NEWS GENIE

    A major drug kingpin operating the notorious Patey Lagos Island drug haven, in Lagos State, Mrs. Sherifat Kehinde Lawal, has been arrested along with six other suspects by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The NDLEA operatives also recovered 5,862 kilograms of assorted illicit drugs including Loud and Codeine in the raid which took place on Saturday. Following credible intelligence and follow-up surveillance on illicit drug dealing in Osho, Gambari, and Beecroft streets, Patey Area of Lagos Island, anti-narcotic officers stormed the Gambari Street base of the drug kingpin where they arrested her and six of her accomplices at 9:30 am Saturday 26th Feb. Other members of the cartel operating in the axis, however, mobilised hoodlums who attacked the operatives with stones, bottles, and guns in a bid to prevent the officers from arresting other kingpins, taking the suspects, already nabbed, and drug exhibits away. Desist or Face Consequences The ND...

    North Korea has accused the United States of being the “root cause of the Ukraine crisis” while defending Russia, in Pyongyang’s first official response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine this week, prompting global outcry and punishing sanctions from the West, some directed against Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. But North Korea, in a muted response issued in the form of a commentary posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website, said the United States was to blame for the unfolding disaster. Washington has pursued “military supremacy in disregard of the legitimate demand of Russia for its security” according to the commentary, attributed to Ri Ji Song, a researcher at the North’s Society for International Politics Study. “The root cause of the Ukrainian crisis also lies in the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the US,” said the post uploaded on the North’s foreign ministry website on Saturday. Ri slammed the US for ho...

    Japanese billionaire Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani said Sunday he will donate $8.7 million to the government of Ukraine, calling Russia’s invasion “a challenge to democracy”. The founder of e-commerce giant Rakuten said in a letter addressed to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky that the donation of 1 billion yen ($8.7 million) will go toward “humanitarian activities to help people in Ukraine who are victims of the violence”. Mikitani said he visited Kyiv in 2019 and met with Zelensky. “My thoughts are with you and Ukraine people,” Mikitani said in his letter. “I believe that the trampling of a peaceful and democratic Ukraine by unjustified force is a challenge to democracy. “I sincerely hope that Russia and Ukraine can resolve this issue peacefully and that Ukraine people can have peace again as soon as possible,” he wrote. Russia’s invasion has prompted broad financial sanctions from major democracies while individuals and organisations across the world have solicited do...

    Pro-Ukraine protests erupted across the world on Saturday, as thousands took to the streets from London to Rome to Barcelona to denounce Russia’s assault on its neighbour.  Moscow’s invasion has sparked global outcry and prompted punishing sanctions from the West, including some against Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. On Saturday, rallies were held in cities across the world to join the chorus of condemnation and urge an end to the bloodshed. Switzerland saw thousands of people gather across the country, including about 1,000 outside the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva. Demonstrators draped in Ukraine’s national colours of blue and yellow flocked to the “Broken Chair” — a large sculpture symbolising the civilian victims of war. The protesters demanded tougher actions from the government, which has so far shied way from imposing strict measures, choosing instead to stick closer to its traditional “neutral” stance. Swiss-based Russians joined i...

  The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, has operationalised the 37 Nigerian Defence Academy Demonstration Battalion in Afaka, Kaduna State. This comes six months after the nation’s premier military institution came under an attack by armed men suspected to be bandits. During the ceremony held on Friday on the premises of the NDA, Yahaya stated that timely review and adjustment of Order of Battle for the Nigerian Army has become imperative due to the fluidity and dynamic nature of contemporary threats to national security. He explained that this necessitated the need to establish the new battalion which he said had been approved by the NDA Council. According to the army chief, the activation of the battalion is a practical demonstration of the force’s commitment to enhancing national security by complementing the capacity development efforts of the NDA, which has the mandate of producing quality junior military officers for the Armed Forces of Nigeria. He stresse...

    The Kremlin on Friday said President Vladimir Putin was ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukraine, as Russian forces approached Kyiv on the second day of Moscow’s invasion. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader was “ready” to send a high-level delegation “for talks with a Ukrainian delegation” to Belarusian capital Minsk, which has previously hosted rounds of peace talks over the Ukraine crisis. He said Putin’s ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, told him that he would “create the conditions” for such a summit. Russia has thousands of troops stationed in Belarus, and Ukraine said it was being attacked from several sides — including from Belarus. READ ALSO :  Retaliatory Measures Will Follow Against Western Sanctions – Kremlin Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had repeatedly called for talks with the Russian leader during a weeks-long diplomatic push in which Western countries tried to deter Putin from launching an...

  A Moroccan former rights minister who became an outspoken government critic was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday on a string of charges, his lawyer said. Mohamed Ziane, 79, had gone on trial last year after he accused the kingdom’s security services of faking a video purporting to show him in a compromising situation with a married woman in a hotel room. The video caused a scandal, but Ziane accused the head of the police and Morocco’s domestic security forces, Abdelatif Hammouchi, of faking the footage. The interior ministry in January last year filed a complaint accusing him of criminally “disseminating false accusations”. A Rabat court on Wednesday “sentenced Mr Ziane to three years in prison and a fine of 5,000 dirhams (about $530)”, lawyer Amal Khalfi told AFP. But she added that “we don’t yet know the details of the verdict. We don’t know which charges were upheld”. Ziane remains at liberty pending an appeal, she said. The former minister had told AFP in Dece...

    The African Union on Thursday condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called for an “immediate ceasefire”, saying the situation risked escalating into “a planetary conflict”.  The bloc’s current chair, Senegalese President Macky Sall, and Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, said in a joint statement they were “extremely concerned” by the invasion. They called on Russia to “respect international law, the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Ukraine”. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, killing dozens as airstrikes hit military installations and ground forces moved in from the north, south and east. The AU leaders said the “very serious and dangerous situation” should be resolved via “political negotiations” overseen by the United Nations. Across Ukraine, at least 68 people were killed Thursday, including soldiers and civilians, according to an AFP tally from Ukr...