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Buhari Not In Support Of Fuel Subsidy Removal – Minister

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The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is not in support of the removal of subsidy from Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.

Sylva said this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Newsnight programme.

“I will tell you categorically that at this moment, the complete removal of subsidy is not on our plate at all,” said Sylva.

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“The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not in support of removing subsidy at this time,” he added.

The Minister stated that part of the reason why the Federal Government is not thinking about removing fuel subsidy is because of the impact it will have on Nigerians.

He said, “Of course, we all know that it is a desirable policy direction. Of course, we know that it will have some impacts on the people and that is why we are trying to work out some of those things.

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READ ALSO: Removal Of Fuel Subsidy Will Worsen Economic Harship, Criminality – Varsity Don

“Until those details are worked out properly with (the organised) labour, and with all the stakeholders in the sector, we will not remove the subsidy. At this moment, it is not on our plate, I can tell you that.

“This is something that needs to be worked out between the Federal Government and the states because this is a federation issue. We are working with the governors to see how we can continue with this policy direction of subsidising fuel for the foreseeable future,” The PUNCH quoted him.

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Mosquitoes Discovered In Iceland For First Time

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Mosquitoes have been discovered in Iceland in a first for the island nation, which has long been one of the world’s mosquito-free places, a researcher told AFP Monday.

Three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes, two females and one male, were sighted around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the capital Reykjavik, according to Matthias Alfredsson, an entomologist at the Natural Science Institute of Iceland.

“They were all collected from wine ropes… aimed at attracting moths,” the researcher said in an email, referring to a method of adding sugar to heated wine and dipping ropes or strips of fabric into the solution, which are then hung outside to entice the sweet-toothed insects.

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READ ALSO:Govt Kicks As Controversial Influencer Tagged Lagos Smelly, Mosquito-infested City

Along with Antarctica, Iceland has long been one of the few places on earth without a mosquito population.

It is the first record of mosquitoes occurring in the natural environment in Iceland. A single Aedes nigripes specimen (arctic mosquito species) was collected many years ago from an airplane at Keflavik airport,” Alfredsson said, adding that “unfortunately, that specimen is lost”.

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Their presence could “indicate a recent introduction to the country, possibly via ships or containers”, he said, but further monitoring in spring would be necessary to determine their further spread.

READ ALSO:Teenager Becomes Nigeria’s ‘Vice President For A Day’

Rising temperatures, longer summers, and milder winters, all brought on by climate change, create a more favourable environment for mosquitoes to thrive.

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But Alfredsson did not believe that a warmer climate explained the discovery.

The species “appears to be well adapted to colder climates”, which “allows them to withstand long, harsh winters when temperatures drop below freezing”, he said.

He added that its “diverse breeding habitats… further enhances its ability to persist in Iceland’s challenging environment”.
AFP

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Trump Urged Ukraine To Give Up Land In Peace Deal Talks — Official

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United State President Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace during “tense” talks last Friday in Washington, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.

The source added that the talks with Trump were “not easy”, and that diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war felt like they were being “dragged out” and “going in circles”.

Zelensky met Trump at the White House last week, hoping to capitalise on the US leader’s growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reluctance to accept a ceasefire.

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But he instead left empty-handed after Trump — who spoke with Putin the day before — denied his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles and pressured him into making a deal.

When asked if Trump urged Zelensky to pull out of land Ukraine still controlled — one of Putin’s key demands — the Ukrainian official told AFP: “Yes, that’s true.”

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Following his meeting with Zelensky, Trump said on social media that their talks were “very interesting and cordial, but I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing and make a DEAL!”

READ ALSO:White House Slams Trump’s Nobel Prize Snub

Trump promised to end Russia’s three-and-a-half-year invasion within “24 hours” of his inauguration in January, but has failed to extract any concessions from Putin.

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His position on the war has repeatedly shifted following his conversations with both Putin and Zelensky.

AFP

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Voters In Turkish Cyprus Reject Erdogan-backed Leader In Presidential Election

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The breakaway territory of northern Cyprus has voted overwhelmingly to replace its outgoing leader, who had the backing of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, election officials said Sunday.

Almost 63 per cent of voters in the territory, whose claim to statehood is recognised only by Turkey, backed former prime minister Tufan Erhurman as next president at the expense of Turkey’s pick, Ersin Tatar, who polled 35 per cent.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Turkish invasion following a coup in Nicosia backed by Greece’s then-military junta eventually led to the creation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983.

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READ ALSO:US Imports Eggs From Korea, Turkey To Help Ease Prices

The internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, controls the island’s majority Greek Cypriot south.

While Tatar has toed the Turkish line of two separate states on Cyprus, Erhurman has indicated he favours a federal state that would include both sides of the island.

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Erhurman said there were no losers in the election and that “the Turkish Cypriot people have won together”.

READ ALSO:Turkey Deports 103 Nigerians

“I will exercise my responsibilities, notably in terms of foreign policy, in consultation with the Republic of Turkey,” he said, trying to soothe concerns from Ankara that he may try to break away.

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Erdogan congratulated Erhurman in a post on social media, adding that Turkey would “continue to defend the rights and sovereign interests” of the breakaway territory.

The last major round of peace talks to negotiate a settlement to the island’s divided status collapsed in Switzerland in 2017.

The leaders of both sides met in July at the UN headquarters in New York for talks that were hailed as “constructive” by UN chief Antonio Guterres.

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AFP

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