In Sallah message, Tinubu assures Nigeria ‘ll prosper, reforms working (Leadership)
President Bola Tinubu has assured that the country was on the path to renewed prosperity as his administration’s economic and governance reforms begin to yield positive results.
In his 2025 Eid-el-Kabir message to the nation, President Tinubu congratulated Nigerian Muslims and the global Muslim Ummah on the sacred occasion, describing the festival as a moment of deep reflection, faith and devotion.
“Eid-el-Kabir represents the high point of the sacred first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, a period filled with opportunities for acts of worship and good deeds,” the President said. “It is a time for gratitude to Almighty Allah for His countless mercies upon us as individuals and a nation.” Read more
Dangote names refinery road after Tinubu, says petrol now 45% cheaper (Guardian)
Aliko Dangote has named the main road leading to the Dangote Refinery after President Bola Tinubu, citing the president’s longstanding contributions to the project and his administration’s support for private sector-led infrastructure.
The announcement was made on Thursday during the official commissioning of the Deep Sea Port Access Road, which connects the Dangote Fertiliser Plant to Eleko Junction in Lagos State.
Addressing President Tinubu directly at the event, Dangote said: “The Dangote refinery complex is in many ways your brainchild. Mr President, let me just say one thing — the main road going into our refinery is now going to be called Bola Ahmed Tinubu Road.” Read more
Victims’ families kick as Niger gov pardons murder convicts (DailyTrust)
Gaba Community in Lavun Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State has kicked against the unconditional state pardon granted to the 11 persons sentenced to death by the Justice Maimuna A. Abubakar of the State High Court for culpable homicide of seven farmers from the community.
Addressing the Press in Minna on Thursday, the Chairman of Gaba Development Association, Mr Paul Gana, said the pardon may trigger another conflict.
Mr. Gana said the victims were denied justice by such pardon and called on the state government to withdraw the pardon and respect the court judgement. Read more
LSDPC delivers maternity ward to Ebute Metta General Hospital (Nation)
The Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) renovated and transformed a porta cabin to serve as a new maternity ward at the Ebute Metta General Hospital as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR).
At the handover ceremony, the Medical Director/CEO Ebute Metta General Hospital, Dr. (Mrs.) Irewole Ojo, expressed her appreciation to LSDPC for their intervention. She noted that while the hospital has an existing maternity structure, it was far from ideal in terms of accessibility and functionality. She narrated how the transformation began when she observed the quality of LSDPC porta cabins near the Third Mainland Bridge and considered the corporation an ideal partner for this initiative. Read more
Electricity tariff increment saved GENCOs from collapse — NDPHC MD (Channels)
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Jennifer Adighije, has said that the recent electricity tariff adjustment—especially the cost-reflective tariff introduced for Band A customers—helped save Generation Companies (GENCOs) from financial collapse.
Adighije spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme aired on Thursday.
“So, I really want to commend the Honourable Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, for the boldness and the courage to effect this policy that has saved the GENCOs from collapse. Read more
Trafficked Edo girl reunites with family after 5 years (Punch)
A 20-year-old girl, Iwinosa Okunrobo, who was trafficked to Burkina Faso when she was 15, reunited with her family on Wednesday evening in Benin, Edo State.
Her return was facilitated by Governor Monday Okpebholo in collaboration with the office of the First Lady and Edo State Migration Agency.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Okunrobo was lured with a promise of greener pastures but was forced into prostitution after being solved into slavery before her rescue and eventual return to Nigeria. Read more
Troops foil terrorists’ attacks in Borno, kill scores of insurgents (Sun)
Troops of the Joint Task Force North-East Operation Hadin Kai have repelled a coordinated terrorists’ attacks on military positions in Buratai and Mallam Fatori areas of Borno.
Buratai and Mallam Fatori are located in Biu and Abadam local government areas.
Capt. Reuben Kovangiya, acting deputy director, Army Public Relations, Headquarters Theatre Command, said the operation, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday, was supported by the Nigerian Army UAV platforms and the air component. Read more
Israeli military recovers 2 hostages’ bodies in southern Gaza (BBC)
Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two Israeli-Americans taken back to Gaza as hostages during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military says.
Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was also a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72, were murdered by gunmen from the Mujahideen Brigades group when they attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz, a statement said.
Their bodies were found in the southern Khan Younis area of Gaza overnight and brought back to Israel for forensic identification. Read more
Zambia mourns former president Edgar Lungu (AfricaNews)
Zambia is mourning the death of former President Edgar Lungu, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 68.
According to local media and his Patriotic Front party, Lungu collapsed while exercising at home in Lusaka and was pronounced dead at the Maina Soko military hospital. The government has confirmed the news and declared a period of national mourning.
Lungu served as Zambia’s sixth president from 2015 to 2021, a period marked by major infrastructure projects but also rising debt and economic challenges. He lost re-election to Hakainde Hichilema in 2021 and had kept a relatively low profile until recently, when he re-entered political life as an opposition figure. Read more
White House says Elon Musk having ‘unfortunate episode’ (Newsweek)
The White House has brushed off Elon Musk’s attacks on President Donald Trump as an “unfortunate episode.”
