Wednesday
Manchester United, Chelsea jostle for £25 million Euro 2020 star
Manchester United and Chelsea have expressed interest in signing Denmark defender Joachim Andersen following his impressive performances at Euro 2020. Lyon centre-back Andersen, 25, featured in all three of Denmark’s knockout matches at the Euros, as Kasper Hjulmand’s side beat Wales and the Czech Republic before suffering a semi-final defeat to England. Having spent the 2019-20 season on loan at Fulham – and impressing for Scott Parker’s side despite the Cottagers’ relegation – Andersen is known to Premier League clubs. Despite returning to Lyon this summer, Andersen is expected to sign a permanent deal at an English club before next season, with a number of sides interested in securing his signature. The Sun say both Manchester United and Chelsea have identified the £25m star as a cheape...
Pentagon: US team going to Haiti to assess needs
A team of U.S. security and law enforcement experts is traveling to Haiti to determine what assistance Washington can provide following the assassination of the Haitian president last week, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Today, an inter-agency team largely from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are heading down to Haiti right now to see what we can to do help in the investigative process,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s really where our energies are best applied right now – in helping them get their arms around investigating this incident and figuring out who’s culpable … and how best to hold them accountable,” Kirby said in the interview. President Joe Biden will be briefed by the team when it returns and “then make decisions about the way forwa...
Leaked testimony from Haiti suspects says plan was to arrest, not kill president
A group of Colombians and Haitian Americans suspected of assassinating Haitian President Jovenel Moise told investigators they were there to arrest him, not kill him, the Miami Herald and a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities say was a unit of assassins made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, plunging the troubled Caribbean nation into deeper turmoil. The murder and uncertainty about who hatched the plot is the latest in a succession of blows to hit the struggling country, which has appealed for international help. Washington has so far rebuffed Haiti’s request for troops, though a senior U.S. official said on Sunday that Washington was sending a technical team to assess th...
Bayelsa government resolves crisis at Niger Delta University
The mediatory meeting covered Wednesday at the instance of the Bayelsa State Government between the Governing Council of the Niger Delta University, NDU, students’ representatives and other stakeholders has restored normalcy to the state-owned university. Students of the university had been protesting against the closure of the institution’s portal for payment of school fees and alleged enforcement of compulsory wearing of school uniform by the university authorities. But rising from the last round of meetings directed by Governor Douye Diri which were presided over by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, at the Government House, Yenagoa, it was agreed that the portal for the payment of school fees be reopened. A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara At...
Nigeria records 186 new coronavirus cases
The Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) has registered 186 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections from three states. The NCDC said this on its official website on Saturday morning. Newsmen report that the figure represents an increase from the 146 cases recorded on Thursday and 110 cases posted on Wednesday. It said 186 additional cases were reported from three states as of July 9. The agency noted that Lagos had the highest number of cases, which was 175, while Rivers recorded eight and Gombe had three cases. According to NCDC, compilation of the newly infected cases showed that the country now has a total of 168,442 confirmed cases. The NCDC highlighted that the total of discharged cases stood at 164,323. The agency said it also discharged eight more people from isolation ...
Lithuania begins building barrier on border with Belarus to block migrants
Lithuania began building a barrier along its border with Belarus on Friday after accusing Belarusian authorities of flying in migrants from abroad to send illegally into the European Union. The first stretch of barrier will run 500 metres (1,640 feet) in length, measure 1.8 metres (six feet) in height and consist of concertina and razor wire, the army defence chief’s spokeswoman Ruta Montvile told Reuters. Belarus in May decided to allow migrants to enter EU member Lithuania in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the bloc after Minsk forced a Ryanair flight to land on its soil and arrested a dissident blogger who was on board. “If someone thinks we will close our border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine and will become a holding site for those running from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq...
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...
PSC: Why Ibrahim Magu’s name was dropped promotion list
The Police Service Commission (PSC) on Thursday said it dropped the name of former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, from promotion list because it is still awaiting clearance from the Office of Attorney General. The PSC had promoted 24 CPs, 35 DCPs, 52 ACPs, 50 CSPs and dropped Magu from promotion. A statement issued by Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations of PSC said the decisions were the high-points of the Commission’s 12th Plenary Meeting held on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was presided over by the Commission’s Chairman, Musiliu Smith, a retired Inspector General of Police. “The Commission declined the promotion of CP Magu pending clearance from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the Offic...
Nigerian lawmakers approve $2.4 bn funds for security, coronavirus vaccines
Nigerian lawmakers on Wednesday approved some 982.7 billion naira ($2.4 billon) additional budget funds to help the government buy COVID-19 vaccines, and equipment for its security forces. Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria is struggling with the economic impact of the pandemic and a slump in crude prices as well as surging violence from criminal gangs and its grinding jihadist insurgency. The approved amount is $216.8 million higher than President Muhammadu Buhari’s request made to the lawmakers in June and is expected to be sourced through international and local borrowing. Most of the funds – around 722 billion naira ($1.8 billion) would go towards the procurement of additional equipment for security forces, Senator Barau Jibrin, chair of the senate appropriation committee, said. Around...
Mass defection: House member asks PDP national chairman to resign
Rep Rimamnde Shawulu (PDP-Taraba), has urged the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Uche Secondus, to resign following mass defection from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Shawulu said this a letter addressed to the chairman and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday. He decried the rate at which the party was losing members to the ruling APC in recent times. Shawulu also urged members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to resign. “Today, unexpectedly, four members of the House of Representatives from Zamfara defected from the PDP to APC,” he said. He said unlike before, when leaders of the party at the House usually put up a form of protest, not a whisper was heard or a hand raised in protest against the defection. “Dear...
Court jails three for Facebook scam
Justice C.L. Dabup of the Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos, on Wednesday sentenced three internet fraudsters, Nbubuisi Kerian Ozomba, Paul Obide and Samuel Chukwuebuka Nduchukwe to one-month imprisonment. The trio were convicted for obtaining money by false pretence through the social media platform, Facebook. They were arrested in a sting operation by the Abuja Zonal Office of the EFCC following intelligence on their alleged involvement in an internet-related scam. Investigation revealed that Ozomba created a Facebook Account with the name James Hicks with a profile picture of an American military officer and obtained the sum of $350 USD from Mary Lovely, a Filipino; while Obide (alias Javier Espinal) posed as a military officer from Spain and obtained $2000 from another Filipino, ...
NEMA: Why we held simulated terror attack on Abuja stadium
The National Emergency Management Agency says the simulated terrorists attack on the Moshood Abiola National stadium, Abuja is to prepare relevant agencies for coordinated emergency response. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the exercise held on Wednesday. Mustapha Ahmed, the Director-General of NEMA said this in an interview with newsmen at the event organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) with planning and assistance from the U.S. and UK. NAN reports that the exercise code named “Idahun Kankan’’ Yoruba words meaning (Quick Response) saw a simulated bomb attack and marauding gunfire in the stadium while a match was going on. The simulated attacks left many spectators feigned maimed, wounded and others scampering for safety and escape. Following notification, ...
