Theophilus Afe

Fireworks rise about Berlin's Brandenburg Gate in Germany on December 31, 2022. New Year's Eve is a time of hope — and countries around the globe are celebrating in hopes of a better time, despite the war in Europe and the still-lingering coronavirus pandemic. Natural disasters and conflict will mean muted celebrations in parts of the world, including Ukraine All updates in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). 2306: An hour into 2023, Ukraine is reporting fresh explosions around its capital, Kyiv. Kyiv city and region officials said on the Telegram messaging app that air defense systems were working. It was not immediately known whether any targets were hit. 2300: It's officially 2023 in Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm, Belgrade and Warsaw among other European capitals. Several African countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana and Angola are also welcoming the new year. In his New Year address, German Chancellor Olaf Schol...

Joseph Marley, the eldest son of eight-time Grammy-winner Stephen Marley and second grandchild of reggae legend Bob Marley, has died at age 31. The Jamaican-American recording artist and DJ, known professionally as Jo Mersa, was found unresponsive in a vehicle on Tuesday, Dec. 27, according to Kingston, Jamaica-based journalist Abka Fitz-Henley, who was the first to report the news. A representative for Jo Mersa later confirmed the news to Rolling Stone. A cause of death has not been revealed, although South Florida radio station WZPP has reported that the artist died of an asthma attack. Joseph Marley was born on March 12, 1991, in Kingston, and the third-generation Marley grew up surrounded by music, performing onstage at age 4 with Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers — his father, his uncle Ziggy, and his aunts Cedella and Sharon — during that group’s concert finales. He moved to Florida at age 11, where he studied studio engineering and observed his father and u...

Former Pope Benedict XVI leads his final general audience before his retirement in St Peter's Square on February 27, 2013 in Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI has died at his Vatican residence, aged 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health. He led the Catholic Church for less than eight years until, in 2013, he became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican. His successor Pope Francis said he had visited him there frequently. The Vatican said in a statement: "With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. "Further information will be provided as soon as possible." The Vatican said the body of the Pope Emeritus will be placed in St Peter's Basilica from 2 January for "the greeting of the faithful". Pl...

A Solution To Musk's Fear Of Population Collapse? Artificial Womb Facility Could Grow 30,000 Babies A Year Billionaire Elon Musk has frequently spoken about his concerns about underpopulation. He has mentioned that people should focus on having more babies to resolve the problem of low birth rates and population collapse. Earlier this year, Musk shared how the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lower birth rate instead of the "baby boom" expected due to people being forced to stay indoors. Now, a birthing facility could answer Musk's concerns about the world's low birth rates. The world's first artificial womb facility, EctoLife, promises to produce customized babies. Film producer and biotechnologist Hashem Al-Ghaili have created the technology which would allow women who have had their uterus removed to procreate, while also reducing premature births, and combating population declines, reports the Daily Mail. Running on renewable en...

Tributes for Pele poured in from around the world in after his death at the age of 82; Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi among football stars to honour the Brazil legend; Christ the Redeemer and the Wembley arch were both lit up in the colours of Brazil Tributes have poured in for Brazil legend Pele Neymar led the tributes to Pele following his passing aged 82, saying "he's gone but his magic remains". Pele, the Brazil football legend, died on Thursday at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo following a battle with cancer and reaction poured in around the world to remember the only player to have won the World Cup three times. Neymar, who is Brazil's joint-highest scorer in men's international football alongside Pele on 77 goals, posted an emotional message following the death of his idol. Brazil legend Pele dies aged 82 "He's gone but his magic remains. Pelé is forever," Neymar wrote on Instagram. Neyma...

The FIFA World Cup Golden Ball is presented to the best player of the tournament and after scoring 7 goals and registering 3 assists in the 2022 event in Qatar, there was little doubt who would be awarded the honour. Argentina captain Lionel Messi won the Golden Ball and thus became the first player in the history of the tournament to have won the award twice. Messi was adjudged the best player in 2014 as well, when the Albicelestehad finished runners-up to Germany. But there was no stopping the Blue and White machine of Argentina on Sunday night as first-half goals from Messi and Angel Di Maria gave them the advantage against defending champions France. It looked like the match would be settled in 90 minutes but twin strikes from France's hero Kylian Mbappe sent the encounter into extra time. Messi struck again for Argentina but Mbappe became only the second player in history to score a World Cup final hat-trick, to send the match to penalties. Argentina ...

