BAKKACIMA BLOG

  Headlines .... US Politics : Joe Biden - Here's my promise to you: if I have the honour of serving as the next commander in chief, I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honour their sacrifice, always. Nigeria : The price of petrol jumped to between N162 and N164 per litre on Thursday following Wednesday's hike in ex deposit price. Coronavirus Update : India is reporting over 80,000 new coronavirus cases per day at the moment.  Nigeria Insurgency : There's no single human being in at least three (3) local government councils of Borno because of the deteriorating security situation in these areas, the state assembly speaker says. SPORTS : England players will all take a knee before the upcoming Nations League games against Iceland and Denmark.  US - Iran : Trump on Twitter said, "Hearing that Iran is looking to execute a great and popular wrestling star, 27 year old Navid Afkarai, whose sole act was an anti-government demonstration...

  Nigeria COVID-19 update - 18/8/2020 410 new cases of Coronavirus were recorded in Nigeria on Tuesday August 18, as confirmed by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).    A breakdown of the new cases across states is as follows; Lagos-210, FCT-45, Ondo-30, Plateau-21, Edo-19, Ogun-16, Oyo-13, Nasarawa-12, Bauchi-11, Enugu-10, Kwara-7, Kaduna-6, Anambra-4, Ebonyi-3, Abia-2, Rivers-1.    There are now 49,895 confirmed cases of Coronavirus across the country. 981 deaths have been recorded, 37,051 patients who recovered from the disease have also been discharged.   

  Relations between China and Canada grew worse after Canadian police arrested Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer and  the daughter of the founder of Chinese tech giant Huawei,  Meng Wanzhou,  at Vancouver's airport in late 2018. A court in China has sentenced a Canadian to death for transporting and manufacturing drugs, the second Canadian in just two days to receive the death penalty for narcotics. The Intermediate People's Court of Foshan City in Guangdong Province said Ye Jianhui was given the death sentence for "the crime of transporting and manufacturing drugs," according to a court statement released on Friday. Ye Jianhui, a Canadian national, was sentenced after a trial in the southern city of Foshan, the Foshan Intermediate People's Court said in a notice on its website on Friday. Authorities found 218 kilograms (480) pounds of amphetamine in a room the court said was used by the defendant. A smaller amount of the drug was seized in a bag and res...

Willian's brace was not enough for Chelsea to secure a point away from home as they suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat to West Ham, who moved three points clear of the relegation zone thanks to Andriy Yarmolenko's 89th-minute winner at the London Stadium. The defeat ended Chelsea's 6 games unbeaten run in all competitions. Though they still maintained their fourth position in the table, just two points clear of in-form Manchester United and Wolves with six matches remaining in the race for Champions League qualification. Asked if he was concerned that Chelsea had a mental issue following their inconsistent form in 2019-20, head coach Lampard told reporters: "It's something that has happened a few times this season. "We've had opportunities to close gaps and jump over teams because of other results or whatever situation. "But we haven't done it and that's a sign of where we are. We know we have a lot of hard work to do to get where we want to be an...

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency - CFIA is launching an investigation after the arrival of a Ukraine International Airlines flight from Kyiv to Toronto's Pearson International Airport with approximately 500 puppies on board, 38 of whom were found dead. This incident place on June 13. The French bulldog puppies who survived were exhibiting symptoms such as dehydration, vomiting and weakness. The breed is popular in Canada. The agency said; "CFIA officials are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident and will determine next steps once the investigation is complete." Ukraine International Airlines condemned the incident on their Facebook page, saying they were working with local authorities to determine what happened. A spokesperson for Transport Canada told newsmen that there were no set Canadian Aviation Regulations for pet transportation in airline cabins or in cargo holds, and that air operators set their own policies regarding pets on board...

India has been trending recently on different levels of incidents which have been marked by protests across the country. The latest is the  death of a father and son in police custody in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which has caused outrage after the victims' family accused the police of torturing the duo in custody. P Jayaraj, 59, and his son J Bennix, 31, were imprisoned by police last Friday in Thoothukudi district for violating coronavirus lockdown orders in the state. The police accused them of opening their mobile phone shop beyond the 8pm limit. The police claim Bennix complained of chest pain and Jayaraj suffered from high fever while they were lodged inside the sub-jail of Kovilpatti. They were taken to Kovilpatti government hospital where both of them died within hours of each other, the police said.

The Hollywood executive producer, David Guillod, has been charged with multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, and kidnap of four women in California. The charges came from alleged encounters in 2012, 2014 and 2015 with four unidentified women accusers, ranging in age from 27 to 41, in Los Angeles County and in Santa Barbara County, according to the complaint filed by Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley. The 53year old who ran Primary Wave Entertainment, a talent agency, surrendered to police Monday morning in Santa Barbara, near Los Angeles after a three-year investigation. He is now in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail, with bail set at $3 million. 

