Author: Editor

VIOLENCE erupted this week in a string of villages in remote southwest Niger leaving at least 28 civilians dead, sources told AFP on Friday. “For now we have recorded at least 28 dead, but the toll could go up,” a senior official in the Tillaberi region close to Mali, told AFP. Some of the bodies had been “carried off” by the Niger river, he added. The violence started at sunset on Tuesday and ended midday Wednesday, the official said. In Ayorou, one of four departments affected, four people were killed and 26 injured by bullets and knives, according to a…

THE Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday evening, joined Bendel Insurance training session at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, ahead of Saturday’s CAF Confederation Cup clash with ASO Chief of Algeria. The governor, who was at the club’s training ground with his entourage, encouraged the players to play their part by winning the match convincingly as the government will do its part by providing an enabling environment. Obaseki also assured the team that the government has made provisions to ensure that they fly to all their match destinations across the continent during the tournament. “I want to encourage…

MANCHESTER City duo Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland are among the three finalists for the men’s UEFA player of the year award alongside Lionel Messi, European football’s governing body announced Thursday. The trio emerged as the leading vote-getters from a jury comprised of coaches of clubs in UEFA competitions, those in charge of European national teams and a select group of journalists. The winner of the prize will be revealed on August 31 in Monaco at the Champions League group stage draw ceremony. Haaland finished as the Champions League’s top scorer last season with 12 goals, while De Bruyne…

A CANADIAN woman has been jailed for 22 years in the US for sending letters laced with ricin poison, including to Donald Trump when he was president. Pascale Ferrier, 56, agreed to the sentence in January after pleading guilty to biological weapons charges. The deadly envelope addressed to Mr Trump was intercepted in September 2020 before delivery to the White House. Ferrier told the court that she regretted that her plan had failed and that she “couldn’t stop Trump”. In a long-winded address to the court, she also said that she saw herself as an activist not a terrorist. “I…

RUSSIAN officials have accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on a building in Moscow, causing an explosion that was heard across the city’s business district. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences had shot down the drone with its debris falling on the city’s Expo Center. It marks the latest in a series of such attacks on the Russian capital. Unverified footage on social media appeared to show thick grey smoke rising into the night sky over Moscow. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, but officials in Kyiv have never formally acknowledged launching attacks on targets in Moscow. The…

POPULAR Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who has been on hunger strike for two weeks in protest against his detention, has been taken into intensive care, according to his allies. “Mr Sonko was the victim of an illness that occurred last night,” said Ousseynou Ly, who is a member of Mr Sonko’s Pastef party that was forced to close by Senegal’s authorities. A medical source at Hospital Principal in the capital, Dakar, confirmed to the BBC that he had been moved into the intensive care unit. Pastef says the authorities were “responsible” for Mr Sonko’s condition, after they charged and…

SOUTH African athlete Oscar Pistorius, who has spent six years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has asked the Constitutional Court to declare him eligible for parole. This comes after his bid for parole was denied in March when it was revealed that he had not served the minimum required sentence to qualify for early release. Pistorius was found guilty of murder and was given a 13-year jail sentence in 2017 after a long and dramatic trial and several appeals. He shot and killed Steenkamp through the bathroom door of his high-security home on Valentine’s Day…

THE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has opened negotiations with Jose Peseiro over a new contract as national coach with a pay cut. “His contract ended in July and we’re now talking to him and his lawyers,” NFF president Ibrahim Gusau said on Wednesday. Peseiro had been on a one-year contract. Gusau said talks were held up because of the delay in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, on which the contract was based. The competition will be held in January and February. Peseiro has led Nigeria to qualification with a game to spare. Sources told News Point Nigeria Sport that,…

MANCHESTER City won the UEFA Super Cup for the first time on Wednesday but needed penalties to beat Sevilla after a 1-1 draw in Athens. Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering first-half header gave the Spaniards the lead. European champions City were far from their slick best, but hit back to force the game to penalties through Cole Palmer’s header. City were then perfect from the spot and prevailed 5-4 in the shootout after Sevilla defender Nemanja Gudelj smashed against the bar. Pep Guardiola has bemoaned his side’s lack of preparation for the new season and it showed under the baking heat in…

A MAN in Australia who sent his faeces and urine to Hollywood actors Leonardo Di Caprio and Jared Leto was sentenced on Wednesday to a two-year good-behaviour bond. Veronica Grey sent parcels from post offices around the state of Western Australia in February, a court in the town of Broome heard, and was found out after one of the packages ruptured and leaked onto a postal worker. Public broadcaster ABC said Grey, who identifies as male, had placed his faeces and urine inside 23 postal satchels, sent to the recipients as “valentine confectionary (sic)”. The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to five…

