Gist Arena

A pregnant woman and four children were among 15 civilians reportedly killed in a Syrian air force barrel bomb attack in the northern city of Aleppo. Activists on Thursday said the children, who died in the strike in the residential district of Karam al-Beik in the divided city, were all less than 10 years old. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack, adding that the crude explosives-filled container hit a building on Wednesday evening as residents were sitting down to break the daytime fast observed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. An AFP news agency reporter at the scene said men were screaming as they carried the lifeless body of a boy out of the partly collapsed building before covering him with a makeshift shroud. Rescue teams, wearing hard hats with headlamps attached, struggled to pick through the rubble in the darkness, some using just their hands to search for survivors. Karam al-Beik has been under rebel control since 2...

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu says insurgency has worsened since the inauguration of the present administration. He said Boko haram was already being rolled out of Nigeria before the elections but surprisingly they have increased their attacks and spread to other parts of Nigeria  "I am worried about the insurgence of the Boko Haram activities in Nigeria.  Shortly before the inauguration of the present government, the country had almost rolled back Boko Haram and its activities in every part of Nigeria, from Adamawa to Borno to Yobe. I was hoping that when we come back in the 8th Assembly, that I will work with our colleagues from the North-East to develop a plan of action that will help to rehabilitate that part of Nigeria.  I feel so concerned about the suffering of our people from the North-East of Nigeria. I had hoped that by now we would be tasking ourselves on how best to rebuild that part of Nigeria. Regrettably the actions of Bok...

Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, photographed drinking palmwine with other residents at a palmwine joint in the state capital, Ado Ekiti this afternoon. He shared the photos on his twitter handle and wrote "At home with my people at a Palm Wine Joint at Omisanjana area of Ado Ekiti today. Works and no play”. More photos below

Prudencio Ramirez stands accused of killing his 18 year old girlfriend and her three year old son in Washington State. Family members suspect jealousy may have led to the gruesome slayings of the teen and her son, who were found shot and severely burned in a remote part of Franklin County. Maria G. Cruiz-Calvillo, and Luis F. Lopez-Cruz were identified on Monday July 6th as the bodies found last week inside a vehicle that was set on fire in a ravine near the intersection of Scootney and Ridge roads. Luis likely was still alive when the car went up in flames, according to Franklin County coroner. Luis would have turned four years old on today Thursday July 9th... Fragos-Ramirez was arrested hours into the investigation at his home less than a mile from where the bodies were found. Prosecutors say Fragos-Ramirez was deported in 2014 and got back into the country illegally.   Family members had never met Fragos-Ramirez, though Cruiz-Calvillo talked to her mother abo...

The Bayelsa state government paid close to one hundred million naira to an Italian firm, Hacking Team, to hack computers and phones in Nigeria, new information emerging from the firm’s leaked internal data has shown. Hacking Team, notorious for equipping governments with tools to hack citizens’ computers and phones, was itself hacked Sunday night and 415 gigabyte of internal data leaked to the public. Researchers have been pouring through the leaked documents since it was first leaked Sunday night, throwing up many shocking details of the firm’s secret dealings with Bayelsa state and other repressive governments, including Sudan, Russia, and Bahrain. Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES show that the Bayelsa government, a small state in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta, paid Hacking Team N98 million to carry out internet attacks, in what appears to be the most ambitious hacking project by a Nigerian state government. The contract was signed in late 2013, Hacking Team’s interna...

The joy of Africa; the Beauty of West Africa. Please find where Nigeria is to understand what Bliss means!  Nigeria...great Nation! Beautiful People! (MIU, July 2015)

About a week ago, I showed you guys the terrible condition of Adetola street in Aguda, Surulere (see  here )...well, things have changed since then. The construction company assigned to do the road are now working on it. Thank goodness! See more photos BELOW

Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja has granted former Imo state governor, Ikedi Ohakim bail of N270 million in a N270 million fraud case which he is standing trial for. The former governor was arraigned over a N270 million fraud he allegedly committed in 2008 while he was governor.     While delivering his judgement, the judge ordered EFCC officials to seize the former governor's passport and other travel documents and deposit it at the office of the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court until his bail conditions are met. Justice Adeniyi however did not state where the accused will be remanded.  O hakim is standing trial for a three count charge of fraud which includes buying a property in Asokoro, Abuja for  $2.29m and concealing the ownership of the property. He allegedly connived with  Tweenex Consociates H.D. Ltd. ‎to portray him as a tenant in the property.  One of the three count charges against hi...

