After raping me twice, kidnappers threatened to rape my two sons -Widow (Vanguard)
An Abuja-based widow, Mrs Olurunfemi Stella, has described her experience in the kidnappers’ den as harrowing.
Olurunfemi and her two sons were kidnapped recently, on their way to Minna, Niger state from Abuja and were released after paying N3 million ransom.
The widow, who is yet to recover from the traumatic experience, said she wouldn’t wish anyone, not even her enemies go through such an ordeal, and advised Nigerians to reduce the rate they travel with their families.
The Edo State-born middle-aged woman, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard said the effect of such harrowing experiences on children, makes it difficult for them to grow with loyalty to the nation. Read more
How women danced to relieve stress in Lagos (Leadership)
Women from all walks of life in the Lagos State capital, Ikeja, came together recently at the second edition of ‘Lagos Women Dance’ aimed at enhancing their physical fitness level.
The scores of women danced, exercised and relieved themselves of the stress that comes with their roles and work in the society. The Lagos Women Dance themed, #StressOut, and organised by Seed Rehabilitation Foundation had in attendance Nigeria cultural ambassador, Muyiwa Osinaike, fitness and wellness consultant, Hadiza Mukhtar; wellness coach, Nkem Ajudua and CEO of Aerobics and Beauty Spa, Beauty Musa who all guided the participants through different dance workout including Zumba dancing, dance therapy, and other forms of fitness dancing while the women were also engaged on stress management talk.
In her remarks as the guest speaker, Beauty Musa noted the importance of self-love and self-care for women, saying that it is pertinent to striking a balance in a rather unbalanced life. Read more
Obi Cubana, friends on yacht in the Maldives (Punch)
Chairman of Cubana Group, Obi Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, has shared pictures showing him on a yacht with his friends in the Maldives.
The socialite took the trip a few days after he threw a lavish burial ceremony for his late mother in Anambra State.
The ceremony was the talk of the town for days based on reports that hundreds of cows were slaughtered to cater to guests who were mostly celebrities and other prominent Nigerians.
To put the hype about the ceremony behind him, Obi Cubana and his friends took the trip to the Maldives and camped at the Lily Beach Resort & Spa at Huvahendhoo. Read more
ASUU issues warning of indefinite strike over FG’s refusal to honour agreement (Vanguard)
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a warning of an impending indefinite strike if the federal government refuses to honour the agreement which led the body to suspend their industrial action last year.
ASUU Chairperson of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Dr Ibrahim Inuwa, made this known while speaking with some journalists at the Union’s Secretariat during the weekend.
He said that the protracted strike which they embarked on to press home their demands for the continuous survival of public university system in Nigeria was suspended in December after ASUU and the federal government signed a Memorandum of Understanding on various issues, providing timelines for the implementation of each of the eight items on the list. Read more
Another 28 kidnapped students released in Nigeria (Guardian)
Gunmen who seized 121 students at a high school in northwestern Nigeria in early July have released another 28 teenagers, a school official told AFP on Sunday.
The attackers stormed Bethel Baptist High School in northwestern Kaduna state on July 5, abducting students who were sleeping in their dorms.
The kidnapping was the latest by heavily-armed gangs, known locally as bandits, who have long plagued northwest and central Nigeria by looting, stealing cattle and abducting for ransom, but have lately targeted schools and colleges. Read more
NIN-SIM linkage deadline gets new date (Guardian)
The deadline for linking the national identity numbers to SIM cards in Nigeria has been shifted again.
The deadline, which was to come into effect on Sunday, has now been extended by three months to October 31.
The decision to extend the deadline was made following a request by stakeholders to accommodate registration in hard-to-reach remote areas, foreigners and diplomatic missions, diaspora and address low enrolments in schools and hospitals, as evidenced by enrolment statistics.
It also followed a review of the progress of the exercise which indicated significant progress hence the need to consolidate the gains of the enrolment and NIN-SIM verification process across the country. Read more
I scout for talented artistes who have no platform –Olamide (Punch)
Popular rapper and CEO of YBNL, Olamide Adedeji, better known as Olamide, has said that he likes to scout and feature talented artistes who do not have a platform because he was once in their shoes.
The ‘Rock’ crooner said this in an interview with Grammy. He said, “I and Phyno have been cool friends from way back, over nine years now. We have always been cool, doing collaborations almost every year. But the other guys (artistes) on the project are very new on the market. That’s something I do on almost every project. I always try to scout for guys that are very talented but don’t have the platform, people supporting them and all that. I went through that stage, and I know how it feels. Read more
5 kidnapped maritime workers, 3 others regain freedom (Guardian)
Five members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and three others who were seized by gunmen in Rivers waters on Monday have regained their freedom.
Mr Edward Osagie, Assistant Director, Public Relations, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) disclosed this in a statement he issued late Saturday.
According to Osagie, the release of the abducted people on Saturday evening was sequel to the intervention of the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh and other stakeholders.
“The Director-General of NIMASA broke the news after a phone conversation with the President-General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju at about 8:15pm on Saturday. Read more
Tunisian protesters march against government (Guardian)
Thousands of Tunisians marched in several cities protesting against the ruling party Sunday, criticising what they said was government failures in the North African nation amid crippling coronavirus rates.
In the capital Tunis, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of parliament, shouting slogans against the Islamist-inspired ruling Ennahdha party and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.
“The people want the dissolution of parliament,” the crowd chanted.
Several protesters were arrested and a journalist was injured when the crowd hurled stones and police fired tear gas canisters, an AFP reporter said. Read more
Jackie Mason, irascible comedian who perfected amused outrage, dies at 93 (CBC)
Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.
