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Showing posts from June 2, 2017


CBS restructures, closes down TVC News Africa

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Continental Broadcasting Services Limited (CBS), owners of Television Continental (TVC) and Radio Continental has closed down its TVC News Africa arm. The winding down of the channel will allow it concentrate on its core channels consisting of TVC News Nigeria, TVC Entertainment and Radio Continental, the firm said in a statement on Friday. It said there was a need for it to restructure its operations in order to reposition “the business for better and greater delivery of its services to audiences and advertisers alike.” The restructuring, it said, will lead to the disengagement of 145 staffers. “For those staff members affected by today’s announcement the Board of CBS Ltd. has approved a generous severance package in addition to a programme of assistance to enable them to seek new employment,” CBS said. “The CBS Board of Directors has also approved substantial new investment in our staff across the group of companies which will enable us substantially en...

Moscow says won’t veto UN resolution on North Korea sanctions

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This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 22, 2017 shows North Korean ground-to-ground medium-to-long range strategic ballistic missile Pukguksong-2 being launched in a test-fire. North Korea on May 22 declared its medium-range Pukguksong-2 missile ready for deployment after a weekend test, the latest step in its quest to defy UN sanctions and develop a weapon capable of striking US targets. Moscow on Friday said it will not veto a UN resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea, despite Kremlin ire over fresh US punitive measures that hit Russian firms. The United States has presented a draft UN Security Council resolution Thursday that would hit North Korea over with new sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, diplomats said. The text — drafted in agreement with China, traditionally Pyongyang’s sole diplomatic and military ally — was expected to be submitted to a Council vote on Fr...

Gunmen abduct Hit Fm CEO in Calabar

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Patrick Ugbe, who is currently the Managing Director of Hit Fm 95.9, Patrick Ugbe, who is currently the Managing Director of Hit Fm 95.9, was said to have been kidnapped at about 8.20 p.m. on Thursday night at Ekpo Iso Street, Ikot Ansa, Calabar. A former Commissioner for Information in Cross River, Mr Patrick Ugbe, has been abducted for by some unidentified gunmen. Ugbe, who is currently the Managing Director of Hit Fm 95.9, was said to have been kidnapped at about 8.20 p.m. on Thursday night at Ekpo Iso Street, Ikot Ansa, Calabar. An eye witness, Mr Ekpo Abasi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Ugbe was kidnapped by five unidentified gunmen who stormed the area in a Toyota Camry car. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Irene Ugbo, confirmed the incident. “We are aware of the incident. The case has been reported to us. “We have dispatched our men and those from the Intelligence Department to hunt for the kidnappers and rescue t...

Muslims in Ramadan protest outside New York’s Trump Tower

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Muslims pray on the Fifth Avenue after Iftar, breaking fast during their holy month of Ramadan -when devotees around the world fast from dawn to dusk – during a demonstration to protest US President Donald Trump’s stand on Muslims and immigrants, near the Trump Tower in New York on June 1, 2017. A crowd of Muslims kneeled to pray before breaking their Ramadan fast outside the Trump Tower in a protest against what they say is the US president’s Islamophobic rhetoric. About 100 Muslims showed up for the Iftar event late Thursday, organized by immigrant defense groups. A similar number of non-Muslim supporters also attended. Participants sat on the edge of the avenue after prayers and shared a meal that included rice, chicken and pizza. Police monitored the group closely, as they do with all groups near the building. Trump Tower in Manhattan is home to the Trump Organization, the heart of President Donald Trump’s business empire. First Lady Melania Trump liv...

Nnamdi Kanu meets Igbo leaders in Enugu over Biafra

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Political activist and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Nnamdi Kanu (L), wearing a Jewish prayer shawl, poses in the garden of his house in Umuahia, southeast Nigeria, on May 26, 2017, before commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the war on May 30.<br />The war was triggered when the Igbo people, the main ethnic group in the southeast, declared an independent breakaway state, the Republic of Biafra. *Sit-at-home order’s success shows unity of Ndigbo, says MASSOB Apparenyly buoyed by the success of the sit-at –home exercise called on Tuesday by agitators, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, stormed Enugu yesterday and held closed door meeting with some Southeast leaders under the auspices of the Ala Igbo Development Foundation (ADF). At the over two hours meeting chaired by the president of the ADF, Prof. Uzodinma Nwala, were Archbishop Maxwell Aniekwenwa; a former Ohanaeze president-general, Dr Do...

