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The Jamaican nurse who created history by becoming the first person in the United States to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is urging her countrymen to get the life-saving jab to shield them from the virus that has infected almost 73 million people...
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
AN internal audit has exposed over 180 “voluntary workers” who were bleeding Marondera Municipality amid reports that they were each claiming $60 per day for doing menial jobs such as guarding communal boreholes and digging trenches. BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA This was revealed in a recent council audit committee report. The auditors noted several discrepancies where at some sites five people were said to be guarding a single borehole, amid reports that the “guards” were seconded by mostly MDC Alliance councillors. Marondera town has 11 MDC Alliance councillors and one for Zanu PF. It has emerged that each of the councillors seconded at least 15 workers to perform paid voluntary work. “Audit was concerned with the number of voluntary workers which was sky rocketing,” read part of the report. “The concern was that a single borehole was being manned by five people and to some extent people were attending malfunctioning boreholes. Audit cited loss of revenue.” Council early this year drilled 16 boreholes using devolution funds to ease water challenges, with five of them malfunctioning. According to the audit report, a number of voluntary workers were not reporting for duty but claimed daily allowances. “The audit manager said he received reports from the finance committee chairperson that there were some volunteers who were being paid yet they were not at work. The chairperson said internal audit should do the investigations and report accordingly,” read the report. The local authority is currently operating on a shoestring budget after revenue flows were affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in revenue collection falling by 50%.
Indiana students to get free FAFSA filing help on October 25 Financial aid professionals from Purdue University Northwest (PNW) are among the experts from all across Indiana who will be volunteering to help college-bound students and their families open the door to financial aid during College Goal Sunday. The virtual event is set for 1 […]
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says countries in the Americas, including the Caribbean, must maintain vaccination and epidemiological surveillance against poliomyelitis during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prevent...
FORMER Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko and his son Siqokoqela have taken the Botswana-headquartered Choppies Enterprises, its distribution centre and Nanavac Investments to court demanding an outstanding US$44 million for their 51% shares in the company. BY SILAS NKALA The family held shares in the supermarket chain before it was pushed out in January last year. Through their lawyer Zibusiso Ncube, Mphoko and his son filed summons at the Bulawayo High Court seeking an order declaring their entitlement to payment of the true value of the 51% shares they held before being booted out. The Mphokos also claimed interest at the rate of 5% per annum from January 9, 2019, when they were unlawfully divested of their shareholding, to date of full payment. In their declaration of the claim, the Mphokos submitted that at all material time, they were the majority shareholders of Nanavac Investments, holding an aggregate of 51% shares. “First applicant (Siqokoqela) held 25,5% shares and second applicant (Phelekezela) held 25,5% shares in first defendant (Nanavac Investments), while the second defendant (Choppies Enterprises) held the remaining 49% of the first defendant (Nanavac Investments)’ shares,” reads the declaration. “In about 2018, a dispute arose between first applicant and second defendant resulting in the second and third defendants instituting legal proceedings against first plaintiff and his wife and the first defendant at the High Court. The second defendant instituted malicious and false criminal complaints to the police, resulting in the institution of magistrates’ court proceedings against the first plaintiff and his wife.” They said the proceedings resulted in their arrest and detention and on January 9 in order to secure freedom, the Mphokos signed a deed of settlement with Choppies Enterprises in terms of which they disposed of their shareholding in Nanavac Investments to Choppies Enterprises. “The deed of settlement between the parties provided that the two plaintiffs were to be paid US$2,9 million by second defendant for the acquisition of plaintiffs’ full rights and title to the first defendant’s shareholding,” they said. “The payment of first applicant’s salary which was due from first defendant had been unlawfully stopped and threats of foreclosure on a mortgage bond in which first applicant had acquired funds from a local bank which the plaintiff could only service if he was not in detention and was receiving his salary from first defendant, the second plaintiff made him sign the deed of settlement in fear of the continued persecution of his son and his daughter in law by second defendant.” The Mphokos said the unlawful deed of settlement understated value of the shareholding they owned in that US$2,9 million offered for the shares constituted about 7% as opposed to 51% of the value of the shares in Nanavac Investments, which was given as US$44 million at the Botswana Stock Exchange. “The second defendant paid the sum of US$2,9 million in local currency, where shareholding was purportedly being acquired
GENEVA/ZURICH, (Reuters) - Health officials reviewing Gilead Science Inc’s remdesivir against COVID-19 should consider all evidence, including a trial in which the medicine failed, before giving it the green light, the top WHO scientist said yesterday.
The article WHO: Nations mulling Gilead’s COVID drug should consider trial flop, too appeared first on Stabroek News.
