Man docked for possessing 80 army uniforms (Independent)
A 42-year-old man, Christian Obi, was on Friday arraigned for allegedly being in unlawful possession of 80 pieces of already sewed army camouflage uniforms.
The defendant, who pleaded not guilty, was brought on a charge of unlawful possession before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.
Police prosecutor, Insp. Doney Raphel, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on July 5, along Olojo Drive, Ojo.
He alleged that defendant was found in possession of 80 pieces of already sewed army camouflage uniforms and that when asked why he was with them, he could not give a convincing response. Read more
Tanker accident causes gridlock along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Punch)
An accident involving two fuel tankers on Friday morning stalled movement along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The accident, which occurred around the Kara Bridge section of the highway, saw motorists stranded through the stretch of the road from the Berger area of Lagos State to Mowe in Ogun State.
It was gathered that first responders have since arrived at the scene and cordoned off the site to prevent a secondary occurrence.
One of the tankers carrying diesel has been recovered but efforts are on to remove the one carrying petrol, Lagos Information Commissioner, Gbenga Omotoso, said in a statement. Read more
Alleged Unlawful Land Seizure: Court fixes July 22 for hearing in Ex-Gen vs Lagos Suit (ThisDay)
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division on Friday adjourned to July 22 for definite hearing in an N8.1 billion legal action brought against the Lagos State Government by Maj. Gen. AbdulRauf Tijjani (rtd).
Justice Ekwo adjourned to the said date following the confirmation that the parties involved in the suit have filed and exchanged necessary court processes to join issues with each other.
At the resumed hearing on Friday, Justice Ekwo requested lawyers involved in the matter to brief the court on the status of his directive made on July 13 that papers relating to the suit must be filed and exchanged to pave the way for full blown hearing of the suit. Read more
FG gives school operators 12 days to meet COVID-19 guidelines (Nation)
The Federal Government has given school owners till July, 29 to meet specific guidelines for safe reopening of schools.
It said schools are expected to undertake self-assessment and send feedback to State Ministries of Education, not later than 29th July, 2020.
The government said an official date for safe reopening of schools will be announced once these guidelines are in place. Read more
Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 12.56% – NBS (Vanguard)
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Consumer Price Index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased to 12.56 per cent year-on-year in June 2020.
The NBS made this known in its CPI and Inflation Report for June released on Friday.
It stated that the report showed that June inflation was 0.16 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in May which was 12.40 per cent.
It, however, disclosed that the increases were recorded in all
Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose. Read more
Adekunle Gold features Nailah Blackman in new song “AG Baby” (Guardian)
Adekunle Gold has dished out a new song titled “AG Baby” featuring Trinidadian singer, Nailah Blackman.
On “AG Baby”, the alternate singer, who recently welcomed a baby girl with his singer wife Simi, sings about his originality in spite of those that underrate and imitate him:
“Number one father, Original original Don da da, Dem dey underate man, They don’t know nothing,” he sings.
“AG Baby” is Adekunle Gold’s third single this year. Earlier in the year, he released hit single “Jore” featuring Kizz Daniel, which he followed up with “Something Different”. Read more
Ex-NDDC MD, Nunieh, testifies before house committee (ThisDay)
The Former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joi Nunieh, on Friday testified before the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC investigating the alleged financial malfeasance and other activities of the Commission.
Nunieh, who joined the panel via Zoom, has made grave allegations against Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta Affairs, whom she accused of contract scams and other corrupt practices in NDDC.
She also called on the Nigeria Police to investigate and charge Akpabio.
Nunieh was to testify before the Committee on Thursday but was prevented from travelling to Abuja following an early morning siege to her residence in Port Harcourt by armed policemen. She was eventually rescued and taken to the Rivers State Government House by the state governor, Nyesom Wike. Read more
Police arrests former staff for killing Gokada CEO Fahim Saleh (Guardian)
Police in the United States on Friday said they have arrested a former personal assistant to Fahim Saleh, suspected to have killed the Gokada founder.
Saleh’s personal assistant, Tyrese Devon Haspil, 21, arrested on Friday, is expected to be charged in a criminal complaint with second-degree murder and other crimes, New York Times reported.
The Gokada CEO was discovered dead on Tuesday afternoon by his sister inside his $2.25 million condo in a luxury building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the police said. Read more
Protests after Detroit teen detained over missed homework (BBC)
A Michigan judge’s decision to send a 15-year-old girl to juvenile detention for violating her probation by not completing her online schoolwork during the coronavirus lockdown has prompted protests and calls for her release.
The African-American teenager has reportedly been detained since mid-May.
Hundreds of students gathered outside her school and the court to show their support for the girl known as “Grace”. Read more
India exceeds 1m coronavirus cases, behind only the US and Brazil (France24)
India crossed 1 million coronavirus cases on Friday, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country’s feeble health care system.
A surge of 34.956 new cases in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,003,832.
