Lagos-Ibadan rail: Crowd cheers Amaechi, Mohammed as duo ride on new trains (Vanguard)
Elated Nigerians on Saturday cheered the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed as the duo inspected the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail project.
It was like a carnival of some sorts at various rail stations as people gathered and hailed the ministers who rode on new trains in company with top management staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
The inspection, which commenced at Ebute-Metta Junction (EBJ) Rail Station, saw the ministers and other NRC management team, ride on the narrow gauge corridor to Apapa port to monitor the standard gauge track laying and the rail station.
The team, which returned to EBJ, boarded the new train at Tejuosho, Yaba, and embarked on a ride to Ibadan in Oyo State. Read more
Yard fire: Your vehicles safe, LASTMA tells traffic violators (Punch)
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority has asked members of the public whose vehicles were seized for various traffic offences and moved to its Oshodi Yard not to entertain any fears.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that fire gutted no fewer than 11 vehicles at LASTMA Yard in Oshodi on Friday evening, according to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing this report but LASEMA confirmed that no life was lost in the inferno.
LASTMA in a statement on Saturday titled, Purported Fire Outbreak In LASTMA Yard – GM LASTMA’ and signed by its Assistant Director, Public Affairs, Olumide Filade, said seized vehicles were not affected in the fire. Read more
Lagos APC chieftain, Lanre Razak, dies at 74 (Punch)
A stalwart of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, Chief Lanre Razak, is dead.
Razak, who was also a member of the party’s Governor’s Advisory Council, passed away on Saturday morning after a brief illness.
The Balogun of Epe died at the age of 74 at the Reddington Hospital, Lagos.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, announced the chieftain’s death in a statement titled, ‘Sanwo-Olu Mourns GAC Member, Lanre Razak.’ Read more
AbdulRazaq mourns former Deputy Speaker of Kwara Assembly (Guardian)
Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara has expressed sadness over the death of former Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Ayodele Shittu.
AbdulRazaq, in a condolence message by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Rafiu Ajakaye, on Saturday in Ilorin, described Shittu’s demise as painful and shocking.
He prayed God to comfort the family of the deceased Chairman of International Vocational, Technical and Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC) and grant his soul eternal rest. Read more
Tribunal affirms Diri’s election, dismisses three petitions (Punch)
The Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Saturday affirmed Duoye Diri as the duly elected governor of the state.
The Justice Mohammed Sirajo-led panel of three judges affirmed the governor’s election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in separate judgments dismissing three petitions filed by different parties to challenge his emergence as the Bayelsa State governor.
The petitions dismissed by the tribunal were filed by the Alliance for Democracy, the United People’s Congress and the Liberation Movement. Read more
Stranded Nigerians forced to disembark from aircraft in London airport, protest (Vanguard)
Stranded Nigerians forced to disembark from Airline, protest at Stansted Airport
No fewer than 200 Nigerians at Stansted Airport, London, UK, are currently stranded and protesting after they were forced to disembark from a Nigeria-bound Titan Airline aircraft.
One of the stranded passengers exclusively explained to Vanguard that the flight was billed to take off 7a.m., August 15, but was rescheduled for 10a.m., then 1p,m.
He explained further that “the minimum amount paid by a passenger was N411,000. The pilot told us that they (the Nigerian government) refused him a landing permit, which was granted before now. Read more
Reps committee invite NPC, CBN, Customs, AMCON, AIICO, others over alleged infractions in insurance (Guardian)
The House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters has invited chief executives of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, AMCON, AIICO, First Insurance, and other critical stakeholders to an investigative hearing from August 17th to 28th on alleged infractions in the Nigerian Insurance business environment.
The invited CEOs are to appear before the House Committee next week Monday.
Other insurance entities to appear in the first batch include Capital Express Assurance, Leadway Assurance, Mutual Benefits Insurance, Zenith Life Insurance, Hogg Robinson Insurance Brokers Ltd, Worldmark Insurance Brokers Ltd. Read more
Non release of budgeted fund hampering access to family planning in Plateau (Vanguard)
Thirty years old mother of eight, Mrs. Stephen had earlier in the year expressed her ignorance about reproductive health issues to this reporter and was counselled on the need to approach a Primary Health Centre in her native Kwall, Bassa local government area of Plateau State for assistance on such.
