Nicki Minaj to headline music festival in Saudi Arabia

Nicki Minaj will perform in Saudi Arabia, it was announced on Wednesday, as the ultraconservative kingdom sheds decades of restrictions on entertainment.

The female rapper is known for her outlandish, provocative style and hits like Anaconda, where she raps about her “big fat” backside. Her lyrics are often laced with profanities and her skin-bearing music videos often include twerking. Christian groups criticised her 2012 Grammy awards performance, which included dancing priests and an exorcism.

Saudi organisers announced she would be the headline act at the Jeddah World Fest on 18 July. The concert, which in line with Saudi laws is alcohol and drug-free, is open to people age 16 and older and will take place at the King Abdullah Sports stadium in the Red Sea city.


Reactions on social media ranged from shock and joy to criticism and disappointment. In a profanity-laced video posted on Twitter and viewed more than 37,000 times, a Saudi woman wearing a loose headscarf accused the Saudi government of hypocrisy for inviting Minaj to perform but requiring women who attend the concert to wear the modest full-length robe known as the abaya. Most Saudi women also veil their hair and faces.

“She’s going to go and shake her ass and all her songs are indecent and about sex and shaking ass and then you tell me to wear the abaya,” the Saudi woman says. “What the hell?”Photo journalist also calls out slapping Senator , Elisha Abbo... says he assaulted me and locked me up

back to meet my family. Till date, he hasn’t paid me the money.”



source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/nicki-minaj-to-headline-music-festival.html

Photo journalist also calls out slapping Senator , Elisha Abbo... says he assaulted me and locked me up

Embattled Adamawa-North lawmaker, Senator Elisha Abbo, has been drawn into a fresh scandal as a photojournalist, Olumuyiwa Owolabi, has accused him of assault and breach of agreement.

Owolabi told The Punch that Abbo not only assaulted him but got the police to lock him up in Adamawa.

He said he first met Abbo in 2014 during the run-up to the June 2014 Ekiti State governorship election which Ayodele Fayose won.

Owolabi, who was the official photographer of Fayose during the election, said he met Abbo in Ekiti State and Abbo told him that he would like him to do some jobs for him.


He said, “The viral video of Senator Elisha Abbo assaulting a young lady isn’t a new to me as I was one of his victims of assault years back.

“I met him during the campaign of former Governor Ayodele Fayose while I was the official photojournalist assigned to Fayose during the electioneering campaign and later head of photojournalists to his deputy after the election.”

The photojournalist said Abbo, who was contesting for senator on the platform of the All Progressives Congress at the time, entered into a contract with him to cover his political activities at the cost of N2.8m.

He said on August 13, 2014, he travelled with Abbo to Yola, Adamawa State, from Abuja by air and they lodged at Lelewa hotel for weeks while campaigning for the primaries which was eventually won by Senator Binta Garba.

The photojournalist said he travelled along with the senator from Adamawa to Mubi, Vintim Muchala to Mubi and later back to Yola after he lost the senatorial primary.

Owolabi said, “On approaching Senator Abbo to enforce the contract agreement we had, he refused to pay. He ignored several pleas for him to just give me part of my money.

“On the fateful day we wanted to travel together to Mubi for the last campaign, Boko Haram invaded the place prior to the day we ought to have travelled. Due to the attack by Boko Haram, I began to plead with him that I needed to leave the state.

“After several text messages and calls put through to him were ignored, I had no choice but to sit in front of his room where he was lodged at Dansoho Hotel, Yola. This was around 5pm.”

The photojournalist alleged that when Abbo saw him, he got so angry that he began to beat him, slapping him repeatedly.

Owolabi said Abbo quickly called a policeman and told the cop that he was a Boko Haram suspect and should be arrested immediately.

The photojournalist further stated, “As soon as he came out, I began to plead with him that I had to go. The next thing he said was that I was embarrassing him. He started beating and slapping me. He told his orderly to put me inside the pickup truck. He told them to point their guns at me and that he would kill me and tell people I was a member of Boko Haram.

