Xenophobic attacks : Air Peace offers to evacuate stranded Nigerians in South Africa (Nation)
As Nigeria seeks diplomatic resolution on the attack of its nationals in South Africa, indigenous carrier – Air Peace on Wednesday offered to repatriate those stranded. The offer, the airline, said was a sign of its solidarity with President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The Chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema, made the announcement while sympathizing with the victims who lost their lives and properties in the attacks. Read more
Xenophobia: IG orders high security around embassies, others (Punch)
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, has ordered water-tight security around embassies, foreign missions, foreigners and their businesses within the country. Adamu gave this order in a statement signed by the Nigerian Police Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, on Wednesday in Lagos. He said that “this order is against the backdrop of the unfortunate attack on Shoprite outlets in Lekki Area of Lagos State on September 3. Read more
FG begins evacuation of Nigerians in South Africa Friday (Guardian)
In the face of the latest xenophobic assault on Nigerians residing in South Africa, the Nigerian government said it will begin the evacuation of Nigerians willing to leave the country. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who disclosed this arrangement on Wednesday, added that one of the airlines operating in Nigeria, Air Peace, will begin the evacuation exercise on Friday. According to him, the development is made possible by the Proprietor of Air Peace Airlines, Chief Allen Onyema, who has volunteered to send an aircraft each daily from Friday, to evacuate Nigerians who may wish to return to Nigeria, free of charge. Read more
David Lyon wins APC primary in Bayelsa (Guardian)
Mr David Lyon of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has emerged the winner of the just concluded primary in Bayelsa. He scored 42,138 votes to win its closet rival, Mrs. Diseye Nsirim, who scored 1,533 votes. Others are Heineken yLokpobiri, who scored 571 votes, while Preye Aganaba, scored 354 votes and MrAmgbare scored 633 votes, while Prof. Maureen Etebu scored 564 votes. Read more
Breaking: Lokpobiri rejects Bayelsa APC primaries (Punch)
A former Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has rejected the outcome of the just-concluded primary election in Bayelsa State using a direct mode. Lokpobiri said it was still trying to get details of what transpired in Bayelsa insisting that he and his team never participated in any primaries that declared David Lyon the flag bearer of the party. Read more
Wada wins Kogi PDP governorship primary (Guardian)
Musa Wada has won Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket in Kogi State. Wada polled a total of 748 votes to defeat his closed opponent Ibrahim Abubakar, who polled 710 votes. Wada’s elder brother and the immediate past governor of the state Idris Wada, came third with 345 votes while Dino Melaye polled 70 votes to emerge fourth. Read more
Catholic priest escapes abduction in Abia (Punch)
A Catholic Priest serving in Abia State whose name is yet-to-be ascertained has miraculously escaped from gunmen believed to be kidnappers who abducted him. Though information about the incident is sketchy, our reporter gathered that the Catholic Priest was trailed and kidnapped by the gunmen near his Parish. Read more
Expose prostitutes in your domain, Kano Hisbah tells public (Punch)
The Kano State Hisbah Board has called on members of the public to report and expose the activities of prostitutes in their domains, to enable the speedy development of the state. This was contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Board, Lawan Ibrahim; and issued to newsmen on Wednesday in Kano. Read more
Boris Johnson’s call for general election rejected by MPs (BBC)
Boris Johnson has faced a double defeat in the Commons after MPs turned down his motion for a general election. Earlier, MPs backed a bill aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit if the PM hadn’t agreed a plan with the EU ahead of the 31 October deadline. Mr Johnson said the bill “scuppered” negotiations and the only way forward now was an election. Read more
Iran nuclear deal: Tehran to develop centrifuges for uranium enrichment (BBC)
Iran is to lift all limits on nuclear research and development – the latest step in reducing its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. President Hassan Rouhani said from Friday the country would begin developing centrifuges to speed up the enrichment of uranium. Last year, the US withdrew from the 2015 deal and reimposed punishing sanctions against Iran. Read more
Stepmother ‘strangled girl, 10, to death and dumped her body in a trash bag’ (Metro)
A ten-year-old girl’s body was found in a trash bag and police have arrested her stepmother for murder. Amanda Carmack, 34, is charged killing her stepdaughter, Skylea Carmack, who authorities say appears to have been strangled to death. Skylea’s body was discovered inside a shed at her family home wrapped in a plastic trash bag early Wednesday morning in Gas City, Indiana. Read more
Ex-Obama aide Greg Craig acquitted in Mueller-related investigation (BBC)
A former Obama White House counsel has been found not guilty of lying to officials and concealing information about his lobbying efforts in Ukraine. The case against Gregory Craig arose from the US investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Prosecutors said his 2012 lobbying was linked to ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s political work in Ukraine. Read more
Pentagon diverts $3.6bn in funds for southern border wall (BBC)
US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper has granted $3.6bn (£3bn) in Pentagon funding to be redirected to help build a US-Mexico border wall. The money will fund 175 miles (280km) of construction and will force 127 military projects to be put on hold, he told lawmakers in a letter on Tuesday. Building a border wall was a major campaign pledge of President Trump but it has faced significant opposition. Read more
Five arrested ‘for trying to kill two males in West London stabbing’ (Metro)
Five people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two male victims were stabbed in west London, police have said. The Metropolitan Police said on Twitter it was called to a report of ‘a group of people involved in an altercation’ at Shepherd’s Bush Green at 6.15pm on Wednesday. The force said officers and the London Ambulance Service attended the scene and found ‘two males suffering stab injuries’. Read more
Mother shoots daughter by mistake (Nation)
An American woman shot and wounded her 18-year-old daughter when she showed up to pay a surprise visit and the mother thought there was an intruder in the house, reports said on Wednesday. The girl, coming home from college for an unannounced visit, was hit in the arm but will survive Friday’s incident in Girard, Ohio, local TV station WFMJ said. Read more
