Gist Arena

It may come as a shocker but barbaric acts like this does not only happen in Africa. An owl was accused of being a witch and was interrogated by some superstitious Mexican villager after it was set on fire. The animal was filmed being questioned by its captors who had it bound and put in a cage in the city of Durango, north-west Mexico. The female villagers can be heard in the video demanding that the poor animal  in pain reveal its human name and turn itself back into a woman if it wants to be free. The whole incident was filmed and later uploaded to social media by the villagers. The city of Durango, like many places in Mexico, includes the superstition that some women are witches that have the power to turn into animals. The video has since been condemned by social media users who urged the police to track down the women and punish them as a lesson to the others. It is unknown what happened to the owl following its interrogation.

Google Nigeria has presented BellaNaija with the top trending searches for the month of July As expected, the deadly Ebola virus was the number 1 trending term in Nigeria. According to Google, the heightened fear of the virus and other related health issues resulted in the surge of interests in the search. The doctors’ strike also came in 4th. Also on the top trending list are the Hamas-Israeli conflict, the death of lawyer and activist Bamidele Aturu as well as Kefee‘s burial, Malala Yousafzai‘s trip to Nigeria and Jude Okoye‘s wedding to Ifeoma Umeokeke. It was his brother, Peter Okoye‘s absence that really got people searching. And of course the winner of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria winner Iheoma Nnadi. See the list! Top 10 trending searches in Nigeria Ebola Virus Hamas-Isreal conflict Bamidele Aturu Doctors Strike Jude Okoye Wedding Malala Yousafzai John G Lake Iheoma Nnadi (MBGN 2014) Umaru Dikko Kefee’s Burial Top 5 trending musicians in Nig...

Lagos State University students are right now having a party at LH ground at the university campus in celebration of the school fees reversal by Lagos State governor this afternoon.

A group of soldiers who brought back dead and injured soldiers from the besieged town of Gwoza yesterday fired shots at the main gate at Maimalari Barracks, is home to the 7th Division the Nigerian army. Gwoza, located near the border with Cameroon, fell under the control of Islamist insurgents yesterday, the second major town in Borno State to be captured by Boko Haram after the terrorist group seized Damboa on July 21. Two sources at the barracks told SaharaReporters that the soldiers were angry about the number of dead soldiers’ bodies that had to be deposited at a military hospital in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. They added that the commanding officer of the Bama military unit that was sacked by Boko Haram militants is also missing. The military hospital attached to Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri received the remains of dead soldiers as well as those with critical injuries who were brought in overnight from Gwoza, a town overrun and seized by Islamist insurge...

Comedian Julius Agwu has officially declared his intentions to run for governor of Rivers State in 2015. Julius said he decided to join the governorship race after pressure from his people to lead them. The party he will contest under will be unveiled in due course he says. 

Doctors in public hospitals on Thursday suspended a nearly five-week long strike over an Ebola outbreak which has killed two people and infected five others in Lagos. A statement issued by the Nigerian Medical Association cited “the incursion of Ebola into Nigeria” as a main reason for suspending the strike. AFP reports that the emergence of Ebola in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city with more than 20 million people, has created further panic over the worst ever outbreak of the deadly tropical disease. The densely-packed city has a weak public health system which experts say is poorly equipped to manage a significant number of Ebola patients. The state Commissioner  of Health, Jide Idris, late Wednesday appealed to striking doctors to resume work, saying: “We all must come together to address this situation.” The patient who brought the virus to Lagos on July 20, Liberian finance ministry employee Patrick Sawyer, was placed under quarantine at a private hospit...

Godswill Osim Edward, the husband of President Jonathan's daughter Faith Sakwe, has opened up for the first time on why he married her. Speaking with Ovation magazine, Edward said; "What struck me was the humility of her parents, especially her dad. Both of them do not despise people and do not judge you based on your background. When I got to know her background, then I realized that indeed she was from a good home for her to have kept a low profile in school. I could see that she was indeed a replica of her parents. That is rare these days" he said He went further to say that as a young man he knew he would be great in life and so was in search of a homely woman who would help him manage the home front and raise God fearing kids. He says in Faith he found that trait. Continue to read what Faith had to say about her husband... Godswill talks about his love for faith  I can't completely describe how I feel but I can tell you the various definitions o...

You thought the Obamas are tall, well check out the Kagames. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama pictured above with Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, and his daughter, Ange Kagame. See the Obamas with the other African Heads of State after the cut... P resident Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama Greet His Excellency Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of Mali, and Mrs. Keïta Aminata Maiga President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama Greet His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic, and Mrs. Sylvia Bongo Ondimba President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama Greet Mr. Jacob Zuma President of the Republic of South Africa, and Mrs. Nompumelelo Primrose Zuma President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet His Excellency Joseph Kabila Kabange, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet His Exce...

Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian man who brought the Ebola virus into Nigerian, looked “terribly ill” and might have known he was infected with the virus before traveling to Nigeria, the Liberian media is reporting. According to a review of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) images at the James Spriggs Payne’s Airport, Monrovia, by Liberian newspaper, The New Dawn, Mr. Sawyer, also a naturalised American, looked terribly ill and deliberately avoided contacts with people just before boarding the Asky Airline flight that brought him to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. Describing his behaviour as “strange”, the The New Dawn said Mr. Sawyer bore a “sad countenance” like he was troubled and sat alone avoiding bodily contact with other passengers who came close to him at the boarding gate of the James Sprigg Payne’s Airport as he awaits his flight to Lagos. According to Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, Mr Sawyer who was a consultant for the Liberian M...

(CNN) —Donald Trump is tweeting that "We should not be importing (Ebola) to our homeland." An Indiana congressman is worried that refugee children from Central America could pose a public health risk with "Ebola circulating." And the Twitter-sphere is filled with people asking "how can we bring these patients to America," complaining that "We don't have enough problems in America! Let's import Ebola patients!" and speculating that treating them here is "highly irresponsible." But the actual possibility of catching Ebola is incredibly remote. It's a terrifying disease for sure. It typically kills 90% of the people who get it, and this most recent outbreak is the largest in history. But you don't need to panic, experts say, and you definitely don't have to worry about the two American Ebola patients who are being treated in Atlanta. Here are five reasons why: 1. It's fragile. Ebola is an in...

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has directed that the controversial fee hike at the Lagos State University, LASU, be reversed. Mr. Fashola stated this on Thursday at the convocation programme of the university. He said the fees would now be returned to the old charges. The reversal comes after months of protests by students and lecturers of the university.  The Lagos State Government had, earlier in 2011, increased the fees from N25, 000 to N198, 000 for humanities and education, while medical students were to pay N350, 000. After the protests, the state government approved a reduction by 34 to 60 per cent.  That reduction would have seen students pay between N76, 750 and N158, 250 depending on the faculty and year of study. That reduction was still opposed by the students and the lecturers. Thursday’s announcement by the governor could, however, lead to a reversal to the 2011 charges.  Details later…

State makes its case that Oscar Pistorius was a deceitful witness, whose testimony was "absolutely devoid of any truth", as murder trial reaches closing arguments South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius returned to the dock on Thursday for the finale to his gripping murder trial as lawyers present closing arguments in a case that has captured the world's attention. State lawyer Gerrie Nel kicked off a two-day showdown between the country's top legal minds, insisting Pistorius deliberately murdered his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013 and declaring him a "deceitful witness". Pistorius, a double-amputee star sprinter known as the "Blade Runner", has denied the charge in the months-long trial in which he has at times sat weeping and vomiting in the dock as grisly details of Steenkamp's death were presented to the judge. His legal team – led by top defence lawyer Barry Roux – has sought to convince Judge T...

A Mumbai photographer has caused outrage after publishing images which appear to glamorise the attack of a female student on board a New Delhi bus. Claire Cohen asks whether fashion and art that depict crime can add anything positive to the conversation Presumably it seemed like a good idea at the time. But photographer Raj Shetye’s new picture series has sent ripples of anger around the world. Why? ‘The Wrong Turn’, as it’s called, depicts a young, glamorously dressed, Indian woman on a bus, posing being groped and manhandled by a gang of men. In one image she holds her head, while two men attempt to pull her arms apart. In another she’s straddled by a man seemingly naked, but for a pair of boots. A particularly controversial shot shows the model being held in a grip lock by one man, while another pulls her bare leg from her long dress and appears to be kissing her knee. Needless to say, it’s not a huge leap to associate the posed images with the brutal gang rape and ...

Amidst a frightening case of the deadly Ebola  Virus Disease spread in Nigeria, the Presidency has reached out to the United State government to give it some Zmapp, the experimental drug for Ebola. It is shame that we can't seem to do anything in Nigeria without foreign help, in spite of the Billions we make daily. Rather than sponsor researchers to make life better for Nigerians, our government is sponsoring pilgrims who go to those places and come back even more corrupt. Sorry Nigeria, you are serious bleeding. Anyway, President Barack Obama has turned down the request. He said it is “premature” for him to send an experimental drug for the treatment of Ebola Nigeria or any West African country. The situation is now getting critical and our government has been caught napping again... Already, the government of Liberia has declared a state of emergency amid an outbreak that shows no signs of slowing. But Obama said on Wednesday that he lacked enough informatio...