Franca Nkong

Total Post: 33

Putin Warns FinLand Joining Nato Would Be a Mistake

Putin Warns FinLand Joining Nato Would Be a Mistake

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned his Finnish counterpart that joining Nato and abandoning Finland’s neutral status would be a “mistake”.

He told Sauli Niinistö there was no threat to Finland’s security.

The exchange came during a phone call made by the Finnish president, ahead of a formal request which Finland is expected to announce very soon.

Sweden has also indicated its intention to join the Western alliance, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Finland shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia. Until now, it has stayed out of Nato to avoid antagonising its eastern neighbour.

Mr Putin did not make a specific threat of retaliation over Finland’s move, but the Russian foreign ministry has indicated there will be retaliation.

Russia’s decision to suspended electricity supplies to Finland is being seen as an early sign, however.
Russia’s decision to suspended electricity supplies to Finland is being seen as an early sign, however.

In its statement, Russian energy supplier RAO Nordic mentioned problems with payments.

Finland national grid executive Reima Paivinen told the BBC the Russian suspension had not caused any problems.
He said Russian imports accounted for around 10% of national supply, adding that they could be replaced from alternative sources.
Following the phone call between Mr Niinistö and Mr Putin on Saturday, the Kremlin said the Russian leader had stressed the “end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security”.

It added: “Such a change in the country’s political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighbourliness and co-operation between partners.”

Mr Niinistö said he had told Mr Putin how recent moves by Russia, along with the invasion of Ukraine, “have altered the security environment of Finland”.

“The conversation was direct and straight-forward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important,” he said.

Nato, a Western military alliance, was founded in part to ward off threat from the Soviet Union in 1949.

President Putin has mentioned Ukraine’s intention to join the alliance as one of the reasons for the invasion of its neighbour
Source: BBC

Putin’s Victory Day Parade Coverage Hacked . By Ada Nkong

VLADIMIR Putin today had his victory parade humiliatingly hacked with a message telling Russians they had Ukrainian blood on their hands.

The message came as Russians prepared to watch the annual Victory Day military parade on Red Square marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, presided over by the Russian tyrant.

The hack impacted online viewers of various channels transmitted by the MTS mobile operator, NTV Plus, Rostelecom and Wink.

The name of every TV programme was changed to: “The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of their children is on your hands. TV and the authorities lie. No to war.”

It comes as Putin spoke at the event marking the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

In his speech the Russian tyrant claimed the war in Ukraine had been necessary because the West was “preparing for the invasion of our land including Crimes.
But so far a widely anticipated declaration of all-out war on Ukraine has failed to materialise.

The parade traditionally sees Russia display its military might with tanks, nuclear missiles and other hardware rumbling through Red Square and the latest aircraft overhead.

Thousands of Russian troops also march past Putin and his top brass in the annual traditional parade.

But a flypast of his Doomsday nuclear war command post plane was abruptly cancelled at the last minute in Moscow, ostensibly because of bad weather.

But there has been speculation it was due to security reasons and the fear of attacks on aircraft.
Source: The Sun

Fast Rising Fashion Designer Yvonne Yvette Assists Girl Child

Fast Rising Fashion Designer Yvonne Yvette Assists Girl Child

BOUYED by her phenomenal success in the fashion industry on the international stage, United Kingdom-based fashion designer and girl-child advocate, Yvonne Gambe, who is popularly known as Yvonne Yvette, has been busy fundraising for poverty-stricken young girls in her home country.

The designer, whose label is called Yvonne Yvette (YY), told Zim Community News yesterday that yesterday she donated sewing machines and accessories to the girl-child in Murewa accompanied by the Ekenia Chifamba-led girl-child empowerment organisation Shamwari YeMwanasikana.

“The aim was to raise awareness about period-poverty facing the girls in the rural areas…so I am here to do the handover to Ekenia and her team.

“We donated five sewing machines, at least 100 metres of fabrics, sewing accessories for girls to make their own re-usable pads as well as making enough pads to sell and make money with the project.

