‘I jumped out of moving car to escape kidnap’ (Nation)
Chijioke Ifeasinachi a student has narrated how she jumped out of a moving vehicle to save herself from kidnappers on November 16, at Ikorodu, Lagos.
Ifeasinachi stated that on her way home from Church at Agric Bus Stop on Ikorodu Road around 12:30 pm that day, “I hailed and boarded a taxi at Agric Junction to Garage junction, where three men – two in the front and one at back were already in the cab. The driver asked if I had N50 change and I said ‘Yes’. I brought out my phone and earpiece to listen to music. “The driver stopped at the Jumo Park Bus Stop and made to look as if a passenger wanted to drop but said he would not drop the man that sat beside me, because he noticed he had a lot of dollars inside his bag. He asked the man to explain how he got the money else he would take him to the Police station.
“The man pleaded with the driver when he demanded for 10,000 dollars out of the money, begging me to plead on his behalf. I then asked the driver what he wanted the man to do as I was soon going to drop off at my stop. After we passed Aruna bus stop, the driver made a right turn instead of going straight which made me uncomfortable…” Read more
Winners’ pastor arraigned for stealing church’s $90,000, N4.5m (Punch)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday, arraigned a pastor of the Living Faith Church (Winners’ Chapel), Afolabi Samuel, for allegedly stealing $90,000 and N4.5m belonging to the registered trustees of the church.
Samuel, who is an accountant and the church’s treasurer, was arraigned before the Lagos State Special Offences Court on two counts of conspiracy and stealing.
It was gathered that the pastor and one Blessing Kolawole, an employee of the Covenant University, who is currently at large, conspired and dishonestly stole the money and converted the same to their personal uses. Read more
Siblings, others held for ‘murder, robbery’ (Nation)
An Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ibadan on Monday remanded two siblings, Yakubu Suara, 26, and Lateef Suara, 20, at Agodi Correctional Centre over alleged armed robbery and murder.
Also arraigned alongside the Suaras are Job Ogbile, 27, Ridwan Suleiman, 18, and Azeez Lateef, 19.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendants, whose addresses were not provided, were arraigned on a 17-count charge of conspiracy, armed robbery, possession of guns and murder, among others. Read more
Ex-militants threaten resumption of hostilities over reintegration fees (Guardian)
Former freedom fighters have threatened resumption of hostilities in the Niger Delta within seven days if the Federal Government fails to pay the consultant handling their reintegration programme. The ex-militants, who staged a peaceful protest in front of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) office yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also insisted that government must offset their four-month allowance to avert the looming crisis.
The demonstrators included those undergoing an intensive electric power transformer repair and maintenance under the amnesty programme at the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
Spokesperson of the ex-militants, Biira Barida, told reporters that the programme – which is in three phases namely disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration – was envisioned to bring lasting peace to the oil-rich region and take the aggrieved youths out of the creeks for a meaningful life. Read more
Man fakes own kidnap, defrauds US-based mistress of N821,000 (Punch)
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Imo State Police Command has arrested one Emmanuel Obioma for defrauding his United States-based mistress, Ugo Emake, of N821,000.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Orlando Ikeokwu, told journalists that the suspect also faked his own kidnap and demanded N1m ransom from his mistress.
Also arrested were Obioma’s accomplices, Iheanacho Ugochi and Agbo Samuel.
Ikeokwu said a laptop, eight SIM cards, a Lexus 330 SUV and a mobile phone were recovered from the suspects as exhibits. Read more
Nigeria launches first national sex offenders register (Guardian)
Nigeria launched its first national sexual offenders register on Monday, setting up a database of those convicted for sexual violence in a move seen as an important step towards clamping down on abuse.
The “Sexual Offender Register” will contain the names of all those prosecuted for sexual violence in Africa’s most populous nation since 2015.
The record will be available online to better help the public, state bodies and police conduct background checks and identify repeat offenders. Read more
Mum sets up food bank in her own home (Metro)
A mum has set up a food bank in her own home to help people vulnerable people in Leicester. Emma Marsh, 37, began the heartwarming project in her Earl Shilton home several years ago, after working with numerous charities such as Help the Homeless. Through her work, the mum became concerned that many young families and working parents were struggling to get hold of vouchers to use at food banks. To get hold of a voucher, a person often needs to be referred from a GP or the Citizens Advice Bureau, meaning many can’t access ban. Read more
World Wide Web creator wants ‘Contract for the Web,’ (RT)
Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee has unveiled a nine-point plan to “save the internet.” Cooked up with the help of some of the web’s biggest players, it has something for everyone, but begs the question of who will enforce it.
