Pastor shot dead, worshippers abducted as gunmen invade Ogun church (DailyTrust)
Gunmen invaded a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Ogun State, killed a pastor and abducted some worshippers.
The incident occurred at Abule-Ori in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state, this weekend.
Commander of the Ogun State So-Safe Corps, Soji Ganzallo, confirmed the incident on Sunday morning.
He said his officers rescued the seven church members and killed one of the kidnappers during the operation. Read more
Ministerial List: Serving senators, ex-bank CEO, others make first batch (Tribune)
A list of ministerial nominees to be appointed by President Bola Tinubu is ready, Sun-Tribune can report authoritatively.
The list, according to top sources in power corridors, is the first batch and will be sent to the Senate this week. The list of other nominees will follow after.
The president is required to appoint a minister each from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to assist him to run the government.
Immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari,
appointed 44 ministers with some states getting two ministers. Read more
China visits Nigeria with 3 ships, strengthens bilateral relationship (Vanguard)
The Chinese Navy Escort Task Group (ETG) 162, comprising MSL Destroyer NANNING, MSL Frigate SANYA, and Supply Ship WEISHANHU, on Sunday visited Nigeria to strengthen bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Chi Jian Chun, said that the visitation of the Chinese envoy, scheduled for July 2 to 6, would also enhance maritime security within West Africa.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MSL Destroyer NANNING, made the port call at Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) Berth 21, while the other two ships remained at anchorage. Read more
Tinubu returns to Abuja after 13 days (Sun)
President Bola Tinubu Sunday afternoon returned to Abuja from Lagos, 13 days after he left to attend the Summit on New Global Financing Pact in Paris-France.
He landed at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 2:30 pm.
Recall he had returned to Lagos on Tuesday, June 27, to observe the Eid-el-Kabir festival in his home at Ikoyi, after a private visit to London on Saturday, June 24 from Paris. Read more
Drug Abuse: Resist negative peer pressure, LASG advises youths (Vanguard)
The Lagos State Government has issued a warning to young adults, especially teenagers and youth, about the dangers of peer pressure that could push them to engage in illegal activities including drug usage and trafficking.
The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, issued the warning weekend, stating that peer pressure has been related to drug and substance abuse, misuse, addiction, and illicit trafficking, particularly among teenagers and young adults.
At a school awareness and sensitization programme to mark the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking this year in Lagos, Ogboye, who spoke through the Director, Pharmaceutical Services, Mrs. Oyebisi Omolanbe, explained that people, especially teenagers and young adults, may be forced to use and abuse drugs. Read more
Residents lament dilapidation, accidents on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway (ThisDay)
Residents of Ojokoro Low Cost Housing Estate in Meiran, Lagos, have sent an SOS to the Federal Government over deaths caused by one-way driving due to failed portions of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
The residents made the appeal on Sunday alongside several other road users who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews in Lagos.
The failed portions of the highway start from the Sango-Otta-bound carriageway around ‘U’ turn at Abule-Egba, all the way to Toll Gate, which is the boundary between Lagos and Ogun States. Read more
China visits Nigeria with 3 ships, strengthens bilateral relationship (Guardian)
The Chinese Navy Escort Task Group (ETG) 162, comprising MSL Destroyer NANNING, MSL Frigate SANYA, and Supply Ship WEISHANHU, on Sunday visited Nigeria to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.
The Chinese envoy with senior Nigerian Navy personnel at NPA.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Chi Jian Chun, said that the visitation of the Chinese envoy, scheduled for July 2 to 6, would also enhance maritime security within West Africa. Read more
Bayelsa: Be sensitive, lift ban on tricycles, Group tells Diri (Independent)
The Bayelsa Development Initiative (BDI) has criticised the State Governor, Douye Diri, for the continuous ban on night operations of commercial tricycles also popularly called Keke, in the Yenagoa metropolis.
The BDI, in a statement issued by its secretary, Michael Sam Rodamini, said it was insensitive and unimaginable for the governor to have allowed a restriction, which was supposed to have been a stop-gap measure, to last beyond one month.