CHIVHU district development coordinator (DDC) Michael Mariga yesterday stripped two MDC Alliance councillors of their posts and barred them from attending council meetings after they defied orders to resign from the civil service following their victory in the 2018 harmonised elections. BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA Edwin Maseva (ward 11) and Emmanuel Punungwe (ward 10), who are both primary school teachers, were stripped of their titles just before the beginning of the Chikomba Rural District full council meeting. Addressing other councillors during the meeting, Mariga said Maseva and Punungwe had failed to comply with a directive from the Public Service Commission (PSC), which ordered them to resign from the civil service 30 days following 2018 their electoral victory or stop serving as councillors. According to a letter dated April 15, 2020, written by the PSC secretary Jonathan Wutawunashe, which Mariga read out to councillors, civil servants serving as councillors would be violating the Constitution and the Public Service Regulations Statutory Instrument 1 of 2000 as stated in Circular 10 of November 2018. “Given the fact that it is a misconduct to engage in any other employment or service for remuneration without the written consent of the commission, it is advisable that you act immediately to correct the situation,” the letter read. “For avoidance of doubt, the commission hereby directs that as a civil servant, you should cease to serve as a councillor with immediate effect. Failure to comply with this directive will result in disciplinary action taken against you.” Maseva said Mariga had misdirected himself by relying on an old prohibition order which had been overtaken by events. “We are still in talks with the PSC on this issue and we have also engaged lawyers. As it is right now, the DDC’s dismissal is null,” Maseva said. Punungwe described the decision by PSC to dismiss them from council as part of political persecution of opposition officials. “This is a selective application of the law aimed at pushing certain agendas. I wonder why PSC decided to fire us from council instead of the civil service,” he said. Following the PSC directive, three Zanu PF councillors in Buhera Rural District Council who were also teachers, resigned recently from the civil service to continue serving in council. Follow Florence on Twitter @FloMangwaya
There is injustice in America. There is discrimination. There is a legacy of racism and inequality that lives still in our institutions, our laws, and in too many people’s hearts that makes it harder for Black people to succeed.
MALVERN, PA State Rep. Kristine Howard, D-Chester, this week launched H.B. 2932 which might require public utility corporations to supply clients the choice of reporting their month-to-month funds to credit…
THE Zimbabwe national cricket team is seeking inspiration from past failure as it embarks on a tour of Pakistan where it will play three important one-day internationals (ODIs) against the hosts as well as the same number of T-20 Internationals. BY KEVIN MAPASURE Zimbabwe missed out on the 2019 International Cricket Council World Cup in England following a heartbreak that saw the team unexpectedly losing to minnows United Arab Emirates in a match the country needed to win to clinch one of two play-off tickets to the global party. The then Heath Streak-coached side found itself having to go through the rigours of the play-offs after failing to make it among the top seven sides in the ODI rankings. Having learnt from past experience, this time the team is aiming to make it among the automatic qualifiers on Pakistani soil. Ahead of the series, Zimbabwe Cricket’s mantra has centred on earning an automatic World Cup spot and captain Chamu Chibhabha has stressed the point at every opportunity. “Its very crucial for us to play really well. Super League games are very important when you consider the fact that we have to qualify for the World Cup,” Chibhabha said after the team’s training session on Wednesday. “We would rather qualify directly as opposed to having to play in the qualifiers because that’s a lot of pressure.” For him, the qualifiers are a dangerous route to try and qualify from where they have to face lesser sides that will be playing with freedom, while a full-member side will be carrying the weight of expectation, which can be destructive as Zimbabwe discovered at Harare Sports Club in 2018. Zimbabwean cricketers acknowledge that they launch their campaign in the tough conditions of the Asian flat wickets, but they retain the confidence that they can upset the odds and pull off some important wins. “We would love to get a couple of wins under our belts which makes life easier for us to qualify for the World Cup,” Chibhabha said. Chibhabha is one of six players that toured Pakistan in 2015 and he was the highest run scorer for Zimbabwe in the ODIs despite him experiencing the heartbreak of falling for 99 in one of the matches. “From our experience in 2015, we know we are going to play on a flat wicket — some might have spin on them, slow and turning, but we are expecting a lot of runs on the board in the series,” he said. “Obviously, it’s going to be hot, but it’s not as bad as we expected. We will be playing day-night matches, so dew is going to be a huge factor.” The first ODI will be played on October 30 and the last two will be contested on November 1 and 3. Zimbabwe has got a lot of experience among its ranks, with Brendan Taylor coming in as one of the players that were not part of the 2015 tour. In 2015, Taylor had just started on a Kolpak contract in England, while Test skipper Sean Williams was part of the previous trip. It seems former skipper Elton Chigumbura is in a last chance saloon, having struggled with injuries in the last couple of years. He was one of the stand-out performers in the last ser
Western Bureau: As the nation continues its relentless drive to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus, two communities, Rae Town, in Kingston, and Cornwall Courts, in St James, were placed under special area curfew because of the troubling...
