United States ban travels to Iran

President Donald Trump authorized the expansion of travel restrictions against Iran and the new recommendation that Americans refrain from visiting regions of Italy and South Korea impacted by the coronavirus.

Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday detailed the heightened travel warnings in a press conference from the White House.

“First, the president authorized action today to add additional travel restrictions on Iran. … Iran is already under a travel ban, but we’re are expanding existing travel restrictions to include any foreign national who has visited Iran within the last 14 days,” Pence said.


“We are going to increase, to the highest level advisory, which is Level 4 advising Americans: Do not travel to specific regions in Italy and South Korea,” he added. “We are urging Americans to not travel to the areas in Italy and the areas in South Korea that are most affected by the coronavirus.”

The president, meanwhile, said he will meet with some of the globe’s largest pharmaceutical companies on Monday on efforts to develop a vaccine for the novel illness. He and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar added that the administration’s early action to clamp down on travel has helped keep the virus’s risk to everyday Americans low.

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Benue arrests 400 herdsmen, seizes 600 cows

The Benue State Government says it has arrested 400 herdsmen for flouting the state’s anti-open grazing law.

The state government also seized over 600 cows belonging to the herdsmen.

Governor Samuel Ortom, who revealed these in Makurdi on Friday, ordered the livestock guards to impound any cows seen openly grazing in any part of the state.

Ortom gave the instructions while inspecting impounded cows at the quarantine unit of the state Ministry of Agriculture.



He said enforcement of the ranching law would continue to enable those who wish to do livestock business to comply with its provisions.

He said, “There has been influx of armed herdsmen with large herds of animals to the state, despite the high level of awareness creation to the existence of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.

 “Several herds of cattle have been impounded and quarantined in other local government areas and the state government has acquired trucks to help livestock guards to convey impounded livestock from long distances to quarantine units for safekeeping.”

While describing the influx of herdsmen to the state as “life-threatening”, the governor said such would not be condoned by his administration.

Ortom said, ‘‘As of today over 400 herdsmen found to have flouted the anti-open grazing law have been arrested and facing prosecution, some have been convicted.”

According to Ortom, ranching remains the global best practices of animals husbandry, urging Nigerians to key into it to ensure peace between herdsmen and farmers.

The Commander, Livestock Guards, Linus Zaki, said they impounded 214 cattle in Ukum, 69 in Logo, 219 in Guma, 96 in Makurdi and 16 in Gwer West councils.

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Kiko Casilla banned for 8 games over racism

Leeds goalkeeper Kiko Casilla was given an eight-match ban after he was found to have used racist language toward an opponent during a second-tier Championship game.

Casilla denied the charge but a Football Association independent regulatory commission found the breach proven.

The Spaniard has also been fined 60,000 pounds ($77,000) and ordered to attend face-to-face education.

Casilla was charged with making the discriminatory comments toward Charlton player Jonathan Leko during the game on Sept. 28.



”We would like to make it clear that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination within our football club and we are a leader in the fight against discrimination within our wider community,” Leeds said in a statement Friday..

”However, it is important to recognise that Kiko has always denied making any racist comment.

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Man in her 50s becomes first American to die of coronavirus

Fears are mounting for 50 staff and residents at a nursing facility in Washington state after they have shown coronavirus symptoms, on the same day that the US had its first confirmed coronavirus death and Donald Trump continued to urge the public not to panic.

Fifty-two staff and residents of the nursing facility where two new coronavirus cases have been confirmed are now showing symptoms of the disease, health officials said during a teleconference with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the Life Care nursing facility in Kirkland, Washington state, around 27 of the 108 residents and 25 of the 180 staff have some symptoms, including some cases where individuals have contracted pneumonia.


The CDC and local health officials are reportedly sending an emergency response team to the Life Care facility on Sunday to try to control the escalating situation.

This comes as a 'medically high-risk' man in his 50s became the first person in the US to die from coronavirus overnight Friday near Seattle, Washington state.

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The internet can't decide if this is puppy or a cat... can you?

Pet lovers are often divided into 'dog person' or a 'cat person', but now there's a furry creature who could satisfy those who love both equally.

Hailing from Hanoi, Vietnam, new internet sensation Dúi - which translates to Racoon in English - is a puppy who looks an awful lot like a cat with his thick fur coat and pointy ears.

In a gallery collated by Bored Panda, the youngster who is around 10-weeks-old, showcases his playful side, showing his tongue and wagging his tail with glee while playing outside with other dogs.


