UCH delivers first IVF triplets (Nation)
The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan on Wednesday took delivery of triplets of the first In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) carried out in the hospital.
The 45-minute procedure for the delivery began at about 1pm. The mother and the babies – all females – are in good condition.
The babies weighed 1.4kg, 2.5kg and 2.4kg.
The elated father, Dr. Kehinde Osiki of the Department of History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos, was on ground to witness the delivery of the babies. Read more
Lagos generator repairer hospitalised after attack by hoodlums (Punch)
A generator repairer, Segun Akinyemi, has been hospitalised following an attack on him by hoodlums around New Garage in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos State.
It was gathered that Segun and his customer were attacked by the hoodlums around 2pm on Sunday, April 4, 2021.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the hoodlums had been chased out of the community by the private security outfit hired by the residents.
However, the hoodlums allegedly vowed to avenge their eviction by attacking residents of the area seen in other communities close to Oworonshoki. Read more
N2.1b ‘debt’: Court blocks five customers’ funds in 24 banks (Nation)
A Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained Triton Aqua Africa Limited, Bharat Ventures Limited, Globus Resources Limited, Seafood Products Limited and Mr. Ashvin Samtani from accessing their N2,193,610,859.47 billion in 24 banks.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, who gave the order yesterday, ruled that the interim order subsists pending the hearing and determination of the Motion and Notice filed by Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, through its counsel, Gbenga Akinde-Peters of Temilolu Adamolekun & Co.
The judge also restrained the defendants, in the interim, from disposing of their assets at 49 Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Ijeshatedo, Lagos and 27, Inuwa Abdulkadir Road, Kakuri Industrial Layout, Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Read more
Lagos car wash worker arrested with customer’s vehicle at Benin border (Punch)
Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command, on Tuesday, arrested a Lagos-based car wash worker, Kazeem Olanrewaju, who allegedly absconded with a Toyota Venza car, at the Nigeria-Benin Republic border.
Olanrewaju allegedly ran way with the car with number plate APP 775 GB, which was given to him to wash in Lagos, but was apprehended at the Idi-Iroko border town.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
Oyeyemi said the suspect was arrested when the Divisional Police Officer, Idiroko Division, CSP Shadrach Oriloye, was on routine patrol with his men and sighted the car without a number plate. Read more
GOTHEXM to assist indigent Lagosians with scholarships, healthcare, food ,others (Vanguard)
GOTHEXM foundation has disclosed plans to begin a poverty prevention measure , aimed at addressing the basic needs of the downtrodden in Lagos State, with a view to giving them a sense of belonging .
The disclosure was made by the foundation’s Chairman, Pastor Wole Oyejobi, at the foundation’s secretariat, Havilah Plaza on Aina Street, Ojodu-Berger, Ikeja area of Lagos.
Describing the concept as a divine mandate, Oyejobi ,explained that the foundation was conceived after he sought God’s direction through prayers, on what he would do to mark his 50th birthday.
The foundation, according to him, was officially inaugurated on March 31, 2021, as a major feature of his birthday Thanksgiving/Praise. Read more
Community lynches fleeing inmate as 85 return (Nation)
A man who escaped from the Correctional Centre in Imo State on Monday was set ablaze in his community on Wednesday.
Angry residents of Umuawom village in Ikeduru Local Government Area caught him while allegedly threatening to kill a family member.
The inmate, whose identity could not be ascertained as of press time, hailed from the nearby Ogwa community in Mbaitoli but grew up in Umuawom, his maternal home.
He was said to have been involved in the kidnap of an Umuawom indigene. He was remanded for over a year. Read more
Abductors of Andoni monarch release video (Guardian)
Blame politicians, traditional rulers for mayhem in area
Barely one week after the traditional ruler of Ikuru town, in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, King Aaron Miller regained freedom from his abductors, a video has surfaced online with reasons why the royal father was kidnapped.
The video showed two masked armed men with Ak-47 rifles in a forest guarding the monarch while he was forced to read their list of demands.
