Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said Wednesday. Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement. Israel’s security perimeter, which runs along the border with Israel in northern and eastern Gaza, has been a crucial part of the country’s defense for decades, used as a way to protect its citizens living near the territory. Katz didn’t...
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE – PRESIDENT TINUBU RECONSTITUTES NNPC LIMITED BOARD, APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN, GROUP CEO
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a sweeping reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari. President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023. The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman. Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu. Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the...
Cyprus Court Drops All Rape Charges Against Five Israelis After Doubting British Woman’s Credibility
A criminal court in Cyprus has dropped all charges against five Israelis accused of gang-raping a British woman in a hotel room after ruling her testimony as not credible and replete with “fundamental contradictions.” According to a Cyprus News Agency report issued late Monday that cited a criminal court announcement, the court found during closed-door proceedings that most of the contradictions in the woman’s testimony concerned the identification of the perpetrators. The court said the woman’s initial statement to investigators following the Sept. 3, 2023, alleged rape presented a number of “weaknesses,” which under the circumstances weren’t “out of the ordinary.” But...
Muslim Woman Attacked In Library By Woman Who Tried To Set Hijab On Fire, Canadian Police Say
A Canadian Muslim woman was targeted at a public library in what police called an unprovoked weekend attack by a woman who tried to remove and set the woman’s hijab on fire. Durham Regional Police officers responded to an assault call around noon Saturday at the Ajax Public Library in Ontario, about 50 miles east of Toronto. “Officers spoke with the victim who advised she was in the library studying when she was approached by an unknown female,” police said in a news release Sunday. “The female began yelling profanities at the victim and throwing objects at her head.” Police did not...
31-Year-Old Cornell University Student Activist Whose Visa Was Revoked Announces Departure From The U.S.
A Cornell University graduate student whose visa was revoked after he was involved in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its actions against pro-Palestinian student protesters announced Monday that he will be leaving the United States voluntarily. Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, said on X that he made the decision to leave the country “free and with my head held high.” “Given what we have seen across the United States, I have lost faith that a favourable ruling from the courts would guarantee my personal safety and ability to express my beliefs. “I have lost faith I...
Trump To Hold A Meeting On Possible Investors To Buy Tiktok With Possible Ban At Stake
President Donald Trump will hold a Wednesday meeting with aides about possible investors who could buy a stake in TikTok a deal that could potentially stop the social media site from being banned in the United States. The details of the meeting were confirmed by a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. There has been uncertainty about the popular video app after a law took effect on Jan. 19 requiring its China-based parent, ByteDance, to divest its ownership because of national security concerns. After taking office, Trump gave TikTok a 75-day...
U.S. Attorney General Bondi, Directs Prosecutors To Seek Death Penalty For Luigi Mangione, In Unitedhealthcare CEO’s Murder.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that she has directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Bondi described Thompson’s murder as “an act of political violence”, part of her statement read: “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” However, Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said Tuesday that in seeking the death penalty “the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric.” The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate faces separate federal and state...
Val Kilmer, ‘Top Gun’ and Batman star dies at 65
Val Kilmer, the brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” has died. He was 65. Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies. “I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets...
Messi’s Bodyguard Yassine Cheuko Banned from Touchline by the MLS
MLS has banned Lionel Messi’s bodyguard, Yassine Cheuko, from entering the pitch during Inter Miami’s matches. The decision is because the league has decided to take charge of matchday security. Under the new rules, Cheuko is only permitted to enter mixed zones and the locker room. In a recent interview with House of Highlights, he said, “They don’t allow me to be on the field anymore.” He added, “I was in Europe for seven years, working for Ligue 1 and the Champions League, and only six people invaded the pitch. I came to the USA, and in just 20 months,...