Author: Editor

CYPRUS voters on Sunday elected the former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides as the next president of the small EU member state, with his rival conceding defeat and congratulating him. Christodoulides, 49, defeated fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, according to exit polls by five television stations in the south of the divided Mediterranean island. Mavroyiannis told reporters: “Tonight a journey has ended, a great journey that I shared with thousands of people. I regret we couldn’t achieve the change that Cyprus needed.” The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation put Christodoulides at 50.5-53.5 percent in the vote for head of state and government, ahead…

PARIS’ defence minister on Sunday condemned the latest installment of Marvel’s Black Panther franchise, which depicts French troops caught trying to steal resources belonging to the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda. “I strongly condemn this false and deceptive representation of our armed forces,” Sebastien Lecornu wrote on Twitter, responding to a clip from the November movie posted by a journalist. The scene turns on a group of bound French soldiers being brought into a UN meeting, embarrassing Paris’ ambassador to the world body, after they were caught on a secret mission to a Wakandan base in Mali. Journalist Jean Bexon,…

THE UN denounced Sunday a failure to get desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria, while warning that the death toll of over 33,000 from an earthquake that also devastated Turkey could double. A UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency’s relief chief Martin Griffiths said much more was needed for millions whose homes were destroyed. “We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived,” Griffiths said on Twitter. Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict…

BANDITS operating in Niger State carried out a series of attacks this weekend, leading to the deaths of Mukhtar Sabiu, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Paiko, Headquarters of Paikoro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State, and four other police officers. The victims were shot dead along Kwakuti village, Minna-Suleja road on Sunday. The Niger State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, said the DPO and his men were killed in a gun duel. “At about 1100hrs, information was received that armed bandits were sighted around Kwakuti-Dajigbe villages area of Lambata, in an attempt to attack some communities…

– 559 cases, 18 deaths recorded across the border THE Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said the agency had an emergency meeting in Jigawa state over the meningitis outbreak in the state. Dr Adetifa said the Emergency Operation Centre meeting reviewed the response, identified challenges, and proffered solutions to the outbreak. The NCDC boss disclosed this in a series of tweets via his verified Twitter handle on Sunday. Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, a thin layer of the connective tissue that covers the brain and the spinal cord. If…

BRAZIL have dismissed as “unfounded” reports that Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti has agreed to become their next manager. Ancelotti, 63, is currently with the 14-time European champions in Morocco at the Club World Cup. The Brazilian Football Confederation said: “The coach chosen will be announced at the right time.” Brazil have been without a boss since Tite departed after December’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Croatia. Ancelotti, whose only previous experience of international management came as an assistant with Italy in the 1990s, said on Friday that it was his intention to see out his present deal with the Spanish…

BAYERN Munich “need to improve” for Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Paris St-Germain despite a third straight win, says Julian Nagelsmann. Bayern earned a 3-0 home win against Bochum to stay top of the Bundesliga. Surprise challengers Union Berlin are a point behind the 10-time defending champions after fighting back to beat RB Leipzig 2-1 later on Saturday. English teenager Jamie Bynoe-Gittens scored as Borussia Dortmund, who play Chelsea this week, beat Werder Bremen. Despite the win against Bochum, Bayern boss Nagelsmann said his side must raise their level when they face PSG at Parc des Princes. “We played well…

UNREST in southern Turkey has disrupted rescue efforts in some places following Monday’s deadly earthquake, three rescue groups have said. The death toll in Turkey and Syria from the quake has surpassed 28,000, and hope of finding many more survivors is fading despite some miraculous rescues. German rescuers and the Austrian army paused search operations on Saturday, citing clashes between unnamed groups. Security is expected to worsen as food supplies dwindle, one rescuer said. Turkey’s president said he would use emergency powers to punish anyone breaking the law. An Austrian army spokesperson said early on Saturday that clashes between unidentified…

ANOTHER unidentified object has been shot down over North American airspace, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed. He said the latest object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over Yukon in north-west Canada. Both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to track down the object which Mr Trudeau says was taken out by a US F-22 fighter jet. It is the third object to be shot down over North America in the last week. The American military destroyed a Chinese balloon last weekend, and on Friday an unspecified object the size of a small car was shot down…

THE Defence Headquarters has dismissed as malicious propaganda, the report peddled by some unscrupulous elements of plot by some military officers to disrupt the forthcoming general elections. The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Tukur Gusau, said this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. The defence spokesman added that the Armed Forces of Nigeria was dismayed that even politically exposed persons had denigrated themselves into joining the agents of destabilisation. He said that the unscrupulous elements claimed that some military officers met with a Presidential candidate with the aim of disrupting the general elections and setting the country on…

