News & Announcements

A set of twins born 15 minutes apart in California have very different birthdays — one in 2021 and the other in 2022.
Alfredo Antonio Trujillo came into the world at 11:45 pm on New Year’s Eve in the city of Salinas.

A quarter of an hour later, on New Year’s Day, his sister Aylin Yolanda Trujillo was born.
The Natividad Medical Center, where the babies were delivered, said in a statement last week that some estimates suggest there is a one-in-two-million chance of twins being born in different years.

“It’s crazy to me that they are twins and have different birthdays,” the babies’ mother, Fatima Madrigal, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Dr. Ana Abril Arias described the births as “one of the most memorable deliveries of my career.”

“It was an absolute pleasure to help these little ones arrive here safely in 2021 and 2022.”

Big brother Alfredo tipped the scales at six pounds and one ounce (2.75 kilograms) while the baby of the family, Aylin, was a healthy five pounds and 14 ounces.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says around 120,000 twins are born every year in the United States, representing roughly three percent of births.

Billionaire businessman, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab, the 81-year-old father of Farouk Abdul Mutallab, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison for terrorism, has said that he hopes to see his son again in his lifetime. 

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, born December 22, 1986, is popularly referred to as the “Underwear Bomber” or “Christmas Bomber”.

At the age of 23, he attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day, 2009.

In an interview monitored on Wednesday, Umaru Abdul Mutallab while answering a question on whether he was in touch with his son, said: “Yes, he phones us, sometimes two times, sometimes three times in a month.
“We cannot phone him. He’s the one who can phone us and we do speak.
“As a matter of fact, his mother, one of his brothers, and one of his sisters were with him about three weeks ago. “They visited him under very strict prison guidelines. But we would keep on praying to Almighty Allah.
“Maybe one day… maybe in my lifetime we would see him back.

“But it is a situation whereby he has three life sentences, plus 40 years. It is a lot.
“But only Almighty Allah will bring us into a situation of seeing him in this world, with his siblings here in Nigeria.” Commenting on the assertion on Trust TV that he was the 11th richest person in Nigeria, Abdul Mutallab, who was the Chairman of the Jaiz Bank, the first Islamic bank in Nigeria, said: “I will not consider myself the richest man in  Nigeria by any chance.
“Alhamdulillah (thanks be to Allah) I am not a poor man, neither would I say I’m one of the richest persons in Nigeria.

“I thank God for what He has given me. I’m grateful to Him. But I will not consider myself the 11th richest man in Nigeria by any chance.”
While talking about the state of insecurity in Nigeria, the former Chairman of First Bank and UBA, recalled they traveled at night across Nigeria, but now traveling, even in the daytime, was scary. 

He said although the government is doing much to overcome the situation, they should please do more.
Abdul Mutallab, born December 15, 1939, is a Nigerian businessman and financier, who served under the military government of General Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo as ministers.
He was described by The New York Times as “among Nigeria’s richest and most prominent men.

The Telegraph: “One of Nigeria’s most prominent bankers” and by The Guardian as being “one of the country’s most respected businessmen.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Edward Kallon of Sierra Leone as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Zimbabwe, with the host Government’s approval.  
He will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator and take up his post on 6 January.

Mr. Kallon has devoted more than 30 years of his career to public service, working — both at the United Nations and externally — in a complex emergency, transition, and development context in conflict and non-conflict settings across lower- and middle-income countries.  
At the United Nations, he most recently served as the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, following an assignment as Resident Coordinator in Jordan.  

He also held senior positions with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Somalia, and Uganda after starting his United Nations career as a United Nations Volunteer assigned to WFP in Afghanistan.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Kallon worked in his home country as a socioeconomist and community development coordinator for GTZMANR, a bilateral technical cooperation project, as well as an income generation project coordinator with global non-profit Plan International.
He holds a master’s degree in development studies with a specialization in agriculture and rural development from the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Njala University College of the University of Sierra Leone.

Saudi Arabia club, Al Shabab has reportedly said Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo won’t be permitted to join up with the senior national team of Nigeria for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

According to Naija Sports, the club already informed Ighalo of their decision to hold on to him during the AFCON period using the late arrival of his invitation letter from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as their excuse.

They claimed they didn’t receive his invitation letter within the days stipulated by FIFA for clubs to be notified about their players going away for a tournament with their national team.
It’s a similar excuse English Premier League side Watford gave on another Nigerian player in Emmanuel Dennis before the player decided not to honour the call up. Just like Dennis, it’s now up to Ighalo to decide if he wants to be at the tournament or not. Won’t Release You To Nigeria For AFCON — Al Shabab To Ighalo 

Saudi Arabia club, Al Shabab has reportedly said Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo won’t be permitted to join up with the senior national team of Nigeria for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
According to Naija Sports, the club already informed Ighalo of their decision to hold on to him during the AFCON period using the late arrival of his invitation letter from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as their excuse.

