A Russian army Mi-8 helicopter crashed outside Moscow during a training flight on Tuesday, killing the crew, the defence ministry said.
“As a result of a crash landing the crew of the helicopter died of their wounds,” the defence ministry said.
Defence ministry spokespeople, reached by AFP, declined to specify
how many crew members had died |||READ
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A certain type of persecution is increasing: Christians are being called "intolerant" based solely on our beliefs, not because we've actually been intolerant.
Christian groups that offer humanitarian aid are regularly condemned for their beliefs, even when they offer their help to everyone without bias.
Some Christians are buckling under the pressure. A well-known Christian restaurant chain recently quit donating to ministries, based strictly on their statement of faith, even though the ministries serve the poor and needy without partiality (source).
Tolerance means treating people decently even if we disagree with their beliefs. Christian organizations that serve people with non-biblical views are going above and beyond the meaning of tolerance.(1) |||READ MORE
A beloved New York doctor delayed his retirement to work on the front lines of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has tragically lost his life to the contagious respiratory virus.
Dr. James Mahoney, a physician at both University Hospital of Brooklyn and its neighboring Kings County Hospital Center, died on April 27, The New York Times reported Monday.
Mahoney, 62, was loved by his patients, who he
would give his cell phone and pager numbers to, and didn't stop checking in on
even after he became ill himself with COVID-19 |||READ
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The House of Representatives has called for the reinstatement of over 300 casual staff of the Warri Refining And Petro-Chemical Company (WRPC).
The leadership made this known at plenary on Tuesday, as part of its resolutions after a member, Hon. Thomas Eveyitomi moved a motion that the sack of the over 300 workers be looked into.
Eveyitomi noted that the workers were laid off in spite of the Federal Government’s directives that no government agency or private establishment should sack or lay off any of its staff at a time when the world is battling a pandemic |||READ MORE
Former Pharaohs of Egypt coach Hector Cuper is disappointed with the decision of the Nigeria Football Federation to hand Gernot Rohr a new contract.
Rohr is on the verge of penning a new two-year contract following weeks of negotiation with the NFF.
Cuper’s Egyptian-born assistant, Mahmoud Ahmed, told Premium Times that the Argentine was waiting to pounce on the Nigeria’s job should Rohr failed to agree a new deal with the NFF |||READ MORE
Super Eagles Alex Iwobi’s Everton has agreed a club-record partnership deal with Danish sportswear brand hummel.
Everton confirmed the deal in a statement released on their official website on Wednesday.
This means hummel will take over from umbro who has been in partnership with Everton since 2014 and will continue the partnership until the end of the 2019/20 season |||READ MORE
Ministers have now introduced a new slogan, according to The Telegraph, in an apparent move to try to explain exactly what is being asked of people.
The new slogan states: 'Keep our distance, wash our hands, think of others and play our part. All together.'
Adverts featuring the new message reportedly began appearing yesterday and feature rainbow imaging in an apparent reference to public support for the NHS |||READ MORE
Sarah Jessica Parker has shared a heartwarming message for her husband Matthew Broderick in honour of their 23rd wedding anniversary. Taking to her Instagram page on Tuesday night, the 55-year-old actress shared a rare black-and-white throwback picture of the lovebirds. "May 19th, 2020. 23 years. We've come a long way baby. X, SJ," she simply wrote in the caption.
Celebrity friends and fans alike rushed to post lovely comments underneath, with Billy Eichner writing: "Gorgeous." Adam Shankman remarked: "Oh my goooddd!! Congrats!!! I remember it all like it was yesterday, including midnight wedding dress covert ops....what a wonderful time it was!" One fan said: "Happy anniversary! I love this photo of the two of you!" Another stated: "Awww that’s amazing, love you guys."
Since tying the knot in 1997, Sarah and Matthew have welcomed three children - son James Wilkie, 17, and ten-year-old twins Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, who were born via surrogate in 2009. In September 2019, the actress made a rare comment about her marriage to Matthew, telling Us Weekly: "We've grown. We have a family, we have children, we have friends that have passed away, we have relationships... We don't talk about it - that’s how it stays strong!"|||READ MORE
The ill-timed initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide meals at this time of global lockdown for pupils in schools should be called by its proper name: force-feeding.
We all know what it entails to force-feed a child in our part of the world. For those who don’t, this is what happens when a child for one of several reasons, usually loss of appetite due to ill-health, refuses to eat.
After all petting and cajoling had come to an end and there is nothing left more to do to persuade the child to eat, the stalemate is broken when the child is force-fed. It is a last-resort tussle of desperation for which my mother holds a black belt in the heavyweight category |||READ MORE
The Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA has directed doctors in state to proceed on an indefinite sit-at-home order to protest what they described as ‘conflicting directives by the government and incessant police harassment’ on medical doctors and other health workers in the state.