SINGAPORE police have seized about S$1bn ($735m; £578m) – including luxury homes, cars and cash – in one of its biggest anti-money laundering probes. Luxury homes, high-end cars, designer handbags and $17m (£13.3m) in cash were among the items seized in the raids. Police arrested ten people in the operation, all of whom held foreign passports. Raids of this size are rare in Singapore, which has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. The Singapore Police Force said in a statement that simultaneous raids were held across the city-state on Tuesday. It added that 94 homes, including houses…

MORE than 60 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants was found off Cape Verde in West Africa. Thirty-eight people, including children, were rescued, with footage showing them being helped ashore, some on stretchers, on the island of Sal. Almost all those on board the boat, which was at sea for over a month, are thought to have been from Senegal. Cape Verde officials have called for global action on migration to help prevent further loss of life. The vessel was first spotted on Monday, police told the AFP news agency. Initial reports suggested the boat had sunk…

TWO powerful militias that back Libya’s UN-supported government have clashed in the capital, Tripoli, killing 55 people and injuring 146 others, medics say. The fierce fighting, which erupted on Monday until late on Tuesday, forced the city’s main airport to close. It only subsided after one side released a commander whose detention had triggered the fighting. Libya remains in political chaos after long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. The country is effectively now split between an interim, internationally recognised government in Tripoli and another one in the east. A 2020 ceasefire has brought a measure…

ENGLAND reached the Women’s World Cup final for the first time as they spoiled co-hosts Australia’s party on a historic evening in Sydney. Silencing a sell-out crowd at Stadium Australia with their 3-1 victory, the Lionesses became the first English side since 1966 to reach the final on the world stage. It caps a sensational two years under manager Sarina Wiegman as England, crowned European champions for the first time last year on home soil, showed their superiority and know-how to see off an Australia side spurred on by a nation who have been inspired by the Matildas’ success. Ella…

SEPLAT Energy Plc on Tuesday evening confirmed the death of one worker in the collapse of a majestic rig in Delta State, while three others were said to be missing. A statement by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Roger Brown, disclosed that 92 of the 96-member crew were accounted for and safe. See the full statement below: Seplat Energy Plc Incident involving the Majestic rig near Ovhor, Delta State Lagos and London – August 15, 2023: Seplat Energy regrets to announce a serious incident on the Depthwise swamp drilling rig “Majestic” in the early hours of this morning. Seplat…

BRAZILIAN striker Neymar has joined Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal in a deal worth $110 million bringing an end to his stay at French giants Paris Saint Germain. The 31-year-old will sign a two-year deal with the Saudi Arabia outfit subject to a successful medical. Neymar was unwanted at PSG. Still, the right-footed star, who will wear the number ten shirt, is set to become the second most high-profile player (after Ronaldo) to join the Saudi Pro League. Earlier Al Hilal had offered a massive €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) to World Cup winner Lionel Messi, but the Argentine opted…

A LOCAL politician in Ecuador was killed Monday, party officials said, less than a week after a presidential front-runner was gunned down at a campaign rally ahead of this weekend’s elections. Pedro Briones, a member of the Citizen Revolution Party of former president Rafael Correa, and one of the movement’s leaders in the province of Esmeraldas on the border with Colombia, was killed by unknown gunmen. “My solidarity with the family of comrade Pedro Briones, new victim of violence,” Luisa Gonzalez, one of the main presidential candidates, said on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter. “Ecuador is going…

NORTH Korea has said US soldier Travis King crossed into its territory last month because of “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” in the army. The 23-year-old private dashed across the border from South Korea on 18 July while on a guided tour. Private King admitted to crossing illegally and wanted refuge in the North, state media reported. Washington said it could not verify the claims, which are Pyongyang’s first public comments on the case. Concerns have been growing for the welfare of the US soldier, who has not been heard from or seen since his crossing. The US is trying…

SUDAN’s army has been attacking an area of Omdurman city where a traditional healer has been treating injured paramilitary fighters. Ten people died in shelling on Monday, which marked four months since the start of the brutal power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since the war began the RSF has moved into bases in many residential areas of the three cities that make up Greater Khartoum – Bahri, Khartoum and Omdurman – that are often targeted by air strikes and shelling. One shell, fired from the nearby Karari military base, hit a small square…

THE man who murdered South Africa’s former first lady Marike de Klerk is set to be released on parole at the end of August. Luyanda Mboniswa, who was 21 years old when he committed the crime, worked as a security guard at the former first lady’s apartment block. Mrs de Klerk, who was 64 years old, was stabbed and strangled in her Cape Town home in December 2001. Mboniswa also stole a mobile phone, gold watch and money then was arrested two days after the crime. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and another life term for robbery…