Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first priest to resign in six centuries. “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,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement. The German pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his shock decision to step down in February 2013. His health had been declining for a long time, but the Vatican revealed on Wednesday that his situation had worsened, while his successor Pope Francis called for Catholics worldwide to pray for him. His death brings to an end an unprecedented situation in which two “men in white” — Benedict and Francis — had co-existed within the walls of the tiny city state. While there is no rulebook for former popes, Benedict’s funeral is expected to be at the...

  Premier League and English Football League clubs are considering to wear black armbands and hold a minute's applause to honour Brazil football legend. Pele was admitted to a hospital in São Paulo in late November for a respiratory infection and for complications related to colon cancer.  The three-time World Cup winner passed away on Thursday at the age of 82. Tributes have poured in from across the world and Brazil has declared three days of national mourning. The Premier League's next round begins with two matches on Friday and concludes on Sunday, with all 10 games paying tribute. The EFL said it would hold a minute's applause before EFL fixtures on Friday and on 1 and 2 January, while players will wear black armbands "in memory of the life of Pele". Football's world governing body Fifa has lowered flags at its headquarters in Switzerland to half-mast for Pele "as a symbol of mourning and respect". The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) says it...

  Joseph "Jo Mersa" Marley, the grandson of reggae legend Bob Marley and son of Grammy Award-winning musician Stephen Marley, has died. He was 31. A South Florida Carribbean radio station,  WZPP , confirmed the news and reported that he suffered from an asthma attack—though his official cause of death still hasn’t been released. Born on March 12, 1991, Joe Mersa Marley spent his early years in Jamaica, where he attended Saints Peter and Paul Preparatory School, before moving to Florida at age 11.  He made his debut in 2014 with the five-track EP titled  Comfortable , which was released on the Marley family’s imprint Ghetto Youths International. He also appeared on a Grammy-winning album   Strictly Roots   by Morgan Heritage.

  The massive storm has killed  at least 49 people  across the U.S. and  causing widespread power outages, Over the Christmas holidays about 17,000 flights were cancelled in the US,  according to Flightaware.com.  3,488 flights was cancelled on Saturday alone, leaving thousands stranded at airports on Christmas Eve. Of the US deaths, 25 are from Erie County in the state of New York, where the city of Buffalo has been hit hard by the blizzard.

  An Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP)  Dambri Vandi , attached to the Ajah Police Station in Lagos, has been detained for allegedly shooting a female lawyer identified as Bolanle Raheem, to death on Sunday, while returning home with her family members from a Christmas outing. An eyewitness who saw the incident narrated to newsmen that the deceased, her sister, and four children were coming from an eatery in their car around 11am when the cop tried to stop them. The State Police Command spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Monday, said the killer police officer had been arrested after he and his team had fled the scene following the shooting. He said;  “The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc has expressed heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Barrister Bolanle Raheem who was shot dead by a police officer in Ajah on Sunday, December 25, 2022. “On the instruction...

  Shell announced on Friday that it has decided to pay 15 million Euros to farmers in Ogoni communities in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta as compensation for damages in a pipe leaks case that was filed over 13 years ago . A Dutch appeals court ruled last year, following 13 years of legal battles, that Shell’s Nigerian branch must pay out for a series of leaks and that the parent company must install new pipeline equipment to prevent further devastating spills. “Under the settlement, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) as operator of the SPDC joint venture, will pay an amount of EUR 15 million for the benefit of the communities and the individual claimants,” it said in a statement. The deal also confirms the installation of a leak detection system on 20 pipeline segments in accordance with the Dutch court ruling and that remediation work has been completed. Despite acknowledging that the settlement follows up on the Dutch court ruling, the oil firm said t...

  The oyo state police command on Thursday, December 22, 2022 paraded suspected killers of the US-based Nigeria born hotelier and a student of the Ladoke Akintola  University of technology , Rachel Opadele.   On July 28, 2022, Gbenga Owolabi, who just returned from the US, was kidnapped by gunmen at his hotel – Tana Suites, in Abaa, Ogbomoso, along with Rachael.  Parading the suspects alongside others, the state Commissioner of Police,  Adebowale Williams, said they were arrested based on credible information provided by one of their victims. “Operatives attached to the Monitoring Unit swung into action and in the process of combing the thick forest alongside local hunters and members of Vigilance group, they stumbled upon where the victim was held captive and rescued him unhurt.” 

  Taliban- led government have announced the closure of universities for women in Afghanistan, according to a letter by the higher education minister. The minister says the move is until further notice. It is expected to take effect immediately. It further limits women's access to formal education, as they were already banned from most secondary schools. Three months ago thousands of girls and women sat university entrance exams across Afghanistan. After the takeover of Afghanistan by the hardline Islamists in August last year, universities were forced to implement new rules including gender-segregated classrooms and entrances, and women were only permitted to be taught by female professors or old men.

  Twitter enjoyers voted  anxiously  in a poll for Elon Musk to step down as chief executive of the social network website.  This comes after Musk who has been in the position for less than two months conducted a poll on Twitter. Musk tweeted a poll via his verified handle Sunday night asking tweeps to vote on whether he should step down as Twitter’s CEO, adding that he would abide by the poll’s results. He tweeted, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” As of Monday morning, with about six hours to the end of the poll, “Yes” was winning by a margin of 56.3% to 43.7%. Since buying Twitter and taking over as CEO in late October, the billionaire owner of Tesla has been involved in a series of controversies on the ‘blue app.’ After buying the company for $44 billion from its former CEO, Jack Dorsey, Musk began to make some controversial changes to the company’s policy and personnel. He sacked several of Twitter’s top executive...