“When I heard that statement, I was shocked because I didn’t know anybody there and I couldn’t speak their language fluently. No one could come to my rescue when he brutalised me, causing me to sprain my ankle.

“I began begging him to just leave me and let me go that I would leave the money for him because of his action.”

He alleged that Abbo’s police escort took him to Kaliwa Police Division around 2am with the instruction that he should be shot dead if he failed to comport himself.

Owolabi said Abbo had broken his phone at the time and so he was locked up in the police station without any means of contacting anyone.

The photojournalist added, “He had damaged my phone I couldn’t contact anybody; he tore my clothes and I was virtually naked.

“That very night, on getting to Kaliwa police station, I begged the investigating police officer to please let me use his phone to talk to one of my relatives. That was how I called one of my brothers that pleaded with the IPO to assist me out of the situation.

“The DPO came the following morning and begged him (Abbo) to give me transport fare to go back to meet my family. Till date, he hasn’t paid me the money.”

The photojournalist, who pleaded with Nigerians to help him, also shared photos of private chats he purportedly had with the senator.

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/photo-journalist-also-calls-out.html

AY comedian’s daughter graduates from Lekki British school

2 Dead, 30 car burnt in Lagos pipeline explosion

Two people have died and 30 vehicles burnt in the Ijegun, Lagos pipeline explosion, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency has said.

The spokesperson for the agency said the total loss would be determined at the end of the ongoing firefighting operation.

He noted that the explosion occurred when security agencies intercepted the vandals in the act.

He said, “On arrival of the LRT at the scene of the incident, it was gathered that some vandals were engaged in illegal bunkering activities at Fire Junction, Ijegun, within the vicinity where NNPC pipelines were buried.


“The vandals had already siphoned petrol into a 33,000 litres tanker while a second tanker of the same capacity was being loaded when security agencies suddenly intercepted them.

“While trying to escape, some of the siphoned fuel spilled into the drainage and the vandals were alleged to have set the spilled fuel on fire in a bid to deter the security agencies from apprehending them.

“The fire eventually returned to the pipeline point where the vandals siphoned the fuel and exploded with escalating fire which led to two fatalities and over 30 vehicles burnt.

“The actual loss will be determined upon conducting post disaster enumeration after the fire has been put out.”







source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/2-dead-30-car-burnt-in-lagos-pipeline.html

Kizz Daniel denies supporting Biodun Fatoyinbo, vows to sue media houses that published fake news

Kizz Daniel has denied supporting controversial COZA pastor, Biodun Fatoyinbo in the ongoing rape scandal.

News had gone round yesterday, saying the siger supported him and even called celebrities brainless. Why denying the act on his official instagram page, the singer wrote;

“God will punish you both now and in eternity @iamkyno — you and all the people behind you. I’m coming for you with all I’ve got Oga and I swear, you go feel am.  My attention has been drawn to a publication by the Vanguard newspaper stating that I took sides with the embattled Pastor of COZA , Abidoudn Fatoyinbo.


I will like to categorically state that I never granted any interview with vanguard or any newspaper.

I am currently busy on tour in the US and haven't had the time to discuss the issue in my closet let alone call industry mates names. Please disregard this news article making rounds. It is false and fabricated, I have not spoken to any journalist regarding the said matter or any other matter including music in recent times. .

Any platform(s) that publishes this news or any unverified news about Kizz Daniel and FlyBoy INC. will face legal action

And as for you @iamkyno pls run away as far as you can, I beg you 🏽 @vanguardnews bastards!!!! @iamtimiblaq ti e ma baje patapata ni awsr’’

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/kizz-daniel-denies-supporting-biodun.html

Again, Rooney’s wife, Coleen leaves him with strict set if rules as she aheads back to the UK

Coleen Rooney is reportedly leaving her husband Wayne with a strict set of rules while she moves back to the UK for the summer.

The WAG, 33, is said to be missing Britain so much that she is planning on going back for the next few months with her brood, Kai, nine, Klay, six, Kit, three and Cass, 16 months, while Wayne stays in Washington, D.C. for his football commitments.

And Coleen has now allegedly banned the footballer from partying and boozing and has also demanded daily phone calls with him during her time back at home in Liverpool.


