13042018 - Herdsmen kill 66 in Benue, Taraba; scores in Zamfara

44 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2018
WTO warns over tit-for-tat trade wars
GLOBAL trade has
seen its most rapid
growth in six years,
says the World Trade
Organisation’s annual
analysis.
But the positive news
could be put at risk by titfor-tat
tariff wars that
have broken out, according
to the head of the
WTO, Roberto Azevedo.
Broader global tensions
could also see
trade suffer.
Last month, President
Donald Trump unveiled
plans for a 25% tariff on
US steel imports from
countries such as China
and a 10% tariff on aluminium.
That followed an announcement
earlier in
the year for tariffs - import
taxes - on washing
machines and solar panels.
The president said that
battles on trade were
good and “easy to win”.
China responded by
imposing its own tariffs
on US goods and has
complained to the WTO
and threatened legal action,
claiming unfair
treatment.
“The strong trade
growth that we are seeing
today will be vital for
continued economic
growth and recovery and
to support job creation,”
said Mr Azevedo, the
WTO director-general.
“However, this important
progress could be
quickly undermined if
governments resort to
restrictive trade policies,
especially in a tit-for-tat
process that could lead to
an unmanageable escalation.
“A cycle of retaliation is
the last thing the world
economy needs.”
Watchdog confirms nerve agent used in UK
THE Organisation
for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons
confirmed the UK’s findings
that Novichok was
used to target the former
Russian double agent
Sergei Skripal and his
daughter Yulia in the
English city of Salisbury.
While the statement
from the OPCW does not
specifically name Novichok,
it says technical
experts “confirm the
findings of the United
Kingdom relating to the
identity of the toxic
chemical that was used
in Salisbury and severely
injured three people.”
The UK government
says its scientists have
identified the agent as a
military-grade Novichok
nerve agent.
UN aims to eliminate yellow fever epidemics in
Africa by 2026
NEARLY 1 billion
people in Africa
will be vaccinated against
yellow fever by 2026 in an
ambitious United Nations
campaign to eliminate epidemics
of the deadly disease
on the continent.
The mosquito-borne viral
disease is a major killer
in Africa, where it can
spread fast in highly populated
areas with devastating
consequences.
The OPCW, the international
chemical weapons
watchdog, said its team
“notes that the toxic
chemical was of high purity.
The latter is concluded
from the almost complete
absence of impurities.”
Meanwhile, the UK has
conducted a “major offensive
cyber-campaign”
against the Islamic State
group, the director of the
intelligence agency
GCHQ has revealed.
“With one injection we
can protect a person for
life against this dangerous
pathogen,” said
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
Director-General
of the World Health
Organization (WHO) at
the programme’s launch
in Nigeria, a priority
target country.
“This unprecedented
commitment by countries
will ensure that by
2026 Africa is free of
yellow fever epidemics.”
A yellow fever outbreak
is active in Nigeria,
with hundreds of
suspected cases reported
after a 7-year-old girl
developed fever, vomiting
and abdominal pain
in August, the WHO
said.
Children make up almost
half of those targeted.
“Today, the threat of
yellow fever looms larger
than ever before, especially
for thousands of
children across Africa,”
Stefan Peterson, chief of
health at the United Nations
children’s agency
(UNICEF), said in a
statement.
A major vaccination
campaign in Angola and
Congo in 2016 brought
one of the worst outbreaks
of the disease in
decades under control
after more than 400 people
died.
France has proof Syrian govt used chemical attacks — Macron
FRANCE has proof
that the Syrian government
launched chlorine
gas attacks, President
Emmanuel Macron
said. Mr Macron said
France would not tolerate
“regimes that think
everything is permitted”.
Speaking on TF1 television,
Mr Macron said
“we have proof that
chemical weapons were
used, at least chlorine” in
recent days by Syrian
President Bashar Assad’s
government.
He did not say whether
France is planning military
action against Assad’s
government.
Mr Macron said he
has been talking regularly
this week with US
President Donald Trump
about the most effective
response.
Uganda to tax social media users daily
ALMOST two weeks
ago, Uganda’s President,
Yoweri Museveni
said he was planning to
introduce taxes on social
media platforms, apparently
since people use
them for gossip.Well according
to the Daily
Monitor, Uganda’s
State Minister for Planning,
David Bahati addressed
journalists today
where he said the
proposed daily taxation
of UGX 100 (Kshs 3)
will be charged daily on
each SIM card that is
used for social media.
Some of these social
platforms that President
Museveni said people
use for gossip include
the likes of WhatsApp,
Facebook, Twitter, Viber
and Skype.