Dina Boluarte was Peru's vice-president before being sworn in as the president There has long been a woman trying - and failing - to become Peru's first female president. But in a surprising turn of events, the woman to be sworn in as Peru's new leader on Wednesday was the relatively unknown Dina Boluarte, and not Keiko Fujimori, who had run for the office three times and lost. Ms Boluarte, a 60-year-old former lawyer, became president almost by accident after her predecessor, Pedro Castillo, was impeached by Congress following his attempt to dissolve the legislative body. As Peru's vice-president and Mr Castillo's running mate, she was next in line to take office and Congress swore her in within hours of impeaching Mr Castillo. Her background is very different to that from Ms Fujimori, the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who grew up in the highest political circles in Lima. Ms Boluarte, on the other hand, wa...

An 18-year-old college student in the state of Arkansas has reportedly become the youngest black mayor to be elected in the US. Jaylen Smith just left high school in May. On Tuesday, he was voted in to lead the rural town of Earle, 30 miles (48km) west of Memphis, Tennessee. He's not the first 18-year-old mayor in US history, but that hasn't stopped his family celebrating the major win. "My mom can't stop crying," Mr Smith told the Washington Post on Wednesday. A Democrat, he won in the town of 1,800 residents as most US political watchers were tuned in to a Senate contest over in Georgia. "It's Time to Build a Better Chapter of Earle, Arkansas," Mr Smith wrote on Facebook to celebrate his victory over the city's street and sanitation superintendent. "I would like to thank all my supporters for stepping up getting people to the polls. I am truly grateful for you all." The vote result was 235...

The reduction of cash withdrawal limits announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday has generated different views from financial experts and other Nigerians. The CBN had in a letter addressed to banks and other financial institutions announced new limits on cash withdrawals over the counter and via Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Point of Sale (PoS) and cheques. The apex bank set N100,000 and N500,000 as the maximum limits for withdrawal over the counter by individuals and corporates respectively with effect from January 9, 2023. The new policy has attracted different reactions, consisting of criticism, commendation and recommendations. Taiwo Oyedele, head of tax and corporate advisory services at PwC, said: “It is clear that the CBN is trying to drive a cashless economy by placing stiffer restrictions on cash withdrawals. However, a more effective strategy could have been to enhance the cashless economy infrastructure to remove or significan...

Nigerian student Aminu Mohammed Adamu was locked up and charged for allegedly defaming Nigeria's first lady, Aisha Buhari. Nigerian student Aminu Mohammed Adamu was locked up and charged for allegedly defaming Nigeria's first lady, Aisha Buhari. Nigeria’s first lady ordered security operatives to detain a student and also supervised his beating at the country’s presidential villa, his lawyer has alleged. Aminu Mohammed Adamu, 24, was detained by police in the capital Abuja over a tweet he posted on June 8 that contained what prosecutors said were defamatory remarks about Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife, his lawyer Agu Chijioke Kingsley told CNN. A defamation lawsuit brought against Adamu by the first lady has since been dropped. According to Kingsley, Adamu, a final year environmental management and toxicology student at a university in northern Nigeria, had been trailed by “plain-clothed security operatives” and arrested at the Federal University,...

Music heavyweight, Oladapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, has broken his silence over his alleged arrest by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, describing the arrest as “misconceived, mischievous and prejudicial to the justice system anywhere in the world.” The pop singer was reportedly arrested and detained, Tuesday, by the anti-graft agency, over fraud related offences. He was accused of conniving with some corrupt government officials to divert hundreds of thousands of naira earmarked by the Nigerian government for N-Power project, an empowerment programme set up by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016, to address youth unemployment and increase social development. The ‘Oliver Twist’ crooner, alongside the corrupt government officials, were said to have introduced ghost beneficiaries into the payroll of the funds, and the monies were later traced to accounts associated with the singer. His law...

The Presidential campaign rally held in Lagos on Monday 5th of December 2022 has come and gone with a very antagonizing and horrifying experience for the masses of Lagos PDP. Masses of the party trooped out to welcome their next President, H. E. Atiku Abubakar but met an event poorly managed and about the worst in our recent history of Presidential campaign rallies in Lagos State. This is definitely the worst rally in the history of the Lagos State PDP. We remember how gammed parked this same TBS was during other Presidential rallies up until even 2019 which all had a massive turnout of members. The rally shows the fraud in selecting JANDOR as the gubernatorial candidate. He openly boasted that he had millions of followers across the State. Why weren't these members present at the venue? The rented APC members of the scam LAGOS 4 LAGOS movement that he used during his declaration have all returned to their party. We also wonder why the N15m followers from Funke Akindele...