Ladipo market: Our operatives killed nobody, says Air Force (Nation)
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has denied stray bullets from its operatives allegedly killed three persons at Ladipo Market, Lagos on Tuesday afternoon.
It also described as untrue claims that three persons were killed during a clash between military operatives and area boys at the popular Paramo area of Ladipo Market in Mushin.
NAF’s Director of Information and Public Relations (DOPRI), Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet told The Nation the service’s personnel attached to the Operation (OPs) MESA were in the market in response to a distress call.
He said a call was put across by traders on a fight going on between a soldier of the Nigerian Army (NA) and a civilian debtor. Read more
Chidinma’s U-turn on Super TV boss Ataga’s murder an afterthought -Police (Punch)
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has described the new claims made by Chidinma Ojukwu, the suspected killer of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, as an “afterthought”.
In a video that went viral on Monday, the undergraduate denied killing the Super TV CEO – a claim that is contrary to her initial confession.
When she was paraded at the police command headquarters on June 24, the suspect had admitted to stabbing the 50-year-old in the neck with a knife after a disagreement.
She also corroborated the claim in an exclusive video interview with The PUNCH.
Odumosu, however, insisted that the police have the suspect on tape during her confession. Read more
Court orders reinstatement of soldier dismissed 14 years ago, asks army to pay his salaries, allowances from 2007 (Tribune)
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, on Tuesday, nullified the dismissal of a soldier, Lance Corporal Abdul Umar, from the Nigerian Army and ordered his immediate reinstatement.
Joined as co-defendants in the suit are the Armed Forces Council, Chief of Defence Staff and Minister of Defence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi held that the dismissal of the soldier was done in excess of the powers conferred on the commanding officer.
The judge further said that there was no evidence to show that the soldier was allowed to make personal or legal representation before he was convicted. Read more
Court remands three men in prison over alleged murder (Vanguard)
Three men, Ismailia Amodu, Ibrahim Mohammed and Amodu Mohammed, who allegedly killed a man, were Tuesday remanded in prison custody by a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere.
The defendants whose residential addresses were not given are facing a count charge of murder, preferred against them, by the Lagos State Government.
The State’s prosecuting counsel Bukola Okeowo, told the court that the trio, committed the offence sometime in January 2019.
She said that the incident took place at about 7 am, at Tin Can Island Port, in Apapa area of Lagos. Read more
Stop media trial of Chidinma, Reps tell police (DailyTrust)
The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, urged the Nigerian Police to stop the ongoing media trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Rep Tolu Sadipe at plenary.
The lawmaker, while moving the motion, raised concerns over the unending parade and media trial of the suspect by the Nigerian Police.
She said the police should rather conclude its investigation in her matter and charge her to court for trial rather than the ongoing media trial the suspect is being made to go through. Read more
Truck fails brake, damages 13 vehicles in Ibadan (Guardian)
No fewer than 13 vehicles got damaged on Tuesday when a tanker loaded with 11,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, lost control in Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accident happened at Challenge at 7:40a.m.
Mrs Uche Chukwurah, the Federal Road Safety Corps Sector Commander in Oyo State, confirmed the accident in an interview with NAN in Ibadan.
Chukwurah said that 10 of the damaged vehicles had been towed to the Felele Police Station, while the owner of the remaining three agreed to personally repair them. Read more
Student found dead with bullet, stab wounds in own apartment (DailyTrust)
Police in Bayelsa have recovered the body of a woman found dead with bullet and multiple stab wounds.
Jennifer Ugadu, a 200-level student of Niger Delta University, Amassoma, was found dead in her room.
She is believed to have been killed by her boyfriend, thought to be a military officer, after a domestic fight.
She was last seen with her boyfriend on July 11, two days before she was found dead, police said.
Neighbours spoke of signs of struggle in the room—her thumb was almost cut off and her room was scattered, with blood splattered around the apartment. Read more
Ghana police rescue 10 trafficked Nigerians, arrest six traffickers (Guardian)
The Baatsona Police in Ghana has rescued 10 Nigerians from their traffickers.
Ghanaian news outlet JoyNews, said the police received an SOS call Tuesday on Tuesday, July 6,
The report indicated that the police followed up on the information to the scene and discovered that one Amas Ekhosuehi aged 24, a Nigerian, and his five accomplices also Nigerians had lured ten young men into Ghana from Nigeria to engage them in cyber fraud activities.
