A Florida man who was seen carrying a large red “Trump 2020” flag on the floor of the U.S. Senate during the Capitol riot has been sentenced to prison for eight months in the first felony sentence from the Jan. 6 attack.

Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, was arrested back in February after the FBI received a tip identifying him among the hundreds of people seen in photos and videos inside the Capitol. He pleaded guilty in June to a single felony count of obstructing an official proceeding, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“Although you were only one member of a larger mob, you actively participated in a larger event that threatened the Capitol and democracy itself,” said U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss of Washington on Monday.

“The damage that was caused that way was way beyond a several-hour delay of the vote certification,” Moss said. “It is a damage that will persist in this country for several decades.”

Hodgkins’ lawyer, Patrick Leduc, urged the judge not to impose a prison sentence, saying in a court filing that Hodgkins is “law-abiding, hardworking, honest, caring, kind, thoughtful, generous, and the kind of person you would want for a neighbor.” 

On the day of the riot, he “lost his bearings and his way … made a fateful decision to follow the crowd, and found himself for approximately 15 minutes in a place that he sincerely regrets to have been,” the court filing said.

Hodgkins told the judge that he regrets his actions and would not have entered the Capitol if he had known of the violent acts committed inside.

“I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I am truly remorseful and regretful for my actions, not because I face consequences but because of the damage that day’s incident caused and the way this country that I love has been hurt,” he said.

“I realize that my involvement did still contribute to the greater problem that took place. The company of us who remained calmer in our protests may have made others feel emboldened.”

Nigerian jeweller, ObisGallery, has taken to social media to show off the bottle of cognac given to him by Obi Cubana The drink which is said to be the most expensive cognac in the world is said to cost N4.7 million, according to Gossipmill Naija According to the jeweller, the popular club owner gave the expensive drink to him after he delivered a customized neckpiece to him

The rave surrounding the burial preparations for Obi Cubana’s mother seems to have taken over the internet. Just recently, a jeweller identified as Obis Gallery, recently presented a customized neckpiece with the picture of Cubana’s mother’s face on the pendant.

Shortly after, the jeweller showed off a bottle of cognac calling it the most expensive cognac and added that it was giving to him by Cubana.

Gossipmill Naija claimed the cognac to be a Louis XIII. A brief search on the internet shows that the Louis XIII Rare Cask was the most expensive cognac valued at N4m in 2018.

However, as of 2020, the most expensive cognac was and still is a Gautier Cognac 1762 sold at auction for $144,525 (N59.4 million).

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The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has warned that the floods recorded in many parts of Lagos on Friday, July 16, may be far less than what residents of the commercial city will experience in September.

In their Annual Flood Outlooks for 2021, NIHSA predicted that the year 2021 will record more flood cases than any other year, since 2012. The report was made public in May 2021 during the 2021 Annual Flood Outlook in Abuja.

Following Friday’s flooding, NIHSA asked Lagos state residents to brace for severe floods in September, the peak of the rainy season, by taking all necessary measures now to mitigate the devastating impact.

“The peak of the rainy season in Lagos is projected to be in September and has always been in that month. So, what was experienced across the state on Friday might be far less severe than what will happen during the peak of the rain,” The Director-General, NIHSA, Clement Nze, told Punch.

The agency also stated that no new holding dam had been constructed across the River Niger in Nigeria and the course of the Ladgo Dam in Cameroon to mitigate the impact of flood arising from the possible opening of the dam.

Cameroon had advised Nigeria to build holding dams across River Niger and the course of the Ladgo Dam so that the annual release of water from the facility would not cause damage in Nigeria as witnessed in 2014 and 2016.

Nze said that a dam was being designed by experts for that purpose ahead of the actual budget preparation for the facility.

Nze also explained that the Oyan Dam in Abeokuta would have to be opened if the water level in it becomes high, adding that its opening to release water would be necessary to prevent it from rupturing.

He said once the Oyan Dam was opened to release water, the floods in the South-West states might worsen.

“If the Oyan Dam collapses, the flood situation in that region will be worse. So, it is better to release water from the dam once its water level gets to the point of allowing some of it to flow out,” he explained.