Speaking of Coleen's move back home for the summer, a source has told The Sun: 'Wayne won’t be joining them due to his football commitments, but she’s said parties and boozing is off limits and she’ll be checking in daily with him.'

Touching upon her marital woes in recent months, it was continued: 'She devotes herself to her family and after everything Wayne’s put her through she needs to let her hair down and have fun.

'It’s been a tough year so far and getting back to her roots is exactly what she’s needed.'

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/again-rooneys-wife-coleen-leaves-him.html

Egypt calls on Christie's to stop Tutankhamun bust sale

The Egyptian government has called on the auction house Christie's to halt the sale of a 3,000 year-old bust of the boy king Tutankhamun, due to be held Thursday.

Cairo says the bust was probably stolen from an ancient Egyptian site in the 1970s, something Christie's denies.

Tutankhamun was nine years old when he became Pharaoh around 1336BC. The discovery of his tomb thousands of years later in 1922 caused a sensation, sparking an interest in the reign of the "boy king" that has never waned.

But this sale by Christie's of an 11-inch (28cm) quartz relic


which depicts Tutankhamun's features has been condemned by Egypt's foreign ministry, which says the piece appears to have been stolen from the Karnak Temple complex in the 1970s.

Christie's though, says it would never auction an object over which there were legitimate concerns, and has published a chronology of the relic's owners over the last 50 years.

It shows that the bust was owned by a German prince in the 1970s, but it doesn't explain how the object came to Europe from the Middle East before that time.



source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/egypt-calls-on-christies-to-stop.html

Rape, abuse of women… Tiwa Savage lends her voice

Tiwa Savage has lend her voice on the ongoing crisis in the country against female. The many rape issues and the assault by a young Senator on a woman at a sex shop. She made this known via her instagram saying;

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/rape-abuse-of-women-tiwa-savage-lends.html

Cameroon President's security team sentenced by Swiss court for assaulting journalist

Authorities in Switzerland have handed suspended sentences to at least five members of Cameroon President Paul Biya's security team, after they were arrested on Tuesday in Geneva for an alleged assault on a journalist.

Swiss newspaper Tribune Geneve reports that the five men appeared in court on Wednesday and a sixth member of the team, a woman, had been released as she held a diplomatic passport.

A statement by the regional government said a criminal complaint had been filed by a journalist, working for Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), who alleged that he had been assaulted in front of a hotel while covering a demonstration by opponents of the Cameroonian president last week.


The statement said the journalist was slightly injured and his equipment damaged.

The Geneva-based RTS said the men were sentenced for "duress, damage to property and illegitimate appropriation".

It added that the men received suspended sentences of at least three months. They were immediately released.

President Paul Biya has been in power for more than 36 years and won another seven-year term in 2018.



source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/cameroon-presidents-security-team.html

Manslaughter charges dropped against shot pregnant mum, Marshae Jones

Officials in Alabama have dismissed manslaughter charges against a woman who miscarried after she was shot by someone else, her attorneys have said.

Marshae Jones, 27, was arrested last week after a grand jury indicted her on manslaughter charges, prompting fierce outcry over claims of criminalizing pregnancy, and triggering a broader debate over the rights of pregnant women in a state with the most-restrictive abortion laws in the country.

Jones was five months pregnant when she was allegedly involved in a fight with a woman who police and prosecutors say acted in self-defense when she fired a gun at Jones in December. A grand jury looked at actions by both women and declined to indict Ebony Jemison, who authorities say fired the shot. The jurors instead returned an indictment for Jones.


At the time of the shooting, police said the alleged fight between Jemison and Jones was over the fetus’s father. Pleasant Grove Police Lt. Danny Reid told AL.com that Jones initiated the fight and that an investigation suggested “the only true victim in this was the unborn baby.”

A lack of details in the convoluted case divided many who sought to assign blame in the fetus’s death, a situation exacerbated by Alabama’s broad manslaughter law, which makes it a felony to “recklessly” cause the death of another person. The manslaughter charge also forced the “personhood” debate back into the headlines — should a fetus be granted the rights of a person, and at what point in the pregnancy?

