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World number two, Serena Williams, has taken to social media to announce she is pregnant. The 35-year-old posted a picture of herself on Snapchat posing in a mirror with the message: “20 weeks”. This means that Serena, who won a record 23rd Grand Slam in Australia this January, will miss most of the remaining tennis season. These include three Grand Slams: the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. US Open Tennis responded to Williams’ message by saying: “@serenawilliamswill have a new pride & joy to hug and call her own soon! Congratulations on the exciting baby announcement!” The tennis star is engaged to Reddit founder, Alexis Ohanian.

A full list of occupants of Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos where operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered over $43million, has reportedly been obtained by SaharaReporters. The building, located at 16 Osborne Road in Ikoyi, has nine floors of 19 apartments and two penthouses. Former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmed Mu’azu, developed the property and reserved the penthouses, 10A and B; as well as Apartments 11A and 11B for himself. Some of the other occupants in the high-rise building, included a former Guaranty Trust Bank chairman, Fola Adeola and former Anambra Governor, Peter Obi and his wife, whose apartment had been searched by the EFCC . 2A – Ahmed Kida 2B – Ahmed Kida but apartment occupied by Esther Ogbue (a recently retired MD of NNPC) 3A – Kayode Sonaike 3B – Sterling Assets 4A and 4B – Leo Stan Ekeh 5A – Sterling Bank 5B – Damian Dodo, SAN 6A – Mo Abudu 6B – Career Terminal and Logistics Ltd. 7A – Mr. an...

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate suspension Babachir Lawal, the secretary to the government of the federation, SGF, and the Ayo Oke, director general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, as well as an investigation into the allegations against them. Femi Adesina, a spokesperson to President Buhari, disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. He said in that the investigation of Lawal centre around “the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the secretary to the government of the federation, Mr David Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).” “The President has also directed the suspension of the SGF from office pending the outcome of the investigations,” Adesina said. “In a related development, the President has ordered a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic a...

Zamfara State ​​Governor​, Abdulaziz Yari, has again tackled the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, for criticising his response to the outbreak of meningitis. ​”The Emir, and all he wants to do is ride a Rolls Royce in the face of palpable poverty; he shouldn’t engage in throwing accusations at others”, Yari lambasted in a statement on Saturday. ​The lengthy tirade ​Saturday​ ​accused the emir of hypocrisy, and advised him to “practise what he preaches” or “keep his peace”. Below is the governor’s full statement signed by Ibrahim Dosara, his special adviser on communication. “For those who consider the emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II to be anything but a first class intellectual, a consummate banker and a bona fide member of Nigeria’s royalty, the last couple of weeks were a dizzying spectacle of mixed messages on integrity, royalty and wisdom. Within a perimeter of weeks...

The controversy surrounding ownership of the N13bn ($43.4m, N23m and £27,000) found by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, took a dramatic turn on Friday evening when Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and National Intelligence Agency claimed ownership of the money. National Intelligence Agency on Friday said the money belonged to it. A national daily had earlier reported that the money belonged to the NIA. Sources at the agency confirmed to one our correspondents late Friday that the money belonged to the agency and that it had written a formal letter to President Muhammadu Buhari to claim ownership of the money. NIA, which is Nigeria’s foreign intelligence service, explained that the money, which was found on the seventh floor of the building, was approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan for covert operations and security projects covering a period of years. The money was said to have been released in...

The first female Muslim judge in the United States has been found dead on the banks of the Hudson River in New York, police have said. Sheila Abdus-Salaam was discovered fully clothed on the Manhattan side of the river on Wednesday – a mile from her central Harlem home – a day after she was reported missing by her husband. Police said her body showed no obvious signs of trauma or injuries indicating foul play and that a post-mortem examination would determine the cause of death, local media reported. The 65-year-old was the first African-American woman to serve on New York’s highest court and was also an associate judge of the Court of Appeals. New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, said he was proud to have appointed her to the state’s highest court, adding he was “deeply saddened by her passing”. He described her as a “trailblazing jurist whose life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more just New York for all”. ...

The United States has dropped its largest non-nuclear weapon after it targeted ISIS a network of caves and tunnels in eastern Afghanistan. U.S. forces used a GPS-guided GBU-43 bomb, which is 30 feet long and weighs a staggering 21,600 pounds. It is known as the 'Mother Of All Bombs' – a play on 'MOAB,' an acronym that stands for 'Massive Ordnance Air Burst.' A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 300 meters wide after it exploded six feet above the ground. Anyone at the blast site was vaporized. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he was 'very, very proud' and called the operation 'really another successful job. We're very, very proud of our military.' The Pentagon is denying that the attack was a revenge strike despite the fact that it came in the same area of Afghanistan where a Green Beret soldier was killed on Saturday. Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar of the 7th Special Forces Group was cut dow...