The NIHSA boss also spoke about the agency’s flood predictions.

He said: “Lagos and surrounding areas were included in our prediction in terms of the flooding that occurred. Also, Lagos is one of the 10 mega cities globally and there are six cities that are sinking and might sink or disappear in 50 years based on meteorology. Lagos is one of them.

“In fact, one of my cousins sent me a voice message in 2019 after reading one of my posts, telling me that they told her in school in Germany that Lagos State would disappear by sinking in the next 50 years.

The United Kingdom (UK) has called on the Muhammadu Buhari-led government to follow due process in the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Recall that Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, had claimed that there would be no trial until the issue of Kanu’s ‘illegal abduction’ was resolved.

“In my opinion, before any court can subject Kanu to trial, it has to first conduct a trial within trial on the grievous incident that forced him to leave Nigeria and the equally grievous incident that forced him back to Nigeria. No court of law with conscience and equity will overlook those two incidents and proceed to trial,” he had said in a statement on Thursday.

Also, Nnamdi Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel, had said the IPOB leader’s family will not attend his trial until certain questions relating to his capture and extradtion is answered by the Nigerian government.

Speaking to Newsmen on Saturday, the Head of Communications, British High Commission, Abuja, Dean Hurlock, said the UK takes very seriously allegations of human rights violations against British nationals.

Hurlock further said it was very important that any trial or legal proceedings regarding Nnamdi Kanu followed due process.

He said: “The UK Government is aware of the ongoing detention of Mr Kanu.

“The UK has requested consular access to Mr Kanu from the Nigerian government, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance.

“As a British national, our current priority is Mr Kanu’s health, welfare and fair treatment.

“Our consular staff will always endeavour to give appropriate and tailored support to British nationals overseas, and to their families in the UK.

“The British High Commission in Nigeria stands ready to provide such assistance to Mr Kanu and his family in the UK.

“The UK takes all allegations of human rights violations very seriously and raises concerns with local authorities where appropriate.”

The widow of Haiti’s slain president Jovenel Moise returned home on Saturday after being treated in Florida, US for wounds she suffered in the attack, an official said.

Martine Moise, 47, with her right arm in a sling and wearing a bulletproof vest, was received at Port-au-Prince airport by interim prime minister Claude Joseph, secretary of state for communications Frantz Exantus wrote on Twitter.

‘The first lady… has just arrived in Haiti to take part in preparations for the state funeral’ of her late husband, Exantus wrote, posting pictures of Martine Moise disembarking from a private plane accompanied by multiple security agents.

She spent 10 days in hospital in Miami, Florida, where she had been airlifted after her husband was gunned down in their home in the early hours of July 7.

The state funeral services are set to take place on July 23 in Cap-Haitien, a historic city in the north of Haiti.

The day before Moise’s widow’s return, Joseph had pledged justice would be served for the president’s assassination.

Police chief Leon Charles told a press conference Friday that Haitian authorities were ‘working with international agencies specialized in judicial investigations, such as the FBI (US Federal Bureau of Investigations), Interpol and other bodies that are on the ground to analyze all the evidence… to trace the masterminds of the assassination.’ 

Moise, 53, was assassinated by a hit squad made up mostly of Colombian mercenaries, but many of the details surrounding the brazen attack remain a mystery.

Colombia’s police chief Jorge Vargas has said that a former Haitian justice ministry official, Joseph Felix Badio, gave two of the Colombian mercenaries the order to kill the president. But it is not clear if Badio in turn was following orders from someone else.

Badio, a former official in an anti-corruption unit within the justice ministry, is one of several people wanted by Haitian police, alongside former opposition senator Joel John Joseph.

Both are described on their wanted posters as ‘armed and dangerous.’

So far, a unit of assassins comprised of 26 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans have been arrested in connection with the killing.  A Florida doctor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon was also arrested last week for his role in the assassination of Haiti president after he had campaigned to replace him in a letter to U.S. State Department

Haitian police have accused a 63-year-old Haitian doctor with strong ties to Florida, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, of being a mastermind of the plot and having ‘political objectives.’

Joseph said 24 police officers attached to Moise’s security detail were ordered to report for questioning.

