Tag Archives: Controversial

Why Trump’s Secretary Of State Pick Is So Controversial

Posted on by
23

Boosters of Donald Trump’s candidate to be the next secretary of state talk about his experience leading one of the world’s largest companies — and so do his detractors.

Fans of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson say running a global energy company equips the 64-year-old with the management tools needed to represent the US abroad. Skeptics say a closer look at that experience raises questions about conflicts of interest and whether the nominee would put US or corporate interests first.
The criticism is bipartisan, with both Republicans and Democrats voicing reservations about the Texan. Scientists, human rights activists and environmental groups also raised concerns Tuesday at the news of Tillerson’s nomination.
What’s their problem? They have a few. Here’s a look.
Trump campaigned hard on the promise that he would “drain the swamp” and target “global special interests” that partner with “corrupt” Washington politicians to rob “our working class.”
Yet Tillerson was recommended to the President-elect by three former government heavyweights: former secretaries of state James Baker and Condoleezza Rice and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. All three, after their government careers, have benefited financially from ExxonMobil contracts.
Tillerson, while a Washington outsider, would also be the latest millionaire to join Trump’s Cabinet, which already has at least seven millionaires and two billionaires. And ExxonMobil, critics say, is the embodiment of global corporate power, a private empire with its own foreign policy.
“People did not vote on November 8 to … have the international corporate establishment be the face of America’s workers and interests around the world,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
This will likely be the biggest hurdle to clear in confirmation hearings. Tillerson has spearheaded ExxonMobil partnerships with a Russian energy company with ties to President Vladimir Putin, who has given him Russia’s highest honor for a non-citizen.
That connection has fueled concerns particularly because of Russia’s alleged hacking of the elections and Trump’s conciliatory stance toward Moscow, which many lawmakers see as a geopolitical threat. They point to Russian support for the Syrian regime, its 2014 annexation of Crimea, its destabilizing actions in eastern Ukraine and aggressive moves against NATO allies.
Read More: CNN

World’s First Baby Born From Controversial Three-parent Technique

Posted on by
Reply

The world’s first baby has been born using a controversial new technique by US scientists to include DNA from three parents in the embryo, said a report Tuesday.

The baby boy was born five months ago in Mexico to Jordanian parents, and is healthy and doing well, said the report in New Scientist magazine, described as an “exclusive.”

The boy’s mother carried genes for a disorder known as Leigh Syndrome, a fatal nervous system disorder which she had passed on to her two previous children who both died of the disease.

She had also suffered four miscarriages.

The woman, whose identity was withheld by New Scientist, and her husband sought the help of John Zhang, a doctor from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City to have a baby that would be genetically related to them but would not carry the inherited disease.

The United States has not approved any three-parent method for fertility purposes, so Zhang went to Mexico where he was quoted by New Scientist as saying “there are no rules.”

One method that has been approved in the United Kingdom, called pronuclear transfer, was deemed unacceptable to the couple because it would involve the destruction of two embryos, said the report.

Since the mother carried the genes for the disease in her mitochondria, or DNA that is passed down from the maternal side, Zhang used her nuclear DNA and combined it with mitochondria from an egg donor, in a technique known as spindle nuclear transfer.

“He removed the nucleus from one of the mother’s eggs and inserted it into a donor egg that had had its own nucleus removed,” said the report.

“The resulting egg –- with nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from a donor -– was then fertilized with the father’s sperm.”

Read More:

http://punchng.com/worlds-first-baby-born-three-parent-technique/

Saraki’s Corruption Trial: Lawmakers Speed Up Controversial Bill To Amend Anti-corruption Law

Posted on by
2

A bill for an amendment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act scaled second reading at the Nigerian Senate, Thursday, just 48 hours after it was first read.

In Nigeria’s lawmaking process, rarely do bills get such accelerated legislative action.

The bill, sponsored by Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP-Delta State), passed second reading and was subsequently referred to the committees on Judiciary and Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

The committees is to report back in two weeks.

