The leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and founder of the Eastern Security Network, Nnamdi Kanu, has asked the 101 soldiers accused by the Nigerian Army of fleeing the Boko Haram attacks in New Marte and Dikwa towns in Borno State to join the ESN.
LIB had earlier reported that 12 officers and 89 soldiers have been declared missing by the Nigerian army in the wake of last week’s Boko Haram attacks on Marte and Dikwa local government areas of Borno State. A signal dated March 1, 2021 from Operation Lafiya Dole Headquarters in Maiduguri, revealed that the soldiers were declared as deserters. Read here.
Reacting to the development, Kanu in a live broadcast on Wednesday, March 3, said the doors of the ESN are open to the soldiers.
“Sometimes I wonder, how can you come from the East, West and Middle Belt, and you are in the army? And they used you to go and fight the bandits so that you can be killed.
Today, soldiers are leaving and they have ordered for their arrest for leaving the army. And I am telling all these soldiers to go and join the Eastern Security Network. Today, we have all these unknown gunmen; they have been avenging for us and if you come and kill us, they will avenge for us.”he said
Manchester United stars, Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire were involved in a row on the pitch during their goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, March 3.
There was tension between United players in the second half as Solskjaer’s side struggled to create chances against Palace.
In the 69th minute, Rashford lost his temper with Maguire after the United captain criticised him for his failure to stay onside after he was caught offside.
Maguire, who had headed the ball forward, told Rashford to ‘f***ing stay onside’. But after being penalised for being offside, Rashford took a swipe back at Maguire, reportedly saying: ‘Shut the f*** up, f***ing nobhead.’
An interesting exchange between Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford 🤔
Frustration on the road for the Red Devils at Selhurst Park.
Speaking after United’s draw, Solskjaer told Sky Sports: ‘It’s disappointing. We were just a little bit off. If you’re not spot on you won’t win games. Palace always make it hard for you.
‘In the second half we never got going.
‘Sometimes it’s human nature, sometimes you don’t work at your best. Today we didn’t. It’s been a long season – I’m not blaming that because everyone has the same season. You’re playing against a good team who make you play the way they want to.
‘We kept giving the ball away. There were times in the first half we built some pressure, had sohalf-decentent chances but kept giving it away. Then you don’t build momentum and that’s the game you get.’
Israel Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champion is set to take on Poland’s Jan Blachowicz this weekend, a bout which his coach Eugene Bareman says will be the ‘hardest fight’ of his UFC career.
The New Zealand-Nigerian MMA fighter is preparing to move up a class to light heavyweight to challenge the Polish champion at UFC 259 in Las Vegas on Saturday night, March 6.
Adesanya, who boasts a 20-0 UFC record, will be hoping to beat Blachowicz and become the fifth only two-weight champion in UFC history.
Speaking ahead of the fight in an appearance on Submission Radio, Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman, said: ‘This is Israel’s hardest fight by quite a bit.’
‘I think this is a jump up from any of his previous challengers. And for all intents and purposes within our camp, we are building ourselves as the underdogs.
‘And we’re doing that based on we’re giving away this size and weight advantage that we sometimes have in our favour. Now we’re gonna give it away. So, it’s just a very hard (fight).
‘What we’re about to attempt here is, people don’t understand, a very, very difficult endeavour and a very risky one, and one that makes for all us coaches and Israel, it makes the hairs on the back of our necks stand up.
‘Because this is a true, true challenge – a hefty challenge. And it’s a scary one, and it’s one that gets you up early in the morning and wanting to attack it.
‘And we’ve had a great camp because it’s just a highly motivating fight. And it’s a highly motivating fight because it’s such a dangerous fight.’
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday night, March 3, passed the George Floyd Justice bill in a 220-212 vote aimed at preventing police misconduct in the wake of racial injustice and police brutality.
House Democrats originally introduced and passed the bill, titled the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, last year in the wake of Floyd’s death, but it never passed in the Senate, which was under Republican control at the time.
Two moderate Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Ron Kind of Wisconsin opposed the measure, while GOP Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas said after the fact that he had voted for it by accident.
California Rep. Karen Bass, a Democrat and former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus who reintroduced the bill with House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said on Wednesday morning during a press call that “we are still trying to transform policing in the United States. And since George Floyd was murdered a year ago, there have been over 100 officer-involved shootings, there have been numerous examples of officers not being charged.”
“At some point, we have to ask ourselves, ‘How many more people have to die? How many more people have to be brutalized on videotape like the three girls – 6, 8, and 11 years old – in Colorado that were taken out of their car, made to lie on their ground?’ We must act now to transform policing in the United States to hold police accountable but also to give them the support they need to have accreditation and raise the standard of policing in the United States.”
The reintroduced bill would: prohibit profiling based on race and religion and mandate training on profiling; ban chokeholds, carotid holds, and no-knock warrants; require the use of federal funds to ensure the use of body cameras; establish a National Police Misconduct Registry; amend the prosecution standard for police from “willfulness” to “recklessness” and reform qualified immunity; and require stronger data reporting on police use of force.
The Church of Cyprus has gone into battle against “The Devil”, denouncing the country’s pick for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest as glorifying Satan.
Dance song “El Diablo” – Spanish for the Devil – is the island nation’s offering to the annual music contest for 2021.
Sung by Greek performer Elena Tsagrinou, the song has already triggered an online petition for it to be pulled, and signed by more than 16,500 people who believe it pays homage to the Devil.
Eurovision is a European singing contest held annually and has become a phenomenon in Europe just like America’s Got Talent in the US.
Running since 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s oldest TV music competition, according to Guinness World Records.
According to the contest’s official website, the song is “about falling in love with someone as bad as El Diablo.”
The song has lines such as “Tonight we gonna burn in a party, it’s heaven in hell with you” and “I gave my heart to El Diablo … because he tells me I’m his angel.”
After hearing the song, The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus issued a strongly worded statement expressing “its intense disagreement and frustration” with the stance of national broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) over the selection of the song.
It said the song “favored our global ridicule by advocating our surrender to the devil and promoting his worship,”while praising the “fatalistic submission of humans to the devil’s power.”
CyBC chairman Andreas Frangos told local journalists that the song won’t be withdrawn from the competition.
Speaking to CNN, the CyBC said in a statement: “The song tells the story of a girl who finds herself trapped in an exploitative relationship with a bad guy, hence she calls him ‘el diablo’. It is the eternal struggle between evil and good. Through this problematic Stockholm Syndrome relationship and despite the paranoia she experiences, in the end the truth always shines, and she seeks help to break the ties on a path to freedom.”
“Any other interpretation has nothing to do with the meaning of the song,” CyBC added, “which especially nowadays should not only be applauded, but also be an inspiration not only for women but for anyone experiencing similar situations.”
Dismissing the CyBC’s “metaphorical interpretation,” the church described the lyrics as “provocative and unacceptable” and “completely at odds with our people’s values.”
It said it had been contacted by “thousands” of citizens expressing displeasure at the song choice.
“We call on the government who appoints CyBC’s board of directors to cancel the selection of this particular song and replace it with a different one which expresses our history and culture, our traditions and our claims,” the church said.
Last week a 48-year-old man had illegally entered the premises of cyBC to protest about the song.
Victoras Papadopoulos, director of the Cyprus’ president’s press office, said in a statement: “We respect the views of the Holy Synod or of those who disagree with the title of the song that will represent Cyprus in this year’s Eurovision contest.
“At the same time, however, the Government fully respects creative intellectual and artistic freedom that cannot be misinterpreted or limited because of a song’s title, and unnecessary dimensions should not be attributed.”
The American Independent Party has revealed plans to nominate Donald Trump as their presidential candidate in 2024 if his Republican Party ditches him.
AIP chairman, Markham Robinson made this known during a recent chat with TMZ.
He told the publications that the party leaders are set on nominating Trump to head up their ticket for the next presidential race if he decides to have another go at it.
Mr. Markham also noted that the AIP leaders were more than enthusiastic at Trump’s apparent desire to stay in politics, which he strongly hinted at during his CPAC speech this past weekend. (read previous post here)
According to him, Donald Trump is the perfect guy to lead their party, which is notoriously far-right and supports a limited role in government, tax cuts and are pro-life.
The American Independent Party’s first presidential nominee was segregationist George Wallace. Another segregationist, Lester Maddox was also the party’s standard-bearer in the ’70s.
Prince Philip underwent surgery for a pre-existing heart condition and will remain in hospital for “a number of days,” Buckingham Palace said.
The Duke of Edinburgh underwent a “successful procedure” for a pre-existing heart condition after he was transferred from King Henry VII hospital to St Bartholomew’s on March 1.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said the operation took place on Wednesday, March 3, and will remain in hospital for further treatment.
The Palace said: “The Duke of Edinburgh yesterday underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
“His Royal Highness will remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days.”
On the day of his operation, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Prince Charles’ wife, asked the country to “keep fingers crossed” for Prince Philip.
While visiting a vaccination centre, the 73-year-old said the Duke’s condition was “slightly improving” but his hospital treatment “hurt at the moment.”
Australia’s Attorney General, Christian Porter is at the centre of a rape accusation that is threatening to end his political career.
A letter sent to the country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week alleged Porter had raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988. The woman took her own life last year.
He has denied the allegations.
The attorney general said he had known the woman “for the briefest periods, in debating competitions, when we were teenagers, about 33 years ago”. She had been one of his teammates, he added.
Asked by journalists, he said he did not think he had ever been alone with the woman and had had no contact with her since January 1988.
Porter said Morrison had given him his “full backing” to remain as attorney general.
“If I stand down from my position as attorney general because of an allegation about something that simply did not happen, then any person in Australia can lose their career… based on nothing more than an accusation that appears in print,” he told reporters in Perth on Wednesday
But he would take two weeks of leave for his mental health, he added.
