Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

Three hundred couples were on Friday joined together in marital union in a Kebbi State Government-funded mass wedding. The government also provided financial and material support to help the new couples start their new lives. Coordinated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje and the Emir of Gwandu, the ceremony took place at the Emir’s Palace in Birnin Kebbi on Friday. This is the second mass wedding organized under Governor Nasir Idris’s administration. The beneficiaries, drawn from the 21 local government areas of the state, received ₦180,000 each as dowries during the ceremony. The solemnization of the…

…As officials meet with Trump team More than two dozen drug cartel suspects from Mexico — including the man charged in the 1985 slaying of a U.S. drug agent — are in U.S. custody after Mexican officials agreed to send them to the United States, four sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. The 29 people accused of violence and drug trafficking were deported as the Trump administration has turned up pressure on Mexico to curb illegal immigration, cartel activity and fentanyl production with a promised 25% tariff on all Mexican imports set to start next week. “For those…

Skype will ring for the last time on 5 May as owner Microsoft retires the two-decade-old internet calling service that redefined how people connect across borders. Shutting down Skype will help Microsoft focus on its homegrown Teams service by simplifying its communication offerings, the office software giant said on Friday. Founded in 2003, Skype quickly disrupted the landline industry in the early 2000s with its audio and video calls, making the company a household name boasting hundreds of millions of users at its peak. But the platform has struggled to keep up with easier-to-use and more reliable rivals such as…

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he is concerned about the “arbitrary detention” and health of Boualem Sansal, days after the French-Algerian author began a hunger strike over his imprisonment in Algeria. On Tuesday, Pen America issued a statement calling for the immediate release of 75-year-old Sansal, noting that “his hunger strike adds to grave concerns for his wellbeing.” In November, the writer was arrested on national security charges and subsequently hospitalised. A group of prominent writers including Salman Rushdie, Annie Ernaux, Wole Soyinka and Leïla Slimani signed a statement calling for his release. Macron has spoken out about…

An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate and a response to the Israel-Hamas War. Joseph Czuba was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crimes in the Oct. 14, 2023, killing of Wadee Alfayoumi, who was stabbed 26 times, and in the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, who was stabbed more than a dozen times in suburban Chicago. The jury deliberated for just over an hour. The mother and son…

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has declared Saturday, March 1, 2025, as the first day of Ramadan in Nigeria. He said the declaration was based on the sighting of the moon in almost every part of the country earlier on Friday, which is the 29th day of the Month of Shaban and thereby signifies March 1 as the first day of Ramadan 1446. He said, “We got the information from Muslim leaders across the country and we accept the sighting of the moon accordingly.” Abubakar called on the entire Muslim community in the country to start the Ramadan fast…

An American multinational investment bank, Citigroup has mistakenly credited $81 trillion to a customer’s account instead of $280 before reversing the transaction hours later. According to an internal account and two people familiar with the matter, a third employee caught the error one-and-a-half hours after the payment was processed and the transaction was ultimately reversed several hours later, FT said. No funds left Citi, which disclosed the near miss – when a bank processes the wrong amount but is able to recover the funds – to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the…

More than 40 construction workers were missing after an avalanche in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Friday following heavy snowfall, officials said. Rescue teams dug for hours through heavy snow, Ridhim Agarwal of the state disaster relief force said in a statement, adding: “So far, 15 workers are safe while 42 are missing.” The avalanche hit a construction camp in Chamoli district, burying the workers under snow and debris. As soon as the weather conditions improve, high-altitude rescue teams will be deployed by helicopter to the scene, Agarwal added. Deepam Seth, the state’s top police officer, said bad weather…

Multiple passengers were feared killed after a fuel tanker exploded in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Friday morning. According to SaharaReporters, a live video posted by a Facebook user, Orioye Chanter Ijobaibile, showed the raging fire at Iyemanja community, along the expressway in Okolowo axis, Ilorin. In the video, Orioye narrated the horrifying scene, saying, “People are inside the cars, and it is burning. What is even worrisome is that many other trucks that always carry fuel are passing near the fire. That is risky. They may also catch fire. We are just waiting for security operatives to show…

Police in South Korea have summoned a Japanese woman for questioning over allegations that she kissed Jin, a member of the K-pop boy band BTS, without his permission at an event last year. A police official overseeing the case at the Songpa police station in Seoul, the South Korean capital, told NBC News by phone Friday that the woman was being asked to appear for questioning on a sexual harassment allegation “now that we have specified the suspect.” Police launched the investigation after receiving an online complaint, the official said. He declined to disclose the woman’s name, citing privacy laws,…