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek on Thursday evening that the Tesla CEO and former close Trump ally was lashing out because he is “unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
The once-close relationship between Trump and Musk dramatically fell apart this week after the SpaceX CEO began criticizing the president’s “big, beautiful bill.” Read more
Paul McCartney admits he experienced “some moments of terror” recording his new duet with Barbra Streisand (AmericanSongwriter)
Barbra Streisand teamed up with Paul McCartney to record a version of the Beatles legend’s solo ballad “My Valentine” for her forthcoming star-studded duets album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two. Now, a new video feature offering a behind-the-scenes look at the collaboration has debuted on Streisand’s social media pages.
Accompanying the video is a note from Streisand that reads in part, “I’ve admired Paul McCartney for decades. He’s a brilliant singer and songwriter. “My Valentine” is such a gentle and honest expression of love, it was a joy singing it with him in the studio.”
The feature begins with Streisand commenting, “Paul McCartney, what a perfect partner for this song, ‘My Valentine.’” Read more
Shein and Temu see U.S. demand plunge on ‘de minimis’ trade loophole closure (CNBC)
Use of low-cost e-commerce giants Temu and Shein has slowed significantly in the key U.S. market amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports and the closure of the de minimis loophole, new data shows.
Temu’s U.S. daily active users (DAUs) dropped 52% in May versus March, before Trump’s tariffs were announced, while those at rival Shein were down 25%, according to data shared with CNBC by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
DAUs is a measure of the number of people who visit or interact with a platform every 24 hours. Monthly active users (MAUs), a measure of user engagement over a 30-day period, was also down at Temu (30%) and Shein (12%) in May versus March. Read more
‘World’s first’ autofocus glasses could spell the end of reading specs (Thenextweb)
While Mark Zuckerberg was hyping Meta’s latest Ray-Ban smartglasses and Apple was promoting its Vision Pro mixed reality headset in 2023, Finnish startup IXI was quietly crafting high-tech specs for more practical purposes.
Founded in 2021, the company emerged from stealth in April with $36mn in funding to commercialise what it claims are the world’s first autofocus glasses. The prescription specs promise to change the way visually-impaired people see the world around them.
“None of the tech giants are fixing eyesight,” Niko Eiden, IXI’s cofounder and CEO, told TNW in an interview. “They’re looking at smart eyewear as a new wearable platform for AI assistants or capturing footage for your social media feed, but not solving the actual vision problem.” Read more
Only hard work can save Nigeria’s world cup dream – Chelle (DailyTrust)
Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle has emphasized the need for continued improvement if Nigeria is to revive their faltering 2026 World Cup qualification hopes.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s international friendly against Russia in Moscow, Chelle acknowledged that while recent results have been encouraging, there is still significant work to be done.
“We have an important goal in September. So I saw this as an opportunity to give many players a chance to show what they can do. And I’m really happy and proud of them because, in just two or three training sessions, they worked really hard. That’s the reality,” Chelle said. Read more
Al Hilal make €70m bid for Osimhen (Guardian)
Al Hilal has made an official bid of €70 million to Napoli for the services of Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen.
Italian transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano, disclosed this on Thursday evening via a post on his official X account
“Al Hilal has submitted an official bid to Napoli for Victor Osimhen as top target.
The proposal is worth €65m fixed fee plus €5m add-ons, the decision is up to Napoli now,” Romano wrote. Read more
Sabalenka downs Swiatek as Gauff Ends Boisson’s French Open run (NZHerald)
Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek’s French Open reign with a devastating third-set performance on Thursday to tee up a Roland Garros final against Coco Gauff after the American knocked out French hero Lois Boisson.
The Belarusian snapped Swiatek’s French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-0 success to reach her first final in the clay-court Grand Slam.
“Iga is the toughest opponent, especially on the clay and at Roland Garros,” said Sabalenka after becoming the first player to defeat Swiatek in a deciding set at the French Open.
“I’m proud that I was able to get this win.” Read more
LTA promises equal prize money at Queen’s by 2029 (BBC)
The LTA has pledged to introduce equal prize money at Queen’s and Eastbourne by no later than 2029.
The total prize fund for the WTA event at Queen’s Club – which begins on Monday – will be $1.415m (£1.043m), with the LTA voluntarily increasing the standard prize money by a third.
However, that still comes nowhere near the amount the men will be paid for competing at the same venue the following week. Read more
The 20 most expensive attacking midfielders ever: Wirtz will obliterate the record (Football365)
Florian Wirtz should become the most expensive attacking midfielder in history by an absurd margin if Liverpool hold their nerve in talks with Leverkusen.
1) James Rodriguez – £63.2m/€80m (Monaco to Real Madrid, July 2014)
Never before has a shop window been so successfully deployed as when Rodriguez and his giant pet grasshopper dominated the 2014 World Cup so thoroughly that Real Madrid couldn’t help but make the Colombian the fourth most expensive footballer ever at the time. His next permanent club being Everton remains hilarious.
2) Thomas Lemar – £63m/€70m (Monaco to Atletico Madrid, June 2018)With failed club-record bids from Arsenal and Liverpool in his back pocket, Lemar took his eternal search for justice to Spain and Diego Simeone has not let him go since. Read more