As news of the grand jury’s decision made national headlines, many decried the indictment and found difficult to imagine how Jones, who also has a young daughter, could be found culpable in the fetus’s death when authorities say she did not pull the trigger.

In the face of mounting public backlash, Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington said Wednesday she would not take further legal actions against Jones after reviewing relevant state law and facts in the case. At a news conference, Washington called the case “disturbing and heartbreaking” and told reporters prosecuting Jones was “not in the best interest of justice.”

"An unborn child was tragically lost, and families on both sides of this matter have suffered,’’ Washington said, according to a copy of her comments obtained by The Washington Post. “Nothing we do today or in the future will change that reality.”

Washington said her decision was not a criticism of the grand jury’s decision to indict Jones. The members of the jury, she said, believed someone should have been held accountable for the fetus’s death.

“These citizens took the evidence presented [to] them by the Pleasant Grove Police Department and made what they believed to be a reasonable decision to indict Ms. Jones,” Washington said. “But in the interest of all concerned, we are not prosecuting this case.”

The law firm representing Jones, White Arnold & Dowd, filed a motion to dismiss the charge earlier this week and in a Wednesday statement called Washington’s decision “appropriate."

“We are gratified the District Attorney evaluated the matter and chose not to proceed with a case that was neither reasonable or just,” they wrote. “With the dismissal of charges, the community of support that surrounded Marshae can now channel its immense passion and energy toward ensuring that what happened to Marshae won’t ever happen again.”

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/manslaughter-charges-dropped-against.html

Detained Australian student, Alek Sigley is finally released from North Korea's jail

Australian Alek Sigley who went missing in North Korea last week is "released and safe", Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said.

It comes after a meeting between officials from the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang and the North Korean government.

Australia does not have its own embassy in the North Korean capital.

Mr Sigley, 29, was pursuing a master's degree and running a tourism business in Pyongyang.


It is not known why the student, a fluent Korean speaker, had been detained.

The news of his release was first reported by specialist website NK News which said he was safely in China and would travel on to Japan.

"I'm ok, yeah, I'm good, I'm very good," Mr Sigley is seen saying on footage reportedly showing his arrival in Beijing, according to Australian media.

Then Mr Morrison made the announcement of his release to parliament saying it was the result of "discreet, behind the scenes work of officials in resolving complex and sensitive consular cases".

"We are pleased to announce that Mr Alek Sigley has today been released from detention in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). He is safe and well," Mr Morrison said.



source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/detained-australian-student-alek-sigley.html

26-year-old Nigerian detained in an Indian jail dies

A 26-year-old Nigerian detained since last year in an Indian jail in Mathura has died.

Times of India reported today that the Nigerian identified as Kumbha Roderick, died during treatment at the district hospital on Wednesday morning.

According to police, Kumbha Roderick was arrested on September 30 last year by Mathura police under section 14 of Foreigners Act (overstaying in a foreign country) and sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC along with the relevant sections of IT Act.


Mathura jail superintendent Shailendra Maitrey said that Kumbha was admitted to the jail’s hospital on Tuesday after he complained of uneasiness.

He added that prisoner’s condition started deteriorating on Wednesday morning after he vomited and was rushed to the district hospital where he died during treatment.

The official also said that the exact cause of death would be ascertained only after postmortem.

Chief medical officer RS Maurya said that the inmate was admitted to the district hospital in an unconscious condition around 9.05 am and died at 9.40 am.

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/26-year-old-nigerian-detained-in-indian.html

Obaseki sacks 8 Commissioners, appoints 6 others

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Wednesday announced a major shakeup in his cabinet, sacking eight commissioners in the reshuffle.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie.

The statement also announced the nomination of six persons for appointment as commissioners and the appointment of five Special Advisers.

The statement said: “The Edo State Government has approved the reshuffle of the State Executive Council (EXCO), with the Commissioners named below relieved of their appointments with effect from the date of this announcement.”


