Man Traffics His Wife to Mali For Prostitution And Sells Her 2-Year-Old Child

 NIGERIA: A 36 years old man Kingsley Essien has been arrested by men of Ogun state police command for allegedly trafficking his wife to Mali for prostitution and subsequently selling her 2-year-old son at the rate of N600,000.

A statement released by DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, spokesperson of the state polie command, says the suspect was arrested following the report lodged at Agbara divisional headquarters by his wife, Bright Essien, who reported that sometime in October 2021, her husband, Kingsley Essien, informed her that he had secured a job for her in Bamako Mali, and that he has assisted many people to that country for greener pastures before.

”She explained further that being her husband, she didn’t suspect any foul play until she got to Mali only to discover that she has been sold to human trafficker cartel headed by a woman at the rate of One million four hundred thousand naira. While in Mali, she was forced into prostitution, but later found her way to Nigeria embassy in Bamako where she was assisted back to Nigeria.

On getting to Nigeria, she discovered that her two years old son in care of her husband is nowhere to be found.

Upon the report, the DPO Agbara division, SP Abiodun Salau detailed his detectives to go after the suspect, and he was eventually arrested.”Oyeyemi said

The PRO added that on interrogation, the suspect confessed to the committing the crime and said he sold the two year old son to somebody at the rate of six hundred thousand naira.

Oyeyemi added that the commissioner of police, CP Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspect to anti human trafficking and child labour unit of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for discreet investigation.

He equally ordered that the buyer of the son must be traced and arrested in order to recover the stolen child.

DNT News

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Twitter To Tackle Ukraine Conflict Misinformation With Warning Labels

 Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) will begin placing warning notices in front of some misleading content regarding the conflict in Ukraine and limit the spread of claims debunked by humanitarian groups or other credible sources, the social media company said on Thursday.

The step-up against misinformation around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” is part of a new policy that outlines how Twitter will approach misinformation during crises.

Social media platforms have faced increasing scrutiny over how they determine and handle misinformation. Twitter has agreed to sell itself to Tesla (TSLA.O)Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has said he believes the site should be a platform of free speech.

The new warning notices will alert users that a tweet has violated Twitter’s rules, but still allow people to view and comment. The platform will not amplify or recommend such tweets and retweeting will also be disabled.

The approach could be “a more effective way to intervene to prevent harm, while still preserving and protecting speech on Twitter,” said Yoel Roth, head of safety and integrity at Twitter, during a call with reporters.

The company will prioritize adding labels to misleading tweets from high-profile accounts such as verified users or official government profiles. It will also prioritize content that could cause harm to people on the ground.

Twitter said it defines crises as situations where there is a widespread threat to life, physical safety, health or basic subsistence. It said the policy would initially focus on international armed conflicts but is also intended for events like mass shootings or natural disasters.

“While the timeline for this work began before the war in Ukraine broke out, the need for this policy came into even clearer focus as the conflict in Ukraine unfolded,” said Roth.

Source: REUTERS

 

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Biden has an eye on China as he heads to South Korea, Japan

 President Joe Biden departs on a six-day trip to South Korea and Japan aiming to build rapport with the two nations’ leaders while also sending an unmistakable message to China: Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine should give Beijing pause about its own saber-rattling in the Pacific.

Biden departs Thursday and is set to meet newly elected South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Their talks will touch on trade, increasing resilience in the global supply chain, growing concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and the explosive spread of COVID-19 in that country.

While in Japan, Biden will also meet with fellow leaders of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad, a group that includes Australia, India and Japan.

The U.S. under Biden has forged a united front with democratic allies that has combined their economic heft to make Russia pay a price for its invasion of Ukraine. That alliance includes South Korea and Japan. But even as Biden is to be feted by Yoon at a state dinner and hold intimate conversations with Kishida, the U.S. president knows those relationships need to be deepened if they’re to serve as a counterweight to China’s ambitions.

“We think this trip is going to put on full display President Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy and then it will show in living color, the United States can at once lead the free world in responding to Russia’s war in Ukraine, and that at the same time chart a course for effective, principled American leadership and engagement in a region that will define much of the future of the 21st century,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The war in eastern Europe has created a sense of urgency about China among major U.S. allies in the Pacific. Many have come to see the moment as their own existential crisis — one in which it’s critical to show China it should not try to seize contested territory through military action.

Biden’s overseas travel comes as he faces strong domestic headwinds: an infant formula shortage, budget-busting inflation, a rising number of COVID-19 infections, and increasing impatience among a Democratic base bracing for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that is likely to result in a roll back of abortion rights.

