Court remands man for cutting boy’s wrists with knife (Nation)
An Ikorodu Chief Magistrates’ Court on Monday ordered the remand of a 32-year-old man, Ugochukwu Eze, in a Custodial Centre, for allegedly cutting a 15-year-old boy’s wrists with a knife.
Eze, who is a live-in-lover of the boy’s aunt, is facing a charge of serious assault to which he pleaded not guilty.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs F.A. Azeez, ordered that the defendant be remanded in a Custodial Centre pending receipt of medical report on the boy’s condition.
She adjourned the case till Jan. 30 for further hearing. Read more
2020 offers new opportunities for Lagos home ownership (Guardian)
Faced with enormous housing shortages, which are compounded by a huge number of people moving to Lagos on a daily basis in search of greener pastures, the year 2020 may offer residents golden opportunities to own decent homes.
This optimism, experts said is anchored on the prevailing trends in Lagos property market and several efforts by both formal and informal shelter providers to increase the state’s housing stocks.
With the last week signing of the State’s 2020 appropriation law of N1.168 trillion by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in which housing was made a priority, development experts said things will change for better for the 20 million people inhabiting a landmass of about 1,171.28 square kilometres. Read more
Firms with less than N25m turnover will no longer pay company tax- FG (Punch)
The Finance Bill 2019, when signed into law, will ensure that small businesses with turnover less than N25m will be exempted from Companies Income Tax.
Currently, all companies are expected to pay the Federal Government 30 per cent of their profit as Companies Income Tax.
However, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said once the bill is signed into law, companies that make a turnover of less than N25m will no longer pay this tax while those that have a turnover of between N25m and N100m yearly will now pay 20 per cent as companies income tax.
She said those earning over N100m would continue to pay the 30 per cent of their profits as CIT. Read more
Clergy, CAN knock Mbaka over Imo guber prophecy (DailyTrust)
The Christian Association of Nigeria and religious leaders in Imo state have expressed reservations over the recent prediction by renowned Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, that Governor Emeka Ihedioha will lose his seat to the opposition All Progressives Congress. Mbaka in his New Year message had predicted that the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Senator Hope Uzodinma, will upturn and take over from Emeka Ihedioha as Governor of Imo State.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in its reaction said it’s opposed to politically motivated prophecies whilst the Bishops Conference of Nigeria said that the Catholic Church not into fortune telling. Read more
Housewife flees after allegedly pushing co-wife, baby into well in Kano (Punch)
The Kano State Police Command has arrested a 30-year-old housewife, Hauwa, for allegedly pushing her co-wife Zuwaira, 35, and her 18-month-old son, Gambo, into a well.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, confirmed the arrest in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Kano.
Haruna said the police received a report on Friday that Hauwa of Rurum village of Rano Local Government Area of Kano, had pushed her co-wife and baby into a well. Read more
Wrong Genotype diagnosis contributes to high rate of SCD in Nigeria- NGO (Nation)
The Sickle Cell Hope Alive Foundation (SCHAF) says wrong genotype diagnosis is a major contributing factor to the high prevalence rate of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in Nigeria.
Its President, Prof. Adeyinka Falusi, made this known at a news conference on Monday in Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the news conference was held to kick start the annual “Know Your Genotype (KYG) Workshop” organised by the NGO for school-age children and parents.
The workshop has the tagline: “Changing the Dynamics to Reduce the Burden of SCD in Nigeria.” Read more
Plateau denies accepting to pay N30,000 minimum wage (DailyTrust)
Plateau State Government has said a committee constituted by the State Government in November 2019 with a view of mapping out modalities for the implementation of minimum wage was still negotiating with Organised Labour. The state government, through the Commissioner of Information and Communication, Dan Manjag, said news making the rounds on social and conventional media that the state government was ready to implement the payment of the N30, 000.00 minimum wage without recourse to negotiations on the consequential adjustments was false.
