Speaker Dogara Condemns Abduction Of Vanguard Columnist, Donu Kogbara

Donu Kogbara

The speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives has been tweeting about the kidnapping of a prominent journalist in Rivers State in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. Speaker Yakubu Dogara took to twitter to express his displeasure. See Tweets before and after break.

100 Children Suffer Gas Poisoning At School In Western Afghanistan

© Raheb Homavandi / Reuters

At least 100 schoolchildren have been taken to the hospital after suspected gas poisoning in Herat Province, western Afghanistan, officials said, adding that the children “felt dizzy” at their school and several of them “had fallen unconscious.” The incident took place at a school in the Shahrak-e-Jibrahil area in the city of Herat.

"Some 100 students at a local high school were hospitalized Monday morning after they felt dizzy and several fell unconscious," provincial hospital spokesman Raffiq Shirzai told Xinhua news agency. 

RIGHT OR WRONG? Rwanda’s Paul Kagame on Nigeria’s Development

Source: Nono Nkele – Perception Media

It is always a surprise when countries in Africa that are not better than Nigeria poke fun at her. Actually if it were not tragic, it would have been so laughable. I respect Kagame's achievements but he is just like every other leader with a 'messanic' complex.

Rwanda has achieved some remarkable results under Kagame but in truth ALL OF AFRICA IS STILL UNDERDEVELOPED.

IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Blame Game As Nigeria Finishes With No Medal

Blessing Okagbare

Nigeria’s last hope for a medal at the IAAF World Championships, which ended yesterday in Beijing, China, came crashing as the country’s 4x400m Women’s relay team gave their all but could only finish 5th in Sunday’s final. The quartet of Regina George, Funke Oladoye, Tosin Adeloye and Patience Okon ran the second fastest time in the semi-finals; and many were hopeful they could nick a medal in Sunday’s final. However, that was not the case as Jamaica saw off the fierce contest from USA to win gold while the Americans settled for the silver and Great Britain headed home with Bronze in the 4x400m Women’s event.

The finishing time of 3:25.11secs posted by Nigeria could only see them pick 5th spot.

While some would be taken aback at the no-medal finish by Nigeria at the World Championships, many will see the outcome as the expected end especially with the injury setback for the country’s brightest medal prospect Blessing Okagbare.

Nigeria In Historic 2015 African Basketball Championship Win

Victory means Nigeria bags automatic ticket to 2016 Olympic

Nigeria beat Angola 74-65 in the final of 2015 African Basketball Championship in Tunisia to claim their first-ever continental championship. BBC reports that Sunday's victory against the defending champion also gave Nigeria automatic ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympic.

Angola, third-place Tunisia and fourth-place Senegal secured spots in next year's Olympic qualifying tournaments.

South Africa Police Manhunt For 'Grenade Killer'

South Africa Police (Image source: News24)

Police are hot on the heels of a man believed to be linked to the killing of an Amanzimtoti woman with a hand grenade in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is understood that the 30-year-old man, who is now on the run, had thrown two hand grenades at his wife at their Karridene Road home after an argument.  

Police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane said detectives sought the man “who can assist the police in a murder case”.

FOR THE RECORDS: Kenya Tops Medal Table At World Athletics Championships; Nigeria A ‘No Show’ (SEE MEDALS TABLE)

President Uhuru Kenyatta's tweet

Kenya has come top of the overall medal table at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing for the first time, with seven gold medals. Kenya also won six silver and three bronze medals, with Jamaica and the US in second and third place respectively. Their final gold medal was won by Asbel Kiprop in the 1500m.

President Uhuru Kenyatta tweeted: "Our young people have once again shown that they are as good as the world's best and brightest."

"I'm so proud of myself to become a member of this exclusive club of three-times world champions," said Kiprop after his victory.

Maria Sharapova Pulls Out Of The US Open

Maria Sharapova has pulled out of the US Open due to injury

Maria Sharapova has pulled out of the US Open on the eve of the tournament. The Russian world number three has been struggling with a muscle strain in her right leg and has not played a competitive match since losing to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals just over seven weeks ago. She travelled to New York for the year's final grand slam tournament, but announced a day before the start that she had withdrawn.