Record pay-out for champions Chelsea

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Chelsea’s English defender Gary Cahill (centre left) and Chelsea’s English defender John Terry hold up the Premier League trophy, as players celebrate their league title win at the end of the Premier League football match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge in London on May 21, 2017. Chelsea’s extended victory parade reached a climax with the trophy presentation on May 21, 2017 after being crowned Premier League champions with two games to go. Ian KINGTON / AFP English champions Chelsea received a record Premier League pay-out of more than £150 million ($190 million, 172 million euros) this season, nearly £60 million more than their predecessors Leicester, after new TV deals came into force. The broadcast deals, including a bumper domestic contract, ensured generous end-of-season payments for all 20 Premier League clubs who shared a total of £2.4 billion. Figures on the league’s website showed Leicester, who earned £93 million after their stun...

Late Moji Olaiya's remains will arrive Nigeria from Canada on June 6 along with her baby girl

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According to the burial committee set up for late Nollywood actress, Moji Olaiya, her remains will arrive Nigerian from Canada on Tuesday June 6, 2017 along with her new born baby girl. Yomi Fabiyi, the Publicity Secretary for the burial committee issued a statement on the development that reads;    'The remains of the Late Moji Olaiya and her daughter will arrive Nigeria from Canada on Tuesday 6th June, 2017 (We will not like to go into details of the flight itinerary because of the baby involved, only the family and few friends will recieve them. Please bear with us).  Burial Plans.... DAY 1: Tues 6th June, 2017, 4pm -  Memorial Service & Artiste Night to follow on same Tuesday at BLUEROOF, LTV 8, LATEEF JAKANDE, AGIDINGBI, IKEJA • PLS, ALL GUESTS ARE ENJOINED TO BE ON BLACK BUT CORPORATE OUTFIT.  DAY 2: Wed 7th June, 2017, 10am - She will be buried at Ebony Vault at Ikoyi Cemetery, Lagos. Brief lying in state will precede th...

Security men attack LUTH doctors, injure 10

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Association of Resident Doctors (ARD),Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba Chapter, were allegedly injured by some security men from the teaching hospital on Wednesday during a clash. Ten members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD),Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba Chapter, were allegedly injured by some security men from the teaching hospital on Wednesday during a clash. Dr Adebayo Sekunmade, the president of the ARD of the hospital told newsmen during a news conference. He said that the doctors sustained injuries when they attempted to take over their secretariat from the security men stationed there by LUTH’s management. Sekunmade told journalists that one of his members was inside the ARD’s secretariat at 2.00 a.m. on Tuesday but the security men ordered him out and locked it up. “We decided to monitor developments around the secretariat after the incident. On Wednesday morning, we saw the security men loa...

Muslims in Ramadan protest outside New York’s Trump Tower

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Add captionMuslims pray on the Fifth Avenue after Iftar, breaking fast during their holy month of Ramadan -when devotees around the world fast from dawn to dusk – during a demonstration to protest US President Donald Trump’s stand on Muslims and immigrants, near the Trump Tower in New York on June 1, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMAD A crowd of Muslims kneeled to pray before breaking their Ramadan fast outside the Trump Tower in a protest against what they say is the US president’s Islamophobic rhetoric. About 100 Muslims showed up for the Iftar event late Thursday, organized by immigrant defense groups. A similar number of non-Muslim supporters also attended. Participants sat on the edge of the avenue after prayers and shared a meal that included rice, chicken and pizza. Police monitored the group closely, as they do with all groups near the building. Trump Tower in Manhattan is home to the Trump Organization, the heart of President Donald Trump’s business empi...

Trump asks Supreme Court to reinstate Muslim travel ban

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Add caption International travelers pass police officers keeping demonstrators and counter demonstrators apart during protests in support of a ruling by a federal judge in Seattle that grants a nationwide temporary restraining order against the presidential order to ban travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries, at Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on February 4, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. David McNew/Getty Images/AFP DAVID MCNEW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP President Donald Trump’s administration asked the US Supreme Court on Thursday to reinstate its temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim majority nations despite repeated setbacks in the lower courts. In its filing, the government asked the top US court to rule on the legal standing of Trump’s order, appealing a ruling by the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a nationwide block of the travel ban. It also asked the S...