THE AMENDMENT

The bill seeks to amend Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act “to give every public officer appearing before the Bureau fair hearing as provided for under Section 36 (2)(a) of the CFRN 1999 which provides:

“For an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person.”

Credit: PremiumTimes

2016 Budget Fraud: Reps Block Ministry’s Controversial N1 Billion Allocation

Posted on by
287

The budget defence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, on Thursday, ended in a stalemate over controversial allocations to the ministry.

There are proposals of N1.07 billion for “optic fibre and satellite space segment” and N50 million for “global communication network computer” in the ministry’s budget. The budget was presented by the minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Thursday.

Both budget subheads are meant for a global communication project to connect Nigeria’s 119 diplomatic missions to the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

However, the chairman of the House Committee, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, insisted that appropriations had been made “many times” for the project in the previous budgets.

Mrs. Ukeje disclosed that a total of N9billion had been appropriated for the project in the past.

She questioned the non-completion of the project over the years and the need for over N1 billion naira for the project in the 2016 budget.

Interestingly, officials of the ministry, including the minister, the permanent secretary, director of finance and administration, spoke different times without responding to Mrs. Ukeje’s probe.

Credit: PremiumTimes

See Caitlyn Jenner’s Open Letter Following Controversial ‘Man In A Dress’ Comment

Posted on by
234

A lot of the 65-year-old’s comments have also sparked backlash, with her recent interview with TIME magazine being a cause for concern for the community.

In the interview, Caitlyn attempts to justify her focus on her physical appearance, stating that “people are still uncomfortable if a trans person looks like a man in a dress”, and the former Olympian has now written an open letter to apologise for the upset her interview caused.

Linking to the piece over on her Twitter page, Caitlyn wrote: “Setting the record straight about some of my recent comments”, with the letter reading: “In the first scene of the first episode of I Am Cait, I was up at 4:30 in the morning worrying, ‘I hope I get it right.’

“Since I told the world my truth six months ago, I’ve tried to be a force for good. I’ve met and listened to many people in the transgender community, from trans women of color, to the parents of trans kids who’ve taken their own lives, to people working in the courts and legislatures and media to make the world a better, safer place for trans people

“I’ve spent a lot of time listening to people tell me their stories. Even now, at the end of this whirlwind year, I still feel like I have so much to learn.

“I guess it’s true that there are some things that I have not gotten right. Sometimes this is because I’m still finding out about the issues. Sometimes this is because something that is true for me isn’t true for other people in our community. And sometimes I’ve said things that just come out the wrong way.

“And sometimes the media takes one comment out of context—or interprets it to mean something other than what I meant.

“In the last week many people have pointed out some mistakes I’ve made. My first reaction was to feel hurt, to wish people would give me more credit for having a big heart, and to know I don’t have a mean bone in my body. But as I’ve thought about it, I guess I’ve come to understand that maybe I have made some mistakes, and I need to make my real feelings more clear.

“This week a lot of attention was brought to my comments in my TIME interview, in which I said that my appearance is important to me, that I want people to be at ease when they encounter me, and that people are still uncomfortable if a trans person looks like ‘a man in a dress.’

“I think I caused a lot of hurt with this comment, and I’m truly sorry.

“What I was trying to say is that our world really is still a binary one, and that people who look “visibly transgender” sometimes can struggle for acceptance and may be treated poorly by others. And while this may be true, it’s also something that needs to change.”

Caitlyn goes on to explain that those who don’t want to conform to gender norms have “every right to look and present exactly as they choose”, admitting that she understands that her comments “probably” made her seem like all she “cares about is fashion, or makeup, or appearance.”

The star clarified: “I can tell you I really enjoy all of that—it’s who I am. It’s the world I come from, and as a person in the media I have certain expectations for myself. But I am only one person. There are a lot of ways of being trans.”

Poignantly rounding up the letter, Caitlyn acknowledges that this is “probably not the last time” she will say the wrong thing but promised to “keep learning”.

Credit: Yahoo