The young men who looked pale and malnourished had several marks of assault on their back.
The victims claimed they were lured in batches to Ghana to seek greener pastures. However, they were camped in a house and prevented from going out but physically abused each time they requested food or failed to swindle unsuspecting victims to send money. Read more
Shell confirms oil leak at Opukushi Field in Bayelsa (Vanguard)
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) on Tuesday confirmed an oil leak at its facility in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa.
Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, its Media Relations Manager, said in a statement the spill, which discharged a yet to be ascertained volume of crude into the environment, occurred on June 15.
Odugbesan dismissed claims by residents that the oil firm was yet to respond to the spill and said that the leak was promptly contained within SPDC’s right of way.
“On June 15, a leak was reported at a facility of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd.’s Joint Venture at Opukushi Field in Ekeremo Local Government Area of Bayelsa. Read more
Google fined €500m by French competition authority (BBC)
Google has been hit with a €500m (£427m) fine by France’s competition authority for failing to negotiate “in good faith” with news organisations over the use of their content.
The authority accused Google of not taking an order to do so seriously.
Google told the BBC the decision “ignores our efforts to reach an agreement”.
The fine is the latest skirmish in a global copyright battle between tech firms and news organisations. Read more
Ethiopia: UN urges ‘swift’ withdrawal of Eritrean troops from Tigray (DW)
An EU-backed resolution at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council also demanded “an immediate halt” to violence in the region. The eight-month conflict has left thousands dead.
The UN’s rights council on Tuesday called for an end to the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and urged Eritrean troops to pull out of the area.
Officials at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council signed off on an EU-backed resolution earlier.
It demanded “an immediate halt to all human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law” in the war-torn area.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the military into Tigray in November to oust the Tigray’s People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after they rejected political reforms and captured army bases. Read more
Rapper gunned down outside Chicago jail, shot 64 times (NYPost)
A Chicago rapper was gunned down in a hail of bullets moments after he walked out of jail and had been fitted for an ankle bracelet, reports said.
When 31-year-old Londre Sylvester left Cook County Jail just before 9 p.m. Saturday, gunmen got out of two parked cars and shot him 64 times, according to a police report obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
Two women were also injured in the ambush — a 60-year old woman who’d just posted Sylvester’s bond and a 35-year-old woman who worked at the jail, CWBChicago said.
Sylvester rapped locally as KTS Dre and had tattooed KTS on his neck alongside a target sign, the report stated. KTS stands for “Kill to Survive,” the outlet said.
Sylvester had “just been released” from custody and fitted with an electronic monitoring device as part of his bail, the police report stated. Read more
Texas Democrats flee state to block Republican voting law (BBC)
Democratic politicians in Texas have left their state en masse in an effort to prevent Republicans there from passing a law to tighten voting rules.
The move will temporarily paralyse the state’s House of Representatives, which requires at least two-thirds of the 150 members be present for a vote.
At least 50 House Democrats boarded two private jets from Austin to Washington DC on Monday.
The move comes amid a wave of voting restrictions in Republican-led states. Read more
Controversial Max Stern art exhibition gets go-ahead (DW)
An exhibition chronicling the life and legacy of Nazi-persecuted Jewish art dealer, Max Stern, will finally take place – minus the support of scholars and the dealer’s own heirs.
Disenfranchised and Deprived: The Art Dealer Max Stern, will kick off September 1 at Düsseldorf’s Stadtmuseum three years after it was suddenly cancelled by mayor Thomas Geisel. The decision was made due to concerns about the lack of transparency on potentially looted art formerly owned by Stern that still hangs in public museums in Germany.
The exhibition had been initiated by the Jewish community of Düsseldorf, the Canada-based Max Stern Art Restitution Project, and Susanne Anna, director of the Stadtmuseum.
The unilateral decision to cancel the event until further research was done not only angered donors and partners, it also prompted Stern’s heirs — three universities in Canada and Israel — to withdraw their cooperation. They felt snubbed by the city for not being consulted prior to the cancellation. Read more
Sitcom star Charlie Robinson of ‘Night Court’ fame dead at 75 (NYPost)
Charlie Robinson, who played Mac on “Night Court,” has died at 75.
Charlie Robinson, who played Mac on “Night Court,” has died at 75.Getty Images
Charlie Robinson, who played Mac on “Night Court,” has died at 75.
Robinson died from a cardiac arrest and organ failure due to septic shock and metastatic adenocarcinoma, a type of cancer, at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to TheWrap.