In a press statement made available to Vanguard, and jointly signed by the State Chairman of the NMA, Dr Saliu Oseni and the Secretary, Dr Ramon Moronkola, the sit-at-home order is expected to begin today, (Wednesday), 20th May 2020 from 6 pm.
The medical doctors maintained that it was no longer safe for their members to continue to provide healthcare services under the present confused arrangement |||READ MORE
Following the killings of innocent Nigerians in Katsina, President Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday ordered total crackdown on bandits and kidnappers perpetuating the heinous crimes in the state.
Buhari who in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, asked security operatives to sweep away kidnappers and bandits in Katsina.
The statement reads: “A major proactive operation by Special Forces, which details are being kept secret, is now in progress to replace the reactive strikes against insurgent camps |||READ MORE
South African Olympic champion Caster Semenya has locked her focus into the 200m, no matter the result of her appeal to overturn last year's Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic rocked the sporting globe, Semenya was in a court battle to get the CAS decision that allowed athletics governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), to prescribe hormone-suppressing drugs for any woman with disorder of sex development (DSD) competing in 400m to 1 500m events.
Her last throw of the dice was the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, who had yet to reach a verdict by the time of the global sporting shutdown. In the meantime, Semenya, who outright refused to take the drugs, went to work on the 200m sprint distance |||READ MORE
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has stressed the need for Nigeria to look towards science and technology to develop the country, stating that any country that seeks development must pay adequate attention to the twin catalysts of national development.
According to a statement, Onu stated this while delivering a lecture at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
The minister, who addressed participants of Senior Executive Course No. 42, spoke on the issues bothering on the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and how Nigeria can make an opportunity out of it by encouraging research and development |||READ MORE
When it mattered most, the overwhelming majority of Nigerians entrusted the leadership and governance of the country into the hands of Muhammadu Buhari as President. He was massively chosen on the basis of what he represented and what he promised to bring to the table in the face of the daunting challenges facing the country at the time.
Also, many people won their elections seamlessly by mere association of their aspirations with that of Buhari at that time. In other words, rather the party, All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari was the brand to beat.
Although he is exercising this mandate through the instrumentality of organs and institutions made up of appointed, elected and specialized individuals at various levels, and to a reasonable extent on the guidance of the manifestoes of his party, APC; it is the man Buhari who would solely take the glory and blame of the government and governance in the end |||READ MORE
Pope Francis inaugurated the full reopening of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Monday and Catholic churches across Italy held public Masses for the first time in two months, in the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions.
Francis said a private Mass in a side chapel where St. John Paul II is buried to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the late Polish pope’s birth. John Paul II was made a saint in 2014.
The basilica, which on Friday underwent a sanitising process to make it as coronavirus-free as possible, later opened to the public for Masses by priests on other side altars after the pope had left |||READ MORE
The World Medical Association, WMA, Monday raised the alarm over the rising tide of violence against health workers around the world, describing the situation as an international emergency that was intolerable.
The Association in a press statement made available to Vanguard and signed by the WMA Secretary-General, Dr. Otmar Kloiber, said urgent action was required to combat the trend.
“Over the last decade, we have seen a surge of violence against health personnel worldwide. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this phenomenon has expanded dramatically |||READ MORE
False claims targeting billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates are gaining traction online since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, with experts warning they could hamper efforts to curb the virus.
Doctored photos and fabricated news articles crafted by conspiracy theorists — shared thousands of times on social media platforms and messaging apps, in various languages — have gone as far as accusing the Microsoft founder of creating the outbreak.
Gates, who has pledged $250 million to efforts to fight the pandemic, is the latest in a string of online targets despite the World Health Organization’s efforts to fight what it called an “infodemic” — misinformation fanned by panic and confusion about the virus |||READ MORE
Managing Director, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Nigeria Ltd, Michael Yigao, says the 15-man Chinese team that arrived in the country on April 8 are in the company’s care.
Yigao, who made the disclosure on Monday in Abuja while reacting to concerns as to the whereabouts of the team, said the team would be leaving the country soon.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire had said during a Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing that team was the “guests of the Federal Government but that of the construction company” |||READ MORE
China said it will contribute two billion dollars over the next two years for the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese President, Xi Jinping on Monday announced.
The money is not only earmarked for health measures, but also for development aid for affected countries.
Xi said in a message to the World Health Organisation’s annual conference |||READ MORE
President Muhammadu Buhari has charged state governors cooperate with the Presidential Task Force PTF on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.
The President who spoke to the Governors’ Forum in a virtual meeting on Monday, particularly charged the governors to continue educating and persuading their citizens to accept the reality of COVID-19 in the country and live responsibly.
In a statement
issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi
Adesina, the President said the PTF had briefed him on next steps in the
national response to the pandemic, “and I have directed that they work very
closely with the Governors.” |||READ
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