As reported by NAN, this counsel was offered on Monday, by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in an interview.

“The only way is the diplomatic one. I hope that the ultimatum of the Economic Community of West African States, which expired last night at midnight, will be extended today,” Tajani said during the interview

Due to concerns of potential military involvement from the West African regional group, Niger reportedly temporarily shut down its airspace starting Sunday.

This response came about because coup leaders refused to meet the deadline for restoring President Mohammed Bazoum, who remains detained.

Prior to this, numerous supporters of the junta gathered at a stadium in Niamey, the capital, showing their approval of the decision to resist external demands for stepping down by Sunday, subsequent to the seizure of power on July 26th.

This commitment was demonstrated when the two countries co-chaired the seventh Plenary Meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group in St Julian’s, Malta.

This is contained in a statement from the Office of the National Security Adviser on Friday in Abuja.

The Coordinator, National Counterterrorism Centre, retired Rear Adm. Yaminu Musa, said the administration of criminal justice terrorism-related cases could neither be efficient nor effective if the rights of those concerned were not protected.

Musa, who represented Nigeria at the event, said the effect of lack of protection for witnesses had resulted in the striking out of cases by the courts involving heinous crimes because witnesses often refuse to testify due to the absence of a system designed to cater to their protection.

He said that  Nigeria had on May 23, 2022, signed the Witness Protection and Management Act into law to address that challenge.

According to him, Nigeria first co-chaired the CJ-ROL Working Group with Switzerland in 2018 and developed the Abuja Recommendations on Collection, Use and Sharing of Evidence for Purposes of Criminal Prosecution of Terror Suspects.

He said the recommendation was endorsed at the 2018 GCTF Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly.

“It also co-organised the First Expert Meeting of the Working Group for the development of a set of recommendations on Rule of Law-Based Administrative Measures in the Counterterrorism Context held at The Hague, The Netherlands,” he said.

The NCTC coordinator said the CJ-ROL working group had since inception, accomplished a lot through the development of recommendations and good practice memoranda, such as the Rabat Memorandum on good practices for effective counterterrorism practice in the criminal justice sector.

He added that the working group’s Hague Memorandum on Good Practices for the Judiciary in Adjudicating Terrorism Offense had also been compiled to assist judges to adjudicate cases that involve terrorism more effectively.

“It will also assist them in respecting the rights of all parties involved in the cases, in particular the rights to a fair trial for the accused, and the protection of victims and witnesses.

“We intend to build on the accomplishments of this important working group and further the knowledge and good practice to support the effective dispensation of effective criminal justice, rule of law and human right-based responses to terrorism,” he said.

Musa said the meeting, which was the first under the new working group co-chairs, focused on the presentation of priority areas highlighted in the group’s work plan for the period of 2022-2024.

“The meeting will guide the activities of the group as it offered an opportunity for members to discuss collaboration and synergies with other GCTF working groups and initiatives.

“The CJ-ROL Working Group of the GCTF focuses on the critical role played by the criminal justice sector in combating terrorism and demonstrates the GCTF’s commitment to supporting rule-of-law-based and human rights-compliant approaches.

“The GCTF Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group, co-chaired by Italy and Nigeria, is dedicated to supporting the development of effective criminal justice systems within a rule of law framework and fully respecting human rights.

“It aims to ensure that persons who plan, perpetrate or support terrorist acts are brought to justice,” he said.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi is looking to add Angola and the Congo Republic to a portfolio of suppliers to substitute Russia, which provides about 45 percent of Italian gas.

“We do not want to depend on Russian gas any longer, because economic dependence must not become political subjection”, he said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily.

“Diversification is possible and can be implemented in a relatively short amount of time — quicker than we imagined just a month ago,” he said.

Draghi, who has tested positive for Covid-19, is sending in his stead Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani, who will travel to Luanda on Wednesday and Brazzaville on Thursday.

They will be accompanied by Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Italian energy giant ENI.

There is also a possible trip to Mozambique on the cards in May.

The foray follows the signing of agreements with Algeria and Egypt in recent weeks.

Algeria is currently Italy’s second-largest supplier, providing around 30 percent of its consumption.

ENI said the deal with Algeria’s Sonatrach would boost deliveries of gas through the Transmed undersea pipeline by “up to nine billion cubic metres per year” by 2023-24.

Transmed only had spare pipeline capacity of 7.8 billion cubic metres per year in 2021 — though it has said it is ready to expand.

– ‘Fanciful’ -The Egypt accord could result in up to three billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) bound to Europe and Italy in particular this year, ENI said.

Italy is looking into buying or renting two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) to allow it to import more LNG.

Diversification will not be cheap, warn experts, who foresee extra taxes passed on to businesses and families.

