9JA VIBEZ HUB

 Sept 30 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ongoing economic problems were caused by "outside factors" and two waves of COVID-19 infections, but the military government takes full responsibility and is working hard to address them, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Speaking after the kyat currency hit new lows this week, the ruling military council's spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the central bank had been unable to meet local demand for dollars.

Myanmar's currency has lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of September, driving up food and fuel prices in an economy that has tanked since a Feb. 1 military coup.

"The government is working its best to solve this situation as best as possible," Zaw Min Tun told a regular news conference.

"As it is happened under this government, the current government will have to take responsibility."

Many gold shops and money exchanges have closed in Myanmar due to the turmoil, while the slumping kyat has been a hot topic on social media networks, where users on Thursday posted images of panic-buying of fuel, or gas stations closing due to shortages.

Rising prices of goods and fuel have posed major challenges to previous military governments in Myanmar, with the cost of cooking gas among the triggers of a monk-led "Saffron Revolution" in 2007.

Zaw Min Tun said the economy had worsened due to outside factors as well as the coronavirus, but did not specify what those were.

"We have responsibility to build it back," he said of the economy.

The World Bank predicted on Monday the economy would slump 18% this year and Myanmar would see Southeast Asia's biggest contraction in employment.

In August, the Central Bank of Myanmar tried tethering the kyat 0.8% either side of its reference rate against the dollar, but abandoned that earlier this month as pressure on the exchange rate mounted. (Reporting by Reuters Staff Writing by Martin Petty Editing by Ed Davies )

 hree people have been injured after a tornado ripped through NSW's Central West this afternoon, damaging properties and leaving a 30km trail of destruction.

David Hagney's home at Clear Creek, near Bathurst, was damaged when the tornado struck about 2:00pm.

He estimated 300 trees had been ripped from the ground around his property.

© Provided by ABC NEWS A tornado has blown over trees and torn down powerlines in an area from Clear Creek, near Bathurst, to Meadow Flat, near Lithgow.  (Supplied: Stephen Williams)

"It just all went grey and there was limbs flying through the air, and it just basically hit us ... it was so fast," he said.

"There were tree branches, tin, iron, things flying everywhere."

Trees landed on Mr Hagney's house, and destroyed two cars.

He and his family watched the tornado from inside their house.

"If this was a giant it was like he just grabbed hold of the trees, screwed them up and threw them on the ground," he said.

"We just stood in amazement waiting for it to stop. The good thing is we are OK."

Bureau of Metereology (BoM) senior climatologist Agata Imielska confirmed there was damage to houses and power lines north-east of Bathurst.

"We have a line of damage roughly 25 to 30 kilometres," she said.

Ms Imielska said the tornado was part of a broader weather system that the BOM had been warning about for several days.

The system is moving across Australia's east coast, and there are severe weather warnings are in place for large parts of NSW, including Sydney.

Damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall potentially leading to flash flooding are all on the cards for the eastern seaboard.

Further inland, in north-east NSW and southern Queensland, the risks include possibly destructive winds, giant hail and heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding.

Paramedics were called to two demolished homes — one in Meadow Flat and another in Clear Creek.

In Clear Creek, a man suffered facial injuries and a woman was taken to Bathurst Hospital with back and neck injuries.

In Meadow Flat, a man in his 40s was taken to Orange Hospital with an arm injury.

Inspector Meah Ferguson said patients were lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries considering the damage the tornado caused.

"It's not every day you get called out to a tornado and this one packed quite a punch," she said.

Local Rural Fire Service (RFS) Patrick Sinclair, who was cleaning up at the Meadow Flat house, said the family pet had been sucked up by the tornado.

"I'm told the dog was picked up and lifted about 300 metres and survived, so that's good," he said.

"The SES are doing their job and trying to put a cover over the top (of the house) and just trying to keep everyone safe," Mr Sinclair said.

He said the owner's livelihood was now in jeopardy as his tree lopping equipment had been ruined.

Peel resident Kathy Jones said she came home to see her house "swirling around".

"It took the house, the roof, it took everything," she said.