Mason died Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalised for over two weeks, celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder told The Associated Press.
The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.
“Eighty per cent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,” he once joked. Another Mason line was: “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.” Read more
Large meteor wows Norway after blazing through night sky (BBC) Norwegians have been left awestruck by what experts say was an unusually large meteor that illuminated the night sky in the country’s south-east.
Footage shows powerful flashes of light over Norway, followed by what witnesses described as loud bangs on Sunday.
Norwegian police say they received a flurry of emergency calls but there were no reports of injuries or damage.
A team of experts are hunting for the meteor, which they believe landed in a forest near the capital, Oslo. Read more
Amhara residents told to fight Tigray rebels (Punch)
Ethiopia’s Amhara region on Sunday called on all armed residents to mobilise for battle against rebels from conflict-hit Tigray, calling it a “survival campaign”, state media reported.
Amhara borders Tigray to the south, and the two regions are embroiled in a decades-old land dispute that has become central to the eight-month-old war in Tigray.
Sunday’s statement from Amhara regional president Agegnehu Teshager echoes a call made Friday by the president of Ethiopia’s Afar region just east of Tigray. Read more
Brazilian protesters call for impeachment of Bolsonaro for 2nd time in a month (CBC)
Protesters took to the streets in several Brazilian cities on Saturday to demand the impeachment of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, whose popularity has fallen in recent weeks amid corruption scandals against the backdrop of the pandemic.
News broke this week that Brazil’s Defence Ministry told congressional leadership that next year’s elections would not take place without amending the country’s electronic voting system to include a paper trail of each vote.
Bolsonaro has suggested several times without evidence that the current system is prone to fraud, allegations that Brazil’s government has denied. Read more
R. Kelly accused of abusing teenage boy he met in McDonald’s (BBC)
US R&B star R. Kelly has been accused of fresh abuse allegations, including the claim he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy.
Prosecutors allege the singer abused the teenager after meeting him at a Chicago McDonald’s in 2006.
They want evidence of this, and other alleged but uncharged crimes, to be heard at Kelly’s trial in August.
Kelly denies ever abusing anyone, and his lawyers have not responded to the latest allegations. Read more
Australia beat D’Tigers 84-67 in Olympics opener (Punch)
Nigeria’s men basketball team D’Tigers lost 84-67 to Australia in their opening game of the Tokyo Olympics at the Saitama Arena in Tokyo on Sunday (today).
The Nigerians, led by Miami Heat point guard Gabe Vincent, were impressive in the first quarter, matching the Boomers for strength as they tied the game 23-23 at the end of the quarter.
The Aussies led by three points going into halftime 43-40 after winning the second quarter 20-17.
The Nigerians kept the margin minimal at the end of the third quarter with a six-point deficit: 58-52 in favour of the Bommers, but D’Tigers collapsed in the fourth quarter. Read more
Lewandowski voted German Player of the Year (Guardian)
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was voted Germany’s Footballer of the Year for the second year running on Sunday.
The 32-year-old Pole was once again the runaway winner of the title awarded by the football magazine Kicker, following a vote by journalists.
Lewandowski, who equalled Gerd Mueller’s 49-year-old scoring record in May as he netted his 41st Bundesliga goal of the season, received 356 of the 563 votes on offer. Read more
US dealt 1st Olympic men’s basketball defeat since 2004 (CBC)
For the first time since 2004, the U.S. men’s basketball team has lost in the Olympics. And the Americans’ quest for a fourth consecutive gold medal is already in serious trouble.
France — the team that knocked the Americans out of contention in the Basketball World Cup two years ago — dealt the U.S. a major blow once again.
Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer with just under a minute left put France ahead to stay in what became a 83-76 win over the Americans on Sunday in the opening game for both teams at the Tokyo Olympics.
The U.S. had won 25 consecutive Olympic games, last losing at the Athens Games 17 years ago and settling for a bronze medal there. Read more
UFC Fight Night: TJ Dillashaw beats Cory Sandhagen on return from doping ban (BBC)
Former champion TJ Dillashaw won on his return to the Octagon on Saturday night, beating Cory Sandhagen in a bantamweight clash at UFC Vegas 32.
Dillashaw had been banned for two years for failing a drugs test in 2019.
The 35-year-old sealed a split-decision victory at the UFC Apex Arena in Las Vegas with two takedowns of second-ranked Sandhagen, who managed none.
“I wasn’t worried about the naysayers,” Dillashaw told ESPN after winning the bout. Read more
Japanese siblings win gold medals on same day in Tokyo, in moment of Olympic history (CBC)
Japanese judoka Uta Abe triumphed in the women’s 52-kg category in Tokyo on Sunday, hours before her brother Hifumi took gold in the men’s 66-kg final, making history as the first siblings to win gold medals on the same day.
The feat came a day after triple world champion judoka Naohisa Takato secured Japan’s first gold medal with victory over Taiwan’s Yang Yung-wei, underscoring the strength of the host nation at the sport born here 140 years ago.
In a bright start to the Games for Japan amid a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak, its team secured two further golds on Sunday, in swimming and skateboarding. Read more
Tokyo Olympics: World number one Ashleigh Barty stunned by Sara Sorribes Tormo in first round (BBC)
World number one Ashleigh Barty was stunned by Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain in the first round of women’s Olympics singles in Tokyo.
Australian Barty, who won her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July, cut a frustrated figure in her 6-4 6-3 loss to 48th-ranked Sorribes Tormo.
The victory is the biggest of Sorribes Tormo’s career.Japan’s second seed Naomi Osaka cruised past Saisai Zheng of China 6-1 6-4. Read more