“The things that are being claimed did not happen,” .
“Nothing in the allegations that have been printed ever happened.”
The alleged victim reported her complaint to New South Wales Police last year but did not make a formal statement. The investigation was suspended after she died last June, aged 49.
But last week a letter was sent by friends of the woman to Prime Minister Morrison and opposition lawmakers, bringing the allegations to the fore.
The letter accused him of raping the girl at a high school debating tournament at Sydney University in 1988.
A former crown prosecutor, Porter entered parliament in 2013 and became attorney general in 2017.
A court in the southern Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam on Tuesday, March 2, sentenced a 45-year-old Nigerian man to death for trafficking nearly four kilograms of methamphetamine from Cambodia.
Ekwegbalu James Nzube said he got acquainted with another Nigerian, Jone, in China in 2014, and the latter had hired him to transport drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam.
In March he came to Ho Chi Minh City before going to Cambodia to fetch the drugs for which he was paid $2,000.
But while illegally crossing the border into Vietnam last July he was caught by border guards in Tay Ninh Province. In his rucksack they found four plastic bags with nearly four kg of meth.
Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 g of heroin or 2.5kg methamphetamine face death penalty.
Kim Kardashian is reportedly set to keep the $60 million Calabasas mansion she shared with Kanye West and their children amid their ongoing divorce.
The former couple purchased the Hidden Hills residence for $20 million in 2014 but did not move in until 2018 after investing $40 million in renovations.
An insider revealed to Page Six earlier this year that Kim reportedly owns the land, but Kanye owns the actual house.
However, they have now agreed that the reality star will get the iconic Hidden Hills mansion so their four children (daughters North, seven, and Chicago, three, and sons Saint, five, and Psalm, one) can remain in their family home.
According to TMZ, Kim was keen to remain in the home because she ‘really likes the house’ and the fact most of her family live ‘within a block of her in the same community’.
The couple were married for over six years before the reality star officially filed for divorce last month after intense speculation that they were set to divorce.
Kim Kardashian surprised her followers as she took to her Instagram story to reveal that she was wearing Kanye West’s brand of trainers.
The 40-year-old paraded the sneakers but no words were written or spoken, nor did she include a tag in the odd upload.
But it was clear enough from the footage which highlighted the unusual design of the rap star’s product that she had opted to wear the hitmakers Yeezy foam trainers.
On February 22 Kim filed for divorce from the Flashing Lights hitmaker, although their separation date is still not public knowledge.
Official divorce documents are claimed to have revealed that the pair have parted ways but a date for doing so is yet to be decided.
A top judge in India has sparked outrage for telling an accused rapist and government technician to marry his schoolgirl victim to avoid jail.
More than 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde quit after he told the government technician at a hearing: ‘If you want to marry (her) we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail.’
His comments prompted women’s rights activists to circulate an open letter calling for his resignation that has secured more than 5,200 signatures, campaigner Vani Subramanian said.
According to the letter, the man is accused of stalking, tying up, gagging, and repeatedly raping the girl before threatening to douse her in petrol, set her alight, and have her brother killed.
‘By suggesting that this rapist marry the victim-survivor, you, the Chief Justice of India, sought to condemn the victim-survivor to a lifetime of rape at the hands of the tormentor who drove her to attempt suicide,’ the letter said.
It later added: ‘It fills us with rage that women bear the burden of having to explain the meaning of “seduction”, “rape”, and “marriage” even to the Chief Justice of India, who holds the power and duty to interpret the Constitution of India and sit in judgement.’
The letter also drew attention to another hearing on Monday during which Bobde reportedly questioned whether sex between a married couple could ever be considered rape.
‘The husband may be a brutal man, but can you call the act of sexual intercourse between a lawfully wedded man and wife as rape?’ he said.
‘This comment not only legitimises any kind of sexual, physical and mental violence by the husband, but it normalises the torture that Indian women have been facing within marriages for years without any legal recourse,’ the letter by the rights campaigners said.
Bobde is yet to react to the criticism. His predecessor Ranjan Gogoi was the highest-profile figure in India to face a #MeToo backlash after he was accused by a former staffer of sexual assault.
He was reportedly cleared in 2019 after an in-house inquiry, prompting protests in the country.
The governors of Texas and Mississippi have announced they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates.
“It is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Tuesday afternoon, March 2, at Montelongo’s Mexican Restaurant in Lubbock.
“Covid has not suddenly disappeared,” he said, “but state mandates are no longer needed.”
Shortly after Abbott’s announcement, Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi announced that he would end the state’s statewide mask mandate, effective Wednesday of this week.
“Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules. Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!,” Reeves tweeted.
This comes after CDC Director Rochelle Walensky strongly cautioned against the rollbacks over emerging coronavirus variants.
“I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from Covid-19,” Walensky said at the daily White House Covid-19 briefing.
“Please hear me clearly,” Walensky said. “At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard earned ground we have gained.”
Former NFL player Kellen Winslow II has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for multiple rapes and other sexual offenses against five women in southern California.
The 37-year-old son of Chargers hall of fame receiver Kellen Winslow appeared via video conference at the hearing in a California court on Wednesday, March 3.
At the hearing, Winslow II declined to comment before his sentence, saying his lawyers had advised him not to speak.
Judge Blaine Bowman said Winslow can only be described with “two words, and that is sexual predator.” Bowman said Winslow selected women who were vulnerable because of their age or their living situation with the idea that “hopefully he would get away with it in his mind.”
Winslow was convicted of forcible rape, rape of an unconscious person, assault with intent to commit rape, indecent exposure and lewd conduct in public. The forcible rape involved a woman who was homeless in Winslow’s hometown of Encinitas, a beach community north of San Diego.
The 14-year-sentence was the maximum allowed under a plea deal.
His attorney Marc Carlos said Winslow suffered from head trauma from the many blows to his head while playing football and suggested that was why he “went off the rails,” going from a star athlete to a convicted sexual predator.
Carlos said his client has accepted responsibility and intends to get help.
Jurors also convicted Winslow of two misdemeanors – indecent exposure and a lewd act in public – involving two other women. But the jury failed to agree on other charges, including the alleged 2018 rape of a 54-year-old hitchhiker and the 2003 rape of an unconscious 17-year-old high school senior who went to a party with him when he was 19. Before he was retried on those charges, he pleaded guilty to raping the teen and to sexual battery of the hitchhiker.
The father of two, whose wife filed for divorce after he was convicted, had faced up to 18 years in prison for all the charges. Both sides agreed to reduce the sexual battery charge to assault with intent to commit rape last month, which then reduced the maximum sentence to 14 years.
Winslow was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2004 and spent four seasons with the team, being named to the Pro Bowl in 2007. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, and New York Jets. He was once the highest-paid tight end in the league, and his last NFL season was in 2013.
The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, is currently under fire over the comment he made on Wednesday, March 3, that hoodlums who invaded his palace during the #EndSARS protest stole his $2 million and N17 million.
Akiolu, who spoke at the Glover Hall Memorial Commissioning, Lagos on Wednesday, lamented the devastation inflicted on Lagos by the protesters, including his palace.
”I will support anything that will move Lagos forward. I have appealed to the Federal Government to assist Lagos with what we have suffered. The incident that happened here from October 20th to 23rd is so saddening.
The destruction we suffered in Lagos is so enormous than in any other part of the country.
Many buildings were burnt, including vehicles used to generate income. I can now say publicly that they stole away from my palace $2 million and N17 million.
Those who committed the offence would not have done that if they knew the implication. But as a father, I won’t place any curse on them.” the Oba said
The monarch has however been under serious attack on social media as some Nigerians have expressed shock he had that amount of money in his palace. While others called on the EFCC to investigate the monarch, others accused him of being ”wicked ”to have kept such a huge sum of money in his palace while members of his immediate community live in hunger.
Cossy Ojiakor’s ex, Abel Jurgen has covered up a tattoo of her name he got.
Recall that Abel Jurgen had hinted on removing a tattoo of Cossy Ojiakor’s name from his body after calling off their engagement following a fight in 2020.
Abel who shared a photo of his arm to show the covered-up tattoo, also accused Cossy of hiring people to hack his social media accounts.
He wrote;
After covering up some #tattoos on my body. And after months of not chatting not talking to my #ex she decided to get someone to hack my account though she couldn’t get my Instagram,Facebook and yahoo mail accounts just my gmail account and I lost almost all my contacts, though it’s cool I still got 2 more gmails accounts… #fuck #fuckmyex #ilovebeingfree
Parents have expressed outrage on Twitter after US President Joe Biden announced Dr. Seuss books will not be part of “Read Across America Day.”
The US president decided to break tradition and erase Dr. Seuss books from his proclamation on Read Across America Day.
The Read Across America program was launched by the National Educators of America (NEA) in 1998 to promote children’s literacy, according to MSNBC.
Amazon removed the six Dr. Seuss books from its online platform, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises told the Associated Press, the decision to cease publication and sales of the 6 books was made last year.
This is due to images that may be offensive to Asian people in the books titled “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”, “If I Ran the Zoo”, “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”
Social media users who grew up reading Dr. Seuss books took to Twitter to express their outrage.
True to the saying that “nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”
Prophetess Rose Kelvin AKA the Voice Of Solution has revealed how her inability to execute her passion of giving to the needy for financial constraints could not stop her from executing the feeding of the poor.
A very close associate of the Prophetess who spoke in anonymity said that Prophetess Rose spent about sixty million naira in the project of distributing five thousand (5000) 25kg bags of Rice and financial empowerment of Two Hundred thousand naira (#200,000) each given to Widows with special cases and disabilities.
Speculations were that some politicians whom were soon to be unveiled were behind Prophetess Rose Kelvin’s benevolence or that she could be nursing a political ambition.
