FIFA on Monday relaxed the rules on the release of players for the upcoming international window “in light of the recent evolution of the coronavirus pandemic”.
Clubs are usually obliged to release players to national teams during those parts of the calendar reserved for international games, however quarantine rules in many countries will make travel impractical, FIFA said in a statement.
“Many national governments have again implemented travel and immigration restrictions due to a renewed increase in COVID-19 infections. Some of these measures directly impact international competition, such as mandatory periods of quarantine or self-isolation and travel restrictions,” the statement explained.
Clubs will not be obliged to release their players if there is a mandatory quarantine in the country where the club is based, in the country where the international will take place or there are travel restrictions between the two locations and there are no specific exemptions for the players.
The ruling applies to the men’s international window from August 31 to September 8 and the women’s window from September 14-22.
FIFA had already decided that internationals in those slots could only take place in Europe.
Tunisia’s prime minister-designate on Tuesday unveiled the country’s second government in six months, which must now seek approval from lawmakers incensed by how the administration was formed.
Hichem Mechichi had previously declared his intention to form a cabinet dominated by independent technocrats able to “present urgent solutions” for a country where a sluggish economy has been further battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The former interior minister’s decision to bypass consultations with political factions had angered, among others, the powerful Islamist party Ennahdha, which has demanded a “political” government reflecting the balance of forces in parliament.
But Ennahdha and other parties have also spoken of the need to approve the government to avoid dragging the already crisis-hit country into disruptive early elections.
Mechichi told reporters he had decided to form a new cabinet composed of “independent expertise”, with only a few outgoing ministers included in the line-up.
The 46-year-old Mechichi is the third head of government to be appointed since polls last October, which resulted in a parliament divided among deeply antagonistic blocs.
The impasse further hampered a fledgling democracy — ushered in by a revolution 10 years ago — that has since struggled with regional inequalities and a pandemic that has wiped out thousands of jobs.
Ennahdha won the most seats in last year’s poll but fell far short of a majority and eventually agreed to join a coalition administration.
Parliament is set to vote on Mechichi’s line-up in the next 10 days.
Hafiz Bayero, a special adviser to Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has died in an accident on the Kaduna-Abuja Highway on Monday.
Details of the accident were still sketchy at the time of this report but a photograph of the accident scene obtained by SaharaReporters showed the extent of damage.
People around the scene managed to bring the body of Bayero out of his vehicle with number plate 12E-04KD.
Professor Folasade Ogunsola has secured the highest number of votes in the election held by members of the University of Lagos Senate to choose an acting Vice-Chancellor.
She was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development Services at UNILAG before her emergence.
Ogunsola’s nomination took place on Monday during a Senate meeting attended by 167 professors.
The result of the election obtained by one of our correspondents showed that she secured 135 of 167 votes while Prof. Ben Ogbojafor, who was also considered for the post by members of the Senate, secured 31 votes. One void vote was, however, recorded.
Chairman of the Senate Emergency Committee, Prof. Chioma Agomo, also announced the result to journalists after the election.
The PUNCH earlier reported that the Federal Government last week directed the varsity’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Wale Babalakin, and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, to recuse themselves from official duties, pending the outcome of the Special Visitation Panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari.
FG had also asked UNILAG Senate to reconvene to appoint an acting VC.
According to a Wiki citation, Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola was born in 1958. She is a professor of medical microbiology who specialises in disease control, particularly HIV/AIDS.
Ogunsola was also an ex-provost of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, and is reputed as being the first woman to occupy the position.
She became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Services) of the institution in 2017.
“Her research areas have been centered on the regulation and management of viral diseases, particularly HIV.
“She is the principal investigator at AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria at the University of Lagos.
“She has also been the chairman of the Infection Control Committee of Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Additionally, she is the chairman of the National Association of Colleges of Medicine in Nigeria.
“In 2018, she expressed concern on disease prevention and control in Nigeria. She identified poor hygiene and overuse of antibiotics as practices that foster antimicrobial-drug resistance.
“Providing a solution, she maintained that sustained Infection Prevention and Control infrastructure and programmes should be built around a set of core components which include guidelines, training, surveillance, multimodal strategies for implementing IPC, monitoring and evaluation among others,” the citation added.
Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has opened up on her Coronavirus experience while reacting to a debate on how Nollywood can adhere strictly to the health guidelines of COVID-19 before reopening productions on the popular filmmakers’ WhatsApp group, Filmic.
Vanguard reported that the veteran actress said she was treated by some infectious decease doctors who told her that many people are infected with the virus because there’s no widespread testing.
Omotola further revealed that when most people feel unwell, they attribute it to malaria, diarrhea among other ailments.
