Author: Opalim Lifted

Veteran CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour cancelled an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after he demanded she wear a headscarf for their meeting in New York. Amanpour pointed out that no previous presidents had requested this when she interviewed them outside Iran. She says a Raisi aide told her it was because of “the situation in Iran”. The death of a woman detained in Iran for allegedly breaking headscarf rules has sparked violent unrest there. Mahsa Amini, 22, fell into a coma last week, hours after morality police arrested her. Officers reportedly beat Ms Amini’s head with a baton and…

President Muhammadu Buhari has described the United States as Nigeria’s main trading partner and one of ‘‘our most important diplomatic partners.’’ This, he said, underscored the need for concerted efforts to increase the volume of bilateral trade. Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s spokesman in a statement, said Buhari atated this at a meeting with the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) at the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum, the meeting was held on the margins of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York, on Thursday. The Nigerian leader told the gathering that in 2020, Nigeria exported over $1.69 billion…

Nearly one year after Microsoft launched its flagship Windows 11, the tech giant has officially rolled out its first major update to the operating system. The update, which is available for free for current Windows 11 users, was released in more than 190 countries on Tuesday. Many of the new features hone in on Microsoft’s vision for the future of hybrid work. “We have formed new habits; and they stuck,” Panos Panay, the EVP and chief product officer of Windows and Devices at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post announcing the update. “Our work is never done to ensure Windows evolves and…

At least 19 people were killed in a flare-up of fighting between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers in south Chad last week, authorities said. Deadly inter-communal conflicts are relatively frequent in Chad, mainly between herders and local farmers who accuse them of grazing animals on their farmland. Chad, a regional power and ally of the West against Islamist militants in West Africa, has been in turmoil since ex-president Idriss Deby was killed on the frontline against rebels in the north last year. The latest violence broke out in the southern rural region of Moyen-Chari, more than 480 kilometres (298 miles)…

Countries on Wednesday pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in additional aid for the Horn of Africa as they sounded the alarm on a drought in the region and looming famines in Somalia and other countries. The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years and experts say the region is on track for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season. The United Nations has warned that parts of Somalia will be hit by famine in coming months. The projection is more severe than in 2011, when famine killed more than a quarter of a million Somalis, around…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday criticised fellow leaders who extend term limits to cling to power, saying this was having a “corrosive” effect, and promised free and fair elections when the country elects his successor in February. Buhari, 79, who took office after defeating a sitting president in elections in 2015, will make way for a new leader in what would be another peaceful transfer of power, helping cement Nigeria’s democratic credentials in a region prone to coups. Nigeria ended decades of military rule in 1999. Speaking at his last United Nations General Assembly, Buhari said Africa’s most populous nation…

A 131-carat white Type IIa diamond was uncovered from the Lulo mine, a 3,000 square km concession in Angola’s Lunda Norte diamond heartland, the country’s state-owned diamond company Endiama announced Wednesday. The diamond was found by Australia-based Lucapa Diamond company, and its partners in Lulo’s Block 19, 11 days after a 160-carat diamond was extracted from the same mine, making it the fourth diamond of over 100 carats to be discovered from the mine this year and the 29th overall, the company said. Located approximately 630 km east of the capital city Luanda, Lulo is the world’s 4th largest diamond…

The Police Command in Niger has arrested two suspects for operating an illegal Health Science College in Bosso Local Government Area of the state. DSP Wasiu Abiodun, the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the development to newsmen on Tuesday in Minna. Abiodun said the two suspects, who posed as the Proprietor and Director of the illegal Excellence College of Health Sciences in Maikunkele, Bosso Local Government Area, were from Shiroro Local Government of Niger and Enugu State respectively. The PPRO said the suspects were arrested on Sept. 9, based on intelligence received by the Command’s Intelligence unit. Fake surgeons…

Nigeria Breweries’ Gulder and Maltina have jointly boosted the ongoing Africa Individual Chess Championships (male and female) in Lagos, which started last weekend. The competition, which will run to September 28, is one of the top events on the African chess calendar. Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF) is hosting the competition with over 10 countries in attendance. Apart from Nigeria, the other participants are Cameroon, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Madagascar, among others. Though with a strong presence in top sports like football and athletics, Nigerian Breweries in the past years have established a…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said the biggest challenge the nation was facing today was on national unity. Osinbajo stated this at a one-day National Unity Conference organised by the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (AANI) in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the conference is “Nigeria’s National Unity in the build-up to the 2023 General Elections”. The Vice President, represented by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, commended the alumni for always coming in to intervene whenever the nation was facing challenges. Nigeria…