Kidnap kingpin Evans seeks plea bargain in attempted murder case (Sun)
Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, famously known as Evans, the convicted billionaire kidnap kingpin, has made a surprising move by seeking a plea bargain in his ongoing trial for attempted murder.
Evans, along with his co-defendant Joseph Emeka, who is facing charges of murder and attempted kidnapping, has approached the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja for settlement.
The state prosecution counsel, Mr. Yusuf Sule, revealed this development to the court on Thursday during a hearing presided over by Justice Adenike Coker. The case, originally set for re-arraignment, took a different turn when Sule informed the court about Evans’ intention for a plea bargain. Read more
Emirates Airline returns to Nigeria October 1 (Tribune)
Emirates Airlines has confirmed its return to operations in Nigeria starting from October 1, 2024.
The airline disclosed this via its official X handle on Thursday.
The service, TRIBUNE ONLINE gathered, would be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER. EK783 will depart Dubai at 0945 hrs, arriving in Lagos at 1520 hrs; the return flight EK784 will leave Lagos at 1730 hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0510 hrs the next day. Tickets can be booked now on emirates.com or via travel agents. Read more
Tinubu writes Reps, seeks N24.6b to reimburse Nasarawa, Kebbi over airports (DailyTrust)
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the preparations and approval of a N24.6 billion Promissory Notes to reimburse Nasarawa and Kebbi States on the costs of their Airports taken over by the Federal Government.
Nasarawa is to be reimbursed N9.5 billion while Kebbi is to be reimbursed to the tune of N15.1 billion.
In the letter read by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the Plenary on Thursday, the President said, the takeover of the airports was in line with Item 3 of the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which placed the ownership of Airports and other Aviation related infrastructure in the exclusive list. Read more
Mass resignation of commissioners evidence Wike hijacked Rivers Govt — G60 lawmakers (Leadership)
As mass resignation of Commissioners who are loyalists of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, hits Governor Siminalayi Fubara administration in Rivers State, Opposition federal lawmakers known as the G-60 have said that the mass resignation was evidence that Wike initially hijacked the State government and its resources alone without giving the incumbent governor any space to breath.
The Rivers State Commissioners for Education and Housing, Professor Chinedu Mmon and Gift Worlu, on Wednesday, resigned from Governor Fubara’s cabinet, citing toxicity for their actions.
Both Mmon and Worlu are loyalists to the Wike, who is the immediate-past governor of Rivers State. Read more
Abia to collaborate with Israel in digital economy, technology, says Otti (Nation)
The Abia state government has stated that it is eager to work with Israel to help it realise its full economic and technical potential, particularly in the digital economy, agriculture, human capital, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME).
Governor Alex Otti disclosed this during a visit to Government House, Umuahia, by His Excellency Michael Freeman, the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria.
The Israeli ambassador praised Otti for enhancing security in Abia, according to a statement released by Kazie Uko, the governor’s chief press secretary. Read more
Psychiatrists call for decriminalisation of attempted suicide (Channels)
The President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), Prof. Taiwo Obindo, has called for the decriminalisation of attempted suicide in the country.
He made the call during a session of stakeholders organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Specialty Healthcare, on the need to prioritise and implement the Mental Health Act.
Obindo said the establishment of the National Counselling Centers all over the country in an attempt to address mental health, is like putting the cart before the horse, because a suicide attempt is still a criminal offence in both the Criminal Act and the Penal Code. Read more
Police rescue additional seven abducted varsity students (Punch)
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have rescued an additional seven abducted students of the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, Kogi State.
PUNCH Online reported that the bandits on Thursday night, swooping into the university around 9 p.m. and abducted some students who were reading for their upcoming exams.