On Thursday, the first lady thanked ‘the team of guardian angels who helped me through this terrible time.

‘With your gentle touch, kindness, and care, I was able to hold on. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!’ 

A man identified as Obum has allegedly stabbed a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Thompson Thomas Ugochukwu Onyekuru, to death in Imo State. 

The tragic incident happened at Umuokoto town in Umudibia Autonomous community in Owerri West Local Government Area of the state.  

It was gathered that Obum, who hailed from Obowo in Imo State, stabbed his wife, Ogechi, with a knife during a bitter argument.

Obum, who is suspected to be mentally unstable, had allegedly locked his wife and her baby in their room where he stabbed her several times.

According to Daily Trust, he accused the wife of trying to kill their only surviving son out of the three children they had since they got married in 2016, claiming she was also responsible for the hardship he was facing. 

An eyewitness said the incident started around 4 pm when Obum’s wife, Ogechi, and her one-year-old son were heard screaming for help. The late pastor and other neighbours waded in to prevent Obum from killing his wife.

“As the crowd intensified effort to rescue the woman, Obum with a knife, threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop his action,” one of the eyewitnesses told the publication.

After successfully rescuing the woman from her husband’s grip, Obum became enraged and started chasing everybody with the blood-stained knife. As Onyekuru made to go, Obum stabbed him at the back. 

A passing police patrol team was called to the scene, but he attacked the policemen who were attempting to arrest him. The police then shot him in the leg in order to subdue him.

Obum and Onyekuru were subsequently taken to the hospital where two of them died. Unconfirmed report said Obum’s wife also later died. 

The President-General of Umuokoto Community Council (UCC), Hon. Charles Anozie, who confirmed the incident, said Obum and the pastor were taken to the hospital where they later died.

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American Adult film star, Dahlia Sky has died at the age of 31 in a ‘potential suicide’.

The body of Sky was found inside a car in the San Fernando Valley, LA, around 8 pm on June 30, with authorities currently treating it as a suspected suicide. 

The 31-year-old was believed to have been battling stage four breast cancer for several years.

LAPD detective, Dave Peteque, told Adult Video News (AVN) that Sky was discovered with a fatal gunshot wound, and that police officials are awaiting autopsy results from the LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.”

The case is being investigated as a potential suicide, with Peteque saying that a cause of suicide is ‘what the investigation is leaning towards, and there’s no evidence at this time that there’s any foul play’.

The owner of JHP Films, Hans, told the adult industry publication how he was devastated by the news: “During her last year, I spoke to her several times about life. It was not an easy ride for her.”

He went on to add: “This will take a long time to get over, if it’s even possible. Dahlia Sky, you beautiful soul, you funny, complicated, and warm-hearted friend! I am going to miss you so much.”

A Russian Antonov An-28 passenger plane carrying up to 17 people has gone missing in Siberia outside the city of Tomsk. 

The plane disappeared from radars on Friday while flying over the Siberian region of Tomsk, local officials said, the second such incident this month.

The region’s governor said two helicopters had been dispatched to search for the plane, which was flying from the town of Kedrovy in the region to the city of Tomsk.

The aircraft, operated by SiLA, a small airline operating regional flights in Siberia on turboprop aircraft, was thought to have been carrying 17 people, including three crew members, governor Sergei Zhvachkin said.

The incident comes less than two weeks after a similar aircraft, an Antonov An-26, crashed into a cliff in poor visibility conditions on the remote Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east, killing all 28 people on board. 

An Antonov-28, the same type of plane that has gone missing over Tomsk, crashed in a Kamchatka forest in 2012, killing 10 people. Investigators said both pilots were drunk at the time of the crash.

The body of the Kenyan policewoman, Caroline Kangogo, who had been on the run after two gruesome murders was found at her parents’ home in Anin, Elgeyo Marakwet. 

Rift Valley Regional Police Commissioner George Natembeya on Friday, July 16, confirmed the shocking conclusion to the story of a killer policewoman who made headlines after killing two men and eluding police dragnets. 

Kangogo shot dead her lover colleague, Constable John Ogweno in Nakuru on Monday, July 5 and fled to Juja the following day where she allegedly murdered the other victim, Peter Ndwiga.

