Naira appreciates to N997/$ in parallel market (Vanguard)
The naira yesterday appreciated to N997 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,000 per dollar on Wednesday.
However, the naira depreciated in the Investors and Exporters, I&E, window yesterday to N775.2 per dollar.
Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for the I&E window rose to N775.2 per dollar from N756.21 per dollar on Wednesday, indicating N18.99 depreciation for the naira. Read more
Lagos announces traffic diversion for installation of truck barrier at Dorma long bridge (Guardian)
In line with efforts to forestall incessant articulated vehicle accidents which have claimed lives and property on some bridges in Lagos, the state government has announced traffic diversion on the night of Saturday, October 7, 2023, for the installation of truck barrier on Dorma-Long Bridge between truck barrier 10.00 pm to 7.00 am.
The Ministry of Transport in a statement on Thursday said that the following alternative routes will be available to motorists during the diversion:
i. Motorists from Western Avenue inbound Ikorodu Road will be diverted to Empire Road/ Jibowu to continue their journeys
ii. Motorists from Western Avenue can alternately use Agege Motor Road to link Mushin and proceed to their desired destinations. Read more
Methodists Girls High School wins EdTech Innovative Challenge, carts away N100k (Independent)
The Methodist Girls High School, Lagos, on Wednesday won the innovative challenge competition among secondary schools during this year’s African EduTech Conference held in Lagos.
By its feat, the school carted away N100,000 cash prize, while each of the students who represented the school were presented with five Exam Padi tablets.
Methodist Girls High School defeated Queen’s College, Yaba; St Finbarrs College, Akoka; King’s College, Lagos and Federal Government Girls College, Ibusa, which took part in the innovation competition. Read more
Accept defeat and lick your wound, APC knocks Atiku (DailyTrust)
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to accept his loss in the 2023 presidential election.
Atiku, who ran on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came second in the election. He had challenged the victory of the president in court, but lost as the Presidential Tribunal, struck out his petition.
The allegation of forgery was one of those dismissed by the presidential election court. Despite the court’s ruling, Atiku continued his case at the US court, which eventually ordered release of official documents Atiku seeks to include in his appeal at the Supreme Court. Read more
Sex Scandal: DSS Arrests UNICAL Professor, Ndifon (Leadership)
The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested the erstwhile dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), Professor Cyril Ndifon.
The DSS director of public relations and strategic communications, Dr Peter Afunanya, who confirmed this to journalists in Abuja, said Ndifon was arrested on the request of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC), after he repeatedly declined to honour their invitation in the widely reported sex scandal case involving him and some law students.
He also said Ndifon was arrested in Calabar, Cross River State by its operatives on October 4, 2023 based on a court order. Read more
Register for health coverage, Sanwo-Olu tells orphanages (Punch)
Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, has called on all orphanages in the state to register each child under their care with the Lagos State Health Management Agency for proper health care coverage.
The governor’s wife, who spoke on Thursday at the Lagos House, Alausa, during the pre-conference press briefing for the National Women Conference organised by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials, said orphans in the state are now being covered under the Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme.
“The orphans in the orphanages, it was difficult for them to access health care in the past, because in the hospitals they would require their father and mother, but they don’t have those parents to stay with them. So, we made a case for them, and now LASHMA has gone around to ensure that all the orphans in Lagos State under the registered orphanages are captured in the nearest hospital to the orphanage,” she said. Read more
Afe Babalola accuses governors of stealing council funds (Nation)
Founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has accused governors of misapplying financial allocations to local governments in their domains.
He said the “inactions” of the governors were stunting development at the grassroots as well as depriving the people of the benefits that they should ordinarily access without stress.
Babalola spoke yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, while declaring open the eighth edition of the Afe Babalola Agricultural Expo (ABAEX). Read more
Edo 2024: Former NBA president, Akpata declares for governorship election (Vanguard)
A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata late Thursday formally announced his intention to contest for the governorship of Edo State on the platform of Labour Party (LP).
Akpata who was at the state headquarters of the party secretariat where he had a closed door meeting with the leadership of party said he decided to aspire for the number one seat of the state through the LP because it is the only party that is people-oriented, adding that his interest is for the people of the state.
He lamented that the people are no longer the interest of the people in government and promised that he would change the narrative if given the opportunity to fly the flag of LP in the forthcoming election. Read more
Lena McLin, CPS music teacher of Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan, dies at 95 (CST)
Renowned Chicago vocal teacher Lena McLin, who trained musical stars ranging from singer Jennifer Hudson to the late house music diva Kim English, died Tuesday at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey from heart failure. She was 95.
Mrs. McLin taught music for decades at Kenwood Academy High School until she retired in 1992. She also taught private lessons while sitting at the piano in the living room of her South Shore home.
Hudson was singing on cruise ships and trying to advance her career while taking private lessons from Mrs. McLin, said her daughter, Beverly Jones. Her mom watched from home as Hudson became a contestant on American Idol and shot to stardom. Read more
Ed Sheeran celebrates Ipswich Town win with players after pulling pints for fans (RTE)
Music star Ed Sheeran served pints at Ipswich Town Football Club and celebrated with the players following the side’s victory over Hull City on Tuesday night.
The singer-songwriter and Ipswich fan got behind a bar at Portman Road to serve pints, with many fans capturing images and videos which they shared to social media.
Following the match Sheeran, 32, who grew up nearby in Framlingham, Suffolk, was also filmed singing in the changing rooms alongside Ipswich Town’s players to his 2017 hit “Perfect” after their 3-0 victory kept the side top of the Championship. Read more
Kevin Spacey rushed to hospital over heart attack scare (FilmNews)
Kevin Spacey was recently rushed to hospital over heart attack fears.
