Three men including a 70-year-old have been sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic Sharia Court in Ningi, Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State, which found them guilty of homosexuality.
Trail of the convicts identified as Abdullahi Beti (30), Kamilu Ya’u (20) and Mal. Haruna (70), began on June 14, 2022 after being arrested by members of the Hisbah Vanguard operating in Ningi LGA through Adamu Dan Kafi.
They reportedly pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them. After hearing the statements by witnesses as well as admittance of guilt by the accused persons, the trial judge, Munka’ilu Sabo-Ningi, sentenced them to death by stoning.
He based the judgement on provisions of Section 134 of the Bauchi State Penal law of 2001 as well as the provisions of Fiquhussunah Jizu’i number 2 at page 362.
The world’s football governing body, FIFA has set aside $1.696b for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
The organization says it has set aside about $440M or 26% of its WC budget towards prize money, which will be the largest share of the tournament’s allocations.
The figure represents a 10% increase in the allocation from its 2018 figures.
The prize money guarantees each of the 32 participants at least $9m. That means 16 teams that exit the group stage will share $144m of the prize kitty.
Also 8 teams dropping out in the second round will take home $13m each, totaling $104m.
Four teams will exit at the quarterfinals level, taking $17m each.
The fourth-placed team will earn $25m as the second runners-up pocket $27m. Finally, the tournament’s winning team will get $42M, and the runners-up $30m.Besides those bonuses, they also get $1.5m each for their preparation costs.
Operational expenses will take the second largest chunk of FIFA’s budget in Qatar 2022. These will account for $324m or 19% of the $1.696billion outlay, FIFA said.
FIFA also announced that it projects over 5 billion people will watch this year’s tournament. Therefore, it has set aside 15% of the funds for its television audience, which is $247m.
The Nigerian Army has confirmed the attack in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State by bandits who killed scores of security operatives, including soldiers and police.
According to reports, at least 43 people, including 30 soldiers and seven mobile police personnel and civilians were killed when the armed men stormed the Gold mining site. The bandits also abducted four Chinese nationals.
Confirming the attack, the Nigerian Army, in a statement issued by its Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, said some bandits were also gunned down during the attack.
“Sadly, a number of personnel paid the supreme price in the fierce firefight that ensued.
Subsequently, the location has been reinforced and troops are on the trail of the criminals with some already neutralized.
The GOC 1 Division has moved to the location to take charge of the follow up operations” the statement read in part
The news that the Governor of Rivers State Nyesom Wike visited the Presidential flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in France has sent a wave of shock within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Yesterday, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Drainage and Water Resources, Joe Igbokwe, hinted that Wike visited the All Progressive Congress’ presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in France.
Recall that Tinubu had earlier departed for France in continuation of further consultations against the 2023 presidential election.
While commenting on his Facebook page, Igbokwe claimed that Wike, who was a former presidential aspirant of the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party and current Governor of Rivers State, had visited Tinubu in France.
He said, “While they are on social media abusing everybody, Governor Wike goes to France to meet Asiwaju.
“Abuse, calling names, hate, and bigotry are no strategy. They hated and abused PMB (President Muhammadu Buhari) since 2015 and now they have transferred the aggression to Asiwaju. We wait and see.”
Earlier, Governor Wike had disclosed that he was in Turkey, alongside his Abia counterpart, Okezie Ikpeazu, for a “much needed vacation.”
Speculations are rife that Wike may dump the Peoples Democratic Party, following his fallout over the presidential primary of the party and the failure of the party’s presidential standard-bearer, Atiku Abubakar, to pick the Rivers governor as his running mate for the 2023 general elections.
The appeal filed in 2018 by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, seeking the reversal of IPOB proscription as a terrorist group by the Federal Government could be revisited.
This was made known, yesterday, to The Guardian by the Special Counsel for the Appellants, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor, who said that the services of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, has been engaged to step up the appeal.
Ejimakor said: “When the proscription was made ex parte in October 2017, IPOB approached the Court of Appeal, insisting that the trial court was in error and prayed that the order be set aside.”
He said that IPOB had framed five grounds, which include that the activities of the group were not within the definition of terrorism acts as enshrined in Section 2 (1)(a)(b) & (c) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013, to warrant such proscription.
Machukwu-Ume had recently determined that there was need for amendments of the existing grounds of arguments to help set in motion a just and favourable determination of the pending appeal, adding that he is leading a team of lawyers, comprising IPOB’s senior and principal lawyers, Aloy Ejimakor and Ifeanyi Ejiofor.
Ejimakor, who said that based on available court documents, “the proposed amended notice and grounds of appeal, which are now 18 in total, accuses the Attorney General of the Federation of “looking the other way while the Fulani herdsmen were killing, maiming and kidnapping all over Nigeria, while, on the other hand, applying to the court for the Appellants, who do not cause any violence, to be proscribed.”
ALSO, member representing Aba South Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Obinna Ichita, yesterday, urged the Federal Government to view Kanu’s case from the prism of being a factor worthy of consideration in the search for lasting peace in the South East, the entire country and not the cause of insecurity.”
He said that political solution remains the best option to resolving the impasse, urging the Federal Government to heed appeals by eminent Nigerians to dialogue with Kanu and other agitators of self-determination to find lasting solution to the rising tension in the country.
The lawmaker spoke yesterday in Abuja while commenting Federal High Court’s refusal of bail application by Kanu, predicting that the release of the IPOB leader would tremendously help to douse the tension in the South East.
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), yesterday, said it had suspended plans to sell its onshore oil assets in Nigeria, in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling, which said it had to wait for the outcome of an appeal over a 2019 oil spill. Managing Director of SPDC and Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, in a statement, said: “The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) complies with the law, including any court orders, and respects the judiciary and its role in upholding the rule of law.
“Recent media reports regarding the June 16 Supreme Court proceedings does not accurately reflect SPDC’s response to the order. SPDC will continue to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to maintain the status quo. We have a strong belief in the merits of our case, which we are vigorously defending.”
In a separate statement, the London-based company said: “Shell welcomes the Nigerian Supreme Court’s decision to hear the appeal of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in this case. Until the outcome of SPDC’s appeal, Shell will not progress the divestment of its interest in SPDC.”
MEANWHILE, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) have returned to the trenches over an alleged payment of N74 billion in transport claims.
While the management of NMDPRA declared it had remitted the huge sum into the coffers of independent marketers, IPMAN is threatening legal action unless the downstream authority substantiates its claim.
The management of NMDPRA had, on Wednesday, July 29, 2022, declared it paid N74 billion to IPMAN in the past seven months.
In a counter reaction, Chairman of IPMAN (Northern chapter), Alhaji Bashir Danmalam, debunked NMDPRA’s claims, insisting IPMAN has not received such amount of money as branded.
Danmalam, who disclosed IPMAN’s stand while addressing journalists in Kano, said the marketers would be left with no option but to seek redress.
He challenged the management of NMDPRA to come up with the names of all the marketers paid, adding: “I’m surprised to hear the story on payment of the N74 billion claims by the chief executive of the agency, Faruk Ahmed Maishanu. Either he was misinformed or he does not know what is happening in the place.
“Who and who were paid the money? I know some of the marketers who are being owed N10 billion each. So, for him to say that the agency paid N74 billion to marketers is not true. We can only agree with the said payment if the money was paid to ghost marketers or if it was part of the rejected waybill.”
THIS came as the House of Representatives asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to establish more depots across the country and regulate the operations of private depot owners.
It noted that if more fuel depots were established, fuel scarcity would be curbed, while more employment opportunities would be created, thus improving the country’s economy.
A member, Kingsley Uju, in a motion, titled: ‘Need to establish more petrol depots in Nigeria’, stated during plenary, yesterday, that there are insufficient depots in the country.
According to the lawmaker, an estimated 100 million litres of bad petrol imported into the country has caused fuel scarcity with the consequent effect of adulteration of the product by black market vendors.
In another development, civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) faulted the alleged diversion of $7 billion petrol subsidy under the current administration.
In a statement, National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, urged civil society organisations and rights activists to drag the government to court.
He said: “The claim of the House of Representatives on diversion of petrol subsidy to the tune of $7 billion, if substantiated, is another proof that the government of President Buhari is infested with corrupt people who pretend to be saints.”
On Wednesday, R. Kelly, the US singer and songwriter, was finally sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sex charges.
His sentencing had come after he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in September last year.
The 55-year-old singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been in a protracted legal battle over sexual assault and child pornography allegations since the 1990s.
TheCable Lifestyle examines major events that led to the conviction and eventual sentence of the award-winning musician.
August 31, 1994: This was R.Kelly’s first case of sex with underage girls. Then 27, Kelly illegally tied the knot with 15-year-old singer Aaliyah in a secret ceremony. He was said to have obtained a fake ID for Aaliyah that showed she was 18 to avoid prosecution for statutory rape.
The union was eventually annulled due to Aaliyah’s age. She later died in a 2001 plane crash at the age of 22.
December 1996: Two years after his affair with Aaliyah, Kelly was in the news again for sexual abuse allegations. Tiffany Hawkins, a woman from Chicago, had claimed that the musician had sex with her when she was 15.
In her suit, Hawkins alleged Kelly was 24 at the time they had sex. The suit was later settled for $250,000.
December 21, 2000: The singer was the subject of a scathing report published by the Chicago Sun-Times. The article claimed Kelly “used his position of fame and influence as a pop superstar to meet girls as young as 15 and have sex with them.”
August 2001: Tracy Sampson, a former intern at Epic Records, sued Kelly for abusing her when she was a teenager. The lawsuit was later settled in 2002 for $250,000.
June 2002: The musician was arrested and detained in Florida for child pornography charges over a 27-minute sex tape. The prosecution had during a grand jury in Chicago said the clip showed Kelly having sex with a minor.
But the singer pleaded not guilty.
June 2008: Kelly was acquitted of the child pornography charges over the refusal of the girl shown in the clip to testify in the case.
2017: The embattled singer’s career suffered another major blow after the #MuteRKelly campaign took the centre stage. The campaign was aimed at denying the singer publicity and forcing organisations to sever ties with him.
During the campaign, more accusations of sexual abuse against the singer surfaced as a woman identified as Jerhonda Pace also detailed how he assaulted her.
April 2018: Time’s Up, a group fighting against harassment, joined the #MeToo movement and demanded further investigation into allegations against Kelly.
May 10, 2018: Spotify removed Kelly’s music from its playlists amid the allegations against him.
January 2019: The assault allegations against Kelly received wide exposure after Lifetime released a documentary titled ‘Surviving R Kelly’.
The documentary explored claims that an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades. After the documentary was released, more victims of the musician came out to testify.
February 22, 2019: Kelly was in the public eye again after he was charged in Chicago with 10 counts of sexual abuse.
The ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ crooner was accused of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims.
Three of the victims claimed they were between the ages of 13 and 16 when they were abused by the singer.
May 30, 2019: Kelly was charged with 11 new sex-related counts in Chicago.
July 11, 2019: Kelly was indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on 13 counts, including child pornography, enticement of a minor, and obstruction of justice.
July 12, 2019: Kelly’s case took another major twist after the federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged him with racketeering and other crimes. This led to his eventual conviction.
August 2, 2019: Kelly pleads not guilty to the federal charges in New York.
August 5, 2019: He was further charged with prostitution and solicitation in Minnesota. Kelly was said to have invited a teenage girl to a hotel room in 2001 and paid her $200 to dance naked with him.
