Police nab leader of terror gang in Satellite Town (Guardian)
After several months of manhunt, detectives in Lagos State, at the weekend, arrested the suspected leader of a dreaded criminal gang terrorising Satellite Town and environs after they launched a fresh attack on some residents in the area.
The residents had resisted being extorted, but many were left wounded and properties destroyed before the suspect’s waterloo. According to reports, two persons were feared killed during the crisis that erupted on Saturday morning and their bodies were taken away to an unknown place.
Trouble started after members of the gang stormed a warehouse in Abule-Osun with the intention of extorting money from the owner, but the attempt was resisted, leading to the crisis. Read more
Man defiles 11-yr-old girl in Church, widower assaults 14-yr-old inside bathroom (Vanguard)
While Maurice Peters, 33, was arrested for allegedly defiling an 11-year-old girl inside a Church located at Tijani Qudus Street, Ijegun, a widower, aged 55, assaulted a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom at Ejigbo, both in Lagos State.
The 55-year-old father of three, identified as Emeka Okwuome, was caught inside the bathroom, while he was assaulting the primary six pupil.
Vanguard gathered that the 14-year-old victim lost her mother and was brought from her home town to live with a relative at 22, Oladuni Street. Read more
Man dies after crashing into Hitech barrier on Lagos airport road (Guardian)
An unidentified middle-aged man died on Thursday night after crashing into a barrier placed on the right side of the Oshodi-Airport Road, Lagos, at 7 & 8 Bus Stop, by Hitech Construction Company, the firm which handled the Airport Road rehabilitation and expansion commissioned last year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The man, driving a black Toyota Corolla, was on high speed when he sighted the diversion and in a last-minute effort to avoid ramming the vehicle into the barrier, it skidded and somersaulted several times.
An eyewitness, who was driving behind the car, Abiodun Alabi, said: “I am still in shock. It was like a horror movie. Who would have thought that a new curb would be placed in the middle of the road by the construction company without a warning sign few metres away or an amber light to alert motorists of the obstruction. Read more
32-year-old man commits suicide in Lagos (Punch)
A 32-year-old man identified as Aboh Ogbeche, on Friday, committed suicide at his family residence in Lawanson, Surulere area of Lagos State.
Aboh was said to have drank bleach, even as sources stated that there was nothing to indicate that he was planning to commit suicide.
It was gathered that the victim poured the liquid in a cup, sat before his mother, gulped the substance and immediately began to convulse.
A close friend of the deceased said the mother, who was shocked by the incident, raised the alarm and Aboh was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Read more
Lagos conducts over 54,000 COVID-19 sample tests (Tribune)
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, on Sunday, says a total of 54, 570 samples have been tested for COVID-19 pandemic in the state as of July 18.
Abayomi, who made the disclosure on his Twitter account, said that of the 54,570 samples, 13, 346 returned positive.
He said that 759 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the state on July 18, out of which 115 new cases were confirmed.
According to him, 2,069 of the confirmed cases have since been discharged from #COVID-19 Care Centres following full recovery. Read more
Court fixes July 22 for hearing on N8bn rights suit against Lagos (Independent)
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, presided by Justice Inyang Ekwo, has fixed July 22, for definite hearing of a suit by Major General Abdul Rauf Tijani (rtd) against Lagos State Government.
Tijani is challenging the alleged injustice perpetrated against him by officials of Lagos State.
The court slated the date after parties in the matter had filed and exchanged processes. Read more
Ondo woman conspires with lover to kill ex-boyfriend (Punch)
The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a 23-year-old woman, Iyabo Julius, for allegedly conniving with her lover, Adedayo Sunday, to rob and kill a motorcyclist, Suleuman Azeez.
The incident was said to have happened in the 12/12 area of Ore in the Odigbo Local Government Area of the state.
The police also arrested one Jeremiah Monday over the crime.
Parading the suspects at the police headquarters, Alagbaka Akure, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Bolaji Salami, said the deceased was Iyabo’s former boyfriend and she asked the new lover to kill him to make it easy for them to get married. Read more
Rising COVID-19 cases, weak economy take toll on stock market (Vanguard)
The increasing number of coronavirus, (COVID-19) cases and the consequent weakening of the nation’s economy have taken the Year-to-Date, YtD, loss to investors in the Nigerian Stock Exchange to -9.5%.
Return on investment represented by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, market capitalization, fell to N12.7 trillion at the close of trading on Friday with investors losing N9.8 billion during the week.
However, analysts have continued to caution investors to patronize stocks with strong fundaments following the risk element propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
Mali opposition rejects regional mediator’s unity gov’t idea (Aljazeera)
Regional mediators put forth a plan on Sunday that would require Mali’s embattled president to form a unity government but some opposition members immediately rejected the proposals as they allow him to stay in power.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who still has three years left in his final term, has faced demonstrations by tens of thousands seeking his resignation since early June in the West African nation.
Those calls intensified after recent protests met a violent response from security forces. At least 11 people died over three days of unrest last week following an anti-Keita protest, in the worst political unrest the West African state has seen in years. Read more
Lifting lockdown ‘has not led to uptick in coronavirus cases’ (Metro)
The UK has not yet seen a second spike in coronavirus cases since lockdown was eased, the UK’s National Statistician has said.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond said there had been a ‘relative flatline’ in the number of people infected.