Davide Tabarelli, head of energy think tank Nomisma Energia, said Rome was rightly exploiting the “excellent relationships” that ENI has built up over 69 years in Africa, where it is the sector leader in terms of production and reserves.

But the idea of replacing Russian gas “in the short term” was “fanciful”, he told AFP. “It will take at least two or three years.”

The government said it expects to get the floating regasification units into place within 18 months.

It has also talked of kick-starting stalled projects for two onshore regasification plants, which would take some four years to build.

“This is a race against time to make sure we stock gas and oil for the next winter season,” said Francesco Galietti, head of Rome-based consultancy Policy Sonar.

Rome should be pulling out all the stops, including boosting production of fossil fuels at home, he said, but the Ecological Transition ministry was instead revoking contracts.

Cingolani’s “snobbery towards (domestic) oil and gas is delaying the phasing out of Russian gas”, he warned.

All the three players missed from the spot as the Italian team won 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out after the final game ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time.

All three players suffered racist abuse on the internet over their failure to convert the penalty kick.

In a statement, England Football Association condemned the racist abuse, before stating that they ‘stand with our players”

The football body released a statement on Twitter, which reads: “We’re disgusted that some of our squad, who have given everything for the shirt this summer have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game. We stand with our players”.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was the hero for the Azzurri in the shootout, while substitutes Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka failed to convert from the spot for England. Meanwhile, even Andrea Belotti and Jorginho missed their penalties for Italy.

Earlier, England’s Luke Shaw scored a beautiful volley inside 2 minutes to give England a 1-0 lead at half-time. Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci levelled with a close-range finish as the match went into extra time.

They both toiled but no one could breakthrough and the match went farther into penalties Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italy’s goalkeeper, pushed aside the final attempt by the England teenager Buyako Saka to clinch the victory, after Rashford had missed his own penalty, setting off a wild celebration from Italy’s tell and fans while English players broke down into tears.

With the loss, England hopes of winning its first major title since the 1966 World Cup has been dashed

The full list comprises Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Kuwait, North Macedonia, Moldova, Oman, Panama and Peru.

The ban affects anyone who has stayed in or travelled through these countries in the last 14 days, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said in a statement.

The health ministry in agreement with the foreign, interior and transport ministries signed the decree banning visitors from entering the country as the country recovers from the pandemic that has killed almost 35,000 people in Italy.

The Government of Nigeria is restricting entry into the country for travelers from China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the United States of America, Norway, the United Kingdom, Netherlands & Switzerland.

The Federal Government is temporarily suspending all visas issued to nationals from these countries. Nigerians arriving from these countries will be subjected to supervised isolation for 14 days.

The Government is also advising all Nigerians to avoid travel to these countries. These restrictions will come into effect from Friday 20 March 2020, for 4 weeks, subject to review.

According to the Prime Minister, the move was taken in order to protect the population, and especially the most fragile individuals.

The lockdown will affect over 60 million people in Italy, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
The country has 9,172 cases so far, the most of any European country, while 463 people have died of the novel coronavirus.

The Olympic Committee made its announcement just before a football match between Italian teams Sassuolo and Brescia began.

The committee, which oversees all sporting events in the country, said in the statement that the suspension will last until April 3 and that it would request a government decree to impose its decision.

The announcement comes after Italy’s sports minister ordered Serie A for games to be played without fans over the weekend.

Champions league and Europa League games will continue to take place in Italy as CONI don’t have the right to cancel international games.

Authorities said that around 200 officers – including FBI agents – swept across Sicily and the New York area Wednesday, arresting 18 suspects in Italy and one in the United States.

Palermo Police Chief Renato Cortese said that members of the Sicilian Passo di Rigano crime society had settled in the United States in the 1980s after surviving a turf war with the Corleone crime clan, which emerged victorious over the Inzerillo crime family in the Palermo area.

Some survivors looked to return to Italy right after the weakening of the long-dominant Corleone crime family. Salvatore “Toto” Riina, the Corleone clan chieftain, died in an Italian prison in 2017.

Officials fear the Mafia is planning to revert to its notorious past as the exiled mobsters who fled Sicily returned in the early 2000s in order to revitalize their clan. Italian reports suggest that Francesco Inzerillo, 63, returned to Sicily by Mafia leaders after being forced to leave the U.S.

The suspects are being investigated for fraud and involvement in businesses ranging from wholesale foods, gambling and online betting, according to the BBC. They face allegations including mafia membership, extortion and unfair competition.

Authorities stated officers followed the two families constantly, keeping eyes on them day and night.

The Gambino family in New York is considered to be one of the five historic Italian-U.S. clans, and was run by John Gotti before he was jailed in 1992. After his incarceration, the Gambino family went into decline.