Illegal Parking: LASTMA impounds 125 commercial, 48 private vehicles (Guardian)
Operatives of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) have apprehended 125 recalcitrant commercial buses and 48 privately owned vehicles for flagrant violations, including unauthorised parking and severe road obstructions.
This sweeping crackdown was executed across notorious gridlock-prone corridors such as Idumota, Ijaye Street, Martins, Ereko, Nnamdi Azikiwe by Tom Jones, Ebute-Ero, Oyingbo, Ijora, Adeniji Adele, and Iddo.
The latest enforcement underscores LASTMA’s unwavering commitment to eradicating traffic congestion and mitigating reckless road practices, particularly among commercial transport operators and private motorists who flout established regulations. Read more
JAMB postpones 2025 UTME registration (Tribune)
The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), has postponed the registration for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to Monday, February 3, 2025, from the earlier date of Friday, January 31, 2025.
The rescheduling of the commencement of the registration was disclosed in a statement on Friday, shared via JAMB’s official X page.
According to the statement, the development was necessary to allow the Board to implement essential adjustments to its registration templates. Read more
Nigeria’s non-oil exports hit $5.46bn in 2024 — NEPC (Punch)
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has announced a remarkable 20.79 per cent increase in the value of the country’s non-oil exports, reaching a total of $5.456bn in 2024.
It stated that the amount surpassed the $4.5bn generated in 2023.
The Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nonye Ayeni, disclosed the figures while addressing the media on the performance report of the non-oil export sector for 2024 on Friday in Abuja.. Read more
5 farmers killed in attack on Ondo community (DailyTrust)
Gunmen have killed five farmers in a violent attack on the Ajegunle Powerline community in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The attack occurred on Tuesday while the farmers were working on their farmland.
One of the survivors, Akinola Olowolafe, confirmed the incident on Thursday, describing how the attackers arrived in a “commando-style” operation before shooting to scare them away.
Scholarship Interventions: LASU, UNILAG, KADSU sign MOU with Kuhne Foundation (Independent)
The vast population of the Nigerian nation and its adoption of the English language as its Lingua Franca have played an advantageous role in pulling scholarship interventions to her Ivory Towers after all.
A clue to this rather hidden diamond was given by Dr Andre Kreie, the Chief Executive Officer of Kuhne Foundation in a chat with Daily Independent on the sidelines of an MOU signing event between three Nigerian universities (Lagos State University, University of Lagos, Kaduna State University, on the beneficiary side and the Kuhne Foundation on the benefactor side Wednesday, January 29,2025 in Lagos.
According to Kreie, Nigerian universities have continued to attract Kuhme Foundation scholarship interventions owing to her population size and the relative linguistic advantage she enjoys given the fact that Nigeria is officially slanted to English language which, Kreie concurred is a globally popular language. Read more
Katsina empowers 104,111 school girls through cash transfer (ThisDay)
The Katsina State Government has empowered 104,111 girls through its Conditional Cash Transfer programme in 255 public secondary schools across the 34 local government areas of the state.
The state Deputy Governor, Hon. Faruk Lawal, revealed this Friday while briefing journalists in Katsina on the scorecards of the state government in the education sector.
He said the “laudable initiative” supported by the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) programme has increased girls’ enrollment in schools and improved their educational advancement across the state. Read more
Chadian terrorist’s wife, associates nabbed in Kano (Vanguard)
The Kano State Police Command has arrested the wife and several associates of a suspected Chadian terrorist, Ahmad Adam Abba, who was wanted for orchestrating the killing of 17 people in his country.
The arrests were made on the eve of the National Tijjaniyya Maulud ceremony, which took place at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano last week.
The commissioner of police in the state, Salman Garba, said this while speaking with newsmen in Kano on Friday. Read more
PDP crisis: Atiku, Ayu disrupted zoning arrangement – Bode George (Sun)
A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George has alleged that the party’s zoning arrangement was disrupted by its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar and ex-national chairman Iyorchia Ayu.
