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Tag: US

  • US beat Nigeria’s D’Tigress in Olympic opener

    US beat Nigeria’s D’Tigress in Olympic opener

    Nigeria’s ’Tigress lost their first game against USA women’s basketball team at the Tokyo Olympics.

    The US team got off to a positive start with an 81-72 win over Nigeria in their first game of the tournament.

    The Nigeria team, however, reduced their 20-point deficit recorded against the US team in a friendly game to nine.

    Nigeria were the better team in the second half, making 40 points to USA’s 37 in the last two quarters.

    The Nigerian team will face France in their next match on Friday.

    The USA women’s basketball team ran their Olympics winning streak to an incredible 50 games in the process.

    Nigeria’s full-court press and tenacity on the defensive end seemed to catch Team USA off guard early in the game.

    At the end of the first quarter, Nigeria led 20-17 and had forced eight American turnovers.

    Eventually, however, Team USA was able to adapt to the pressure, started working the ball inside and took full control.

    At one point in the second quarter, they ripped off a 23-0 run and built a double-digit lead at the break.

    While they got a little lackadaisical towards the end of the fourth quarter, Team USA was in full control for the entire second half, and was never in danger of losing the game.

    Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson led the way for Team USA with 19 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and two blocks in a dominant interior performance.

    Her frontcourt partner Brittney Griner added a double-double of her own with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

    Diana Taurasi was the only other player in double digits with 10 points.

  • #TwitterBan: Respect The Rights Of Nigerians, US tells Buhari

    #TwitterBan: Respect The Rights Of Nigerians, US tells Buhari

    The US has sent another message to President Muhammadu Buhari over the ban of the microblogging site, Twitter.

    In a statement on Thursday, Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, said restricting social media has no place in a democracy.

    He called on Nigeria to reverse the ban and allow freedom of expression.

    The statement read, “The United States condemns the ongoing suspension of Twitter by the Nigerian government and subsequent threats to arrest and prosecute Nigerians who use Twitter. The United States is likewise concerned that the Nigerian National Broadcasting Commission ordered all television and radio broadcasters to cease using Twitter.

    “Unduly restricting the ability of Nigerians to report, gather, and disseminate opinions and information has no place in a democracy. Freedom of expression and access to information both online and offline are foundational to prosperous and secure democratic societies.

    “We support Nigeria as it works towards unity, peace, and prosperity. As its partner, we call on the government to respect its citizens’ right to freedom of expression by reversing this suspension.”

    The Federal Government has maintained a hardline stance on Twitter ban despite pressure within and outside the country.

    In an interview he granted to ARISE TV earlier on Thursday, the president was asked when he would unban Twitter but he simply said, “I’ll keep that close to my chest.”

    Former US President Donald Trump has hailed Buhari over the ban, charging more countries to do the same.

    Although Twitter played a crucial role in Trump’s victory and was also instrumental throughout his presidency, the platform suspended him after he incited an insurrection in the last weeks of his stay in the White House.

    Friday will make it exactly a week since the Nigerian authorities axed Twitter.

    The government has now commenced the process of regulating social media, a move that has been widely rejected.

  • 40 million Nigerians use Twitter, reverse ban now – US to Buhari

    40 million Nigerians use Twitter, reverse ban now – US to Buhari

    The United States is increasing the pressure on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration after the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.

    On Wednesday, the US Mission in Nigeria conveyed the message of top American official, Samantha Power.

    The senior diplomat is the current Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

    Power said: “There are nearly 40M Twitter users in #Nigeria, and the country is home to Africa’s largest tech hub.

    “This suspension is nothing more than state-sanctioned denial of free speech and should be reversed immediately. #KeepitOn.”

    Power was the 28th US Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017.

    Last Friday, federal authorities sanctioned Twitter indefinitely after Buhari’s tweet was deleted.

    The President had stated that many of those misbehaving in the South-East region were young and did not witness the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the civil war.

    “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand”, the former General warned.

    After the deletion, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, condemned “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

    The government directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to start the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations.

    The NBC was also ordered to force broadcast stations – Television and Radio – to stop using Twitter or face the consequences.

    The actions are being criticized by Nigerians, countries, local and international organizations.

