Year
Airdrop culture could pose integral threat to DeFi industry
EtherWrapped, a project designed to provide a yearly summary of users nonfungible token (NFT) activity, launched a little over eight hours ago to palpable fanfare within the crypto community. The website detailed a plan to airdrop YEAR tokens based upon quantitative engagement statistics in users’ MetaMask wallet, or in simpler terms, their number of transactions, volume traded and gas fees, among other data. Upon verification on EtherScan, a number of well-regarded developers and engineering experts in the space assessed the coding of the smart contract. Meows.eth noted that these parties saw a “presence of a function titled _burnMechanism,” but concluded that it was merely a harmless error by the seemingly amateur creator. What we noticed during a brief pass was the presence o...
UK police seize $249.5 million worth of cryptocurrency
The British police on Tuesday said they have seized £180 million ($249.5 million) of an undisclosed cryptocurrency, as part of a money laundering investigation launched against organised crime groups that moved into cryptocurrencies in order to clean their money. The latest seizure happened in less than three weeks after the London police made a £114 million haul on June 24 as part of its money laundering investigation. By this, a cryptocurrency payload totalling £294 million ($408 million) has been reportedly seized so far under the money laundering investigation. “While cash still remains king in the criminal world, as digital platforms develop we’re increasingly seeing organised criminals using cryptocurrency to launder their dirty money,” Reuters quoted Graham McNulty, a metropolitan P...
White House does not rule out Haiti request for U.S. troops
The United States is still reviewing a request for troops made by Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph to help secure key infrastructure after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday. Psaki said Haiti’s political leadership remains unclear and that it was vital for the country’s leaders to come together to chart a united path forward. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins formed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Haitian police said on Sunday they had arrested another key suspect. The death of the president has plunged the troubled country into deeper turmoil, and U.S. officials traveled there on Sunday to assess the situation and ...
Kingdom wins Nigerian Idol season 6
Kingdom Kroseide has emerged as the winner of the Nigerian Idol season 6. This was announced at the Grand Finale which held at the Africa Magic studios on Sunday. After audition months ago, Nigerian Idol produced 11 finalists – Faith Mac Ebiama, Comfort Alalade, Emmanuel Elijah, Clinton Francis, Beyonce Ajomiwe, Francis Atela, Dotun Deloye, Faith Onyeje, Akunna Okey, Daniel Ikechi, and Kingdom Kroseide. The two finalists to make it to the grand finale, Kingdom and Francis, have battled for the most-coveted title of the Nigerian Idol and Kingdom has emerged victorious. During the finale event, both finalists performed songs by Fela Kuti. While Francis sang ‘Yellow Fever’, Kingdom sang ‘Gentleman’. Artistes like Patoranking, Ayra Starr, and Ice Prince, performed at the final show, as Cobhams...
Obudu contract debt: Appeal court reserves judgment against Cross River
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the appeal filed by a private firm, Zedici Capital Ltd, against the Cross River State Government over a N3.8 billion contract debt. The appellant, Zedici Capital Ltd, is the firm that remodelled the Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River State, now a subject of litigation. The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, headed by Justice Peter Ige, reserved the date after counsel to the parties had adopted their legal submissions for and against the appeal, that is challenging the judgment of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which had in 2019, refused to affirm the arbitral award to Zedici Ltd over its investment of N3.8 billion in the resort. Justice Ige announced that a date for the judgment would be comm...
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...
Manchester City legend Kun Aguero to play backup role at Barcelona
Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero will play a backup role at Barcelona next term. The striker spent 11 trophy-laden years in Manchester, winning the Premier League five times and the FA Cup once. He is fourth in the all-time Premier League goalscoring charts with 184 strikes in 275 appearances. The ‘perfect’ combined England and Italy Euro 2020 XI Despite his incredible record, Barca have warned Aguero that he could spend a significant amount of time on the bench next season. That’s according to Spanish outlet AS (via Daily Mail), who claim that the Argentinian has already accepted the role. Barca are worried about Aguero’s fitness after he was limited to 12 top flight appearances in 2020/21. He suffered with a knee injury at the start of the campaign, a hamstring problem in November an...
Majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Bolsonaro, poll shows
For the first time, a majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a poll released on Saturday, as serious graft allegations related to vaccine procurement hit the right-wing leader’s already battered image. According to the survey by Datafolha, 54% of Brazilians support a proposed move by the country’s lower house to open impeachment proceedings against Bolsonaro, while 42% oppose it. In the last Datafolha survey on the issue, released in May, supporters and opponents of impeachment were essentially tied. In a separate Datafolha poll, released on Thursday, 51% of Brazilians said they disapproved of Bolsonaro, the highest figure since he took office in January 2019. In recent weeks, Brasilia has been rocked by allegations that federal officials solicited...
Yahaya Bello: Nigeria deserves the best captain no matter where he comes from
The Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has said that rather engage on the unconstitutional issue of rotational presidency, what Nigerians should focus on is look for that Nigerian, no matter where he comes, who can be the captain to pilot the country to the promised land. The governor who stated this at the First Annual Governor Yahaya Bello (GYB) Seminar for Nigeria’s Political and Crime Correspondents/Editors at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, said that even after 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and another six years of All Progressives Congress (APC), in the country, the problems of the nation has not been solved by the rotational presidency that has taken place over the years. Bello insisted that the political party must not limit the choice of Nigerians to any region...
Roberto Martinez to stay on as Belgium coach
Roberto Martinez will stay on as Belgium coach despite the country’s European Championship exit and attempt another tilt at a major title at next year’s World Cup, he said in an interview with Belgian newspapers on Friday. Martinez, whose contract runs until after next year’s tournament in Qatar, had not given any clarity on his plans since Belgium were beaten 2-1 by Italy in Munich in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals a week ago in a major disappointment for the team, who have spent the last three years top of the Fifa rankings. “I’m staying as coach. When I feel I no longer have anything to contribute is when I will leave,” he said. “But I don’t have that feeling now. I was a bitterly disappointed to be knocked out but now I’m looking ahead to the World Cup in Qatar. And also the Nations Leag...
Anambra election: 22 political parties storm INEC office, want participation
Twenty-two political parties, on Friday, stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Abuja, to submit names and particulars of candidates for the November 6 Anambra governorship election. The parties, which were part of the 74 political parties deregistered by INEC last year, insisted that they must be on the ballot as they had obtained a declarative judgment by the Appeal Court quashing their deregistration by the INEC. The electoral body, however, rejected their request, insisting that the parties remained deregistered. It would be recalled that the parties had, on March 18 this year, submitted letters of notice for the conduct of the governorship primaries for the Anambra poll. But INEC, then, in a swift reaction, signed by INEC National Commissi...
UNICEF to supply AU states 220 million coronavirus vaccines
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has signed an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to supply up to 220 million doses of the J&J single-dose vaccine to all 55 member-states of the African Union (AU) by the end of 2022. Some 35 million doses are to be delivered by the end of this year, UNICEF stated in a statement issued on Thursday in New York. The agreement, between UNICEF and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, will help implement the Advance Purchase Commitment (APC) signed between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Janssen last March. That agreement secured an option to order another 180 million doses, bringing the maximum access up to a total of 400 million doses by the end of 2022. The AU established AVAT in November 2020 to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the African continen...
