November
Red Cross condemns ‘horrific’ sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The Red Cross voiced alarm Thursday over “horrific” accounts of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, amid fears that rape was being used as a weapon of war. Robert Mardini, director-general of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organisation’s staff in hospitals and clinics in the region were hearing first-hand of extreme sexual violence. “Those reports are extremely horrific, very shocking,” he told AFP in an interview, adding that this was a “matter of grave concern”. “I haven’t heard such terrible accounts for more than two decades in the humanitarian sector,” said Mardini, who among other things closely followed the civil wars in Syria and Yemen when he headed ICRC’s Near and Middle East division from 2012 to 2018. “Many of my humani...
Tottenham Hotspur sack Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho has been sacked as head coach of Tottenham. The club are yet to confirm the decision, but it is understood Mourinho has left less than a week ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday. Mourinho had been in charge at Spurs since November 2019, replacing Mauricio Pochettino, signing a deal until the end of the 2023 season. In his first campaign, Mourinho took Tottenham from 14th in the Premier League to finish sixth – securing Europa League qualification – but were knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage by RB Leipzig. Spurs are currently seventh in the table, five points off the Champions League places. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a...
How love affair gone bad led to imprisonment of Prophet Israel Oladele
When the Lagos State Court of Appeal granted the Senior Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Genesis Global, Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, a post-conviction bail last week, on grounds of failing health, quite a number of people, particularly members of his congregation, were very happy with the news. This is because the televangelist’s previous bail applications were all turned down. Oladele was arraigned on seven counts bordering on obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretences, unlawful conversion of property and forgery, fraudulently collected N14m and £12,000 in various tranches from the complainant between August 30, 2002 and 2005. He was found guilty on two counts of stealing and unlawful conversion of property not delivered. And on November...
Kosovo parliament elects new national president
Kosovo’s parliament has appointed a 38-year-old U.S.-educated female law professor and candidate of the ruling Vetevendosje party as the country’s new president, following an election in February. Vjosa Osmani took over as acting president of Kosovo last November when her predecessor, Hashim Thaci, resigned ahead of his impending war crimes trial in the Netherlands. Osmani’s initial mandate expired when the new government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the head of Vetevendosje, took over following the Feb. 14 election. On Sunday the 120-seat parliament voted in favour of appointing Osmani president by 71 votes. Opposition parties and civil society watchdogs have criticised her appointment, saying that having a president, prime minister and speaker of parliament all from the same party is n...
Namibian president caught in new fishing corruption allegations
Informante The president of Namibia has been implicated in new allegations of corruption involving the country’s lucrative fishing industry by an investigation released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and The Namibian newspaper. According to a lawyer who allegedly arranged the deal, President Hage Geingob instructed his close associates to embezzle millions of dollars from a state-run fishing enterprise in order to bribe electors at the 2017 congress of the ruling SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization) party, reports the new investigation released on Friday. The lawyer, who is not named by the OCCRP, claims that Hage Geingob – elected as President of Namibia in 2014 and re-elected in 2019 – allegedly asked James Hatuikulipi, then chairman of the sta...
Arsenal star’s mum dies after coronavirus battle
Arsenal star Lucas Torreira’s mum has died after a battle with Covid-19, as reported by Uruguayan daily Ovacion. Viviana Di Pascua, 53, was recently admitted to intensive care after contracting the coronavirus in Uruguay. Torreira, who is currently on loan at Atletico Madrid, was given special permission by the La Liga club to fly home to Frey Bentos to be by her side. But Viviana’s situation worsened and on Tuesday her death was announced. Gunners midfielder Torreira contracted Covid-19 himself back in November 2020 following international duty. Torreira was the national team’s twelfth individual among players and staff to receive a positive result at the time. The 25-year-old was forced to miss two weeks of football, including a La Liga clash with Barcelona. A statement read at the time:...
AFCONQ: Super Eagles boss wary of Benin ahead of crucial game
Nigeria national team coach Gernot Rohr believes the Republic of Benin will be a hard nut to crack, given their recent performances. The three-time African champions will square off against the Squirrels at Porto-Novo’s Stade Charles de Gaulle on Saturday. Michel Dussuyer’s men are on a five-game unbeaten run, having last tasted defeat against the Super Eagles in their first Afcon qualifying game in November 2019 Their home form has also been spectacular, given they have not lost for eight years, having last tasted defeat against Algeria in 2013 and Rohr has warned his side to be battle-ready for the encounter. “Benin have not lost a match for eight years at home, the last time they lost was in 2013 so you can imagine that we want to be the first team to win there in eight years,” Rohr tol...
Germany banking on victories to regain support
Germany will seek redemption for November’s humiliating thrashing against Spain as Joachim Loew’s squad look to get the fans back behind them by winning their first three World Cup qualifiers. Germany host Iceland in Duisburg on Thursday before facing Romania away on Sunday, then play North Macedonia three days later back in Duisburg. “We want to start the European championship year with an exclamation mark and please our fans again,” Loew said after naming teenagers Jamal Musiala, 18, and Florian Wirtz, 17, in his squad. “Our ambition and goal is to get ourselves into a good starting position with three wins.” A fortnight ago, Loew announced he will step down, after 15 years in charge, following the European championships, due to take place from June 11-July 11. He badly needs convincing ...
Ekiti governor suspends ongoing recruitment of teachers
Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has suspended the ongoing teachers recruitment exercise over economic crisis posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The governor directed immediate refund of money paid by successful candidates in the recruitment exercise conducted by the State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM). Mr Babatunde Abegunde, Chairman of TESCOM, who made this known in Ado Ekiti on Thursday said the directive was due to the commitment of the governor to the general welfare of the people in the state and the need not to make new entrants into the public service suffer unduly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 100 candidates may have been affected by the directive. Abegunde explained that monies to be refunded covered those paid by the candidates for the p...
WCQ: Tottenham’s Tanguy Ndombele returns to France squad
Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has been rewarded for his upturn in form with a recall to the France squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The 24-year-old hasn’t featured for Les Bleus since the summer of 2019 but now has the chance to add to his six international caps in matches against Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Other notable returnees include Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Lemar, who hasn’t featured since November 2019, while Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele, a member of their 2018 World Cup-winning squad, is back for the first time in two-and-a-half years. This represents Ndombele’s first international call up since his club-record €60 million (£54m/$68m) move from Lyon to Tottenham. The Frenchman arrived in north London with a reputation as an all-action midf...
#EndSARS: Ekiti compensates first batch of police brutality survivors
The Ekiti State government will on Monday present monetary compensation to the first batch of police brutality survivors as recommended by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Allegations of Human Rights Violations Against the Defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad and Others. The panel was set up in the state following a directive issued by the Presidency to state governments to review allegations of human rights violations against members of the public by officials of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad. This was after youths took to the street with the #EndSARS campaign to protest against police brutality as allegedly committed by operatives of the defunct SARS. The panel set up in Ekiti is led by Retired Justice Cornelius Akintayo and comprises representatives of youth groups, civil socie...
Rumble in Edo as governor runs government without cabinet
Precisely 129 days into his second tenure as governor of Edo State after his election on September 20, 2020 and inauguration on November 12, 2020, Godwin Obaseki, has not formed his cabinet. This has generated some flaks from different quarters, including the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), constitutional lawyers, political analysts, public commentators, residents among others. While others feel that Obaseki has not committed any crime or breached any law, others believe that he is running a one-man administration and must go ahead to form his cabinet. They argued that going by Section 192 of the 1999 Constitution, the governor is obliged to form a cabinet, saying this is a circumvention, which the state House of Assembly should take action on. Obaseki had said that his ...