The bandits who reportedly came in through the bush, shooting into the air to scare the students, went into three lecture halls. Read more
Collapsed roof injures OAU students during lecture (Vanguard)
The torrential rainfall of early Thursday morning, accompanied with a whirlwind, which started as students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, were having a lecture, SER to be precise, in the Amphitheatre of the Oduduwa Hall, affected the ceiling of the Amphitheatre as it fell off and injured a few of the students.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire led other principal officers to the Medical and Health Centre of the University, and ensured that the injured students were given adequate medical attention.
A release by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr. Abiodun Olarewaju, stated that the Vice-Chancellor also followed two other students, whose cases demanded more medical attention to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), where the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Professor John Okeniyi, physically supervised the proceedings. Read more
Halle Berry battles evil spirit in ‘‘Never Let Go’’ horror-thriller trailer (THR)
Halle Berry plays a mother with twin sons battling an evil spirit closing in on their wilderness home after a world-ending event in the trailer for Lionsgate‘s “Never Let Go”, which dropped on Thursday.
Director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Crawl) in the horror-thriller has their remote house in the woods fitted with a long ropes to enable mother and sons to remain connected at all times as unseen dangers approach.
“The evil out there is clever. One touch without a rope is all it takes,” Berry’s character tells her sons at one point in the trailer, as they commit to keep tethered to the ropes for safety and connection. But as demonic forces engulf their off-the-grid house, one of the twins questions whether evil exists. Read more
Man sues British Airways for £5m after slipping on a puddle of Baileys (Metro)
A passenger has sued British Airways after he slipped on a puddle of Baileys Irish Cream liqueur at Heathrow.
Andreas Wuchner claims he was travelling from London Heathrow to Zurich when he stepped on some spilled Baileys on the floor near the check-in counters.
It is unclear how the alcohol ended up on the floor, but he has accused BA of failing to clean it up. Read more
Slovakian prime minister’s condition stabilises after assassination attempt (ABC)
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico’s condition has been stabilized overnight following an assassination attempt, although his condition is still serious, his deputy said early Thursday.
Fico, 59, was shot five times on Wednesday outside a government building in the town of Handlova, according to Slovakian Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok.
Doctors worked overnight to stabilize his condition, with two medical teams working on him. He spent about five hours in surgery. Read more
US anchors floating causeway to Gaza shore; aid deliveries expected within days (UPI)
American logistics troops anchored a temporary pier to the beach in Gaza early Thursday as an amphibious mission to deliver additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians by sea gathered pace in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
United States Central Command personnel attached the structure to the shore at around 7:40 a.m. local time with trucks carrying humanitarian assistance expected to begin rolling off the pier onto the beach within days, CENTCOM said in a post on X in which it stressed there had been no U.S. boots on the ground.
“As part of this effort, no U.S. troops entered Gaza,” it said, stressing that the aid aboard trucks due to begin moving ashore in the coming days would be received by the United Nations which would coordinate its distribution into Gaza. Read more
Boy, 6, dies after falling from east London residential tower block (Independent)
A six-year-old boy has died after falling from an upper floor in a high-rise block of flats in east London.
Emergency services were called to reports of a child falling at a property on New City Road, Plaistow, just before 6am on Thursday.
Crew from the London Ambulance Service, including a trauma team dispatched from the air ambulance team, fire crew and police attended.
The child was found and treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene, where a police cordon remained in place. Read more
More LGBTQ+ migrants seek safety and asylum in Europe (AfricaNews)
Ella Anthony knew it was time to leave her native Nigeria when she escaped an abusive, forced marriage only to face angry relatives who threatened to turn her in to the police because she was gay.
Since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled a possible prison term and headed with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home.
A rising trend: LGBTQ+ Refugees
While many of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrive in Italy from Africa and the Mideast are escaping war, conflict and poverty, an increasing number are fleeing possible prison terms and death sentences in their home countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, advocates say. Read more
Tears, laughs and bare butts beamed through portal linking Dublin and New York (NBC)
It wowed crowds, joined up families and created more than a little controversy, but a new visual art installation linking New York and Dublin has certainly been a talker.
