2 crushed to death while fighting on expressway in Oshodi (Vanguard)
Two male adults were on Tuesday, crushed to death during a fight at Oshodi-Oke inward Gbagada Expressway in Lagos State.
The incident occurred at day time, adjacent LASTMA office in Oshodi.
Though details of what led to the fight could not be ascertained but it was gathered that the victims were hit and crushed to death by an upcoming vehicle.
One of them was said to have died on the spot while the other died few hours later. Read more
Terrorists release train passenger shot in captivity, 4 others (DailyTrust)
Five of the passenger who were abducted from a Kaduna-bound train on March 28, 2022, have been released.
Among the freed passengers are Prof. Mustapha Umar Imam, a medical doctor at the Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUS), Sokoto.
Imam was shot in captivity, raising concerns about his safety.
Other passengers who were released are Akibu Lawal, Abubakar Ahmed Rufai, Muktar Shuaibu and Sidi Aminu Sharif. Read more
16 dead, 5 injured in Lagos auto crash (Punch)
A crash involving two vehicles in the early hours of Tuesday along Alaro City, Epe area of Lagos State claimed 16 lives and injured five.
Twenty-three male adults were involved in the crash; while 16 died, five were critically injured, and two suffered no injuries.
Confirming the accident, the Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos Command, noted that the crash occurred at 03:00 am and was caused by impaired visibility due to reckless driving.
A statement by the FRSC Public Education Officer of the command, Olabisi Sonusi, revealed that the five injured victims have been hospitalised. Read more
EFCC charges 2 businessmen with illegal banking operations (Nation)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has brought two businessmen before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos for allegedly carrying out a banking business without appropriate licence.
The defendants – Adewale Daniel Jayeoba, Emmanuel Jayeoba and their firm Wales Kingdom Capital Limited – were arraigned on Monday before Justice Nicholas Oweibo on a two-count charge.
Prosecution counsel Chineye Okezie told the court the defendants committed the offence within Lagos in October 2019.
The defendants pleaded not guilty. Read more
2023: DG for APC Presidential Campaign has been chosen, says El-Rufai (Channels)
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, a director-general has been picked for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council.
This is according to Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai, who briefed journalists on Monday after a meeting the APC governors had with the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and his running mate Kashim Shettima, in Lagos.
He said other positions in the council are being discussed, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, would be briefed before a formal announcement.
“A decision has been taken on the director-general but other positions in the campaign council are still being discussed. The president and the national chairman and national working committee will be briefed before a formal announcement,” El-Rufai stated. Read more
NDLEA busts Lagos, Anambra labs, recovers 258.74kg Mkpurummiri (Punch)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has announced the dismantling of two major clandestine laboratories in Lagos and Anambra States, where the dangerous illicit drug, crystal methamphetamine, popularly known as Mkpuru Mmiri in local parlance, was produced for local distribution and export.
The agency said that following the outbreak of crystal methamphetamine abuse in the last quarter of 2021, predominantly in the South East and the demand for help from many communities in the region, it deployed all available assets to find the primary source of manufacturing of the drug in Nigeria and arrest the barons behind it.
The demand for assistance became necessary because of the devastating effects of the dangerous stimulant drug distribution and abuse on youths and others.
The Chairmanof NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.) announced the breakthrough during a press conference in Abuja. Read more
Kannywood Directors react to ban by IGP on use of police kits in films (DailyTrust)
Hausa film industry popularly known as Kannywood have reacted to a recent directive by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, on the ban of the use of police kits in films or skits.
The police boss, in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by the Police Force spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, announced that filmmakers, comedians and skit makers have been banned from using police uniforms and other kits in their acts without explicit permission from the police as the law entails.
The statement added that actors should stop portraying the Nigeria Police in bad light or ridiculing it in their activities.
However, a prominent director in Kannywood, Aminu Saira, told BBC Hausa that they will consider or study the directive and if it is in line with Nigeria’s laws they would comply with it. Read more
Digital Economy: Ogun will become Nigeria’ Silicon Valley soon – Pantami (Leadership)
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), has predicted that Ogun State would emerge Nigeria’s Silicon Valley in the near future.
This potential, according to the Minister, was the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives and its application in all sectors of the state economy.
Pantami gave this declaration when he and members of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) paid a courtesy call on the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, in his office in Abeokuta, on Monday.
The minister acknowledged the giant strides recorded by the incumbent administration particularly in its various initiatives in the digital economy. Read more
Suspected cultists kill woman, 65, remove 1 eye
(Vanguard)
Osun Police Command on Tuesday said the corpse of a 65-year-old woman, declared missing in Ilesa, was found on her farm with one of her eyes plucked.
SP Yemisi Opalola, Osun Police Spokesperson in a statement, explained that the daughter of the deceased reported the discovery of her mother’s corpse to the police.
She said, “At about 1.00 p.m on Monday, One Dare Oluyemi of Odundun Area Ilesa reported that her mother, Oluyemi Tunmise, 65, who the family had been searching for since Saturday, had been found dead.
“She said her mother was found dead with one of her eyes removed by yet to be identified assailants on her farm at Fadahunsi Area of Ilesa, at about 11.30 a.m on Monday.” Read more
Diane Warren apologises after appearing to ‘shade’ Beyoncé over Renaissance album collaborators (Independent)
Diane Warren has apologised after appearing to “shade” Beyoncé over her album Renaissance.
The songwriter is responsible for penning tracks such as Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time”, and boasts 13 Oscar nominations for her soundtracks.
However, on Monday (1 August), Warren infuriated Beyoncé fans as she tweeted: “How can there be 24 writers on a song?”
Despite her insisting that her tweet wasn’t “meant as shade” and that she was “just curious”, fans theorised that Warren was criticising Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance, which was released last week. Read more
Brad Pitt denies retirement speculation after ‘last leg’ comments (RTE)
Brad Pitt has laughed off recent comments he made about his movie career being on its “last leg” saying he “really” has to “work on my phrasing”.
The 58-year-old actor sent fans into a frenzy following a recent interview with GQ in which seemed to announce his retirement from the movie industry.
In the magazine article, which was published in June, he said: “I consider myself on my last leg, this last semester or trimester,” he said at the time. “What is this section gonna be? And how do I wanna design that?”
Pitt has now clarified his comments and admits he used a poor choice of words. Read more
TikTok appears to be planning a music streaming app (NME)
TikTok has filed patents for “TikTok music”, suggesting that the video sharing platform has a music streaming app in the works.
As uncovered by Insider [further reporting via The Verge], ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, filed a trademark application in May with the US Patent and Trademark Office. It follows a “TikTok Music” trademark that was filed in Australia last November.
According to the filing the service would let users purchase, play, share and download music. It would also allow users to create, share and recommend playlists, comment on music as well as livestream audio and video.
The purported plans for a music app follows ByteDance launching the music streaming app Resso in India, Brazil and Indonesia in 2020. Resso has some of the features described in the “TikTok Music” patent filings. Read more
‘Sirens,’ feature Doc about all-female Lebanese metal band, finds Mid East home at front row (THR)
Dubai-based Middle East distributor and producer Front Row Filmed Entertainment, which scored a major hit earlier this year with its local remake of Perfect Strangers for Netflix, has acquired the regional rights to two Sundance-bowing and gender-defying Arab films.
Sirens, exec produced by Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne and directed by Moroccan-American filmmaker Rita Baghdadi, follows the story of Lilas and Shery, the co-founders and guitarists of the Middle-East’s first all-female metal band as they wrestle with friendship, sexuality and destruction in their pursuit of becoming Thrash metal rock stars.
The feature doc has played in over 40 festivals internationally so far in addition to Sundance, winning several awards along the way including the one in a million documentary award at the Sun Valley Film Festival, the special jury award for courage in filmmaking at the Florida Film Festival and the mermaid award special mention at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The documentary was also nominated for the grand jury prize (world cinema – documentary) at the Sundance Film Festival, and currently boasts a 97 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile, Front Row has also picked up the short film Warsha from Lebanese-Syrian filmmaker Dania Bdeir, which follows Mohammad (Khansa), a migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut. One morning he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom. Read more
Mo Ostin, legendary Warner Bros. Records chief, dead at 95 (NME)
Mo Ostin, who served as a top executive at Warner-Reprise Records for over three decades between the ’60s and ’90s, has died at the age of 95.
Ostin’s death was confirmed by Warner Records co-chairmen, CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck and COO Tom Corson, who wrote that the music industry figure passed away in his sleep on Sunday (July 31) from natural causes.
“Mo was one of the greatest record men of all time, and a prime architect of the modern music business. For Mo, it was always first and foremost about helping artists realize their vision,” Bay-Shuck and Corson said.
“One of the pivotal figures in the evolution of Warner Music Group, in the 1960s Mo ushered Warner/Reprise Records into a golden era of revolutionary, culture-shifting artistry. Over his next three decades at the label, he remained a tireless champion of creative freedom, both for the talent he nurtured and the people who worked for him,” they added. Read more
Rick Ross explains why he’s never sued anyone in the music industry (HNHH)
Rozay says he’s never been cheated or taken advantage of because he settles his disputes over the phone, one-on-one.
It isn’t a difficult feat to find reports on artists complaining about their deals. Whether it be with their label, management, or a brand, musicians regularly step onto a public forum to air out grievances about a contract they’re trying to get out of or to call out someone they believe is trying to do them dirty. This isn’t something that Ross has done or is even familiar with, according to him, because during his recent appearance on the Beyond The Chair Podcast, he revealed that he settles those disputes one-on-one.
“You gotta realize when you are a young artist, I’m sure after you become successful, whatever you look back on you’ll consider it a bad contract,” said Rozay.