Speculations were laid to rest when she revealed in one of her programmes that she had to sell an SUV worth over sixty million naira (#60,000,000) that was gifted to her for her private use by one of her ministry’s partners who was diagnosed of a chronic heart disease and was given a few months to live but got his healing through the prayer ministration of Prophetess Rose.
God spoke to her to support poor widows and needy persons in Aba and she had to sell the 60Million naira worth SUV to fulfil her God-given assignment to the needy at the time. Prophetess Rose Kelvin has about a hundred children (Primary-Tertiar) under her scholarship scheme and has empowered more than one thousand people through cash give-aways for business/Career support and establishment from Rose Kelvin Foundation.
Prophetess Rose Kelvin is the Founder and convener of Unveiling The Veiled- @Unveiling City, an arm of Shekhinah Glory Ministries with Headquarters in Abuja.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has said her father-in-law Prince Philip’s condition is “slightly improving” but his treatment “hurts at moments”.
During a visit to the Community Vaccination Centre at St Pauls Church in Croydon, London, she said the Royal Family is “keeping their fingers crossed”.
The Queen’s husband, who is three months from his 100th birthday, has now spent two weeks in hospital – his longest stay. Doctors are treating him for an infection, and also carrying out testing and observation for a pre-existing heart condition.
The royal was transferred to St Bartholomew’s Hospital for continued treatment on Monday, March 1, following 13 nights in King Edward VII’s hospital.
A statement from Buckingham Palace said he is responding to treatment and “remains comfortable”.
Prince Charles is currently the only member of the Royal Family to visit Philip in hospital.
Visitors are only welcome in “exceptional circumstances”, King Edward VII’s hospital said before the visit.
The Queen is being kept regularly updated about her husband’s condition, but is unlikely to see him until he is discharged.
NBA stars have has rallied around LeBron James after he was criticised by Zlatan Ibrahimovic over his political activism.
The AC Milan striker started the row last month when he expressed his disappointment at LeBron James and other influential figures getting involved in politics and told them to stick to what they are good at.
The LA Lakers star then hit back, stating he is never someone who is going to just ‘shut up about things that are wrong’, insisting that he will never stop using his platform to speak out about political issues such as racial inequality.
The Swedish football legend responded and refused to back down on his stance, saying “Athletes must be athletes, politicians must be politicians,”
Some NFA stars have now come to James’ defense following the Swede’s repeated attacks.
Portland Trailblazer star Enes Kanter, who has been outspoken about the Erdogan regime in Turkey said: ‘Someone has to tell Ibrahimovic that there is a difference between political opinions and speaking out against persecution, oppression and calling out dictators.’
‘Black Lives Matter is not a political statement, we are speaking against oppression. In the United States we call it freedom of expression.’
He also wrote on Twitter: No, what divides humanity is dictators and authoritarians.
When athletes speak up, it’s not for fun or attention. It’s to hold these regimes accountable When you are arrogant and have no empathy or sympathy & only care for yourself, you can tell people not to stand up for justice.”
Former NBA All-Star Baron Davis was also critical of the former Manchester United striker.
In a Twitter post, he wrote: ‘Zlatan stay yo a** out of LA. Galaxy suck anyway. And you dumb as hell. Take that stolen Zoohan look and give it back to Sandler.’
Another former NBA star, Jeremy Lin, pointed to the hypocrisy within the world outside of sport saying: “When athletes donate money from the salaries they earn, no one seems to have a problem accepting it.
‘When athletes speak from the platform they earn, then we have problems? Double standards.’
The Airports Council International (ACI) Africa has given theNnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja the 2020 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award for Best Airport by Size and Region (5 to 15 million passengers per year in Africa).
Moi International Airport, Mombasa, Kenya won the Best African Airport under 2 million passengers per year, while Kotoka International Airport, Kotoka, Accra, Ghana won the Best African Airport 2 to 5 million passengers per year.
The African Airport with Best Hygiene Measures was won by Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, Mauritius.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) MD/CEO, Captain Rabiu Yadudu accepted the award on behalf of the organisation and restated FAAN’s commitment to ensuring the safety, security and comfort of passengers at all airports across the country.
Yadudu said;
“This award represents FAAN’s commitment to continuously improving customer’s experience across all our airports.
“The recognition comes at a time when we are geared towards ensuring seamless airport facilitation with the opening of new terminals and upgrading of our current infrastructures across board.”
Zimbabwe’s Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Monday March 1, resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct.
This came after audio recordings of phone conversations in which Mohadi was allegedly soliciting sex from married women, including a subordinate in his office was leaked online in February. The lurid clips included one where a man can be heard scheduling to meet for sex at his office.
In a rare move by a public official in Zimbabwe, Mohadi said he had taken the decision to step down “not as a matter of cowardice but as a sign of demonstrating great respect to the office of the President”.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Information, the Vice President said;
“I have been going through a soul-searching pilgrimage and realised that I need the space to deal with my problem outside the governance chair.”
The 70-year-old politician denied the accusations last week saying this was part of a political plot against him. On Monday he continued to deny the accusations saying he would seek legal recourse.
Mohadi, a retired soldier and veteran of the country’s liberation war, was one of Zimbabwe’s two vice presidents alongside Constantino Chiwenga. He served in several ministerial positions under former president Robert Mugabe and was appointed vice president in 2017 following the longtime ruler’s ouster.
The Japanese government has asked Chinese authorities to stop carrying out anal swab tests for Covid-19 on its citizens because the procedure causes psychological pain.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, said some Japanese reported the procedure at the country’s embassy in China.
“Some Japanese reported to our embassy in China that they received anal swab tests, which caused a great psychological pain,” Kato told a news conference.
He also said the Japanese government had not received a response that Beijing would change the testing procedure, so Japan would continue to ask China to alter the way of testing.
It was not known how many Japanese citizens received such tests for the coronavirus, he said.
Some Chinese cities were reportedly using samples taken from the anus to detect potential coronavirus infections. To collect test samples, the swab needs to be inserted about three to five centimetres (1.2 to 2 inches) into the rectum and rotated several times.
Asked about the complaint, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing’s testing methods were “science-based” and “in accordance with the changes in the epidemic situation as well as relevant laws and regulations”.
This comes days after China’s foreign ministry denied that US diplomats in the country had been required to take anal swab tests for Covid-19, following media reports that some had complained about the procedure.
Tests using anal swabs can avoid missing infections as virus traces in faecal samples or anal swabs could remain detectable for a longer time than in those from the respiratory tract, Li Tongzeng, a respiratory diseases doctor in Beijing, told state television back in January.
Meghan Markle has demanded that the Mail on Sunday publish a front-page apology and pay up £750,000 of down-payment towards her legal costs after she won the court case against them.
Mail on Sunday is the sister paper of Daily Mail and is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT),
The Duchess of Sussex took legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, over a series of articles which reproduced parts of the letter sent to her father in August 2018.
Ms Markle claimed the articles, which were published in February 2019, involved a misuse of her private information, breached her copyright and breached the Data Protection Act.
She won against the newspaper’s publisher last month.
The High Court granted summary judgement in relation to her privacy claim, which means she won that claim without having to go to trial, as well as most of her copyright claim.
Now, Meghan Markle, 39, has also asked the High Court to order the Mail on Sunday to hand over any copies of a handwritten letter sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
Her lawyers are also seeking £1.5m from the Mail On Sunday to cover their legal fees, with half (£750,000) to be paid within two weeks.
The duchess’s lawyers want the Mail to publish statements to say she has won her case, with an online notice staying on the MailOnline homepage for “not less than 6 months”.
Her legal team also asked the High Court to order the paper to destroy any electronic copies of the letter, or any notes made about it.
They said they were not looking to punish the paper and were only seeking nominal damages.
The new details emerged Tuesday, March 2, in a hearing over costs and other unresolved matters.
At a remote hearing on Tuesday, March 2, Ms Markle’s lawyer, Ian Mill QC, applied for an injunction, saying it was needed to stop the publication from continuing to breach her privacy and copyright.
In written submissions, he said: “This case is a paradigm example of one in which there is a very real need for an injunction.
“It is required in order to protect the claimant’s rights and stop the continuing acts of infringement.
“The defendant has offered no undertaking, the defendant has failed to deliver up copies it has of the letter such that the threat to infringe and further to misuse her private information remains real and, inexplicably, the defendant has still not removed the infringing articles from MailOnline.
“This is in the face of a judgment which has found, in the clearest possible terms, that the defendant’s acts of publishing those articles infringes the claimant’s rights.
“Accordingly, at the time of writing, the defendant defiantly continues to do the very acts which the court has held are unlawful.”
He also sought an order for the newspaper’s publisher, ANL, to publish a statement about the duchess’ victory on the front page of the Mail on Sunday and the homepage of the MailOnline “to act as a deterrent to future infringers”.
He said Meghan Markle was also willing to “cap her damages” for misuse of private information at a “nominal award” to “avoid the need for the and cost to be incurred in debating these issues”.
Antony White QC, representing ANL, said his client planned to appeal against the summary judgement ruling, arguing it “would have a real prospect of success”.
He said Ms Markle’s withdrawal of her claim for damages, instead seeking nominal damages, was “a radical change of position”, adding in relation to her request for nominal damages: “It is suggested that £1, £2, or £5 would do.”
Mr White also argued that any order requiring ANL to hand over copies of the letter should be put on hold until any appeal against the judgement could be determined
Brazilian football legend, Pele, 80, has received the COVID-19 vaccine, describing the moment “unforgettable” before warning that the pandemic is not over yet’
The 80-year-old was inoculated on Tuesday, March 2, around six weeks after Brazil began its coronavirus vaccine rollout.
“Today was an unforgettable day. I received the vaccine,” Pele said on Instagram.