Woods looks bewildered in new police breathalyzer video

A new police video broadcast by US media on Thursday shows a handcuffed Tiger Woods trying to blow into a tube as he passes a breathalyzer test. The video footage, taken from inside the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office during Woods's Monday arrest and posted on Golf.com, shows the golf superstar struggling to take the test and being helped back to his seat by the jail official who administered the exam. In the video a barefooted Woods slumps in a plastic chair before he gets up slowly and walks unsteadily to the testing machine. The operator whistles at the befuddled golf star to try to get his attention. "Make a tight seal with your lips and blow directly," she says, but becomes frustrated as Woods appears to ignore her. "Watch, look. Blow directly into that tip until I tell you to stop .... blow, blow out, blow out, don't suck it, blow out." Woods, 41, appears perplexed but is cooperative. He then has trouble returning to his chair, ...

Putin says Snowden no ‘traitor’ in Oliver Stone interviews

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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Indian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg on June 1, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Dmitry Lovetsky In US director Oliver Stone’s edgy new interview series, Russian leader Vladimir Putin says he believes intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is no traitor and appears to confirm multiple assassination plots have targeted him. Excerpts released Thursday from “The Putin Interviews” show the strongman president chatting from behind the wheel of a car, in the Kremlin and a country estate as the maverick three-time Oscar winner Stone listens. Stone is best known for Hollywood blockbusters inspired by American history such as “JFK” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” but has previously made films about the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan firebrand Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. He asks Putin whether, as a former KGB agent, he despi...

Putin says Snowden no ‘traitor’ in Oliver Stone interviews

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n US director Oliver Stone’s edgy new interview series, Russian leader Vladimir Putin says he believes intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is no traitor and appears to confirm multiple assassination plots have targeted him. Excerpts released Thursday from “The Putin Interviews” show the strongman president chatting from behind the wheel of a car, in the Kremlin and a country estate as the maverick three-time Oscar winner Stone listens. Stone is best known for Hollywood blockbusters inspired by American history such as “JFK” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” but has previously made films about the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan firebrand Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. He asks Putin whether, as a former KGB agent, he despises Snowden — who was given refuge in Russia after he initiated one of the largest data leaks in US history. Gesticulating at the wheel of a Mercedes with an interpreter sitting behind, Putin stresses Snowden is “not a traitor” and “did not give...

Suicide bombings kill 4 in Cameroon

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A local government official put the death toll at six and said more than 30 people were wounded, 10 seriously, in the twin blasts that tore through the camp in the town of Kolofata at about 6 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET). Officials say a double suicide bombing killed four people and wounded 20 others on Friday at a camp housing civilians displaced by Boko Haram militants in northern Cameroon. A local government official put the death toll at six and said more than 30 people were wounded, 10 seriously, in the twin blasts that tore through the camp in the town of Kolofata at about 6 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET). A police officer said four people were confirmed dead. Both bombers also died. Northern Cameroon has in recent years suffered from the overflow of violence linked to Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist insurgents. Nigerian refugees have flooded across the border and local residents have been forced to flee their homes. Boko Haram launches frequent cross-border raids in a bid t...

Nigeria thrashes Togo in France.

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Three first half goals from the Super Eagles ensured that they continue their unbeaten run under manager Gernot Rohr. The Premier League representation stole the show as a brace from Leicester’s Ahmed Musa in the 3rd and 17th minutes followed by an easy tap in by Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho saw to it that the Hawks of Togo remain without a win in six matches. Musa opened scoring when Togo’s goalkeeper Alassani spilled Iwobi’s cross along Musa’s path, then doubled the scoreline with an assist from Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi. Iheanacho wrapped things up when he easily tapped in an assist from Oghenekaro Etebo. The game saw the likes of Premier League bound Henry Onyekuru, Olanrewaju Kayode and Victor Osimhen make their debut for the senior national team. The team will now return to Nigeria for their all important Nations Cup qualifier against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa billed for June 10th at the Godswill Akpabio Int’l stadium.

Resorts World Manila: At least 36 bodies found at casino complex

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At least 36 bodies have been recovered from a casino and hotel complex in the Philippine capital, Manila, where a lone gunman opened fire overnight. Most of the dead suffocated in thick toxic smoke after the man set fire to casino tables, officials told the BBC. The gunman, whose nationality is not yet known, began shooting in the casino in Resorts World Manila in the early hours of Friday morning. Police said he later killed himself by setting himself on fire, police said. Authorities initially said there were no casualties, but appear to have only found the bodies while sweeping the complex after the gunman's body was recovered. Officials insisted that the incident was a robbery attempt, and was not terrorism-related despite an apparent claim by the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. How did the attack unfold? The man, who has yet to be named, entered the casino shortly after midnight and began firing an assault rifle, sparking widespread panic. 'P...