October 2019: Kelly was denied bail in the New York sex abuse case.
March 5, 2020: The singer pleaded not guilty in Chicago to an updated federal indictment that includes child pornography charges and allegations pertaining to a new accuser.
August 2021: Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial commenced after an initial delay over COVID-19.
September 27, 2021: After a six-week trial at the Brooklyn federal court, Kelly was convicted of sex trafficking.
His conviction had come after he was found guilty of being the ringleader of a decades-long racketeering and sex trafficking scheme that exploited black women and children.
June 29, 2022: Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Ann M. Donnelly, the judge, delivered the verdict at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York after hearing from several survivors who attested to how Kelly’s exploitation affected them.
WHAT NEXT FOR R. KELLY?
It remains to be seen what becomes of the singer in the coming weeks ahead of his trial in Chicago.
Kelly is separately facing trial in Chicago on child sex images and obstruction charges. The trial is expected to begin in August.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it will commence the marking of answer scripts of over 1.6million candidates, who sat for the just concluded May/June 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
A statement signed by WAEC acting Head, Public Affairs, Mrs. Moyosola Adeyegbe, said coordination and marking of the school candidates answer scripts will start from Wednesday, July 13, 2022.
The statement reads: “The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria wishes to inform its stakeholders and the general public that the coordination and marking exercise of the just concluded WASSCE for school candidates, 2022 will be carried out at 85 marking venues spread across the country.
“To keep up with the practice of releasing candidates’ results 45 days after the conduct of the last paper, the coordination and marking exercise will commence on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, after the Eid-el-Kabir holidays.”
Adeyegbe said the coordination meetings for chief examiners and team leaders will hold in the morning of Wednesday, July 13, 2022 while the assistant examiners coordination meetings will commence in the afternoon of the same day.
“The coordination meetings would span three days, from Wednesday, July 13 to Friday, July 15, 2022. This is to enable our Muslim brothers and sisters (staff and examiners) partake fully in the festivities before embarking on the assignment, ” she stated.
WAEC Head of Nigeria National Office, Mr. Patrick Areghan, while announcing the conduct of the school exam, said results will be released within 45 days after the last paper was written.
Areghan said 1,607,985 candidates were examined in 76 subjects, made up of 197 papers.
Majority of the SS3 students wrote the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Board (UTME) as awaiting result candidates.
Carl Froch says Anthony Joshua needs a ‘brain transplant’ if he is to become a three-time heavyweight world champion by beating Oleksandr Usyk.
Froch believes the Watford-born Joshua has the body to take on Usyk, but questioned his mentality ahead of their rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on August 20.
Last September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Usyk won their initial fight by unanimous decision, but now Joshua has a new trainer, Robert Garcia, who is thought to bring more aggression to the 32-year-old’s boxing style.
Despite the switch-up, though, former super-middleweight champion Froch does not fancy Joshua’s chances of turning the tables this time around.
Froch told Betfred’s Lightweight Boxing Show, “Sometimes a change is good, but for Anthony Joshua to beat Oleksandr Usyk, he needs a brain transplant. He’s got all the physical attributes but I just don’t think he can beat him.”
Their previous encounter was only the second time Joshua has lost a professional bout, after being knocked out by Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019.
Joshua will be eyeing up revenge against Usyk, especially after leaving his previous trainer Rob McCraken to obtain Garcia’s services.
Froch, in a seperate interview with iFL TV, added, “I think it’s going to be difficult for Joshua to beat Usyk in this rematch; it’s going to be very difficult unless he changes his train of thought and his mindset.
“His mindset needs to be bang on. He needs to start believing in himself and go in that ring with all the confidence that he can and will do the job. If he goes in believing, he can achieve.
“I just think since the Ruiz loss, he hasn’t had that mindset and hasn’t had that mentality of a winner. He just sort of got through the rematch with Ruiz, and I wasn’t impressed with the (Kubrat) Pulev victory.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s former Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, has expressed fear over the growing popularity of the presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi in some Northern States.
Ahmad said Obi’s name has metamorphosed into a movement in Kano and Katsina States.
He warned other presidential candidates that Obi had become a movement to beat in both States.
In a tweet, the former presidential aide said Obi may likely claim 75 to 80 percent votes in Kano and Katsina States.
“Let me confess, the name Peter Obi alone is a movement to beat, I was in Kano over the weekend and to my surprise everywhere is PO, nobody is talking about other candidates anymore and a friend told me that it’s a similar story in Katsina. LP is getting 75% – 80% in those States,” he tweeted.
Obi, who is the former Governor of Anambra State, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to LP.
Since he joined LP, Obi has become a household name among Nigerians who feel he should be the country’s next president.
As Nigeria draws closer to the 2023 presidential election, the clamour for electorates to vote Obi continues to increase daily.
Despite his growing popularity, the All Progressives Congress, APC, had said its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu has nothing to fear.
A former Acting National Chairman of APC, Hillard Eta, had said most of those agitating online would end up voting for Tinubu in 2023.
Eta had pointed out that such an agitation was nothing new.
A chieftain of the apex Igbo socio-political organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Damien Okeke Okene, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is interested in keeping Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, incarcerated.
Okene, who is Ohanaeze’s National Vice Chairman, said Buhari is aware that the Southeast would continue to wallow in insecurity with Kanu behind bars.
Addressing newsmen, Okene said Buhari frowns at the idea of idolizing Kanu across the Southeast.
He lamented that the President’s recent utterances played a major role in preventing Kanu’s release.
“If you assess the President’s comments and utterances before the court sitting, you will understand that he was not interested in releasing the young man because he knows that doing so will bring happiness to the people of the South-East, who are longing for his release.
“Although, the court has adjourned the matter, Buhari’s recent utterances in the build-up to the court sitting greatly influenced the decision of the court and the President knows that keeping Kanu means that the insecurity in the South-East will continue because the people see him as their idol and they want him released,” Ogene said.
Recall that Buhari recently said the IPOB leader would be made to account for the outrage against the Nigerian government.
Buhari spoke during his meeting with the United Kingdom, UK, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson in Kigali, Rwanda.
He also recounted how Kanu once jumped bail and eloped to Europe, where he propagated his agitation for Nigeria’s break-up.
Ferdinand “BongBong” Marcos Jr has been sworn in as the new president of Philippines succeeding outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte .
Marcos Jr – nicknamed Bong Bong – Bong won the election landslide last month. Sara Duterte, the daughter of the outgoing president, is being sworn in as vice-president.
Marcos Jr took his oath of office at midday local time (0400GMT) on Thursday June 30 in a colourful ceremony at the National Museum.
His inauguration marks a stunning comeback for the Marcos political dynasty, which was ousted after a popular revolt in 1986.
Flanked by his wife and three sons, Marcos waved and smiled while observing a parade that featured an aerial display of jet fighters and march-pasts of Philippine’s military.
In his first speech as president, he thanked the crowd for delivering what he described as “the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy.”
Marcos Jr, 64, paid tribute to his late father dictator Ferdinand Marcos – who ruled the Philippines for two decades with an iron fist.
During the time of his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr, the country was plunged into martial law and he took control of the country’s courts, businesses and media while the army and police arrested and tortured thousands of dissidents and murdered political opponents.
“I once knew a man who saw how little had been achieved since independence. He got it done,” Marcos Jr said. “So will it be with his son. You will get no excuses from me.”
He repeated calls for “national unity” – a refrain that featured prominently during his campaign trail, before urging the crowd not to look back “in anger or nostalgia.”
Marcos Sr’s rule ended in 1986, when a mass uprising saw millions of people take to the streets and the Marcos family – including a 28-year-old Bongbong – fled the country for Hawaii.
The long-time politician, who returned to the Philippines in 1991, has since sought to paint his father’s presidency in a good light.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, is still interested in capturing most of Ukraine, the US has said.
In March, after a month of fighting, Russia refocused its efforts on seizing Ukraine’s Donbas area after failing to take the capital Kyiv and other cities.
Putin still has the same goals as the ones he held at the start of the conflict, the US’s top intelligence officer Avril Haines has said, adding that taking all or most of Ukraine is Putin’s number one desire .
Director of US national intelligence, Haines says Moscow’s troops have been so weakened by combat that they are only capable of making slow territorial gains meaning the war could last for a long time.
She also says, Russia is unlikely to achieve that goal any time soon.
“We perceive a disconnect between Putin’s near-term military objectives in this area and his military’s capacity, a kind of mismatch between his ambitions and what the military is able to accomplish,” she told a US Commerce Department conference.
Ms Haines suggested Russia’s invasion would grind on “for an extended period of time” and that “the picture remains pretty grim”.
She said intelligence agencies see three scenarios of how the war could play out, the most likely being a slow moving conflict with Russia making “incremental gains, with no breakthrough”.
The other less likely possibilities include a major Russian breakthrough, or a stabilisation of the frontlines with Ukraine achieving small gains.
This also means Moscow becomes more dependent on “asymmetric tools” to target its enemies; including cyber attacks, efforts to control energy resources and even nuclear weapons.
Since failing to achieve its initial goal of capturing Kyiv, Russia has focused on seizing territory in the eastern Donbas region – a large, industrial area where Mr Putin falsely claims Ukraine has carried out a genocide against Russian speakers.
Russian forces have made gains there, recently taking control of the city of Severodonetsk, but progress has been slow and Ukrainian forces have put up strong resistance.
Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III has declared Thursday 30 June as Dhul Hijjah 1, 1443AH.
With the declaration, it means Saturday 9 July is Eidul Adha or sallah day, just after Friday 8 July, which is Arafat Day.
The National Moon Sighting Committee (NMSC) said in a statement;
“Eidul Adha will be on Saturday, 10th Dhul Hijjah 1443H (9th July 2022) In Sha Allah.
“His Eminence, the Sultan hereby calls upon the Muslim Ummah to intensify efforts in acts of worship during the first 10 days of the blessed month of Dhul Hijjah.
“And also pray for peace, stability and progress of the country.”
Bayern Munich has reiterated that they won’t sell their top striker, Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona no matter the amount of money offered.
According to the Bundesliga champions, Barca should not waste their time making further offers.
Lewandowski wants to leave Bayern and join up with Barcelona but the Spanish giants are not financially strong enough to afford Bayern’s price tag of at least 50 million euros on the striker. Hence they have been trying to force Bayern to reduce their valuation of the target.
However, the honorary President of Bayern Munich, Uli Hoeness has revealed that the club have decided that they won’t sell Lewandowski this summer no matter what.
“I don’t know anything about a new offer. But as things stand in Munich, what I have heard is that Barcelona should save themselves the effort of making another offer,” Hoeness said at a sports congress in Neuland.
“But Bayern’s words were clear. They said that Robert should honour his contract with Bayern Munich.
“I can’t imagine that there is any amount of money that would make them change their mind,” he said.
A Nigerian pilgrim has died in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, following an undisclosed illness.
Aisha Ahmed, from Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa state, died on Wednesday, June 29, after a brief illness according to Idris Al-Makura, Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board.
The deceased reportedly showed no sign of sickness before leaving Nigeria.
When she became ill, she was first taken to the National Hajj Commission’s Hospital in Makkah and later transferred to the King Abdulaziz Hospital where she passed on.
Chelsea's Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku reacts after missing to score during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-final first leg football match between Chelsea and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, on April 6, 2022. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP) (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images)
Romelu Lukaku has completed a return to Inter Milan with no obligation to buy after his nightmare second spell at Chelsea.