George, who spoke with Arise TV on Friday, January 31, 2025, disclosed that he was in support of Nyesom Wike and his allies before the 2023 general election because the party’s top positions were zoned to the northern region.
According to him, Atiku and Ayu orchestrated the disruption of PDP’s zoning arrangement. Read more
Beyoncé leads Grammys pack at gala backdropped by fires (RTE)
Music’s biggest stars including Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will vie for top awards at Sunday’s Grammys gala, a glitzy ceremony that is proceeding despite the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
The shell-shocked entertainment capital is still reeling after the deadly blazes razed entire neighborhoods, leaving the music and film industries – vital to the city’s economy – grappling with how to navigate the coming awards season.
Many annual Grammy Week functions were scrapped, including prominent parties organised by top labels and companies like Spotify. Read more
Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón apologises after historic racist & Islamophobic tweets resurface (FarOut)
Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón is apologising for resurfaced tweets she wrote between 2020 and 2021 that disparaged Muslims, George Floyd, and diversity at the Academy Awards.
Gascón is a frontrunner for the ‘Best Actress’ award at the Oscars this year for playing a drug cartel leader in Mexico who starts a new life as a woman with the help of a lawyer.
In a 2020 post on Twitter (now X), the Spanish actor attached a photo of a Muslim family in a restaurant, including a woman in a burka, and wrote: “Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY.” Read more
Israel cuts ties with UN agency for Palestinian refugees (GulfNews)
Israel cut ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Thursday after accusing it of providing cover for Hamas militants, a move likely to hamper its vital services after 15 months of war in Gaza.
The agency, UNRWA, is banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials will also be forbidden.
UNRWA has provided support for Palestinian refugees around the Middle East for more than 70 years, but has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country’s security. Read more
New president Al-Sharaa vows to preserve “civil peace” in Syria during speech (NewArab)
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, promised on Thursday to hold a “national dialogue conference” in his first address to the nation since the fall of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa, who was appointed interim president a day earlier for an unspecified transitional period, vowed to preserve “civil peace” and Syria’s territorial unity.
“We will announce in the coming days a committee charged with preparing the national dialogue conference, a direct platform for discussions, to listen to different points of view on our future political programme,” Sharaa said in the prerecorded televised address. Read more
Call My Agent! Star Laure Calamy, Monte Cristo’s Laurent Lafitte lead cast of ‘‘The Party’s Over!’’ boarded by France TV Distribution (Variety)
Laure Calamy, the Cesar prizewinning star of My Lover, My Donkey & I, and The Count of Monte Cristo actor Laurent Lafitte lead the ensemble cast of “The Party’s Over,” a satirical comedy which has been boarded by France TV Distribution ahead of the EFM.
Directed by Antony Cordier (Gaspard at the Wedding) the movie also stars Ramzy Bedia (Asterix & Obelix : The Middle Kingdom), Élodie Bouchez (Beating Hearts), Sami Outalbali (A Tale of Love and Desire) and Noée Abita (Sink or Swim).
This film is produced by Cheyenne Federation, a well-established banner whose credits include Julien Leclercq’s remake of The Wage of Fear which was a hit on Netflix. Read more
Extreme horror film that caused viewers to ‘‘vomit’’ to feature major moment in sequel (Independent)
The director of the notorious Terrifier series has confirmed that a fourth film is in the works and will feature a significant revelation about its maniacal serial killer.
The Terrifier films follow the exploits of the mute and sadistic Art the Clown, played by David Howard Thornton. They have become infamous among horror fans for featuring extreme levels of violence and gore.
The second film, released in 2002, reportedly made people “pass out” in theatres, something that director Damien Leone denied was a “marketing ploy” created to promote the independent movie. Read more
Canada and Mexico face 25% tariffs on Saturday, Trump says (BBC)
US President Donald Trump has said he will follow through with his threat to hit imports from Canada and Mexico with 25% border taxes, known as tariffs, on 1 February.