    On Tuesday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and concerned citizens filed a lawsuit against Buhari administration over “the unlawful suspension of Twitter”.

    The plaintiffs, in the suit filed by legal luminary, Femi Falana (SAN), want an end to the criminalization of Nigerians using the microblogging site, the repression of: human rights, freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom.

  • BREAKING: FG summons UK, US envoys over comments on Twitter ban

    BREAKING: FG summons UK, US envoys over comments on Twitter ban

    The Federal Government on Monday summoned the envoys of the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union in Nigeria over comments on the suspension of Twitter in the country.

    The invitation was contained in a statement issued and made available to newsmen on Monday by the spokesman of the Crisis Monitoring and Public Communications Division of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa.

    According to the statement, the meeting is scheduled to take place by 12pm at the Minister’s Conference Room, 8th Floor.

    “I am directed to inform that following the recent ban on Twitter by the Federal Government and Press Statement issued by some Heads of Diplomatic Missions Accredited to Nigeria on the subject matter, the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency, Geoffrey Onyeama has invited the affected Ambassadors to a meeting today at 12 noon”.

    Recall that following the suspension of the microblogging platform, the invited envoys had jointly kicked against the decision of the Federal Government stressing that banning systems of expression is not the way forward.

  • #Twitterban: US kicks against ban on Twitter by Buhari Govt

    #Twitterban: US kicks against ban on Twitter by Buhari Govt

    The United State Government has kicked against President Muhammadu Buhari government’s decision to ban Twitter in the country.

    The US condemned the ban and described it as a poor message to citizens and investors.

    The US Mission in Nigeria in a statement on Saturday said the Nigerian constitution provides for freedom of information.

    Recall that the Nigerian Government, through the Ministry of Information and Culture had on Friday banned the social media platform indefinitely in the country.

    This happened a few days after Nigerians on Twitter had pleaded with the operators of the platform to suspend President Muhammadu Buhari over his war threat on people of the Southeast Region.

    Twitter had in response, deleted the controversial tweet. The decision was said to have angered the government which in return banned Twitter.

    In a statement, the US Mission said, “Nigeria’s Constitution provides for freedom of Information. The Government’s recent #Twitterban undermines Nigerians’ ability to express this fundamental freedom and sends a poor message to its citizens, investors and businesses.

    “Banning social media and curbing every citizen’s ability to seek, receive, and impart information undermines fundamental freedom.

    “As President Biden has stated, our need for individual expression, open public conversation, and accountability has never been greater. The path to a more secure Nigeria lies in more, not less communication, alongside concerted efforts toward unity, peace, and prosperity.”

  • US Appeal to Israel To Spare Civilians In Showdown With Palestine

    US Appeal to Israel To Spare Civilians In Showdown With Palestine

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a US envoy would travel to the Middle East to seek to calm tensions as he implored Israel to avoid civilian deaths.

    Hady Amr, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, was leaving Wednesday and will meet both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, US officials said.

    “He will urge on my behalf and on behalf of President Biden a de-escalation of violence,” Blinken told reporters.

    In the latest high-level interaction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Israeli counterpart, Benny Gantz, and backed Israel’s “legitimate right to defend itself and its people” while also urging steps to restore calm, the Pentagon said.

    A senior US official separately said to expect further high-level contacts, including with Jordan and Egypt, although Washington does not speak to Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.

    Blinken described scenes of dead Palestinian civilians, including children, as “harrowing” but defended Israel’s assault on Gaza in response to rocket fire by Hamas militants.

    “I think Israel has an extra burden in trying to do everything they possibly can to avoid civilian casualties, even as it is rightfully responding in defense of its people,” Blinken said.

    But Blinken said there was a “very clear and absolute distinction between a terrorist organization, Hamas, that is indiscriminately raining down rockets — in fact, targeting civilians — and Israel’s response defending itself.”

    President Joe Biden’s administration earlier appealed to ally Israel to reroute a flashpoint parade in Jerusalem and prevent evictions of Palestinians in the holy city, the immediate trigger for the new round of violence.

    Taking more nuance after the militantly pro-Israel administration of Donald Trump, Blinken renewed US support for the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state.