Inter will pay Chelsea a loan fee of £6.9m plus £3.5m in bonuses if they win the Scudetto, and will cover all his wages this season.
The Chelsea striker flew into Milan Linate airport around 6.20am local time and posed with an Inter scarf before getting in a car.
“I’m so happy to be back,” he said. Having completed his medical, Lukaku has officially been announced as a new Inter player.
The Belgian striker endured a season to forget after re-joining the Blues for £98million last summer as he struggled to hit top form.
In a statement confirming the deal, Chelsea said: ‘The Belgian returns to the Italian side where he previously spent two years and won the Serie A title.
‘Lukaku came back to Stamford Bridge last summer, 10 years after initially joining the club as a teenager, and resumed life in the Premier League by scoring in a win at Arsenal, before netting twice in his first home game as we defeated Aston Villa 3-0, scoring his first goals at Stamford Bridge.
‘He found the net again against Zenit St Petersburg but that would be the last time until the return match with the same opponents three months later, as he struggled to shake off the effects of an ankle injury suffered in another European tie against Malmo in October, which restricted his appearances in early winter.
‘Lukaku scored in back-to-back Premier League games against Aston Villa and Brighton between Christmas and New Year, before helping us to lift the FIFA Club World Cup trophy for the first time at the beginning of February. He scored the only goal as we beat Al Hilal 1-0 in the semis before opening the scoring in the 2-1 final win over Palmeiras.
‘The striker contributed further goals in the FA Cup before helping us secure a third-place finish in the Premier League in May, with a brace in a 2-2 draw against Wolves and completing the scoring as we beat Leeds 3-0.
‘Combined with his first spell at Chelsea between 2011 and 2014, Lukaku has made a total of 59 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals.’
Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta all-but confirmed the deal on Tuesday when he said: ‘We have to thank the availability of the presidency and the owners. I hope it can be closed, not in a few hours, but a few days.’
‘We cannot make it official yet,’ he added. ‘He is a returning player who has done very well with us and we are happy to bring him home.’
The 29-year-old notched just eight Premier League goals in the 2021-22 campaign, failing to live up to the performances that encouraged Chelsea to splash the cash in the first place.
Lukaku’s first spell at Inter began in the summer of 2019 and he fired Antonio Conte’s side to the Scudetto in the 2020-21 season, scoring 24 goals in Serie A.
The striker still has four years left on his contract at Stamford Bridge but stated a desire to return to the San Siro in the explosive interview over the festive period.
He stunned Chelsea six months ago by saying he’s ‘not happy with the situation’ at the club he left the Italian giants for, as well as keeping the door open to a return.
‘I think everything that happened last summer was not supposed to happen like this… how I left Inter, the way I left the club, how I communicated with Inter fans – this bothers me because it was not the right time,’ he said in an interview with Sky Sport Italia.
‘Now it’s the right time to share my feelings. I have always said that I have Inter in my heart: I know I will return to Inter, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy, this is right moment to talk and let people know what really happened.
‘I really hope from bottom of my heart to return to Inter not at the end of my career, but when I’m still at top level to win more together.
Disgraced R&B star, R Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison months after he was convicted on all nine counts against him in a high-profile sex trafficking case.
Kelly, 55, was convicted on sex trafficking and racketeering charges last September following a six-week trial.
Judge Ann M. Donnelly on Wednesday, June 29, handed down Kelly’s sentence, despite the defense lawyers’ request for a sentence of 10 years or less. Prosecutors had asked for at least 25 years.
Judge Donnelly told Kelly he created ‘a trail of broken lives,’ adding that ‘the most seasoned investigators will not forget the horrors your victims endured.’
‘These crimes were calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years,’ she said. ‘You taught them that love is enslavement and violence.’
Kelly, who declined to speak on Wednesday, learned his fate after his accusers told the court, through tears and anger, that he had preyed on them and misled his fans. He was also was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.
Kelly has been detained at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his trial. It has not been revealed where Kelly would spend his sentence.
His lawyers had argued he should get no more than 10 years in prison because he had a traumatic childhood ‘involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence.’
As an adult with ‘literacy deficiencies,’ the star was ‘repeatedly defrauded and financially abused, often by the people he paid to protect him,’ his lawyers said.
Allegations that Kelly abused young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who alleged sexual battery and sexual harassment while she was a minor, and he later faced criminal child pornography charges related to a different girl in Chicago. A jury there acquitted him in 2008, and he settled the lawsuit.
Earlier on Wednesday, several women who testified against Kelly during the trial spoke about how he had promised to mentor them and help them attain stardom, only to subject them to degrading sexual treatment and physical harm. Many said the abuse led to mental health problems that persist.
He is still set to stand trial in Chicago on charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice. He also faces charges in Minnesota and federal charges of pornography and obstruction in Illinois.
The Brooklyn federal court jury convicted him after hearing that he used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation that prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, used his ‘fame, money and popularity’ to systematically ‘prey upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification,’ prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this month.
Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
Seven of them delivered impact statements before he was sentenced.
One of the victims, Angela, stood in court, looked directly at Kelly and called him a ‘Pied Piper’ who ‘lured children with his money and celebrity.’
‘With every addition of a new victim, you grew in wickedness,’ she said. ‘You used your fame and power to groom and coach underage boys and girls for your own sexual gratification.’
‘Today we reclaim our names,’ she said. ‘We are no longer the preyed-upon individuals we once were.’
‘I pray that god reaches your soul,’ she said, as Kelly glanced up at her briefly before lowering his eyes back to the table where he sat.
The second victim to speak in court on Wednesday said she never knew that a concert in September of 1994 would change her life forever.
Addie, who previously testified at Kelly’s trial but never gave her name, took several breaths before reading her statement Wednesday.
‘I never knew that going to that concert in September of 1994 was going to change me forever,’ she said.
Addie said she was a fan of the singer Aaliyah. Aaliyah, who R Kelly married when she was 15, died in a plane crash at age 22.
Addie says Kelly sexually assaulted her on the night of his concert and did not see him again until the trial.
For decades, she stayed silent, because ‘it was a time of silence,’ she said, which is something she says she now regrets.
‘The last four years have been a rude awakening of how my silence has hurt others.’
At Kelly’s sentencing on Wednesday, one of the women featured in the docuseries, Lizette Martinez, spoke to the court with attorney Gloria Allred by her side.
‘January 1995 eventually changed me forever,’ Martinez said, referring to the day she met Kelly at a mall.
Martinez, 17, was an aspiring singer and Kelly had promised to mentor her. But Martinez says he started abusing her two months after they met.
‘I was left in shock, confused and in tears,’ she said.
‘I do not know how to put a price on all I’ve gone through. I am now 45, a mother and I struggle with mental health.’
Kelly did not look at Kelly Martinez as she spoke.
‘Robert, you destroyed so many people’s lives,’ she told him.
A fourth victim, identified as Jane Doe No. 2, addressed the court next, detailing how a sweaty Kelly would make her perform oral sex on him after he had returned from playing basketball.
‘I felt special, because someone who was special to the world was interested in me,’ she said.
As she continued on with her statement, Kelly began to speak with his lawyers prompting the witness to stop and hold up her hand.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, looking at Kelly. ‘I don’t want to interrupt his conversation.’
‘No price is too high to pay for your happiness,’ she said. ‘I hope you go to jail for the rest of your life.’
The next woman, Kitti Jones, said that Kelly did things to her that she ‘plans to take to my grave.’
A fifth woman to speak, Kitti Jones, said that Kelly did things to her that she ‘plans to take to my grave.’
‘Many of us have been waiting for this day to come,’ she added.
The next woman to give her statement, only identified as Faith, spoke directly to Kelly, with her father by her side.
‘I hope you forgive yourself,’ she said as she began to cry. ‘I forgive myself.’
Russia’s second-richest man, Vladimir Potanin has been included in the UK Government’s latest wave of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
The UK Government also placed sanctions on Anna Tsivileva, Vladimir Putin’s first cousin, who is president of coal mining company, JSC Kolmar Group.
Tsivileva’s husband Sergey Tsivilev is Governor of the coal-rich Kemerovo region and the couple have significantly benefitted from their relationship with Putin, according to a statement released by the Foreign Office.
The Foreign Office claimed, Potanin, with an estimated net worth of £13 billion, continues to amass wealth as he supports Putin’s regime, acquiring Rosbank, and shares in Tinkoff Bank in the period since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A Government spokesperson said: “As long as Putin continues his abhorrent assault on Ukraine, we will use sanctions to weaken the Russian war machine. Today’s sanctions show that nothing and no one is off the table, including Putin’s inner circle.”
According to Forbes, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, he stepped down from the board of the Guggenheim Museum foundation, on which he served for two decades.
In May 2021, the British Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision and allowed Potanin’s ex-wife Natalia to bring her $6 billion divorce claim in London.
As a result of sanctions, the Foreign Office claimed Russian car production is also down by 60 per cent and Russia’s own Transport Minister has admitted that Russia’s logistical infrastructure is now “broken” as a result of sanctions.
President Vladimir Putin has threatened that Russia would respond in kind if NATO deployed troops and infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the U.S.-led military alliance.
Putin made his comment a day after NATO member Turkey lifted its veto over the bid by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance after the three nations agreed to protect each other’s security.
The move means Helsinki and Stockholm can proceed with their application to join NATO, marking the biggest shift in European security in decades.
“With Sweden and Finland, we don’t have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join NATO, go ahead,” Putin told Russian state television after talks with regional leaders in the central Asian ex-Soviet state of Turkmenistan.
“But they must understand there was no threat before, while now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond in kind and create the same threats for the territories from which threats towards us are created.”
He said it was inevitable that Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would become worse over their NATO membership.
“Everything was fine between us, but now there might be some tensions, there certainly will,” he said. “It’s inevitable if there is a threat to us.”
He also said Russian troops had advanced in Ukraine and that the military intervention was going as planned. There was no need to set a deadline for an end to the campaign, he said.
An India tailor was beheaded on camera in Rajasthan by two self-proclaimed ‘Islamic warriors’ after sharing a post in support of a politician who sparked global protests with controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammed.
The two self-proclaimed ‘Islamic warriors visited Kanhaiya Lal’s small shop in a crowded Udaipur market, pretending to be customers, and engaging him in a discussion before attacking him.
Lal is heard pleading with them to spare him, in a video filmed by the attackers themselves.
One attacker repeatedly strikes the tailor on his neck from behind, even as he collapses to the ground screaming for his life.
The pair then went online, identifying themselves as Mohammed Riyaz Ansari and Ghouse Mohammed, claiming responsibility for the attack.
The victim was reportedly targeted for sharing a social media post in support of recent comments made by a spokeswoman for India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
The remarks by Nupur Sharma at a TV debate in late May were deemed ‘blasphemous’ and sparked protests that turned violent in some parts of India and demonstrations across the Islamic world.
According to Mail Online, Sharma was sacked by the BJP after her comments, which saw the governments of nearly 20 countries summoning their Indian envoys for an explanation.
The two attackers released another video after the killing in which they brandished knives and issued a chilling warning to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they would ‘douse the fire he had started’.
The two men, Mohammad Riyaz Ansari and Ghouse Mohammed have both now been arrested.
‘Both the accused in the killing have been arrested and we will ensure strict punishment and speedy justice,’ said Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
Gehlot appealed to people to not share the video as it would ‘serve the attackers motive of creating discord in society’.
The Union Home Ministry has dispatched a high-level anti-terror investigation team to the spot.
The immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed , is expected to get a N2.5bn severance package from the Federal Government.
On Sunday, June 26, Muhammed tendered his resignation on health grounds. Following his resignation, President Buhari swore in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the next most senior Justice as the acting CJN on Monday, June 27.
Punch reports that as part of the package for the retired chief justice put together by the National Judicial Council, a mansion will be built for him in Abuja or any city of his choosing with a lump sum for furnishing. This is in addition to a gratuity that is 300 per cent of his annual basic salary of N3.36m as well as a pension for life.
The National Judicial Commission had in 2019 recommended the payment of N2.5bn for Muhammad’s predecessor, Walter Onnoghen. A former CJN, Alfa Belgore, was also reportedly paid about N2.8b after he retired from service.
Just like state governors, a retired Chief Justice is entitled to at least four domestic staff and sundry allowances for personal upkeep. This includes allowances for accommodation, utilities, entertainment, medical, security, furniture, and vehicles.
The former CJN is reported to also get the financial package based on the provisions of Section 291 (2) and (3a-c) of the 1999 Constitution as well as Section 2 of the Pensions Rights of Judges Act.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria who spoke on condition of anonymity said
“His entitlements are enormous. He’s entitled to a house anywhere in Abuja, domestic staff, cars, salaries and allowances for life. Judges are being overworked because, by the time they retire at 70, they are not always looking young.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters on Tuesday, June 28, received a fresh order to probe the newly retired CJN over the allegations of corruption leveled against him by 14 Supreme Court Justices.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, mandated the Committee led by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele to probe the allegations against the CJN and the crisis presently rocking the judiciary.
MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 19: William Redmond III, who is visiting from Atlanta, takes a photo of the historic plaque marking Bruce's Beach on April 19, 2021 in Manhattan Beach, California. Redmond said he had been drawn to visit Manhattan Beach many times in the past but had never visited the Bruce's Beach site until reading a recent news report about it. The beachfront property was once a seaside resort owned by Charles and Willa Bruce, a Black couple, which catered to African Americans. Amid the Jim Crow era, the city claimed the property in 1924 through eminent domain while vastly underpaying the couple for the land. Los Angeles County is making plans to return the prime beachfront property, which may be worth $75 million, to Bruce family descendants. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
On Tuesday June 28, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to return ownership of prime California beachfront property to descendants of a Black couple who built a resort for African Americans but were stripped of the land in the 1920s.
Willa and Charles Bruce bought the land in 1912, and they built the first West Coast resort for Black people at a time when many beaches were segregated.
The couple however suffered racist harassment from white neighbors and in the 1920s the Manhattan Beach City Council took the land through eminent domain. The city did nothing with the property and it was transferred to the state of California in 1948.
In 1995, the state transferred it to the county, with restrictions on further transfers.
Supervisor Janice Hahn launched the complex process of returning the property to heirs of the Bruces in April 2021. A key hurdle was overcome when the state Legislature passed a bill removing the restriction on transfer of the property.
On Tuesday, the board voted 5-0 on a motion to complete the transfer of parcels in an area once known as Bruce’s Beach in the fashionable city of Manhattan Beach that is now the site of the county’s lifeguard training headquarters and its parking lot.
Board chair Holly J. Mitchell, co-author of the motion, immediately signed the documents which allow the county to lease back the property with an option to purchase it for millions of dollars.
This came after the county completed the process of confirming that Marcus and Derrick Bruce, great-grandsons of Willa and Charles Bruce, are the legal heirs.
“We can’t change the past and we will never be able to make up for the injustice that was done to Willa and Charles Bruce a century ago, but this is a start,” an emotional Hahn said before the vote.
Hahn said returning the property will allow the heirs “the opportunity to start rebuilding the generational wealth that was denied them for decades.”
Anthony Bruce, a family spokesman, said in a statement that the return means the world to them but it is also bittersweet.
“My great-great-grandparents, Willa and Charles Bruce sacrificed to open a business that gave Black people a place to gather and socialize, and Manhattan Beach took it from them because of the color of their skin,” he said. “It destroyed them financially. It destroyed their chance at the American Dream.”
The transfer includes an agreement for the property to be leased back to the county for 24 months, with an annual rent of $413,000 plus all operation and maintenance costs, and the county’s right to purchase the land for up to $20 million.
“This may be the first land return of its kind, but it cannot be the last,” Hahn said.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have pledged to support campaign to ensure that the Labour Party candidate, Mr Peter Obi emerges winner In the 2023 presidential election.
The leadership of the NLC and TUC made the pledge in separate addresses on Tuesday in Abuja.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba spoke during the 10th Memorial Lecture in honour late Pascal Bafyau.
Wabba described Obi as one among the finest Nigerians and the first presidential candidate of Labour Party to be recognised by the labour centre.
According to Wabba, NLC is solidly behind Labour Party and will fully mobilise to ensure the victory of the party come 2023 general elections.
He said that workers’ unions had realised that strikes and protests alone could not change the narratives in Nigeria, especially in regards to workers welfare and fair treatment to the working peoples.
According to him, hence labour must venture fully into politics and work hard to support candidates whose mantra will make life better for their members and Nigerians at large.
On his part, TUC president, Mr Quadri Olaleye, said that “Obi is a face among the presidential candidates that all labour unions are pleased and are ready to work with.”
According to Olaleye, the entire labour movement has accepted, adopted and will support, and ensure workers massively vote for him in the 2023 presidential elections.
”The Labour Party is stronger, one and formidable and the party has a widespread structure, as there is a worker and a members of either TUC and NLC in every family across Nigeria.
He insisted that Labour Party “is the only party for Nigerian workers,” he said.
In his address, Mr Peter Obi said his visit to the leadership of the two labour centres was not to campaign but for a courtesy call to honour the Organised Labour on whose party and interest he was seeking Nigerians votes in the 2023 general elections.
“My commitment is to move Nigeria from consumption to production and you can not talk about production without labour.
“Labour is the engine of production, capital and machine can do anything but labour is what makes it work.
”Because labour is the greatest contributor to production, it has to be properly remunerated.
“I do not need to tell you how bad things are in this country today. if you are on wages, today Nigerians spend 100 per cent of their wages on just feeding.
“So many don’t even know where their next meal will come from. They pay to train their children only for them to finish school and stay at home without work,” he said.
Obi said that these were issues that needed to be discussed.
“Nobody can be president without sitting down with labour organisations to decide the future of Nigeria.”
He said that Nigerians would no longer have a situation where the leaders would be here and workers would be there.
“They must sit on the same table and talk.”
According to him, that is the beginning of the solution, that is what is happening all over the world.
“Nigeria is not a producing country. The collective effect of what we are suffering today is bad leadership.
“We have a leadership that concentrates on sharing. So you have to move from sharing formula to production formula.
“This is a country of 200 million people sitting on 923,000 square kilometers of land. They cannot feed themselves, they cannot export anything. Total Nigeria’s export including oil is under two billion dollars for 200 million population.
”A similar country, not a first world country, one with the same tragectory with Nigeria in the year 2000, Vetnam, sitting on 331,000 square kilometers of land, a third of Nigeria’s land space and 100 million population, with half of Nigeria’s population, their total earnings last year was 312 billion dollars,” he said.
Obi however noted that more than half of the country’s youths of productive age were unemployed, adding “this is what the Labour Party is seeking to sit down to discuss for the future of our country.”
He said that borrowing was not the problem of the country as other countries were also borrowing to support their economic development drive.
“If you borrow for consumption, you are in problem but if you borrow for production, you will progress.”
Former Nazi concentration camp guard Josef Schuetz (R) covers his face as he arrives on June 28, 2022 at a gym used as a makeshift courtroom in Brandenburg an der Havel, eastern Germany, where his verdict was spoken. - The court gave its verdict in the trial of the 101-year-old man, the oldest person so far to be charged with complicity in war crimes during the Holocaust. (Photo by Adam BERRY / AFP) (Photo by ADAM BERRY/AFP via Getty Images)
A former Nazi concentration camp has been given a five-year jail term for assisting in the murder of thousands of prisoners at Sachsenhausen near Berlin during the Hitler led Nazi regime.
The guard identified as Josef S, due to Germany’s privacy laws, is the oldest Nazi criminal ever to stand trial in a German court.
He had always denied being an SS guard at the camp.
Tens of thousands of people died at Sachsenhausen during World War Two from starvation, forced labour, medical experiments and murder by the SS. More than 200,000 people were imprisoned there, including political prisoners as well as Jews, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies).
The court on Tuesday, June 28 found him guilty of aiding and abetting the murders of 3,518 people saying he was complicit in the shooting of Soviet prisoners of war and the murder of others with Zyklon B gas.
His lawyers had called for his acquittal and is set to appeal against the prison sentence.
“I don’t know why I’m sitting here in the sin bin. I really had nothing to do with it,” Josef S said in his closing statement on the eve of the verdict in Brandenburg an der Havel.
Judge Udo Lechtermann told him that the court had found that he had worked at the concentration camp for around three years from 1942. “You willingly supported this mass extermination through your occupation,” he said.
Trial of Nazi camp guards became possible in 2011, when ex-SS guard John Demjanjuk was found guilty. Yhe verdict prompted a search for Nazi individuals who were still alive.
Four years later, the so-called “bookkeeper of Auschwitz”, Oskar Gröning, was given a jail term. And a 97-year-old former concentration camp secretary is currently on trial in northern Germany.
Josef S is not fully identified in Germany because of privacy conventions. Although his name and birth details were given on the documents of an SS guard, he claimed he had not been at the camp and worked instead as a farm labourer.
Bandits have issued quit notice to residents of Sabon Zama, Gindin Dutse, Anguwan Tsohon Soldier, Anguwan Yuhana and Anguwan Mangu villages in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.
According to Daily Trust, residents said masked gunmen stormed the communities and asked them to either leave within five days or risk a war.
Ubale Pinau, a resident of Pinau, a village 11km away from Wase, told the publication on Tuesday, June 28, that the gunmen threatened to attack the area, advising them to vacate or face the consequences.
He said many residents have started trooping to Pinau and other bigger towns for safety.
When contacted, the spokesperson of Operation Safe Haven, Major Ishaku Takwa, said he was not aware of the quit notice
Boxing legend, Mike Tyson has revealed he spent the best three years of his life while in prison.
In 1992 he went to jail when he was accused by Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant, of rape, Tyson denied the accusations, even so, he was imprisoned in the Indiana Youth Center. His sentence was 10 years, 6 in prison and 4 on probation, but because of his good behavior he was in prison for only 3 years. He was released in 1995.
Many thought the three years he spent in prison would have been very difficult because he was at the top of his career but he apparently had a better time than expected.
Tyson revealed that he earned the inmates’ respect after rapper Tupac Shakur visited him in jail.
“They respected [Tupac], soon as he came in the room, they started applauding,” Tyson told NORE and DJ EFN.
In a new interview with “The Pivot Podcast” where he looked relaxed, while smoking a marijuana cigarette, Tyson said;
“I had the best three years of my life in prison,” said Tyson. “I had peace. That money doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have your peace, your stability and your balance. You need your sanity to dictate any part of life.”
“I had good food, everybody was nice to me, they treated me well.”
“I would run around the yard 8 or 9 miles and in the evenings I would jump for four hours, in my cell. Everybody treated me good in jail, they were afraid of me, but I was always a good person.