The conundrums Biden faces in Asia are no less daunting.

China’s military assertiveness has grown over the course of Biden’s presidency, with its provocative actions frequently putting the region on edge.

Last month, China held military drills around Taiwan after a group of U.S. lawmakers arrived for talks on the self-governed island. Late last year China stepped up sorties into Taiwan’s air space. Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state, but Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve unification.

Japan has reported frequent intrusions by China’s military vessels into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The uninhabited islets are controlled by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.

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Turkey threatens to block Finnish and Swedish NATO membership as tensions rise

 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has threatened to block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO, urged the alliance’s members on Wednesday to “respect” Ankara’s concerns about the two countries, which Turkey accuses of harbouring terrorists.

Erdogan was due to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken today.

Before the meeting, Erdogan accused Stockholm of providing safe haven to members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) designated as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

For the United States and its NATO partners, there is a lot at stake: the opportunity to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by strengthening and expanding the alliance.

Finland and Sweden on Wednesday submitted a joint application to join NATO as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forces a dramatic reappraisal of security in Europe.

“We asked them to extradite 30 terrorists but they refused to do so,” Erdogan claimed.

“You will not send back the terrorists to us and then ask our support for your NATO membership … We cannot say ‘yes’ to make this security organisation being lacking in security.”

Sweden has also imposed embargoes on arms sales to Turkey since 2019 over Ankara’s invasion of Syria.

“We are sensitive about protecting our borders against attacks from terror organisations,” Erdogan added, calling on NATO allies to support Turkey’s “legitimate” Syria operations,  or at least not to stand in Turkey’s way.

The Turkish leader also said he was not convinced by Swedish or Finnish delegations’ request to visit Ankara for consultations.

In an opinion piece in the hardline Daily Sabah newspaper, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at SETA Foundation, Muhittin Ataman, wrote that the issue of Sweden and Finland refusing to extradite PKK members is not the only issue.

Initially, Turkey didn’t oppose NATO’s eastward expansion, he explained.

As well as sheltering members of the Kurdish PKK group, designated by Ankara as ‘terrorists,’ Sweden and Finland also house several members of the Gülen movement, led by religious leader Muhammed Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar and preacher whom Erdogan accuses of attempting to stage the 2016 military coup.

Meanwhile, the 1980 entry  of Ankara’s arch enemy Greece into NATO in 1980 was always difficult for Turkey.

“If NATO’s policies begin to create a negative atmosphere for Turkey, Ankara will feel obliged to take necessary measures. Other NATO members should understand Turkey’s concern and position,” says Ataman.

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G7 finance meeting set to be dominated by reconstruction of Ukraine

 G7 finance ministers are meeting in Germany on how to help Ukraine pay its bills, with reconstruction after the war, surging global inflation, climate change, supply chains and the impending food crisis high on the agenda.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the United States, Japan, Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Italy – the G7 – will hold talks in Germany this Thursday and Friday as Ukraine struggles to fend off Russia’s invasion, launched on 24 February.

The Ukraine war is a game-changer for Western powers because it forces them to rethink decades-old relations with Russia – not only in terms of security – but also in energy, food and global supply alliances.

According to one source: “Ukraine is overshadowing these meetings. But there are other issues that must be discussed,” adding that debt, international taxation, climate change and global health were also up for debate.

Ukraine estimates its needs €4.7billion a month to keep public employees’ salaries paid and the administration working despite the daily destruction wrought by Russia.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it maintains is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbor’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

The short-term financing package to be agreed by the G7 would cover three months of Ukraine’s needs.

On Wednesday, the European Commission offered to provide up to €9billion in loans to Ukraine, financed from EU borrowing guaranteed by EU governments, to cover Kyiv’s needs until the end of June.

The Commission also proposed to set up a fund of unspecified size of grants and loans for Ukraine – possibly jointly borrowed by the EU – to pay for the reconstruction of the country after the war ends.

Some economists estimate the financial need for such a project to be between €500billion euros and €2trillion, with estimates frequently changing depending on the length of the conflict and the scope of destruction.

With sums of that magnitude coming into play, the EU is considering not only a new joint borrowing project, modelled on the pandemic recovery fund, but also the confiscation of the now frozen Russian assets in the EU, as sources of financing.

Some countries like Germany, however, say that the idea, though politically interesting, would be on shaky legal grounds.