“The pandemic is not over. We must remain disciplined to save lives because many people have not yet been vaccinated. This will pass if we think of each other and help each other,” he added.
It’s unclear which vaccine Pele received or whether it was the first or second dose but the football icon has been in self-isolation since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic last March.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento known as Pele, is the only player to win three World Cups, and is regarded as one of football’s greatest ever players.
A 69-year-old woman has lost custody of the twins she gave birth to at the age of 64 after Spain’s highest court ruled that she was incapable of looking after them.
The Spanish Supreme Court upheld an April 22, 2020 ruling to remove the children, handed down by the Provincial Court of Burgos, which found that the twins were not being cared for in ‘optimal conditions’.
The ruling on Monday March 1, brings to an end a four-year legal battle by the woman, Mauricia Ibanez, who gave birth to the twins – Gabriel and Maria de la Cruz – in 2017 after having fertility treatment in the United States.
The court found that the twins were ‘in an obvious situation of vulnerability’ due to their mother’s inability to care for them properly or to cooperate with social services.
The decision was based on the ‘evaluations of experts,’ not the woman’s age or mental health, the court said, without elaborating.
A report issued by the Provincial Court of Burgos at the time of their initial ruling, cited: ‘ the mother’s personality traits significantly affected the affective and psychosocial development of the minors.’
It added that ‘non-existent’ family relationships, isolation, and a lack of a supportive social network were also of concern.
The twins, now aged four, were taken into foster care shortly after they were born in 2017.
El Pais reported in 2017 that Ibanez had signed an agreement with social services that she would hire an assistant to provide 24-hour care after it concluded she would need help with cleaning and looking after the children.
However, 10 days after she returned home from spending more than a month in hospital following the births, authorities decided the twins were ‘at risk’.
‘Since she went home, a multi-disciplinary team has been following Ibanez’s progress, and their reports all conclude that the twins need looking after in a different environment,’ a spokesman from social services in Burgos said at the time, adding that reuniting Ibanez with her children in the future was a possibility.
‘But the obligation in the short term is for them to be with foster parents,’ the spokesman said.
Ibanez also has another child who was placed into foster care in 2014 after the mother was ruled unfit to care for her. Blanca, now aged 11, was also born through IVF and lives in Canada.
After the 2017 decision, Ibanez’s lawyer said his client was ‘very distraught and traumatized’.
The report said she challenged the decision, but her appeal was rejected by the local Family Court, in a decision now upheld by the Supreme Court.
Ibanez, a former civil servant, had started her family after being given early retirement over mental health issues.
Ibanez’s sister tried to have courts declare her ‘fully incapable’ so that her passport could be taken away to prevent her from travelling abroad for fertility treatment, according to the Spanish newspaper.
However, a judge refused the following testimony by psychologists that her condition, which has not been reported in the media, did not prevent her from ‘looking after herself or a child.’
‘I decided to become a mother because the experience of having Blanca, my first child, was fantastic, Ibanez told El Pais from hospital after giving birth to the twins in February 2017.
‘I asked myself if I could really have another. I’m not worried at all about my age. I am old but it has been possible for me to get pregnant: science and medicine are the last opportunity we older people have.
‘Of course I am worried that they could take my children away. They are so defenceless, so small and delicate. I am a little bit afraid for them. I just ask God to prevent them falling into the hands of social services,’ she told the paper.
Roger Reece Kibbe, one of California’s most notorious serial rapist and killer, has died after allegedly being attacked in prison by his cell-mate.
The 81-year-old was discovered unresponsive on the floor of his cell at Mule Creek State Prison at around 12.45am on Sunday, February 28. He was said to have been beaten to death by his cellmate.
His cellmate, convicted murderer Jason Budrow who has a ‘666’ tattoo on his forehead, was reportedly found standing next to him.
Kibbe was taken to the prison’s medical facility, where he was pronounced dead at 1.30am, Fox 40 reported.
Amador County Undersheriff Gary Redman said Kibbe’s death was ‘being investigated as a homicide’ but didn’t reveal how he died, or whether a weapon was used.
Kibbe was serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole for raping and killing at least seven women and girls over the span of 30 years. Kibbe, whose brother was a police detective, was initially convicted in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison for strangling to death 17-year-old Darcie Frackenpoh.
The victim was reportedly killed after she disappeared from a West Sacramento street frequented by prostitutes, and her naked body was found in the mountains south of Lake Tahoe in 1987.
DNA evidence from six other murders, in which the victims were throttled, linked Kibbe to the crimes that were committed between 1977 and 1987.
His cellmate, Budrow, 40, who is serving a life sentence on a 2011 second-degree murder conviction, has been moved to an administrative segregation unit. He’s yet to be charged in connection with Kibbe’s death.
Nigerians have been directed to register for COVID-19 vaccination via the portal of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
The federal government gave the directive after it was announced that Nigeria is expecting 3.92m doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday March 2, from COVAX.
A tweet shared on the official handle of the Nigerian Government read;
Please visit the website http://nphcda.gov.ng and click on ‘COVID-19 Vaccination e-registration’ to register for #COVID19 vaccination.
Former US President Donald Trump and his ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani have been served in a civil rights lawsuit accusing them and members of far-right extremist groups of inciting the January 6 MAGA riot to prevent Congress from certifying the election.
The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday, March 3 that attorneys for Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and the NAACP delivered the lawsuit to the former president at Mar-a-Lago.
While Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph D. Sibley, accepted the papers on behalf of the former mayor of New York.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, sued the former US President and his ex-lawyer and two right-wing extremist groups, alleging they conspired to incite the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, February 16, in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Trump and Giuliani, in collaboration with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, conspired to incite the riot to keep Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
It claims they did so in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era statute designed to protect both formerly enslaved African Americans and lawmakers in Congress from white supremacist violence.
The lawsuit recounts Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, building a case against him in similar fashion to House impeachment managers. It cites Trump’s remarks during “Save America” rally as evidence that he mobilized and directed insurrectionists to storm the Capitol. After his supporters entered the halls of Congress, the lawsuit alleges, Giuliani called lawmakers individually, asking them to try to “slow down” the Electoral College vote count.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has disclosed that 2.3m Nigerians registered for COVID-19 vaccination in less than 24 hours after it announced the launch of a portal for registration for the vaccination.
Executive Director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib disclosed that there is enthusiasm in Nigeria over Monday’s arrival of 4m doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 jabs in an interview on Channels TV.
Shuaib said;
“I can tell you that there is a lot of excitement [about the vaccine arrival]. I know some people have their concerns and we are trying but I want to give you an example of the enthusiasm that Nigerians are showing around wanting to take these vaccines.
“Around midday on Monday when we launched the e-registration platform, in less than 24 hours, we already had up to 2.3m Nigerians who had registered. And that number continues to increase.”
He added that the first batch of vaccines is a major boost in Nigeria’s fight against the disease which has been contracted by over 150,000 people in the nation
Shuaib added;
“So, we take that very seriously and this is why we are going to be working very hard.
“Yes, the vaccines are here, but there is even harder work that needs to go on to make sure that we deliver the vaccines into the arms of Nigerians in a way that is respectful, in a way that is stress-free.”
Authorities in China have reportedly made anal COVID-19 swabs compulsory for all foreign travelers arriving in the country.
The government has claimed that such tests provide a higher degree of accuracy than other screening methods for the virus, the Times UK reported.
As part of the new travel requirement, there will be testing hubs in Beijing and Shanghai airports, the outlet reported.
Li Tongzeng, a respiratory disease medic, said that the anal swabs are better because virus traces stay longer in fecal samples than they do in the nose or throat, state media reported.
“If we add anal swab testing, it can raise our rate of identifying infected patients,” Li Tongzeng told the Washington Post in January.
The move follows calls from the US and Japan to stop performing the “undignified” tests on their citizens when they enter the country because the swabs cause mental anguish.
On Tuesday, China apologized and agreed to stop using anal swabs on American diplomats after some members of US President Joe Biden’s administration complained about the method.
“The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when we learned that some staff were subject to it,” a spokesperson said, adding that Beijing told them the testing was an “error” and diplomats were supposed to be exempt.
The Japanese Government later spoke out over the “psychological pain” their citizens were experiencing from the tests.
“Some Japanese reported to our embassy in China that they received anal swab tests, which caused a great psychological pain,” Katsunobu Kato, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, told a press conference.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, however, defended the screenings as “science-based”
The tests are “in accordance with the changes in the epidemic situation as well as relevant laws and regulations,” he said.
The test, which takes around 10 seconds, involves a saline-soaked cotton swab being inserted three to five centimetres into the rectum and rotated several times. When the swab is then removed it will be securely placed in a test container before the sample is then tested for traces of the virus.
Emmanuel Nworie, a first-class mathematics graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka has bagged a fully-funded scholarship at a university in the United States.
Nworie bagged the scholarship after a photo of him tilling the soil in Ebonyi state owing to poverty and a lack of a platform to utilize his knowledge went viral on social media.’
The 27-year-old who graduated with a cumulative grade point average of 4.92/5.00, recounted the challenges he faced before he applied for the Michael Taiwo (MT) Scholarship in an interview with The Cable.
Nworie said;
“I started having challenges in 2005 when we struggled with the health of my dad. I have long wanted to be a mathematician. But after my dad passed away, I was deterred because at some point when I was trying to save for undergraduate studies and after two years I couldn’t save enough, so I was frustrated.”
The UNN graduate emerged as one of the 23 candidates selected from a pool of 1,509 applicants for the scholarship, covering costs for application fees and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) — a requirement for the graduate application for some courses in the US.
He received three offers from universities in the southern part of the US. Taiwo who made the announcement said;
“Today, I am pleased to announce that Emmanuel Chinweuba Nworie has accepted a fully-funded offer to study for his PhD in Mathematics at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. SMU is a prestigious private research university. Emmanuel prefers locations with warm weather. He received three great offers, all from schools in the southern part of the US.