The stress of living in a crowded internally displaced person camp in the community hall with seven children and another pregnancy had taken a toll on her as her community was sacked by some gunmen and her property burnt. She only escaped with her family members and the clothes on their back.
Her frail condition evoked sympathy from anyone who saw her while visiting the camp, the goodwill of the people sustained her but almost every visitor who interacted with her, she confessed; advised her to adopt a family planning method and put a stop to having children she did not plan for at least for the sake of her health and wellbeing.
Two months after the delivery of her eighth baby, she took the advice and approached a Health Centre at Tudun Wada area of Jos North local government area of the State where a relative accommodated her. Read more
Delta approves 3 additional private schools for JSS exams (Guardian)
The Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education has approved additional three private schools as centres for the 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) being organised by the National Examination Council (NECO).
The Commissioner, Mr Patrick Ukah in a statement listed the schools as Patricia High School, Asaba, Infant Jesus Academy, Asaba, and Marymount College, Agbor.
According to him, 43 private schools had earlier been approved as centres for the BECE by NECO which is different from that organised by the Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education. Read more
Equatorial Guinea’s government, prime minister resign (Aljazeera)
The government and prime minister of Equatorial Guinea have tendered their resignation to President Teodoro Obiang, who said they had not done enough to help the country at a time of crisis.
The Central African oil producer is suffering a double economic shock linked to the coronavirus pandemic and a drop in the price of crude oil, which provides about three-quarters of state revenue.
“The head of state regretted that the outgoing government did not fulfil its policy objectives, which undoubtedly led to this crisis situation,” read a statement on the government website on Friday.
Francisco Pascual Obama Asue had been prime minister since June 2016. Read more
Columbia University nixes plans for in-person classes this fall (NYPost)
The Columbia University campus in Morningside HeightsGetty Images
Columbia University will hold all classes for undergraduates online this fall, officials announced Friday.
President Lee Bollinger had hoped that 60 percent of classes could have been in person, but reversed course due to coronavirus constraints, he wrote in a letter to the students and staff.
The school will now only host a limited number of students who must live on campus due to “personal or academic” circumstances, according to the letter. Read more
Belarus: Thousands attend protester’s funeral amid unrest (BBC)
Thousands of people have attended the funeral of a man who died during recent protests against the disputed presidential election in Belarus.
Opposition supporters turned out in the capital, Minsk, on Saturday where they laid flowers, waved banners and chanted for the long-time president to resign.
Mass protests erupted after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in the 9 August vote. Read more
South Africa crime rate falls 40% in coronavirus lockdown (Aljazeera)
Crime-plagued South Africa posted a drastic drop in criminal offences, including sexual assaults, during the first three months of its coronavirus lockdown.
Crime rates dropped by up to 40 percent between April and June, when the country was placed under strict stay-home restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of the virus, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Friday.
“These statistics show major decreases in all crime categories compared to the same comparative period last year,” Cele said. Read more
Everything you need to know about ‘Project Power’, Netflix’s new action movie (Metro)
Project Power is one of the brand new movies arriving on Netflix this August, with this offering promising a fresh injection of action and adventure to the streaming platform for anyone craving new content during lockdown. A story about an ex-soldier, a mysterious teenager and a cop whose lives are turned upside by a dangerous new pill that gives people temporary superpowers, this supercharged action film takes viewers on a wild ride through an alternative future when the impossible has suddenly become possible. But at what cost? With some pretty big names in the cast, here’s who stars in the new film and when you can watch it on Netflix. Read more
Tom Cruise’s bizarre on-set rule revealed (news.com.au)
A former co-star of Tom Cruise has revealed the A-list actor had an unusual rule for his films, apparently forbidding his fellow actors from running with him on-screen.
Actress Annabelle Wallis, who co-starred with Cruise in 2017’s poorly-received reboot of The Mummy, made the unusual admission in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I got to run on-screen with him, but he told me no at first.