They claimed they didn’t receive his invitation letter within the days stipulated by FIFA for clubs to be notified about their players going away for a tournament with their national team.

It’s a similar excuse English Premier League side Watford gave on another Nigerian player in Emmanuel Dennis before the player decided not to honor the call-up. Just like Dennis, it’s now up to Ighalo to decide if he wants to be at the tournament or not.

Sudan’s Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok has resigned after another day of mass protests rocked the capital Khartoum.
Thousands marched against a recent deal he had done to share power with the army, who staged a coup in October, reports the BBC.
Chanting “power to the people”, protesters called for a return to full civilian rule. But military forces staged another violent crackdown, leaving two people dead.

Hamdok’s decision to quit leaves the army in full control.
It is another blow to Sudan’s fragile attempts at a transition to democratic rule after a popular uprising led to the overthrow of Sudan’s long-term authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

 In a televised address, Hamdok said the country was at a “dangerous turning point that threatens its whole survival”.
He said he had tried his best to stop the country from “sliding towards disaster,” but that “despite everything that has been done to reach a consensus… it has not happened.”

Civilian and military leaders had made an uneasy power-sharing agreement after the army staged a coup on October 25 and initially placed Prime Minister Hamdok under house arrest.

Under the agreement reached with Hamdok in November, the reinstated prime minister was supposed to lead a cabinet of technocrats until elections were held. But it was unclear how much power the new civilian government would have, and protesters said they did not trust the military.
Thousands of people were on the streets of the capital Khartoum and the city of Omdurman on Sunday, chanting and calling on the military to leave politics alone.

On social media, activists have said 2022 will be “the year of the continuation of the resistance”.
More than 50 people have been killed at protests since the coup, including at least two on Sunday, according to the pro-democracy Sudan Central Doctors’ Committee.

Coup leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has defended last October’s coup, saying the army had acted to prevent a civil war that was threatening to erupt. He says Sudan is still committed to the transition to civilian rule, with elections planned for July 2023.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has shown that Elon Musk, by far the world’s richest billionaire, increased his wealth by $33.8 billion to $304.2 billion on Monday. On the list, Jeff Bezos is ranked second with a fortune of $196 billion.

Tesla’s CEO, Musk, who owns about 18% of the company, helped precipitate the slide by saying he would reduce his stake by 10%. A plan to generate cash for tax obligations has seen him sell over $10 billion of shares since November.

The South African-born billionaire’s net worth, including his stake in SpaceX, reached a high of $340 billion in 2021, surpassing a previous peak reached by John D. Rockefeller and briefly becoming the richest person in modern history.

In the final months of last year, Tesla shattered production and delivery records, sending its shares soaring 13.5% on Monday. Over 308,000 vehicles were delivered to customers in the fourth quarter, sending the stock up as much as 10% in early trading.

The company announced the record sales figure on Sunday, capping a year in which it overcame bottlenecks and rapidly expanded production at a China plant to reach close to 1 million vehicles sold annually.

Its stock market value increased by one-third, to more than $1 trillion, in 2021, as investors grew more confident the carmaker was able to overcome its persistent growing pains while also achieving comfortable profit margins.

Tesla’s market value reached $1.2 trillion at the end of the New York trading day on Monday. According to FactSet, Tesla delivered about 40,000 more cars than Wall Street analysts had expected. This strong performance increased its deliveries for 2021 to 936,172, up from 499,550 the previous year.

Some automakers were affected by shortages of semiconductors last year, slowing production.

Zach Kirkhorn, Tesla’s chief financial officer, had earlier told investors in October that shortages prevented Tesla from running its plants at full capacity, and that its big jump in production in the first nine months of the year had been “exceptionally hard.”

Apple has become the first company to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion, rising $1 trillion in less than 16 months as the coronavirus pandemic turbocharged big techs.
The tech behemoth surpassed the $182.86 mark on Monday, becoming the first publicly traded corporation in history to do so. During the day, the stock fluctuated between above and below the number.

Microsoft is also potentially on its way to the $3 trillion mark after topping $2 trillion in June. At the time of writing this article, Apple share price has made a retreat to trade at $182.01.
Only a few companies, such as Tesla and Amazon, are worth more than $1 trillion. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Saudi Aramco, the oil company, are both valued at around $2 trillion, while Microsoft is valued at around $2.5 trillion.

Apple’s stock rose more than 30% in 2021 as it successfully weathered the supply chain issue and profited from increased demand for iPhones, Macs, and iPads as customers renovated their home offices during the epidemic.
Morgan Stanley analysts raised their 12-month price target to $200 in early December, stating that investors had not yet factored in the planned debut of augmented and virtual reality gadgets.

