World News for Nigerians Today 05/01/2019

In World News today, Former US President Turns Musician and UFO’s Sighted in Belgium. Continue reading for More…

1. United Nations Says 39m People Blind Globally

The United Nations has given a report that says about 39 million people are blind globally. Also, another 1.3 billion people have one form of near vision impairment or another.

The UN announced this reports in a statement to mark the first World Braille Day, aimed to raise awareness on the importance of written language rights for blind and visually impaired persons.

Braille is a tactical representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols that allows blind and partially-sighted people to read the same books and periodicals printed as are available in standard text form Read More

January 4, was proclaimed by the General Assembly as a day for realizing fully the human rights of visually-impaired and partially-sighted people.

2. More UFOs Sighted in Belgium

There has been an increase in UFO sightings over the usually calm country of Belgium.

The surge last year had astonished Belgians reporting higher numbers of possible alien spaceships than in 2017. Belgium recorded 255 reports of UFOs in 2018, an increase from the 171 witnessed in 2017.

Is there alien life out there? Find out more about UFOs

3. AFDB Marks over $7 Billion for Investment in African

The African Development Bank has approved its 2019 borrowing program to the tune of $7.24 billion from capital markets.

In their words, “We continue to raise our profile in the capital markets to provide cost-effective resources to finance projects and programs on the African continent”.

In 2017, the Bank disbursed $7.51 billion to finance projects and programs in its Regional Member Countries.

4.Doctors Call Off Strike in Zimbabwe as First Lady Intervenes

Zimbabwean First Lady, Auxillia Mnangagwa met with striking junior doctors at their State House where they agreed to call off their month-long industrial action after the First Lady promised their grievances would be looked into.

Recall, that the Zimbabwean President who was on vacation as at when the strike started had to call of his vacation to address the striking doctors.

READ ALSO >>Zimbabwe President Cuts Short Holiday over Doctors’ Strike<<

The First Lady when she was Briefing journalists after a two-hour meeting said she had agreed to take up their grievances to relevant authorities so that they could address those that could immediately be implemented.

5. Gatwick, Heathrow Airports Ready against Future Drone Threats

In response to the disruption caused by flying drones just before Christmas at the Gatwick Airport.

Gatwick and Heathrow airports have invested millions to deploy Anti-drone Technology to forestall future threats as confirmed on Thursday.

Between December 19 and 21, Gatwick Airport was repeatedly forced to close due to flying drones at close proximity to the airport. This caused about 1000 flights to be grounded.

READ ALSO >>Qatar Airways Buys 5% Stake in China Southern Airlines<<

6. DR Congo Votes Counting Continues 5 Days After Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) reported on Thursday that they have been able to count only 20 percent of the votes so far.  With this latest development,  the body’s January 6 deadline to publish the provisional results, which also requires validation by the Constitutional Court might not be met.

The CENI’s president,Corneille Nangaa suggested the possibility of postponing the publication of the election results due to a delay in vote counting.

The disputed election was held since on Sunday 30 December 2018.

READ ALSO >>DR Congo Blocks Radio Station’s Broadcasts, Cancels Press Accreditation<<

7. Former US President Turns Musician

Former US president, Barack Obama has made his debut in musical on Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart this week with a song called ‘One Last Time’.

According to Billboard, Obama is a featured artist in One Last Time, which also featured Christopher Jackson and gospel musician BeBe Winans.

The former US president delivered  George Washington’s farewell address on the track.The song was aimed at raising money for multiple nonprofit organizations.

8. Huawei Punish Staff for Using iPhone for Happy New Year Tweet

The Chinese tech company, Huawei demoted two members of staff after an iPhone was used to tweet a Happy New Year greeting on its official Twitter account.

The message wishing Huawei followers a “Happy 2019” on New Year’s Day was marked with “sent via Twitter for iPhone” and this did not go down well with the company’s followers.

READ ALSO >>North Korea Warns Of ‘New Path’<<

Although the tweet was immediately deleted, screenshots of the post spread across a lot of other social media platforms.

9. Rumours of Feud in the Royal Palace

There have been rumours of a feud between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, who have rarely been seen together in public since the royal wedding.

The latest report is that the Duchess of Cambridge revealed that she felt like Meghan Markle used her to climb the royal ladder.

The Duchess of Sussex, on the other hand, admitted she felt snubbed by Kate Middleton.

It was also reported that the Duchess of Cambridge had an “explosive row” with Meghan Markle as she had warned her not to instruct the members of her staff, saying, “That’s unacceptable, they are my staff and I speak to them.”

The rumours seem true as Kensington Palace had earlier announced that Prince Harry and Meghan would move out of the palace and relocate to Frogmore Cottage at Windsor Castle as they prepare for the arrival of their first child.

10. First Battery-Powered Hotel in the UK

Edinburgh Premier Inn has become the first in the UK to be battery-powered.

The Gyle Premier Inn at Edinburgh Park installed a five-tonne battery which charges from the national grid during off-peak periods and power the 200-room hotel for several hours when in use.

The 3 metre-cube lithium-ion battery innovation will save the hotel £20,000 a year on energy bill and ensure security of supply and also support the transition to a more flexible grid.

Premier Inn’s parent company Whitbread said the trial of the battery storage technology will help its commitment to cut by half its carbon emissions by 2025 in line with the SDGs of the UN.

 

 

 

 

 

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