    “This violence takes us further away from that goal,” Blinken said.

    “We believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live with safety and security and will continue to engage with Israelis, Palestinians and other regional partners to urge de-escalation and to bring calm.”

  • Biden To Allow 62,500 Refugees Into US After Criticism

    Biden To Allow 62,500 Refugees Into US After Criticism

    President Joe Biden announced Monday, after coming under fierce criticism, that he was raising the maximum number of refugees allowed into the United States this year to 62,500 — up from the 15,000 cap imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump.

    The change follows backlash from allies over Biden’s earlier decision to keep the Trump-era limits — a politically costly moment of confusion that stood out in a White House notable for its iron discipline in its first three months.

    “This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees,” Biden said in a statement.

    “The new admissions cap will also reinforce efforts that are already underway to expand the United States’ capacity to admit refugees so that we can reach the goal of 125,000 refugee admissions that I intend to set for the coming fiscal year.”

    The course correction was quickly welcomed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is controlled by Biden’s Democratic party.

    “I welcome the Biden administration’s announcement that it will increase the number of refugees allowed to be resettled in the United States. This is an important step in continuing our proud, bipartisan tradition of providing refugees protection through resettlement,” the committee chairman, Senator Bob Menendez, tweeted.

    The American Civil Liberties Union, a powerful advocacy group, also voiced approval, saying that the country’s “reputation” was at stake.

    “We are pleased to see President Biden has abandoned the Trump administration’s abysmal refugee goal and recommitted to prioritizing helping people who are fleeing persecution around the globe,” ACLU representative Manar Waheed said.

    “We recognize that the goal may not be easy and it requires rebuilding a system that was decimated by the Trump administration, but candidate Biden promised,” Waheed said. “He must fulfill that promise, lives are at stake.”

     Biden needs party unity

    Trump clamped down on refugees as part of the hardline border policies at the heart of his nationalist political platform.

    Biden campaigned on promises to restore more traditional US attitudes. But he then backtracked after his government ran into difficulties in handling a surge of migrants entering the country illegally, or claiming asylum, at the Mexican border.

    Last month, the White House said it needed more time to “rebuild” the post-Trump refugee program and would therefore keep the cap at 15,000 for the year.

    After a top Democrat and refugee aid groups slammed Biden’s target as “appallingly low” and “deeply disappointing,” the White House issued a statement hours later saying the low number was only provisional.

    In another shift from Trump’s policies, Biden announced in April that quotas were being expanded for refugees from Central America, the Middle East and Africa, while also opening the doors to three mostly Muslim countries — Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

    With Monday’s announcement, the White House will hope to have calmed the political waters among Democrats just when it needs party unity to push forward on huge proposed social and infrastructure spending plans in an almost evenly divided Congress.

    “We are amid the largest global refugee crisis in history, and after four years of slashing admittances to the lowest point on record, we need to return to our leadership position,” another Democratic senator, Tim Kaine, said.

    “I am heartened by today’s announcement that moved toward upholding our values of accepting refugees.”

    -AFP

  • Boeing urges U.S. to separate China trade and human rights

    Boeing urges U.S. to separate China trade and human rights

    Boeing Co has urged the United States to keep human rights and other disputes separate from trade relations with Beijing, and warned European rival Airbus would gain if the U.S. planemaker were locked out of China.

    Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told an online business forum he believed a major aircraft subsidy dispute with Europe could be resolved after 16 years of wrangling at the World Trade Organization, but contrasted this with the outlook on China.

    “I think politically (China) is more difficult for this administration and it was for the last administration. But we still have to trade with our largest partner in the world: China,” he told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit.

    Noting multiple disputes, he added: “I am hoping we can sort of separate intellectual property, human rights and other things from trade and continue to encourage a free trade environment between these two economic juggernauts. … We cannot afford to be locked out of that market. Our competitor will jump right in.”

    Boeing and Airbus each sell about a quarter of their jetliners to China, which has edged past the United States as the world’s largest domestic travel market.

    China typically makes block purchases for imported jets, often coinciding with U.S. or European diplomatic visits.

