Author: Editor

SERIE A leaders Napoli suffered only their second league defeat of the season as they lost at home to Lazio, who moved up to second in the table. Matias Vecino scored the only goal in the 67th minute with an excellent strike from outside the penalty area. Serie A top goalscorer Victor Osimhen, with 19 goals in the league, came closest to an equaliser but saw his header bounce off the crossbar. Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic also hit the woodwork with a free-kick. Vecino’s goal was the first goal Napoli had conceded in six games. Napoli are aiming to become Italian…

SOCIAL media sensation Khaby Lame, who was born in Senegal and raised in Italy, has joined the judges’ panel of reality TV show Italia’s Got Talent. Lame is currently the world’s most-followed content creator on TikTok, where he is known for his famous shrug and for myth-busting various “life hacks”. He launched his page in 2020 after losing his job in a factory, and quickly built a huge following. The BBC profiled him a year ago, asking his fans in Senegal what they made of his fast rise.

A MAN who sold potato chips cooked in dirty oil from a power transformer has been sentenced by a court in Kenya. Elijah Mwangi Muthoga was arrested just over a year ago in possession of 11 litres of the oil at a hotel he runs in Nyandarua County. He must now serve a two year prison sentence or pay a fine of 200,000 shillings ($1,570; £1,300). A harsher sentence of 10 years in prison or a 10m shilling fine was handed to Zachary Mwangi Gitau, the man found guilty of procuring the oil for Muthoga by vandalising a power transformer.

THE United States announced a new $400 million security aid package for Ukraine on Friday that features various types of ammunition for Kyiv’s forces. “This military assistance package includes more ammunition for US-provided HIMARS and howitzers, which Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself,” the US State Department said in a statement, referring to precision rocket systems and artillery pieces. The package also includes ammunition for Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, as well as Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges for use in crossing rivers and other water obstacles. The United States has spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly…

BELARUS on Friday handed a 10-year jail term to Nobel Prize-winning activist Ales Bialiatski, drawing strong international condemnation. Bialiatski, who founded the authoritarian nation’s most prominent rights group, has repeatedly run into trouble with security forces in Belarus, which is often described as “Europe’s last dictatorship”. He was in the dock with two allies after they were jailed in the aftermath of historic demonstrations against the disputed re-election of the country’s strongman President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020. The 60-year-old and his associates had been convicted of smuggling and financing “activities that grossly violate public order”, said the Viasna (Spring) rights…

FORMER South African president and Head of Commonwealth Observer Mission to Nigeria, Dr. Thabo Mbeki, has urged the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, not to forget the African continent when he assumes office. Mbeki spoke on Thursday when he visited the president-elect in his Abuja residence on the completion of the Commonwealth Observer Mission, according to a statement by Tinubu’s Media Aide, Tunde Rahman, on Friday. Mbeki, who noted that the election was fair and credible, asked Tinubu to make the entire African continent his compass when he takes over the reins of government. “Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa…

IN the dead of night, two men fired shots at a closed supermarket belonging to the family of Lionel Messi’s wife, before leaving a threatening message on the ground aimed at the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner. “Messi, we’re waiting for you. Javkin is a narco, he won’t take care of you,” said the handwritten message left on the ground by the men who shot 14 bullets into the supermarket’s metallic facade in the early hours of Thursday. Pablo Javkin is the mayor of Messi’s hometown, Rosario, where the supermarket is located, some 320 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires. Javkin confirmed…

THE Flying Eagles have booked a spot in the semi-finals of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations after seeing off the Junior Cranes of Uganda 1-0. Thursday’s win at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Egypt also sealed the team’s place in the FIFA U-20 World Cup billed for Indonesia later in the year. While the Ugandans gave Nigeria a tough game, Ibrahim Jumia scored an own goal to hand victory to the West Africans in the tightly-contested match. The win makes Ladan Bosso’s team the second side after Senegal to book a place in the semi-finals of the…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron reiterated Thursday that France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa after he began a four-nation tour of the continent. “The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in Gabon, referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests. Macron is visiting four central African countries at a time when France finds itself facing a wave of hostility among troubled former colonies in the Sahel, forcing it to withdraw its troops. Ahead of his visit, Macron on Monday gave some…

AT least 36 people were killed and dozens injured after two trains collided near the northern Greek city of Larissa, in one of Europe’s most deadly recent train disasters. Here are the most deadly rail accidents in Europe over the past 25 years. 1998: Germany, 101 killed On June 3, a high-speed train operated by state-owned Deutsche Bahn derails in Eschede in Lower Saxony, due to a suspected faulty wheel, killing 101 people and injuring 88. It marks the worst German train accident since 102 people were killed near Munich in 1945. 2013: Spain, 80 killed On July 24, a…

