NDLEA nabs pregnant woman, 27 others (Guardian)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a pregnant woman, a nursing mother and a 200-level university student for drug abuse and peddling.
The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said the suspects were among 28 persons arrested with 9,437.6 kilograms of cannabis and 138,053 tablets of pharmaceutical opioids among others by operatives of NDLEA.
He said the suspects were arrested during interdiction operations across 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Read more
Lagos PDP gov candidate begins campaign Wednesday (Punch)
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Dr Abdul-Azzez Adediran, popularly called Jandor, has said he will begin his campaign on Wednesday in Alimosho Local Government Area of the state.
He said he and members of his team would tour the 245 wards in the state.
Adediran disclosed this at a press conference in Lagos on Sunday.
“We will start our governorship campaign on Wednesday, October 19, in Alimosho, and we will be touring the 245 wards in Lagos. The people should see their governor, not the one that is presented to them on the television screen,” he said. Read more
Firm joins Lagos sweepers in cleaning exercise (DailyTrust)
Palton Morgan, a frontline real estate investment and development firm in Nigeria, has honoured sweepers working for the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) as part of the recent celebration of the 2022 Customer Service Week.
The LAWMA staff, stationed at Ajose Adeogun and Sanusi Fafunwa axes, were joined by staff of Palton Morgan to clean the environment.
“Keeping in mind this year’s theme of: “Celebrating Service”, we chose to honour LAWMA workers; those who clean the environment,” said the Director of Corporate Social Services of Palton Morgan, John Fanibuyan.
He further said, “Although there are many services rendered by businesses in various sectors of the economy, we look at it from the perspective of these people providing services critical to the existence of human beings and the sustainability of this planet, earth. Read more
4-year-old killed as flood submerges more communities in Delta (Vanguard)
A four-year old child, identified as Oghenevweta, has been reportedly killed by the ravaging flood which has submerged more communities in Delta State.
The child, it was gathered, drowned at Omosuomo community, Ughelli South Local Government Area of the state, after the parent’s house was enmeshed in a mass of water that flowed ceaselessly into it
Some of the communities presently under water in the council area, include Obi-Ayagha, Okwemor, Otor-Owahwa, Ewu-Otor, Orere, Assah, Etefe, Gbaregolor, Olodiama,, Omafuvwe, Edjekuo, Omosuomo-Inland, Omosuomo-Waterside, Okuama, Ogoda, Alagbabri and Ofrukama with farmlands and properties worth millions of naira lost to the unabating flood. Read more
Queen’s College celebrates 95 founder’s day, seeks support for improved infrastructure, curriculum (ThisDay)
As Queen’s College, Lagos, recently, Commemorated its 95th founder’s day, the President of the Old Girls Association (QCOGA), Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, has called on stakeholders to support the school so as to improve on its infrastructure, curriculum content and quality of teachers.
She described the college as a national monument that attracted students from different religions and ethnic groups across all the federation.
Speaking at the programme, she recalled that in the past, the federal government funded the school system adequately, but that has since changed with the establishment of more schools and a growing population.
According to her, “we were all beneficiaries of this, we enjoyed good food, textbooks, good chairs and tables, music, as well as assembly hall activities. Read more
Motorcycle thief burnt, cultist killed, Plateau monarch kidnapped (Punch)
A young man suspected to be a motorcycle thief was on Saturday set ablaze by an irate mob in Angwa Rukuba community, in the Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The suspect was alleged to have stolen over 10 motorcycles.
“When the suspect was apprehended, the police came and took him to their station but the mob dragged him out and set him ablaze,” an eyewitness said.
Also, a clash between two rival cults left one person dead in Gwarandok community, in the Jos South LGA of the state. Read more
Alumni, vital to saving public schools from collapse — NIIA DG, Osaghae (Vanguard)
The Director-General, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Lagos, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, has said with the government being overwhelmed with commitments and obligations in the face of dwindling resources, old students of public schools should see themselves as the future of such schools and do everything possible to restore their lost glory.
He also said old boys and girls should see themselves as important in efforts to save their alma maters from collapse.
Osaghae, who stated this while speaking in Lagos during the ninth annual dinner and award of Government College, Ughelli Old Boys Association, GCUOBA, Saturday night, said public schools were no longer attractive and had become shadows of themselves.
