By Amie T. Camara

Afrinity Production confirmed the dead of Eight people following a gas plant explosion that occurred in the Ipaja area of Lagos on earlier today.

According to a statement by the Director-General of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the incident occurred around 6:00 am, destroying several properties.

While further assessment of the area is still ongoing, a tweet by the emergency response agency, disclosed that an initial disaster assessment revealed that eight fatalities have been identified.

Source___Channels TV

By Amie T. Camara

Afrinity Production draw attention to workers in Indonesia who are protesting for the third straight day after a new job creation law was passed this week.

According to BBC, thousands have taken part in strikes and demonstrations in several cities, with hundreds detained by the police.

Protesters are worried that the so-called “omnibus law” will hurt both workers and the environment.

But the government says the changes are needed to help its economy which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Demonstrations have gathered steam in the capital Jakarta and other cities such as Bandung on Wednesday and Thursday, after relatively peaceful protests earlier in the week.

Indonesian police detained at least 400 protesters, including some who were allegedly armed with molotov cocktails and sharp weapons.

The bill, which is over 1,000 pages long and amends 79 existing laws, was passed on Monday with the support of seven out of nine parties.

Source___BBC

By Amie T. Camara

Afrinity Production make known to you the confirmed cases of coronavirus in Brazil which have passed five million, with deaths in the country approaching 150,000, officials say.

Brazil’s health ministry reported 31,553 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections to 5,000,694.

The country is the third worst hit for infections, after the US and India.

President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of downplaying the risks of the virus throughout the pandemic, ignoring expert advice on restrictive measures.

Mr Bolsonaro has rejected criticism of his handling of the pandemic, but his decision to oppose lockdowns and focus on the economy has been hugely divisive.

On Tuesday, Brazil recorded 734 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 148,228, the ministry said.

Brazil has the highest number of deaths in Latin America.

The state of São Paulo has been the worst hit, with around 36,000 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with about 19,000.

Source___BBC

Afrinity Production draw attention to Fatou Jeng who has over five years’ experience in Climate Change and Environmental Development work . She completed her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Digital Media at the University of the Gambia with distinctions and made an undergraduate thesis on Newspaper Coverage of Climate Change in the Gambia. She is currently pursuing her masters degree at the University of Sussex, UK as a Chevening scholar 2020.

Fatou is the founder of Clean Earth Gambia, an Environmental NGO working mainly on climate related issues, she is also the Policy Operations lead for Women and Gender to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Youth Constituency and Secretary General of Plant-for-the- Planet Global Board.

She has supported with several youth policy papers and positions on climate change especially on the Gender Action Plan, Action for Climate Empowerment, Youth in Agricultural initiatives to mitigate climate change and was one of the young people who facilitated youth engagements during the Africa Climate Week in 2019.

Fatou has trained over 500 school children on Climate Change in The Gambia and provided training to communities, youth and youth organizations on pressing environment challenges. Organized series of cleansing exercise, media outreach and community outreach on climate change and the environment. Currently, her organization is partnering with future proof banjul to plant 5000 coconut trees at the banjul beach to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

“I started engaging in the fight against climate change because of the impacts it has in The Gambia such as sea level rise in Banjul. Experts have mentioned that Banjul will be inundated under a one meter sea level rise. Banjul has a population of over 30,000 people which means these people will be impacted by this climate change threat,” she said.

Jeng also engages in series of tree planting exercises and publishes environment articles on the Chronicle Online news (one of the leading online news platforms in the Gambia).
She has served as a speaker in many International and national conferences on the environment such as; Speaker at the Global Landscape Forum (Bonn, 2018), moderator during the plenary session on SDG13 at the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum (New York, 2019), Speaker on Gender and Climate Change at the official closing ceremony at the Global Conference of Youth on Climate Change (Bonn, 2017), Speaker at ECOSOC Youth Forum on SDG7 (New York, 2018), Facilitator at ACE Youth Forum( Bonn, 2018), Speaker at UN DAY( Gambia, 2018), Moderator, Open Dialogue with UN Youth Envoy and UNFCCC secretariat( Katowice, 2018) and many more.

She was recently part of a group of 20 female climate activists from global south who wrote an open letter to the G20 finance ministers during the G20 meeting demanding for climate action.

Fatou has received series of recognitions and award for her work in creating awareness on the environment. She was recently awarded as one of the 25 Emerging Young Persons in
Africa during the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit ,2019.

Youth Dialogue recently awarded her as “Youth of the Month” in June 2019 for her impact in creating awareness on environmental issues. What’s on Gambia recognized her as one of the 30 most Influential Youth leaders of the
year., influential-young-gambians-of-2019 and the Pan African Youth Leadership Foundation awarded her a youth Leadership Award 2019 for contributing to the development of her community.

She was one of the 30 Young people selected by the United Nations Youth Envoy office to support the organization of the first ever United Nations Youth Climate Summit in 2019 .Through her engagements, she has developed strong mobilization, networking, coordination and communication skills which is of significant value to the work she does for her community.

Fatou look up to Wangari Maathai, a Nobel peace prize winner from Kenya who was a politician and an eco-warrior.

Her goal is to complete her studies in Environment, Development and Policy and then head the National Environment Agency. Also to Lecture at the University of The Gambia on Climate Change and build Clean Earth Gambia to continue to compliment the efforts of the government in mitigating the climate crises.

By Amie T. Camara

The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Geoffrey Onyeama and the Honourable Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Amb. Zubairu Dada, yesterday, 6th October, 2020, received in audience the Gambian Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, H.E. Dr. Mamadou Tangara and Minister of Defence, Mr. Sheikh Omar Faye.

