Author: Opalim Lifted

A Delta State-based woman identified simply as Madam Success has been reportedly arrested and remanded in Anambra State for her alleged role in luring four university female students into prostitution in her state. Madam Success was on Friday arraigned before the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Magistrate Court in Awka, where she was denied bail and also remanded. PUNCH Metro gathered that the victims, four female students (names withheld), were lured by Madam Success from Akwa Ibom State to Agbor in Delta State, after initially deceiving them with employment offers. The female students aged between 13 and 15 years, were…

While there’s no denying that Christmas day in Lagos is a special and wonderful time, it’s important to be prepared for the challenges it can present as well. Unfortunately, it was the last day of celebration for this Lagos-based resident. Trigger-happy Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) shoot dead a Lagos-based female lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, in the Ajah area of the state on Christmas Day. The unnamed policeman attached to the Ajah Station and his team were said to have tried to stop Raheem and her family members as they drove back home from a Christmas Day church service. Raheem, it…

Fourteen Iranian fishermen have returned home after years in captivity by al-Shabab militants in Somalia. They were freed after “lengthy negotiations with government officials, tribal chiefs and Somali elders,” Iranian news agency ISNA reports. They were flown back to Iran late on Saturday before being taken to their hometown of Chabahar, in the south. Some of them had been held for as long as eight years after being kidnapped in international waters close to Somalia. The fishermen were freed almost a month after Somali police said they had found 20 foreigners – 14 Iranians and six Pakistanis – near land…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the celebration of Christmas brings hope, joy, God’s Grace and relief to Nigerians. Osinbajo spoke with State House correspondents on Sunday after the Christmas Service at Aso Villa Chapel where he delivered the sermon. According to him, the celebration is good news because Jesus Christ offers himself for the sins of man. 2022 Christmas is unique, says Buhari “My message is the message of Christmas which is the birth of the new covenant; the birth of Grace; God’s Grace and mercy is what we celebrate today because the birth of Jesus Christ is the birth…

A hundred days after they began, the longest running anti-government protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution have shaken the regime, but at a heavy cost to the people. More than 500 protesters, including 69 children, have been killed, according to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA). Two protesters have been executed and at least 26 others face the same fate, after what Amnesty International calls “sham trials”. Although nationwide demonstrations have swept Iran before – once in 2017 lasting until early 2018, and another in November 2019 – the current protests are unique, as they involve people…

Seventy-one Chinese air force aircraft including fighter jets and drones entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in the past 24 hours, the island’s government said on Monday, the largest reported incursion to date. The incursion included 43 Chinese aircraft that crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an unofficial buffer between the two sides that lies within the defence zone, said in a report, as Beijing continues military activities close to the Chinese-claimed island. The official Central News Agency said it was the largest Chinese air force incursion to date, although there was no sense of alarm on the island, which…

The Kogi Government has declared Thursday, Dec. 29, a public holiday to enable residents receive President Muhammadu Buhari, who will be in the state to commission legacy projects. The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Lokoja. Fanwo urged Kogi people to come out e ton-masse to receive the President and display the hospitality the state was known for. Buhari approves N819bn supplementary budget for flood damage for kogi and all affected states He also urged all labour unions and security agencies in the state to ensure full compliance. “The…

King Charles is set to include a tribute to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in his first Christmas message as monarch. An image of Charles delivering his speech, which is due to be broadcast on Christmas Day at 15:00 GMT, shows the King in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. In her final Christmas message, the late Queen spoke of “passing the baton” to the next generation. And her son’s first Christmas Day message will remember her legacy. This will be the first televised annual royal Christmas Day broadcast not to be presented by the late Queen, who appeared in the first…

Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to gather in Bethlehem for a Christmas procession, after the town’s economy was badly hit by lockdowns. Two years of muted celebrations have given way to bustling streets, but numbers have not matched 2019’s record. Palestinian Christians and pilgrims will later attend midnight Mass at the 4th-Century Nativity Church. Festivities follow a deadly escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank and Israel. Scout bands playing bagpipes and drummers escorting church leaders entered Manger Square after making their way from Jerusalem, ahead of midnight Mass at the nearby Church of the Nativity -…

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Owerri Operations Office, on Friday launched a programme tagged ‘Operation Eagle Eye’ in Abia. The exercise which was launched in collaboration with Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), was aimed at reducing accidents during the yuletide. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the officials of NEMA, FRSC and other critical stakeholders visited some parks in Umuahia to enlighten the drivers on how to curb road accidents. Director-General, NEMA, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, said that it was an annual exercise to enlighten the public against traffic crashes, especially during this festive period. Ahmed, who was…