Osaghae, who spoke on the topic, “The future of public schools in Nigeria,” said: “Unlike what we had in the past when a parent would want his child to attend the same school he attended, parents now abandon public schools and send their children to private ones. Read more
Ogun police arrest 11 over cult violence plot (Nation)
Eleven suspected members of a cult group have been apprehended in the Sango Ota area of Ogun State as they prepared to carry out a violent clash, police said.
Detectives swooped on them in a house on October 11, it was said.
The suspects were said to be responsible for the spate of violent cult clashes in the area.
Detectives got information that they were holding a meeting and the Divisional Police Officer for Sango Ota division, Saleh Dahiru, mobilised his men, So-Safe-Corps, Amotekun and operatives of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to the scene and arrested seven suspected members of the group while others escaped. Read more
Sanwo-Olu approves 100% bursary increment for Lagos indigenes in tertiary schools nationwide (Tribune)
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has approved an increment by 100 per cent of the annual bursary allowance payable to indigenes of the state who are studying in any tertiary institutions nationwide.
The Executive Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board, Mr AbdulRahaman Lekki, made this known in a statement made available to newsmen by the Head of Public Affairs unit of the Office of Special Adviser to the State Governor on Education, Mr Adesoye Oyelami, on Sunday.
He said the announcement was communicated to students during a meeting of the board with the leadership of the Lagos State chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS) at the government secretariat at Alausa, Ikeja.
He said the increment which he did not mention in monetary value would take effect from the 2022/ 2023 academic session. Read more
Tributes to Clannad founding member Noel Duggan after death aged 73 (Standard)
Tributes have been paid to a founding member of Irish folk band Clannad.
Noel Duggan died suddenly in Donegal on Saturday evening aged 73, the group announced on social media.
The remaining members of the band said he would be “forever remembered”.
In a post online, they said: “We are heartbroken to share the news that Noel Duggan, our beloved Uncle, trusted friend, and founding member of Clannad, died suddenly in Donegal on Sunday evening.
“He was 73 years old. Noel will be forever remembered for his outstanding guitar solos, his love of music and his dedication to the band.”
The Grammy award-winning Celtic band was founded in Gweedore, County Donegal in 1970 by siblings Maire (also known as Moya), Ciaran and Pol Brennan, and their uncles – twins Noel and Padraig Duggan. Read more
M.I.A. dropped from GQ Awards following controversial posts about vaccines (NME)
M.I.A. has revealed that she’ll no longer be involved in this year’s GQ Men Of The Year Awards, with the magazine severing ties with her over controversial tweets about vaccines.
Last Thursday (October 13), the artist – whose real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam – shared a series of tweets comparing vaccines for COVID-19 to Alex Jones’ reprehensible conspiracy theories about the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. Earlier that day, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1billion in damages to the families of the victims he’d slandered, having spent much of the past decade spreading falsehoods about the legitimacy of the shooting.
In her first Tweet, Arulpragasam posted the rhetorical question that if Jones was to face consequences for lying, “shouldn’t every celebrity pushing vaccines pay too?”
In a follow-up, she further compared Jones’ misinformation to “Pfizer lying”, sharing a screenshot of her Twitter’s ‘trending’ page that showed an article about Jones’ trial next to one about the effect of vaccines on COVID transmission. She accompanied it with the declaration that “if you have no critical thinking faculty, this is about as crazy as we should get before a nuclear war wipes out the human race [sic]”. Read more
She Said premiere honours women who exposed Harvey Weinstein’s alleged misconduct (THR)
The New York Film Festival’s world premiere of She Said, based on the book of the same name about the New York Times‘ investigation into Harvey Weinstein’s decades of alleged sexual misconduct, was a “memorable moment,” director Maria Schrader said Thursday night.
Schrader said she and the team behind the Universal film, which she was still working on four weeks ago, had hoped the movie would make its debut in New York.
“This is actually what we wished for because this is where it belongs,” she told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of She Said‘s premiere.