Manchester City legend, Fernandinho has reportedly agreed to join Athletico Paranaense, where he started his illustrious career.
The defensive midfielder joined City in 2013 for £34million and became an integral part of the dominant team that won five Premier League titles.
Fernandinho took over the role of club captain in 2020 after the departure of David Silva.
After leaving the Citizens at the end of last season after nine successful years, journalist Fabrizio Romano has said on Twitter that Fernandinho is joining Athletico Paranaense on a two-year deal.
Fernandinho started his career at Paranaense, making 72 appearances and scoring 14 goals between 2002 and 2005. He then joined Ukranian side Shakhtar Donetsk, before making his way to England eight years later.
Fernandinho made 264 appearances for City, scoring 20 goals for the club, as well as notably picking up 53 yellow cards and 4 red cards in the Premier League.
An application for bail filed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been dismissed by a federal high court in Abuja.
Ruling on the bail application on Tuesday June 28, Justice Binta Nyako described the application as an abuse of court process having being previously denied.
Kanu who was re-arraigned on an amended 15-count charge bordering on treasonable felony, is now facing 7 charges after the judge struck out eight charges out of the list.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite who was convicted late last year for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, was sentenced today, June 28, to 20 years in prison.
“A sentence of 240 months is sufficient and no graver than necessary,” U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan said while issuing the verdict.
Nathan also imposed a $750,000 fine, the maximum amount possible under the law.
Nathan addressed those gathered inside the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, including Maxwell and some of her victims.
Nathan said: “Ms. Maxwell directly and repeatedly and over the course of many years participated in a horrific scheme. Ms. Maxwell worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable.”
The judge said that Maxwell, 60, played a “pivotal” role facilitating “heinous and predatory” abuse.
In December, Maxwell was convicted by a jury on five charges, including sex trafficking, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts and two conspiracy counts.
Federal prosecutors were seeking a sentence of 30 to 55 years in prison.
Before Maxwell’s sentence was handed down, the judge heard impact statements from victims, including Annie Farmer, who had testified she was 16 when Maxwell introduced her to Epstein, and a woman identified as Kate who told jurors that Maxwell once gave her a “schoolgirl” outfit to wear during an encounter with him.
A lawyer for another victim, Virginia Giuffre, read a statement on her behalf that directly addressed Maxwell.
The statement said: “You deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage.”
Maxwell has been held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since her arrest at a New Hampshire estate in July 2020.
Epstein committed suicide in prison in 2019 one month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
During sentencing, Maxwell was given a chance to address the court and her victims.
She said: “Your honor, it is hard for me to address the court after listening to the pain and anguish expressed in the statements made here today. The terrible impact on the lives of so many women is difficult to hear and even more difficult to absorb, both in its scale and in its extent.
“I believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life and fooled all of those in his orbit. But today is not about Jeffrey Epstein.”
Maxwell added: “To you, all the victims … I am sorry for the pain that you experienced.”
The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters received a fresh order to probe former Chief Justice, Tanko Muhammed.
Tanko, who resigned on Monday, June 27, is facing corruption allegations raised against him by some justices of the Supreme Court.
At plenary on Tuesday, June 28, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, mandated the Committee led by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele to probe the allegations leveled against the ex-CJN and the crisis presently rocking the judiciary.
Lawan said: “The chamber mandates the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to go ahead with its assignment in the quest to find a lasting solution to the matter by interacting with relevant stakeholders to address the complaints raised in the petition by the Justices of the Supreme Court.”
The Senate also mandated the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters “to interface with the relevant stakeholders in the three Arms of Government as well as at the Bar and on the Bench to collate aggregate views and positions on the short term, medium term and long term measures needed to decisively address the crisis facing the Judiciary, including the immediate fiscal intervention as well as long term and sustainable budgetary allocations, required for the optimal performance of the Judiciary, in line with global best practices; and urge the Senate to wish the Hon. Chief Justice well, following many years of meritorious service to the nation and to pray for his good health.”
The Senate noted that on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, Lawan drew the attention of the Senate to the media reports on the state of affairs in the Supreme Court of Nigeria, whereby Justices of the Court, through a petition signed by majority of them, raised issues bothering on deplorable welfare conditions and difficult working environment for the Justices, which was addressed to the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman, National Judicial Council.
The President of the Senate emphasised the need for the Senate to urgently step into the matter as any issue that concerns the Judiciary is an issue of urgent national importance that the Senate could not afford to sit idly by and allow to spiral out of control.
Accordingly, the President of the Senate directed the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to get involved in the matter with a view to unravelling the root cause of the recent development in the Judiciary and how best the Senate can intervene in order to address the concerns raised by the Justices.
Lawan noted that Justices were taciturn and reticent in handling issues outside their judicial domain but resorting to such measures in order to protect the Judiciary, required the Senate to rise up to the occasion to ensure that their demands were addressed.
The committee chairman, Senator Bamidele said his team was taking steps to look into the matter as directed by the President of the Senate by making arrangements to interface with relevant stakeholders both at the Bar and on the Bench.
Bamidele said: “The poor welfare of Judicial Officers would affect the delivery of the judiciary in respect of their output and will prevent them from performing optimally.
“The sacred image of the Judiciary, which is the epicentre of the temple of justice should be preserved by the Senate through appropriate legislative measures in order to safeguard this highly revered institution and prevent it from being ridiculed.”
Bamidele added that Tanko’s resignation would not prevent the Committee from going ahead with its assignment in the quest to find a probable lasting solution to the matter.
He said: “Though Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed has stepped down as CJN, most of the issues raised by the Justices of the Supreme Court and other stakeholders within the Judiciary, still remain and need to be addressed urgently to prevent an eventual shutdown of the Judiciary.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has warned that landlords who rent houses to Internet fraudsters popularly known as ‘Yahoo boys,’ stand the risk of bagging 15-year jail term.
The antigraft agency mentioned this on its Instagram page.
”Okay now! What a juicy topic! E go sweet wella! Landlord way yaho-boy dey stay for him house, my people, na 15 years imprisonment for the landlord o! E don set!”
South African authorities are investigating the death of 22 teenagers, some as young as 14, after their bodies were found on Sunday morning, June 26, in a township tavern near the coastal city of East London.
Many are said to be students who were celebrating the end of their high-school exams on Saturday night, provincial officials said.
There were no visible wounds on the bodies. Officials have ruled out a stampede as a possible cause and said autopsies would determine if the deaths could be linked to poisoning.
Crowds of people, including parents whose children were missing, gathered on Sunday outside the tavern where the tragedy happened in the city of East London, while mortuary vehicles collected the bodies, an AFP correspondent saw.
Senior government officials including national Police Minister Bheki Cele rushed to the southern city where the tragedy occurred.
“It’s a terrible scene,” he told reporters. “They are pretty young. When you are told they are 13 years, 14 years and you go there and you see them. It breaks (you).”
The provincial government of Eastern Cape said eight girls and 13 boys had died. Seventeen were found dead inside the tavern. The rest died in hospital.
“We have a child that was there, who passed away on the scene,” said the parents of a 17-year-old girl.
“This child, we were not thinking was going to die this way. This was a humble child, respectful,” said grieving mother Ntombizonke Mgangala, standing next to her husband outside the morgue.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is attending the G7 summit in Germany, sent his condolences.
He voiced concern “about the reported circumstances under which such young people were gathered at a venue which, on the face of it, should be off-limits to persons under the age of 18”.
The authorities are now considering whether to revise liquor licensing regulations. South Africa is among the countries in Africa where most alcohol is consumed.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable… losing 20 young lives just like that,” provincial prime minister Oscar Mabuyane said, visibly shocked.
He was speaking to reporters before the toll was updated to at least 21. He condemned the “unlimited consumption of liquor”.
“You can’t just trade in the middle of society like this and think that young people are not going to experiment,” he said from outside the tavern, in a residential area called Scenery Park.
Empty bottles of alcohol, wigs were found strewn on the dusty street outside the double-storey Enyobeni Tavern, according to Unathi Binqose, a safety government official who arrived at the scene at dawn.
Ruling out a stampede as the cause of death, Binqose told AFP: “There are no visible open wounds.”
“Forensic (investigators) will take samples and test to see if there was any poisoning of any sort,” he said, adding the bar was overcrowded.
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, Convener of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Prof Ango Abdullahi has said that neither Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) can fix Nigeria.
Abdullahi who made the claim in an interview with Vanguard, said there will be chaos if either Tinubu or Atiku emerges president as they allegedly have nothing to offer the country.
He also said the presidential candidates of Labour Party, Peter Obi and that of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, are better options.
Abdullahi further claimed that Tinubu and Atiku have been around political circles for a long time without commensurate positives to show for it.
He said;
“No, we still haven’t got the man who we think will fix Nigeria. What we have on (the) ground is not good enough. How can you look at Tinubu and Atiku to say they are the ones who will fix this country?
“They have been on the ground for the last 25, 30 years and so on. What have they done? What are we looking for? I was the one who encouraged a technocrat to join this consensus. You probably had seen Mohammed Hayatu-Deen in the group of people going around looking for consensus arrangements in PDP. I was one of those who encouraged him. We haven’t got the materials on the ground, unfortunately.
“Peter Obi, unfortunately, I don’t know him that much. He is a young man; he was the former governor of Anambra State and he is a businessman.
“He (Kwankwaso) is a good, young man. He started his politics with us and he is quite smart. No doubt about it. Of course, he had some of these debts that he acquired or he must have picked in other political formations and so on but clearly, he is one of the bright ones around. No doubt about that.
“I believe we have not had a good array of politicians. With due respect to some of them that one saw contesting, I am not being selfish here by referring to certain people like Prof. Osinbajo. He is a quality material but the political system will not tolerate him.”
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice, have filed a lawsuit against the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and others over the controversy surrounding the real age of the kidney donor of their ailing daughter, David Nwamini Ukpo.
The Ekweremadus were arrested on June 21 and arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrate court in the United Kingdom for alleged conspiracy to facilitate the travel of Ukpo, alleged to be minor, for organ harvesting. The couple, however, denied the allegations and the court adjourned till July 7 for a hearing.
Trouble started for the couple when the donor went to the police to claim he was a 15 year old homeless boy brought from Lagos by the couple and that he was being treated like a slave in the UK.
In the lawsuit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2022, dated and filed June 27 by their counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, before Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, Abuja, the Ekweremadus prayed the court for an order directing the NIMC to supply them with the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the biodata information of David Nwamini Ukpo. Others mentioned in the suit are the Comptroller General (C-G), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Stanbic-IBTC Bank; United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc as 2nd to 5th respondents respectively.
In the court papers, the couple said Ukpo’s National Identification Number (NIN):19438077110, which is in the possession of the agency, should be produced for the purpose of facilitating the criminal investigation and tendering same to establish their innocence with respect to Ukpo’s age in the criminal charges against them before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court.
They also sought an order directing the NIS C-G to supply the applicants with the documents and application form of David Nwamini Ukpo in the possession of the 2nd respondent presented for the issuance of International passport No. BO0569974 for the purpose of assisting criminal investigation and tendering same before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court, UK until July 7 in the alleged criminal charge brought against the applicants.
They also sought an order of the court directing the bank to supply the applicants with the Certified True Copy of mandate card and account opening package of account No. 0032551834 maintained by its customer, Ukpo, with Bank Verification Number 22509616391 in the custody of the bank, for the purpose of tendering same to establish the innocence of the applicants with respect to his age in the criminal charges filed against the applicants.
