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Brent crude on Monday, rose 0.38 percent to $94.30 a barrel by 11.14 WAT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude increased by 0.29 percent to $90.28. The increase was said to have been driven by forecasts of a widening supply deficit in the fourth quarter (Q4), after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended cuts until the end of the year. On September 5, Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would extend voluntary oil cuts to the end of the year. The two big oil-producing countries had made varying oil production cuts. In April, Saudi Arabia and some members of the OPEC…

Ukraine has filed complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary over their bans on food imports from the country. Ukrainian Trade Representative Taras Kachka had said Kyiv could impose reciprocal measures on Poland, if Warsaw did not drop the measures Now, the first deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, said Ukraine saw such restrictions as a violation of the EU countries’ international obligations, Sky News reports. “For us, it is critically important to prove that individual member-states cannot ban imports of Ukrainian goods. And that is why we have filed suits through the WTO,”…

The British Government has announced an increase in the cost of student and tourist visas. The immigration and nationality fees increases which are subject to parliamentary approval will take effect from 4 October. In a statement on Friday, the UK’s Home Office said “the changes mean that the cost for a visit visa for less than six months is rising by £15 to £115, while the fee for applying for a student visa from outside the UK will rise by £127 to £490, to equal the amount charged for in-country applications.” According to the Home Office, the increases followed a…

Hunter Biden, the son of the United States President Joe Biden, has been indicted by special counsel, David Weiss, on felony gun charges. The charges bring renewed legal pressure on the younger Biden after a plea agreement he struck with prosecutors imploded in recent months. The younger Biden has been charged with two counts related to false statements in purchasing the firearm and a third count on illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. The three charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years when added together. Prosecutors have spent years scrutinizing Hunter Biden’s business endeavours and personal…

The appointment of Zaccheus Adedeji, as the new Acting Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, has been approved by President Bola Tinubu. “Hon. Zaccheus Adedeji is hereby appointed in acting capacity for 90 days before his subsequent confirmation as the substantive Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service for a term of four years in the first instance,” read a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on Thursday. The statement is titled ‘President Tinubu appoints new acting executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.’ READ ALSO: Former Classmate Opens…

The Director of Finance and Account (DFA) in the Ministry of Works, Yusuf Dahiru Girel, has defied President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to proceed on posting to another ministry. Up until 22 August, 2023, Girel was the DFA at the Ministry of Works, however, following a recent reorganization of Treasury Officers embarked upon by the Office of Accountant General of Federation (OAGF) via a memo reference no. TRO/865/Vol.XVI/246A, dated 22 August, 2023, Mr. Girel was posted to the newly created Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. The memo obtained by this medium was addressed to all the permanent secretaries and…

UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced the commencement of the 2023 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC) in Nigeria, with a call for entries. Now in its 13th year, the annual National Essay Competition is part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative aimed at promoting literacy and encouraging healthy and intellectual competition amongst senior secondary school students in Nigeria and across the African continent. The 2023 edition promises increased participation from senior secondary school students across Nigeria as they can conveniently submit their entries from the comfort of…

China is stepping up military activities along the coastline facing Taiwan, the self-ruled island’s Defense Ministry said in a report on Tuesday. Taiwan said it will continue to monitor the Chinese activities around the island and bolster its defences in response. Earlier on Tuesday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had spotted 22 Chinese warplanes and 20 warships near the island over the previous 24 hours — part of military harassment by Beijing, which hasn’t ruled out force to reunite the island with the mainland. “This year, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively expanded its armaments and continued to build various…

No fewer than seven people have been killed, and more than 70 crocodiles escaped from a farm after deadly rainstorms battered southern China, AP News reports. Days of relentless rain from the remnants of former Typhoon Haikui have caused more than 100 landslides, trapped about 1,360 residents in floodwaters and killed at least seven people in China’s south, according to state media. Nearby residents were advised to stay at home after more than 70 crocodiles escaped in Maoming, a city near the coast in western Guangdong province, according to Chinese media reports. An emergency official was quoted as saying that…

The death toll of victims in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that rocked Marrakech, Morocco, is near 3000, according to Reuters. The death toll keeps increasing because many of the traditional mud brick houses that are common in mountain villages crumbled to earthen rubble without leaving air pockets. Some survivors have camped out in the open along the Tizi n’Test road, which connects remote valleys to Marrakesh. They salvaged what they could from the wreckage, quickly packed bundles of their belongings and fled their destroyed villages. “The authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages…