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Nigeria Customs and its Mid-Term Scorecard in 2024 By Abdulsalam Mahmud

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Nigeria Customs and its Mid-Term Scorecard in 2024 By Abdulsalam Mahmud Here in Nigeria, it is customary for many government organisations and institutions to wait till a year elapse before taking stock of their performance, activities and programmes – all-through the year. A few of them presents the scorecard of their mid-term performance…
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Taliban celebrates three years of return to power in Afghanistan

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Afghanistan’s rulers celebrate the anniversary of their return to power amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Afghanistan’s Taliban has celebrated three years in power with a military parade, paying homage to its homemade bombs, fighter aircraft and goose-stepping security forces.

The Taliban’s armed forces towed Soviet-era tanks and artillery pieces through Bagram, the former United States airbase, where Chinese and Iranian diplomats were among hundreds who gathered for the parade and speeches on Wednesday.

The airbase served as the lynchpin for the US-led operations against the Taliban for two decades.

Taliban forces seized Kabul on August 15, 2021, after the US-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile. The anniversary is marked a day earlier on the Afghan calendar.

Taliban security personnel of Afghanistan military's 205 Al-Badr Corps carrying Taliban flags, parade to celebrate the third anniversary of Taliban's takeover of the country, in Kandahar on August 14, 2024. - Taliban authorities kicked off celebrations of the third anniversary of their rule over Afghanistan on August 14, at the former US Bagram air base. (Photo by Sanaullah SEIAM / AFP)
Taliban security personnel take part in the military parade in Kandahar [Sanaullah Seiam/AFP]

The Taliban government remains unrecognised by any other state, with restrictions on women, who bear the brunt of policies the United Nations has called “gender apartheid”, remaining a key sticking point.

“Three years have passed since the dreams of girls have been buried,” Madina, a 20-year-old former university student in Kabul, told AFP news agency.

“It’s a bitter feeling that every year, the celebration of this day reminds us of the efforts, memories, and goals we had for our future.”

Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who had been scheduled to appear at Bagram, praised the Taliban authorities’ victory over “Western occupiers” in a statement read by his chief of staff.

The Taliban government has “the responsibility to maintain Islamic rule, protect property, people’s lives and the respect of our nation”, he said.

Taliban
An Afghan boy carrying flags walks on a street in Kabul during a rally by the Taliban to mark the third anniversary of its power in Afghanistan [Sayed Hassib/Reuters]

Security has been a priority for Taliban authorities as they consolidated their power over the past three years, implementing laws based on their strict interpretation of Islam.

Rugby player Samiullah Akmal praised the day’s events, saying it was “better than other years”.

“As a young man, I see Afghanistan’s future is bright… We are independent and the people surrounding us are our own.”

‘Uncertain future’

While many Afghans expressed relief at the end of 40 years of successive conflicts, the economy remains stagnant and the population mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis.

“The past three years have been some of the worst of our lives,” said 26-year-old Zalmai, who works for a non-profit and only gave his last name.

“I don’t know what security the Taliban are talking about. People are hungry, the youth don’t have jobs… both girls and boys are facing uncertain future,” he said.

Taliban
Members of the Taliban carrying flags ride motorbikes during a rally in Kabul [Sayed Hassib/Reuters]

In a report, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said there have been attempts to revive the economy, but no country accepts Afghanistan’s rulers as the legitimate government and major international financial restrictions are in place.

“The Taliban says it inherited a bankrupt country in a corrupt economic system reliant on foreign aid,” Bin Javaid said. “The Afghanistan national bank’s foreign reserves have also been confiscated by the US.”

A joint statement from international nongovernmental groups warned of the growing aid funding gap, with 23.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Women have been squeezed from public life – banned from many jobs as well as parks and gyms – and barred from secondary and higher education.

Alison Davidian, the UN Women’s head of the Afghanistan country office, told Al Jazeera that “three years ago, a woman in Afghanistan could technically decide to run for president. Now, she may not even be able to decide when to go buy groceries.

“I’m not saying that three years ago, it was perfect. It was not perfect. But it wasn’t this.”

Source

:

Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Kanye West and Bianca Censori Roll Up to Trump Rally in Beverly Hills

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Donald Trump Gets Worrisome News in Key Swing State Poll

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Former President Donald Trump‘s lead in Pennsylvania has shrunk among very likely voters, according to a poll released Friday.

With 81 days left until Election Day, the former president is in a neck-and-neck race with Vice President Kamala Harris in the Keystone State, according to August’s poll by Emerson College and RealClearPennsylvania. Out of 1,000 likely Pennsylvanian voters surveyed on August 13 and August 14, 49 percent backed Trump, with 48 percent picking his Democratic opponent. The poll has a margin of error of 3 percent, meaning the candidates are in a statistical tie.

A deeper look at the results showed potential trouble for Trump, however, whose campaign has lost momentum since Harris entered the 2024 presidential race. Out of the respondents who indicated they were very likely to vote in November, 49 percent said they would vote for Trump over Harris. When the same question was posed to very likely voters toward the end of July in a poll by Emerson College and The Hill, Trump was backed by 50.5 percent of Pennsylvanians.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is pictured at his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on August 15 in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump was handed worrisome news about very likely voters in Pennsylvania…

Adam Gray/Getty Images

In comparison, Harris was backed by 48 percent of very likely Pennsylvanian voters in August’s poll. In last month’s survey, which was conducted in the days following Harris’ campaign launch, the vice president was backed by just 45 percent of very likely voters.

Pennsylvania—and its 19 Electoral College votes—is seen as one of the key states to win on either candidate’s path to victory in November. President Joe Biden flipped the state for Democrats in the 2020 presidential election, beating Trump by just 1.2 percent of the vote.

Polling has shown Harris making grounds in all seven closely watched swing states. In Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, Harris is four points ahead of Trump, per Cook Political Report Swing State Project Survey released on Wednesday. That report showed Harris five points ahead in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes.

Newsweek reached out to Harris and Trump’s campaigns via email for comment on the latest Emerson College/RealClearPennsylvania poll on Friday.

Trump’s campaign previously warned of a “honeymoon” period for Democrats following the beginning of Harris’ campaign, and the former president often claims that he is still “way ahead” in polling. But with less than 12 weeks until Election Day, experts have told Newsweek that the momentum around Harris’ campaign could last through November.

“It’s starting to feel like a long honeymoon now,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University.

“And that might be true if we were looking at if this were January of this year, but we’re practically at Labor Day, and we haven’t even had the [Democratic] convention yet,” Walsh added while speaking with Newsweek via phone on Friday. “So I think it is to her advantage that this is a short campaign.”

The Democratic National Convention will kick off on Monday in Chicago. Harris has already been designated as the Democratic presidential nominee.

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Bibles, cryptocurrency, Truth Social and gold bars: A look at Trump’s reported sources of income

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By 
NICHOLAS RICCARDI



 

Former President Donald Trump owns more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrency and up to $250,000 in gold bars along with the portfolio of golf courses and real estate properties that have made him a billionaire, according to newly released financial disclosures.

The details come from documents filed by Trump as part of his Republican presidential bid that were released Thursday night.

The more than 200 pages of paperwork give a limited picture of the real estate developer-turned reality TV star-turned-president’s money and investments. In accordance with federal law, most assets’ values are listed in a range, though Trump reports the precise figure for some of his income. The document does not detail the former president’s business losses, making it impossible to determine how much of a profit any of his myriad holdings provides.

But it provides a glimpse at Trump’s vast wealth and some new details about the unusual ways he makes money.

UNUSUAL INVESTMENTS AND SOURCES OF INCOME

Trump reported earning $300,000 off sales of an edition of the Bible that he and country singer Lee Greenwood endorsed, known as “The Greenwood Bible.” He also earned $4.4 million in royalties off a book called “Letters to Trump” and $500,000 off one called “A MAGA Journey.” Trump still receives royalties on a wide number of other books, including “The Art of the Deal,” which came out in 1987 and netted the former president $50,000 to $100,000 in the past year.

As a onetime member of the Screen Actors Guild, Trump receives an annual pension of $90,776.

