Police raid kidnappers den, rescue 58 hostages (Vanguard)
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has rescued 58 kidnapped victims held hostage at Udulu Forest, Gegu LGA of Kogi State, bordering Sardauna Forest, Nasarawa State, and other identified kidnappers den in communities contiguous to the FCT.
Spokesperson of the Command,SP Josephine Adeh said that, “The bandits/Kidnappers on sighting the security team coordinated by the Police fired at the security team which resulted in a shootout.
“The bandits were overpowered and escaped with various degrees of bullet injuries leaving behind their victims. Read more
Data safe, Lagos assures residents after fire razes surveyor-general’s office (Punch)
The Lagos State government has cleared a rumour that the fire that occurred on Saturday in the Surveyor-general’s office affected files that contain confidential data.
In a statement titled, ‘Fire incident: No cause for alarm, data is secure,’ the acting Surveyor-General, Mr Ayokunnu S. Adesina, on Sunday, claimed that the emergency responders especially the state fire service put out the fire promptly after a distress call was put to their emergency rescue lines.
He added, “There is no cause for panic as all documents burnt during the inferno are safely backed up in the cloud and alternative sites.
“Investigations are ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire.’’ Read more
3 dead in Ogun auto crash (Channels)
Three persons have died in a ghastly accident along the ever-busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
In a statement, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said the accident took place around the Saapade – Ogere axis of the road on Saturday evening.
Five persons – four male adults and one female adult – were involved in the crash, FRSC spokesperson in Ogun, Florence Okpe, said. Two persons were also injured in the incident. Read more
NIMR tests 50 herbal products for malaria treatment, zero passed (Punch)
A medical researcher at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, Dr Aina Oluwagbemiga, has said that the institute was yet to see any herbal product that cures malaria in the country.
Aina, who is a Deputy Director of Research, at the Centre for Research in Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Biochemistry and Nutrition Department at NIMR, said the herbal products so far seen can only suppress the parasite but did not cure it as chloroquine does.
The deputy director with over 25 years of experience in malaria research, said most of the herbal preparations for the treatment of malaria in the country with various claims by their manufacturers have no proof of efficacy. Read more
Buhari mourns veteran highlife star, Chris Mba (Nation)
President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled the family, friends, and fans of veteran Nigerian pop and highlife star, Chris Mba, who died on Wednesday in Lagos.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, lauded the memory of Mba, whose talent and hard work he reckoned was recognised by Nigerians, including major institutions within the entertainment industry in the country.
“President Muhammadu Buhari extends deepest condolences to family, friends, and fans of Chris Mba, one of the icons of Nigerian highlife music, whose works brought excitement to many households and his admirers in social and corporate functions. Read more
Akpata, NBA-SBL, others honoured at 5th PEBEC Awards (ThisDay)
The immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Senior Partner at Templars Law Firm, Mr. Olumide Akpata, has been awarded for Legislative Reform Support.
Akpata received the award recently at the 2023 Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Awards ceremony, which was held at the Old Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja.
The PEBEC Awards were created to recognise and honour Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), state governments, and private-sector stakeholders who have contributed significantly to the ease of doing business interventions in Nigeria. Read more
NDLEA seizes 8,852kg illicit drugs consignment in Lagos (Vanguard)
Following a 30 minute exchange of heavy gunfire with armed men escorting a large consignment of drugs loaded in two long trucks, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have seized a total of 8,852 kilograms (8.8 tons) of Canadian Loud, an imported synthetic strain of cannabis, at the Eleko beach road in Lekki area of Lagos.
Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi made this known on Sunday, noting that the drivers of the two trucks and the armed men ran into the bush after a gun encounter.
Babafemi said, “Acting on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives had laid ambush for the traffickers along the Eleko beach road in Lekki and at about 4:51am on Thursday 4th May, two long trucks conveying the illicit consignments were flagged down but rather than stopping, the trucks escorted by armed men sped off, as a result of which there was an exchange of gunfire that lasted 30 minutes. Read more
Yar’Adua never wanted to be President, says Turai (Nation)
Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua, wife of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, has said her late husband never liked politics and didn’t want to be President.
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died on May 5, 2010, exactly 13 years ago.