Going once, going twice-the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences are two Stanford economists whose work lets the world make mobile phone calls, switch on a light, and buy and sell on eBay. Robert Wilson and Paul Milgrom, are famous for their groundbreaking work on auction theory. They took the 2,500-year-old practice of selling goods to the […]
Gayle King said she has packed on a few pounds while in quarantine.
I WANT to share a Bible verse with you today and then tell you why I believe it should mean something to you. MOTIVATION:Ashley Thaba “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 22:1-2 Growing up, my parents taught and more importantly modelled that your name is to be highly valued and protected. My mother was a highly respected child psychologist and my father considered a lawyer as a person who operated with utmost integrity (there is a tall order! Ha!). Even if it meant they were cheated, they did everything they could to honour their name and reputation. One motivation was the fact that they also were Christians and wanted to make sure that they were not “preaching” one thing and living another — hypocrites. But it was more than that. They genuinely loved others and took literally the advice in Philippians 2:3, which states, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” They thought about how their actions would affect others and treated others the way they wanted to be treated. This has stuck with me combined with the fact the same Holy Spirit within them that motivated them towards selfless love now lives and convicts me in a similar way. In today’s article, I want to encourage you why this is so important in a world where corruption reigns and customer service can feel nearly nonexistent! Corruption is the very opposite of what I am advocating because the only way to knowingly buy someone off means you are choosing to not think of the implications your illegal actions have on someone else. If you get the tender because you know someone or you pay someone, that means the playing field is not level. You are choosing to elevate yourself over others who are just as worthy but now will not even be considered. You know you wouldn’t want someone to do that to you! Customer service stinks because people don’t care about the business. If they are tired, they will not get up and go that extra mile to make a customer want to buy and support that shop. Why would you do this? Because at the end of the month, you are going to get your paycheck regardless, so why put in the effort? If it were your shop and your efforts directly impacted your paycheck, you wouldn’t do that. My point is we pick and choose when we want to operate our “best” because ultimately we pick and choose who matters to be treated fairly and kindly. Here is the result that I want you to pay close attention to. Over time of treating people like this, your name gets sullied. You don’t mean to. If you knew that same person you cheated would one day be in a position to cheat you, you wouldn’t do it. If you knew that same customer you ignored or were rude to would one day be in a po
KwaZulu-Natal police have arrested seven suspects following shootings at two schools in the province. Another suspect was shot dead when police attempted to apprehend him.
NURSES have objected to the decision by the Health ministry to scrap the flexible working hours system so that they can work for 40 hours a week. BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA Health secretary Jasper Chimedza on October 19 directed provincial medical directors to resume normal working hours for all nurses, saying the flexi working hours were creating artificial nurse shortages. But Zimbabwe Nurses Association president Enock Dongo, in a letter to Chimedza dated October 21, objected to the order, accusing the permanent secretary of making unilateral decisions. “The decision to implement the flexible working hour system is a product of agreement within the HSBNP [Health Service Bipartite Negotiating Panel]. It was not given unilaterally by the government nor did the employees adopt it on their own accord,” Dongo said. “With this in mind, your decision to unilaterally remove a system which you found in place and, in any event, was reached by agreement, is irregular and certainly not in good faith.” He added that the ministry’s circular ran contrary to the other communication they received on May 11, 2020, where it was put clearly that the flexible hour system would remain in place because it reduced exposure to COVID-19. He said the nurses, therefore, found it unfortunate that he proceeded to remove the flexible hour system when the risk of exposure was still quite high owing to poor supply of personal protective equipment (PPE). “Tied to the above, the flexi-hour system did not only address issues to do with PPE but also addressed issues of incapacity,” Dongo told Chimedza. “When you go to the origins of adopting this system, the reason was that regular working hours were becoming expensive to maintain on the salaries nurses were getting.” lFollow Harriet on Twitter @harrietchikand1
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is today scheduled to meet Matabeleland traditional leaders in Bulawayo to, among other things, discuss the emotive Gukurahundi issue, marginalisation and development of the region. This is not the first time that Mnangagwa has met traditional leaders from the region to discuss festering issues in the region, but there is a worrying trend that these indabas are becoming empty talkshows. The President has also met members of the Matabeleland Collective (MC) at the State House in the city not once, but more than twice. In all these engagements, regional leaders have been clear that they will not settle for anything less than a sincere Gukurahundi apology and a truth-telling process led by the chiefs and civic society organisations from the region. They contend that this is key towards finding a lasting solution to Gukurahudi. In all the past engagements, Mnangagwa has skirted over the apology part and rushed to facilitate exhumations and reburials of Gukurahundi victims and issuance of identity documents to the survivors. This has left many affected citizens sceptical over his sincerity in dealing with the issue. They still believe that Mnangagwa, as one of the perpetrators, must not dictate the direction to be taken, but allow them to lead the healing process. In short, he should talk less and listen more. That's true statesmanship. The message has been very clear that the President cannot put the cart before the horse. From Mangwe to Tsholotsho, Bulawayo and Nkayi — demands of an acknowledgment, apology and a truth-telling process before reburials are uniform. Why does he now want to fast-track an issue that is as old as the country’s independence? We wonder why Mnangagwa is not doing the right thing. Mnangagwa should listen to the people who were affected in order to make his meetings meaningful. If the meetings fail to achieve anything, the people of Matabeleland will lose confidence in him and those meetings will be a wasted opportunity to resolve the crisis. Mnangagwa should simply own up to the atrocities, apologise and seek the consent of the victims on how they would want the crisis to be resolved. This is a key ingredient of transitional justice.
