NSCDC busts oil vandals in Lagos , promises to fight on (Guardian)
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC), Lagos State Command, has busted an attempt to siphon Premium Motor Spirit ( PMS) generally referred to as petrol in Iyana- Odo area of Lagos State.
This is contained in a statement signed and released by Assistant Superintendent of Corps 1, (ASC1) Oluwaseun Abolurin, the command’s spokesperson in Lagos State on Saturday.
The statement stated that the NSCDC personnel on patrol at Iyana – Odo area in the Alimosho Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State busted the syndicates on May 22 at 0335 a.m.
The statement said that the suspected vandals planned to load a-30,000-litre -capacity truck with PMS but for the gallant efforts of the NSCDC personnel. Read more
Again, suspected herdsmen kill 8 in Benue (Punch)
Suspected Fulani herdsmen at the wee hours of Friday invaded Tse Ancha in the Agan community of Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State and murdered eight people.
Tse Ancha is about a kilometer to the Abegana IDP camp where seven people were killed by suspected herdsmen about three weeks ago.
The invasion and gruesome murder of the eight people including the kindred head of the community came barely 12 hours after the victims of the Abegana IDP camp were buried.
The casualty, according to a source in the community would have been more but for the prompt response of some youths who were at a wake in a nearby village and mobilized themselves and raced to the community. Read more
2 women slump as Attahiru, other officers are laid to rest (Nation)
The Military cemetery in Abuja was clouded with tears and mourning as the late Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru and ten other officers were laid to rest.
It became more tense after the next of kin of the officers were presented with the Nigerian flag in honor of their dead, one of the family members that was being led back to her seat fainted and panic set it, as members of the military and other civilians present tried hard to revive, she was eventually rushed out of the premises in an ambulance.
The second incident was with one of the wives of the officers, who slumped as the Chief of Defense Staff was giving his speech under the tenth where Defense and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association and Nigerian Air Force Officers’ Wives Association (NAFOWA) were seated. Read more
NASCO Founder, Nasreddin dies at 96, Lalong Mourns (Vanguard)
The founder of NASCO Group of Companies, Ahmed Nasreddin has died at the age of 96.
The company headquartered in Jos was established by the deceased in 1963 and has produced household items feeding the Nigerian market and beyond.
Reacting to the demise, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong said the passing of the patriarch of the NASCO family is a great loss not only to the family but people of Plateau and Nigeria at large.
Lalong in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Makut Macham said the late Nasreddin was a visionary leader who groomed his company from a little beginning to become a major conglomerate.
According to the statement, “Governor Simon Lalong has expressed the deep condolences of the people and Government of Plateau State to the NASCO family over the passing of the founder of the Nasco Group of Companies, Dr Ahmed Nasreddin who died at the age of 96. Governor Lalong in a message of commiseration described the passing of the patriarch of the NASCO family as a great loss not only to the family but to people of Plateau State and Nigeria as a whole.” Read more
Katsina Emirate sacks District Head for aiding banditry (Guardian)
Katsina Emirate Council on Saturday announced the sacking of “Sarkin-Pauwan Katsina” and District Head of Kankara, Alhaji Yusuf Lawal, over alleged involvement in aiding and abetting banditry in his domain.
Alhaji Bello Mamman-Ifo, the Council’s Secretary, made the announcement through the Emirate’s Information Officer, Alhaji Ibrahim Bindawa, in Katsina.
Mamman said the sacking of Lawal as district head “is with immediate effect.” Read more
Police arrest three for robbery in Enugu (Punch)
The Enugu State Police Command on Saturday said it has arrested three criminal suspects for armed robbery and car snatching.
A statement by the State Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, said the suspects, who were arrested with the collaboration of the Neighbourhood Watch Group in different parts of the state had confessed to the crimes.
Ndukwe said that two vehicles, three firearms, one live cartridge, two daggers, one mobile phone, and other incriminating items were recovered from the suspects.
He said, “On 17/05/2021, our operatives attached to Abakaliki Road Division, acting on intelligence, arrested in Ishielu L.G.A. of Ebonyi State, one Chidiebere Okoye aged 22 and Ede Ifeanyi aged 25, both of Onuasata, Enugu. Read more
2 injured as another gas explosion rocks Abeokuta (Guardian)
A gas explosion on Friday rocked Abeokuta, injuring two people.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the explosion occurred barely 24 hours after one person was killed and another injured in a gas explosion at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library on Thursday.