“We also donated six bags of pigfeed to Shamwari YeMwanasikana as they have a piggery project they are running at the centre.”

The designer, whose label is called Yvonne Yvette(YY), added that as a fashion designer, she was also looking to bring her brand back home.

“The marvellous results of my work come from the pride I have of my life experiences, from growing up in the humble yet fashionable streets of Africa to living in bustling and trendy Europe in my adult life.

She said such exposure had allowed her to make a double impact on the fashion scene by innovatively fusing African print fabrics with fabrics from other parts of the world to create world class designs.

“However, my work is not limited to that, I also use a broad array of other approaches to designing such as those seen in my diverse 2017 Bow Collection.”

Although very young, the YY African-inspired brand has made a huge impact in a number of communities, with several of its designs, created between 2014 and now, having been worn by many happy clients and models of various ages across the world and yet all-inclusive brands of this current generation.

This includes formal wear, casual wear and even swimwear.

“The value of my brand lies in the attention I pay to the details of the client’s needs and the thorough work that I undertake in tailoring their bespoke clothing. Furthermore, the Yvonne Yvette brand is highly trusted on both delivery and quality.

Fashion has always been a part of her life as her father worked in a clothing retail shop while her mother subsidised her family’s income through her sewing business.

Before launching her brand, she attained a BA Honours degree in Accounting and Information Systems.

Following the successful launch of the YY brand, she resigned from her job at a major Swedish Bank, in early 2017 and has never looked back ever since.
Source:ZC News

Sue Gray’s Partygate Report Could Stop PM’s Premiership

Sue Gray’s Partygate Report Could Stop PM’s Premiership
investigators

Boris Johnson could be forced to resign after the Sue Gray review into claims of Covid rule breaches in the Government is published, according to a report.
Ms Gray, a senior civil servant, was forced to delay the publication of her investigation into alleged parties held in Downing Street and Whitehall during England’s coronavirus lockdowns due to the Metropolitan Police commencing their own inquiry.

In an interim report published in January, the Cabinet Office official said there had been “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 over the so-called partygate saga.
The Times, citing an official it described as being familiar with the contents of the complete report, said Ms Gray’s full findings were even more personally critical of the Prime Minister and could end his premiership.

According to the paper, the official said: “Sue’s report is excoriating. It will make things incredibly difficult for the Prime Minister.

“There’s an immense amount of pressure on her — her report could be enough to end him.”
No 10 declined to comment.

It comes amid separate reports in the i newspaper that Conservative rebels are preparing to oust Mr Johnson in the event of a poor showing at the local elections next month or if further fines are issued to him.
Scotland Yard has already fined Mr Johnson, along with his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, for attending his 56th birthday bash held in June 2020 when Covid rules banned indoor gatherings.

Downing Street is said to be braced for Mr Johnson to receive a second fixed-penalty notice (FPN) after police reportedly began issuing fines relating to a “bring your own bottle” drinks do in the No 10 garden on May 20, 2020.

He reportedly attended half of the 12 gatherings being probed by police.

Cabinet ministers on Sunday offered a defence of the Prime Minister, with Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden suggesting it was “quite a speculation” to predict Mr Johnson could be hit with more FPNs.

He and Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg backed Mr Johnson to lead the Tories into the next general election, which is currently scheduled for no later than January 2025.
Source: Upday News

NRC Suspends operations indefinitely on Abuja-Kaduna Rail corridor by Ada Nkong

Following Monday night attack on an Abuja-Kaduna train,the Nigerian Railway Corporation has suspended train operations along the Abuja-Kaduna route indefinitely.

In a post on its official Twitter handle @Official_NRC on Tuesday morning,the NRC said the suspension is due to unforeseen circumstances.

Meanwhile the NRC is yet to release information on the number of passengers injured or kidnapped in Mondays incidence at the time of this report.

An Abuja-Kaduna train was attacked by terrorists Monday night between Kateri and Rijana. Gunmen detonated explosives destroying the rail track and causing the train to derail.

Thereafter they reportedly shot sporadically into the air scaring and leaving some passengers injured. Passengers who posted updates on their social media platforms on the attack later said the army were with them and they were safe.