He said, ‘Nobody runs on-screen [with me],’ and I said, ‘But I’m a really good runner,’” Wallis said. “So, I would time my treadmill so that he’d walk in and see me run. And then he added all these running scenes. So, that was it.”
“It was, like, better than an Oscar. I was so happy! I was so happy that I got to run on-screen with Tom Cruise,” she said. Read more
Miel Gibson’ honey lands Chilean entrepreneur in hot water (BBC)
Yohanna Agurto thought she had come up with the perfect marketing for her honey, featuring a pun on the name of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Miel (Spanish for honey) Gibson.
The product also carried an image of the actor from the film Braveheart.
And it was all going to plan – “until I received threats from Mel’s lawyers”, the Chilean vendor revealed on Twitter.
His representatives had issued a cease and desist notice over the unauthorised use of his name and likeness. Read more
Lewis Hamilton on pole position for Spanish Grand Prix (BBC)
Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by just 0.059 seconds to take pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Neither driver improved on their final laps in an anticlimactic end to the session after Hamilton edged Bottas on the first run in the top 10 shootout.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third, ahead of the Racing Points of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.
Red Bull’s Alex Albon was sixth ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz. Read more
Klopp wins Premier League manager of the season (Guardian)
Jurgen Klopp has been named Premier League manager of the season after guiding the club to their first league title in three decades.
The 53-year-old German beat Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers, who Klopp replaced at Liverpool in 2015, and Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder.
Liverpool coasted to the title, they narrowly lost out on to Manchester City in the previous campaign.
They garnered 99 points, winning 32 of their 38 league games, to finish 18 points clear of Manchester City. Read more
Recovery or separation for Messi as Barcelona face up to change (Vanguard)
Lionel Messi’s body language said it all as Barcelona were sent into full-blown meltdown in their historic Champions League quarter-final humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich on Friday.
He could only look on helplessly as the club to which he has brought so much glory succumbed to a record 8-2 defeat in Lisbon.
By the end, even with the ball he could not make anything happen — he was robbed of possession in his own half to start the move which brought Bayern’s seventh goal at the Estadio da Luz.
Earlier, in a photo taken through the door of what appears to be Barca’s changing room at half-time and which has widely circulated online, Messi can be seen sitting alone at the end of his bench, turned away, wearing both the captain’s armband and a look of total resignation. Read more
MS Dhoni, ex-India cricket captain, says ‘consider me as retired’ (Aljazeera)
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman and former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has announced his retirement from international cricket in a cryptic message posted on Instagram.
Dhoni, who turned 39 in July, quit test cricket in 2014 and has not played a limited-overs match for India since taking a break after the team’s semi-final exit at the 50-overs World Cup in July last year.
“Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout. From 1929 hrs consider me as Retired,” he wrote on Instagram with a video montage which had images from his 15-year international career. Read more
Zelfa Barrett topples Eric Donovan with ‘savage’ eight round TKO victory
(news.com.au)
A hellacious left hook turned this Irish boxer’s lights out and left the commentators absolutely stunned as the referee waved off the fight.
Nic Savagenews.com.au
British boxer Zelfa Barrett has delivered a vicious knock out blow during Saturday’s super-featherweight bout against Eric Donovan.
During the clash at Brentwood, Barrett fired the left hook after dodging Donovan’s right jab in the eighth round.
Even though his opponent had dominated the opening six rounds, momentum shifted in Barrett’s favour after he snared two knockdowns in the seventh. Read more
Serena Williams: Shelby Rogers shocks former world number one at Top Seed Open (BBC)
Serena Williams lost in the Top Seed Open quarter-finals after fellow American Shelby Rogers came back from a set down to win their rain-delayed match 1-6 6-4 7-6 in Lexington.
Former world number one Williams dominated the first set but a resilient Rogers forced a decider.
Rogers, ranked 116 in the world, then edged the tie-break to record a memorable victory.
“It’s every kid’s dream to be able to do something like that,” Rogers said.
“Weird circumstances. Weird situation. But a win is a win.” Read more