  The Federal Government has declared December 26th and 27th and January 2nd, 2023 as public holidays to make the Christmas and New Year celebrations respectively. Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola confirmed this in a statement signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Belgore Shuaib on Friday. The public holidays, the statement added, are to celebrate Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year in that order. Aregbesola urged Christians to emulate Jesus and reflect on his teachings as they celebrate. “We must imbibe the life of Jesus Christ in His practice and teachings on humility, service, compassion, patience, peace, and righteousness, that His birth signifies,” he said.”This will be the best way to portray Christ and celebrate his birth.” He also called on them not to allow criminal-minded people to push them into creating anarchy in the country. “This calls for deliberate responsibility and discipline on the part of all,” the former governor said, calling on them to “moderately ce...

                                     Prime  Minister Rishi Sunak  . British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday announced to clamp down on illegal immigration, with a promise to end the government’s backlog of asylum applications by the end of next year. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new five-point strategy for dealing with illegal immigration, including plans to fast-track the return of Albanian asylum seekers, and clearing the initial backlog of almost 150,000 asylum cases by the end of next year by doubling the number of caseworkers. “If you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here,” Sunak told parliament. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.” Migrants arriving on small boats has become a major political issue for the Conservative government, pa...

  Morocco became the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup after defeating Portugal 1-0 on Saturday. Youssef En-Nesyri’s first-half header secured a historic win for Morocco, who will play defending champions France or England for a place in the final. Morocco have defeated Belgium, Spain and Portugal, all in a row at the World Cup. It is a groundbreaking stage in World Cup history , Morocco is convincingly moving Africa to the levels typically only reached by European  and South American Soccer teams. In 1990 Cameroon made it to the quarterfinals, also Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.

  Russia released the jailed US basketball star  Brittney Griner  on Thursday in a spectacular prisoner exchange for the notorious arms dealer  Viktor Bout , who had been detained in a United States prison for 12 years. "She's safe. She's on a plane," President Biden  said at the White House , announcing her release."She's on her way home, after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along. This is a day we've worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release." Griner  was convicted on a charge of  attempting to smuggle narcotics into Russia , based on two vape cartridges containing hashish oil that were found in her luggage at an airport near Moscow in February, when she traveled to the country to rejoin her Russian pro team,  UMMC Yekaterinburg .

      D’banj. The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) has  detained Koko Master - Oladapo Oyebanji, more known by his stage name, D’banj. It was reported that D’banj  conspired  with some compromised government officials to introduce ghost beneficiaries into the payroll of N- Power scheme,  a project set up by the  President of Nigeria ,  Muhammadu Buhari  on June 8, 2016 to address the issues of youth unemployment and help increase social development.  The allowance paid to those beneficiaries are then moved to accounts that have now allegedly been linked to the Musician. The anti-corruption agency confirmed the musician's arrest for the diversion of N-Power funds. The Commission said: Several invitations to Mr Oladipo Daniel Oyebanjo to appear before a team of investigators were ignored and not honoured.  "Mr Oyebanjo turned himself in and was taken into custody at the ICPC Headqu...

  Georgia voters reelected Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in the hot Senate runoff election against Republican contender Herschel Walker. Warnock's projected victory was narrow .With 99% of the total vote counted, he won Walker by 50.8% to 49.2%, according to Edison Research.  Democrats have now won three Senate races in the past two years in the former Republican stronghold. Warnock is the first Georgia Democrat to win re-election to the U.S. Senate since Sam Nunn in 1990. 

  Mr. Okoye Samuel Chukwuemeka.   The Magistrate Court in Ota Ogun state Nigeria, presided over by Justice, L.O. Oke today  convicted a fake lawyer, Mr. Okoye Samuel Chukwuemeka parading himself as “Chime Kingsley Ifeanyi” and sentenced him to seven  years imprisonment without option of fine with restitution in the sum of  Fifty Thousand Naira to be made to the Nigerian Bar Association, Ota. In a statement by the Chairman, of the Branch, A.O. Adegoke Esq, he said that prior to  his arrest and conviction, Mr. Okoye Samuel Chukwuemeka conducted his illegal business under the name and style of “CKI LEGAL”. According to him, “Several incriminating documents including lawyer’s seals and filed documents were found in his office and home. The convict was arraigned on a six  counts charges by police from Sango Police Division on September 15, 2022 with trial commencing on the 25th November, 2022. Two  witnesses testified against the convict and bundle of ...

  General Faruk Yahaya. A High Court Sitting in Minna, the Niger State Capital, has issued a warrant of arrest on the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Faruk Yahaya for contempt. A warrant of arrest was also issued against Olugbenga Olabanji, commandant of the training and doctrine command, Minna, over the same offence.  The presiding judge, Justice Halima Abdulmalik said the order followed upon hearing on motion on notice brought before the court in pursuant of order forty two rule ten of the Niger State High Court Civil procedure 2018. Justice Abdulmalik ruled that the order is commuting Yahaya and Olabanji to be kept in Minna correctional custody for contentions of order of this court on 12 October, 2022. According to her, the two suspects are to remain in custody until they purge themselves of the contempt. Justice Abdulmalik then adjourned the case to December 8 for continuation. In November, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court, Abuja sentenced the Inspe...