Sharapova wrote on her Facebook page: "Unfortunately I will not be able to compete in this year’s US Open. I have done everything possible to be ready but it was just not enough time. To all my amazing fans, I will be back in the Asian swing in a few weeks and look forward to finishing the year healthy and strong."

Former NSA Dasuki’s Trial Begins Tuesday

Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.)

The Federal Government will on Tuesday (tomorrow) arraign a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), before a Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly being in possession of firearms without license, The Punch learnt on Sunday. The Department of State Security Service had, in a statement by one of its officials, Tony Opuiyo, on August 24, 2015, said that it had charged Dasuki with the alleged offence.

The service did not disclose details of the charge but our correspondent learnt that the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, had on Friday assigned the case to Justice Adeniyi Ademola, who is the court’s vacation judge.

The DSS said it had charged Dasuki with possession of firearms without licence, an offence punishable under section 27(I)(a)(I) of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, based on evidence so far obtained.

Legendary Horror Director Wes Craven Dead At 76

Wes Craven, the director of iconic horror films such as "Scream" and the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, has died aged 76, his family says ©Frazer Harrison (Getty/AFP)

Wes Craven, a master of cinematic horror whose legendary directorial credits include "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream", died Sunday aged 76, his family said. Craven had been suffering from brain cancer and passed away at his home in Los Angeles.

"It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed," a family statement read. "Craven was surrounded by love, in the presence of his family."

Craven directed 1984's "A Nightmare on Elm Street," whose terrifying scarred villain Freddy Krueger left a defining imprint on the horror genre of that decade and was reprised in a string of sequels and a 2010 remake.

Krueger, who wore a scruffy fedora and had a glove with razor blades attached to the fingers, would visit his victims in their dreams and slash them to death. The first film in the franchise included a character played by a then-unknown Johnny Depp.

Governor: Boko Haram Kills 56 In Remote Part Of Borno State

Boko Haram insurgents

Islamic extremist group Boko Haram killed 56 villagers in a remote area, the governor of Borno State of the region said Sunday, as the government warned that the extremists are trying to extend their violent campaign. Gov. Kashim Shettima confirmed the attack in Baanu village during a meeting with the parents of the 219 girls abducted from a school in the region by the extremists last year. Thursday marked 500 days of captivity of the girls from a school in Chibok.

"I want us all to understand that the Boko Haram crisis is a calamity that has befallen us, as the insurgents do not discriminate whether somebody is Christian or Muslim, neither do they have any tribal sympathy or affiliations. Just yesterday they killed 56 people in Baanu village of Nganzai local government, as I am speaking to you their corpses are still littered on the street of the village because virtually everyone in the village had to run for their lives".

EBOLA OUTBREAK: Dead Woman Tests Positive For Ebola In Sierra Leone

The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo making statement (Image source: africanyoungvoices.com)

The body of a woman who died in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the Ebola virus, less than a week after the last person confirmed to have had the disease was released from hospital, health officials said. The new death, if confirmed, would represent a setback for efforts to end an 18-month regional epidemic that has infected more than 28,000 people and killed more than a third of them.

In the latest case, a 67-year-old woman from the Kambia District along Sierra Leone's border with Guinea, died on Saturday.

Sierra Leone's chief medical officer Brima Kargbo told Reuters that two samples tested in Kambia had tested positive for Ebola. However, he said further tests were being carried out in Makeni, the main town in the Northern Province, and in the capital Freetown.

Nigeria's Security Agency Says Arrested 20 Suspected Boko Haram Chiefs

Boko Haram insurgents (Image source: PREMIUM TIMES)

Nigeria's security agency said on Sunday it had made significant breakthroughs in the fight against Boko Haram and arrested 20 prominent members of the militant Islamist group accused of orchestrating deadly attacks. President Muhammadu Buhari has made halting Boko Haram's six-year-old insurgency a priority, but a Reuters tally shows the militants have killed more than 700 people in Nigeria in bomb attacks and shootings since he came to office on May 29.

In the latest violence, around 56 people were killed by suspected Boko Haram gunmen at a village in northeastern Borno state on Friday night, Borno state governor Kashim Shettima said late on Saturday.

The Department of State Services (DSS) said on Sunday that 20 "notable commanders and frontline members" of the jihadist group had been arrested in Lagos, Kano, Plateau, Enugu and Gombe states between July 8 and Aug. 25 this year.