Diri had on April 20 imposed the 11-hour ban on commercial tricycle operations from 6pm to 7am after a violent clash between the youths of Yenizue-Epie in the Yenagoa Local Government Area and Keke riders resulted loss of lives, including a youth from the community and one rider. Read more
Zara Larsson: “I now hold the power over my songs, which is an incredible feeling” (NME)
We can always rely on Zara Larsson to deliver the bops. ‘Can’t Tame Her’, the irresistible lead single from her upcoming fourth album, has spent the last 16 weeks on the UK singles chart and shows no sign of slipping out. “It takes you back to that place where my mom was going out in the clubs in the early ’80s,” Larsson says when we meet at her label’s London office. “It definitely has that retro sound all over it, but it’s still fresh.”
Now, Larsson has followed ‘Can’t Tame Her’ with ‘End Of Time’, a “dramatic” and “cinematic” love song co-written by Rick Nowels, the Grammy-winning producer known for his work with Stevie Nicks and Lana Del Rey. She says Nowels has helped to create a “foundation” for her new album – currently untitled but due later this year – where she “can do a little bit of this and a little bit of that” musically. “It’s very me to do that!” the Swedish singer-songwriter adds with palpable enthusiasm.
Though she’s still only 25, Larsson has already done a lot of everything. Read more
Mick Jagger engaged for the 3rd time to ballet dancer Melanie Hamrick (OK!)
Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger is reportedly ‘engaged for third time’ to his ballet dancer girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick.
The 79 year old rocker is said to be getting hitched again, with his 36 year old girlfriend telling friends that they’re engaged.
A source told The Mirror: “Melanie was at the American Ballet Theatre and she was telling her friends she was engaged to Mick. Read more
Katy Perry’s daughter always gets 1st listen of her new music (MusicNews)
Katy Perry’s daughter “always” gets to test out her new music first.
During an interview with People, the 38-year-old shared that her two-year-old daughter Daisy “always” gets the first listen of any new music she is working on.
“Daisy always gets the first look,” the Firework singer said. “Whatever music I am writing, I play it to her and see how she loves it.”
The “I Kissed a Girl” singer shares her daughter with her fiancée, actor Orlando Bloom. Read more
Rioting less intense in France overnight, 719 arrested (CNBC)
Rioting across France was less intense overnight, the interior ministry said on Sunday, as tens of thousands of police were deployed following the funeral of a teenager of North African descent whose shooting by police has sparked nationwide unrest.
The government poured 45,000 police onto the streets to try to keep a lid on a fifth night of unrest after Saturday’s funeral of Nahel, a 17-year-old with Algerian and Moroccan parents, who was shot during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
Since then rioters have torched cars and looted stores, but also targeted town halls, police stations and schools — buildings that represent the French state. Read more
Stanley Tucci thinks straight actors should be able to play gay roles (FarOut)
Oscar-nominated actor Stanley Tucci has weighed in on the debate as to whether heterosexual actors should be permitted to take on gay character roles. The eminent actor, who is straight, has been criticised in the past for taking gay roles in Supernova and The Devil Wears Prada.
In a new interview for the popular Desert Island Discs series on BBC Radio 4, Tucci opined that the stage and screen is a safe space where actors should be able to take on a range of characters and personalities unlike their own. He said that “the whole point” of acting is “to play different people”.
“I feel much safer on stage than I do in real life,” he said. “Sometimes, walking into a cocktail or dinner party, I get very nervous.” Read more
Josh Gad gives disappointing update on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids reboot (DigitalSpy)
Josh Gad has given a disappointing update on Shrunk, the proposed reboot of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise.
Disney greenlit a third sequel to the original 1989 comedy back in 2019, with Gad reportedly playing the son of Rick Moranis’ Wayne Szalinski, the scientist who inadvertently reduces his kids to 6mm in size.
