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Trump removes campaign manager as Biden continue leading in polls
US President Donald Trump has removed his longtime campaign manager amidst his loosing of poll numbers that showed him trailing further behind Democratic candidate Joe Biden with less than four months to go before the November 3 election.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Trump said campaign manager Brad Parscale would be replaced by Bill Stepien, who has been the deputy campaign manager. Parscale will shift to a role focused on digital and data strategy, the president said.
In his statement, Trump credited both Parscale and Stepien for their involvement in his 2016 victory in the US presidential election and predicted that he would glide to a second term in office.
“This one should be a lot easier as our poll numbers are rising fast, the economy is getting better, vaccines and therapeutics will soon be on the way, and Americans want safe streets and communities,” Trump wrote.
Source___Aljazeera
Friends and family gather around the coffin of Jakelin Caal, a seven-year-old girl who died after developing a high fever while in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection.
Many claims that the death of Jakelin Caal and Felipe Gomez could have been averted.
Felipe Gomez Alonzo, age eight, and Jakelin Caal, age seven – both from Guatemala – died shortly after being detained by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the US-Mexico border.
“Available records make clear that Jakelin and Philippe both suffered terrifying and painful deaths that could potentially have been prevented by timely access to paediatric medical care,” said Fiona Danaher, a paediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Danaher appeared before the Homeland Security Committee of the House of Representatives, where Democrats are pursuing an investigation of a policy of the administration of US President Donald Trump: separating migrant children from their parents. Felipe and Jakelin were among six minors who died in US border patrol custody between September 2018 and May 2019.
Caal “died of septic shock which, because it went untreated over many hours, cascaded into multiple organ failure,” Danaher said. Alonzo died from “untreated influenza complicated by pulmonary haemorrhage in the context of bacterial pneumonia and sepsis”, she said.
By detaining children in crowded conditions without adequate access to medical care, the CBP is “perpetuating systems that place children at risk for medical neglect”, Danaher told the committee. And the emergence of COVID-19 adds new risks.
Source___Aljazeera
Iran judiciary stops protesters’ executions after social media backlash
The Iranian authorities are reported to have stopped the ongoing executions of three anti-government protestors, following a social media campaign.
The Persian hashtag #do_not_execute was used 7.5 million times after it was announced on Tuesday that the Supreme Court had upheld their death sentences.
Many celebrities backed the campaign.
A retrial has now been ordered. The three men had been arrested during street protests last November in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed.
Lawyers for the three men also were reportedly told that they could for the first time examine the court papers and evidence against their clients.
Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi, who are all reportedly in their 20s, were arrested during November’s unrest, which was triggered by the government’s decision to raise the price of petrol.
Iran is the world’s second most prolific state executioner after China.
Despite having to deal with the Middle East’s biggest outbreak of Covid-19, which has killed more than 13,000 people and deepened an economic crisis, the Iranian authorities have not stopped trying capital cases and carrying out death sentences.
Source___BBC
With 595 New Infections, Nigeria’s COVID-19 Cases Surpass the 33,000 mark
The COVID-19 cases in Nigeria surpassed the 33,000 mark following the confirmation of 595 new infections in the country.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed this on Monday night.
As per the agency, the new infections were confirmed in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Lagos maintained the lead position with a total of 156 new infections, followed by Oyo with 141 and the FCT with 99 new cases.
Other states with registered cases include Edo – 47, Kaduna – 27, Ondo – 22, Rivers – 20, Osun – 17, Imo – 13, and Plateau – 10.
While Nasarawa and Anambra each have 8 new infections, other states like Kano, Benue and Borno each reported 5 cases.
On a positive note, the country has been able to discharge 13,671 people who recovered from the virus.
Unfortunately, a total of 744 persons have succumbed to COVID-19 after being confirmed as fatalities from the infection.
Source___Channels TV
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) boss says there are possibilities that coronavirus (COVID-19) can be transmitted through the air.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this on Monday at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, attributed it to new evidence.
According to him, the disease is known to only be be contracted through droplets thatcomes from the nose and the mouth and fall to the ground.
The NCDC boss said, “Over the past few weeks, increasing evidence has emerged that in addition to droplet infections; we cannot rule out that airborne transmission is also possible as a mode of transmission of COVID-19.
“Understanding the modes of transmission of any new virus is very critical for defining response strategies. For COVID-19, from the very beginning, our understanding based on other coronaviruses that spread was primarily through droplets.”
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control boss also noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also updated its guidelines with the same position on the mode of COVID-19 transmission.
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to act in a precautionary way and assume that the virus could be transmitted through the air.
Source__Channels TV
China faces worst floods in decades
Floods across large herbage of central and eastern China have killed more than 140 people, impacting 38 million others and destroying 28,000 homes, according to government records.
‘It is the worst floods in China in more than 30 years, as regions across the country brace for another “grim” week of torrential rain.’
The coronavirus ground zero of Wuhan, through which the powerful Yangtze River winds, is on an expanding list of areas warily watching the rising waters.
