BAKKACIMA BLOG

  The award-winning actress and a Hollywood icon, Cicely Tyson has died at the age of 96. According to a statement from her manager, Larry Thompson, she died on Thursday afternoon, January 28.  "With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon. At this time, please allow the family their privacy," Thompson said in a statement. “I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing. Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”

  Report says 15 members of the National Youth Service Corps - NYSC serving in Niger state have tested positive for COVID-19. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Muhammed Makusidi disclosed this on Thursday January 28 during a meeting with the state governor, Abubakar Sani-Bello on measures to put in place to contain the spread of the novel virus in the state. According to the commissioner, out of the 16 active cases in the state, 15 are NYSC members. He said the state has recorded a total of 695 confirmed cases spread across 22 out of the 25 local Government Areas and 14 deaths. Meanwhile, the state governor Sani- Bello has declared those who don’t use face masks will face a mobile court and pay a fine of N5,000. He also directed the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General to prepare an executive order for the enforcement of compulsory use of face masks in the State. According to the state governor Sani, the order will take effect from Monday, 1st of February, 2021. Accord...

  All arrangements has been made for the team of World Health Organization experts to begin field research into the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan, where Coronavirus was first recorded in late 2019, after completing two weeks of compulsory hotel quarantine. The team is expected to visit Huanan Market where the first people fell ill with the virus, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a nearby medical laboratory. They will also try to find out whether the virus came from a bat, like the more deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -  SARS which was traced back to a cave in China’s Yunnan province. The WHO has stressed that the investigation,

  One of the houses of Yoruba rights activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho in Soka, Ibadan has been razed by suspected arsonists. More details soon.......

  Giuseppe Conte, the Italian Prime Minister will resign today being Tuesday 26th January. His office said in a statement yesterday being Monday, heightening political turmoil in the country as it battles Covid-19. "The Council of Ministers is convened for tomorrow morning at 9 am, during which the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, will communicate to the ministers his will to go to the Presidential Palace and hand in his resignation," the statement read. He will then see the President Sergio Mattarella, it added. The resignation is a calculated move that could ultimately afford him another chance at forming a government.

  One of the world’s most wanted drug kingpin was arrested at an airport in Amsterdam over the weekend while trying to return to Canada. His arrest ended a global manhunt for one the biggest and most important global kingpins. Mr Lop was described as Asia’s El Chapo. Tse Chi Lop, 57, was born in China and immigrated to Canada, where he learned important lessons in underworld economics and the value of alliances from the Montreal Mafia, two characteristics that would help forge an empire. He laid a foundation for what authorities allege blossomed into one of the world’s most prolific drug syndicates from a base in Toronto.  Also, his vast wealth and power kept his

  Police in Delta state has arrested a woman who allegedly killed the father of her two children with the heel of her shoe over alleged infidelity.    The incident happened on Saturday afternoon, January 23, in Ugbuwangwe community, Warri South Local Government Area of the state.    Sources said that the suspect allegedly used the heel of her shoe to hit the deceased identified as Sylvester Etsebaghranro after accusing him of infidelity. He slumped and died on the spot but she has since denied the allegation. Meanwhile, spokesperson of the command, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, who confirmed the incident told Vanguard on the phone that the suspect has been arrested.   “We arrested her to keep her in protective custody. And so that we can find her whenever she is needed. The lady has made some confessions to the Police about the incident. But nobody from the family or around has come to report the matter. So we are going on with the statement of the woman th...

  WHO has said it is planning to approve several COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese and western manufacturers in the coming weeks/months, according to a document published on Wednesday, as the global health agency aims for rapid vaccine releases in poorer countries. COVAX, a global scheme co-led by the WHO, wants to deliver at least two billion COVID-19 doses across the world this year, with at least 1.3 billion going to poorer countries. Even when the facility has so far struggled to secure enough shots due to a shortage of funds, while wealthy nations have booked large volumes of vaccines for themselves.

  The big-tech giant(Twitter) has locked the account of China’s embassy in the United States for a social media post that defended China’s policies towards Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, which the platform said violated the firm’s policy against “dehumanisation”. The Chinese Embassy account, @ChineseEmbinUS, posted a tweet this month that said that Uighur women were no longer “baby making machines,” citing a study reported by state-backed newspaper, China Daily. The tweet was removed by Twitter and replaced by a label stating that it was no longer available. Although Twitter hides tweets that violate its policies, it requires account owners to manually delete such posts. The Chinese embassy’s account has not posted any new tweets since January 9. The suspension of the embassy’s account came a day after the Trump administration, in its final hours, accused China of committing genocide in Xinjiang, a finding endorsed by the incoming Biden administration. Although t he new adm...

  A ccording to Bartin Governor Sinan Guner, a  Palau-flagged freight ship has sunk off the coast of Turkey’s Black Sea province of Bartin, killing at least three(3) crew members. Governor Guner had said earlier on Sunday that the ship, the Arvin, was a Russian dry freight vessel that sank off the coast of the Inkumu region in poor weather, but later corrected that. “The Arvin ship attempted to take refuge at the Bartin port due to poor weather conditions as it carried cargo from Georgia to Bulgaria,” Guner was quoted as saying by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency. The coastguard said the ship had sunk after taking in water amid poor weather. Meanwhile, six(6) crew members had been rescued and efforts were under way to rescue others, it said in a statement. Anadolu said that all of them were hospitalised and were in good condition. The Russian state agency overseeing sea and river fleets said that only two crew members were Russian nationals and that the vessel belonged t...

  Rev. Father John Gbakaan, has been hacked to death by unknown gunmen in Niger State Nigeria. It was reported that Fr. Gbakaan alongside his brother and another priest travelled to Makurdi in Benue state last Thursday, January 14 to see his mother.  The cleric was on his way back to Niger state with his brother when they were attacked by gunmen along Lambata-Lapai road. The attackers were said to have descended on the priest with machetes, hacking his body beyond recognition. Meanwhile, his body was found the following day tied to a tree in a bush while his vehicle, a Toyota Venza was also found in the bush. The catholic priest's brother was abducted and is yet to be found. His abductors have reportedly contacted the Catholic Diocese in Minna and initially demanded N30 million as ransom but later reduced it to N5 million. The height of insecurity in Nigeria is getting more unbearable each day and something should be done about...

  Aides to the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have confirmed that she will resign her Senate seat on Monday, days before she and President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20. Kamala will leave the Senate shortly after Democrats narrowly secured a majority there, winning two election runoffs in Georgia this month.  With Democrats holding 50 of the chamber’s 100 seats, Harris will cast tie-breaking votes.  She will not give a farewell speech on the Senate floor as it is not set to reconvene until Tuesday. Also, kamala Harris’s seat will be filled by Democrat Alex Padilla, California’s Secretary of State, who was selected by Governor Gavin Newsom. Padilla will become the first Latino senator to represent the state, where about 40 percent of residents are Latino. Authorities have warned of further violence surrounding the inauguration and put increased security in place in Washington, DC, and various US state capitals. In the light of the inauguration, Harr...