Over the course of his 50 years in Hollywood, the actor played various roles in well-known productions, such as Sergeant Jeffries in “Hart of Dixie” and Don Robinson in “This Is Us.”
He also appeared as a guest in smaller roles in shows such as “NCIS,” “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” and played various theater roles, such as Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman. Read more
Chinese father reunites with abducted son after 24 years (Punch)
A Chinese man has been reunited with his kidnapped son after a 24-year search that saw him travel half a million kilometres across China on a motorbike, chasing tip-offs on the boy’s whereabouts.
Guo Gangtang’s son was just two years and five months old when he was abducted from in front of the family home in eastern Shandong province, where he was playing unattended.
Traffickers snatched the boy and sold him to a family in central China, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.
Kidnapping and child trafficking became widespread in China from the 1980s, when the draconian one-child rule was enforced, and a cultural obsession with sons fuelled demand for abducted boys. Read more
England’s Tyrone Mings criticises Patel over racism response (BBC)
England footballer Tyrone Mings has accused the home secretary of pretending to be disgusted by racist abuse, after she previously described taking the knee as “gesture politics”.
Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were targeted after they missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final.
Priti Patel said she was “disgusted” by the online abuse directed at the trio.
Mings said she had “stoked the fire” by refusing to criticise fans who booed the England team for taking the knee. Read more
F1 legend, Hamilton condemns racist abuse of Marcus, Sancho, Saka (Vanguard)
Formula One legend, Lewis Hamilton has condemned the racist abuse suffered by three England footballers after the Euro 2020 final, saying it “shows how much work needs to be done” in society to end racism.
England lost the final in a penalty shootout to Italy, with England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka, who are all Black, missing spot-kicks. All three were subjected to racist abuse online and on Monday a mural of Rashford in Manchester was defaced.
Hamilton, the only Black driver in F1 history and a seven-time world champion, with a record number of grand prix victories, said society needs to get to a place where Black athletes aren’t solely accepted after victories.
“So much was running through my mind as I watched the final moments of the match last night,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram. Read more
Biles tackling history – and herself – at Olympics (Guardian)
Simone Biles heads into the Olympics bidding to crown the greatest gymnastics career in history with only herself to beat.
The 24-year-old American superstar has not lost an all-around competition since 2013, an eight-year era of domination that has encompassed 19 world championship gold and four Olympic golds.
In Tokyo, Biles is poised to become the first woman in more than half a century to retain the all-around title, and could well end up equalling Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s record of nine Olympic gold medals.
To do that, Biles will need to win four individual events — all-around, floor, vault and beam — while leading the United States to victory in the team competition. Few are betting against her. Read more
Gregg Popovich has testy exchange with reporter after Team USA’s second embarrassing loss (NYPost)
Things are getting heated for Team USA.
Head coach Gregg Popovich had a tense exchange with Joe Vardon of The Athletic after a second embarrassing exhibition loss in three days, this time to Australia.
“You asked the same sort of question last time where you assumed things that are not true. ” Popovich said before Vardon interjected. “Can I finish? Can I finish my statement? Are you going to let me finish my statement or not?
“When you make statements about, in the past, just blowing out these other teams – number one, you give no respect to the other teams. I talked to you the last time about the same thing, we’ve had very close games against four of five countries in all these tournaments.” Read more
Olivier Giroud: Chelsea striker close to AC Milan move (BBC)
Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud is close to signing for AC Milan.
The 34-year-old French international is expected to sign a two-year deal with the Serie A side and could complete the move by the end of the week.
Giroud joined Chelsea from Arsenal for £18m in January 2018 and last month extended his contract until 2022.
Chelsea would be able to command a transfer fee for the forward, who last season scored 11 goals in 31 appearances.
After the signings of German forwards Kai Havertz and Timo Werner last summer, Giroud made only eight Premier League starts in the 2020-21 season. Read more
Relieved Rahm ‘not changing’ approach for majors (BBC)
Jon Rahm says his approach to majors has not changed as he prepares for this week’s Open Championship after winning his first at June’s US Open.
The Spaniard, 26, birdied his final two holes at Torrey Pines last month to win the US Open by one shot.
“I did have a sense of relief after winning the first major,” said Rahm.”I felt like for five years, all I heard was ‘major, major, major’ because I was playing good golf, as if it was easy to win a major championship.” Read more