NAN reports that the Friday’s explosion occurred at the CSCC construction yard at Onikoko area of Abeokuta.
Two people were seriously injured while vehicles were destroyed by the explosion. Read more
Military takes over plane crash scene in Kaduna (Nation)
As the remains of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and other top military officers killed in the Friday plane crash in Kaduna were laid to rest in Abuja, the site of the crash has been taken over and cordoned off by the military.
Civilians including members of the management and staff of the Kaduna International Airport have been prevented from accessing the scene of the accident, which occurred within the Airport’s perimeter fence.
As at the time our Correspondent visited the Airport on Saturday, the arrival of the officials of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) was still being awaited to carry out an investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the crash.
The Nigerian Air Force plane, Beachcraft 350, crashed around 6:00 pm on Friday, killing all the 11 persons on board, including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru. Read more
Attahiru died when his services were badly needed, Says Uzodimma (Vanguard)
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has expressed deep shock and regret over the death of Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 others who lost their lives Friday when an Air Force Kingair 350 plane crashed near the Kaduna airport runway, saying the COAS met his untimely death when his services were badly needed.
Governor Uzodimma who described Lt. Gen. Attahiru as a gallant and intelligent officer said from the day he was appointed COAS on January 26, 2021, he showed signs of capacity to deal with the rising cases of insecurity in different parts of the country.
The Governor described the day the ill-fated plane crashed as dark Friday, noting that Lt. Gen Attahiru’s career trajectory indicated that of an officer who was prepared to give his best to the country that also gave him the opportunity to be the best he could as a professional soldier. Read more
China’s Zhurong rover takes first drive on Mars (BBC)
China’s remote-controlled rover, which landed on Mars a week ago, has driven down from its landing capsule to the surface of the planet.
This makes China the second country after the US to operate a rover there.
The Zhurong rover is due to study the planet’s surface soil and atmosphere. It will also look for signs of life, including any subsurface water or ice.
China’s Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, lander and rover, was launched in July last year. Read more
Covid deaths in Latin America pass grim milestone of one million
(France24)
Latin America and the Caribbean passed one million coronavirus deaths on Friday as the IMF proposed a $50 billion plan to end the pandemic, aiming to expand global immunization drives. This comes as calls are mounting to expand the enquiry into the Brazilian government’s handling of the vaccine rollout.
Since the coronavirus was first detected in Latin America in Sao Paulo in late February 2020, AFP has recorded over 1,001,400 fatalities — almost 30 percent of the global total — and more than 31.5 million cases.
Nearly 90 percent of those deaths have been recorded in just five countries: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.
“People aren’t taking care, none of us are being careful and we want to go out and travel,” said Alicia Sepulveda, a resident of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a country that will go on a nine-day lockdown beginning Saturday after President Alberto Fernandez said it was facing its “worst moment” yet in the pandemic. Read more
India tells social media firms to remove ‘India variant’ from content (BBC)
India’s government has instructed social media companies to remove any content that refers to the “Indian variant” of Covid-19.
The IT ministry said the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the variant as B.1.617 and any reference to “Indian” was false.
Geographical terms have been used to describe a number of other variants, including the UK and Brazil.
India’s government has faced criticism over its handling of Covid-19. Read more
‘Revival of the occult’: French youth turn to tarot, astrology during Covid-19 (France24)
Young people in France are increasingly turning to tarot, astrology and other forms of esoterism, a trend that accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a recent poll.
When French President Emmanuel Macron announced France’s first lockdown on March 16, 2020, Theotime Sorgato, 22, left Paris for Brittany with a couple of his friends. He packed his computer, some clothes and books, a deck of tarot cards, and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s celebrated guide to the Tarot de Marseille.
Every day he studied a new card, using the tarot as a “psychological tool” rather than for divination.