Though the NRC MD Engr Fidet Okhiria confirmed the attack, no details were given as to the number of passengers injured or kidnapped.as feared.

Ukraine War: Over 300 Feared Dead in Mariupol Theatre Attack. By Ada Nkong

An estimated 300 people have been killed in an attack on a theatre sheltering civilians in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Petr Andryuschenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, released the figures in an interview with the BBC.

The attack is believed to have caused the worst known loss of life in a single strike since the invasion began.

Communication with Mariupol remains difficult so it is hard to independently verify information.

Russia has denied carrying out the attack, which has been widely condemned.

At the time of the strike, the word ‘children’ had been written in giant letters on the ground outside the theatre building in the centre of the city.

In the wake of the attack, both Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, and the city council accused Russia of committing a war crime.

The BBC spoke to survivors of the bombing who described mothers searching for their children under the rubble, and a five-year-old child screaming that he did not want to die.

Mr Andryuschenko told the BBC’s Newshour programme that 600 people were inside the building before the attack, with about 300 of these in a basement shelter.

He said officials were able to check the death toll because they had a record of who was in the theatre before the missile strike and had spoken to survivors.

The authorities had not been able to start a rescue operation because of street fighting and continued Russian shelling nearby.

Earlier, Mariupol city hall cited a similar death toll in a Telegram post.

“From eyewitnesses, information is emerging that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol following strikes by a Russian aircraft,” officials wrote.

Mr Andryuschenko also confirmed that fighting was continuing in the middle of the city, but insisted that Russian forces had not yet managed to take control of the city.

The port city of Mariupol is key to Russia’s military campaign. If it falls, it would give Russia control of one of Ukraine’s biggest ports and create a land corridor between Crimea and the Russian-backed regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Source: BBC

Madelaine Albright, First Female Secretary of State Dies at 84. by Ada Nkong

Madelaine Albright, First Female Secretary of State Dies at 84. by Ada Nkong

Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state, has died, her family said in a statement on Wednesday. She was 84.

Then-President Bill Clinton named Albright U.S. ambassador to the United Nations shortly after he was inaugurated in 1993, and nominated her as secretary of state three years later. She served in the post for four years, actively promoting the expansion of NATO and military intervention in Kosovo.

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama awarded Albright the Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.

Image: Dareh Gregorian
Source: NBC News

Nato Estimates 15,000 RussianTroops Killed in Ukraine. by Ada Nkong

Nato Estimates 15,000 RussianTroops Killed in Ukraine. by Ada Nkong

A senior NATO military officer said Wednesday that the alliance believes between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, according to the Associated Press, said the estimate of the number killed is based on a combination of information from the Ukrainian government, indications from Russia, and open-source information.

The officer added that an estimate of 30,000 to 40,000 Russian casualties overall is derived from what he called a standard calculation that in war an army suffers three wounded soldiers for every soldier killed.

The casualties include killed in action and wounded in action, as well as those taken prisoner or missing in action, the officer said.

Source: Fox News

President Buhari Warns APC Leaders Against Ego, Competition by Ada Nkong


 
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned the leaders (and membership) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to desist from name-calling and backstabbing ahead of the oncoming March 26 Convention.

According to a statement by Garba Shehu Senior special assistant Media and publicity, the President urged them to remain steadfast and maintain its unity if the party is to continue in the path of victory and its dominance at all levels throughout the country.
 
Shehu says President Buhari asked the members to look at the once-powerful, ”main opposition” Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) now enfeebled and adrift and learn lessons in disunity, mismanagement and corruption.
 
”They failed in 16 years in power and a failure as opposition.
 
”Yes, we are entitled to our own share of dissent and intra-party discord. These are common in all parties, left and right all over the world.
 
”But parties splintered by competing egos destine themselves to the worst possible fate,” the President warned.
 
”As the country prepares for the long run up to the 2023 presidential election, we all expect a robust debate on the issues that matter and what is going in the APC should be a reflection of this, not the infighting we are seeing. There must be no more distractions ahead of the convention to choose new leaders.”
 