Recalling how she contracted the disease on a movie set, the actress said;
“I hardly fall ill and so when I left the set and started having chills the next day or so, I knew something wasn’t right. I thought it might be stress. This was on Monday, August 3. I waited till Tuesday and it got worse. I was shaking uncontrollably and my temperature was going through the roof.”
She also disclosed that infected her son and daughter with the virus. Omotola added;
“My spirit told me immediately, this is not malaria or fever. I have been extremely careful and paranoid about this COVID-19 stuff. So I told hubby I needed to be tested immediately. I have a son that has Asthma!
“They came to test me on Wednesday and my result came out on Thursday evening … Positive. My world crashed. I felt crazy and empty.
“My symptoms were high fever and chills… luckily no other. But it was so bad, they contemplated coming to evacuate me as my viral loaf was high and I wasn’t getting better … but God arose for me. I went into isolation immediately. We got my result but my daughter started feeling funny.
“So they had to come test the whole family … I had infected my daughter and asthmatic son ! My God showed up for me as my son is asymptotic, so positive but not sick ! My daughter lost her smell and taste and had severe diarrhea. All has stopped now, thank God.
“My husband and last son tested negative respectively. We are all now in remission … taking another test soon.
“It’s physically, spiritually and emotionally exhausting as the doctors tell you it’s a 50/50 chance . Nothing you do really saves you . You can only take the vitamins, manage the symptoms and hope your body fights”
Abiodun Adeniyi, a professor of mass communication at Baze University, Abuja, has suggested the integration of “guerrilla marketing communication” tactics in enforcing COVID-19 guidelines.
Adeniyi spoke at the just concluded workshop series for technical aides of ministers, organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung with the ministry of finance, budget and national planning in Abuja.
The associate professor said behaviour change communication is one of the most difficult types, and requires a higher level of creativity if success is to be achieved.
He said the elements of guerrilla communication involve surprise messaging, novel channels of multiple dissemination, and intense campaign themes, to impact on audience emotions.
“What we need therefore is shock messaging, that would invade the consciousness and imagination of receivers, overwhelm them and get them to rethink their patterns and particularities,” he said.
“This tactic is uncommon but effective; unusual but legitimate, and looks more at a quicker achievement of results, given the lethargy of citizens to imbibe COVID-19 prevention protocols, like regular hand washing, social or physical distancing, and the avoidance of crowd or gatherings.
“It is that fear of death that messaging can play on, even if not morbid, but through a creative thematization, weaved around fears, expectations, and a hope of going beyond tomorrow, and another tomorrow.”
He advised the government not to give up its campaign on prevention protocols, saying Nigeria can lead the way by using this model of communication.
According to the professor, campaigns can now be easier through divergent language, multiple channels, other than the conventional, and in a way that the receivers would be “awed and forced to comply to save the self and the society”.
“The form of communication does not also envisage single, regular messaging, where people become too familiar with it and take things for granted, but one that is creative, constantly changing, appreciated and liked by the receivers, not just because the messenger is determined to stay on the theme, but because he is respected for being innovative, leading to effectiveness.
“We have a pandemic that requires the adoption of non-pharmaceutical methods to interrupt its spread. This non-pharmaceutical method is obviously the raising of awareness on pattern change, an urgent need to cultivate a new normal. But the change won’t come easily if you cannot fund it, or pay attention to it.”
The junta that seized power in Mali wants a military-led transitional body to rule for three years and has agreed to release the ousted president, a source in a visiting West African delegation and the rebel soldiers said Sunday.
Last week’s coup — Mali’s second in eight years — followed months of protests calling for Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign as public discontent with the government grew over the collapsing economy and a brutal Islamist insurgency.
“The junta has affirmed that it wants a three-year transition to review the foundations of the Malian state. This transition will be directed by a body led by a soldier, who will also be head of state,” a source in the ECOWAS delegation told AFP after talks with the junta.
“The government will also be predominantly composed of soldiers” under the proposal, the source said on condition of anonymity.
A junta official confirmed to AFP that “the three-year transition would have a military president and a government mostly composed of soldiers”.
The source and the official added that the soldiers have agreed to free Keita, detained along with other political leaders since the coup on Tuesday, and he would be able to return to his home in the capital Bamako.
“And if he wants to travel abroad for (medical) treatment, that is not a problem,” said the source from ECOWAS, which stands for the Economic Community of West African States.
Prime minister Boubou Cisse, who has been held with Keita at a military base outside the capital where the coup began, would be moved to a secure residence in the city.
While the coup was met with international condemnation, thousands of opposition supporters celebrated the president’s ouster in the streets of Bamako.
– Talks in Bamako –
The junta has said it “completed the work” of the protesters and has vowed to stage elections “within a reasonable time”.