The 55-year-old, whose real name is Mark Calaway, said in a recent documentary that there was "nothing left for him to conquer". His words suggest plans to retire after a career spanning three decades. But neither Mr Calaway nor the WWE have formally announced his retirement from the league. The Dead Man, as he is nicknamed, made the comments during the new WWE biopic The Last Ride. He spoke about his most recent match against wrestler AJ Styles, which ended with him burying his opponent and riding away on a motorcycle.

Messenger -- Facebook is really trying to make it private (that only you and Facebook should have access to the theoretically private conversations contained within).   Facebook is testing new ways to secure its app, specifically on an unspecified number of iOS devices, the social-media giant has added a second layer of protection to Messenger's inbox. If enabled, users will need to either re-enter their passcode, or engage Touch ID or Face ID before they can read all their juicy messages.  This is the idea behind the change -- If someone gets access to your unlocked device, this security feature provides an additional barrier that will prevent the bad actor from reading your Messenger messages. Engadget was able to get a statement from a Facebook spokesperson, although there's not much there.  The spokesperson said, "We want to give people more choices and controls to protect their private messages, and recently, we began testing a feature that lets you unlock the Messen...

As reported by NBC -- An Obama admin regulation which makes it illegal for healthcare providers and insurance policies covered under the Affordable Care Act to discriminate against transgender people, was on Friday, reversed by the government.  The rules  defines gender identity as "male or female and as determined by biology," not, as the Obama administration put it, “one’s internal sense of gender, which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.” It's set to take effect in mid-August, NPR reported.  What this means is that they could be denied treatment for ovarian cancer, or an insurer might not cover a hysterectomy or even up the price if the procedure is related to the patient's gender transition, according to NPR. 

The Nigerian born international and Lille striker Victor Osimhen, is the most expensive Nigerian player with a price tag of 64.3 million euros - approximately N29.9 billion in Nigerian currency, according to a new study conducted by CIES Football Observatory. The lille forward is the 5th most valuable player in the French Ligue 1 behind PSG's Kylian Mbappe (€259.2m), Marquinhos Aoás(€89.2m), Neymar (€82.7m) and Houssem Aouar (€69.2m). Osimhen, 21, moved to Lille in August 2019 for a fee of 12 million euros and has a contract with the club until 2024. Victor Osimhen and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi are the two most ranked Nigerian players. While the former is ranked 66th most expensive player in the world, the later is ranked 94 overall.  Wilfred Ndidi has an estimated value of 49.5 million euros.   Meanwhile, Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah is Africa's highest ranked player with a price tag of €144.9m, followed by liverpool- Senegal winger Sadio Mane (€139.2m), Real...

Gen. Charles Q. Brown was on Tuesday confirmed by the US Senate to be the next Air Force chief of staff, making him the first African-American leader of military service.  Mike Pence (U.S vice president), presided over the historic 98-0 vote to confirm Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to be chief of staff of the Air Force, a vote that came in the wake of the nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd. President Donald Trump, who nominated Brown in March, hailed the general in a statement via his Twitter page. "My decision to appoint @usairforce General Charles Brown as the USA’s first-ever African American military service chief has now been approved by the Senate," Trump said, though the tweet came before the confirmation vote. "A historic day for America! Excited to work even more closely with Gen. Brown, who is a Patriot and Great Leader!"

Over the weekend, at Ngw o community in Enugu State, Nigeria, a memorable wedding took place. It was a triplet Sisters vs triplet brothers. It sure made headlines due to it's uniqueness. The trio-wedding was not a usual one that people have witness and it was between two sets of triplets on both sides of the union. Meanwhile, the photos of the unique occasion went viral online and it is one that  would live on in the memory of guests for a very long time. We are hoping they will get us another triplet... Happy married life to them and may their union last forever.  More photos:

The President on Friday approved the nomination of the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, by President Muhammadu Buhari for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization, WTO. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, disclosed this on his Twitter handle on Friday morning. Ogunlesi said that the current Director-General of the intergovernmental organization, Roberto Azevedo, will be stepping down from his position in August 2020, a year ahead of the end of his tenure. According to him,  “President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Dr. Okonji-Iweala as Nigeria’s candidate for the position of the Director-General of World Trade Organization. DG Azevedo is stepping down in August 2020, a year earlier, so the election of the new DG, originally scheduled for 2021, may take place much earlier”. Azevedo who has been the DG since 2013,  is steppi...