“It really draws out a person’s subconscious,” Sorgato told FRANCE 24 by phone. “My generation are looking for ways to connect to themselves, and find symbols to understand what’s going on inside them. There’s a real revival of the occult.” Read more
“Skins” stars April Pearson and Laya Lewis ‘did not feel protected’ during sex scenes (Metro)
Skins stars April Pearson and Laya Lewis have opened up about their time on the Channel 4 show, explaining they didn’t feel ‘protected’ while filming sex scenes. April made a name for herself playing Michelle Richardson for the first two seasons, while Laya starred as Liv Malone on the ‘third generation’, in series five and six. Viewers were glued to their screens for the teen drama, which ran for six years between 2007 – 2013 and sparked the careers of household names, including Dev Patel, Nicholas Hoult and Daniel Kaluuya. Speaking about their memories from the programme in the latest instalment of April’s podcast, Are You Michelle From Skins?, the pair spoke out over the way they were treated on set, in terms of intimate scenes and being told to ‘skip meals’ ahead of shoots. Read more
French army chief says UN report into airstrike was biased (BBC)
The head of the French armed forces has criticised a UN report which blamed his troops for killing 19 civilians in an air strike on a wedding in Mali.
Gen François Lecointre is quoted in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro as saying the report had errors and bias and was designed to turn the local population against France.
France has 5,100 troops across the Sahel region.
They are fighting militants tied to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Read more
American 17-year-old Coco Gauff wins second WTA title at Emilia-Romagna Open (BBC)
American 17-year-old Coco Gauff clinched her second WTA title by beating Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3 in the final of the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma.
Third seed Gauff – ranked a career-high 30th in the world – needed just one hour 14 minutes to overcome Wang – a player 12 years her senior.
Gauff saved three break points at 5-1 before sealing the first set.
She then broke Wang in the fifth game of the second set to cruise to her first clay-court title on the WTA tour. Read more
Echikunwoke becomes 11th athlete to qualify for Olympics (Punch)
Nigeria’s hammer thrower Annette Echikunwoke has qualified for this summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Saturday PUNCH reports.
The 25-year-old, who became eligible to represent Nigeria in January, set a personal record of 73.93m at the Tucson Elite Classic in Arizona where she finished second in the early hours of Friday to become the 11th Nigerian athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Blessing Okagbare, Divine Oduduru, Ese Brume, Tobi Amusan, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Raymond Ekwevo, Favour Ofili, Ruth Osoro, Grace Nwokocha and Usheoritse Itsekiri are the other athletes who have qualified for the world’s biggest sporting event.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is scheduled to hold from July 23 to August 8. Read more
Manny Pacquiao set to fight Errol Spence Jr in Las Vegas in August (BBC)
Manny Pacquiao is set for his first fight in two years when he faces WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr in August.
The 42-year-old has not fought since he beat Keith Thurman for the WBA welterweight title in July 2019.
He announced on Twitter that he will meet 31-year-old Spence Jr in Las Vegas on 21 August in what would be his 72nd professional fight.
Pacquiao, who is a serving senator in the Philippines, has a 62-7-2 record.
Altetico Madrid win 2020/2011 La Liga title (Nation)
A late goal from ex-Barcelona strike Luiz Suarez handed Atletico the 2020/20121 La Liga title.
The Madrid team won 2-1 up against Valladolid having gone behind in the first half.
Though city rivals Real Madrid also came from behind to win 2-1 against Villareal…Read more
Italian teen Pilato sets new 50m breaststroke world record (France24)
Italian teenager Benedetta Pilato set a new world record for the 50m breaststroke in the semi-finals of the European Swimming Championships on Saturday.
The 16-year-old clocked 29.30 seconds to better the previous best of 29.40sec set by American Lilly King in 2017.
Pilato won world silver in the event behind King in Gwangju, South Korea, in 2019. Read more
Lewandowski breaks goalscoring record in final minute of season (BBC)
Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski scored in the last minute of the season to break Gerd Muller’s 49-year record of Bundesliga goals in a campaign.
Lewandowski looked poised to be frustrated but pounced in the 90th minute for his 41st goal of the season.
The Poland striker now has 53 goals in 46 games for club and country heading into Euro 2020.
The home side scored four times in the first half against Augsburg with Manuel Neuer also saving a penalty.
Bayern stars say farewellBayern, who had already wrapped up their ninth consecutive Bundesliga title, said goodbye to their manager and a number of star players who will leave this summer. Read more