Manjag denied reports quoting him as saying: “there was no need for any negotiation with any group of persons before the implementation” and maintained that the state government has set up a committee to negotiate with labour about the consequential adjustments as directed by the Federal Government based on the peculiarity, sustainability and capacity of each state. Read more
Four-day working week and six-hour shifts to be introduced in Finland (Metro)
Finland’s new Prime Minister wants to introduce a four-day working week. Sanna Marin, 34, says an extra day off and six-hour days will allow the public to spend more time with their families and on hobbies. The proposal from Ms Marin – the world’s youngest sitting prime minister – follows the lead of Scandanavian neighbour Sweden, where a six-hour working experiment began in 2015. According to the New Europe newspaper, she said: ‘I believe people deserve to spend more time with their families, loved ones, hobbies and other aspects of life, such as culture. ‘This could be the next step for us in working life.’ Read more
Thai health ministry opens medical marijuana clinic (DailyTrust)
Medical marijuana cannabis legalised Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has opened a medical marijuana clinic at its headquarters in Bangkok as it seeks to expand the herb-based industry. The Minister of Public Health, Anutin Charnvirakul said on Monday the clinic will supply patients with cannabis-based medicine that can be used to alleviate conditions such as migraines, insomnia, muscle and joint aches, numbness and loss of appetite. Charnvirakul said Thailand already has 25 other clinics and 86 hospitals with a supply of cannabis-based medicine, adding that hospitals have requested that pot-based medication be made available in every province within the year. Read more
Britain’s most prolific rapist with nearly 200 victims is jailed for 30 years (Metro)
The UK’s most prolific serial rapist has been jailed for at least 30 years after drugging 48 men and filming himself attacking them as they lay unconscious in his city centre apartment. Reynhard Sinaga, 36, has been linked to more than 190 potential victims – 70 of whom police have yet to identify. He prowled the streets of Manchester in the early hours hunting for lone, drunk young men around the nightclubs near his flat. Posing as a Good Samaritan, the slightly-built student would offer them a floor to sleep on or the promise of more booze before lacing their drinks with GHB. Read more
Soleimani: US sends warning to citizens in Nigeria (DailyTrust)
US President, Donald Trump. The United States (US) has urged its citizens to review their travel plans to and within Nigeria. The travel advisory follows the killing of Iran’s top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, by American forces. Soleimani was killed by an air strike at Baghdad airport early on Friday. At least six others were killed, including Iraqi militia commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Soleimani.
Iran has vowed a “vigorous revenge” on those responsible for the killing. The US Mission in Nigeria said, though it has no specific threat information, it warned American nationals to be aware of their surroundings and alter their travel routes and times. Read more
Golden Globes: Ricky Gervais shocks with joke about Leonardo DiCaprio and Prince Andrew (Independent)
Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais shocked the audience with a joke about Leonardo DiCaprio and Prince Andrew.
The comedian, who presented the ceremony for the fifth and final time, didn’t hold back as he made his way onto the stage ahead of the ceremony.
Among other things, Gervais poked fun at Jeffrey Epstein, the recent flop of Cats and a Harvey Weinstein joke that’s been called a “truth bomb” that “Hollywood needed to hear” on social media.
But the most shocking moment arrived when he spoke about Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Read more
Musa wins Saudi Super Cup title with Al Nassr (DailyTrust)
Ahmed Musa played a key role as Al Nassr won the Saudi Arabia Super Cup title following a 5-4 penalty shootout win against Al Taawon at the King Abdullah Stadium yesterday night. Both teams battled to a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes of thrilling football action. It was Musa’s second title with the Saudi Arabia Professional League champions. The 27-year-old was replaced by Abdulfattah Mohamed Adam five minutes from time. Read more
Enyimba sack Technical Adviser (Nation)
Reigning Nigerian Premier Football League champions Enyimba on Monday sacked its head coach, Usman Abd’allah.
He was sacked less than 24hrs after the club lost to league Leaders Plateau United by 4-0 on Sunday.
The club, which is used to being in the top five of the league, has found itself languishing in 13th place on the table after ten matches with just four wins.
The club in a statement released said the sack is with immediate effect.
“After a string of disappointing results the club believes it must set a new course now and regain its competitive edge, domestically and on the continent,” the statement read. Read more
Ronaldo scores second-half hat-trick as Juventus beat Cagliari (Punch)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second-half hat-trick to lead Serie A champions Juventus to a 4-0 win at home to Cagliari on Monday, taking his tally to eight goals in his last five league games.