In the court papers, the couple also sought an order of the court directing UBA to supply the applicants with the Certified True Copy of mandate card and account opening package of account No. 2195739574 maintained by Ukpo with Bank Verification Number 22509616391 in the custody of the bank, for the purpose of tendering same to establish the innocence of the applicants.
Awomolo said that the application was brought in pursuant to Order 3, Rule 1 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019, Sections 6 and 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
The senior lawyer, who gave 20 grounds why the prayers should be granted, said the 1st applicant (Ike Ekweremadu) is a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Enugu West Senatorial District. According to him, the 2nd applicant (Beatrice) is a chartered accountant, civil servant and the wife of the 1st applicant.
“The applicants have a daughter named Sonia Ekweremadu, who is suffering from kidney failure and the applicants have been managing it for about five years. The said daughter of the applicants urgently needed kidney transplant to save her life.
David Nwamini Ukpo, offered to donate one of his kidneys for the daughter of the applicants if his kidney is compatible with that of Miss Sonia Ekweremadu.
David Nwamini Ukpo informed the applicants that he is Twenty One (21) years of age having being born In the year 2000.
The 1st applicant supported the visa application of David Nwamini Ukpo to the United Kingdom with a letter to the British High Commission in Nigeria, explaining the purpose of the visit i.e to enable him undergo medical examination in the United Kingdom so that the donor and Sonia Ekweremadu get the best of medical attention.
After conducting various medical tests, the Royal Free Hospital in London decided that the said David Nwamini Ukpo was not a suitable donor because his kidney is not compatible with that of Sonia Ekweremadu,” he said.
According to the couple’s counsel, Ukpo was then asked to return to Nigeria but rather than do so, he approached the authorities in the United Kingdom for protection from being returned to Nigeria.
“David Nwamini Ukpo told the United Kingdom police that he is fifteen years of age contrary to the information supplied to the applicants by the same David Nwamini Ukpo. The applicants verily believe that Ukpo was actually 21 or more having regards to the public records in the custody of the respondents.
The applicants were arrested by the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom on June 21 for the allegation that they brought a 15-year-old child (a minor) to the UK to harvest his organs.
The applicants were charged before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court, United Kingdom on the 23rd of June 2022 for offences of conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
”The court denied them bail and they are presently in the custody of UK authorities.
The applicants require documents from the respondents to assist in the fair criminal investigation and as facts In their defence to establish their innocence of the allegation In the charge and to prove that David Nwamini Ukpo is not a minor and Indeed consented to the medical examination in the United Kingdom.
“The said David Nwamini Ukpo is presently in care in the custody of British Authorities and he cannot be accessed by the applicants.
“The documents being sought to be handed over to the applicants will support the applicants in their defence and establish their innocence of the charges brought against them.,” he said
The lawyer said the application was made in the interest of justice. Also, Bright Ekweremadu, the elder brother of the lawmaker, in the affidavit deposed to, said Ukpo informed the couple that he was 21 years old, having been born in the year 2000, and was ready to help Sonia.
Justice Ekwo fixed July 1 for a hearing of the matter.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has given former President Olusegun Obasanjo 48 hours to clarify his recent comments on regretting picking Atiku Abubakar as vice-presidential candidate in 1999.
Obasanjo had over the weekend said he made a mistake in the choice of his running mate ahead of the 1999 presidential election.
Adressing a news conference in Kaduna on Monday June 27, Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustee, Senator Walid Jibril said although the party has great respect for the former President, it would be disappointing if the statement credited to him, turned out to be true.
The opposition party which also threatened to expose the character of the former President should he fail to clarify his statement within 48 hours, accused him of being angry with Atiku Abubakar for truncating his third term agenda despite the latter’s contribution to the Obasanjo administration.
Jibril said;
“I wish to appeal to former President Obasanjo to come out openly to repeat what he has said
“Whether or not he was misquoted or meant what was credited to him.
“Although he has not debunked what was reported, one can assume that what was quoted to have been said by him is correct, but if he fails to openly come out and say which is correct in 48 hours, you will hear the bombardment and I will have no option but to break the egg and tell the whole world and Nigerians who is Obasanjo.
“There is no doubt Obasanjo may still be angry with Atiku even after helping him to succeed but perhaps for truncating his third term agenda. In any case, Alhaji Abubakar Atuku is our presidential candidate and I can tell you for sure that he will be the President in 2023 insha Allah.”
On the the outcome of the Presidential primaries and subsequent picking of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as running mate of Atiku which may have angered Governor Nyesom Wike, the BoT Chairman disclosed that a high powered reconciliatory committee is soon to be constituted to meet Governor Wike and appeal to him.
Jibril said;
”Governor Wike is a great party man who fought for the party, when the committee is constituted, in which we will also bring other contestants together, we will go and meet with Governor Wike and appeal to him even if it means kneeling down to beg him.”
A Subway sandwich customer allegedly shot dead one female worker and injured another after too much mayonnaise was put on his sandwich.
On Sunday night, June 26, at around 6:30pm, a customer ordering a sandwich at a Subway connected to a gas station located in the city’s downtown area erupted into a dispute with one of the store’s employees and opened fire. One employee was fatally wounded and another was sent to a nearby hospital.
The owner of the Subway told Fox 5 Atlanta that the customer became angry and decided to shoot his two employees over the amount of mayonnaise on their fast-food meal.
“Believe it or not, it was about too much mayonnaise on his sandwich,” owner Willie Glenn said in an interview with the news station.
The employee who died during the shootout, a woman, has not been identified by police, but the store’s owner reported during an interview with Fox News 5 that the son of one of the employees was present at the time that staff was attacked by the armed customer.
“She had a young son that had to witness all of this,” said Mr Glenn.
The store’s on-duty manager reportedly returned fire at the suspect but missed, according to the store’s owner.
“Everybody wants to carry a gun. Everybody wants to scare somebody wit a gun. It’s scary out here,” Mr Glenn said.
Police are still investigating the shooting, reviewing surveillance video, and interviewing witnesses while they actively search for the suspect.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that fresh registration in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) has hit 10,487,972 as at 7 a.m. on Monday, June 27.
The was disclosed in the commission’s CVR weekly update, released in Abuja on Monday June 27.
According to the document, the number of completed registration stood at 8,631,696 (online – 3,250,449 and physical – 5,381,247).
There are 4,292,690 males, 4,339,006 females, 67,171 PWDs and 6,081,456 youths. The gender category showed that 6,081,456 youths registered, while 67,171 were Persons with Disabilities, PWDs.
The update also revealed that INEC had received a total of 23,560,043 applications including those applying for voter transfer, requests for replacement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and update of voter information records.
The breakdown also indicated that 12,317,963 male Nigerians have applied, while 11,242, 080 female applicants have also registered. 187,904 applications were received from PWDs.
At least 46 people were found dead inside of a semi-truck in San Antonio, Texas, Monday evening, June 27.
City councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia referred to the victims as migrants, after she was briefed on the situation by the San Antonio police chief.
The trailer was discovered on a road in the southwest of the city’s downtown by a local worker who heard a cry for help around 6pm, police said. When he came to investigate, he found the doors partially open and a number of deceased individuals inside.
Sixteen survivors, including four children, were taken to local hospitals suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion, the city’s fire chief Charles Hood told reporters at a press conference.
Mr Hood said those taken alive from the trailer were “hot to the touch,” but were likely to survive.
“It is our hope and prayer that the conditions of those that were transported will improve as we speak,” he added.
San Antonio police chief William McManus said three people were in custody following a preliminary investigation, but declined to give further details. The investigation is now being handled by the Department of Homeland Security.
The cause of the deaths is currently unknown, but smugglers are often known to use trailers to transport large numbers of migrants, and temperatures in the San Antonio and southern Texas have reached 100 degrees in recent weeks.
The discovery comes weeks after the US Border Patrol warned migrants not to risk their lives trying to cross the desert border amid record-breaking temperatures.
“(We) highly discourage migrants from attempting to illegally enter the United States, especially during summer months. The recent triple-digit temperatures represent a dangerous condition that can easily end in dehydration or heatstroke, provoking death,” the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector said in a statement.
Local resident Ruby Chavez, 53, told the New York Times that the area where the trailer was discovered was known as a “drop-off spot” for migrants.
“You can tell they just get here. We see them with backpacks or asking for food or money,” she told the newspaper.
Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio’s mayor, called the incident a “horrific human tragedy.”
“There are, that we know of, 46 individuals who are no longer with us, who had families, who were likely trying to find a better life. And we have 16 folks who are fighting for their lives in the hospital. Our focus right now is to try to bring aid to them as best we can. But this is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” he said.
Nollywood actress, Chacha Eke has once again, announced the end of her marriage on social media, stating that she’s done pretending.
Recall that in October 2020, Chacha took to social media to share a video announcing the end of her marriage to her movie director husband.
“You will say I am crazy but I am not. This video is to let the world know that I am done with the marriage. I don’t have a lot to prove that I am done with him but I am done. I’m done. I am leaving with my life finally. I can’t say a lot now. You will hear my story.” she said
However, a few days later, she shared another video from a hospital bed disclosing that she had been diagnosed with “Bipolar disorder”, while debunking allegations that her marriage ended due to domestic violence.
She later released a video stating that she was still with her husband and that she would not leave her marriage. She then addressed her brother , IK Eke, alongside former actresses Georgina Onuoha and Victoria Inyama for getting involved in her marriage issue.
Now, in a post she shared on Instagram on Monday night, June 27, Chacha apologized to the public for “living a lie.”
She further stated that she’s done with her marriage. She wrote;
” NOW ALIVE OR LEAVE AS A CORPSE
Many have died pretending all is well whilst wishing, hoping and praying for a better tomorrow.
I don’t want to “die” or go inexplicably “missing”.
I sincerely and publicly apologize for living a lie these past years.True to random speculations, there has been trouble in my “perceived paradise”.
For the 2nd time in 2years, I am here again on social media boldly declaring that I am done with my marriage. My long overdue/relentless stance on this is of course no news to Austin Faani, the doctors and my parents.
If push comes to shove & suddenly i am incommunicado; my lawyers, the welfare department and the Nigerian police force have my testimonials in recorded video clips/statements set for public release on all social media apps and national newspapers.
Ps: old photo.
Chacha and Austin have been married for 9 years and share four children.
The Vatican has praised the U.S. Supreme Court for standing for ‘life’ and reversing the country’s nearly 50-year stance which legalized abortion.
On Friday June 24, the US Supreme court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which before now made abortion legal in the United States, drawing widespread condemnation among liberals.
Vatican leader, Pope Francis has previously compared the act of abortion to “hiring a hit man” but has steered the Catholic Church to see pro-life as a larger issue than just abortion.
And now in a pair of statements, the Vatican has encouraged activists to understand being “pro-life” means supporting other issues, including all those that threaten life, like guns, poverty and rising maternity mortality rates.
“Being for life, always, for example, means being concerned if the mortality rates of women due to motherhood increase,” said Andrea Tornielli, the Vatican’s editorial director.
Being pro-life requires a more holistic approach than simply being anti-abortion, he continued.
“Being for life, always, means asking how to help women welcome new life,” he wrote in a media editorial on Saturday.
He also said those who identify as pro-life should challenge their own views on gun ownership and gun safety.
“Being for life, always, also means defending it against the threat of firearms, which unfortunately have become a leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the U.S.” he added.
Tornielli’s statement was preceded by a statement from the Vatican’s Academy for Life, which was posted the day before.