“Mentors are our secret sauce. It is hard to exaggerate the role Dr. Busayo Aworunse, Emmanuel’s assigned mentor, played in delivering the outcome we celebrate today. Busayo, thank you. Help me congratulate Emmanuel. I cannot wait to see what he does with a Math PhD from SMU!”
Speaking with TheCable, Taiwo described Nworie’s achievement as remarkable. He said;
“He still feels the rage and sadness I spoke about a couple of months ago, but I feel happy for him in particular and hope in general that we can make a difference.
“He is going to one of the best universities in the world. SMU is a costly school, more expensive than Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale. He will be schooling with people from the richest families in the world. This is the kind of exposure we (the MT Scholarship team) and he felt like he needed so that he can think big with his God-endowed brain.
“It costs over $75,000 per year to attend SMU. Emmanuel won’t pay a single dollar out of this. In addition to this, he will be given a very generous stipend to cater for his living expenses. The interesting thing is that he got three of this type of offers from Southern Methodist University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and the University of Texas at Dallas.”
When asked about his advice for other distinguished graduates who share similar stories like Nworie, Taiwo said such people should endeavour to utilise the internet to access available opportunities.
“I would say they should keep up hope and try to move to a city where they can have access to the internet. As you can remember from Emmanuel’s story, his breakthrough came because he was in Enugu when the application window for the annual Michael Taiwo Graduate School Application scholarship was open.
“If he had been at his farm in Ebonyi, he would have missed this generation-changing opportunity. So my advice is that they should relocate to where they can get access to information, i.e. the internet.”
12 officers and 89 soldiers have been declared missing by the Nigerian army in the wake of last week’s Boko Haram attacks on Marte and Dikwa local government areas of Borno State.
A signal dated March 1, 2021 from Operation Lafiya Dole Headquarters in Maiduguri, revealed that the soldiers were declared as deserters.
It was alleged that three majors, three captains, six lieutenants, three sergeants and 89 soldiers fled in the aftermath of the attacks on Marte and Dikwa.
Daily Trust reported that the signal, signed by Col. A.O. Odubiyi, on behalf of the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, partly read;
“I am directed to connect Reference A on above subject and to respectfully forward details of additional officers and soldiers who absconded from the defensive location during the BHT attack on New Marte and Dikwa.
“You are requested to declare the named officers and soldiers’ deserters WEF 19 Feb 21. You are also requested to cause HQ NAFC to freeze their accounts and apprehend/bring them under military escort to this Headquarters if seen within your AOR.”
Premium Times reported that the bank accounts of the affected personnel have been frozen. The order to arrest and freezing of bank accounts of the fleeing soldiers reportedly came from authorities of Operation Lafiya Dole in Borno.
Various formations of the army have been notified to immediately apprehend and deliver any of the soldiers found in their areas of responsibilities. See the names of the soldiers below;
GY Mohammed
EP Nwangwu
US Muhammad
EG Utok
A Ibrahim
US Ibrahim
ME Ochei
EN Essien
FC Maduako
KO Adejare
S Mammada
YJ Ishaya
Muazu Yusuf
Musa Usman
Idris Garba
Chigbo John
Aminu Mohammed
Godfrey Samuel
Christopher Silas
Okoro Emeka
Meze Hillary
Zakka Peter
Onyebuchi Kennedy
Okunola Oluwasegun
Suoyefe Abiola
Mwankat Shalmak
Ekekien Peter
Daniel Emmanuel
John Monday
Yakubu Amos
Aminu Saidu
Pius Okoro
Kenebra Shedrach
Dominic Eworo
Ojo Oluwasegun
Nura Lawal
Yakubu Suleiman
Johnson Chorus
Isah Shaibu
Nasiru Hamisu
Jibrin Sa’adu
John Ukpenkune
Umar Sani
Mustapha Suleiman
Isiaq Adam
Muhammed Ahmed
John Richard
Kabiru Hashimu
Awuna Monday
Isah John
Zamani Fidelis
Abubakar Adam
Philip Chia
Ogundipe GBenga
Samson Unite
Francis Audu
Abubakar Musa
Ibrahim Adamu
Sadiq Abubakar
Lawal Abdullahi
Ajala David
Suleiman Jamilu
Okoro Ama
Sunday Sule
Aimato Abdulsalam
Abubakar Musa
Suleiman Kabiru
Onu Kingsley
Buba Usman
James John
Hussaini Adamu
Shamsudeen Ismail
Saidu Sani
Abdullahi Musa
Abubakar Yahaya
Edosa Aigboje
Ibrahim Umar
Chukwujekwu Okenwa
Abdullahi Usman
Ukali Emmanuel
Joseph Benard
Ewubare Gold
Abimiku Sunday
Ibrahim Mansur
Joseph Ayuba
Ayanyemi Tayo
Remember Jeremiah
Jimoh Adesina
Ukwokori Precious
Ayawei Ayibatemi
Kalu Sunday
Abdulkadir Ahmed
Osakwe Festus N
Badamashi Omokafe
Levi Pwagureno
Paul Pilate Saddam
Bello Musa
Moses Ayo
Ademu Alih
Ogobi Fredrick
Benedict Uduebor
The publication reported that soldiers attached to 15 Task Force Battalion were ambushed and dislodged after hours of intense fighting.
Those familiar with the matter, said the troops were overwhelmed and could not withstand the superior firepower of the terrorists. The unit then tactically retreated and relocated to Dikwa, which was attacked again.
A Nigerian national, who was arrested in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, with counterfeit U.S. dollar bills had reached India using a fake passport and visa, the police said on Tuesday.
The accused, Nathan Ikechukwu Okubor, 42, from Agbor, Delta State was arrested on Monday, March 1, while trying to change the counterfeit U.S. dollars at the Muthoot Financial Institution in the Kattoor area of Coimbatore.
According to the police, Okubor gave the bills to the money transfer officer at the institution and asked for it to be converted into Indian currency.
Officers who checked the bills revealed that the were all counterfeit. Following this, they informed the Kattoor Crime Branch police. Officers arrived, arrested the suspect, seized his identity card and the fake US dollars
On Tuesday, the police and ‘Q’ Branch sleuths said that Okubor, arrived Mumbai on January 21, from Nigeria using a fake passport and visa. He told them that he came to Chennai and from there to Coimbatore by bus.
“He reached Coimbatore on Monday and checked into a lodge at Gandhipuram. He later approached the Gandhipuram branch of a forex firm with U.S. dollar bills. The employees at the firm suspected the genuineness of the currencies and found them to be fake,” said an investigator.
“The forex firm immediately alerted the Kattoor police in Coimbatore who took the man into custody and arrested him later.” the investigator added.
E.S. Uma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Coimbatore City Police, also confirmed that the currency produced by the Nigerian was fake.
During questioning, the Nigerian claimed that he got some U.S. dollar bills exchanged for another currency at Mumbai airport. He also told investigators that he had come to Coimbatore for cotton business.
He has been remanded in judicial custody in Puzhal Central Prison.
A suspected terrorist has stabbed eight people in Vetlanda, Sweden, police have said.
No deaths have been reported but police have shot a man in the leg who is now receiving treatment in hospital as officers guard his bed.
The incident happened around noon on Wednesday, March 3.
At 2.54pm, emergency services received calls from the area near Bangårdsgatan regarding an attack at 2.54pm.
Ahead of a press conference expected on Wednesday evening, Minister of the Interior Mikael Damberg said: “Several people are seriously injured.
“These are terrible events and my thoughts go to the victims and their relatives. Right now it is unclear exactly what happened and what the motive was.
“The police have arrested a suspected perpetrator and have initiated a special incident to handle the development of the incident and create security in Vetlanda.”
Karl Melin, press officer for the Säpo security police, told the Aftonbladet newspaper: “We cooperate with the police and if it turns out that it is a terrorist crime, we will be more involved.
“When it comes to suspected terrorist crime, it is the normal security police who investigate it.”
Police spokeswoman Angelica Israelsson Silfver told the same paper: “Some are seriously injured and some are slightly injured, but no one is dead.”
Police are not looking at any other perpetrators behind the attack.
Simon Cowell was pictured having a heated discussion in the street with his partner Lauren Silverman.
The heated discussion occurred as the music mogul, 61, headed out for a dog walk with Lauren, 43, and their son Eric, seven, in London on Friday, February 26.
In the pictures, Simon and Lauren appeared deep in a heated discussion. At one point, Lauren was seen walking away from Simon who then tries to stop her.
According to onlookers, the pair appeared to be ‘very fraught’ and walked at a distance to each other following the conversation.
A passer-by told The Sun: ‘Simon started to walk off and Lauren was walking behind him. Then he stopped and they seemed to be rowing. Simon had a face like thunder.
‘It appeared to be very fraught. Lauren turned to move off and Simon put out his hand as if he didn’t want her to walk off.
‘Lauren put her hand up close to her mouth and made a gesture. Simon looked annoyed and got out his phone and started ringing someone.’
They added that both seemed ‘pretty annoyed’ and walked in the same direction but at a distance.
However, a source close to the family disputed the claims and said the couple were ‘happier than ever’.
The pal said: ‘Simon and Lauren weren’t having a tiff at all. They are happier than ever.
‘They have been together throughout lockdown and, with Eric, were just walking in the park – like so many families at the current time.’
A spokesperson for Simon also denied claims there was a heated discussion and told MailOnline: ‘There was no row or argument whatsoever.’
Simon has been with Lauren since 2013. She has another son Adam, from her marriage to Andrew Silverman.
A court in China has upheld a lower court’s ruling in favour of a textbook’s description of homosexuality as a mental disorder.