The film screened at the prestigious fall festival, which Weinstein himself frequented in his heyday. And the world premiere took place as Weinstein’s Los Angeles sexual assault trial is beginning. He was convicted of rape in a New York trial in early 2020. Read more
Ted White, Jason Voorhees stuntman in ”Friday the 13th” horror films, dead at 96 (Fox)
Ted White, who became popular in the horror movie world franchise for portraying Jason Voorhees in the 1984 film “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter,” died on Friday, Oct. 14. He was 96.
White, who was born Alex Bayouth in Texas, died at his home in Southern California at 8:30 a.m., his son, Ted exclusively told Fox News Digital.
“He was a tough guy. Honest and told the truth, whether you liked it or not,” Ted said. “The last of the blood and guts guys.”
White’s career in Hollywood wasn’t limited to his Jason character. He began working in the industry in the late ‘40s as John Wayne’s stunt double, and also worked with Fess Parker, Clark Gable and Richard Boone, to name a few. Read more
Korea Box Office: Retreat continues as weekend total falls to $4.2m (Variety)
While the Busan International Film Festival was busily hailing a return to normality the slump at South Korea’s commercial box office deepened dramatically over the most recent weekend.
Cinema Going nationwide was worth only $4.20 million between Friday and Sunday, the lowest weekend total since April and a time before Korean cinemas shed their COVID restrictions.
The weekend’s top film “Life Is Beautiful” managed the lowest first place score of any film this year, with a weekend haul of just $777,000, according to data from Kobiz, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
To its credit, the film climbed from second place in its fourth weekend on release, but it only overtook a “Confidential Assignment 2: International” that has been on release for two months, and its four-week cumulative amounts to just $5.44 million. Read more
Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Lula trade insults in debate ahead of run-off vote (France24)
Far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva traded jabs and insults as they squared off Sunday in their first-ever head-to-head debate, two weeks from Brazil’s presidential runoff election.
Lula attacked Bolsonaro as the “king of fake news,” drawing accusations of lying, corruption and a “disgraceful” record in return, as the rivals sparred in the first debate for their polarizing second-round showdown on October 30.
Lula, the charismatic but tarnished ex-president (2003-2010) who is seeking a comeback at 76, was particularly fiery criticizing Bolsonaro over his handling of Covid-19, which has killed 687,000 people in Brazil, second only to the United States.
Attacking Bolsonaro over his resistance to buying vaccines and touting of unproven medications such as hydroxychloroquine, Lula said the president “carries the weight of those deaths on his shoulders.” Read more
Greek police find dozens of naked migrants at border with Türkiye, both countries deny involvement (ABC)
Türkiye has denied any involvement in refugee mistreatment after Greek police rescued a group of almost 100 naked migrants close to its border.
On Friday, Greek police said they had rescued a group of 92 illegal migrants, all men, who were discovered naked and some with injuries, close to the Evros river that marks the border between Greece and Türkiye.
The United Nations’ refugee agency was “deeply distressed by the shocking reports”, condemning the “degrading treatment” and calling for an investigation.
Both countries have blamed each other for the ill-treatment. Read more
Athlete of the Year award: Dare seeks support for Amusan (Guardian)
The Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, is spearheading the campaign to get Nigerians to massively vote for the reigning world 100m hurdles champion and record holder, Tobi Amusan, as she bids to become the first Nigerian to be crowned World Athlete of the Year.
No Nigerian has ever been nominated for the award and Amusan is thus the first to be shortlisted and the 25 year-old will be aiming to scale the final hurdle and become the first Nigerian to be crowned best of the best.
The reigning Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles champion and record holder is one of the 10 nominees the World Athletics released last Wednesday that will battle for the honor. Read more
Mbappe insists he ‘never asked to leave’ as PSG beat Marseille (RFI)
Kylian Mbappe insisted Sunday he has “never asked to leave” Paris Saint-Germain despite widespread reports last week that he would seek a move away from the Qatar-owned club as soon as possible.
The 23-year-old France superstar was speaking in the wake of PSG’s 1-0 win over Marseille, in which he set up Neymar for the only goal as his side moved three points clear at the top of Ligue 1.
“I am very happy. I have never asked to leave in January,” he said while insisting that he was not “implicated directly or indirectly” in the rumours about his future.