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden picked up the phone and called his chief financial officer hours after Dutch police raided his offices. “I trust you have been informed about what happened at the office,” van Beurden said to CFO Simon Henry on the phone on February 17 last year. “So it looks as if they have some form of coordination between the Italian prosecutor, possibly … with a link into the [U.S. Department of Justice], but we’re not sure yet,” van Beurden said, not knowing authorities were listening in on the other end of the line. His suspicions were right, and their subsequent conversation sheds light on Shell’s complicity in one of the largest corruption scandals in Big Oil’s history — after the company vigorously denied any role in it for years. That early morning February raid centered on an oil deal Shell and Italian oil giant Eni struck with Nigeria. They paid the Nigerian government $1.3 billion in 2011 for rights to a giant...

What a relief! So, the Big Brother Naija reality television programme is finally over. It ended Sunday evening with 23-year old Efe Michael Ejemba, University of Jos graduate of Economics and singer winning the N25 million + SUV at stake, with 57.6% of the votes from over 24 million voters across Africa. Warri, where Efe’s family lives, erupted in excitement. At the Multichoice viewing centre in Ikeja, Lagos, where Katung Aduwak took charge so brilliantly, there was a similar eruption of incandescent joy. I was relieved because for about 70 days, the Big Brother Naija show was a big distraction, crass capitalism at its most cynical edge, a source of unmanageable madness in homes and on the streets. Now that it is over, it is time for some honest frank talk for the attention of all stakeholders involved. Let me start with the lessons, on a positive note, before delivering the blows. Lesson one: In a very instructive manner, the Big Brother Naija reality television show promoted the id...

John Onaiyekan, a cardinal and Catholic archbishop of Abuja diocese, says the federal government needs to step up its efforts to rescue the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. He said having cleared Sambisa forest, the government should have made headway in the rescue of the abducted girls. Onaiyekan said this on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 during a solidarity march organised by the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement as part of its campaign for the release of the girls. The movement is commemorating the three years anniversary of the continued captivity of the girls. “The families of the girls are still languishing and we think there is need to bring attention to that. We are told that the Sambisa forest has been cleared totally. So the question we are asking today is where are our girls,” he said. “Government should do more to release the girls and to also address the issue of kidnapping in our country.” Also speaking during the march was Sheik Muhammad Khalid, chief Imam of the nati...

The Trump administration will move forward with the sale of high-tech aircraft to Nigeria for its campaign against Boko Haram,  The Washington Post  has reported, citing U.S. officials. Congress is expected to receive formal notification within weeks, setting in motion a deal with Nigeria that the Obama administration had planned to approve at the very end of Barack Obama’s presidency. The arrangement will call for Nigeria to purchase up to 12 Embraer A-29 Super Tucano aircraft with sophisticated targeting gear for nearly $600 million, one of the officials said. The officials were not authorized to discuss the terms of the sale publicly and requested anonymity to speak about internal diplomatic conversations. Though President Donald Trump has made clear his intention to approve the sale of the aircraft, the National Security Council is still working on the issue. Military sales to several other countries are also expected to be approved but are caught up in an ongoin...

Barely 24 hours after releasing the official music video for his international collaboration dubbed 'Come closer' featuring Canadian rapper, Drake, the clip has amassed over 1 million YouTube views. The tropical/dancehall inspired single which leaked a while ago as “Hush Up The Silence” premiered on OVO Sound Radio on Apple Music . Though Drake’s absence in the video on Friday created mixed reactions shortly after it was released, the video still managed to garner a record breaking number of views. Reacting to the banters on Twitter over Drake’s absence, the “Daddy Yo” crooner took to his Twitter account to clear the air, stating that there was no bad blood between them. “Had a family emergency during one dance shoot and Drake was on tour when we did closer. No bad blood..One Love still”, he said. Obviously happy about th...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Lagos zone, this evening uncovered yet another large sum of suspected laundered money to the tune of N448,850,000 (Four hundred and forty eight million, eight hundred and fifty thousand naira) only in a shop at LEGICO Shopping Plaza, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos. The money stashed in several Ghana Must Go bags were in N500 and N1000 denominations, hidden in a shop awaiting conversion into foreign currency. Relying on information provided by a concerned whistle blower, operatives of the Commision swooped on the shopping complex and sought the identity of the owners of two shops, LS 64 and LS 67 which were under locks and keys. The shops had signages of Bureau de Change. Inquries about the owner of shop 64 indicated he had not been seen for a long time, as they claimed the shop had not been opened for businesss for close to two years. Several calls were put to the owner of shop 67 but there was no response. The attention of th...

