World News for Nigerians Today 20th January 2019
World News Today: American Politician Who Organized Protests Goes Missing. Continue reading iDonsabi for more world news.
1. Second Trump-Kim Summit Planned for Late February
The White House has announced that a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be held at the end of February, at a place to be announced “at a later date.”
The announcement was made after Trump met Friday with Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s top nuclear envoy in the Oval Office.
The White House said the meet was to “discuss efforts to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.”
Trump’s meeting with the former North Korean spymaster, who is also Kim Jong Un’s right-hand man, lasted 90 minutes.
2.UNHCR Calls on Cameroon to Halt Forceful Returns of Nigerian Refugees
The UN refugee agency says it is shocked by reports that Cameroonian authorities have forcefully returned 9,000 Nigerian refugees who fled across the border earlier in the week in search of safety from militant attacks.
The sudden mass exodus of thousands of Nigerian refugees into Cameroon followed attacks by Boko Haram militants in the small border town of Rann in Borno State on Monday.
3. Kenya Police Arrest Wife, Father of Hotel Suicide Bomber
Kenyan police have arrested the wife and father of a man identified as the suicide bomber in an attack on Nairobi’s Dusit hotel complex that left 21 dead, a police source said Saturday.
The attacker, one of five al-Shabaab militants who stormed the complex on Tuesday, was identified as 25-year-old Mahir Khalid Riziki, who grew up in Mombasa.
4. Party of Declared DRC Presidential Elect Rejects AU Intervention
The party behind the declared winner of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election on Saturday rejected the African Union’s surprise request to delay announcing the final results amidst “serious doubts” about the vote.
The request by the the AU is “the work of some mining lobbies seeking to destabilize the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to perpetuate the looting of this country,” the secretary-general of Felix Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress party, Jean-Marc Kabund, said in a statement.
5. American Politician Who Organized Protests Goes Missing
American politician who organized anti-government protests in Sudan has gone missing.
Rudwan Dawod, a political activist with the group Sudan of the Future Campaign, vanished hours before the large protests could start on Thursday, Nancy Dawod said.
Nancy Dawod, who lives in Eugene, Ore, said she learned of her husband’s arrest through a Sudanese lawyer who told her that he and Rudwan Dawod had been arrested together, but Sudanese authorities released the lawyer because he had no prior arrests.
Nancy Dawod said the lawyer, who prefers not to be identified for safety reasons, claimed he had been beaten around his head. She said she feared for her husband’s safety.
HAVE YOU READ: Buhari Reveals What Will Happen to Protesting Soldiers?
6. Democrat Vows to Probe Trump Lawyer’s Alleged Lies to Congress
A top Democrat in the US Congress has vowed to look into a report that President Donald Trump had ordered his lawyer to lie to Congress to hide his dealings with Russia.
“We will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true.”
Cohen had previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress by stating that Trump’s Moscow project ended in January 2016, long before Trump became the Republican presidential nominee, when it actually extended into June 2016.
The New York lawyer, 52, was sentenced to three years in jail for the campaign finance violation and other charges.
7. Spain, UK to Allow Citizens Vote in Post-Brexit Local Elections
Spain on Friday announced that it had reached a deal with Britain that will allow their citizens living in both countries to keep voting in local elections as the prospect of no-deal Brexit looms.
According to Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa, “This agreement will prevent these rights from disappearing for British people who live in our country and for Spanish people living in the United Kingdom.”
The Spokeswoman added that there would be municipal elections in the UK and in Spain in May 2 and May 26 respectively, after Britain’s planned exit from the European Union on March 29.
The bilateral agreement announced on Friday comes as part of a series of other measures touted by the Spanish government to try and guarantee the rights of Britons living in Spain and vice-versa in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
SEE ALSO: Theresa May Faces Confidence Vote After Brexit Humiliation
8. Govt. Shutdown Could Stunt US Economic Growth —NY Fed Chief
The shutdown of the US government since 28 days is now becoming a drag on economic growth of the United States.
The president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, John Williams revealed this on Friday.
John Williams also said the government work stoppage could shave as much as a full percentage point off GDP growth in the first quarter.
He went on to estimate that the shutdown would reduce GDP growth by half a percentage point, “maybe even a percentage point if it continues.”
9. French Police Under Fire as ‘Yellow Vests’ Casualty Increase
The “yellow vest” protests that erupted last year over fuel taxes have broadened into weekly demonstrations across France against President Emmanuel Macron
The “Disarm” collective, a local group that campaigns against police violence, has documented 98 cases of serious injuries since the first nationwide protests on November 17, including 15 cases of people losing an eye.
The leftwing Liberation daily counted 77 people with serious head injuries, 71 caused by rubber bullets and others by stun grenades.
In one incident that caused widespread outrage, a volunteer fireman and father of three suffered a stroke on January 10 after being hit in the head in Bordeaux, apparently by a rubber bullet.
ALSO READ: Czech Republic offers Nigerians, Others €4,000 to Leave Country
10. Russia Becomes World’s Fifth Biggest Gold Holder
Russia has overtaken China to become the world’s fifth largest official sector holder of gold.
According data showed on Friday, Western sanctions drove the Country’s central bank buying to increase in 2018.
With support from President Vladimir Putin, the central bank has been betting heavily on bullion, often seen as a safe haven or a natural hedge against the dollar, with active purchases in the last 10 years.
In 2018, Russia’s buying jumped further as holdings of US Treasury securities were reduced after Washington imposed sanctions on Russian entities in April, the toughest since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The central bank bought 8.8 million troy ounces in 2018, it said on Friday, beating a record 7.2 million ounces set in 2017.