Michigan becomes first state to ban flavoured e-cigarettes (BBC)
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday said the U.S. has ordered Google to pay $170 million in order to settle allegations of YouTube collecting data from minors without the consent of their parents. The commission said the U.S. government had previously accused the video hosting platform, which belongs to the tech giant, of illegally tracking and targeting users under the age of 13. Read more
Michigan becomes first state to ban flavoured e-cigarettes (BBC)
Michigan has become the first US state to ban flavoured e-cigarettes as part of efforts to curb youth vaping. The measure goes into effect in the next 30 days and bars the sale of any flavoured vaping products in retail stores and online. “My number one priority is keeping our kids safe,” said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in a statement. Read more
Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim quits sequel over pay dispute (Metro)
Crazy Rich Asians screenwriter Adele Lim has left production on the sequel over a pay dispute. The romantic comedy film, based on the 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan, became a huge box office success last year, following young Asian American woman Rachel (Constance Wu) who discovers her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) is part of one of the richest families in Singapore. Read more
Brad Pitt says attending Alcoholics Anonymous ‘freed him’ in frank chat about heavy-drinking past (Metro)
Brad Pitt has opened up about his time in Alcoholics Anonymous and believes it was ‘freeing’ to talk about his own personal issues. The star was a member of AA for 18 months after a reported row over his drinking ended his marriage to Angelina Jolie. Joining an all-male sector of the group, Brad claims it gave him the opportunity to speak without judgement for the first time. Read more
Mac Miller death: 28-year-old arrested on suspicion of supplying rapper lethal counterfeit drugs (Metro)
A man has been arrested on suspicion of supplying the deadly drugs that contributed to the death of rapper Mac Miller. The performer died aged 26 in his San Fernando Valley home in September last year. It was later determined he passed after ingesting counterfeit oxycodone pills that were laced with fentanyl, which directed contributed to his death. Read more
FIBA World Cup: Nigeria face Cote D’Ivoire on Friday (Punch)
Nigeria’s D’Tigers will now meet Cote D’Ivoire on Friday at the City Arena in Guangzhou, in their opening match of the classification round at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China. The match is the first game for the Nigerian male senior team in the classification 17-32 of the competition, and will come up at 1600hrs (0900hrs Nigeria time). They will go on to take on China at the same venue on Sunday. Read more
Tug-of-war over league football in Cameroon (BBC)
The Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) has set up an interim committee to oversee league football in the country for the next two years. The move follows the federation’s decision to suspend the activities of Cameroon’s Professional Football League (LPFC) due to alleged repeated breaches of its own statutes. However the LPFC president, General Pierre Semengue, insists that he intends to complete his four-year term, despite an offer from the federation to become an honorary Fecafoot president. Read more
Paul Pogba’s brother claims midfielder will ‘focus’ on season with Manchester United after failed Real Madrid transfer (Metro)
Paul Pogba’s brother Mathias insists the midfielder will ‘focus’ on the season with Manchester United after failing to secure a move away from Old Trafford this summer. In June, Pogba made it clear that he wanted to leave United for a ‘new challenge’ but despite being one of Zinedine Zidane’s top targets, Real Madrid were unwilling to meet the 26-year-old’s £150 million asking price. Read more
Tyrone Mings: It would be ‘fitting to make England debut at St Mary’s’ (BBC)
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings says it would be a “fitting story” if he made his England debut at St Mary’s after he was released by Southampton as a teenager. Mings, 26, was called up to the England senior squad for the first time by manager Gareth Southgate last week. England play Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria at Wembley on Saturday and Kosovo at St Mary’s on Tuesday. Read more
Alexandre Lacazette gave Sokratis half-time pep talk after mistake in north London derby (Metro)
Alexandre Lacazette appeared to try and gee up Arsenal centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos after his first-half mistake in Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham. The Greek defender was caught out of position when he tried to challenge Harry Kane for an aerial ball on the halfway line, leaving Spurs plenty of room to gallop into after the frontman won his flick-on. Read more
US Open 2019: Belinda Bencic beats Donna Vekic to reach first Grand Slam semi-final (BBC)
Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic put friendship aside to beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic and reach her first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open. The 13th seed, who knocked out defending champion Naomi Osaka in the previous round, won 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 against her good friend. She will face Canadian Bianca Andreescu or Belgian Elise Mertens next. Read more
Joshua v Ruiz: Fighters meet in Saudi Arabia for first time on press tour (BBC)
Andy Ruiz Jr said he wants more than “15 minutes of fame” as he faced Anthony Joshua for the first time in the run up to their 7 December rematch. The unified world heavyweight champion spoke in Saudi Arabia, where the fight will be held despite criticism over the country’s human rights record. Promoter Eddie Hearn said boxing has at times been “narrow minded” over venues. Read more
Blanca Fernández Ochoa: Spain’s missing Winter Olympic medallist found dead (BBC)
The body of former Spanish alpine skier Blanca Fernández Ochoa has been found after days of searches involving hundreds of police and volunteers. Ms Fernández, 56, was discovered in a mountainous area near Madrid. She had been missing since 23 August. The authorities are now investigating the cause of her death. Read more
Formula 1 secures Italian Grand Prix future until 2024 (BBC)
Formula 1 has secured the future of the Italian Grand Prix until at least the end of 2024. The new contract was announced at an event held in Milan on Wednesday to celebrate the race’s 90th anniversary ahead of Sunday’s grand prix at Monza. The historic track has held 68 F1 world championship races, more than any other. Read more