He added that President Buhari recalled that the APC started out with a confidence of victory and the party today enjoys that confidence in nearly two-thirds of our 36 states.
 
Yet, he noted, this is a party that has been in existence barely for eight years, becoming the dominant party because it has thrown open its doors to defectors from other parties, big and small.
 
This alone, addition to the fact ”we didn’t start on the note of arrogance of power, nor see government as a vehicle for self-aggrandizement, to be held at all costs, but a vehicle to bring development to all without discrimination-political, ethnic or regional to our dear country made this success possible.”
 
The party, he went on to note, is proud of the fact that in its short period of existence, it has won two general elections decisively and despite losing a few states in 2019, it steadfastly expanded its pan-Nigerian outlook with significant defections of the opposition Governors and parliamentarians into its fold.
 
”Given all that is at a stake, we can expect contests into offices as we are now faced with to be heated although candidates and their promoters for party offices are not so much debating policy differences but differences of management, personality, character, and suitability for the most important leadership roles in our country and therefore the continent.”
 
It is equally clear that over the last week or so, the internal management affairs of the APC have been afforded generous media coverage – over and above its importance to the voters of Nigeria.


 He further said it is important to ask what benefits the poor are getting during the period of intense negative coverage.
 
When precisely the party’s convention is held and who is the party’s chairman is hardly a matter for the average voter: vastly more important is who convention delegates will elect as the party’s flagbearer in the coming weeks to take forward the party’s platform to the people in the general election in February next year.
 
It is therefore important for the media to put such matters into perspective. No one is debating policy differences here. That is for the general election. None of the declared aspirants and any of those that may step forward will change because of who may be in the party in the chairman’s seat. It is essentially the same.

He said the media are welcome to comment on the content of the character of the potential APC candidates; discuss their suitability for leadership; scrutinize their offer to the membership. But to focus on the routine internal divisions and magnify them into what they have become today is a waste of everyone’s time, amounting to no more than a discussion over seating arrangements.
 
This is not what Nigerians talk of in their communities. They have an inclination only for things that matter.
 

Ukraine Conflict: We Will Defend Ourselves- -Zelenskyy by Ada Nkong

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia could start “a major war in Europe” any day now, and called on Russians to oppose it.

In a late-night address, he said he had unsuccessfully sought talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I initiated a telephone call with the president of the Russian federation. Result: silence,” Mr Zelensky said.

He said Russia had almost 200,000 troops and thousands of combat vehicles on Ukraine’s borders.
And switching from Ukrainian into Russian, Mr Zelensky made an emotional appeal to Russians to reject an attack, saying they were being lied to about Ukraine.

“Who can stop (the war)? People. These people are among you, I am sure,” he said.

Ukraine’s leader said his country was ready for a Russian attack, vowing: “If they [Russia] attack, if they try to take our county – our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children – we will be defending ourselves.”

“As you attack, it will be our faces you see, not our backs,” the Ukrainian president said.

It came as Russian troops, ordered into Ukraine’s two rebel-held regions, were reportedly edging closer to the border.

Moscow said the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine had asked for military support.

Airspace restricted over Ukraine
Early on Thursday, Ukraine said it had restricted civilian flights in its airspace due to “potential hazard”. The move followed warnings from the conflict zone monitor Safe Airspace, which said planes risked being shot down unintentionally or affected by cyber attacks.

It was not initially clear if the notice amounted to an outright ban on civilian flights. It is due to expire at 2359 GMT on Thursday, unless extended further.

Russia has also issued a civil aviation notice warning that it is closing virtually all of eastern Ukrainian airspace on the border with Russia, according to a monitoring group.

The Open Source Intelligence Monitor says no “limit or ending time” has been provided so far by Moscow.

The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency session from 02:30 GMT to discuss the deteriorating situation.

Ukraine has declared a state of emergency and told millions of its citizens living in Russia to return home. The 30-day emergency status allows authorities to adopt heightened security measures, including curfews.
Source: BBC