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Haiti police say they have president’s suspected killers, still hunting masterminds
Haiti’s police has killed or apprehended the suspected killers of President Jovenel Moise, officials said on Thursday, and are hunting for the masterminds behind the assassination that stunned the impoverished Caribbean nation. Moise, 53, was shot dead early on Wednesday at his home by what officials said was a commando of apparently foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amidst political divisions, hunger, and widespread gang violence. Police Chief Leon Charles said in a televised briefing on Thursday that authorities had tracked down the suspected assassins to a house near the scene of the crime in Petionville, a northern suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince. A fierce firefight lasted late into the night and six suspects were taken in c...
UEFA invite Christian Eriksen, medics who saved him to Euro final
European football governing body UEFA have invited Denmark international Christian Eriksen and the paramedics who helped save his life during an on-field cardiac arrest to attend the EURO 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday. The brilliant Danish midfielder was resuscitated in front of shocked fans and a massive global TV audience during his nation’s first match of the tournament. Uefa said Eriksen, his wife and six medics were invited to the final, but there was no confirmation he would attend. One of the paramedics, Peder Ersgaard, said he was honoured to receive a VIP invite from Uefa boss Aleksander Ceferin. “I’m excited, like a child on Christmas Eve,” he told the Fagbladet FOA magazine. “I’m very proud of my efforts, but also of the whole team. It wasn’t a one-man effort.” Eriksen collaps...
Coronavirus: England to lift mask, distancing rules July 19
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday revealed plans to lift most of England’s legal coronavirus restrictions, including face masks and social distancing from July 19, urging personal responsibility rather than government edict. Johnson had initially aimed for a full reopening on June 21, but was forced to push back the date because of a surge in the highly contagious Delta variant. That variant now accounts for nearly all new Covid-19 cases in Britain, and infection rates have soared, sparking concern. But mass vaccinations have stopped a resultant surge in hospital admissions or deaths. “This pandemic is far from over, it certainly won’t be over by the 19th,” warned Johnson. “We must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from Covid. “There’s only one reason why we can contemplate g...
NiDCOM, Swiss embassy partner on diaspora re-integration
The Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has called for close collaboration with the Swiss Embassy for diaspora re-integration. The chairman of NiDCOM, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, made the call in a statement by Gabriel Odu, Media, Public Relations and Protocols Officer of the commission in Abuja on Monday. Dabiri-Erewa was speaking with the Switzerland Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Georg Steiner, at an interactive session on Diaspora Reintegration, Diaspora Data Mapping and Capacity Building. She said that with the establishment of NiDCOM and ratification of the National Diaspora Policy by the Federal Executive Council, Nigerians in the Diaspora now had a one-stop agency to latch on for mutually beneficial engagement, encouragement and enablement for overall national development...
Luke Shaw hits back at Jose Mourinho in Rome as England roll on
At Jose Mourinho’s new home, the Stadio Olimpico, Luke Shaw, chose the perfect setting for his latest riposte to his former boss with two assists in England’s 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine to reach the Euro 2020 semi-finals. Shaw suffered at the hands of Mourinho for three seasons at Manchester United, a string of public criticism not a patch on what was said behind closed doors, the 25-year-old admitted this week. Mourinho’s arrival at Old Trafford came hot on the heels of a horrible double leg fracture Shaw suffered in September 2015. The former Southampton defender revealed in 2018 there had even been fears his right leg would have to be amputated because of blood clots that required emergency surgery. His career never got back on track during Mourinho’s tempestuous time at United, where he ...
Crystal Palace confirm Patrick Vieira as new manager on three-year deal
Crystal Palace have confirmed Patrick Vieira as the club’s new manager on a three-year deal that will take the Frenchman through 2024 at Selhurst Park. The Arsenal legend, who was previously coach of Nice until his dismissal in December last year, will succeed Roy Hodgson in the hotseat in south London. The 45-year-old, who began his coaching career with New York City FC in Major League Soccer, takes charge for the first time in the Premier League, having made his name as one of the game’s greatest midfielders during an electrifying decade-long spell with the Gunners. Though forever linked with Les Bleus’ 1998 World Cup triumph on home soil back home, Vieira remains forever associated in the British sporting consciousness as the anchor of Arsneal’s superb period of success under Arsene Wen...