The Gambian Ministers and members of delegation were on a thank you visit for the numerous support and assistance Nigeria continues to render Gambia and to discuss bilateral issues aimed at further deepening relations between the two countries.

The delegation paid glowing tributes to the exploits of Nigerians in the development of Gambia, especially in the Gambian Judiciary.

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By Amie T. Camara

Afrinity Production draw attention to Superstar footballer Lionel Messi who will be taken a break from his Barcelona soap opera as he bids to fire Argentina to the World Cup in Qatar and what will probably be his last chance to try to win the coveted trophy.

The 33-year-old, a record six-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, has won everything in the club game with Barcelona several times over but his international trophy cabinet looks bare in comparison.

“The only goal I have now is to win the World Cup with the national team,” he has said.

He will be 35 by the time the Qatar World Cup ends, and will turn 39 during the following global showpiece in North America.

In the meantime, he has a pair of qualifiers — Argentina also travel to Bolivia next Tuesday — to distract him from his club travails.

Source___BBC

By Amie T. Camara

Afrinity Production unveils Candidates who have signed for the Ondo State Governorship. This includes of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rotimi Akeredolu; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Eyitayo Jegede; the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) Agboola Ajayi, and others, who have signed a peace pact ahead of Governorship election slated for Saturday.

They signed the pact yesterday in the state capital, Akure, pledging to shun violence during the election and avoid actions that may undermine the peace accord.

The event, facilitated by the National Peace Committee (NPC), had the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu; and the Inspector-General Of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who was represented by the DIG Of Police, Research and Planning, Oyebade Adeleye, in attendance.

Others in attendance included the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, Executive Director, YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo and traditional rulers from the state.

Source___Channels TV

This was US President Donald Trump’s advice to the public if they were worried about catching coronavirus.

He made the comments in a video message posted shortly after being discharged from hospital, having received treatment since his own diagnosis.

But, as many have pointed out, this was a man with a helicopter, a large medical team and experimental drug treatments at his disposal. How does the picture change for Americans with Covid-19 who do not reside at the White House?

It is hard to pinpoint the “average American” amid such a diverse country and such a complicated health system, but here are some of the areas where the president received special treatment and a look at how this compares to the experiences of the wider population.

Source___BBC

By Amie T. Camara

Afrinity Production unveiling Germany’s leading dozens of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, urging China to respect the rights of its minority Muslim Uighurs, and expressing their concern about the political situation in Hong Kong, in a move that drew a quick and angry response from Beijing.

“We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the recent developments in Hong Kong,” said Germany’s UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen, who led the initiative during a meeting on human rights on Tuesday at the UN.

Among the 39 countries signing the declaration were most of the EU member states, as well as Canada, Haiti, Honduras, Australia and New Zealand.

China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, refuted the allegations as “groundless”.

Zhang said the declaration is aimed at “provoking confrontation” among UN member states.

Source___Aljazeera

Afrinity Production draw cognizance to Marie Jeng, a 22 year old Gambian Activist born and raised in London corner and recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in law at the University of the Gambia. She is an activist, very fierce and passionate for the cause and has held a lot of leadership positions.

She has been advocating for the rights and welfare of women and children in the Gambia for years now.

Growing up in London corner where she sees youth involving in drugs, theft and rebellious activities gives her the passion to support through activism. It is also a community where young girls go through FGM , where their potentials are limited and with people believing girls are meant to be in the kitchen. This is one of the reasons that compelled her to do something.

“I cannot Just sit down by doing nothing, because I believe in the potentials and capabilities of young girls and women. And I know we can be anything we want to be once we put our minds to it, “, she said.

Marie has been Volunteering for organisations since 2011 that was when she first became a member of the Young People In The Media.

Jeng said being an activist in the Gambia for girls can be hard sometimes due to the fights you have to undergo. Some even go the extra miles just to see you fail, is all based on how you react to the bullies and this kind of situations. “And I tend to handle them very well, so I won’t say it is tough, I will just say it can be very challenging,” she said.

The Young Gambian Activist have worked with Young People In The Media, Safe Hands For Girls, The Pan African Female Youth Leaders The Gambia Chapter and currently working with Woman Boss. She is also into entrepreneurship, as the proprietress of Tee’s hosting Services, along side volunteering for two other organizations and mentoring young people in various communities.

Marie Jeng is inspired by; Jaha Dukureh a victim of Child Marriage and FGM who despite the odds, stays stronger to fight for the rights of other women and girls. Jaha is today one of well known Gambian Activist internationally. For Marie Jeng, she is a true definition of strength and she digs into that really well.

Jeng dislikes the fighting that tends to escalate among activist themselves. She like it when all activist are in unison, helping each other and speaking with one voice. “I don’t like it when we are fighting, I don’t like it when we are in competition with each other, that is not what the fighting should be about. We are fighting for a common goal and we should work together or otherwise collaborate in achieving that goal,” she elaborated.

She looks up to her mother for her strength and Maria Saine who inspired her due to her leadership and humanitarian skills and also for being an exceptional young woman. ” I also admire and look up to Michelle Obama, for her strength and willingness to fight for the right of women globally,” lamented.

Professionally, Marie Jeng’s goal is to one day start her line of businesses that will build something greater for the youth in The Gambia. “This businesses will generate a lot of money and I will dedicate a portion of the profit that I make towards the development of young people,” she said.

Marie have her own foundation call “The London girls club” which aims at providing girls with important trainings and learning materials to help them in becoming greater assets to the community.

“I am not defined by what people think of me, I am mostly defined by my strength and ablitity to conquer,” she concluded

By Amie T. Camara