    Boeing began to face questions over its share of the Chinese market as the United States and China waged an 18-month trade war under then-U.S. President Donald Trump, though China’s jet purchases have slowed across the board in recent years.

    CHINA REVIEWING 737 MAX

    President Joe Biden last month warned China would face “repercussions” for human rights abuses and said the United States would reassert its global role in speaking up on such issues.

    Boeing’s most pressing concerns in China, analysts say, include the fate of its 737 MAX passenger jet, which was grounded worldwide for almost two years after two fatal crashes.

    U.S. regulators approved the jet to fly again in November, followed by Europe and major markets apart from China, whose regulator continues to voice major safety concerns.

    China has promised a “step-by-step” approach toward approving the plane, but Western industry sources say concerns are growing that the technical process could become mired in the growing diplomatic standoff between Beijing and Washington.

    Calhoun said Boeing had carried out a “top-to-bottom” overhaul and “turned the place upside down” as it learns lessons internally from the crashes, which killed a combined 346 people.

    The comments appeared designed to allay concerns from lawmakers and industry leaders, including the head of Dubai’s Emirates airline, who told Reuters in January that Boeing should recognize “top-down culpability and accountability” over the MAX.

    Airline president Tim Clark said he was confident the redesigned jet was safe, however.

    Boeing last week urged the dismissal of an investor lawsuit which claims Boeing’s board, where Calhoun served for a decade before becoming CEO in 2020, failed to monitor safety. It denied negligence and said the complaint ignored corporate controls.

    Boeing has separately told employees that safety and quality metrics will be added to a general incentive compensation plan.

  • China Overtakes US As EU’s Biggest Trading Partner

    China Overtakes US As EU’s Biggest Trading Partner

    China last year overtook the United States as the EU’s biggest trading partner, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday.

    Britain meanwhile, which is no longer part of the European Union, was the third-largest trading partner for the bloc, behind China and the United States, the agency said.

    The supremacy of China came after it suffered from the coronavirus pandemic during the first quarter but recovered vigorously with consumption even exceeding its level of a year ago at the end of 2020.

    This helped drive sales of European products, particularly in the automobile and luxury goods sectors, while China’s exports to Europe benefited from strong demand for medical equipment and electronics.

    The dethroning of the US comes as the EU and China are seeking to ratify a long-negotiated investment deal that would give European companies better access to the Chinese market.

    Eurostat said the trade volume with China reached 586 billion euros ($711 billion) in 2020, compared to 555 billion euros ($673 billion) for the US.

    The agency said EU exports rose by 2.2 percent to 202.5 billion euros while at the same time, imports from the People’s Republic of China increased by 5.6 percent to 383.5 billion euros.

    EU exports to the United States fell by 13.2 per cent in the same period and imports by 8.2 percent.

    In addition to the Covid-19 crisis, transatlantic trade has been impaired by a series of tit-for-tat feuds that have resulted with tariffs being on steel and products such as French champagne or Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

    Eurostat said trade with the UK plummeted in 2020, the year Britain officially left the bloc, though it was in a transition period to blunt the effects of Brexit until December 31.

    EU exports to the UK fell by 13.2 percent, while imports from across the channel dropped by 13.9 percent, Eurostat said.

    AFP

  • Nigerian nationals are now eligible to apply for citizenship of Malta

    Nigerian nationals are now eligible to apply for citizenship of Malta

    Nigeria has now been removed from the US travel ban list.  Nigeria’s removal from the US travel ban list follows the issuance of an executive order by President Biden seeking to reverse the travel bans put in place under the previous Trump administration that affected several African and Muslim-majority countries.  Consequently, Nigerian nationals are now eligible to apply for citizenship of Malta through the new “Naturalisation for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment” (NESDI) programme.

    The new NESDI programme offers Maltese citizenship to successful applicant who make specified investments in Malta. The first step is to be granted a residence permit and citizenship will be granted with 12 months or 36 months depending on the level of investment made. Between the issuance of the residence permit and the submission of citizenship application, the main applicant must spend at least 15 days in Malta as a minimum. The citizenship stage will not be completed unless the residence requirement has been met.

    For further details of the NESDI programme, please get in touch with your usual Mishcon de Reya contact.