“If we leave the web as it is, there’s a very large number of things that will go wrong,” Web inventor Berners-Lee told the Guardian on Sunday, after his Web Foundation published the plan, the product of a year of work from some 80 collaborating organizations.
We could end up with a digital dystopia if we don’t turn things around.
Most of the nine principles are relatively straightforward – “Ensure everyone can connect to the internet,” “Keep all of the internet available, all of the time,” “Make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone.” Read more
Australian police find body in search for missing Briton Aslan King (BBC)
Australian police say they have found a man’s body in their search for missing British man Aslan King.
The body is yet to be formally identified but police say they believe it is Mr King, who has been missing in the state of Victoria since Saturday.
Mr King, 25, disappeared after suffering a suspected seizure during a camping trip near the town of Princetown.
An illustrator from Brighton, he relocated to Australia two weeks ago. Read more
Doctor reveals own payslip saying not all medics earn over £80k (Metro)
A doctor has hit out at a Question Time audience member who went viral by insisting he was not in the top 5% of earners – despite taking home £80,000. Last week Rob Barber complained about Labour’s election policy of planning a 45p rate on earnings for those on the highest salaries and said all doctors earned more than him. Now Dr Asif Munaf has shared his own salary to prove how ‘misinformed’ Mr Barber is. Tweeting a picture of his £48,075 pay slip, he wrote: ‘This guy is terribly misinformed. Read more
Tech experts unveil new AI design method (RT)
The prospect of rapidly-developing thinking machines conjures up images of Terminator bots or Black Mirror dystopias, but now a group of tech researchers claim to have developed a method of curbing bad AI behavior.
“When someone applies a machine learning algorithm, it’s hard to control its behavior,” said lead author Philip Thomas from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The key issue, according to Thomas and his fellow researchers, is not to try teaching computers to act morally, but to design the machine-learning algorithms so that they’re much easier for the (human) user to later add in constraints that make the AI safer and fairer. Read more
Catholic priests jailed for abusing deaf children (BBC)
A court in Argentina has sentenced two Roman Catholic priests to more than 40 years in prison for sexually abusing deaf children at a church school.
Horacio Corbacho and Nicola Corradi, as well as a gardener, were found guilty of rape and abuse at the school in Mendoza province from 2004 to 2016.
Several victims were in court to see sentence passed on Monday.
The case has shocked Argentina, Pope Francis’ homeland, with many accusing the Church of acting too slowly. Read more
AAU honours Ighalo, Bash Ali (Punch)
The management of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State has concluded plans to honour retired Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo, and renowned boxer Bash Ali, for their contributions to sports development.
Also, a board member of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and former Edo State Commissioner of Sports, Mr Brown Ebewele, would be honoured for his contributions in the training of athletes in the state.
This was contained in a statement ahead of AAU’s maiden Pillar of Sports Award/Endowment Fund scheduled to hold on November 28 in the university’s premises. Read more
Akhator eager to fulfil Olympics dreams (Nation)
D’Tigress Centre Evelyn Akhator says qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo is a lifelong dream that must come through.
Speaking from The 2019 FIBA Afrobasket winner said Olympics qualification and an outstanding performance is the height of any professional sports man in the national colours.
“It is really important that we qualify,” Akhator said from her base in Salamanca where she plies her trade with CB Avenida,“ It is the big deal because it is the biggest in the world. It is a big deal for me to be at my first Olympics. I will love to go and experience it. It will be a huge achievement to go to the Olympics, not just going there but going there to make history”. Read more
Olympic bronze medallist Onuora retires from athletics (Guardian)
British Olympic bronze medallist Anyika Onuora has retired from athletics.The 35-year-old, who first competed for Great Britain 18 years ago, won 4x400m bronze at Rio 2016 having won the same medal at the World Championships the previous year.
Onuora also won European gold in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays and finishes her career as a three-time Commonwealth Games medallist.“It was always a great honour to compete for Great Britain,” she said.
“Competing as an elite athlete has allowed me to experience many incredible things I never thought I would imagine. Read more
Villa beat Newcastle on Bruce’s return (BBC)
Aston Villa ended a run of three successive Premier League defeats as they beat Newcastle United to ruin Steve Bruce’s return to Villa Park.
Conor Hourihane’s curled free-kick gave Villa the lead before his enticing set-piece set up Anwar El Ghazi to finish from close range four minutes later.
Bruce, sacked as Villa boss in October 2018, saw his side denied by goalkeeper Tom Heaton, who saved from Federico Fernandez and Allan Saint-Maximin. Read more
Beach Soccer W’Cup: Whipping boys Nigeria face Brazil (Punch)
Nigeria will on Tuesday (today) play against Brazil in their last Group D match at the ongoing FIFA Beach World Cup in Paraguay.
