Author: Salako Temitope

Government officials in Washington met with about a dozen family members of people killed when a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia in 2019. The families want the Justice Department to revive a criminal charge against the company. Boeing reached a settlement in 2021 that let it avoid prosecution on a charge of defrauding regulators who approved the Max. Boeing has been reaching confidential settlements with the families of passengers who died, but the relatives of those killed in the Ethiopia crash are continuing to press the Justice Department to prosecute the company in federal district court in Texas, where…

The European Parliament adopted stricter legally-binding air pollution limits on Wednesday that must be complied with by 2030. This is sequel to a World Health Organization (WHO) warning on its air quality guidelines in 2023, hoping to push countries toward clean energy and prevent deaths caused by dirty air. Air pollution causes 300,000 premature deaths in Europe each year. EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said the tougher EU rules could reduce that number by 70% over the next 10 years. Europe’s air quality has improved over the last decade, but the EU has still taken more than 10 countries to court for breaching its…

Amid frosty diplomatic relations, Benin is expected to receive transit duties and tax revenues per quantity of Nigerien oil that gushes out at Sémè Kraké. The projection comes as the platform where the 1980km pipeline that connects the Agadem oil fields lands. Last Sunday, Nigerien oil reportedly gushed out at Sémè Kraké in Benin raising hopes for at least 2,000 jobs across the west African nation. The project whose construction began in September 2019 has faced several delays. It was expected to last two years and cost over $5 billion.  According to a 2019 national petroleum plan, the pipeline, linking…

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, should serve 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to violating laws against money laundering, U.S. prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday. Zhao, who is expected to be sentenced on April 30 in Seattle, stepped down as Binance’s chief last November, when he and the exchange admitted to the violations, and the firm agreed to a penalty of $4.32 billion. “Given the magnitude of Zhao’s willful violation of U.S. law and its consequences, an above-guidelines sentence of 36 months is warranted,” U.S. prosecutors told the U.S. district…

The bodies of 19 people were recovered Tuesday off the coast of Tunisia, one of the primary points of departure for those seeking to traverse the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The Tunisian coast guard said, in a statement, that it had recovered the bodies near the port cities of Mahdia and Sfax, the country’s second-largest city where migrants have in recent weeks clashed with law enforcement. Despite risks, migrants continue to attempt the treacherous voyage from North Africa to Europe, travelling in boats from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya to Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain’s Canary Islands. More than 49,000…

A bill clearing the way for billions of dollars in fresh Ukraine funding amid advances from Russia’s invasion forces and Kyiv’s shortages of military supplies was passed late Tuesday by the US Senate. And The Senate approved by 79 to 18 for four bills passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday, after House Republican leaders abruptly switched course last week and allowed a vote on the $95 billion in mostly military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and U.S. partners in the Indo-Pacific. The four bills were combined into one package in the Senate, which President Joe Biden said he would sign into…

At hospitals and clinics across Port-au-Prince, life-saving medication and equipment is dwindling or altogether absent as brutal gangs tighten their grip on the capital and beyond. The gangs have blocked roads, forced the closure of the main international airport in early March and paralyzed operations at the country’s largest seaport, where containers filled with key supplies remain stuck. Haiti’s health system has long been fragile, but it’s now nearing total collapse. The violence has forced several medical institutions and dialysis centers to temporarily close, including Haiti’s largest public hospital. One of the few institutions still operating is Peace University Hospital,…

The United Arab Emirates’ central bank, on Monday, sent a directive to the country’s lenders and insurers approving the deferring of loan repayments for six months, as residents and businesses reel from historic flood that paralyzed the normally dry desert emirate.  “The Central Bank today issued a notice to all banks and insurance companies to allow the deferral of repayment of instalments of personal and car loans for customers affected by the repercussions of the weather condition for a period of six months,” the bank said in a Monday statement. “The deferral shall be without imposing additional fees, interest or profits, or…

The World Bank has suspended funding for a tourism project in Tanzania that caused the suffering of tens of thousands of villagers, according to a U.S.-based rights group that has long urged the global lender to take such action. The World Bank’s decision to suspend the $150 million project, which aims to improve the management of natural resources and tourism assets in a remote part of southern Tanzanian, was “long overdue,” the Oakland Institute said in a statement Tuesday, charging that the bank’s “failure to take immediate action resulted in serious harms for the local communities.” At least $100 million…

Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star on Tuesday asked a judge to fine the former U.S. President $10,000 total for 10 online posts they said violated a gag order restricting his public speech on jurors, potential witnesses, and some others involved in the case.  Prosecutors said they were not seeking imprisonment for Trump because the defendant “seems to be angling for that.” Trump “knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway,” says Chris Conroy, a member of the prosecuting team. “His disobedience of the order…