The Portuguese pounced on a mistake in the Cagliari defence to break the deadlock four minutes after halftime before adding the second from a penalty as he scored for the fifth league game in the row.
After setting up Gonzalo Higuain for the third in the 81st minute, he completed the rout by finishing off a counter-attack one minute later, DailyMail reports. Read more
Bulgarian man dies after being beaten and run over by car by Greek football fans (Independent)
A Bulgarian man has died after being beaten by fans of Greek football club PAOK and run over by a car.
The 28-year-old victim and two friends were attacked on Sunday in Thessaloniki by around 15 to 20 PAOK fans armed with clubs, Greek police said.
The Bulgarians were beaten and the victim fell into the road where a car struck him. The two survivors of the attack suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
An autopsy is being carried out to determine if the victim was killed when run over by the car or whether he had already died before he was hit by the vehicle. Read more
Real Madrid to offer Manchester United choice of four players in £160m Paul Pogba transfer deal (Metro)
Real Madrid are ready to offer Manchester United a choice of four players in a transfer raid for Paul Pogba worth up to £160million. French World Cup-winner Pogba is being strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid, just three years after returning to Old Trafford from Juventus. The 26-year-old is believed to be desperate to join Zinedine Zidane at the Bernabeu, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be prepared to sanction his departure if a suitable offer lands on the table. Ed Woodward is reluctant to let Pogba leave for the second time and will want a package of more than £120m to part ways with a player who has made over 150 appearances for the club. Read more
UI All Stars win Veterans Championship in Ibadan (DailyTrust)
All Stars of the University of Ibadan, (UI) has emerged the winners of the maiden Championship, Veterans Football Championship organised by the Ibadan Soccer Ambassadors, in conjunction with the Ibadan Football Association. The All Star defeated Ibadan City All Stars (ICAS) by a lone goal. The only goal of the competition was scored towards the end of the first half of the match by Allen Eduvehre.
The third place prize went to the Wesley All Stars after they worked over Bodija Housing All Stars, who didn’t turn up. Read more
Bale, Benzema injured ahead of Spanish Super Cup (Punch)
Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale will miss the Spanish Super Cup after Real Madrid announced on Monday that both players were out with fitness problems.
Benzema has a hamstring injury while Madrid said Bale has been “diagnosed with an infection in the upper respiratory tract”.
The duo will not travel to Saudi Arabia, where Madrid face Valencia in the semi-finals of a revised four-team tournament on Wednesday, after being left out of a squad list released by the club on Monday. Read more
John Cena will never turn back WWE career, teases Wrestlemania return (Metro)
John Cena might have swapped headlocks and jean shorts for the bright lights of Hollywood, but he’s never going to forget his roots. Although 2019 marked his first year since 2002 without a pay-per-view match, the 42-year-old star hopes he will always be recognised for his illustrious WWE career. He told the Belfast Telegraph: ‘I hope they always view me as a member of the WWE, because I am. Whether it’s watching the events or being able to participate, any chance I’m given to answer this question, WWE is my family. Cena followed Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson into Hollywood (Credit: WWE) ‘It’s weird that the culture is, you either do this or you do that, and for 20 years I’ve been trying to tell people, “No, it’s all really cool”. So I don’t ever want to not be known as a WWE superstar.’ Read more
Why we hired private firm to recruit national team coaches – NFF (DailyTrust)
The Nigeria Football Federation has stated that the recruitment of national team coaches which is being handled by a private consulting firm is to get the best hands to handle the teams. This was made known by the NFF’s Second Vice President, Shehu Dikko while speaking in an online interactive interview said the all arrangements have been concluded to recruit the coaches by PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PWC). Read more
Germany’s 1966 World Cup goalkeeper dies at 84 (Nation)
Former West Germany goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski, who played in the 1966 World Cup final against winners England, has died at the age of 84, his family told German media on Monday.
That final match featured one of the most controversial goals in football history.
This was when Geoff Hurst’s shot bounced off the crossbar and landed on the goal line with Tilkowski beaten, before the ball was then headed clear. Read more