The Super Sand Eagles were on Sunday beaten 6-5 by Oman in their second match after a humiliating 10-1 defeat to Portugal in their opener.
Brazil, who currently top Group D table with six points, defeated Portugal 9-7 and thrashed Oman 8-2. Read more
82-year-old grandma bodybuilder beats home intruder with table (RT)
A home intruder who intended to rob a house of an old woman in New York was sent to the hospital after the 82-year-old homeowner – a former bodybuilder – prevented the potential crime with the help of a table.
Willie Murphy was getting ready for bed when she heard a man pounding on her door and asking to call an ambulance. She called the police, however, refusing to let the stranger inside.
The man who reportedly became irate by her refusal broke through the door prompting the former award-winning bodybuilder to act. Read more
Tyson Fury taunts Deontay Wilder after Luis Ortiz knockout (Meyro)
Tyson Fury was unimpressed by Deontay Wilder’s knockout win against Luis Ortiz and expects to win their much-anticipated rematch in February, claiming he will ‘school’ him. The pair shared the spoils in their last outing in December 2018 and have since gone their separate ways to negotiate two fights apiece. However, after Wilder knocked out Ortiz in the seventh round on Saturday night in Las Vegas, the pair will now share a ring once more, in what fans will hope is as much of an epic as the first bout. Read more
AS Roma: Why did Italian club decide to announce signings alongside missing children? (BBC)
Peter Boxell’s son has been missing for 31 years. At times, he says, it has been a “living nightmare”.
Attempts to find Lee – a Sutton United fan who went missing aged 15 – have involved thousands of police hours, a year-long dig in a church graveyard and four Crimewatch appeals. Boxell also started the Missing People choir, which reached the Britain’s Got Talent final in 2017.
During last summer’s transfer window, however, Boxell received further help from an unexpected source. Read more
Davis Cup: Rafael Nadal wins eight out of eight to power Spain to sixth team tennis title (RT)
Spanish tennis superstar and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal put in a stellar overtime shift to help push his Spain team to their sixth Davis Cup title with a 2-0 win over Canada in the final of the newly-revamped competition.
Eighteen nations gathered in Madrid for the tournament to battle it out over the course of the week in a bid to claim the new Davis Cup title, and a Nadal-inspired Spain ended the week as the last men standing, as he defeated Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6 to seal Spain’s first Davis Cup triumph since 2011.
The tournament produced a host of dramatic moments, with Nadal playing a starring role as he battled deep into the night to secure vital points for his country as he won all eight of the matches he contested during the competition to take his remarkable winning run in the tournament to 29 matches in a row. Read more
Andy Murray lifts lid on ‘anxiety’ from Dunblane massacre in revealing new documentary (Metro)
Andy Murray will watch a documentary about his recovery from the hip injury that has plagued his career in recent years for the first time on Monday night – a film that contains a “confessional” about how he channels ‘anxiety’ of traumatic childhood experiences through tennis. Murray rarely broaches the subject of the Dunblane massacre – the deadliest shooting in British history at Dunblane primary school that saw 16 children and a teacher murdered by Thomas Hamilton, who then shot himself – during which he and his brother Jamie were present on 13 March, 1996. But in a revealing documentary on Amazon Prime Video, which will be released on Friday 29 November, Murray delivers a voice note to documentary maker Olivia Cappuccini from Miami in December, 2018 explaining how tennis became a release as he dealt with the shooting and his parents’ divorce. Read more
Akwa Starlets compound Rangers woes (Nation)
League newcomer Akwa Starlets produced the biggest upset of Matchday 5 of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) when they thrashed the former league champions, Rangers International FC 2-0 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium on Sunday.
The loss against Akwa Starlets is the second home defeat for the Flying Antelopes in the five weeks old league. Rangers lost 1-0 to Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM) FC of Lagos last week in Enugu.
Femi Ajayi got Starlets first goal in the 18th minute before Isaac George doubled the lead in the 44th minute. Read more
UK Athletics body stops Hyde Peters over allegations against her husband (Guardian)
Zara Hyde Peters will not take up a position as UK Athletics’ new chief executive after allegations made about her husband came to light. The Times alleges Mike Peters was allowed to continue coaching at a club where she was vice-chair despite being banned from teaching over an “inappropriate relationship” with a 15-year-old schoolgirl. Hyde Peters was due to start her role with UK Athletics on 1 December but a review led to a decision to not go ahead with the appointment.
UK Athletics chair Chris Clark said in a statement: “Following recent press reports and significant media attention focused on Zara Hyde Peters, the UK Athletics Board convened a meeting this past Sunday 24 November and discussed the situation fully. Read more