The decision of the Suqian Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern province of Jiangsu was called “random and baseless” by Ou Jiayong, also known as Xixi, who had filed the lawsuit.
In 2016, Xixi had discovered a psychology textbook that described being gay as a mental disorder during her studies at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
In 1990, the World Health Organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder following which China followed suit and decriminalised homosexuality in 1997. Two years later, in 2001, China removed it from the official list of mental disorders.
Despite this, a psychology textbook being used by a number of Chinese universities listed homosexuality under “common psychosexual disorders” along with cross-dressing and fetishism.
The textbook is the 2013 edition of Mental Health Education for College Students published by Jinan University Press.
Following this, Xixi, 24, and her friends protested against it in front of the office of the textbook’s publisher. They argue that the book is perpetuating the belief that being gay was wrong and then, in 2017, they filed a case against the publisher asking it to remove the reference.
But, last year, the Suyu District People’s Court in Suqian held that opposing views of Xixi and the publisher were due to differences in opinion instead of being a factual error.
As a result, in November 2020, Xixi, who is now a social worker in Hong Kong, appealed against the ruling which has now again not gone in her favour.
Her case and subsequent appeal had generated serious support from China’s LGBT community but the court’s decision last week has left them disappointed.
However, she is not calling it quits and discussing with legal experts to see if there is any possibility to take the case further.
Ah Qiang, an activist for LGBT rights, stated that the textbook’s editor has used viewpoints that do not match “society’s perception of sexual minorities” in the present times.
A Nigerian lawyer says he has discontinued a divorce case he was handling after the husband got the wife pregnant during lockdown last year.
Sharing the interesting story on Twitter this morning, @darknbold1 wrote
”We dey court dey try to divorce you and your wife, small Covid-19 lockdown you go give her belle Life no suppose be like that nah. Lawyer to the wife says the baby is CTC of reconciliation. We are discontinuing this matter this morning. But in all, this is one of my most successful case so far. Great plot twist to bring the couple back together. Case file closed. I just told the man to name the baby “omolaja”
There was a mild drama in a church in Kogi as youths beat up a clergyman for refusing to allow them to perform their tradition.
Angry youths numbering about 20 on Monday night, March 1, beat to coma Pastor Michael Samson, the clergy in charge of United Evangelical Church in Iyano community under Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State.
It was gathered that the incident happened at about 11pm on Monday night.
According to Kogi In Focus, trouble started when the pastor had during the day denied the youths access to the church with their masquerade while they were performing a ceremony.
Angered by the pastor’s resistance, the youths returned at night with weapons, with which they attacked the pastor while he was asleep.
They beat the pastor to a coma and he is currently admitted at Idah general hospital.
A pastor who narrated the incident to Tribune said: “They wanted to perform to the gods of the land which we call ‘Ane’ in Igala land. The pastor told them that this is not the right place to do it and they should leave. After leaving, they came back in the night fully kitted with dangerous objects to beat him to Coma.
“They were up to 20. We are praying right now that nothing should happen to our brother because he is currently in critical condition.
“The incident has been reported to the Police Division in Onyedega under Ibaji LGA.”
The police are reportedly investigating the incident.
As the world celebrates the appointment of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), her sister, Dr. Njide Okonjo-Udochi has also emerged Family Physician Of The Year 2021 in Maryland, United States.
This award was bestowed on Ms. Okonjo-Udochi by the The Maryland Academy of Family Physicians (MDAFP).
The MDAFP award honours a standout member that exemplifies the values and traditions of the family physician.
Dr Udochi is the first Black female to win the prestigious award.
WTO DG, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala congratulated her sister on Twitter, writing: “Congratulations Dr Njideka Udochi, Maryland’s Family Physician Of The Year. Thank you for your care of COVID-19 patients and for saving so many lives. Proud of you my sister.”
Another Okonjo family member, founder and CEO of Giant Beverages, Onyema Okonjo also congratulated Dr Udochi, writing: “Congratulations to both of my older sisters (Ngozi Okonjo Iweala & Njide Udochi).
“And congratulations to my parents. My eldest sister for her success with the WTO and my second sister for being selected as the best family practice doctor in Maryland, USA.
“My parents set the stage with their strong support for women. My mother has been a very passionate women’s rights advocate and even as a retired Professor of Sociology in her 90’s, she still cares about women’s rights, equal rights, and equal access for women. May God bless both of you and may both of you continue to reach greater heights.”
Dr. Njide Okonjo-Udochi, founded Millennial Family Care in 2003. She was announced Baltimore Magazine Top Doctor in 2019. She is recognized as a top primary care doctor in Maryland and beyond and is featured as a medical expert on doctors’ interviews on CNN, FOX News, CNBC, and more.
A woman, Amy Mathews has revealed she has had too many orgasms and climaxes just by looking at someone she fancies.
According to Amy, 23, she has had orgasms on public transport, in college and even during lunch with her parents.
Now, she says, she is addicted to them as her record for an individual sexual encounter is an incredible 18 orgasms.
She is single and is a dance teacher from Oxford.
Amy has a condition known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that causes flexible joints and loose tendons. According to her, orgasms help reduce the pain that she gets from the condition.
She was 15 when she had her first boyfriend. They were together for three years and it was with him she had her first sexual encounter, which she describes as “a bit of a non-event”.
Amy says: “I orgasm very easily and multiple times. If I’m on my own on a train and see someone I fancy, I’ll start to orgasm then and there. If I’m in bed with someone, I can pass out from having so many that are just too intense.
“On other occasions my abs hurt from the constant contractions in my tummy and pelvic area.
“Sometimes I feel bad for the other person when I’m having so many and he gets just the one.”
She says her sex life evolved when she started a seven-month relationship at the age of 18.
“With this guy I learned to properly orgasm. They occurred via vaginal penetration and stimulating my clitoral area.
“When we had sex, I was having a minimum of five.”
After they split, Amy could orgasm at any time in any place even without sex or physical stimulation.
“I took medication (for her condition) but it made me tired.
“But if I had sex or orgasmed with a sex toy or by myself, I’d perk up again.
“I don’t take meds (for the pain) now. I prefer to orgasm instead.”
She says she’s been addicted to orgasms since age 18.
“I feel bad for the other person…I’m having so many, he’s having one
“I’d been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and one of my dance college teachers told me I was too fat.
“There was a lot of drama going on in my life and I started to suffer anxiety.
“Each time I had a panic attack, I found having an orgasm could help calm me down. The feeling of release was addictive and that’s when I started orgasming more regularly.
“One time, I had stormed out of a classroom, I sat down in the corridor and had one.
“While I don’t think I made any noise or blushed, God knows what other students must have thought seeing me sitting there. But it definitely made me less stressed.”
Amy said she was referred for sex addiction therapy by a college counsellor.
She says: “The person I saw said as long as I feel good after the act, whether on my own or with someone else, then it’s OK.
“If I had a panic attack, the orgasm relief was better if I’d had physical sex — but I could feel emotionally worse afterwards. At one stage I was having lots of sexual partners.
“I wouldn’t say the number of guys I have slept with was into three figures but it isn’t far off.”
“With my third boyfriend, when I was 21, I had the best sex.
“The most memorable time was when I had a full-body climax. I couldn’t breathe. It lasted for ages.
“It was like being on a rollercoaster when the ride keeps going up. You want it to be over because you can’t take it any more.
“The most I ever had with him in one go was 18 . . . I lost count after that.”
Amy can control her desire to orgasm when she is at work but it is the first thing she does when she gets home. It sometimes happens at unwelcome times.
She says: “It can be awkward when I have one around my family. My Mum knows and is very supportive, taking the view that I’m lucky, whereas Dad has no idea.”
Amy says she is happy to hook up with guys for sex.
She says: “I’ve only had three serious boyfriends and the one with the mind-blowing sex finished two years ago.
“Since then I haven’t wanted a boyfriend. I’ve got a high sex drive and I prefer to see guys casually.
“I only sleep with them on two or three occasions.
“I don’t want a boyfriend. I just need to orgasm regularly.
“There are times I feel bad if I don’t orgasm.
“When guys know about my ability to orgasm easily and it doesn’t happen or I don’t go into double figures, they worry there is something wrong with their performance.”
The longest Amy has gone without orgasming is a couple of days.
She says: “I’ll spot someone cute and my brain will say, ‘Let’s go!’
“Once, when I was out for lunch with friends, someone asked me why I was so quiet.
“One friend there texted me asking me if I was orgasming. I replied, ‘I can’t stop it’.
“I’ve even googled, ‘Is it normal to be able to orgasm without any contact?’ to see if it’s just me — and it isn’t. It does happen.”
There is a rare condition called persistent genital arousal disorder, but Amy does not believe she has it.
She says: “My theory is that I have a higher sex drive from all the extra testosterone in my body as a result of having polycystic ovary syndrome.
“At first I found it hard to talk about but not any more. Men do get scared when I explain how often I can orgasm.
“Nowadays, when I have sex, I’ll climax a minimum of nine times. I have missed sex during lockdown.
“I have broken it a couple of times to see a friend because I’ve never gone longer than six weeks without sex.
“I don’t miss the intimacy but I do miss the sex.”
Farmers and traders in Kano are lamenting as farm produce, which can’t be sent to the South due to the ongoing strike by sellers of cows and food stuff, are now being sold in the North at ridiculously low prices.
In video shared by Daily Trust, the farmers and marketers at the Gun-Dutse onion market, Dawakin Kudu Local government Area of Kano State, are seen lamenting the effect of the ongoing strike by the sellers of cows and foodstuff.
Recall that trucks bringing food stuff to the Southern part of Nigeria were turned back at Kara Jebba, the last village between Niger state and Kwara state, to prevent them from bringing food to the South (read here).
