Israel’s cabinet voted to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal on Saturday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ending days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend. The ceasefire, set to begin Sunday, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war. It would also enable the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. “The government has approved the hostage return plan”, Netanyahu’s office said early Saturday morning after the cabinet held…
Author: Osas Monday
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Four persons were killed on Friday in a communal clash that occurred at a boundary community linking Akure South and Idanre Local Government Areas of Ondo State. According to sources, indigenes of the two communities had long been laying claim to a disputed territory identified as Gbalegi. The clash comes four days after two persons lost their lives in a communal clash that occurred in Iwaro in the Akoko South West Local Council Area of the state on Monday, over an unresolved land dispute. One of the sources, who requested anonymity, stated that armed thugs in large numbers invaded…
A Pakistan court convicted former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in a graft case on Friday, sentencing Khan to 14 years in prison. Khan, 72, has been held in custody since August 2023 charged in around 200 cases but his party claims the latest conviction was being used to pressure him into stepping back from politics. The conviction came a day after PTI leaders again met the government for talks aimed at easing political tensions. The PTI’s chairman also met the chief of the armed forces. “I will neither make any deal nor seek…
A 43-year-old visa agent, Oluwasegun Abioye, on Thursday appeared before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, for allegedly defrauding a visa seeker of N9m. Abioye, who resides at Agege, Lagos, is facing a two count charge of obtaining money by false pretenses and stealing. The Prosecutor, Insp. John Iberedem, told the court that the defendant allegedly committed the offences on March 12, 2024 at Scheme 1 Estate, Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos. Iberedem alleged that Abioye obtained the sum of N9,026,000 from the complainant, one Kehinde Jegede , on the pretext that he would procure a Canada visa for her.…
The EU is prepared to redeploy a monitoring mission to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after a ceasefire deal to end Israel’s war in the territory, the bloc’s top diplomat said Friday. “We are ready to do it,” foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told journalists after meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa in Brussels. Kallas said the EU needed an invitation from the Palestinian and Israeli sides and agreement from Egypt before it could “go forward”. The 27-nation bloc set up a civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the crossing, but that was suspended two…
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has apprehended 36 scavengers over alleged possession of illicit drugs and weapons in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Commandant, NSCDC FCT Command, Dr Olusola Odumosu, disclosed this, on Friday in Abuja, saying the suspects were caught in various areas of the FCT. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had prohibited activities of scavengers in the FCT and suspended for two weeks operations of pan-takers across the city. Odumosu said that items allegedly recovered from the suspects included four daggers, three Jack knives, two…
With the electorate set to elect chairmen and councillors across the 18 local council areas and 203 wards of Ondo State, some residents have disclosed that they were not aware that the election would be held on Saturday. While speaking to The Guardian, the residents expressed dismay over the inactive sensitisation on the part of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) and the lack of engagement of the electorate on the part of the participating 13 political parties. According to them, they got to know that the council election will be held following the widely reported withdrawal of…
France’s President Emmanuel Macron was in Lebanon on Friday, where he was due to meet his newly-elected counterpart and offer support to leaders seeking to open a new chapter in their country’s turbulent history. After more than two years of a political vacuum at the top, Joseph Aoun was elected president on January 9 and chose Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate. They now face the daunting task of leading Lebanon after a devastating war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah last year, on of the country’s worst economic crisis in history. “Come, come,” he said, leading nursery children…
A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig in the centre of the country on Friday killed four people and wounded several others, the regional governor said. The industrial city, which is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been under persistent Russian bombardment since the beginning of the Kremlin’s invasion in February 2022. “Each such terrorist attack is another reminder of who we are dealing with. Russia will not stop on its own — it can only be stopped by joint pressure. The pressure of everyone in the world who values life,” Zelensky said after…
A shared library, sports fields and fire stations. The American border town of Derby Line and its Canadian twin Stanstead have been living in harmony for more than two centuries, but their bonds are being tested by US President-elect Donald Trump. “There is uncertainty. Are we going to maintain our good relations?” says Jody Stone, the mayor of Stanstead, Quebec. A black line that runs across the floor of the Haskell Library, which also serves as a concert hall, marks the US-Canada border. The front door is on the American side, but Canadians don’t need to go through a…