Article written by freelance Synagogue Church reporter, Ihechukwu Njoku. Read below... Nigerian Prophet T.B. Joshua has launched a scathing attack against the verdict of the coroner’s court in Lagos yesterday which ruled the tragic collapse of a building within his church last year was due to structural failure. "The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations rejects the verdict of the coroner on the grounds that it is unreasonable, one-sided and biased,” a statement released via their official Facebook page read, attributed to Barr. Olalekan Ojo, lead counsel to The SCOAN “The church maintains its stand that the incident was as a result of sabotage,” the statement continued, further adding that the public should not be misled by media reports casting sensational headlines suggesting the church was liable for prosecution over ‘criminal negligence’. The statement highlighted that no evidence was found that The SCOAN hired incompetent professionals or used substandard ma...

A  young university undergraduate many years back once told me how she was rebuked sharply by her then roommate when she said she was a virgin at 24. I understand same fear and shame still permeate the heart of many to disclose their virginity, especially to their wayward peers. Friends, don’t be ashamed or afraid to say you are a virgin. Many of those who rebuke you or make jest of you are doing so out of envy and jealousy. They wished they had kept their virginity but want to discourage and disparage those who chose to keep theirs. To be a virgin in this age and time when sex and sexuality is cheaper than water is a thing of pride! When I meet young and Older single ladies that have kept their virginity I encourage them for keeping their head when others have lost theirs. But we need to understand who is a virgin. A virgin is anyboby that is yet to have sex. He or she is anybody that is still even as was made by God. Manufacturers of products often put the product in ...

A 4-storey building said to be under construction collapsed in the Sabo area of Lagos this afternoon. Not sure if there were people in the building at the time of the collapse. Continue to see more photos from the incident...

In furtherance of our coverage of the happenings at the election petition tribunal, we have discovered an on going battle not known to the non legal mind. We have it on good authority that PDP is doing everything possible to make sure the petition is not heard on merit. We hear that between PDP, Okezie Ikpeazu and INEC who are all respondents ,they have filed more than 5 motions seeking to strike out the petition or otherwise scuttle it without the petition going for hearing. Our investigations show that the APGA team are equal to the task and also experienced in election petition matters. We discovered that they have responded to all issues raised and have Cited authorities to the tribunal to show that, the petition should be heard on merit. Rumours have it that the sum of N5 billion has been earmarked to make sure that the case is killed with the motions without hearing it on the merit, so that by the time APGA has gone on appeal and won the time for t...

Police on Thursday night arrested an acquaintance of a 37-year-old woman found stabbed to death in Matsuyama City last year, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun. Police took Yoshinori Kurumi, a 29-year-old Buddhist monk from Tokushima City, into custody for killing nail artist Miki Kuroda insider her third-floor apartment. The suspect is reported to have repeatedly stalked the victim before he killed her. “She worked part-time in the fuzoku (sex-related) trade, and he was her customer; that’s how they became acquainted. On several occasions, he stalked her. He posted defamatory messages on adult-service promotion sites,” an investigator said. These posts, which described the victim’s ‘sex’ services as “bad”. And surveillance camera footage eventually lead police to Kurumi. The suspect hired a private detective to do a background check on the victim to find out where she lives. On getting to her apartment, the suspect posed as a delivery man. He attached a delive...

Read the powerful story of how Seaman Amaseimogha Paul,  a naval officer who left Bayelsa to Borno state to help fight Boko Haram ensured he died alone after stepping on a landmine and then telling his colleagues to stay far away from the area while he tried to detonate the explosive. His brave story was shared by his colleague, Okunima Patrick. Read it below...

The incident reportedly happened at the Government Secondary School in Ughelli, Delta state. See the graphic pic below.. What could a child have done to be subjected to such torture? Sad. Hopefully his parents got the teacher arrested.

President Buhari who is due to visit President Obama at the White House on  July 20th  says his visit to the White House will help strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and the US. Pres. Buhari said this while receiving the US Deputy Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken at the State House ahead of his  July meeting with President Obama in Washington DC. Continue to see more photos...