Dúi's fan page was created by his owners just a week ago, but he's already racked up more than 43,000 Facebook fans swooning over his cuteness, while Redditors have been desperate to guess his breed since his pictures were shared on the site.

So can you tell? Puppy or cat?

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Kid escapes from kidnappers den in Lagos

A case of kidnapping was reported to the police by the parents of a boy named Bola Kazeem, a minor aged eight, but was set free by a good Samaritan named Kenny Osagie Ovbokhan, who is now at large.

According to the statements gathered from the minor who was later found by his parents in Mushin Olosa, Lagos, he said he was selling plantain chips on the street when a man called him to enter a house along a street he could not remember.

“Having sold some chips to the man, I could not find my way out of the house again but after some minutes, I lost memory of what happened.

Thereafter, I found myself in a locked-up room in the man’s house. It was there I overheard him discussing with some people who are suspected kidnappers or ritualists.”



Speaking further, he stated that “it was on the second day of my capture that a man who told me his name was Kenny Osagie Ovbokhan entered the apartment and asked me what I was doing there.

Noticing that I must have been kidnapped, he then promised to free me from the kidnappers’ custody, which he did the night of the second day.

He told me his name and asked for my address and led me out and disappeared into the night.

“The case was reported to the police in Mushin Olosa by my parents.”

The Nation was at Mushin Olosa Police Station to confirm the incident. There, Sergeant Jerry Osagie said the matter was reported and they were trying to locate the den of the kidnappers in order to arrest them.

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Pakistani woman acquitted of blasphemy offered asylum in France

Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan, has said she had been invited to live in France, after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Bibi had been sentenced to death before her acquittal by the Supreme Court last year in a case that has become emblematic of fair trial concerns in such cases. She left Pakistan for Canada in May 2019 and has been living there with her family ever since.

"I have received the invitation from the president and the French Republic, and I'm honoured," Bibi told reporters on Friday, shortly after meeting Macron.

Speaking outside the Elysee Palace in Paris, Bibi said she needed time to make a decision about whether to move to France, adding she wanted to focus for now on her health and family.



An Elysee official told Reuters news agency that "France is ready to welcome her if that is her wish, in accordance with the procedures for a request for asylum".

Under French rules, someone seeking asylum has to submit a request to an independent state agency, which decides whether to grant it. It was not clear if Bibi had submitted a request.

Bibi, a farmworker and mother of four, was convicted in 2010 of making derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbours working in the fields with her objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not a Muslim.

She spent eight years on death row.

Bibi was released in October 2018 after the Supreme Court overturned her conviction, saying there were "glaring and stark" contradictions in the case against her.

But thousands of religious hardliners, including supporters of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), took to the street calling for Bibi's death and demanding that the government prevent her from leaving Pakistan.

Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where the country's strict laws prescribe a mandatory death penalty for some forms of the crime.

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Hundreds rally in US cities against anti-Muslim violence in Delhi

Hundreds of Indian Americans of different faiths rallied outside Indian consulates in major American cities on Friday evening to protest against the recent violence in Delhi that has killed at least 42 people, and injured hundreds.

Violence erupted in the Indian capital on Monday, leading to a three-day-long rampage, with Hindu mobs attacking Muslim homes, shops and mosques.

 The attacks were carried out on protesters, who have been rallying against a new citizenship law, after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra threatened peaceful sit-ins would be removed from the streets.

India's Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is meant to help persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries, but critics say the law, which makes faith a basis for granting citizenship, is against the country's secular ethos.



The CAA passed last December has been compared to US President Donald Trump's Muslim ban as it blocks naturalisation for Muslims, who form nearly 15 percent of India's 1.3 billion population.

More than 30 people have been killed in a harsh police crackdown on nationwide peaceful sit-ins against the "anti-Muslim" law.

Outside the Indian consulate in New York on Friday evening, protesters gathered chanting "Shame!" at officials as they tried to exit or enter the building.

"We are exhausted," Sana Qutubuddin, an activist with Alliance for Justice and Accountability - a coalition of South Asian groups that organised Friday's rally alongside the Indian American Muslim Council, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, and Equality Labs - said during her speech at the rally.

We remembered the dead and the fallen in #DelhiGenocide2020 we told many passerbys why we were there in cold. #harvardsquare #boston #CambMA#CAA_NRC_Protests pic.twitter.com/vzzcoEKOzz

— کاشف الہدیٰ (@kaaashif) March 1, 2020

More pictures below:

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NFF vice president released after being questioned over alleged financial fraud

Vice president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Seyi Akinwunmi has been released by the country's anti-corruption investigators after being questioned in an ongoing financial probe.

The investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is looking at wide-ranging fraud allegations over how money meant for football sponsorship and development cannot be properly accounted for, according to the agency.

Akinwunmi, head of Lagos state football's governing body, confirmed he was questioned in the commercial city and was released from custody without any charge.

"I was indeed questioned as were/are numerous others as part of their wide ranging investigations," Akinwunmi, who has always denied any wrongdoing, told BBC Sport on Saturday.



Investigations into alleged corruption have been conducted for the past three years and other top NFF officials have been interviewed. They have always denied any wrongdoing.

The NFF has been under scrutiny both on and off the pitch in recent months.

The Nigerian government dropped its corruption case against five officials of the football authority, including president Pinnick back in November.

But the EFCC and the country's Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) still continues investigations into the NFF.

The latter seized properties belonging to top officials in September 2019 as part its probe, but is yet to bring a formal case against the federation or any of its member.

The NFF has previously blamed investigations by the anti-corruption authorities for the country's recent failures on the international scene.

Nigeria's under-17 and under-20s suffered round of 16 exits at last year's World Cup, the team of locally-based players failed to qualify for the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) as well as suffering an early exit from the regional Wafu Cup tournament.

Despite being regarded as continental heavyweights, both the country's men and women's teams failed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games football tournaments.

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Man to die by hanging for phone theft in Ekiti

An Ado Ekiti High Court has sentenced a middle-aged man, Isa Abdulkareem, to death by hanging for armed robbery.

Justice Mosunmola Abodunde, while delivering the judgment on Friday, held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubts and consequently found the defendant guilty as charged.

During the trial, the prosecutor from the state Ministry of Justice, Mr Gbemiga Adaramola, told the court that Abdulkareem, armed with a gun and cutlass, robbed one Taiwo Olomola of N110, 000 and Techno phones.

Adaramola said Abdulkareem carried out the robbery on December 19, 2016, at Ureje area in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.



He said, “Abdulkareem also robbed one Adeya Olalekan of N74, 000 and an Infinix Note 2 phone. The two-count charges of conspiracy and armed robbery contravened Section 402 (2) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C 16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.” Abdulkareem had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The convict was said to have been arrested at the point of the crime with weapons and other exhibits, which made it easy for the police to bring witnesses to testify against him.

The prosecutor called four witnesses to prove his case and tendered exhibits including the two guns, five live cartridges, phones, as well as a confessional statement of the convict.

The convict was represented by Mr Adeyinka Opaleke, who called only the convict as his witness during the trial.

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Coronavirus: Lagos, Ogun identify 100 people who had contact with patient

In furtherance to the placing of the patient of the Coronavirus disease, a 44-year-old Italian, in a quarantine centre, Lagos and Ogun state governments have identified at least 100 persons who had contact with the index case of the disease in the country.

Subsequently, the contacts are being followed up as a precautionary measure against the spread of the virus in the states and the country at large.

Nigeria had been spared of the coronavirus outbreak, which was first recorded in Wuhan, China, until it was detected on Thursday on an Italian businessman aboard a Turkish Airlines flight arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Milan, Italy, having transited through Istanbul, Turkey.

The victim arrived in Lagos on Monday night and was said to have spent the night in a hotel around the airport area before leaving for business in Ogun State on Tuesday morning.



He was said to have fallen ill, after which he tested positive for the virus. He was thereafter taken to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.

However, authorities said the patient was clinically stable.

Speaking on Saturday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, said the patient was clinically stable and had no signs of respiratory symptoms which could make his infection contagious.

Abayomi also said over 100 contacts with the Coronavirus index case had been identified and followed up.

In an interview with Channels TV, which was monitored by one of punch correspondents, the commissioner stated this at the Emergency Operation Centre at the Mainland Hospital in Yaba, where the patient was being quarantined.

“By Saturday, his symptoms had subsided. He hasn’t developed any respiratory symptoms and we are quite happy about that because if he has respiratory symptoms like coughing and sneezing, which makes the disease more contagious,” Abayomi said, adding that the 100 persons the Italian had contact with were being jointly monitored by Lagos and Ogun states.

Earlier in an interview with Arise TV, which was monitored by one of punch correspondents, Abayomi said the authorities had identified the hotel room where the Italian patient lodged on Monday night.