In a special interview with BBC Hausa, Turai stated that the late President Yar’Adua was a politician by accident as he never wanted to join politics or plan to be President. Read more
Tupac docu-series, Dear Mama, sets records for streams and ratings (AS)
Hulu and FX’s new docu-series Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni & Tupac Shakur has already released three of its first season’s five episodes. Debuting on April 21, the show has been putting out new parts every Friday at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Dear Mama revolves around the late, great rapper Tupac Shakur and his relationship with his mother Afeni Shakur. Throughout the series, Afeni and many more people close to Tupac give testimonies about Pac’s life before he passed away in 1996.
When episode 1 came out, titled Panther Power, it set the record for being the most-watched premiere episode for an unscripted FX series. FX has been in business for 28 years and has put out unscripted shows like Hip Hop Uncovered, The New York Times Presents, and The Choe Show. So, a record like this is nothing to scoff at. Read more
Spider-Man’s Andrew Garfield lands next lead movie role (DigitalSpy)
Spider-Man and Tick, Tick… Boom! actor Andrew Garfield has landed his next role, alongside Normal People and Where the Crawdads Sing‘s Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Variety reports that the duo will star in director Sebastián Lelio’s “Voyagers”, which chronicles the romantic relationship between Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer who assembled the first physical messages sent out into space, and Ann Druyan, a documentary filmmaker.
The film will take place in 1977 and focus on the aforementioned messages included in NASA’s first interstellar probes, known as the Golden Record. It was a race against time to get everything in order, and the duo were paired together to make it work. Along the way, they found something more important than their task (love, the answer is love). Read more
Exes Leonardo DiCaprio and Gigi Hadid dine with friends in NYC (PageSix)
Are Leonardo DiCaprio and Gigi Hadid back on?
The movie star, 48, and supermodel, 28, were both seen leaving Cipriani Downtown in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood on early Friday morning, sparking romance rumors again.
A source tells us the pair were with a huge group, over 20 people, and were not sitting next to each other during the meal.
When it came time to exit, DiCaprio and Hadid were seen leaving the upscale Italian eatery separately, and left just three minutes apart. Read more
OpenAI and Figure develop terrifyingly creepy humanoid robots for the workforce (FOX)
Two companies are coming together to develop humanoid robots with AI that will be able to perform jobs from manufacturing to healthcare professions.
Do you ever find yourself glued to the screen watching a movie like Terminator or Westworld and think, “Phew! Good thing it’s just fiction!” Well, time for a reality check. Movies like this are getting closer to becoming a reality with each passing day.
Let me introduce you to a breakthrough that’s happening in the real world, which is both exciting and slightly unsettling. It’s a fascinating development that might make you wonder if the line between humans and machines is starting to blur, just like in those movies we love. The best-known humanoid to date has been Atlas, by Boston Dynamics. Not sure how much we love it now that it’s becoming a reality.
What is OpenAI’s humanoid robot?
OpenAI, the cutting-edge artificial intelligence research organization behind the all-mighty and extremely popular ChatGPT, has made a chilling breakthrough with its latest project. In a partnership with a robotics company, Figure, the two tech powerhouses have joined forces to create an extremely creepy robot that might one day do all your chores for you. Read more
Stranger Things has put the shooting of its final season on hiatus for the WGA strike (Uproxx)
It’s been almost a week since the Writers Guild of America went on strike and not all Hollywood productions have reacted the same way. Late night chat and sketch shows, which rely on writers, have gone dark (unless they’re on Fox News). Some scripted shows, like House of the Dragon, have decided to soldier on with completed scripts, even though writers are regularly changing things during filming. But another, even more popular show ain’t doing that.
As per Variety, Stranger Things was supposed to start filming its fifth and final season this month. But since thousands of writers are picketing for things like fair pay and regulations on AI tech, they’re going on hiatus. Read more
Britain’s King Charles crowned in lavish coronation ceremony (VOA)
Britain’s King Charles was crowned Saturday in Westminster Abbey, like so many of the country’s monarchs before him. The last coronation was 70 years ago when Charles’ mother, Elizabeth, was crowned.
The lavish affair was awash in robed clergy, prayers, majestic music and the high-pitched singing voices of young boys and girls.
The coronation is a weekend-long affair with many activities planned. While it is reported to be a scaled back version of what was originally planned, it is still believed to carry a multi-million-dollar price tag for the British taxpayers. Read more
Russian pro-war blogger injured in car bomb (BBC)
A prominent Russian writer and pro-war blogger has been wounded by a car bomb, officials say.
