NewsRoundUp 010723

NewsRoundUp at this time takes-off from the United States with the now trending story about the Supreme Court solidifying protections for workers who ask for religious accommodations. 

AP reports that the Supreme Court on Thursday used the case of a Christian mailman who didn't want to work Sundays to solidify protections for workers who ask for religious accommodations. According to the report, in a unanimous decision the justices made clear that workers who ask for accommodations, such as taking the Sabbath off, should get them unless their employers show doing so would result in “substantial increased costs” to the business. The court made clear that businesses must cite more than minor costs — so-called “de minimis” costs — to reject requests for religious accommodations at work. Unlike most cases before the court, both sides in the case had agreed businesses needed to show more.

Still in the U.S, we hear that the Supreme Court has ruled that affirmative action 'must end' in college admissions. The Court struck down decades of legal precedent that allowed colleges and universities to consider race as a factor in admissions. The court on Thursday specifically ruled against race-conscious student admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Those programs "violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the 6-3 majority ruling in both cases, Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.

Back home in the country a self-acclaimed relationship expert Blessing CEO Okoro drops a claim via a video interviews that “without side ch!cs, a lot of marriages will be broken today because a lot of married women cannot satisfy their husbands”. In her words ‘’Without side chics, a lot of marriages will be broken today. That is one of the realities we need to face because a lot of these married women cannot satisfy their husbands. Men are adventurous in nature. There are sometimes a woman is pregnant, lots of things are happening to her, she is not in the mood, she is busy, and the man is out there. The side chic does the work. If there is no side chic to play that role, men would walk away. So the side chics are just that desert to satisfy themselves and come back'' She submits further that what people have nowadays is not marriage but ‘co-habitation’.  See the video of her speaking here.

Still in the country and from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) we gather that the imposition of a new academic curriculum on varsities is not acceptable. ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has accused the National Universities Commission, NUC of imposing the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards, CCMAS on Nigerian universities, vowing not to recognize it. ASUU said the action of the nation’s universities’ regulatory body was contrary to the law guarding operations of universities in the country. The university lecturers’ organisation, in a statement, Friday, by its president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, particularly described the NUC action as usurpation of the powers of university senate. In the statement, titled: “Imposition of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) on Nigerian Universities, ASUU explained that its reaction followed several complaints it received on the threats posed by the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) to quality university education and the erosion of powers of university Senate in Nigerian universities.

From Kano comes a report that Governor Yusuf has no regrets over the demolition of properties in the state. Kano state Governor, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, on Friday, told the Emir of Kano and chairman of Kano Council of Emirs, His Highness, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, that he has no regrets demolishing properties his administration considered “illegal.” He urged the Royal Father to keep supporting policies of his administration designed to bring development in the state and dispense democratic dividends to the people of the state. Governor Yusuf stated this at Kano Government House when Emir Aminu Ado Bayero, in the company of District Heads and other members of the Emirate Council paid him a Sallah homage, as part of the activities to mark the Eid El Kabir celebrations. The Governor popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, insisted that he has no regret on the demolition exercise and recovery of public property that, “were illegally acquired and distributed to sacred cows by the immediate past administration.”

Now, if you are a Benz freak this story just might catch your fancy because, we hear that Mercedes is recalling over 140,000 vehicles from U.S. over fuel pump issues. The German high-end carmaker Mercedes is recalling more than 140,000 vehicles in the U.S. due to problems with the fuel pump. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), up to 143,551 cars made between 2021 and 2023 are affected, the regulator announced in Washington on Friday. The vehicles include models of the C-, E- and S-Class as well as the SUV types GLC, GLE and GLS. G-Class SUVs are also listed. Dealers would replace the fuel pump free of charge, the NHTSA said. A malfunction of the pump could increase the risk of an accident, according to the regulator.