According to Natembeya, Corporal Kangogo shot herself in the head inside her mother’s bathroom.

Police officers alerted to the matter rushed to her home where a gun believed to have been used in the murder of two men in Nakuru and Kiambu counties was recovered.

According to reports, she was seen getting into her parent’s home early Friday and was later discovered dead inside a bathroom that was open. 

It is not clear whether she managed to speak to any of her family members before killing hersel

Sources close to the investigations said the mother of two shared a troubled love life with the deceased. 

The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti had cautioned members of the public that the cop was armed and dangerous.

“We are cautioning members of the public especially men to be on the lookout for the rogue officer who is luring men to her trap before executing them in cold blood. Let nobody trust her since she is armed and dangerous,” DCI Tweeted.

Cocaine disguised as charcoal with a potential value of up to $41.4 million has been seized in a joint operation between Irish and Dutch police authorities.

The drugs were found inside two shipping containers from South America that arrived at the port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, as part of what Irish investigators believe was an attempt to import up to half a ton of cocaine to Ireland, according to a press release from Ireland’s national police and security service.

According to reports,  2,000 bags of charcoal were found inside the containers but due to the use of an X-ray scanner and police sniffer dogs, some of the bags were found to contain cocaine.

Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) later confirmed that cocaine was present, but it will reportedly take a number of days and perhaps longer for FSI to extract the cocaine from the product within which it is concealed.

Arrests are expected soon as part of an ongoing investigation by the Irish National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

“This is a significant development in the Garda Síochána’s effort to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups suspected to be involved in the importation of cocaine and other drugs into Ireland,” said assistant commissioner John O’Driscoll of the Garda Síochána, nickname of Ireland’s national police and security service.

O’Driscoll emphasized the “significant international dimension” of the operation and the “importance of cooperation within the law enforcement community within Europe and further afield.”

Michael O’Sullivan, head of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre, which coordinates anti-drug trafficking operations by seven European Union countries including Ireland, said the seizure was “a massive seizure” that will “deal a huge blow to the organized crime group involved.”

O’Sullivan told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that Irish crime groups play a leading role in the importation of cocaine to Europe, where the market for the drug is estimated to be worth 14 billion euros ($16.6 billion).

The United States has filed a lawsuit against the world’s number one online retailer, Amazon accusing the e-commerce giants of selling hazardous products to its customers.
 

Among the products cited in the suit are carbon monoxide detectors that fail to alarm, numerous children’s pajamas that could catch fire and nearly 400,000 hair dryers that could electrocute people if dropped in water.
 

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC ), Amazon has to take responsibility for the safety of customers that come on their site.
 

The products cited are not sold directly by Amazon (AMZN) — they’re sold by third parties using Amazon’s platform. Many of those companies that sold the dangerous products cited by CPSC are foreign, and the CPSC has limited ability to force a recall of their products if they are found to be hazardous.

“Today’s vote to file an administrative complaint against Amazon was a huge step forward for this small agency,” says Acting Chairman Robert Adler. “But it’s a huge step across a vast desert — we must grapple with how to deal with these massive third-party platforms more efficiently, and how best to protect the American consumers who rely on them.”
 

 The company collected $80 billion in commissions and other payments by third-party sellers last year as third-party sellers account for more than half the physical goods sold on Amazon.


Amazon said the company takes prompt action when it is made aware of safety problems with products sold on the site, either by Amazon or third-party sellers. It said in the instances it did not recall products it was because “CPSC did not provide Amazon with enough information for us to take action and despite our requests. It said it offered CPSC to expand its capabilities to handle recalls for products.


“We are unclear as to why the CPSC has rejected that offer or why they have filed a complaint seeking to force us to take actions almost entirely duplicative of those we’ve already taken,” Amazon said in a statement, Thursday, July 15.

Cardi B has unveiled the cover art for her and singer Normani’s upcoming track Wild Side.

The 28-year-old rapper and the 25-year-old singer each stripped down for the shoot. They protected their modesty with strategically placed hair from their wigs.

“Get your coins ready @normani 7/15 9pm PST” Cardi captioned the photo.