"Everything was just swirling around, the house there's not much left, we've got a big mess to clean up."

She said she could see a "big black cloud" in the sky and with her house destroyed, she had nowhere to seek shelter.

"There's broken windows, you always think you can go and hide under a bed but there's glass everywhere in the house, even ... the chimney's torn out of it so there's smoke all in the house.

"There's trees just up against the fence, the chooks yard is all blown down, there's chooks everywhere."

Ms Jones said her neighbours were helping her clean up and offered her a place to stay.

Electricity provider Essential Energy said roofing iron was blown into the electricity network at Clear Creek, bringing down powerlines.

About 164 customers are without power in the Limekilns, Clear Creek, Peel and surrounding area after it was automatically switched off as a protective measure during the storm.

BoM forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse said tornadoes were "reasonably rare" but "not completely out of the question".

"Tornadoes are really quite … very localised phenomena, so it's quite difficult to be able to predict those well in advance of time," she said.

Ms Woodhouse said the storm season was "really kicking off" and urged residents to check the BOM's website for the latest weather warnings.

 The Romanian authorities decided to keep the schools open irrespective of the incidence of Covid-19 cases in a particular city - while only the classes where infected pupils are spotted will be closed.

© Provided by Romania Insider

Under the previous regulations, the schools were supposed to be closed with the education process continued online, for cities and villages with incidence rates of above 6 per thousand. This threshold was already exceeded in Bucharest and other several big cities.

Instead, massive testing will be carried among pupils with the aim of spotting the infection cases.

To this end, the ministry of education requested the medical licensing body to approve the use of non-invasive tests that would be much easily accepted by parents, Economica.net reported.

Most of the parents have been reluctant to give their consent for such tests in their absence - but since then the testing became a much more common procedure among people seeking to spend their holidays abroad.

Consequently, the massive testing policy is much more likely to be accepted, unlike the vaccination campaign that still meets robust skepticism.

 Sept 30 (Reuters) - Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano was erupting in "full swing" late on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, with local media reporting that the eruption posed no immediate danger to residents.

"What was once a cooling lava lake is now a new fissure eruption," USGS Volcanoes said in a tweet.

© 2020 Andrew Richard Hara KILAUEA, HI - DECEMBER 21: Gas and steam erupt from the Halemaumau Crater of the Kilauea Volcano on December 21, 2020 in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. The Kilauea Volcano has been inactive for the past two years, reactivating the previous night on December 20th. (Photo by Andrew Richard Hara/Getty Images)

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) elevated  Kīlauea's  volcano alert level from "WATCH" to "WARNING" and its aviation color code from "ORANGE" to "RED" as the  new eruption and associated hazards are evaluated, USGS said.

The latest alert level and color code imply that a hazardous eruption is "imminent, underway or suspected," according to the USGS website.

The eruption was not in an area with homes and was fully contained within the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii News Now reported, citing officials. 

 UN chief Antonio Guterres urged young people on Thursday to keep up their pressure on world leaders, praising them for "setting a powerful example" ahead of a vital climate summit next month.

"The window of opportunity to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis is closing quickly," he told hundreds of youth activists gathered in Milan. 

© MIGUEL MEDINA The activists in Milan will outline their priorities for climate action in a joint communique to be presented to ministers meeting Saturday as part of pre-COP preparations

"We know what needs to be done and we have the tools to do it. Young people have been in the forefront of putting forward positive solutions, advocating for climate justice and holding leaders to account."

The COP26 UN climate summit, which begins October 31 in Glasgow, is being billed as crucial to the continued success of the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

The landmark 2015 accord commits nations to limiting global temperature rises to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels through sweeping emissions cuts.

Countries also promised to work towards a safer temperature cap of 1.5C. 

But emissions have continued to rise in the six years since the deal, while the latest round of national carbon-cutting pledges puts Earth on track to warm a "catastrophic" 2.7C this century, according to a UN assessment this month.

Guterres urged delegates in Glasgow to bring their emissions plans in line with a 1.5C pathway.

"This means that they must commit to net-zero by mid-century, with ambitious 2030 targets, and clear plans to achieve them," he said.

The UN chief also called on developed nations at COP26 to make good on their promise to deliver $100 billion each year to countries already bearing the brunt of climate disasters. 

The activists in Milan will outline their priorities for climate action in a joint communique to be presented to ministers meeting Saturday as part of pre-COP preparations. 

"Your solidarity and demands for action set a powerful example," Guterres told the youth delegates. 

"We need national leaders to follow your example and ensure the ambition and results we need at COP26 and beyond."

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country will host COP26, said via video link that "young people around the world are already paying the price for the reckless actions of their elders."

"There is still just enough time to put on the brakes. We know what needs to be done, we just have to get on with it. Change on the scale we need is perfectly possible." 

Johnson summed up the summit aims as: "Coal, cars, cash and trees." 

"We want to move away from using coal as a way we generate electricity and move towards renewables," he said. 

"We want everybody to stop using internal combustion engine vehicles. We want to raise the funds that the whole world needs -- the developing world in particular -- to tackle climate change, and we need to plant hundreds of billions if not trillions of trees," Johnson said. 

"If we do that, we can make COP a success." 

 The Taliban on Thursday violently cracked down on a small women's rights demonstration, firing shots into the air and pushing back protesters, AFP journalists witnessed. 

A group of six women gathered outside a high school in eastern Kabul demanding the right for girls to return to secondary school, after the hardline Islamist group excluded them from classes earlier this month. 

© BULENT KILIC The Taliban pushed back women protesters as they tried to continue with the small demonstration in Kabul, while a foreign journalist was hit with a rifle and blocked from filming

The women unfurled a banner that read "Don't break our pens, don't burn our books, don't close our schools", before Taliban guards snatched it from them. 

They pushed back the women protesters as they tried to continue with the demonstration, while a foreign journalist was hit with a rifle and blocked from filming.

A Taliban fighter also released a brief burst of gunfire into the air with his automatic weapon, AFP journalists saw.

© BULENT KILIC The demonstrators -- from a group called the "Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women Activists" -- took refuge inside the school

The demonstrators -- from a group called the "Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women Activists" -- took refuge inside the school.

Taliban guard Mawlawi Nasratullah, who led the group and identified himself as the head of special forces in Kabul, said the demonstrators "did not coordinate with security authorities regarding their protest".

"They have the right to protest in our country like every other country. But they must inform the security institutes before," he said.

Isolated rallies with women at the forefront were staged in cities around the country after the Taliban seized power, including in the western city of Herat where two people were shot dead. 

But protests have dwindled since the government issued an order that unsanctioned demonstrations and warned of "severe legal action" for violators.

It has been almost two weeks since girls were prevented from going to secondary school. 

The Taliban follow a strict interpretation of sharia law that segregates men and women, and have also slashed women's access to work. 

They have said they need to establish the right conditions before girls can return to the classroom, but many Afghans are sceptical.

 Kagara, Niger state - Suspected bandits on Tuesday, September 28, invaded the palace of Alhaji Ahmadu Attahiru, the Emir of Kagara in the Rafi local government area of Niger state.

Daily Trust reported that details of the attack were still sketchy but cited a palace source as saying that the monarch was absent when the gunmen struck.

© Provided by Legit Bandits invaded the palace of Alhaji Ahmadu Attahiru, the Emir of Kagara in Niger state, on Tuesday, September 28. Photo credit: The Governor of Niger-State Source: Facebook

The source said the attack took place around Maghrib prayers.

The Emir reportedly left Kagara for a programme in Minna, the state capital, on Monday, September 27.

It was gathered that the mobile network service in Kagara was disconnected on Friday, September 24.

An indigene of Kagara based in Minna was quoted to have said:

“I cannot give you the details now. The people who called this evening are no longer reachable again. The network in Kagara has been disconnected since Friday.”

“I believe even those who called went to bush to access network but it is true that the palace of Emir of Kagara was attacked."

Gunmen invade palace, abduct Niger district head

Similarly, Legit.ng had earlier reported that gunmen suspected to be bandits kidnapped the district head of Wawa community in Borgu kingdom, Niger state, Dr Mahmud Aliy.

The district head was kidnapped in his palace around 9.30pm on Saturday, September 4.

According to a source, the gunmen stormed the palace with different weapons and went straight to the community leader’s room after he had retired to bed.

Emir dies few months after bandits killed his son

In another report, Alhaji Saidu Umaru Namaska, the emir of Kontagora in Niger state has died at the age of 84.

The emir died at an Abuja hospital after spending 47 years on the throne.

His death comes three months after bandits gunned down his son during an attack on the monarch’s farm. The deceased’s son was on the farm along Zuru road in Kontagora local government area when the bandits struck.

• The police in Lagos have deployed a special search team to rescue Sikiru Smith, a retired NAF chief who was kidnapped by gunmen
• The team, according to a police source, will be combing the waterways through which Smith was possibly whisked to the kidnappers' den
• Two marine operatives and three special land officers make up the team deployed for this crucial task

The police command in Lagos has spoken on arrangements to rescue Sikiru Smith, a retired Air Vice Marshal who was kidnapped by masked gunmen in Ajah on Monday, September 27.

© Provided by Legit The police have deployed a search team to rescue Smith (Photo: The Nation) Source: UGC

Adekunle Ajisebutu, the spokesman of the command, confirmed this on Tuesday, September 28, while speaking with journalists on Smith's abduction, Premium Times reports.

Ajisebutu stated:

“We are on it working to rescue him."

The source said:

“The team is being coordinated by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, and they have been given a timeline to rescue him."

Gunmen abduct Nigerian Air Force 2-Star General in Lagos

Earlier, a gang of masked gunmen kidnapped Smith in the Ajah area of Lagos on Monday, September 27.

The retired general was abducted on Monday while he was supervising ongoing work. The assailants took Smith to an unknown destination in a waiting speedboat.

Confirming this, his driver, Corporal Odiji, disclosed that retired AVM engaged in a struggle with the gunmen before he was subdued.

Odiji stated in a shared voice note:

“This is an emergency. I am Corporal Odiji attached to Air Vice Marshal Smith. They just abducted him from the site where we were working. Some gunmen who were wearing masks just came and snatched my boss now. They shot everywhere. I was near where I was fixing my boss’ vehicle.

“As I was coming, I saw them leaving in a boat but I wasn’t armed so I just ran to the site and I saw his glasses and where he struggled with them. Please pass this information. It is an emergency.”

 MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - The Nigerian Air Force fired upon and killed dozens of civilians at a village in the northeast, a victim and a resident said on Tuesday, as the country wages a 12-year war against Islamist insurgencies.

The air force did not respond to repeated requests for comment by phone and message.

File: A Nigerian Air force helicopter fly a Nigerian 60th anniversary banner at the Aso-Rock in Abuja, Nigeria during the countrys 60th Independence Celebration on October 1, 2020. - is holding scaled-down celebrations due to the coronavirus pandemic to commemorate six decades since it gained self-rule from Britain in 1960. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP) (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

The deaths come two months after the U.S. government transferred six A-29 Super Tucano fighter planes to Nigeria to assist in its war against Islamist militants. The sale of the aircraft was condemned by critics, citing the Nigerian military's record of killing civilians.

Two planes bombed a fish market in the village of Daban Masara on Sunday, said Husaini, who spoke to Reuters by phone on condition he be identified only by his first name. He said his leg was wounded in the attack.

"At least 50 people were killed instantly... including my friend who got married just three weeks ago," Husaini said.

The other resident, who asked not to be named, said locals had been fishing despite a military ban on the trade because of allegations the sales of fish are funding the Islamic State West Africa Province insurgent group.

The resident said they saw the corpses of at least 60 people after the air force's strike.

"They are innocent people like us that depend on fishing to sustain their living. Their mistake is that they were fishing in an area restricted by security forces," said the resident.

A United Nations security report reviewed by Reuters confirmed the strike, saying one fisherman was killed and six wounded

It is not clear whether the killings could affect the transfer to Nigeria of six more A-29 Super Tucanos, propeller-driven light attack aircraft.

The United States under then-President Donald Trump agreed to sell the planes to Nigeria in 2017, resurrecting a deal frozen by the Barack Obama administration after the Nigerian Air Force bombed a refugee camp, killing as many as 170 civilians.

(Reporting by Maiduguri Newsroom; Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Popular disc jockey, DJ Switch has come out to deny that she got asylum to Canada. She recently revealed this via her social media page, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to her, the Canada story is not true and she has actually been cooked up in a house for months.

Her words,

WOW.

 Jennifer Aniston is ready to date again.

The 52-year-old actress enjoyed being single after splitting from husband Justin Theroux in 2018 but she's keen to find a new partner, though it has been difficult because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking on SiriusXM's 'Lunch With Bruce' podcast, she said: "No one of importance has hit my radar yet. But I think it's time. I think I'm ready to share myself with another. I didn't want to for a long time, and I loved really, being my own woman.

"Without, um, being a part of a couple where I've been a part of a couple since I was 20. So, there was something really nice about taking the time."

But the former 'Friends' star isn't interested in using dating apps to find a partner.

She said: "No gingers and no Raya please. I'm an old school girl.

"There it is, chemistry, and you see each other from across the room. People don't come up to people anymore, people don't do that. It's weird."

As well as thinking a first kiss is "pretty important", Jennifer - who was also previously married to Brad Pitt and has dated the likes of Vince Vaughn and John Mayer - has a list of "necessities" in who she's looking for.

She said: The ease at which the conversation flows the first time. That's kind of a good indicator, confidence, but not a cockiness.

"Humour, please I beg of you, beg of you. Generous, um, kind to people, you know, it's just very few necessities.

"Fitness is important and not just about, like, how you look ... I want to be around here for a long time and not be in a wheelchair when I am 80."

"The court has heard and considered the evidence of criminality and deems it sufficient to sustain the charges of collusion and money laundering," said Judge Thomas Hixson in his ruling.

Toledo, who was in office from 2001 to 2006, is accused of corruption in connection with the Brazilian construction group Odebrecht. The 75-year-old had been living in California when he was arrested in the US state in July 2019.

Peru had sent the United States an extradition request for Toledo in May 2018. The former leader allegedly received a $20 million payment from Odebrecht to grant it the tender to build the Interoceanic Highway that links Peru with Brazil.

He is accused of influence peddling, collusion and money laundering to the detriment of the Peruvian state.

Toledo has denied the accusations.

Now that the court has greenlit the extradition, the final decision on sending Toledo -- who is under house arrest in California -- back to Peru rests with the US government.

"We welcome Judge Hixson's ruling that supports the Peruvian state's position on the extradition of Toledo so that he can be tried in our country," tweeted Peru's Justice Minister Anibal Torres, in the first reaction from a senior Peruvian official.

Odebrecht is at the heart of a sprawling scandal in which the construction giant paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes throughout the continent to secure huge public works contracts.

According to the US Department of Justice, Odebrecht paid a total of $788 million in a dozen different Latin American countries over more than a decade.

The company has admitted to paying $29 million in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014.

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 (Reuters) - The Taliban on Wednesday warned of consequences if the United States did not stop flying drones over Afghan airspace.

"The U.S. has violated all international rights and laws as well as its commitments made to the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, with the operation of these drones in Afghanistan," the Taliban said in a statement on Twitter.

"We call on all countries, especially United States, to treat Afghanistan in light of international rights, laws and commitments ... in order to prevent any negative consequences."

U.S. officials were not immediately available to comment.

The Taliban Islamist militia swept back into power in Afghanistan last month after most U.S. and other Western troops left, ending a military and diplomatic mission that began soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Taliban leaders deny Islamic State and al Qaeda militants are active in the country, although Islamic State recently claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The Taliban are under pressure from the international community to renounce ties with al Qaeda, the group behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain; Editing by Stephen Coates)