Strike continues as ASUU-FG meeting ends in another deadlock
Hope for a resolution of the six-month-old strike in the nation’s tertiary institutions was on Tuesday dashed after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government failed to arrive at an agreement.
According to people who are familiar with the matter, ASUU had a three-hour meeting with members of the Professor Nimi Briggs Committee at the National University Commission (NUC) office in Abuja without arriving at a workable conclusion.
The union, which came with no new demands, was only asked to return to the classroom as the government delegation promised that their demands would be included in the 2023 budget; a promise that the union did not accept.
Read also: ASUU set to call off strike as IPPIS, UTAS issues resolved
Kenya’s Odinga says presidential election result a ‘travesty’
The journey to occupy the “State House,” the official residence in Kenya, seems to be a long one for veteran Kenyan politician Raila Odinga as he failed to recognise the result of the election, which he lost to Deputy President William Ruto. He said on Tuesday that the election result was a “travesty.”
His claim was based on the ‘mathematical error’ allegation about the result that Juliana Cherera, the electoral commission deputy chairwoman, said might have swayed the result in Ruto’s favour.
According to Reuters, she said that Chebukati, one of the commissioners, had disregarded concerns about the tally raised by other commissioners.
She had originally highlighted that the vote percentage for the race’s four candidates added up to 100.01 percent, saying the additional 0.01 percent represented 142,000 votes, enough to potentially sway the election. This is according to Reuters.
Odinga, on getting this information, pleaded with his supporters to remain calm and promised to seek legal readdress to regain his lost mandate.
Earlier on Monday, there were pockets of public unrest in Kibusu and Kibera, Nairobi slums, as supporters of Odinga took to the streets, burning tyres and destroying public properties in the process. but was, however, stopped when the police intervened to restore order back to the streets.
Kenya is no stranger to post-election violence; the 2007 post-election result resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people, while the 2017 result resulted in more than 50 deaths.
Elon Musk says he is buying Manchester United
Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, on Tuesday tweeted that he was going to buy Manchester United. “I’m buying Manchester United. U’re welcome,” Musk said in a tweet. Musk is known for being controversial and driving conversations.
The world’s richest man didn’t offer any details about a possible deal.
It is reported that the Glazers, who own the club, are willing to sell the club as performance on the pitch worsens. Fans have been dissatisfied over a lack of adequate investment, lack of major trophies, inability to bring in top players and the poor start to this current season by the club.
Musk is currently embroiled in a court case to get him out of the $44 billion Twitter deal that failed to come to reality.
Oil prices recover from 6-month lows after drop in U.S. stockpiles
A drop in US stockpiles drove the price of crude oil upwards on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The price recovered from a six-month low, which was largely influenced by fears of a global recession, an increase in interest rates by most central banks, and a drop in demand in China following the re-emergence of the COVID-19 scare.
The recovery of oil prices overshadows fears of a global recession and places the market in a good position ahead of the European Union, US-Iran nuclear peace talks coming up this week.
On Wednesday morning, London Brent crude futures gained 13 cents, or 0.1 percent, to trade at $92.47 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 27 cents, or 0.3 percent, to trade at $86.80 a barrel.
US stock futures remain upbeat after positive retailing earnings report
US stock futures stayed upbeat on Wednesday morning following earnings reports from some of the biggest US retailers. The market also remained calm as investors anticipate another rate hike from the Federal Reserve Bank to fight inflation.
According to Trading Economics, futures contracts tied to the three major indexes drifted flat to slightly positive.
The S&P 500 gained 8.1 basis points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 4.305.20 basis points on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Average gained 239.71 basis points, or 0.71 percent, to close at 34,152 basis points. The performance, according to analysts at Trading Economics, was influenced by a better than expected quarterly earnings report from Walmart and Home Depot.
Apparently, investors are upbeat about more positive showings as the market awaits more retail earnings from Target and Lowe’s today, as well as information from the US retail sales data for July that would give more clues about how Americans are coping with rising food and energy prices.
