U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Gary Gensler to serve as the commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A statement from his campaign group, says Biden also nominated Federal Trade Commission member Rohit Chopra to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

READ ALSO: President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre Lagos, on Thursday January 21

Meanwhile the U.S will hold its 59th inaugural ceremony to swear in President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Wednesday January 20.

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Afghanistan has launched a nationwide campaign to administer the polio vaccine to nearly 10 million children under the age of five.

According to a public relations officer for the anti-polio campaign, Mir Jan Rasikh, 65,000 health workers will implement the campaign over a five-day period.

Last year, 3.4 million children were deprived of the vaccine across the war-torn country. As a result, at least 56 Afghan children contracted the crippling disease.

READ ALSO : Akwa Ibom state government reiterates determination to clear backlog of entitlements owed retirees in the state

ELSEWHERE, the United States and several European governments have demanded the release of opposition politician Alexei Navalny from Russian detention.

The 44-year-old Navalny was detained by police soon after his flight from Germany landed in Moscow on Sunday. The activist was returning to the country five months after he was almost killed in a nerve-agent attack he blamed on Russian authorities.

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The government of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has approved a longstanding bill that aims to better protect women against domestic and other forms of violence.

In a meeting, cabinet ministers gave a green light to the draft bill, called Protection, Dignity and Security of Women Against Violence, which has been in the works since the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The bill must now be reviewed and approved by the parliament, after which it will be sent to the powerful constitutional vetting body called the Guardian Council, consisting of jurists and religious experts.

READ ALSO :Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Transport and Solid Minerals disowns impostor Victor Eddie, who claims to be Revenue Consultant to the ministry

ELSEWHERE, French government has defended its coronavirus vaccination policy against criticism that it is going far too slowly, with 516 vaccinations reported in the first week.

Government spokesman, Gabriel Attal said the delay was due to logistics as teams had to visit elderly people in care homes and get each person’s consent.

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Nancy Pelosi, the only woman to serve as US Speaker of the House, was narrowly re-elected to the position in a deeply divided new Congress that convened in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

80year old Pelosi, faced a scare when five fellow Democrats defected and voted “present” or for someone else during the floor vote.

But the woman who is third in line to the presidency secured her fourth — and perhaps final — non-consecutive term as House speaker by earning 216 votes versus 209 for Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.

READ ALSO: Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, says COVID-19 outbreak disrupted plans to amend constitution

ELSEWHERE – At least 11 people have been killed in the latest fighting between farmers and nomadic herders in the southeast of Chad.

The fighting took place in Salamat province, after cattle belonging to one herder ruined a field. The herders attacked as the farmers were taking the animals into an enclosure.

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U.S President-elect Joe Biden has named over 100 White House appointees.

The Biden-Harris Presidential Transition team while disclosing this in a statement said this diverse and talented group will deliver results.

Kathleen Hicks, who is heading Biden’s transition team at the Pentagon, served in the Defense Department under former president Barack Obama, including as deputy undersecretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces.

Biden, who takes office on January 20, also named another civilian, Colin Kahl, who also served in the Obama administration, to a senior Pentagon post.

READ ALSO:Akwa Ibom State Government announces January 4 for re-opening of schools for 2020-2021 academic year

STILL ON THE FOREIGN SCENE; China has granted “conditional” market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79 percent efficacy rate against Covid-19, a major stride towards inoculating the world’s largest population.

The Sinopharm jab, which has surged ahead of a raft of Chinese competitors during Phase 3 trials, could signal a breakthrough in the battle to squash the pandemic in Asia.

Around 4.5 million doses of largely unproven emergency vaccines made locally have already been given to health workers and other workers destined for overseas jobs, according to authorities.

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President Abdelmadjid Tebboune returned to Algeria and appeared on television after a two-month absence in Germany, where he received treatment for COVID-19.

The president spoke briefly, wishing “a happy new year to all Algerians”, “much better than 2020”, and implying that he was almost cured of the virus.

He made his last televised appearance on December 13, looking visibly thinner after weeks in treatment, saying he was “on the road to recovery” and would return soon.

READ ALSO: National Assembly transmits N13.6trillion 2021 budget to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent

ELSEWHERE – The first reported US case of the highly-infectious Covid-19 variant that emerged in the UK has been confirmed in the state of Colorado.

The patient, a man in his 20s with no recent travel history, is currently in isolation.

State health officials said they were working to identify contacts and other potential cases of the new variant.

It came as US President-elect Joe Biden criticised the Trump administration’s distribution of vaccines. He said the programme was falling behind schedule.

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The UK and European Union have reached agreement on how rules in the Brexit divorce deal will be implemented, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland.

The government says an agreement in principle has been found for issues including border control posts and the supply of medicines.

READ ALSO:Arik Air sacks 300 members of its workforce

The government says it will now withdraw controversial clauses in the Internal Market Bill. However negotiations to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are still ongoing.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the major challenge Africa faces is the threat of terrorist activities and other crimes.

He said the continent must achieve a new trajectory of peace, security and stability.

Buhari who made the call at the 14th extra-ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union on ‘Silencing the Gun’, held virtually, urged African leaders to promote the implementation of arms control instruments and embargoes.

READ ALSO :President Muhammadu Buhari accepts to honour House of Representatives’ invitation

The Nigerian leader said the increasing number of peace agreements and efforts in conflict situations across Africa demonstrated a resolve to chart a new course and called for the monitoring and evaluation mechanism to gauge the implementation at the continental level.

Buhari said intra and inter-state resurgence of conflicts in Africa underscores the imperative for the African Union Mediation Support Unit to be strengthened.

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