POLICE in Katsina State on Wednesday neutralized two terrorists and injured several others at Yasore village in the Batsari Local Government Area of the state. The incident occurred at about 07:30hrs after the command received a distress call that terrorists in their numbers, shooting sporadically with AK 47 rifles, attacked the village. Consequently, the Divisional Police Officer of Batsari led a combined team of Police and vigilante groups to the area, engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun duel, and repelled them. In the process of repelling the terrorists, two AK-47 rifles alongside ninety-seven (97) rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition,…

TRANSCORP Hotels Plc (NGX: TRANSCOHOT), a leading hospitality brand, has reported its financial results for full year 2022. The Group reported a profit before tax (PBT) of N4.5 billion, a 172 percent increase year-on-year, having ended 2021 with a PBT of N1.7 billion. Transcorp Hotels Plc also reported a 47 percent growth in revenue to N31.4 billion in 2022 from N21.4 billion the previous year. The Group also reported a N2.6 billion profit after tax. Dupe Olusola, Managing Director/CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc in her comments noted that Transcorp Hotels delivered another year of exceptional revenue growth amidst the uncertainty…

A CHIEFTAIN of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu says the flag bearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi won in Lagos State in the just concluded presidential election because of the “preponderance of the Igbo people in Lagos”. “What transpired last Saturday, the major factor was ethnic: the Labour Party was able to take over the APC behemoth because of the preponderance of the Igbo people in Lagos. They are everywhere,” Momodu said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast show on Thursday monitored by News Point Nigeria. Momodu, a campaigner for PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said…

BOLA Ahmed Asiwaju Tinubu, 70, has been declared the winner of Nigeria’s most competitive election since the end of military rule in 1999. Widely credited with reshaping Nigeria’s commercial hub Lagos, Tinubu saw off a divided opposition party and a youth-backed third-party candidate and is set to replace President Muhammadu Buhari in May, unless the opposition claims of manipulation lead to a rerun. Africa’s most populous country is facing a crumbling economy, widespread insecurity and high inflation. Many will want Tinubu to hit the ground running when he takes on one of Africa’s most daunting jobs. Once forced into exile…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission has so far uploaded 147,578 results from 176, 846 polling units, five days after the presidential election. The figure represents 83 per cent of results from all the polling units. As of the time of filing this report, the electronic transmission of results was still ongoing. Nigerians expected that the election results would be uploaded on election day as promised by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. However, INEC came under fire for its failure to upload results to its viewing portal which led to the walkout of some parties agents on Monday, at the…

THERE were jubilant scenes at the home of President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday evening, when the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President-elect Senator Kashim Shettima made a triumphal entry into the private residence in Daura, with each of them brandishing their certificates of return. The certificates are symptomatic of their victory in the presidential election as issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Apparently overcome with a lot of emotions, seeing the “phenomenal election result,” President Buhari kept repeating, “My Good Lord, My Good Lord,” “Fantastic.” “We are very lucky,” the President uttered as he warmly clasped…

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari is of the opinion that the challenges encountered during the February 25th general elections did not pose a challenge to the transparency of the electoral process. The president stated this in a communique where he congratulated the winner of the just concluded presidential election, Bola Tinubu, saying that he is best the man for the job. Further reacting to the victory the president said it is not that the exercise was without fault but that “none of the issues registered represent a challenge to the freeness and fairness of the elections”. President Buhari while agreeing that there…

JUST Fontaine, who holds the record for the most goals scored at a single World Cup, has died at the age of 89. Fontaine scored 13 goals in just six matches for France at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden as they finished third. He is joint-fourth on the all-time World Cup goalscorers list alongside Argentina’s Lionel Messi. “A star of French football, an outstanding striker, a legendary Reims player,” said his former club Stade de Reims. Another of his former clubs, Paris St-Germain, said: “A thought for Just Fontaine. An icon of French football who has left us.” The…

PRINCE Harry and his wife Meghan are being evicted from their home on the British royal family’s Windsor estate, leaving them without a UK base, reports said on Wednesday. Frogmore Cottage, which they refurbished at a reported cost of £2.4 million ($2.9 million), had been a wedding present from the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. It has now been offered to Prince Andrew, King Charles III’s disgraced brother, reports in the The Sun and Daily Telegraph said. Harry and Meghan, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were reportedly told to vacate the property in January just…

IN what appears like a Tsunami, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently issued a circular stipulating a cumulative 20 years for executive management and Non-executive Directors (NEDs) of deposit money banks (DMB) and financial holding companies (HoldCos) will see many of the bank chairmen affected. The rule says bank executive directors (EDs), deputy managing directors (DMDs), managing directors (MDs), and non-executive directors (NEDs) can only serve a cumulative tenure of 20 years across the banking industry. The directive is contained in a circular addressed to all deposit money banks (DMBs), signed by Chibuzor Efobi, director of the financial policy…