Author: Opalim Lifted

The Nigerian troops have neutralized bandits, rescued captives, captured arms, and cleared bandit hideouts in Kaduna, Niger, and Kano states. Musa Yahaya, Lieutenant Colonel, PRO, 1 Division Nigerian Army, said this on Friday in a statement. Chronicle NG reports, In continuation of the ongoing clearance operation to rid the northwestern part of the country of terrorism and banditry activities, military men of the 1 Division Nigerian Army and Operation Whirl Punch have carried out a series of operations against all criminal elements in the Division’s Area of Responsibility. During these operations, troops have neutralized several bandits, rescued many captives, and…

An influential Malian woman was sentenced on Wednesday to a year’s imprisonment after speaking out against the ruling military and its “failure” to deal with insecurity and inflation, according to her lawyer. She must also pay a fine of one million francs (1,000 euros). “We have appealed,” Rokia Doumbia’s lawyer, Kassoum Tapo, told AFP by telephone. Under the colonial regime that has been in power in Mali since 2020, it is difficult for dissenting voices to make themselves heard without running the risk of being worried. This Sahelian country is confronted with multifaceted violence, including jihadist attacks. Rokia Doumbia, known…

Ethiopian Airlines Group, in collaboration with institutional investors and the Nigerian government, wants to launch Nigeria Air operations in the West African country as early as October. According to Mesfin Tasew, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, the airline, dubbed Nigeria Air, will begin with a combination of two wide-body planes and six narrow-body planes. Ethiopian carriers, the continent’s largest carriers, will gain a presence in Africa’s most populous country, where approximately 23 domestic carriers battle for dominance. Previous attempts by the government to establish a flag carrier have failed. Nigeria Air will be 5% owned…

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has announced the appointment of 47 media aides. Fintiri made the announcement X on Thursday evening. He expressed confidence that the team would serve the people effectively. The statement reads, “I’m pleased to announce the appointment of the following members to constitute my media team: Special Advisers Media and Strategy: 1. Dr. John Ngamsa 2. Babayola Tongo Senior Special Assistants: 1. George Kushi – Senior Special Assistant Media and Publicity 2. Ijafiya Domiya – SSA Digital and Visual Communication 3. Sherif Alhassan – SSA Electronic Media SSA New Media 4. Muhammed Tukur 5. Nurudeen…

Edo has started paying unpaid gratuities to its pensioners, 17 years after it ceased. Mr. Crusoe Osagie, the Edo government’s Special Adviser on Media Projects, said this in Benin on Thursday. He informed reporters that one of the reasons for the payment restart was to mitigate the impact of the loss of fuel subsidy on retirees. He stated that the administration was negotiating terms to guarantee that all overdue gratuities were paid. Edo last paid gratuities in 2006, during the administration of Chief Lucky Igbenedion, report said. Bauchi govt. releases N100m for payment of gratuities to retired civil servants Obaseki,…

The Nigerian government has authorized the administration of federal tertiary hospitals to begin enforcing the “no work, no pay” policy against striking resident doctors. The striking doctors, who are members of the National Association of Resident Doctors, have stayed steadfast, saying that the government’s move has no moral validity. This regulation indicates that doctors who participate in the strike will not be paid on a regular basis during the strike. The decision was issued in a letter dated August 1 and captioned “Re: Incessant Strike Action by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors: Implementation of the Federal Government’s “No work,…

An apparently random stabbing attack in a commuter town near Seoul, the second such rampage in South Korea in less than two weeks, has sparked fear in a country that has long been considered safe with a low murder rate and strict firearm curbs. A man rammed his car into passersby, then got out and stabbed multiple people in a shopping mall in Seongnam on Thursday, police said. He was arrested on site, leaving 14 people wounded, two in critical condition. The unexplained rampage came days after another rare stabbing attack in Seoul, which killed one person and wounded three…

A man in a South Korean commuter town rammed his car into passersby on Thursday, then got out and stabbed some, killing one person and injuring another 12, police and the media said. The unexplained attack in the commuter town of Seongnam near the capital Seoul came days after another rare stabbing attack that killed one person and wounded three others. Police said Thursday’s assailant was arrested after apparently hitting people randomly. Media reports described him as a man in his 20s with a delivery job and suffering from some mental health issues. The attack occurred near Seohyeon station, an…

India on Thursday said it will impose a licencing requirement for imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers with immediate effect, a move that could hit the likes of Apple, Dell, and Samsung hard and force them to boost local manufacturing. Current regulations in India allow companies to import laptops freely, but the new rule mandates a special licence for these products, similar to the restrictions India imposed in 2020 for inbound TV shipments. Industry executives said a licencing regime would mean prolonged wait times for each new model they launch and would come just ahead of the festive season…

Meta Platforms on Wednesday introduced its open-source AI tool called AudioCraft that will help users create music and audio based on text prompts. The AI tool is bundled with three models, AudioGen, EnCodec, and MusicGen, and works for music, sound, compression, and generation, Meta said. MusicGen is trained using company-owned and specifically licenced music, it added. Artists and industry experts have raised concerns over copyright violations as machine learning software works by recognizing and replicating patterns from data scraped from the web. Earlier this year, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) introduced its own experimental audio-generating AI tool called MusicLM.