Called “The Portal,” a giant screen and video camera have been placed next to the Big Apple’s famed Flatiron Building and another in O’Connell Street, the Irish capital’s main thoroughfare.
Each sculpture broadcasts a livestream from the portal in the other city, allowing real time interaction between people on both sides of the Atlantic. Read more
Boniface scoops Bundesliga Rookie of the Season (Nation)
Victor Boniface’s fairytale debut season with German Champions Leverkusen has yet been richly rewarded after the Super Eagles striker was announced yesterday as Bundesliga ‘s Rookie of the Season.
Following his imperious performance that saw him winning four Rookie of the Month Awards between August and November, the choice of Nigerian did not come as a surprise to many as he was voted for the coveted award ahead of the trio of Leipzig’s Xavi Simons, Dortmund’s Ian Maatsen and Hoffenheim‘s Beier. Read more
Verstappen out to match at Imola old 31-year record in F1 (F1i)
Max Verstappen is gunning for his fifth F1 win of 2024 at this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but the Red Bull charger is also out to match a 31-year-old record currently held by F1 legend Alain Prost.
Verstappen’s track record in qualifying this season is unblemished, with the Dutchman securing pole at every single of the six events held to date.
But if the 58-time Grand Prix winner heads Saturday’s shootout at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, his streak of seven pole positions in a single season would match the run achieved by Prost with Williams in 1993, which remains the best-ever start to any F1 campaign in history. Read more
Arsenal fans love detail on new kit as ‘Year of the Cannon’ prediction is made (DailyStar)
Arsenal and Adidas have dropped a sizzling new home shirt for the 2024/2025 season, sending fans into meltdown.
The latest Gunners garb is a throwback sensation, resurrecting the iconic cannon last seen in the 1989/1990 season. The sleek design plants the beloved emblem right over the heart, a nod to Arsenal’s glorious heritage. The kit launch is paired with a nostalgic film that digs deep into “the passion” stirred up by the cannon among both fans and players.
Stars like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead, and Lotte Wubben-Moy grace the tribute, strutting their stuff at Emirates Stadium’s most electrifying spots, from the buzzing North Bank to the sacred home changing room. Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli shared his excitement about the cannon’s comeback: “Since joining Arsenal, it has been clear to me how important the cannon is, to this great club and our supporters. It epitomises our spirit and we’re excited to wear it on the pitch with pride next season.” Read more
Erik ten Hag refuses to answer question on Man Utd future as Jim Ratcliffe considers change (Mirror)
Erik ten Hag’s future is in doubt following a dismal second season in charge of Manchester United, though the Dutchman is refusing to look beyond the final two games of the season
Erik ten Hag refused to discuss his future as Manchester United won their final home game of the season.
Ten Hag’s position as United boss is under threat following a dismal second season in charge. Despite beating Newcastle on Wednesday, the Red Devils are still eighth in the Premier League. Read more
Tyson Fury forced to pull out of TV interview as clear message sent to Oleksandr Usyk (Express)
Tyson Fury has shown that he is taking his fight preparations seriously by pulling out of a live TV interview ahead of his upcoming showdown with Oleksandr Usyk. The Gypsy King will become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis if he can inflict the first defeat of Usyk’s professional career on Saturday night.
Fury was due to promote the clash on Good Morning Britain after being invited on the show for a live TV interview just over 48 hours before the fight. However, he was ultimately forced to pull out due to his training schedule, which suggests that he is not taking Usyk lightly in spite of his public bravado. Read more
Queen’s to host women’s tournament in 2025 (BBC)
A women’s tournament will return to the Queen’s Club for the first time in more than 50 years in 2025 following discussions with the ATP about the impact on the men’s event the week after.
Male players raised concerns about the quality of the grass courts they will inherit at the historic venue in west London.
The ATP has requested a review take place after next year’s inaugural two-week event, but the LTA says it is “very confident it will be a permanent move”. Read more