“The fact that a large country with a long democratic tradition has changed its position on this issue also challenges the whole world,” said Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who heads the Pontifical Academy for Life, Reuters reported.
Paglia described the Supreme Court’s decision as a “powerful invitation to reflect” on the value of life in a society that “is losing passion for life.”
“By choosing life, our responsibility for the future of humanity is at stake,” Paglia added.
Manchester United legend, Wayne Rooney has quit as Derby County manager with immediate effect despite a report they are finally on the brink of exiting administration.
The England record goalscorer departed just three days before the Rams were due to report for pre-season training.. Rooney had one year left of a lucrative contract.
The news comes after Derby were relegated from the Championship to third-tier League One this past season having been handed two separate points deductions for entering administration and breaching financial rules earlier in the season.
“Over the course of the Summer I have been closely following developments regarding the ownership of Derby County,” Rooney wrote in a club statement.
“Today I met with the administrators to inform them of my decision that it was time for me to leave the club. In fairness to them, they tried tremendously hard to change my decision but my mind was made up.
“My time at the club has been a rollercoaster of emotions, both highs and lows, but I have to say that I have enjoyed the challenge.
“Personally, I feel the club now needs to be led by someone with fresh energy and not affected by the events that have happened over the last eighteen months. I will remember my time at Derby with great pride and affection and would like to thank all my staff, players and of course the fans for their incredible support. I will never forget you and hope to see you all again in the near future and in happier times.”
Last week, American businessman Chris Kirchner withdrew his bid to purchase the club.
“Finally, I am aware that the club still have interested parties who wish to take over the running of the club,” Rooney added. “To them I say this, Derby County is a great club with a great history and great fans. I wish you all the best and much success for the future.”
A spokesperson for Derby’s administrators admitted they were disappointed with Rooney’s decision.
“The joint administrators are very disappointed that Wayne has taken the difficult decision to leave the club and we have spent some time today trying to persuade him to stay but understand his reasons for wanting to go,” they wrote. “We are extremely grateful to him for his excellent work in the face of challenging on-field circumstances in the 2021/22 season and admire the manner in which he has led the team, the club and the local community through various off-field issues.
“The joint administrators recognise that staff and supporters will be frustrated and equally disappointed by this news, but we all wish him, his wife Coleen and their four boys every success in the future and we are sure they will always be welcomed back.
“All parties recognise the need to conclude a sale of the business and assets of the Club, as a matter of urgency and the joint administrators wish to reconfirm that Wayne’s departure will not affect those ongoing, positive discussions.”
The United States District Court for the Central District of California has again postponed the sentencing of Ramon “Hushpuppi” Abbas till September.
Court documents seen by Peoples Gazette said Judge Otis D. Wright in Los Angeles granted the order after Hushpuppi’s lawyers entered a request for postponement.
“AT THE REQUEST OF COUNSEL, the Sentencing is CONTINUED to 9/21/2022 at 1:30 PM before Judge Otis D. Wright II, as to Defendant Ramon Olorunwa Abbas,” the court document said.
Mr Abbas’s sentencing was earlier slated for July 11 and earlier on February 14.
The internet fraudster is being tried for duping people across different continents to the tune of millions of dollars. He pleaded guilty last year to the charges, seeking a lighter sentence.
Hushpuppi’s conspirators such as disgraced Nigerian police chief Abba Kyari and Woodberry have either been indicted and at large or currently facing charges at different courts over the intercontinental conspiracy that spanned several years.
In June 2020, the 37-year-old Ramon Abbas was arrested in Dubai following a police operation ‘Fox Hunt 2.’
Intelligence agencies noted that their crimes bordered on money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft committed outside the UAE
Johnny Depp is reportedly set ‘to return’ to Pirates of the Caribbean and is in talks with Disney about a ‘$300 million deal’ after his defamation trial win against Amber Heard
Depp, the major lead in five Pirates movies over the past 15 years, was dropped from the franchise in 2018 after the release of Dead Men Tell No Tales.
But a source told Poptopic that the actor, 59, has been in talks with Disney about a ‘$300 million deal’ after winning his defamation trial again Amber Heard.
The insider revealed that Disney are interested in patching the relationship up with Depp and have recently reached out to him.
They said: ‘They reached out to the actor prior to his defamation trial against Amber Heard and asked whether he would be interested in returning for another pirate film or two.
The source added that another project is in the works for Disney Plus. They said: ‘The deal is reportedly for Johnny Depp to return as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and a spin-off Disney Plus series about the early life of the Captain of The Black Pearl.’
They continued: ‘What I can tell you is that the studio has already penned up a draft for a film about Jack Sparrow so they are very hopeful that Johnny will forgive them and return as his iconic character.’
The source said that the media house is working on a ‘$301 million deal’ to coax Depp back soon and are also reportedly adding a ‘sizeable donation’ to a charity of Depp’s choice as a gesture of goodwill.
The Edward Scissorhands star previously told the jury he would not work with Disney again after he was scrubbed from the sixth Pirates movie.
His legal team claims Depp lost out on a $22 million payday after Heard published her Washington Post op-ed in 2018 that didn’t identify Depp, but clearly branded him as a domestic abuser.
Depp said he felt as if he was ‘guilty until proven innocent.’
The actor sued Heard over the op-ed she wrote, describing herself as ‘a public figure representing domestic abuse.’
The jury found in Depp’s favor on all three of his claims relating to specific statements in the 2018 piece.
The jury found Depp should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, but the judge reduced the punitive damages award to $350,000 under a state cap.
Heard has said she plans to appeal the verdict as she teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.
A source close to the Aquaman star claimed the 36-year-old actresswas ‘broke’ that she ‘considers her career in Hollywood over’ and ‘has nothing to lose’ following a disastrous few months.
Heard admitted through her lawyer that she cannot afford the $8.3 million in damages awarded to Depp.
Lawyers for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have now failed to reach a last-minute agreement that might have seen the damages the actress owed to her former husband be reduced, following their six-week defamation trial which ended earlier this month.
Instead, the judge in the trial made the jury’s award official on Friday with a written order for Heard to pay Depp $10.35 million for damaging his reputation by describing herself as a domestic abuse victim in an op-ed piece she wrote.
Judge Penney Azcarate finalized the verdict as she entered a judgment order into the court record after a brief hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Neither Depp nor Heard were present.
She also ordered Depp to pay Heard $2 million, the jury’s award on her counterclaim that Heard was defamed by one of Depp’s lawyers.
Attorneys for both Depp and Heard were unable to reach a last-minute settlement which now means there may be a costly and lengthy appeals process.
In three weeks, the case will move to the Court of Appeals of Virginia during which time both parties will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal.
North Korea has accused the United States of setting up a military alliance like NATO in Asia..
According to North Korea’s government, it has been forced to develop stronger defences because of the U.S’ aim to oust Kim Jong Un from power.
The North Korean criticism comes amid concern it could be preparing its first nuclear test in five years and after a recent agreement between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden to deploy more U.S. weapons if deemed necessary to deter the North.
“While blatantly holding joint military exercises with Japan and South Korea, the United States is making a full-fledged move to establish an Asia-style NATO,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on its website on Sunday, June 26.
North Korea was referring to recent military exercises conducted by U.S., South Korean and Japanese forces in Asian.
The exercises also involved a U.S. aircraft carrier, the first time one was used in more than four years.
North Korea, which has been conducting regular missile tests this year, repeated its assertion that such drills were preparation for war aimed at overthrowing it.
The United States is insisting that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons and has repeatedly offered to meet North Korean officials “at any time without preconditions” to discuss the issue. North Korea has rebuffed the offers.
The North Korean criticism came a day before South Korea’s president left to attend a NATO summit in Spain, the first South Korean leader to do so.
“This proves the hypocrisy of the U.S. rhetoric of ‘diplomatic engagement’ and ‘dialogue without preconditions’, while at the same time revealing again that there is no change in the U.S. ambition to overthrow our system by force,” the North Korean ministry said.
“The reality … makes us feel the need to make all-out efforts to develop even stronger power to be able to subdue all kinds of hostile acts by the United States,” it said.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, has resigned from office.
Channels TV reports that Justice Muhammad resigned on Sunday night, June 26, citing ill-health as the reason for his decision.
Information also has it that arrangements are ongoing to swear in the next most senior justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.
According to reports, a formal announcement will be made this morning.
Until his resignation, reports had it that Justice Muhammad was seriously ill. Only last week, 14 justices of the Supreme Court had written him a letter to lament the decrepit state of affairs in the apex court.
Muhammad has served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria since 2005 and was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2019.
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Following the resignation of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, President Buhari is expected to swear in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the acting CJN today June 27.
Justice Ariwoola, who is the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court, will be sworn in by 2pm at the Council Chambers of the State House, Abuja.
Sources said he will act as CJN pending the time his name will be forwarded to the Senate by the President for confirmation as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Born on 22 August 1954, Justice Ariwoola from Oyo state was formerly a Justice of the Court of Appeal before being elevated to the Supreme Court bench in 2011.
Tanko tendered his resignation on Sunday, June 26, citing his deteriorating health status.
Jonathan Ukpo Nwanmini, younger brother of David Ukpo Nwanmini, an alleged victim of organ trafficking involving Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife in the United Kingdom, has reacted to the controversy surrounding his brother’s age.
While David’s passport shared online revealed he is 22-years-old in contrast to him allegedly telling Metropolitan police detectives that he is 15-years-old, his brother told Sunday Vanguard that he is 25-years-old.
He also disclosed that David told him he’s traveling abroad to school. Jonathan said;
”David is my elder brother because we are both of the same father with different mothers and we hail from Ebonyi State. I will be 22 years old by next month and David is 25 years old. I am aware that he travelled because he told me. He did not disclose the country he was travelling to. He simply told me he was going to school abroad.
“After some months of not hearing from him, I got his number from his girlfriend and called him. I asked about his studies and work.
“He said it was fine but that he was not working yet as he needed to go to school first before he could be given a working paper. I told him about our dad who was not feeling fine.
“This was the conversation we had this month since January when he travelled. He was staying with us here in Ikotun before he left. We both sell phone accessories. We spoke last week. We even spoke again this week.”
Another businessman in Ikotun who pleaded anonymity also told Sunday Vanguard that;
“David left Nigeria in January. He told us that someone promised to sponsor his education in the UK. He never mentioned the name of the person, but from what I have read online, it might be that the person was an intermediary between David and the former Deputy Speaker.”
Recall that on Thursday June 23, the Metropolitan Police announced that Ekweremadu and his wife were charged to court over the allegation of bringing a child with the name David to the UK for organ harvesting.
Nottingham Forest have confirmed the signing of Super Eagles of Nigeria striker Taiwo Awoniyi for a club record fee.
The Union Berlin forward is understood to have completed a move in the region of £17.5million, beating the previous record arrival set by Portuguese midfielder Joao Carvalho in 2018.
His former club, Liverpool will receive £1.75million from the deal due to a 10% sell-on clause negotiated in his move to Union Berlin in 2021.
Speaking to the club website on Saturday, June 25, , Awoniyi said: ‘I’m very excited to be here at Nottingham Forest.
‘It’s always been my dream to play in the Premier League and having spoken to Steve Cooper about our ambitions and looking at Forest, with its great history, it’s a club that I want to be part of.’
The former Liverpool striker scored 15 goals for Union Berlin in the Bundesliga last season before choosing a move to the Premier League, despite interest from RB Leipzig.