The gunmen, in the note, disclosed that the monarch was kidnapped because the chiefs and elders of Andoni failed to make peace among the rival groups in the area. Read more
Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid make Forbes Africa icons’ list (Punch)
Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Funke Akindele-Bello, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Mr Eazi, Olugbenga Agboola among other Nigerians featured on the Forbes ‘100 Innovations, Inventions & Icons From Africa’.
Also, the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Genevieve Nnaji, and Swanky Jerry featured on the list.
Forbes said the list was curated from Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world.
It also said the list is a way of “celebrating these very ideas, inventions, and influential role models that have spelt Africa’s growth over the last decade”. Read more
Over 6m weapons with civilians, Abdulsalami raises the alarm (Guardian)
Miffed by the worsening insecurity in the country, Nigeria’s former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), yesterday expressed concern over the proliferation of all calibre of weapons in the country, which he estimated at six million.
Abubakar, who is also the Chairman of the National Peace Committee (NPC), painted the dire state of affairs in the country at a dialogue session of the committee with stakeholders at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
He lamented that the proliferation of weapons has heightened insecurity in the country and has led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the country. Read more
COVID: UK vaccine rollout ‘breaking link’ between infections and death (BBC)
The UK’s vaccination programme is beginning to break the link between Covid-19 cases and deaths, scientists tracking the epidemic have said.
A study found infections had fallen by roughly two-thirds since February, but have begun to level off.
While the decline in cases has stalled – probably because people are beginning to mix more – deaths did not follow the same pattern.
This was not the case before January, when the vaccine rollout began. Read more
Hopes, No Dates, for US Withdrawal From Iraq (VOA)
Improved performance by Iraqi military forces is allowing the United States and Iraq to look ahead to the day when US forces will no longer be needed to help Baghdad stave off the threat from the Islamic State terror group and its remnants.
In a communique issued Wednesday following virtual talks between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, the two countries agreed to embark on technical talks aimed at establishing a timeline for U.S. combat troops to leave.
“The mission of U.S. and Coalition forces has now transitioned to one focused on training and advisory tasks, thereby allowing for the redeployment of any remaining combat forces from Iraq,” the communique stated, pointing to the “increasing capacity” of the Iraqi security forces. Read more
Beijing now has more billionaires than any city (BBC)
Beijing is now home to more billionaires than any other city in the world, according to the latest Forbes’ annual rich list.
The Chinese capital added 33 billionaires last year and now hosts 100, said the business magazine.
This narrowly beats New York City, which hosts 99 and has held the top ranking for the last seven years.
China’s quick containment of Covid-19, the rise of its technology firms and stock markets helped it gain top spot. Read more
Biden maintains Trump’s tough trade stance toward China (VOA)
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo pledged Wednesday to continue the Trump administration’s aggressive trade war with China, saying she will work “as aggressively as possible to protect American workers and businesses from unfair Chinese practices.”
Speaking during a White House press briefing, Raimondo said tariffs imposed during the Donald Trump presidency — and widely decried by Democrats at the time — “have in fact helped save American jobs in steel and aluminum industries.”
Overall, the United States is maintaining tariffs on 66% of Chinese exports. Raimondo said those import taxes are needed to level the playing field for international trade. Read more
EU drug regulator: Unusual blood clot is ‘very rare AstraZeneca side effect’ (BBC)
The EU’s medicines regulator says unusual blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19.
After a study looking at 86 European cases, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risk.
The report reflected data on 25 million Europeans administered with the jab.
The EMA could not list specific risk factors such as age or gender, but most blood clot cases were women under 60. Read more
Khloé Kardashian breaks silence, talks body image struggles after unwanted photo saga (PageSix)
Khloé Kardashian went topless on Instagram and spoke about body image in the wake of an unedited bikini photo flap that her family said was accidentally posted without permission.
“Hey guys, this is me and my body unretouched and unfiltered,” Kardashian posted along with a video of herself wearing nothing but a bikini bottom while jumping and holding her breasts.