This strike is connected to an ultimatum given by the national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to the Federal Government which demanded compensation for the losses suffered by Northern traders in the recent mayhem at Shasha market in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The strike led to an increase in price of food commodities in the south but in the north, the prices are plummeting.
According to Daily Trust, farmers said before the protest, they usually transport a minimum of 20 trucks to the southern part of the country on a daily basis but the strike has affected them badly.
The largest bag of onion, which sold at N35,000 few weeks ago and as high as N70,000 during the onion scarcity last year, is now being sold for N7,000.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Niger State Command have recovered 27 new rifles from two suspects during a routine stop and search operation in Kontagora area of the state.
The suspects identified as Danjuma Auta, 35, and Daniel Danrangi, 25, both male and from Dirin Daji, Sakaba Local Government Area of Kebbi State, were arrested along Kontagora – Zuru road, Niger state on Monday night, March 1.
According to the Niger state Commander of the Agency, Mr. Aloye Isaac Oludare, the duo were arrested with 12 locally fabricated AK 47 rifles and 15 locally fabricated pistols. The rifles were concealed in a white sack while on a motorcycle to an unknown place when they were arrested.
“Kontagora where the weapons were seized is about 107 kilometers from Kagara, a town in Niger State where there have been mass abductions of women, children and secondary school students in the last one month.
“Preliminary investigation shows that the fabricator of the weapons resides in Kamfaninwaya, not far away from Kontagora, while one of the pistols is fully loaded. The suspects and the weapons will be transferred to the Nigerian Police Headquarters, Minna for further investigation and prosecution of the suspects” Oludare said
The National security adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, has said some people are taking advantage of the deteriorating security situation in the country to profit themselves.
Monguno disclosed this when he spoke to newsmen after the national security council meeting presided over by President Buhari at the state government house on Tuesday, March 2.
He warned people stoking violence to desist or have themselves to blame.
“Of course, the president still remains concerned about the level of security, which seems to be cascading for the worse. Given the fact that we have a new organisation with new service chiefs, the president has charged all of us to redouble our efforts, especially in view of the occurrences of the last couple of weeks.
Now, I need to stress also that there are individuals in this country who have assumed a status that is beyond what they should be. The intelligence from our own sources, the intelligence at my disposal and the disposal of the other intelligence hence, reveals that we have certain entities, certain individuals who are making capital out of insecurity, especially kidnapping.
This is a situation that has to be brought to an end and I’m sending a warning to anybody who is hiding beneath a veneer of some status, whether official, in terms of an official capacity or traditional or religious, to stoke the flames of disorder will have himself to blame.”
He further warned non-state actors causing problems in different parts of the country to desist from doing so, adding that they have been placed under surveillance by the intelligence agencies.
“I’m sure you’re all aware of the fact that no country will tolerate a group of non-state actors. No sovereign nation will allow a group of non-state actors to bring it down to its knees and render the state in state of panic, apprehension, mistrust, disorder, and so on and so forth,” he said.
I think we’ve had enough of violence, enough of chaos, enough of anarchy, but I want to stress once more that any individual or group that thinks it can take it upon itself to cause disunity, disharmony and push the country to the brink should have a rethink.
Any individual who thinks he has any support, who thinks he can undermine this government, anybody, any human being, as long as it’s a citizen of this country, anyone person who thinks he’s the cat’s whiskers, or he can be rocky on the perch and lead us into a situation of unhappiness, will have himself to blame at the end of the day.”Monguno said
Ian St John, a former Liverpool and Scotland forward who went on to co-host the popular television show Saint and Greavsie with Jimmy Greaves is dead at the age of 82.
John who scored 9 goals in 21 international appearances for Scotland, was a key player in the great Liverpool team assembled in the 1960s by Bill Shankly. The team rose from the second division to win two English league titles and an FA Cup in 1965, in which he scored the winning goal in the final.
The footballer’s family who confirmed his death, said in a statement;
“It is with a heavy heart that we have to inform you that after a long illness we have lost a husband, father and grandfather.
“He passed away peacefully with his family at his bedside. We would like to thank all the staff at Arrowe Park Hospital for their hard work and dedication during these very difficult times.
“The family would be grateful for privacy at this extremely sad time.”
St John started his career at his hometown club, Motherwell, before joining Liverpool for a then club-record fee of £37,500, and played 21 times for Scotland, scoring nine goals. His other clubs included Coventry and Tranmere and he went on to manage Motherwell and Portsmouth. Saint and Greavsie was shown on ITV from 1985-92.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday March 2, declared Zamfara state a no fly-zone.
National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) conveyed the President’s directive while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting of National Security Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The NSA who disclosed that the President also approved a ban on mining activities in Zamfara over rising insecurity in the state, said all non-state actors had been placed under surveillance.
Daily Trust reported that Monguno reiterated that the federal government would not hesitate to use kinetic means to restore normalcy in the country, while also disclosing that defense and intelligence organisations had been charged not to allow the country slide into anarchy.
He said;
“We can no longer avoid to lose lives while operating within the legalities. We are not going to blackmailed . The government has the responsibility to assert its will.
“Citizens can reside wherever they want to reside . Anybody who is a criminal should be brought to book. The president has also warned against ethnic profiling. We have have enough of chaos .
“Any individual that thinks he can cause disunity, should have a rethink.”
Fulham midfielder, Kevin McDonald has revealed he is putting his career on hold to have a transplant amid a long battle with chronic kidney disease.
The Scotland international has been suffering from kidney disease for around 14 years now and has been under doctors’ orders throughout a playing career which has included 500 professional appearances Dundee, Sheffield United, and Wolves. He also made five international caps for Scotland.
The 32-year-old is now planing for a transplant in April after friends and family members put themselves forward to offer a replacement kidney.
‘I’ve been fighting a chronic kidney disease, or kidney failure ever since I started playing football. I’ve had it my whole career and obviously been under the orders of the doctors throughout my whole career,’ McDonald told FFCtv.
‘No one sees this part of football. People just see you on the pitch and they have their opinions of you on the pitch and that’s that. I just wanted to come out with this.
‘I’ve had a lot of people asking about “Why am I not playing, why am I not going out on loan” and this and that and it is something that we didn’t want to share until this moment because obviously what’s coming up it needs to be said now.
‘So it’s just to make everyone aware that I’ve had a chronic kidney disease my whole playing career and that’s where it’s at.’
McDonald was left out of Scott Parker’s two 25-man Premier League squads this season and he was expected to leave Fulham on loan in January, but he has revealed why that did not happen.
‘I’ve known I’ve needed a kidney transplant for nearly 12 years now. I’ve loved my whole career in football but at the same time, in the back of my mind, my health has always been my priority. Football is a game but we’re talking about life-threatening diseases,’ he said.
‘I’ve got one kidney that doesn’t work at all and one kidney that’s about 10 per cent now. I’ve been playing with stage 1, to now stage 5 kidney disease, which is chronic kidney disease, kidney failure.’
He added: ‘It’s a part of me opening up about it, people build these things up and of course there were certain reasons why to not tell anyone, so people and football clubs and businesses might not want to employ you as such, so there was reasons to keep it (quiet).
‘But now, knowing that I’m towards the end of my career I’ve taken the decision to pick health over football, this season especially – and we just want to get it over and done with to be honest with you.
‘It’s been creeping up on you for so long and it’s kind of like I’d rather go get it done and get on with the recovery again.’
Another woman has accused New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo of ‘unwanted sexual advances’, the third time he is being accused by a woman in the space of 8 days.
Anna Ruch has claimed that Cuomo asked to kiss her at a wedding in 2019, the latest bombshell as calls for Cuomo to resign grow louder amid the dueling scandals over allegations of improper behavior toward women and his handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
A third woman has accused Governor Cuomo of unwanted touching and sexual attention, saying he placed his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her at her friend's wedding. A friend took a series of pictures of the incident as it occurred. https://t.co/bgvzBK4vK0pic.twitter.com/hXvgTvSntQ
According to The New York Times, who published the above photo showing Cuomo holding Anna on the face as she she looked uncomfortably at him, Anna Ruch, 33, claimed that Cuomo asked to kiss her at a wedding in 2019.
After he asked to kiss her he now put his hand on her bare lower back.
Ruch said she pulled away and was “so confused and shocked and embarrassed” by the incident.
“I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment,” she reportedly said.
Over the past week, two of Cuomo’s former aides have accused him of sexual harassment, allegations he has denied.
Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former staffer, claimed Cuomo talked about his willingness to have relationships with women in their 20s.
Prior to Bennett’s allegation surfacing, Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan published a blog post accusing the governor of unwanted touching and kissing.
Cuomo responding to the new allegation, apologized for things that “have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.”
Democratic politicians within the state have already started calling for Cuomo’s resignation.
Cuomo has already authorized an independent investigation of the allegations by the State’s Justice Department.
A Nigerian basketball player has become one of the most discussed topics in basketball, with basketball greats talking about him, after a video of him started popping off on social media.
Abiodun Adegoke, 18, is 7ft 9in and can slam dunk with his two feet on the ground.
The Nigerian is set to become the tallest ever competitor in the NBA after he went viral.
A clip shared online shows the teenager working in the gym with coaches in Dubai during a youth talent development camp, where he has been playing recently.
The video shows Adegoke, who at the whopping height of 236cm can dunk with both feet still on the ground, moving with incredible agility and showing close control while dribbling.
The clip was shared by four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal, who played at centre his entire career and used his 7ft 1in frame to devastating effect.
Adegoke already stands seven inches taller than anyone else to grace the biggest stage in basketball.
Known as “bignaija” on Instagram, Adegoke has already accumulated tens of thousands of followers after going viral.
The 18-year-old is currently training with the MPAC Sports UAE system as he weighs up where his future could take him.
Watch a video of him below.