The 24-year-old joined Liverpool in 2015 and had loan spells at six different clubs without making the breakthrough at Anfield.
Awoniyi becomes Forest’s first international signing since their promotion to the Premier League last month, as the club look to splash out in the summer transfer window.
The BET Awards, which celebrates Black excellence in music, culture, and sports took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night, June 26.
Holywood actress, Taraji P. Henson hosted the event.
A-list stars slayed the red carpet with their stunning looks as they attended the event in several designer outfits.
Dozens of Russian missiles have struck targets across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv which has not suffered missile attacks in two months since Russia shifted its military offensive towards the Donbas region of Ukraine.
The attacks on Sunday, June 26 destroyed a 9 storey Kyiv apartment block , killing at least one and wounding six others including a seven-year-old girl.
Also in Kyiv, a large blast crater was gouged in a nursery school playground, near a nine-storey building whose top floors were ripped apart. The injured girl’s mother – a Russian citizen – was also pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital, officials said.
They said the girl later underwent a surgery and was “in stable condition”.
Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s capital at a time when calm was returning to Kyiv. The strikes come as G7 leaders gather for a summit in Germany https://t.co/QBei1rTkCqpic.twitter.com/UoStGJvpSx
US President Joe Biden on Saturday, June 25, signed into law the most significant gun control bill in nearly 30 years less than 24 hours after it passed through Congress.
The Democrat signed the bipartisan gun safety bill, which was drafted in the wake of the deadly mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., the day after it cleared the House in a 234-193 vote. Fourteen Republicans voted with Democrats in supporting the measure.
“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” Biden said, adding that when he returns from a trip to Europe, he will host the lawmakers who worked on the legislation and family members of gun violence victims at the White House.
The House took up the bill hours after the Senate approved it in a 65-33 vote on Thursday night. Fifteen Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), joined all Democrats in supporting the measure in the upper chamber.
“Today, we say more than enough. We said more than enough. It’s time when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing some consequential,” he said, joined at the podium by first lady Jill Biden. “I know there’s much more work to do. I’m never going to give up.”
Biden, who said today is a “monumental day,” thanked the leaders in Congress who got the bill across the finish line and thanked the families of victims, who the president and the first lady have met with.
“I’ve been at this work for a long, long time and I know how hard it is and I know what is takes to get it done,” he said.
The bill, known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enhances background checks for gun purchasers between the age of 18 and 21, makes obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense and clarifies the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer.
It allocates $750 million to help states administer red flag laws, which seek to keep guns away from people deemed a threat to themselves or others, and other intervention programs, and it includes funding for mental health treatment.
“While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives,” he said.
The president’s bill signing comes just an hour before he is set to leave the White House for the Group of Seven summit in Germany.
Biden said that the message to him from victims’ families is always “do something,” mentioning mass shootings from El Paso, Las Vegas, Parkland, Charleston, and others, and those that happen on the streets that people don’t hear about.
“For God’s sake, just do something. Well today, we did,” he said.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has awarded N60 million in punitive and general damages to Glory Okolie against the Nigeria Police.
The fundamental rights enforcement case filed by Okolie and supported by more than 51 civil society groups was fixed for judgement on Thursday, June 23, 2022.
Okolie in the case filed at the FCT High Court was asking the court to mandate the respondents being the Attorney General of the Federation and the Nigeria Police Force to pay her the sum of N100,000,000,000.00 (One hundred billion naira) as general and punitive damages separately for infringing on her rights.
The court presided over by Justice Y. Haliyu on Thursday, June 23, granted every relief sought in Okolie’s case.
Okolie was illegally detained and held in a cell by the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force for more than 150 days on allegations of spying for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Haliyu in granting the originating motion and reliefs filed by Okolie awarded a total sum of N60,000,000 (sixty million naira) in punitive and general damages caused to her by the police.
The Delta state police command says 33-year-old suspected ritualist, Volt Blessing Gabriel, who was arrested for allegedly beheading his one year and eight-month-old son, Godspower Gabriel, claims he had a dream where he was told that his action will make him wealthy.
LIB had on Saturday, June 25, shared the bizarre story.
In a statement released Sunday, June 26, the spokesperson of the police command, DSP Bright Edafe, said on Saturday, June 25 at about 10.30am, one Mrs Success Oduwa, 24, of Peanuts junction, Obeh in Edo State, discovered that she has not seen their child since the morning of June 24, and started troubling the husband as to the whereabouts of the child.
The husband told her that the child is with his sister in Warri. On getting to Warri, she stated that she discovered the husband was lying to her, hence her suspicion. She reported to the Commander, Quick Response Squad, that she is suspecting her husband named, Volt Blessing Gabriel (m) age 33yrs of same address, to have killed their child named Godspower Gabriel (m) aged one year and eight months for ritual purposes.
The Commander RRS detailed operatives who swung into action, arrested the husband and handed him over to the DPO ‘A’ Division Warri for further investigation.
Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to have murdered the said child at Ewabogun bush by catholic road, Benin city using hand saw to cut off the head and buried it by a palm tree in the bush and threw away the headless body of the child.”
When quizzed on why he carried out the dastard act, the suspect was quoted as saying that he killed the child because of a dream he had where he saw a man who told him that if he kills the child, and uses the child’s blood to rub his head, he will become rich.
Top British publication, Daily Mail has revealed more details surrounding the alleged organ trafficking case involving Nigerian Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, who are currently detained in the UK.
Ike, 60, and Beatrice Ekweremadu, 55, are accused of taking the homeless boy to the UK from Nigeria to transplant his organs into their daughter who is suffering from kidney failure.
According to Daily Mail, a consultant working in a NHS hospital refused to remove a vital organ from a teenager allegedly trafficked to London from the streets of Lagos by the former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate and his wife, a court has heard.
The doctor at the Royal Free in Camden became suspicious about whether the alleged victim was aware he was the donor of the kidney and whether he was 41 as his passport claimed.
The report claimed the ’15-year-old’ boy was given the passport of a ’41-year-old’ in order to get into the UK, but did not know he was there to donate a kidney until he went a hospital appointment in London, a court heard yesterday.
After he arrived in the capital in February he had a string of medical appointments about kidney donation, but a consultant at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, became concerned about the boy’s real age and if he knew he was there to donate an organ, it is alleged.
Prosecutor Damla Ayas told Uxbridge Magistrates Court yesterday: ‘The victim was 15. In Nigeria, he was approached by both defendants. He was homeless on the streets of Lagos. They deceived him and promised him a better life in the UK. He was given a passport for a 41-year-old. The passport was illegally obtained by these defendants.’
‘He was provided with a medical travel visa saying the purpose of the travel was to provide medical treatment for the defendants’ daughter who was undergoing dialysis in relation to a number of health issues.
‘It was premeditated, it was planned. Blood tests were obtained in Nigeria and he travelled to the UK in February this year.
‘He was taken to several medical appointments in particular a medical appointment at the Royal Free Hospital and was spoken to by a consultant about the organ harvesting for a kidney transplant.
‘The consultant was concerned about his actual age and was concerned he was not aware he was the donor of the kidney. He only found out that the purpose of his visit was for an organ transplant when he visited the hospital’. Ayas said
Police were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery laws last month.
Ekweremadu has been in the UK for at least the past fortnight having met with members of the Nigerian community in Britain in Lincoln around ten days ago.
He tweeted: ‘It was a pleasure and an honour to receive a letter of appointment by the University of Lincoln, UK, as Visiting Professor of Corporate and International Linkages. I also got a highly treasured gift – a copy of the Magna Carta. It was created in 1215, about 807 years ago’.
They arrested the couple two days ago at Heathrow Airport as they attempted to board a plane to Turkey – where it was suggested that the procedure could take place – the court heard.
Ekweremadu, 60, is said to have had £20,000 on him at the time of his arrest, according to prosecutors.
The teenage boy is now under the care of safeguarding authorities and the Metropolitan Police, officials say.
Ekweremadu and accountant wife Beatrice, 55, are charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
Prosecutor Damla Ayas said: ‘It is a conspiracy in relation to human trafficking offences for the purposes of organ harvesting. The victim, in this case, is 15 years old
‘They the couple were interviewed at the police station. Both of the defendants have provided a prepared statement.
‘Mr. Ekweremadu in his prepared statement denied allegations of human trafficking.
‘He said at no stage has he arranged transport for anyone with intention to exploit them.’
His wife similarly denied the allegations in her prepared statement, the court heard.
Gavin Irwin, representing Ekweremadu, said: ‘There is no question this is a serious allegation. Mr Ekweremadu is a member of the senate in Nigeria.
‘He has previously held an even more senior role as deputy president of the senate.
‘He is a member of the bar in Nigeria. He is a principal in a law firm that bears his name.
‘Those issues taken together go way beyond him being a person of good character…rather that he has led a blameless life as a public servant.’
Mr. Irwin added that the allegations were ‘nothing short of preposterous’.
Antonia Gray, for Mrs Ekweremadu, said: ‘She has never been complicit or involved in any alleged illegal trafficking of any young person.
‘She is a financial accountant…with an unblemished record.’
The couple have an address they could stay at in Willesden, northwest London, the court heard.
The prosecutor made an application to adjourn matters for 14 days.
Ms. Ayas said: ‘In respect of these offences Attorney General consent is required and the Crown require 14 days for that to be obtained.’
Magistrate Lois Sheard said: ‘These are serious allegations and these matters are now adjourned until 7 July back here at Uxbridge.’
Ms. Sheard remanded both defendants into custody ahead of their hearing next month.
The Ekweremadus are charged with ‘conspiring to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation….between 1 August 2021 and 5 May 2022 within the jurisdiction of Central Criminal Court’.
The investigation was launched by the Met’s Specialist Crime team after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.
The Met Police has confirmed that the boy is safe and being looked after.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has said that picking a running mate in the 1999 presidential election was a mistake.
He made the comment while speaking in Abeokuta at a leadership and entrpreneurship mentoring session with selected school students on Saturday, June 25.
Obasanjo, who won the 1999 and 2003 presidential elections, ran alongside Atiku Abubakar, who is currently the Presidnetial flagbearer of PDP in the 2023 presidential election. During his administration, both fell apart.
Speaking at the leadership programme, Obasanjo said
“I don’t say I don’t make mistakes – I made many of them. But one thing that has happened to me is that God has never disappointed me. And that is very important. For instance, one of the mistakes I made was picking a number two when I was going to become President. But because it is a genuine mistake, God saved me out of it.”
China has developed a mind-reading device that can detect when men view pornography, a move aimed at eventually banning all pornography consumption.
According to NYPost, Chinese researchers claimed they have developed an official patent for a device capable of “reading a man’s mind” and specifically detecting when he is watching erotic movie. The current prototype of the device is said to be capable of detecting brain waves that are activated when a man is exposed to pornography.
The study was conducted on 15 male college students who were placed in front of a computer screen playing porn while wearing the device on their head. The mind reader will then be able to process a collection of photos and videos and flag anything suspicious.
Xu Jianjun, who carried out the research and is also the director of the electrical engineering department at Beijing Jiaotong University, says that the purpose behind the device is “to detect bad information”. He also claims that the results are 80% accurate and can filter out additional signals that can trigger brainwaves when emotions are emitted from non-porn-related content.
With pornography illegal in China, government officials in the country are getting serious about cracking down on pornography consumption by deploying censorship agencies known as “porn examiners” tasked with searching the internet to flag inappropriate content.