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — The world premiere of a documentary on Pope Francis was supposed to have been a bright spot for a papacy locked down by pandemic and besieged by a corruption scandal, recalling Francis' glory days travelling the world to bless the oppressed. But the red carpet rollout of 'Francesco' has been anything but bright, with evidence that the Vatican censored the pope last year by deleting his endorsement of same-sex civil unions from an interview, only to have the footage resurface in the documentary. Aside from the firestorm the remarks created, the fiasco […]
The post Fiasco over pope's cut civil union quote intensifies impact appeared first on Black News Channel.
By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic Should partygoers put down their Molly and try a tab of Synchronic? This cautionary sci-fi/fantasy/thriller suggests not. Synchronic is a drug that hurls its users back in time. Time travel with a seven-minute limit. That’s the concept created by co-directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, one that […]
The post Synchronic Film Review appeared first on Afro.
By REBECCA BOONE and DAVID CRARY Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. coronavirus caseload has reached record heights with more than 83,000 infections reported in a single day, the latest ominous sign of the disease's grip on the nation, as states from Connecticut to the Rocky Mountain West reel under the surge. The U.S. death toll, meanwhile, has grown to 223,995, according to the COVID-19 Dashboard published by Johns Hopkins University. The total U.S. caseload reported on the site Friday was 83,757, topping the 77,362 cases reported on July 16. The impact is being felt in every section […]
The post US sets coronavirus infection record; deaths near 224,000 appeared first on Black News Channel.
… -involved shooting of Jacob Blake, African-American led organizations marked the first …
President Trump wants to paper over the living wound of racism. He’s issued Executive Orders and established a new national commission designed to whitewash our history—and deny the daily reality of being Black in America. He actively appeals to white supremacists and fans the flames of hatred and division in our country, because he thinks […]
The post EXCLUSIVE OP-ED: My Plan to Lift Every Voice in Black America appeared first on Voice and Viewpoint.
Cook County tosses ‘lifeline’ to needy residents, opening housing voucher waiting list for first time since 2001 The Housing Authority of Cook County (HACC) on Tuesday, October 20, announced it will accept applications for its Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program waitlist for the first time since 2001. Formerly known as Section 8, the HCV Program […]
THE Westmoreland Health Department is embarking on targeted interventions aimed at influencing behaviour change as part of the fight against the novel coronavirus. Health Promotion and Education Officer Gerald Miller told JIS News that the move comes out of the recent findings of a Knowledge and Attitude Survey conducted among operators of public passenger vehicles (PPV).
There is no doubt that Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes of all time, let alone the best to ever grace the NBA hardwood. But, Jordan does believe that his historical professional career wouldn't be what it is today if he was hooping during the social media era.
Miami is remembering the life of Trayvon Martin by renaming a street near the high school he attended before he was murdered in 2012. The Miami Herald reports that the Miami-Dade commissioners “approved adding Martin’s name to the part of Northeast 16th Avenue that leads to Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High, where Martin was in 11th grade.” The road will […]
Senators Manchin, Capito announce $29.6M in grants and loans for rural development in West Virginia - Correct Success CLARKSBURG, W.Va. U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)…
One presidential candidate wants to Keep America Great; the other wants to Build Back Better. But what are the candidates' key policies?
PHOTO: DONALD DE LA HAYE Justice Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck (second left), peruses a book during the handover of play therapy tools for children by the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation to the Ministry’s Victims Services Division (VSD) on Friday (October 16). Others (from left) are: Chief Technical Director in the Ministry, Grace-Ann Stewart-McFarlane; General Manager, JN Foundation, Onyka Barrett-Scott; Director, […]
(AP)- US president, Donald Trump, has said he voted today “for a guy named Trump” and called it an “honour” to cast his own ballot in his adopted home state of Florida before he jetted off to campaign in three...