Good luck trying to stop 7'9" Nigerian prospect Abiodun Adegoke in the post 😳
The Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned a Dutch couple identified as Peiter Borremans and Nkechi Borremans alongside Lagon Trade Limited before Justice E. A. Obile of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State for suspected fraudulent dealings involving a marine Tanker Vessel to the tune of $330,000 (Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand United States Dollars).
They were arraigned on two- count charges bordering on conspiracy and obtaining by false pretenses contrary to Section 1(1) (a) and (2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
One of the counts reads
“That you, Peiter Borremans, Nkechi Borremans, and Lagon Trade Limited, on or about the 31st day of July, 2014 at Port Harcourt within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars ($330,000:00) only from Jackkyson Multi Services Limited and Alot General Services Limited, as advance payment meant for the purchase of Marine Tanker Vessel, a pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and (2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.
They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges when they were read to them. In view of their pleas, prosecuting counsel, N. A. Dodo prayed the court for a date for commencement of trial and for the defendants to be remanded in a Correctional Centre.
Defence counsel, C. A. Okowanya informed the court of oral applications for the bail of his clients and prayed that the defendants be remanded in EFCC custody due to the second wave of Covid-19.
Justice Obile adjourned the matter till March 31, 2021 for the commencement of trial and remanded the defendants in EFCC custody.
Trouble started for the couple when a petitioner alleged that his company: Jackkyson Multi Services Limited and Alot General services Limited, offered to purchase a Marine Tanker Vessel from Lagon Trade Limited (belonging to Peiter Borremans and Nkechi Borremans) for One Million One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars( $1,100,000) and made a part payment of Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars ($330,000:00).
The defendants allegedly vanished into thin air after collecting the money and all efforts to get a refund or delivery of the Vessel proved abortive.
A 25-year-old passenger who was allegedly raped at gunpoint by a taxi driver and a conductor in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on Monday, said she was scared to reveal she is HIV-positive.
The woman‚ who was dumped in a cane field after the ordeal‚ told Reaction Unit SA (Rusa) security officers on Monday, she wanted to let her attackers know about her status but was afraid they would shoot her.
Rusa spokesperson Prem Balram said they were called by a passing motorist just after 3pm after the driver was flagged down by the victim on the northbound lane of the N2 near Sibaya Casino.
“Reaction officers and medics were dispatched to the scene. On arrival they located the hysterical female seated in the emergency lane. She told a female reaction officer she operates a stall in Durban‚” he said.
Balram said she boarded a taxi to visit her boyfriend.
“As they left Durban she asked the two why there were no other passengers in the minibus‚” he said.
The conductor put a cloth over her face and instructed her to be silent.
“She was driven to a cane field where both men took turns raping her at gunpoint. They then drove off and left her in the field‚” he said.
Police spokesperson Capt Nqobile Gwala said a case of rape was opened at Verulam police station.
“It is alleged by the complainant that [on Monday] at 2.30pm she stopped a taxi near the Moses Mabhida Stadium as she was going to KwaDukuza. While the taxi was on the N2 Sibaya turn off‚ the conductor covered her mouth while [the driver] pointed a firearm at her. The victim was then raped by the suspects before they left her on the side of the road‚” she said.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has hit back at LeBron James to continue their war of words over the basketballer’s political activism.
The AC Milan striker, who is not happy with influential figures branching into politics, has refused to back down on his stance on the matter after James replied him that he will never stop using his platform to speak out about political issues such as racial inequality.
‘Racism and politics are two different things. We athletes unite the world, politics divides the world,’ said the 39-year-old striker said on Tuesday.
‘Everyone is welcome, it has nothing to do with where you are from, we do what we do to unite. We don’t do other things because we are not good at it, otherwise I would be in politics.
‘That’s my message. Athletes must be athletes, politicians must be politicians.’
The Swedish football legend previously told Discovery+: ‘[LeBron] is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like it when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time.
‘Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football.
‘I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics. That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status.
‘Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.
Over the weekend, James had responded to Zlatan’s criticism by saying he was ‘the wrong guy to go at’ and won;t using his platform to speak out about political issues such as racial inequality.
“I will never shut up about things that are wrong. I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social justice, racism, voter suppression – things that go on in our community.
“Because I was a part of my community at one point and saw the things that were going on, and I know what’s still going on because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice.
“I’m their voice and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that might be going on, not only in my community but in this country and around the world.”
On Saturday morning, he also posted via his Instagram story, a message, which reads ‘When y’all gone learn that… I am more than an athlete.’
About 386 soldiers voluntarily disengaged from the army due to medical and other reasons in the second quarter of 2020 as confirmed by the House of Representatives Committee on Army.
Abdulrazaq Namdas, Chairman of the committee revealed this while presenting a report to the house yesterday March 2.
Namdazs said 356 soldiers left the army after losing interest, 24 left to take up traditional titles; while six were discharged on medical grounds. He also revealed that records also indicated that 6,752 soldiers were discharged from the service in the last five years; while 25,655 soldiers had got enlisted within the same period.
The Chairman of the house committee added that documents show that all the voluntarily discharged soldiers were Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO), ranging from Master Warrant Officer (MWO) to private (PTE).
The lawmaker said;
“Those soldiers did not realize that engagement in the Army is more than a job; it entails personal commitment, regardless of welfare package.
“The documents show that all the voluntarily discharged soldiers were Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO), ranging from Master Warrant Officer (MWO) to private (PTE).
“Based on the facts available to the committee, there was no mass resignation from the army. Individual soldiers resigned on their own from their units.
“The army also told the committee that many soldiers also voluntarily resigned because they simply lost interest in the profession and wanted to take up or look for another job.
“Others voluntarily discharged from the service to take up traditional titles. There are also a few who voluntarily resigned for health reasons.
“Soldiers do not resign in group, rather each soldier resigns on his/her own choice as an individual by submitting his/her own hand-written resignation letter to his/her own unit.
“It has become a routine that every year soldiers resign voluntarily, and so the case of the resignations in the second quarter of 2020 is not unusual.”
The committee which recommended that the Nigerian Army improve on the welfare of its personnel, especially those in battle fields or other combat operations, to make them more committed to their job and to the nation, also called for an effective monitoring or follow-up in the delivery of the welfare packages in all the Army formations to ensure that they reach the soldiers in a fair and equitable manner.
Northern traders under the aegis ofAmalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) have vowed to continue the food blockade to the Southern part of the country, in spite of being at risk of losing their perishable goods.
Awwalu Aliyu, an official of the union who spoke to TheCable stated that the aim of the food blockade is not to starve Southerners but to protest against the killing and destruction of properties belonging to Northerners.
Aliyu who restated the group’s claim of Northerners being killed and losing properties especially during the #EndSARS protest and the recent Shasha market crisis in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, added that it will be better for them to lose food items locked up inside trucks in Jebba, Niger state than losing their lives.
When asked if members of the union were not concerned about food items locked up inside trucks in Jebba, Niger state, going bad and leading to losses, Aliyu said;
“It would be better to lose the food items than to lose lives.
“You’re talking about losing goods; which one is better, to lose a life or to lose property? Losing property is better than losing a life.
“We prefer and our people will prefer to lose those farm items or goods than to continue losing their lives. If you are alive, you can plant another thing, you can rear another cattle. But if you’re dead, you can’t do that again. Only the living can go to the farm.
“We do not want to destroy anybody. We do not want to kill anybody. The number of Yorubas and Ibos that reside in Kano and Kaduna alone is far more than the number of northerners in the entire south-west, south-south and south-east.
“Also, the investments of Yorubas and Igbos in Kano and Kaduna, running into billions of naira is more than the entire investments of northerners in the south-west, south-east and south-south if you remove Dangote. Our people are only petty traders, shoe shiners, fingernail cutters, wheelbarrow pushers, okada riders and so on.
“Our people in the south don’t have what southerners have in the north. They have farmlands, buildings and a lot of properties that run into billions. We do not intend to touch a needle out of it. We do not intend to destroy anybody’s property. What we want is to have our people protected from being killed.”
The United States government has imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials over the poisoning of top opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The sanctions are being levied againt Russia’s top spy and six others, and will be followed up by sanctions from the European Union too.
US officials say they had concluded that the Russian government was behind the near-fatal nerve agent attack on Navalny last year, that made him receive treatment in Germany for months.
Navalny is the most high-profile critic of President Vladimir Putin and his imprisonement last month after returning to Russia resulted in large protests in the country.
Moscow denies involvement in his poisoning saying Navalny was not poisoned with a Novichok agent during a flight in Siberia.
The term Novichok – “newcomer” in Russian – applies to a group of nerve agents developed in a lab by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The agent paralizes muscles and can lead to death by asphyxiation.
The US say the sanctions will be imposed on seven senior Russian officials and 14 entities involved in chemical and biological production.
“Russia’s attempt to kill Mr Navalny follows an alarming pattern of chemical weapons use by Russia,” one official said.
Under the sanctions, the assets of the officials in the US are frozen.
Those targeted include Alexander Bortnikov, who heads the FSB, Russia’s main intelligence agency, as well as deputy Defence Ministers Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov.
The sanctions are the first imposed on Russia by the administration of President Joe Biden.
The EU announced on Tuesday March 2 that it had targeted four Russian government officials. They are Alexandr Kalashnikov, the head of the Russian prison system, Alexandr Bastrykin, chairman of the Investigative Committee, Chief Prosecutor Igor Krasnov, and Viktor Zolotov, who heads the National Guard.
The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.
Early on Tuesday Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated his claim that the West was “hiding the facts that could help to understand what had happened” to Navalny and was unfairly punishing Russia.
“We have repeatedly expressed our position in regards to illegitimate unilateral sanctions that… are used by the colleagues from the United States and those who take an example from them, the European Union,” he said.