But he added that a decision about whether this would include oil from those countries had not yet been made.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the move was aimed to address the large amounts of undocumented migrants and the fentanyl that come across US borders as well as trade deficits with its neighbours. Read more
Boniface rejoins Leverkusen training after failed Saudi transfer (Punch)
Super Eagles forward Victor Boniface has returned to training with Bayer Leverkusen after seeing his potential €15m per season move to Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr called off, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The Leverkusen man, who was excused from training and their match-day squad for the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, was quick to share a picture of himself and some of his teammates in training on Thursday in the wake of the announcement.
Although negotiations seemed to have gone swiftly between Leverkusen and Al Nassr, transfer new expert Fabrizio Romano reported that the deal didn’t eventually get a nod from the Saudi team. Read more
Watkins has told me he wants to stay at Villa – Emery (BBC)
Striker Ollie Watkins has told boss Unai Emery he wants to stay at Aston Villa and reject interest from Arsenal.
The Gunners made an approach for the England international on Monday but it was knocked back as Villa have no intention of letting the forward leave.
Emery said Watkins, who scored in Wednesday’s 4-2 Champions League win over Celtic, is expected to stay.
“Yes, he is happy to stay,” he said, when asked if Watkins had expressed his desire to remain at Villa Park. Read more
Enzo Maresca admits he could change his goalkeeper after Robert Sanchez errors (BelfastTelegraph)
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said goalkeeper Robert Sanchez cannot “make a mistake every game” and expect to keep his place as he hinted he could turn to understudy Filip Jorgensen for Monday’s game against West Ham.
The former Brighton keeper has made five mistakes leading directly to goals this season, most recently in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City last weekend when he was caught badly out of position allowing Erling Haaland to give City the lead.
Chelsea fans also cheered ironically whenever the 27-year-old caught the ball during the second half of their victory over Wolves at Stamford Bridge after he had earlier gifted the visitors an equalising goal by dropping the ball at a corner. Read more
Rory McIlroy prediction will be music to Jon Rahm’s ears as PGA Tour star quits to join LIV Golf (Mirror)
Rory McIlroy believes Jon Rahm’s new LIV Golf signing Tom McKibbin has what it takes to become a top-10 player in the world having closely followed the progress of his fellow Northern Irishman.
After weeks of speculation, McKibbin’s move to LIV and Legion XIII was confirmed by Rahm’s team on Wednesday, completing his roster for 2025 alongside Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt. McKibbin’s move to LIV comes just two months after he secured full playing rights on the PGA Tour.
The rising star was one of the 10 top-performing players on the DP World Tour during 2024, and this earned him a card over in the United States for the upcoming season. Read more
Israeli MMA fighter calls out UFC rival over Adolf Hitler remarks (DailyMail)
Israeli MMA star Natan Levy has ripped into Bryce Mitchell over his outrageous comments about Adolf Hitler – and dared his fellow UFC fighter to repeat them to his face.
Mitchell, who has spent seven years in the UFC after winning ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series in 2018, sparked anger on Thursday after claiming the former Nazi leader was a ‘good guy’ while denying the Holocaust ever happened.
The 30-year-old featherweight also commended Hitler for trying to ‘purify’ his native Germany from ‘greedy Jews’ who were ‘destroying his country and turning them all into gays.’ Read more
Greg Norman to join organizers for Brisbane 2032 Olympics (ESPN)
Greg Norman is set to link up with organizers of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
Norman, a two-time British Open champion and the only player to lose all four majors in a playoff following 72 holes, recently was replaced as CEO of LIV Golf by Scott O’Neil ahead of the tour’s fourth season starting next month.
News Corp. reported Thursday that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had picked Norman to replace a retiring politician on the 24-person organizing board for the 2032 Olympics.
News Corp. reported Thursday that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had picked Norman to replace a retiring politician on the 24-person organizing board for the 2032 Olympics.
The Games will be held in Norman’s home state of Queensland, Australia. Read more