Gad had offered a promising update earlier this year by revealing that he and Moranis, who has been in live-action retirement for 26 years, were collaborating in preparation for the film. Read more
2 killed, dozens wounded in Baltimore mass shooting (AlJazeera)
A manhunt is under way after two people were killed and 28 others wounded in a mass shooting at a block party in the city of Baltimore, the latest deadly incident of gun violence in the United States.
The attack took place just after 12:30am (04:30 GMT) on Sunday in the Brooklyn Homes area in the southern part of the city, Richard Worley, the Baltimore Police Department’s acting commissioner, told reporters at the scene.
All victims were adults, including three who are in critical condition. Nine people were transported by ambulance while 20 others walked into area hospitals with gunshot wounds, Worley said. Read more
Williams returns to Wimbledon at 43 (NBC)
Asked two days before her 24th Wimbledon begins whether she’s still excited to play tennis at this level, Venus Williams quickly answered: “It’s so much fun.”
The next question Saturday was about being on tour without her younger sister, Serena, who wrapped up her career at last year’s U.S. Open. The reply: “Not as much fun.”
There is still a big-swinging, Grand Slam-winning member of the Williams family in women’s tennis, and it’s 43-year-old Venus, who recently returned to action after about five months away with a hamstring injury she called “a nightmare.” Read more
First Lady tasks Super Falcons to win World Cup (Guardian)
The First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, has tasked the Super Falcons to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals holding in Australia and New Zealand.
She gave the charge in Abuja on Saturday while hosting the team to a dinner ahead of its departure on Sunday for the tournament which starts July 20 and ends August 20.
Sen. Tinubu, who was represented by Dr Betta Edu, the APC National Women Leader, said that Nigeria’s appearance at the 9th FIFA Women’s World Cup must be for the noble purpose of bringing the coveted cup home. Read more
Clippers, Russell Westbrook agree on 2-year, $7.8m deal (ABC)
Free agent guard Russell Westbrook has agreed on a new two-year, $7.8 million deal to stay with the LA Clippers, his agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Basketball, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday.
The deal includes a player option after the 2023-2024 season for Westbrook, Schwartz said, and clears the way for him to return as the franchise’s starting point guard. The Clippers were eager to bring back the nine-time All-Star after his productive post-trade deadline run as a starter.
The Clippers were only able to offer the 2016-17 MVP the $3.8 million non-Bird exception, but the Los Angeles native found a home with them in the second half of the season after a short but rocky tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers. Read more
USMNT’s Tim Weah completes Juventus move from Lille (ABC)
Juventus have completed the signing of United States winger Timothy Weah from Lille, their Serie A club announced on Saturday.
Weah, 23, played the majority of last season at full-back for Lille although he plays as a right winger for the USMNT. Since joining the French side in 2019 from rivals Paris Saint-Germain, he made 107 appearances and scored eight goals. He also helped Lille win the Ligue 1 title in 2022 and the Tropheé des Champions later that year.
Weah joined PSG’s academy in 2014 upon moving to France from the United States and made five appearances for PSG’s senior side from 2017-19 — which included two league titles. He was also loaned to Celtic for the second half of the 2019 campaign, winning the Scottish league title. Read more
Iniesta bids farewell to Japanese football with rare start (ESPN)
Andres Iniesta said goodbye to Japanese football on Saturday with his first league start of the season as title-chasing Vissel Kobe had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Consadole Sapporo.
The 39-year-old midfielder joined Kobe from Barcelona in 2018 but has found playing time increasingly hard to come by with the latest appearance taking his playing just 94 minutes across 18 games this season.
A sell-out crowd of 30,000 at Noevir Stadium gave Iniesta an affectionate send-off, organizing a tifo display which showed the player wearing Kobe’s No. 8 shirt and holding banners that read “Gracias Andres.” Read more
Dilano van ‘t Hoff: 18-year-old Formula Regional driver dies after accident at Spa-Francorchamps (Sky)
Racing driver Dilano van ‘t Hoff has died after an accident in the Formula Regional European Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
Van ‘t Hoff, 18, was involved in a multi-car collision in wet conditions during the final race of the weekend after Raidillon.
The race on Saturday was red flagged and not restarted. Read more