine was discovered in 2019 in a Roman mausoleum near Carmona, a town near Seville, believed to have been a family tomb dating back to ancient Roman city of Carmo.

    The burial site contained six urns holding human remains as well as several objects, according to the research team from the University of Cordóba and the town’s archaeological department.

    In what they described as a rather exceptional and unexpected discovery, the scientists found the remains of a male individual submerged in a reddish liquid inside a sealed glass funerary urn.

    Analysis of the liquid’s mineral profile and the detection of certain characteristic polyphenols, biomarkers found in every wine, allowed it to be identified as white wine.

    This is according to the findings published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

    The liquid’s red colour was acquired over time, possibly due to solid residues contained in the urn, they said in the paper.

    Identifying the wine’s origins proved most difficult as there’s nothing left to compare it to, the researchers said.

    However, they did find similarities in the mineral profile of modern-day white wines produced in Montilla-Moriles, a wine-growing region to the east of Carmona, and sherry wines from Jerez.

    While wine was extensively used by the Romans for burial rituals due to its religious significance, the remnants of ancient wines reported so far have all been dried up, often absorbed on vessel walls.

    It is according to the researchers, who noted that their findings constitute the oldest ancient wine conserved in the liquid state.

    Previously, the oldest wine ever recorded was a bottle from Speyer, Germany, discovered in 1867 and believed to have been preserved since the 4th century AD, according to a University of Cordóba statement.

    The fact that it was the remains of a male individual that were covered in wine is no coincidence.

    According to the researchers, who point out that for a long time women are forbidden from tasting wine during the Roman times. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Ese E. Eniola Williams

     

  • India’s Assam flood worsens, death toll rises to 31

    India’s Assam flood worsens, death toll rises to 31

    Floods

    New Delhi, June 19, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) The ongoing flood situation in India’s north-eastern state of Assam continues to worsen and so far has claimed 31 lives, officials said on Wednesday.

    According to police on Tuesday night, a landslide triggered by rains killed five people, including a minor, in the Badarpur area of Karimganj district about 281 km southeast of Guwahati, the main city of Assam.

    Officials said the victims were identified as a 55-year-old woman and her three daughters aged 18, 16 and 11.

    The body of a three-year-old baby boy was also retrieved from the debris.

    Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said the floods have affected a population of 161,209 in 15 districts batting the inundation.

    Karimganj is the worst affected district with 152,133 people reeling under floodwaters.

    It has also affected a crop area of 1,378.64 hectares in the affected districts.

    “Currently, 470 villages across 28 revenue circles are submerged in water,’’ ASDMA said.

    The local government has opened 43 relief camps and distribution centres in the affected areas and the majority of them have been set up in Karimganj.

    Officials said the relief efforts were underway, with 5,114 people taking shelter in 43 relief camps.

    Officials said the extent of damage to infrastructure, including embankments, roads and bridges, has added to the difficulties in providing aid and assistance to the affected population.

    The flooding hit the twin states of Assam and Manipur following heavy rains in the aftermath of cyclone Remal which made landfall between the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh last month. (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Ekemini Ladejobi