Trump’s fame comes from real estate, but his current biggest asset is likely his media company that operates the social media network Truth Social. The company went public in March, and Trump reports owning more than 114 million shares in the firm. He is currently unable to sell the shares as part of a “lock-up” agreement preventing major shareholders from selling stock for six months after it goes public, but with company stock at about $23 per share Friday, his holdings are worth more than $2 billion.

Some of Trump’s other investments are also unusual. He reports having $1 million to $5 million worth of the cryptocurrency ethereum, a noteworthy holding because he’s vowed to lift regulations on the cryptocurrency industry should he return to the White House.

Trump also reported earning $7.15 million in licensing fees from NFT INT, which appears to be a firm selling digital tokens. His wife, Melania, earned $330,000 from selling NFTs, according to the report.

The former president also reported owning $100,000 to $250,000 in gold bars.

Those assets are dwarfed by a wide range of sizable investments in traditional stocks and even a wide range of municipal and school bonds, as well as his real estate holdings.

BROAD BUSINESS EMPIRE

Trump reports a wide range of companies and investments that span the globe. Many appear to simply be trademark claims in countries as varied as Argentina, Belarus, Cuba and India. Others are generating money for him, including more than $3 million in income that he reported from licenses in Dubai and more than $2 million in Oman.

Trump’s golf courses also generate money for him, including $37 million from his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he gave a rambling press conference on Thursday; $31 million from his golf club in Jupiter, Florida; and 26 million British pounds (the equivalent of 33.5 million USD) worth of revenue from his Turnberry course in Scotland.

Trump’s flagship resort of Mar-a-Lago in Florida generated more than $56 million in income, according to the report.

Melania Trump received a $237,000 payment for speaking to the conservative gay rights group Log Cabin Republicans in April.

NOTEWORTHY DEBTS

Trump lists several debts, including one stemming from litigation against him by the New York attorney general’s office alleging business fraud and two more from a magazine writer.

A jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in 1996, and a second jury found he slandered her when he continued to deny it.

Trump lists his debts to Carroll as between $1 million and $5 million and more than $50 million, the highest category available. The lawsuit judgments against him were for $5 million and $88 million respectively. Trump is appealing the verdicts.

Likewise, Trump lists his debt to the New York attorney general’s office as more than $50 million. He owes nearly $500 million in the civil fraud judgment and is appealing that verdict as well.

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Iran rejects calls not to attack Israel

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Iran rejected a call Tuesday by three European countries urging it to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions. Iran calls it an “excessive request.”…
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Taylor Swift’s Wembley Stadium Shows Undergoing Changes After Vienna Terrorist Threat — Earlier Start Times, Last-Minute Seating Changes

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After dealing with a foiled terrorist plot in Vienna with all shows canceled, Taylor Swift’s performances at Wembley Stadium are coming with some changes. Those changes seem to include earlier start times and last-minute seat changes at the venue. Swift will begin her five-night residency at the London Stadium later this week…
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Manchester United and Liverpool pre-season panic became historically brilliant campaigns

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Summer friendlies: basically just public training exercises and nothing to read very much into, unless you’re a journalist desperately in need of some meaning in the sparse summer months or an Extremely Online football fan looking to score points. As if to prove it, we’ve trawled back through the pre-season results of the Premier League’s …
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New Research Challenges the Belief That Dieting Drains Workout Energy

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Mice on a diet don’t skip exercise. A recent study from UC Riverside has found that reducing calorie intake does not discourage mice from exercising, refuting the idea that dieting saps energy for physical activity. Published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, the research reveals that a 20% calorie reduction did not notably decrease the …
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“Je suis fier de mon équipe” : Contre vents et marées, Lille s’en est tiré

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Vainqueur à lu0027aller (2-1), Lille a dû attendre les derniers instants de la prolongation pour arracher sa qualification en barrages de la Ligue des champions, ce mardi sur le terrain de Fenerbahçe (1-1 a.p.). Dans une ambiance hostile, les Dogues ont su faire fi des vents contraires (un contre-son-camp…
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