U.S. officials emphasise it is too soon to map out financing for a massive rebuilding plan for Ukraine.

Washington wants the discussions to focus on meeting Kyiv’s immediate budget needs over the next three months.

“After all, these rebuilding needs are mostly a bit in the future,” a U.S. Treasury official said. “This is why we’re focused more on the budget needs of Ukraine in the next three months than about reconstruction, Marshall Plans and asset confiscation.”

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Ukraine invasion could cause global food crisis, UN warns

 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could soon cause a global food crisis that may last for years, the UN has warned.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war had worsened food insecurity in poorer nations due to rising prices.

Some countries could face long-term famines if Ukraine’s exports are not restored to pre-war levels, he added.

The conflict has cut-off supplies from Ukraine’s ports, which once exported vast amounts of cooking oil as well as cereals such as maize and wheat.

This has reduced the global supply and caused the price of alternatives to soar. Global food prices are almost 30% higher than the same time last year, according to the UN.

Speaking in New York on Wednesday, Mr Guterres said the conflict – combined with the effects of climate change and the pandemic – “threatens to tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity followed by malnutrition, mass hunger and famine”.

“There is enough food in our world now if we act together. But unless we solve this problem today, we face the spectre of global food shortage in the coming months,” he added.

He warned that the only effective solution to the crisis was reintegrating Ukraine’s food production, as well as fertilizer produced by both Russia and Belarus, back into the global market.

Mr. Guterres also said he was in “intense contact” with Russia and Ukraine, as well as the US and the EU, in an effort to restore food exports to normal levels.

“The complex security, economic and financial implications require goodwill on all sides,” he said.

His comments came on the same day the World Bank announced extra funding worth $12bn (£9.7bn) for projects addressing food insecurity.

The move will bring the total amount available for such projects to more than £30bn over the next 15 months.

Russia and Ukraine produce 30% of the world’s wheat supply and – prior to the war – Ukraine was seen as the world’s bread basket, exporting 4.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce per month through its ports.

But since Russia launched its invasion in February, exports have collapsed and prices have skyrocketed. They climbed even further after India banned wheat exports on Saturday.

The UN says around 20 million tonnes of grain are currently stuck in Ukraine from the previous harvest which, if released, could ease pressure on global markets.

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Navjot Singh Sidhu: India’s cricketer-turned-politician jailed for road rage death

 India’s top court has sentenced cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year in prison in a decades-old road rage case.

The Supreme Court ruled that Sidhu “intentionally caused hurt” to an elderly man in 1988, resulting in his death.

However, the former MP’s acquittal in a more serious charge of manslaughter remains.

The sentencing is a serious setback for his political career.

Sidhu recently resigned as the Congress party’s chief in Punjab after his party was wiped out in recent state assembly elections.

He has limited legal options left as he can appeal against the ruling only once in the form of a curative petition.

The case timeline

Sidhu was first accused of manslaughter in 1988 when a 65-year-old man died hours after an argument with him in Patiala. The case continued to be heard in a trial court as India’s opening batsman kept doing well in his fledging international cricket career. In 1999, the court acquitted Sidhu.

The state appealed against the acquittal in the high court, which convicted him for manslaughter in 2006. This forced him to resign from his parliamentary seat of Amritsar as Indian laws do not allow convicted individuals to be public representatives.

He appealed against the verdict in the Supreme Court which stayed the conviction, allowing him to retake his seat in a by-election. In 2018, the top court acquitted him in the manslaughter case, but found him guilty of “hurting the victim” and asked him to pay 1,000 rupees ($13; £10) as fine.

The victim’s family appealed against the ruling and on Thursday, the Supreme Court added a one-year sentence to the fine.

 

Sidhu is one of India’s most successful Test cricketers. Known for his stylish and powerful stroke play, he specially thrived against fast bowlers, but also held equal command over playing spin skillfully.

He scored 3,202 runs at an average of 42 in 51 Test matches. He also played 136 ODIs and scored 4,413 runs. He retired from all forms of cricket in 1999 and after four years, he joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and became an MP. Over the years, he rose to become a prominent party leader and a star campaigner.

In the next decade, he also managed to launch a successful career as a cricket commentator and also as a TV personality on popular comedy shows. His witty and sharp style made him popular as a commentator.

But he became disgruntled with the BJP after reportedly not getting any important job in the government despite the party’s landslide win in the 2014 general elections.

He quit the BJP in 2016 and joined the Congress where he rose to become the chief of its state unit in Punjab.

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