“We’re going there this morning (Saturday) to decontaminate the room and the entire hotel. We will identify all the people who had contact with him in the hotel,” he said.

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Woman says Abuja hotel cancels her reservation because she is married to an italian

A Nigerian woman’s four-night hotel reservation was cancelled by an Abuja hotel due to “global threat corona virus”.

Nigeria recorded its first case of coronavirus on Thursday after an Italian, who worked with a Lafarge Africa vendor, tested positive to the virus in Lagos.

Mitchelle Iannone said the Italian testing positive to the virus was the reason her reservation was cancelled by Casalinda Hotel and Gallery Resort.

The reservation was done by her husband Fabio through Bookings.com and a total of $308.33 was paid. A confirmation email was sent to Mitchelle on February 26 acknowledging the receipt of the payment and the duration of the reservation.



Mitchelle and Fabio are moving to Italy and had already disposed of their personal effects in their house in Nigeria. Hence, the need for the reservation until her fight out of Nigeria on Wednesday night.

Although her reservation was to start on March 1, Mitchelle said she called the hotel to tell them she would come in on Saturday and would pay cash for the extra one night.

That was when she was told the reservation her husband made in her name had been cancelled. Her husband has already left for Italy from Angola.

“I told the manager that I have not been outside Nigeria in the last six months when we travelled to Angola,” Mitchelle said. “I even told him that I can bring my passport for him to see.”

“The discrimination was painful, especially that I’m a Nigerian and we made that reservation over a week ago.”

Her explanation that she had packed out of her house and had five boxes containing her personal effects proved worthless. She had to return to her empty house until Sunday when she can get another hotel.

Despite the hotel claims that it cancelled Mitchelle Iannone’s reservation because of coronavirus, an official of the hotel was willing to take a reservation when The Guardian reporter called on Saturday night.

Another official told guardian correspondent that the decision to cancel such a reservation can only be made by the director of the hotel since reservation had been paid for.

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Enugu doctors embark on strike despite coronavirus panic

Amidst panic over the detection of coronavirus in the country, resident doctors of the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital on Saturday embarked on a five-day warning strike to press home their demand for an enhanced pay package.

Many residents of Enugu have criticized the timing of the strike at this time of national emergency.

The leadership of the resident doctors declined to respond to questions on the coronavirus epidemic.

But president of the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD ESUT-TH, Dr. Chima Edoga, who spoke on the strike appealed to patients to understand their plight which he said they have managed for over four years.



Edoga stated that it is the wish of the doctors to make the hospital a center of excellence, but noted that it is only when manpower is retained that the hospital could achieve the desired dream.

He said that the Resident Doctors deliberated extensively on their work conditions and patient care before arriving at the difficult decision

According to them, there is a shortage of doctors in ESUT-TH as a result of continual mass exodus of doctors, despite genuine efforts made by the State Government and the Management of ESUT-TH to replace them.

The ARD ESUT- TH noted that there has been over-burdening of doctors who chose to remain and care for the people, with some doctors having to take daily call duties for months, at the expense of their own health, personal and family lives.

They said that as a result there is a drop in the quality of care given to the patients.

The doctors said their reasons for embarking on the warning strike include “Perennial poor salary and emoluments vis-à-vis non-implementation of the Corrected Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) with consequential minimum wage adjustments for doctors working in ESUT-TH Parklane as is obtainable in all Federal Tertiary Health Institutions (FTHIs) and many State Tertiary Health Institutions (STHIs).

“STHIs in neighbouring states like Anambra (COOUTH) and Imo (IMSUTH) have made giant strides in this regard. The recent increase in our salaries by the state government, though well appreciated, will not suffice.”

Edoga said there was failure of all diplomatic channels and negotiations with the Enugu State Government to address the challenges and ensure continuous delivery of standard health care services to its citizenry.

“Consequently, ARD ESUT-TH Parklane, in a unanimous decision, resolved to embark on a 5-day warning strike, starting on Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 8am to resume work on Thursday, March 5, 2020 by 8am, unless the State Government immediately implements the Corrected Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) with consequential minimum wage adjustments for doctors working in ESUT-TH Parklane as is obtainable in all Federal Tertiary Health Institutions (FTHIs) and many State Tertiary Health Institutions (STHIs) in Nigeria,” Edoga said.

He disclosed that the Congress of ARD ESUT-TH Parklane will re-convene after the warning strike, give notice of and proceed on an indefinite industrial action if the Government does to meet their demand.

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