The river also crosses it’s third-highest levels and is forecast to increase through the week, according to state-controlled media.
Not less than 33 rivers have reached record highs, while alerts have been issued on a total of 433 rivers, officials from the Chinese water resources ministry said.
The worst-hit provinces were Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan in central China, Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu in the country’s east, and the southwestern mega-city of Chongqing, authorities said.
Amid growing alarm, President Xi Jinping on Sunday called on authorities in affected areas to mobilise to help stricken residents, urging them to be “courageous”.
Source___Aljazeera
Sailors and fire crew injured as US Navy ship fire continues
A fire continues to erupt on a US naval ship in a dock in San Diego, California.
Dozens of firefighters combats the flames from the air, land and water for a third day as the USS Bonhomme Richard remained secreted in thick smoke.
The fire, lead by at least one large explosion, blazed Sunday morning in the lower cargo hold of the ship, docked for routine maintenance.
Source___BBC
Glee cast and other stars pay tribute to Naya Rivera
Tributes have been paid to actress Naya Rivera, whose death has now been confirmed by US police after missing for days.
The 33-year-old, famous for playing Santana Lopez on Glee, had gone missing during a boat trip in California.
After a long search, divers found her body yesterday prompting an outpouring of love and sympathy from her co-stars.
“She was so independent and strong and the idea of her not being here is something I cannot comprehend,” wrote Glee actor Kevin McHale on Twitter.
“She was the single most quick-witted person I’ve ever met, with a steel-trap memory that could recall the most forgettable conversations from a decade ago.
“She was the most talented person I’ve ever known and I’m furious we won’t get to see more.”
“Rest sweet, Naya. What a force you were. Love and peace to your family,” added Jane Lynch, who played coach Sue Sylvester on the show.
Many of her former cast-mates gathered at the bank of Lake Piru, near Los Angeles, to pay their respects.
Source___BBC
Gambia Moral Congress accuses President Barrow’s Party of violating Covid-19 regulations
The Gambia Moral Congress has accused President Barrow’s National People’s Party of violating Covid-19 emergency regulations by holding a political gatherings that oversight every law under the state of public emergency.
“If the president’s own political party has taken the lead in breaking the laws with impunity, it sets the stage for everyone to now disregard those same laws and regulations,” GMC said in a statement seen by The Standard.
The GMC also argued: “It shows law enforcement agencies have been conditioned to revert to the old days, reversing all the gains made under Hon. Mai Ahmad Fatty as the Minister of Interior. These people should have been arrested for flouting the SoPE regulations, charged and prosecuted. Since NPP emerged, disobedience to the law has assumed unprecedented proportions in this country. It is a shame that the Government would declare a new SoPE with restrictive conditions, and the next minute the top leadership of the NPP openly and publicly authorised its supporters to flout our laws and regulations without consequences. This is the type of leadership the NPP offers – total disrespect and disregard for the law.”
The Gambia Moral Congress further questions that the NPP demonstrates they are above the law and should not be trusted.
“This is shameful and we must all unite to STOP this potential cancer now before it invades the body. This sort of reckless conduct by the NPP could potentially launch this country into chaos and instability with perilous consequences. We urge all Gambians and other political parties to continue to observe public health advisory and shun the terrible example of the NPP and its leadership by undermining the Ministry of Health.”
Source___Standard Newspaper
Gambia Election: APRC DISCLOSES COALITION TALKS WITH NPP
The deputy spokesperson of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction has disclosed that President Barrow’s National People’s Party is pushing to get his party into a coalition before the 2021 presidential election, but there is no possible feedback from the agreement as of now.
“I can confirm to you that we are discussing with the NPP and three other political parties – but we have not reached an agreement with anyone of them just yet. But any agreement we are going into will be in the interest of the Gambian people,” Dodou Jah told The Standard.
Speaking singly on the talks with the NPP, Jah was quick to acknowledge that the former ruling party “will not go into any agreement with NPP unless President Adama Barrow fulfils the constitutional guarantee of giving Yahya Jammeh his dues as an ex-president and return all seized APRC assets.”
“I don’t know about other political parties but for NPP, we will not go into any agreement with them if they fail to give Jammeh his rights as a former head of state. That cannot be comprised. We are not going to have an agreement with somebody who doesn’t respect the law,” he said.
He said for any coalition between the APRC and the NPP, the government will have to implement the joint agreement between AU, UN and Ecowas before Jammeh left for exile.
“It is also our belief that the Barrow administration should reconsider their implementation of the Janneh Commission recommendations. It is illegal and should not be tolerated in a democracy,” he added.
Meanwhile the APRC Member for Foni Berefet, Sankung Jammeh also told The Standard in an exclusive interview that a coalition with NPP is a possibility if President Barrow accedes to the demand for the unconditional return of ex-president Jammeh.
He further added that the coming home of the exiled former president Jammeh was the top item on the agenda when the party’s interim leader, Fabakary Tombong Jatta, and other party officials met President Barrow at the presidency sometime last year.
Source___Standard Newspaper
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