Arsenal 1 vs Brentford 1 SUBSTITUTE Leandro Trossard scored his first goal for Arsenal but the Premier League leaders missed the chance to move eight points clear at the top as Ivan Toney earned resilient Brentford a deserved point. After a goalless first half in which the Bees hit the woodwork through Toney, the Gunners took the lead when Trossard struck at the back post four minutes after coming off the bench. But Brentford got the reward their excellent away performance at Emirates Stadium deserved when Toney nodded in Christian Norgaard’s cross from close range. There was a lengthy check…

REAL Madrid lifted the Club World Cup for a record fifth time with a pulsating 5-3 win over Al Hilal on Saturday in Morocco. Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde struck twice each, while Karim Benzema also scored on his return from injury in Madrid’s spectacular victory over their Saudi Arabian opponents. Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who qualified as Champions League winners last season, had far too much attacking quality for their opponents to handle. Madrid’s emphatic triumph at Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium secured their second piece of silverware of the season, after winning the European Super Cup in August. It…

BARCELONA coach Xavi Hernandez hailed striker Robert Lewandowski for helping change the mindset at the club. The Catalans are eight points clear of rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and beat Los Blancos in Saudi Arabia to win the Spanish Super Cup in January. Last season, Barcelona failed to win a trophy but the mood changed in the summer when the club brought in several players, including former Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski. “Lewandowski is accustomed to winning titles with Bayern. He had brought us that winning mentality, that of a champion,” Xavi told reporters Saturday. The 34-year-old…

ONE of South Africa’s hottest rap artists, Kiernan Forbes, known as AKA, has been shot dead outside a restaurant in the southeastern city of Durban, his family said Saturday. The 35-year-old won multiple South African awards, was nominated several times for a Black Entertainment Television (BET) Award in the United States, and was once nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award. “It is with extreme sadness that we acknowledge the passing of our beloved son,” his parents Tony and Lynn Forbes said in a statement posted on AKA’s Twitter account. “Our son was loved, and he gave love in return.”…

THE newly-appointed Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed, has given assurance of safety to Youth Corps members during the forthcoming general elections. Ahmed gave the assurance during his official visit to the Oyo State NYSC Orientation Camp on Friday in Iseyin, Oyo State. He informed the corps members that he had on assumption of duty visited all service chiefs in the country to get assurance from them for the protection of Corps members on election duties. He, however, urged the Corps members to abide by the rules and regulations guiding their participation as umpires in…

RUSSIAN forces have bombarded power facilities across Ukraine as officials said a new Russian offensive was under way in the east. Ukraine’s air force said 61 of 71 Russian missiles had been shot down on Friday. But energy minister German Galushchenko said Russia had hit power facilities in six regions with missiles and drones, causing blackouts across most of Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian infrastructure far from the front lines, leaving millions of Ukrainians without power, heat or water for days at a time in the middle of winter. The barrages have often followed Ukrainian diplomatic or battlefield advances.…

TURKEY’S most devastating earthquake since 1939 has raised big questions about whether such a large-scale tragedy could have been avoided and whether President Erdogan’s government could have done more to save lives. With elections on the horizon, his future is on the line after 20 years in power and his pleas for national unity have gone unheeded. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted shortcomings in the response, but he appeared to blame fate on a visit to one disaster zone: “Such things have always happened. It’s part of destiny’s plan.” Turkey lies on two fault lines and has earthquake building codes…

SHEIKH Saud bin Ibrahim Shuraim has resigned as Imam and Khateeb of Masjid Al Haram, Makkah The Imam excused to re-new his contract with the General Presidency in latter months of 2022 citing personal reasons. The Imam can however return in a temporary role to lead Taraweeh Prayers which will be confirmed in due course ahead of Ramadan. Inside the Haramain earlier reported that a prominent Imam had resigned. Well placed sources have informed Inside the Haramain that the Imam can renew his contract and come back at his discretion. It is pertinent to mention that the General Presidency for…

A TWO-Day curfew has been called in a northern province of Equatorial Guinea, called Kié-Ntem, after 20 people died of an as-yet unidentified illness. The deaths were confirmed by the head of Olamze District Hospital, which is a short distance across the border in Cameroon. According to the Cameroonian health authorities, the victims contracted some form of haemorrhagic fever because their symptoms included nosebleeds, weakness, vomiting blood, fever and diarrhoea. The cases of contagion and deaths are from three localities in northern Equatorial Guinea. Four of the victims came from the same family. Contamination occurs through direct contact with the…

SOMALIA has reopened its embassy in the UK after 32 years, in a ceremony attended by ambassador Abdulkadir Ahmed Kheyr, Olympic champion Mo Farah and Somali-Canadian model Sabrina Dhowre, among others. The embassy in London is expected to provide consular services to the nearly 500,000-strong diaspora community in the UK who are eligible for Somali citizenship, and other services including travel documentation and marriage certificates. It will also host cultural and other informative events. Ambassador Kheyr said that reopening the embassy was a positive step in strengthening UK-Somali relations. The Somali embassy in London was officially closed in 1991 following…