South Africans gather in support of Jacob Zuma — a day before jail deadline
Hundreds of supporters gathered in a show of solidarity for former South African president Jacob Zuma outside his Nkandla homestead Saturday, as the deadline looms for him to hand himself over. In an unprecedented ruling, Zuma was on Tuesday told by the constitutional court to hand himself over by Sunday to start a 15-month jail term for contempt of court. Supporters, mainly members of the African National Congress’s Umkhonto Wesizwe military wing, have for weeks camped outside Zuma’s home in KwaZula-Natal province in solidarity with the former leader. Donning traditional leopard skins and ostrich feathers – wielding spears, shields and clubs known as “knobkerries,” men known as “amaButho,” or Zulu regiments marched in the streets of Nkandla, singing praise songs about Zuma. Bare-breasted ...
Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia suspends UAE flights
Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior ministry said Saturday. The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunised citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year. The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis. Flights to and from the UAE, alongside those to Ethiopia and Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior ministry official said, quoted by the state news agency SPA. Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries will be required to quarantine for 14 days, it added. Citizens would be banned “from travelling directly or indirectly, without obtaining prior p...
South Africa’s Jacob Zuma mounts last-ditch legal fight against jail term
South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Friday mounted a last-ditch legal bid to avoid prison after the country’s top court ordered him jailed for failing to appear before graft investigators. In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed Zuma a 15-month term for contempt after he snubbed a probe into the theft of state assets under his tenure. If the 79-year-old fails to turn himself in by Sunday, police will be given a further three days to arrest him and take him to jail to start the sentence. As the deadline loomed, Zuma pleaded on Friday that the order be “reconsidered and rescinded.” “It will not be futile,” Zuma said in papers filed to the court, “to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it...
Lagos court remands 13-year old boy for ‘defiling’ 11-year old girl
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State on Friday remanded a 13-year-old boy (name withheld) in a correctional home, for allegedly defiling an 11-year-old girl. The Magistrate, Ejiro Kubeinje, who did not take the juvenile’s plea, directed the police to send the case file to the state Director of Public Prosecutions for advice. She adjourned the case until August 17 pending legal advice from the DPP’s office. The Prosecution Counsel, Bisi Ogunleye, told the court that the defendant committed the offence in March at his residence. He said that the defendant unlawfully had sexual intercourse with the girl. Ogunleye said, “After he had satisfied his sexual urge, he released her. “The girl cried to her mother and told her what the defendant did to her. “The parent of the girl reported the c...
Femi Fani-Kayode asks President Buhari to leave Sunday Igboho alone to avoid civil war
Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to leave self-acclaimed Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho, alone in order to avoid a civil war. Fani-Kayode was reacting to attack on Igboho‘s house in Ibadan by the Department of State Services, DSS, on Thursday. He Igboho is the living manifestation of Oduduwa himself and that he speaks the mind of over 70 million Yoruba people throughout the world. According to him, whoever is trying to kill him is making a big mistake and is pulling the tail of a wild lion and poking the eye of a sleeping giant. “For the sake of Nigerian peace and unity and in the name of God, I call on the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari himself to leave Sunday and his group alone and to tread the path of peaceful coexisten...
IPOB: No harm should befall Nnamdi Kanu
Barely 24 hours after his arrest was made public, the Indigenous People of Biafra on Wednesday, warned that nothing must happen to its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The organisation which said Kanu was kidnapped by the government agents promised to “expose details of his abduction later”. Spokesperson for IPOB, Emma Powerful, said these in a statement titled, ‘Nothing should happen to our leader, IPOB tells FG’. According to him, IPOB would not be intimidated into backing out of the struggle, despite Kanu’s arrest. The statement read, “We the global movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra ably led by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, confirm the abduction of our Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian Government and her security operatives. We shall expose details of his abduction later. “Our...