11 Killed, 219 Injured In Saudi Arabia Residential Complex Fire

© KSA_998 / Twitter

The death toll from a fire in the Radium Residential Complex in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province has risen to eleven, with more than 200 other people injured in the blaze, Saudi authorities stated.  “The number of those [killed in the fire] rose to seven and the number of injured to 219,” Interior Ministry's General Directorate of Civil Defense wrote on Twitter.

The fire broke out Sunday morning in the basement of the building in the city of Khobar.

35 Killed In South Africa Bus Accident

Cape Town. A bus drove off a cliff, killing 35 people on board in Eastern Cape Province on Saturday, authorities said, Xinhua reported. Photo: AFP

A bus drove off a cliff, killing 35 people on board in Eastern Cape Province on Saturday, authorities said. Only nine of the 44 passengers survived the horror crash, Xinhua reported citing the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

Eight sustained moderate injuries and one was seriously hurt, the RTMC said.

But according to Eastern Cape provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo, six were in a critical condition.

Chibok Girls: Buhari Offers Economic Support To Grieving Parents

Some students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State abducted by Boko Haram

•Sends them message of hope

The Federal Government is offering economic support to parents of the over 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, who were abducted  by Boko Haram in April 2014. Also being offered them by government is trauma management support. President Muhammadu Buhari in a fresh message of hope to the parents yesterday on the occasion of the 500th day of the abduction said the support is not any way compensation for the missing girls.

He said: “these priceless schoolgirls are our daughters and they are dear to us as much as they are to you. We share the agony and sorrows you are experiencing as well as our abducted girls. As government we are working hard to rescue our girls alive and healthy.

Diezani, Jonathan’s CSO In Alleged US$7m Mobile Stage Scam

Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, his Chief Security Office O.J Obuah and Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke spent US$6.9 million buying three 40-feet mobile stages for use during mass public speaking events, a team of federal government’s investigations revealed yesterday. A top Presidency source told State House journalists last night that the investigators discovered that the contract was inflated and that there was no evidence that any stage was purchased at all.

The source quoted the investigators as saying that while the cost of mobile stages ranged in size and designs, only outlandish rock star musicians in Europe and the US spent 100s of thousands on their huge stages way bigger than the 40-feet stages and that those musicians and super stars would not pay over US$2m per stage.

He said the investigators argued that process of procurement of the three mobile stages was neither known to extant Nigerian laws nor were the Offices of the Auditor-General and the Accountant-General in the know.

President Lungu Calls For Discarding Of Retrogressive Traditional Practices

Some makishi during the likumbi lya mize ceremony in zambezi

President Edgar Lungu has appealed to traditional leaders in the country to help discard retrogressive traditional practices. President Lungu said as Zambia embraces good cultural practices, there was need to discard traditional practices that did not add value to the well-being of the people.

“Our traditional leaders across the country should take the lead in fighting risky traditional practices such as inheritance of widows, sexual cleansing, early childhood marriage and Gender Based Violence (GBV),” Mr Lungu said.

The President said this during the Likumbi Lya Mize traditional ceremony of the Luvale people held in Zambezi West yesterday.

American Arrested On Sierra Leone "Blood Diamond" Charges

US national arrested on Sierra Leone 'blood diamond' charges (image source: www.theguardian.com)

Spanish authorities have arrested a American man on charges of enslavement and diamond pillaging during Sierra Leone's civil war, a victims' association said on Saturday. Michel Desaedeleer, who has U.S. and Belgian citizenship, is suspected of forcing enslaved civilians to mine for diamonds in Sierra Leone's eastern district of Kono between 1999-2001, according to Swiss-based Civitas Maxima.

During Sierra Leone's long conflict, the diamonds were sent to neighbouring Liberia where former President Charles Taylor used the proceeds to finance weapons for rebels.

‘Police To Promote 40,000’

Solomon Arase, Police IG

The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, on Saturday said about 40,000 policemen between the ranks of constable and inspector would be promoted in the next two months. Arase, who disclosed this during his private visit to Lagos, noted that the rank and file were the officers doing major jobs, including arrests, investigations and other special duties.

Arase said, “There have been backlogs of promotions between the constable and inspector cadre, involving about 36,000 of them. Two groups are already undergoing their promotional courses.”