The Health Ministry also reported a record number of 687 deaths for a total of 25,602. It said 635,757 people have recovered and the recovery rate was continuing to improve at 63%. Read more
British Airways retires entire fleet of 747s due to drop in people flying (Metro)
BA is retiring its ‘Queen of the Skies’ fleet of Boeing 747s with immediate effect due to a drop in demand caused by coronavirus. The airline has used the craft since April 1971 and is currently the world’s biggest operator of the 747-400 model. It was planning to retire the fleet of 31 craft in 2024 but its end has been hastened by coronavirus.
The company said: ‘It is with great sadness that we can confirm we are proposing to retire our entire 747 fleet with immediate effect. Read more
US breaks record with over 77,000 new coronavirus cases in single day (Gizmodo)
The US recorded 77,255 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, setting a depressing new world record.
The U.S. has the worst outbreak on the planet right now, but it’s probably more accurate to say this new record was broken last week. Why?
The largest private testing lab in the country is currently averaging more than seven days to get test results completed. That means many of those new cases reported on Thursday are people who got tested over a week ago and are just getting their diagnosis now. Read more
China coronavirus: Most flights cut to Xinjiang after outbreak (BBC)
Almost all flights in and out of Urumqi, capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, have been cancelled because of a coronavirus outbreak.
The city has just six confirmed cases with symptoms and 11 asymptomatic infections, official figures show.
Strict measures to rein in the virus include stopping the single metro line and many public buses from operating.
After the pandemic emerged in China in late 2019, the country has driven new infections to consistently low levels. Read more
Netflix testing ‘shuffle’ button for those who can’t decide what to watch (Metro)
Netflix looks set to introduce a ‘shuffle’ button that’ll queue up a TV episode at random and help those who can’t decide what to watch.
The option is only available on a few TV shows and appears as a button labelled ‘Random Episode’. It’s been noticed by a few users who swiftly posted their finding to social media. Read more
Britney Spears not being held hostage despite #FreeBritney protests (TMZ)
The #FreeBritney movement has re-emerged in a big way, with lots of people spinning conspiracy theories that she’s being held against her will but they got the story wrong.
Folks on social media have been alarmed by Britney Spears posting a gaggle of dance and fashion show videos. They’re odd, to say the least she’s dancing, pacing back and forth and looking not quite put together.
So then, fans started sending Britney secret messages — “wear black if you need help,” and “wear pink if you are in trouble.” Well, she wore pink shorts with black polka dots in a dance video, and that’s all she wrote. Read more
NPFL, NWFL clubs to get NFF’s support (Nation)
To cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Nigeria National League, (NNL) Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) and the Nigeria Nationwide League (NNL) would be supported by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
The NFF claimed they would use the funds expected from FIFA and CAF to lift the teams since they are reportedly expecting $1 million from FIFA and $500,000 from CAF. Read more
FIFA fines a club in Mauritius for not using its Transfer Matching System (BBC)
Mauritian club Cercle de Joachim have fallen foul of Fifa’s regulations governing international transfers
Football’s world governing body Fifa has sanctioned a club in Mauritius for failing to use its Transfer Matching System (TMS).
Cercle de Joachim, has been fined more that $10,000 for failing to comply with Fifa’s regulations governing the recruitment of foreign players. Read more
Serena Williams set to play inaugural Kentucky tournament (Guardian)
Serena Williams will make her return to the WTA tour at a new hardcourt tournament in Kentucky in August, organizers said Thursday.
The Top Seed Open said 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams and 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens will be in the field when play begins on August 10.
Williams hasn’t played since representing the United States in the Fed Cup in February before the WTA tour along with most of the global sport shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Read more
Athletics Association vows to reform Olympic protest rule (RT)
Newly formed organization the Athletics Association, which represents the rights of track and field athletes, is expected to fight against Olympic Rule 50 which prohibits “political, racial and religious” demonstrations.
US triple jump legend Christian Taylor, who became the organization’s first president, hailed English football’s Premier League for allowing players to take a knee to protest against racism, adding that he will fight for athletes’ rights to express themselves at the Olympics.
Emma Coburn, a US steeplechase specialist who is Athletics Association vice-president, stressed she doesn’t want Rule 50 to be completely abandoned, adding, however, that slight amendments are necessary. Read more
Lewis Hamilton fastest in Hungarian GP practice (BBC)
Lewis Hamilton headed team-mate Valtteri Bottas to a Mercedes one-two in first practice at the Hungarian GP.
Hamilton was 0.086 seconds quicker than the Finn despite running harder tyres as Mercedes looked dominant.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was third, 0.527secs adrift, and 0.437secs ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll. Read more
Bayern star Thiago Alcantara set to join Liverpool (Punch)
Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara is on the verge of joining Premier League champions Liverpool after stalling over signing a contract extension at Bayern Munich, according to a report in Bild on Friday.
The paper claims Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants to sign the playmaker who helped Munich win the Bundesliga title and German Cup double last season, but the clubs have yet to agree on a transfer fee.
According to Bild, Liverpool are not willing to pay more than 25 million euros ($28.5 million), while Bayern wants around 40 million euros for the 29-year-old. Read more