Diamond Celebrities

Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals on Saturday – including the first African-American — putting his personal stamp on the body that will one day choose his successor. Under the soaring dome of St Peter’s Basilica, the new “princes of the Church” knelt one by one at the feet of the 83-year-old pontiff, who placed […]

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has agreed to call off its eight-month strike which has grounded academic activities in the public universities since March. The union leadership reached the consensus during a meeting with the government team led by the Minister of Labour and Employment,  Dr Chris Ngige, in Abuja, on Friday. The government […]

Arsenal will be the first Premier League club to welcome fans for a competitive fixture since March after confirming 2,000 spectators will be allowed in for their Europa League match against Rapid Vienna on December 3. England will return to a regional tiered system when the national coronavirus lockdown ends on December 2, with those […]

A critically ill Kenyan man, who collapsed in his house and was rushed to hospital, shocked morgue attendants after he regained consciousness as they prepared to embalm him. Peter Kigen, 32, was presumed dead on Tuesday by staff at Kapkatet hospital, in Kericho county, and transferred to the morgue, according to local media. His younger […]

From his birth in 1960 to Argentina’s World Cup triumph in 1986 and his positive drug test at the 1994 finals — here are 10 key dates in the colourful life of Diego Maradona, who died on Wednesday aged 60: – October 30, 1960 – Maradona is born in Lanus, to the south of Buenos Aires. The son […]

US President-elect Joe Biden has called for an end to the “grim season of division”, as the country faces a long, hard winter with Covid-19. In a speech for the Thanksgiving holiday, he said Americans were at war with coronavirus, not each other. He urged people to forgo high-risk holiday traditions, as cases of the […]

The body of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, who died Wednesday, will lie in state at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires during three days of national mourning, the presidency announced. Maradona would lie in state at the Casa Rosada palace so the public could pay homage to the sporting hero “from Thursday until Saturday,” presidency spokesman Mario […]

Nigeria is not included among countries whose nationals would be required to pay as much as a $15,000 bond as a condition for a visa to the U.S., the American government has said. The outgoing administration of President Donald Trump, Monday, introduced a temporary rule which makes it mandatory for the nationals of some countries, […]

The United Nations (UN) Joint Team on HIV/AIDS yesterday said 45,000 people died of living HIV/AIDS rated diseases in Nigeria last year. The team, represented by Dr Fiona Braka from the World Health Organization, stated this in Abuja yesterday during the press conference to commemorate this year’s World AIDS Day organised by the National Agency […]

The naira exchanged to the dollar for 483 in the parallel market on Monday. This was despite the regular interventions in terms of forex injections by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Bureau de Change operators have blamed the depreciation of the naira on the activities of speculators. The President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators […]

The General Services Administration acknowledged Democrat Joe Biden as the apparent winner of the presidential election on Monday, following weeks of inaction, and President Donald Trump called on his agencies to cooperate, Bloomberg reports. “I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my […]

Amid fears of a possible second wave of COVID-19 in the country, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has advised Nigerians to suspend their Christmas and New Year travels to limit the risk of contracting the virus. The chairman of the task force, Boss Mustapha, at a press briefing on Monday said such trips should be […]

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Monday, said the country will exit recession by the first quarter of 2021. Ahmed spoke about the current recession in the country at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, […]

A prominent ally of Donald Trump has urged him to drop his efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the US presidential election. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called the president’s legal team a “national embarrassment”. President Trump has refused to concede the election, making unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud. Many […]