The story emerged on Tuesday, hours before PSG’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Benfica in which he scored. Read more
Mikel Arteta hails Arsenal courage after his side ride luck at Leeds and survive ‘big trouble’ (IrishIndependent)
Not even the finest teams of Arsene Wenger’s era were able to win nine of their opening 10 games of a league season and, while there is an awfully long way to go for Mikel Arteta’s class of 2022, this was another victory that suggested they might just be capable of challenging for a first title since the glory days of Highbury.
The sense of gathering momentum was not related to Arsenal’s performance here, on a wild afternoon against a typically intense Leeds United. Indeed, for much of this game, Arsenal were alarmingly devoid of ideas and energy. It was, instead, the defensive grit that stood out and the unavoidable sense that the footballing gods were on their side.
“Time after time, we put ourselves in big trouble,” said Arteta. “Even in those situations, though, I love the resilience, the fight, the character and the courage.”
Arsenal were spirited and determined, but they were also enormously lucky. Lucky that Leeds spurned so many chances, including a second-half penalty, and lucky that the VAR technology had been rebooted after a bizarre power surge in the first minute of the match. Read more
Benzema on target as Real claim top spot and El Clasico bragging rights against Barca (Eurosport)
Karim Benzema scored his 12th El Clasico goal as Real Madrid secured a 3-1 win over Barcelona in a breathless derby at the Bernabeu.
Real broke the deadlock after just ten minutes after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen parried Vinicius Junior’s close range effort into Karim Benzeima’s path, leaving the Frenchman with an empty net to aim at from 12 yards.
The visitors took back control with Raphinha causing chaos every time he cut inside, and Barca should have had the equaliser when his perfect cross found Robert Lewandowski five-yards out at the back post, only for the Polish striker to blaze over in despair.
Barca kept coming at their hosts down the flanks, but against the run of play Real grabbed a second. Ferland Mendy found Federico Valverde outside the box in plenty of space, and the Uruguayan even had time to tee himself up before rifling home past a diving Ter Stegen. Read more
Australian Open champ Matt Jones slams suggestions Greg Norman’s Liv Golf is just an exhibition (DailyMail)
The Aussie Open champion who defected to LIV Golf and is taking the PGA Tour to court has slammed ‘keyboard warriors’ who claim the rebel tournament is nothing but a series of ‘exhibition’ tournaments.
Jones is a two-time Australian Open champion and one of the highest profile Aussies that left the PGA Tour to join Greg Norman’s Saudi Arabia-backed rebel league, along with Adam Scott and The Open champion Cameron Smith.
The 42-year-old Jones has competed in all seven LIV Golf tournaments and following his final round at Royal Greens and Country Club on Sunday bemoaned the judgement of ‘keyboard warriors’.
‘I would say don’t speak until you’ve come out here and experienced it,’ Jones told AAP. Read more
Top-ranked Swiatek beats Vekic for WTA San Diego title (France24)
World number one Iga Swiatek captured her 11th career WTA title and her eighth of the year on Sunday by outlasting 77th-ranked Donna Vekic in the San Diego Open final.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek defeated the 26-year-old Croatian 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 for her WTA-best 64th match victory of 2022.
“It was a really tight match and pretty long,” Swiatek said. “We felt the intensity for sure. At the end I wanted to be the one who played the last ball in.”
Swiatek took her prior titles this year at the US and French Opens as well as Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome. Read more
Poole ready to chase another championship alongside Green (USAToday)
Calling it a “long” couple of weeks, Golden State guard Jordan Poole is ready to chase a repeat championship alongside Draymond Green after the fourth-year pro took a punch to the face from Green at practice.
Poole wasn’t injured by the violent punch Oct. 5. Green rejoined the team after a leave of absence, and he met with Poole in the days before they played together again Friday night against the Nuggets.
“He apologized, and we plan on handling ourselves that way, we’re going to play basketball,” Poole said Sunday in his first public remarks since the fight and after video leaked from the incident. “Everybody in the locker room and on our team knows what it takes to win a championship and we’re going to do that on the court. That’s really all I have to say on the matter, we’re here to win a championship and keep hanging banners.”
The 23-year-old Poole finalized a $140 million, four-year extension with the defending NBA champions on Sunday, giving the guard something to celebrate and a bit of relief with a ring ceremony right around the corner. Read more