Author: Opalim Lifted

A dangerous combination of record-setting cold temperatures and powerful winds buffeted the northeastern United States on Saturday, creating life-threatening conditions and causing the death of an infant in Massachusetts. New Hampshire’s Mount Washington overnight recorded a wind chill – a measure of how the combined effect of air and wind feels to the skin – of minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit (-78°Celsius), which appeared to be the lowest ever in the United States. The air temperature at the peak reached minus 47 degrees F (-44 C), with winds gusting near 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour), according to the…

Kaduna State government has advised the management of all public hospitals to abide by the law banning cash payments and accept electronic cash transfers. Long before the current national currency swap, the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service had abolished and prohibited cash payments pursuant to the Kaduna State Tax Codification and Consolidation Law, 2020. “There is no justification, therefore, for public hospitals to reject electronic cash transfers,’’ the Executive Chairman of KADIRS, Dr Ziad Abubakar, stated on Saturday in Kaduna. He was reacting to complaints that personnel of some public hospitals insisted on cash payments for services rendered. “The currency…

Pakistan’s former president General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, has died aged 79. The former leader – who was president between 2001 and 2008 – died in Dubai after a long illness, a statement from the country’s army said. He had survived numerous assassination attempts and found himself on the front line of the struggle between militant Islamists and the West. He supported the US “war on terror” after 9/11 despite domestic opposition. In 2008 he suffered defeat in the polls and left the country six months later. When he returned in 2013 to try…

Big Brother Titans, BBTitans housemate, Jenni O, has disclosed that her fellow housemate Khosi’s strategy on the show is to distract the men with her games. Speaking about her view with Biggie on Friday in a diary session, Jenni O said the strategy that Khosi has deployed is to play and distract men. Jenni claims that Khosi was able to penetrate because most of the Titans’ men can’t stand their feet. BBTitans: As an escort, I used kayan mata to attract Senators – Nana “Thabang has a soft spot for her, and I’ve seen Thabang distracted when he’s doing his…

No fewer than three persons are feared to have lost their lives when a building under construction caved in along Isi Ewu road, Nbodo Community in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. It was gathered that the dead victims were laborers working at the site of the two-storey building when the incident occurred. Though details of the incident were sketchy as of the time of filing this report, it was gathered that the incident occurred on Saturday evening, even as some persons sustained injuries and were rushed to the hospital. It was also gathered that the intervention of the…

The anti-fuel/naira scarcity protest in Ibadan turned bloody on its second day yesterday after one person was shot dead by security personnel. Some hoodlums, according to the police in Ibadan, had attacked the security personnel while on patrol around Apata Junction Market. Long queues at ATMs persisted across the country yesterday as people raced against time to dispose of their old naira notes and collect new ones before the expiration of the February 10 deadline given by the Central Bank. The police in Oyo and Kwara states said intelligence at their disposal suggested plots by some people to attack banks…

Pope Francis joined other Christian leaders and the U.N. on Saturday in urging the protection and advancement of women in South Sudan, where rape has been a weapon of war, child brides are common and most girls do not reach secondary education. The rights of girls and women were a recurring theme on the penultimate day of the pope’s visit to South Sudan, an unprecedented joint “pilgrimage of peace” with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields. “Please, protect, respect, appreciate and honour every woman, every girl, young woman, mother and grandmother. Otherwise, there will…

Gunmen have shot dead the presiding President of Ejemekwuru Customary Court in the Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Nnaemeka Ugboma. The gunmen ambushed the court president, dragged him out of the courtroom while the Court was in session, and shot him dead at a close range. Newsmen gathered that the gunmen, who came on motorbikes, shot sporadically as the people fled the scene. The killing of the jurist resulted in pandemonium as litigants, court staff, and even residents fled in different directions. A source said the slain magistrate was a law graduate of the 1991 set and hailed…

The mock accreditation exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  has been marred by low turnout in major cities across Anambra State. Our correspondent who visited some of the designated polling units in Onitsha, Obosi, Nnewi and Awka, on Saturday, observed low turnout of registered voters as of the time of filing this report. Although, at some of the centres visited in Onitsha, Obosi and Awka, the INEC officials present said the Biomodal Voter Accreditation System used for the mock accreditation of voters were working seamlessly and perfectly. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had said the commission took…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday conducted mock accreditation of voters in 436 polling units across 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Newsmen monitored the exercise in different parts of Abuja, where our correspondents observed a low turnout of voters across four polling units where the exercise was held in the federal capital. The PUs are Area 10/Post Office in City Centre Ward, Phase 1-Site 1 (PW I&II)/PW Primary School in Usuma Ward, Kubwa; Bwari Sarki/Near Chief Palace in Bwari Central Ward, and UNG. Phase I/Central Primary School in Karu Ward. City Centre…