While giving a speech at the closing ceremony of the Tashkent International Film Festival in Uzbekistan on Monday, the House of Cards actor revealed that he had experienced a health scare earlier that day while touring a museum.
“I experienced something here today that was unexpected,” he said, according to a video published by The U.S. Sun. on Wednesday. “I was looking at these extraordinary murals on the walls and I suddenly felt my entire left arm go numb for about eight seconds. Read more
SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP talks to continue Friday and Monday (Variety)
SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will meet for further negotiations in the former’s ongoing strike, the parties announced on Wednesday.
“SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP met for a full day bargaining session and have concluded. Negotiations will continue on Friday, Oct. 6, with the parties working internally over the weekend, resuming Monday Oct 9,” a joint statement said.
The studios and streamers and the guild concluded its second session of talks at SAG-AFTRA’s Miracle Mile headquarters in Los Angeles, with little detail coming about the framework for a potential deal — or, more importantly, what might be holding it up. Read more
Gruff Rhys unveils details of new album, ‘‘Sadness Sets Me Free’’ (NME)
Gruff Rhys has this week (September 3) unveiled details of a new album, “Sadness Sets Me Free’’.
The album was previewed with a new track, ‘‘Celestial Candyfloss’’, which you can listen to below. Speaking about the new track, Rhys said it is “an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance.
“Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life & managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that’s lost in space. For what is apparently the 25th album I’ve had a hand in writing, I’ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness.” Read more
The “Donald Trump show is over” as he leaves NY civil fraud trial (France24)
New York Attorney General Letitia James hit back at Donald Trump on Wednesday over his virulent attacks on the $250 million civil fraud suit she brought against him, saying she will “not be bullied.”
“The Donald Trump show is over,” James told reporters after the 77-year-old former president left court at the midpoint of Wednesday’s proceedings.
Before leaving, Trump railed against James and complained that the “rigged” trial with a judge “run by the Democrats” was keeping him off the presidential campaign trail. Read more
US transfers 1.1m rounds seized from Iran to Ukraine (ABC)
The United States has sent Ukraine more than one million rounds of Iranian ammunition that it had seized last year, the US military has said.
The US Central Command said on Wednesday that US naval forces had confiscated the ammunition in December as it was being transported from Iran to the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.
Those 1.1 million 7.62mm rounds are now being sent to Ukraine, the Central Command said. Read more
China Open: World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka progresses to quarter-final (BBC)
World number one Aryna Sabalenka progressed to the quarter-final of the China Open with a straight-set victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.
Belarusian Sabalenka, US Open runner-up last month, beat the world number 36 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
The Australian Open winner will face 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the last eight. Read more
2023/2024 NWFL to kick-off October 15 (DailyTrust)
The board of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) has announced that the 2023/2024 season will kick-off on October 15.
The league body made this announcement yesterday following the successful draw which was conducted at the 2023 Annual General Assembly in Lagos.
The draws pitched Nasarawa Amazons, Heartland Queens, Confluence Queens, Adamawa Queens, Dannaz Ladies, Naija Ratels, Royal Queens and Abia Angels in group A while Group B has Lakeside Queens, Rivers Angels, Sunshine Queens, Robo Queens, Edo Queens, Bayelsa Queens, Ekiti Queens and Delta Queens. Read more
Lionel Messi sits out Miami loss to Chicago as playoff hopes fade (ESPN)
Lionel Messi was left out of Inter Miami CF’s squad for the fourth consecutive game as the team lost 4-1 to Chicago Fire FC at Soldier Field on Wednesday night.
Xherdan Shaqiri scored twice for the Fire, and Maren Haile-Selassie added two more in the win for the home side, with the result leaving Miami five points out of the final playoff spot held by Montreal, which drew 1-1 with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday.
“Many people were here to see Messi, and who doesn’t want to see him,” Chicago coach Frank Klopas said. “But they saw a good performance from our team tonight.” Read more
Former England footballer Kieron Dyer discharged from hospital following liver transplant (Mirror)
Former England star Kieron Dyer has been discharged from hospital following a successful liver transplant.
Dyer, now a coach with Chesterfield was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a chronic liver condition, in 2019 and had been waiting for a suitable organ to undergo a transplant.
Three months ago, he was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, and last month received the “life-changing” news that a new liver was available. Read more
Cricket World Cup: England and New Zealand open tournament to nearly-empty stadium (ITV)
The 2023 Cricket World Cup kicked off in bizarre circumstances on Thursday as England played New Zealand in a nearly-empty stadium.
India is hosting the tournament and chose to stage the opening fixture at the Narendra Modi Stadium – named after the country’s incumbent prime minister – in Ahmedabad.
The arena can seat around 132,000 spectators – making it the biggest cricket stadium in the world – but was left largely empty at the start of play. Read more
Klopp highlights midfielder’s ‘‘obvious talent’’ after starring role in Europa League win (Football365)
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed Ryan Gravenberch’s ‘obvious talent’ as the midfielder paved the way for the 2-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise with his first goal for the club.
The Netherlands international, a £34 million summer signing from Bayern Munich, made only his third start of the season and after impressing in the first European outing another all-round performance was capped with what he described as ‘the easiest goal of my career’.
Gravenberch capitalised on an error from goalkeeper Anthony Moris, who fumbled Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot to present a tap-in for the 21-year-old a minute before half-time. Read more