Apple’s rise to $3 trillion comes on the back of the incredible success of its iPhone line, which has spawned accessories like the Apple Watch and AirPods, not to mention services like AppleCare, the App Store, Apple Music+, and Apple TV+.
Apple’s latest hardware, on the other hand, has been plagued by the same supply chain concerns that have afflicted everyone from auto manufacturers to home appliance manufacturers. According to Bloomberg, Apple previously lowered its iPhone production goal by 10 million handsets owing to supply shortages in October.

 Lament Over Service OutageAccording to Nikkei Asia, Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partners were taking days off when they should have been working nonstop to build up gadget availability for the holiday season.
Apple, like its big-tech peers, is dealing with antitrust concerns. Epic Games, the creators of “Fortnite,” filed a lawsuit against Apple in August 2020, alleging that the company is breaking antitrust laws by compelling developers to utilize its in-app payment system, which gives Apple a 30 percent cut of every purchase.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has stated that the surest bet to alleviating poverty is growth in employment, as Nigeria’s economy needs to expand at a much faster pace.
This was disclosed by CBN deputy governor, Adamu, Edward Lametek,  in his statement at the last MPC meeting.

According to the world poverty clock, 41% of Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day, translating to over 86 million Nigerian living below the poverty line.
Adamu noted that poverty is linked to employment which is directly affected by economic growth.

He said, “Notwithstanding the positive outcomes so far on inflation and growth, the economy is yet to attain the pre-pandemic level on several fronts. Employment, for instance, continues to be a major policy concern. The surest bet to alleviating poverty is growth in employment which is tied to economic (output) expansion.”

He opined that the economy needs to grow at a faster pace and consider other sectors that are to perform optimally
“In effect, the economy needs to expand at a faster rate than has happened up to Q3 2021, to generate more jobs. Even at the 4.03 percent overall real growth rate in Q3, some sectors (activities) were still struggling. Among those, Oil & Gas, Fishing and Oil Refining stood out,” Adamu said.

He added that headline inflation is forecast to close the year at about 15.0%. Barring any major shock, the current trajectory is expected to be sustained through the first quarter of 2022.
He added that contrary to what is happening in most other climes, the recovery in domestic demand has not translated to new price shocks.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has stated that the surest bet to alleviating poverty is growth in employment, as Nigeria’s economy needs to expand at a much faster pace.

This was disclosed by CBN deputy governor, Adamu, Edward Lametek,  in his statement at the last MPC meeting.
According to the world poverty clock, 41% of Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day, translating to over 86 million Nigerian living below the poverty line.

Adamu noted that poverty is linked to employment which is directly affected by economic growth.
He said, “Notwithstanding the positive outcomes so far on inflation and growth, the economy is yet to attain the pre-pandemic level on several fronts. Employment, for instance, continues to be a major policy concern. The surest bet to alleviating poverty is growth in employment which is tied to economic (output) expansion.”

He opined that the economy needs to grow at a faster pace and consider other sectors that are to perform optimally
“In effect, the economy needs to expand at a faster rate than has happened up to Q3 2021, to generate more jobs. Even at the 4.03 per cent overall real growth rate in Q3, some sectors (activities) were still struggling. Among those, Oil & Gas, Fishing and Oil Refining stood out,” Adamu said.

He added that headline inflation is forecast to close the year at about 15.0%. Barring any major shock, the current trajectory is expected to be sustained through the first quarter of 2022.

He added that contrary to what is happening in most other climes, the recovery in domestic demand has not translated to new price shocks.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a hero of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, will be laid to rest on Saturday in an official state funeral in St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, where for years he preached against racial injustice.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the main eulogy for Tutu, whose death on Sunday aged 90 triggered an outpouring of tributes from around the world, reports Reuters.

Tutu, awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1984 for his non-violent opposition to white minority rule, was known for his infectious laugh and easy-going manner but they belied a steely resolve to fight for the downtrodden during the darkest hours of apartheid and beyond into the 21st century. read more
Widely revered across South Africa’s racial and cultural divides for his moral integrity, Tutu never stopped fighting for his vision of a “Rainbow Nation”, in which all races in post-apartheid South Africa could live in harmony.
“Without forgiveness, there’s no future,” the charismatic cleric once said.

Hundreds of well-wishers queued on Thursday and Friday to pay their last respects to Tutu as he lay in state at the cathedral in a simple, closed pine coffin with rope handles, in accordance with his wishes for a frugal funeral.
As Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Tutu turned St George’s into a refuge for anti-apartheid activists during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s when security forces brutally repressed the mass democratic movement.
His body will be cremated in a private ceremony after Saturday’s requiem mass and will then be interred behind the pulpit from where he once denounced bigotry and racial tyranny.

Church bells have tolled daily this week at St George’s in honour of the man often described as South Africa’s “moral compass”. Many would refer to Tutu as “Tata” or father.
“Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and seldom without humour, Desmond Tutu’s voice will always be the voice of the voiceless,” is how long-time friend and former president Nelson Mandela, who died in December 2013, described his friend.