The Joint Admission and Registration Board (JAMB) has extended the registration date for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME). The board extended the deadline for sale of forms and registration for the exams from the earlier announced April 19 to May 5. Consequently, the exam body also postponed the 2017 UMTE from May 13 to May 20. The Mock Examination earlier slated for Saturday, had earlier been put on hold. The Board said the postponement of the mock was due to failure from its technical partners. The Registrar of the Board, Is-haq Oloyede, who disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, also apologised to candidates for the sudden changes. He said: “We could not go on with the Mock Examination and hereby announce extension of registration exercise of the 2017 UTME. “Instead of the earlier announced April 19, the deadline for the sale of forms and registration will now extend to Friday, May 5, 2017. Consequently, the 2017 UTME has also been postponed to...

Just months after giving birth to her first child at age 50, Janet Jackson has split with billionaire husband Wissam Al Mana. While one source said the split is amicable and the couple will co-parent their son, others said trouble had been brewing for months. “She thought he had become too controlling during the pregnancy and she had already allowed him to dictate her appearance and even the way she performed at concerts,” the source who works closely with the couple said. Other demands that the “Rhythm Nation” singer gave in to included toning down her 2014 concert tour — wearing clothing that covered her body, instead of the skin-revealing outfits fans had grown to love. She also declined to do music videos that featured any bumping and grinding, trademarks of her work, the source said. “It drove her crazy and she felt she was losing her fan base.” Jackson also resented the reclusiveness of her husband, who rarely met with her friends or family, the source said. Still, the cou...

Skirmishes broke out in Johannesburg as more than 60,000 people marched in South African cities on Friday in largely peaceful protests to demand President Jacob Zuma quit after a cabinet reshuffle triggered the latest crisis of his presidency. In the country's commercial hub Johannesburg, four people were injured after police "fired rubber bullets at protesters who were attacking other protesters with stones," Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesman Wayne Minaar said. Some backers of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) were trying to breach a cordon separating them from members of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). Zuma's sacking of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in last Thursday's reshuffle has outraged allies and opponents alike, undermined his authority and caused rifts in the ANC, which has governed South Africa since the end of white-minority rule in 1994. Fitch on Friday followed S&P Global Ratings and downgraded South Africa to...

A U.S. Navy strike group will be moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea's advancing weapons program. Earlier this month North Korea tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile which only traveled a fraction of its range. The strike group, called Carl Vinson, includes an aircraft carrier and will make its way from Singapore toward the Korean peninsula, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity. "We feel the increased presence is necessary," the official said, citing North Korea's worrisome behavior. This year North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, have repeatedly indicated an intercontinental ballistic missile test or something similar could be coming, possibly as soon as April 15, the 105th birthday of North Korea's founding president and celebrated annually as "the Day of the Sun." Ea...

Twitter Inc is launching a faster version of its mobile service on Wednesday aimed at people with sporadic connections or little data on their smartphone plans, hoping to pick up users in harder-to-reach emerging markets. The company calls the version Twitter Lite and it will be aimed largely at users outside the United States. Twitter Lite works through a web browser, not a stand-alone phone application, but its appearance and functionality are nearly identical to what app users experience, according to a preview shown to Reuters. The launch comes on the heels of similar products from other U.S. tech firms. Facebook Inc (FB.O) released Facebook Lite in 2015 and on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube unveiled a low-data mobile app designed for India. San Francisco-based Twitter lags behind those companies in building a user base. It had 319 million average monthly active users at the end of last year, up 4 percent year-over-year but still a fraction of Facebook's 1.9...

A  Russian  warship armed with cruise missiles is heading to the Syrian coast in the wake of the US’ first direct strike on Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The Admiral Grigorovich has been deployed from the Black Sea to head for the port of Tartus, which houses a Russian naval base. “The ship will operate in the region in accordance to the changing military situation,” state media reported, adding that it carries cruise missiles, a missile defence system, artillery, anti-aircraft guns, torpedoes and can dock a helicopter. The Admiral Grigorovich, which previously  passed through the English Channel  on its way to bomb Aleppo, is one of at least six Russian warships and four support vessels in the eastern Mediterranean. The area was the launch point for 59 cruise missiles launched from two American warships in the early hours of Friday morning, killing at least six Syrian soldiers while destroying planes, ammunition stores and buildings. Russia ...