“Have I ever been taken advantage of? No,” he added. “Have I ever been robbed? No. Have I ever had to sue someone I was in business with musically? No.” The hosts seemed surprised that Ross never felt the need to take anyone to court. Read more
Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri killed by US drone strike in Afghanistan (IrishIndependent)
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has been killed in a CIA drone strike in Afghanistan, US officials told Reuters last night, the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor and surgeon, helped coordinate the September 11, 2001, attacks in which four civilian aircraft were hijacked and slammed into the World Trade Centre’s twin towers in New York, the Pentagon near Washington and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people.
One of the US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a drone strike was carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counter-terrorism operation against a significant al-Qa’ida target in Afghanistan,” a senior administration official said. Read more
CWG 2022: Ashe, Ekevwo, Oghenebrume breeze into men’s 100m semis (Vanguard)
Nigeria’s trio of Favour Oghene Tejiri Ashe, Raymond Ekevwo and Godson Oghenebrume all qualified for the semi-final of the men’s 100m event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Having all three representatives featuring in the semis increases Nigeria’s chances of finishing with a medal in the blue ribband event.
While Ashe and Ekevwo finished among the top 10 from the heats in times of 10.12s and 10.14s to get automatic qualification spots, Oghenebrume had to wait with his time of 10.36s to get passing as one of the non-automatic qualifiers.
Nigeria’s fastest man, Ashe won his heat, beating the likes of Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and got so comfortable he just about jogged to win it. Ekevwo repeated the feat in heat four where he finished faster than Jamaican, Kemar Bailey-Cole. Read more
Aiteo Cup: Rangers wary of Heartland’s threat (Leadership)
The technical adviser of Rangers International of Enugu, Abdul Maikaba, has warned that his side’s Aiteo Federation Cup Round of 32 match against Heartland FC will be their toughest yet.
The former Nigerian champion thrashed Auwalu Baba Jada (ABJ) FC of Bauchi 4-1 on Sunday. The win ensured that the six-time champions booked a berth in the competition’s Round of 32 against bitter rivals Heartland after the Owerri-based club beat JM Liberty of Makurdi 1-0 in their Round of 64 clash in Calabar.
Maikaba said that even though his team had crossed the first hurdle with ease, for him, the next game is always the most difficult one.
“Our next game is a difficult one against our rivals Heartland of Owerri, which is likely to be played on Wednesday. Read more
Women’s Super League: West Ham United sign France international forward Viviane Asseyi (BBC)
West Ham United have signed French forward Viviane Asseyi from Bayern Munich.
The 28-year-old is the Hammers’ seventh signing of the summer, and has previously played for clubs including Montpellier, Marseille and Bordeaux.
She has scored 12 goals in 55 appearances for France.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to play in the Women’s Super League,” said Asseyi. Read more
Man City ‘in negotiations’ to sign Spaniard after being priced out of Cucurella deal (Football365)
Man City have moved quickly to enter negotiations with Anderlecht over a deal for Sergio Gomez after being priced out of a deal for Marc Cucurella, according to reports.
After selling Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal this summer, the Citizens are now looking to find another player who can play left-back for them next season.
Joao Cancelo also played there a number of times last campaign and it had seemed likely that Man City would tie up a deal for Brighton defender Cucurella.
Man City were willing to pay £40m for the left-back but Brighton wouldn’t budge on their £50m valuation and now Chelsea are closing in on the signing. Read more
Liverpool ready to reward Diogo Jota with bumper new contract for his stunning form (DailyMail)
Liverpool are progressing in talks over a new contract for striker Diogo Jota.
The 25-year-old is due back in training within a fortnight after aggravating a hamstring injury last month.
Jota still has three years to run on the contract he signed upon joining the Reds in 2020 from Wolves for £45million.
The Portugal international scored 21 goals and made eight assists to help his side win the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, as well as reach the Champions League final. Read more
Murray falls in Washington opener while Halep, Pegula win (France24)
Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray of Britain crashed out in the opening round of the ATP and WTA Washington Open on Monday, falling to Sweden’s Mikael Ymer.
The 35-year-old Scotsman fell to 115th-ranked Ymer 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-1 after two hours and 50 minutes at the US Open tuneup tournament.
“I’m excited,” said Ymer, who saved four set points in the first set. “A lot left to do but it’s a very good start to the American swing.”
World number 50 Murray, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, is trying to earn a seeding at the US Open, which he won a decade ago.
Boston Celtics sign former 9th overall pick (SI)
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnaroski, the Boston Celtics have agreed with Noah Vonleh on a training camp deal.
Woj: “Free agent F Noah Vonleh has agreed to a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics, source tells ESPN. Vonleh will go to training camp with the hopes of making the roster.”
Vonleh is still just 26-years-old, and he has played for the Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets over his career.
In 2014, he was the ninth overall pick out of Indiana University by the Hornets. Read more