Zakhar Prilepin, an vehement supporter of the Ukraine war, was reportedly conscious after the attack in the Nizhny Novgorod region but his driver was killed.
A suspect was detained over the attack, the interior ministry said.
It comes a month after another pro-Kremlin blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, died in a bombing at a St Petersburg café. Read more
Dakkada relegated to NNL after Lobi draw (Punch)
Dakkada FC have been relegated from the Nigeria Professional Football League after they played out a 1-1 draw against Lobi Stars in Uyo on Saturday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
A win for Dakkada in their match-day 17 encounter would have offered them a lifeline until the last day of the regular season but their failure sealed their fate in the lower division with one game left to play this season.
After a goalless first half, Lanre Akinlade gave Dakkada a glimpse of hope with a goal in the 47th minute, but the joy of the home faithful was short lived as Elijah Ani restored parity from the spot after Joseph Atule was fouled inside the Dakkada box. Read more
Nobody knows today’s Flying Eagles – Aghahowa (Vanguard)
Former Super Eagles forward, Julius Aghahowa has decried the seeming secrecy surrounding preparations of the Flying Eagles ahead of the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup in Argentina.
Aghahowa, a former celebrated youth international was asked if he knew any player he could bank on in the present squad, when they commence hostilities against Dominican Republic on May 21.
“I can’t assess the team because I don’t know any of the players going to Argentina,” he began, adding that “things have changed a lot. Unlike in our time when we used to train at the national stadium, Lagos, where thousands of fans attend our training sessions, the team now trains in secret.” Read more
Serie A: Milan 2-0 Lazio: Rossoneri right back in top four fight (FootballItalia)
Milan climbed back into the fight for the top four after sweeping second-placed Lazio aside with Ismael Bennacer and a Theo Hernandez coast to coast goal, but lost Rafael Leao to injury.
The Rossoneri could not afford another slip-up after the draw with Cremonese midweek and brought their top stars back, though Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tommaso Pobega missed out. Second-placed Lazio were without Danilo Cataldi and Matias Vecino, so Marcos Antonio stepped in.
It was the worst possible start for the hosts, because within 11 minutes Rafael Leao pulled something at the top of his right thigh during a run stopped by Ivan Provedel and limped off to be replaced by Alexis Saelemaekers. Read more
Man Utd could be signing another Lisandro Martinez as Erik ten Hag receives fresh warning (Express)
Manchester United icon Jaap Stam has warned Erik ten Hag about signing Ajax defender Jurrien Timber due to concerns about his physicality. But Ten Hag trusted his instincts in reuniting with Lisandro Martinez in his first transfer window at Old Trafford and may be confident of similar success with Timber.
The 21-year-old reportedly almost joined United last summer before then-Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal suggested a move could damage his 2022 World Cup hopes.
And links with joining his former Ajax boss in M16 haven’t disappeared, with Ten Hag said to be eyeing a centre-back and right-back ahead of his second season in charge. Read more
Lewis Hamilton begs Mercedes for car upgrades after “kick in the guts” practice (Mirror)
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton believes his team “desperately” need some car upgrades after finding himself nearly a second behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during practice at the Miami Grand Prix.
Spirits were high in the Mercedes camp after seven-time F1 champion Hamilton and team mate George Russell produced some excellent times in first practice to lead the rest of the field.
However, a huge drop off in P2 saw Hamilton finish 0.928 seconds slower than rival Verstappen, while Russell dropped all the way down to 15th fastest. Read more
Realini earns stunning maiden World Tour win as Van Vleuten takes red jersey (Eurosport)
Italy’s Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo) produced a stunning sprint to the line to pip Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) to Stage 6 victory at La Vuelta Femenina and take her first ever World Tour win, but the world champion was consoled by taking the leader’s red jersey.
Realini played the final stages perfectly and kept pace with the Dutchwoman as the pair broke away from the rest of the field 30km from the finish, saving enough energy to win the two-up sprint even with a contentious photo finish putting some doubt into the result which was changed twice.
Demi Vollering (SD Worx) moved off the top of the general classification into second after finishing fifth, with Loes Adegeest (FDJ-SUEZ) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) in third and fourth respectively. Read more