When asked if he had expected to see an increase as lockdown was lifted he told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that it depended on ‘how the population works’. Read more
Panama: Seven young people found dead after trip to Gatun Lake (BBC)
Police in Panama are investigating the deaths of seven young people whose bodies were found in a wooded area near a lake on Saturday.
The victims – four women and three men aged between 17 and 22 – were found near Gatun Lake, 50 miles (80km) north of the capital, Panama City.
They had been in a group of 14 making a trip to the lake. The seven who escaped said two armed men had attacked them. Read more
Trump refuses to commit to accepting November election results (Aljazeera)
United States President Donald Trump refused to publicly commit to accepting the results of the upcoming presidential election in November, while also declining to say if the Confederate flag was an offensive symbol.
In an interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace broadcast on Sunday, Trump said it was too early to make such an ironclad guarantee, echoing a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote and scoffing at recent polls that show him lagging behind presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Read more
US election 2020: Kanye West launches unconventional bid for presidency (BBC)
Kanye West has officially launched his campaign for the 2020 US presidential election, with an unorthodox rally in Charleston, South Carolina.
West, 43, is running as a candidate for his self-styled “Birthday Party”.
At the event, the rapper appeared to make policy decisions off-the-cuff, and went on several rants – including on abortion and on Harriet Tubman. Read more
UAE launches Hope probe in Arab world’s first mission to Mars (Aljazeera)
The United Arab Emirates launched its first mission to Mars on Monday – the Arab world’s first – as it strives to develop its scientific and technological capabilities and reduce its reliance on oil.
The Hope Probe blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 6:58am Japanese time on Monday (21:58 GMT on Sunday) for a seven-month journey to the red planet, where it will orbit and send back data about the atmosphere.
The mission was initially due to launch on July 14, but was delayed by bad weather. Read more
Jennifer Aniston shares heartbreaking photo of friend in hospital as she urges fans to wear a mask (Metro)
Friends star Jennifer Aniston has urged her fans to wear masks amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 51-year-old has been vocal about her views on the personal protective equipment (PPE) over the past few months and has gone the extra mile to warn her followers that the Covid-19 outbreak is still very real. Taking to Instagram, the actress shared a picture of herself cosied up to her co-star Courteney Cox, who were both sporting identical blue face coverings. However, it was her next upload that was the most striking of all, as Jen then posted a heartbreaking picture of her friend Kevin in hospital. Read more
Nwakali’s Huesca gain promotion to the Spanish La Liga (Vanguard)
Kelechi Nwakali’s dream of playing in a top-flight league has come to pass as his Club Huesca will be competing in the Spanish premiere Liga next season after securing promotion.
Huesca defeated Numancia 3 – 0 on Friday to seal their return back to the LA Liga Santander after just a season.
Kelechi Nwakali was an 88th-minute substitute for David Ferreiro and the former Arsenal midfielder helped the team to see the result over the line. Read more
De Gea mistakes send Chelsea to FA Cup final (BBC)
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea endured a Wembley nightmare as Chelsea strolled to victory and set up an FA Cup final date with Arsenal.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ditched his usual FA Cup keeper Sergio Romero to keep faith with De Gea – but the experienced Spain international produced two horrendous errors either side of half-time to gift Chelsea two goals.
De Gea made a flimsy attempt to deal with Olivier Giroud’s flick in first-half stoppage time then weakly fumbled Mason Mount’s tame 20-yard shot into the net moments after the restart. Read more
Unai Emery In Talks To Become Villarreal Head Coach (Independent)
Unai Emery is in talks to become the new Villarreal head coach.
Emery is very keen to get back into management and sees Villarreal as the perfect opportunity.
The Spaniard has been out of work since being sacked by Arsenal in November.
Current boss Javier Calleja is expected to leave after leading Villarreal to a fifth-placed finish in La Liga, and when asked about his future this week he said: “I do not talk about my future. Read more
Jon Rahm wins Memorial to take world number one spot from Rory McIlroy (BBC)
Jon Rahm wiped away a tear of joy after replacing Rory McIlroy as world number one by winning the Memorial Tournament.
A three-over-par 75 was enough to win on nine under, three clear of American Ryan Palmer (74), with Matt Fitzpatrick (68) third on five under, with fellow Englishman Matt Wallace (72) one back.
Rahm is the second Spaniard, after Seve Ballesteros, to top the rankings. Read more
Lionel Messi breaks Xavi’s assist record in La Liga (Metro)
Lionel Messi has set another new record with Barcelona as he has overtaken Xavi become the player with the most assists in a single La Liga season.
Xavi has held the record since the 2008-09 campaign as the former Barcelona midfielder registered 20 assists that season.
Messi equalled that tally by setting up Arturo Vidal’s goal in Barca’s 1-0 win over Real Valladolid last week. Read more
Weir explains why NRFF introduced online rugby sessions (Guardian)
To survive and remain focused in the COVID-19 era, national rugby team players need lessons in psychology and mental alertness, Coach Bronson Weir has said.
Weir, who is Nigeria’s senior national team coach, said online training sessions on psychology would boost the players’ mental alertness and ensure they remain fit during the nationwide lockdown. Read more