“The photo that was posted this week is beautiful. But as someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, when someone takes a photo of you that isn’t flattering in bad lighting or doesn’t capture your body the way it is after working so hard to get it to this point — and then shares it to the world — you should have every right to ask for it to not be shared — regardless of who you are.” Read more
National Trust under fire for encouraging children to write poems critical of British Empire (RT)
The National Trust has been accused of badmouthing the UK’s cultural heritage, after reportedly giving historic house tours to school children and inviting them to write verses about how what they saw was linked to imperialism.
As part of the trust’s Colonial Countryside project, primary school pupils were led around the grounds of historic country estates, and were then asked to write about the experience.
One home viewed by the children, Charlecote Park, near Stratford-upon-Avon, had a display showcasing a sword looted during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
According to the Times, one student wrote of the weapon: “Stolen by the English; a freedom sword, a stolen freedom sword.” Read more
Edo threatens to shut down 20th NSF Thursday (Vanguard)
The Edo Government, hosts of the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) in Benin, will shut down the 13-day event by 12 noon Thursday, an official said late Wednesday.
Musa Ebomhiana, Project Manager with the Media and Communications Sub-Committee of the festival’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), said the decision was necessitated by Federal Government’s refusal to fulfill a promise.
He said the Federal Government failed to support the state with funds as promised, and the state government had no choice other than shutting down the festival. Read more
NSF: Lagos promises instant reward (Nation)
Executive Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission, Sola Aiyepeku has said they hope to motivate the athletes with an instant reward for their performance at the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival taking place in Benin.
He however, said that he expects the athletes to put up a good performance with the motivation put in place.
He said that the athletes are well motivated to excel at the ‘Edo 2020’ Games, adding that expectations are high for Team Lagos to compete favourably against their counterparts from other states. Read more
Mbappe hits double as PSG win thriller at champions Bayern (BBC)
Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris St-Germain produced a superb away performance to beat title holders Bayern Munich in a thrilling Champions League quarter-final first leg.
This was a meeting between last year’s finalists and they both contributed in a hugely entertaining game that in itself would have been worthy of being the final of the competition.
Mbappe took just three minutes to make his mark as he was fed by Neymar and the striker thumped a drive through Manuel Neuer’s legs.
Marquinhos doubled the lead for the French champions midway through the first half with a neat finish from a great ball by Neymar before ex-PSG striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting headed home to halve the deficit. Read more
Russian swimming champ Efimova on her shock defeat to 16-year-old star (RT)
Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova has commented on her unexpected loss to 16-year-old prodigy Evgenia Chikunova, who beat her in the women’s 100m breaststroke final at the Russian nationals.
The three-time Olympic medalist, who is getting ready to compete at the upcoming Tokyo Games, said she is pleased that the next generation of swimmers is snapping at her heels, which means there will be a good replacement in the team after her retirement.
The 29-year-old, who has taken part in three Olympics, has never showed extreme speed at local competitions, preferring to peak at major sports events, such as world championships and summer Games. Read more
Chelsea bounce back to beat Porto and take step towards Champions League semis (BBC)
Chelsea bounced back from a testing few days to earn a commanding first-leg quarter-final away win over Porto in the Champions League.
Mason Mount’s clever turn and finish in the first half helped bring some welcome relief to Blues manager Thomas Tuchel after his side’s heavy defeat to West Brom on Saturday, which was followed by a training ground incident between team-mates Kepa Arrizabalaga and Antonio Rudiger.
Ben Chilwell added a late second after a mistake by Corona, moments after substitute Christian Pulisic had hit the bar.
Having conceded five goals against West Brom, Chelsea produced a dogged defensive performance to earn a seventh clean sheet in nine European games this season. Read more
Australian tennis player loses match after umpire confuses the score (RT)
Australian tennis player Astra Sharma has fallen victim to a serious umpiring blunder after the match official confused the score, making an error which led to the player’s loss.
The bizarre episode took place at the WTA’s Copa Colsanitas event in Colombia on Tuesday during the first-round encounter between Sharma and Italy’s Giulia Gatto-Monticone.When the match was tied at 1-1 in the third set, the official made a drastic error that deprived the Australian of a chance to break her opponent. Read more