However, Mali’s neighbours have called for Keita to be reinstated, saying the purpose of the visit by the delegation from the regional ECOWAS bloc was to help “ensure the immediate return of constitutional order”.
Tuesday’s coup has heightened concern over regional stability as Mali’s jihadist insurgency now threatens neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.
The ECOWAS talks are set to resume in Bamako on Monday after two days of negotiations with the junta.
“We have reached a number of agreements but we have not reached agreement on all the issues,” Nigerian ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, head of the delegation, told reporters as Sunday’s discussions drew to a close.
Both the regional delegation and the military officers “want the country to move on” after the coup, he said. “We are just discussing the way forward.”
Jonathan met Keita on Saturday and said that he seemed “very fine”.
Keita won an election in a landslide in 2013, presenting himself as a unifying figure in a fractured country, and was re-elected in 2018 for another five-year term.
But he failed to make headway against the jihadist revolt that has left swathes of the country in the hands of armed Islamists and ignited ethnic violence in the country’s volatile centre.
ECOWAS Commission chief Jean-Claude Kassi Brou expressed hope over the weekend that it would be possible to “finalise everything” on Monday, underlining the military’s “strong will to move forward”.
“We need results, because on August 26, the ECOWAS heads of state meet to say whether they will strengthen sanctions against the junta, or if the grip on them will be loosened,” said a member of the delegation.
Barcelona presidential candidate, Jordi Farre, has admitted he has had conversations with Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, about joining the club.
The LaLiga outfit will hold elections in March 2021.
Farre is hoping to defeat incumbent, Josep Bartomeu, who is coming to the end of his second term.
If he is elected, Farre is hoping to bring in Klopp, despite the fact Barca only replace Quique Setien with Ronald Koeman last week.
Asked whether he would keep Koeman in charge, Farre told Sport: “If Koeman works and does well, I would, of course.
“Obviously, we have our roadmap and we had already had several conversations with Jurgen Klopp, because it seems to us that Barcelona needs such a coach.”
The video starts as Jacob Blake rounds the front of a silver SUV on Sunday, with two Kenosha, Wis., police officers following close behind, their guns drawn. When Blake opens the door and steps inside, the officers suddenly fire repeatedly toward his back — at least seven times.
Blake is now in serious condition, the officers have been placed on leave, and the city of Kenosha declared an emergency curfew after destructive protests rocked the city into early Monday morning. It’s the latest case of police violence caught on camera in a summer overwhelmed by escalating rounds of protests following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) called for greater police accountability as the video spread rapidly through social media.
“While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country,” Evers said in a statement. “We stand with all those who have and continue to demand justice, equity, and accountability for Black lives in our country.”
The shooting happened after 5 p.m., when officers responded to a domestic incident, police said. Witnesses told the Kenosha News that Blake was trying to break up a fight and that police first attempted to taser him.
The video shows neighbors congregated outside as two police officers with their guns drawn followed Blake as he approached the car. As Blake opened the driver’s side door, on officer can be seen tugging at Blake’s white tank top before multiple shots ring out from the police.
Kenosha News reported that Blake was shot in front of his children. Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney, posted on Twitter that Blake’s three sons were inside the car.
Police have not commented on what led to the shooting. Blake was taken by helicopter to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, police said. Early Monday morning, TMJ4 reported that Blake’s brother said he is out of surgery and in intensive care.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice will investigate the shooting, police said.
As footage of Blake’s shooting spread on social media, a crowd gathered at the intersection where he was shot. Tensions quickly rose as more police officers arrived wearing riot gear and several police cars were damaged. A video shows one police officer being hit with a brick and collapsing to the ground.
The group eventually moved away from the intersection. A live stream of a march through Kenosha showed hundreds eventually congregating and chanting outside the Kenosha County Public Safety Building after 10 p.m.
Shortly afterward, the city declared a state of emergency and instituted a curfew until 7 a.m. Monday. A public safety alert suggested that 24-hour businesses close “due to numerous arm robberies and shots fired calls.”
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, has tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
This was confirmed in a press statement signed by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso.
According to the press statement, the commissioner for health, Abayomi, contracted the virus due to “subsequent close contact with persons feeling unwell and testing positive for the COVID-19 infection.
“Professor Abayomi became aware of his status following the required testing protocol of contact tracing procedures.”
Commenting on his health improvement, Omotoso said; “he is doing well with no symptoms”.
“Adhering to the protocol of the home-based strategy in Lagos State, the Honorable Commissioner will be isolating in his home for the next 14 days but will continue to discharge his duties both as the Deputy Incident Commander of the Incident Command System for COVID-19 and most especially, as the Honorable Commissioner for Health.”