The affected Commissioners are: Joseph Ugheoke (Energy and Water Resources), Magdalene Ohenhen (Women Affairs and Social Development), and Engr. Osahon Amiolemen (Infrastructure).

Others are Dr. David Osifo (Health), Mika Amanokha (Youths and Special Duties), Mariam Abubakar (Budget), Barr. Emmanuel Usoh (Wealth Creation, Cooperatives and Employment), Dr. Christopher Adesotu (Science and Technology).

While wishing them well in their future endeavours, the statement advised the outgoing commissioners to handover all government properties in their possession to the Permanent Secretaries in their ministries.

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/obaseki-sacks-8-commissioners-appoints.html

'Libya migrant centre attack may amount to war crime'

An attack which killed more than 44 migrants at a detention centre outside the Libyan capital could constitute a war crime, a UN official says.

More than 130 people were severely injured in the attack, which the Libyan government blamed on an air strike by forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar.
Gen Haftar's forces accuse the government side of shelling the centre.

Most of the dead are believed to be sub-Saharan Africans, attempting to reach Europe from Libya by sea.

Thousands of migrants are held in government-run detention centres.




source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/libya-migrant-centre-attack-may-amount.html

Zimbabwe runs out of travelling passports, as dollar shortage hits hard

At the passport office in Harare on Wednesday, hundreds of people huddled in the morning winter cold after arriving as early as 5.00 a.m. to queue for passports.

They were told to check their documents in 2022.

That is because a special paper and ink used to make passports has to be imported but there is no foreign currency.

Bothwell Mhashu, one of those queuing, said he wanted to escape the economic troubles at home and join his elder brother in Namibia.


He applied for a passport in June 2018 and was supposed to get his document after three months.

“They just told me that my passport is not ready; I have to check again in August.

“This is not fair,’’ a despondent Mhashu said as he left the passport office.

Registrar General, Clemence Masango, declined to comment when contacted.

A hoped-for economic turnaround under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from Robert Mugabe after a 2017 coup, is yet to materialise.

Instead, Zimbabweans are enduring shortages of U.S. dollars, fuel, bread and 15-hour power cuts.

Last week, the government renamed its interim currency, the RTGS dollar, the Zimbabwe dollar and made it the country’s sole legal tender.

That ended a decade of dollarisation and took another step towards re-launching a fully-fledged currency.

In 2008, Zimbabweans slept at the passport office to be first in line to apply as an economic crisis and hyperinflation wrecked the country’s currency under Mugabe.

An ordinary passport costs 53 Zimbabwe dollars ($6.32) while ZW$318 is required for an emergency 24-hour document.

No emergency passports are being issued except for a few senior officials.

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/zimbabwe-runs-out-of-travelling.html

Prince William and Harry to attend first event alone this year amid rift rumours

Rumours of tension between Princes William and Harry are set to briefly be put aside - as the brothers attend their first engagement of the year with no other royals.

The two will take part in the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day on Wednesday next week.

The event, at Billingbear Polo Club in Berkshire, will raise cash for 15 charities supported by William and Harry.

They will compete for the Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Memorial Polo Trophy - named after the late Leicester City chairman, who was an avid polo fan.


Mr Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash at the King Power Stadium in October last year.

The joint appearance comes weeks after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed they are leaving the Royal Foundation  and setting up their own charity.



source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/prince-william-and-harry-to-attend.html

Rapper ASAP Rocky arrested in Stockholm after brawl

American rapper ASAP Rocky was arrested in Stockholm this week, suspected of aggravated assault, after a street brawl part of which was caught on video, Swedish prosecutors said Wednesday.

The incident took place on Sunday and was partly captured in a video published by celebrity news outlet TMZ.

In the video the artist, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, can be seen throwing a young man into the street then aiming several punches at him while the man is on the ground.

Sweden's Prosecution Authority said the artist had been arrested following the incident, on suspicion of aggravated assault, together with three other people. Of the three others, two were suspected of aggravated assault and one of assault.


On Tuesday, the rapper posted his own videos on Instagram, which he said showed the lead up to the clash.

In those videos the musician repeatedly asks the young man and his friend to walk the other way.

Swedish prosecutors have until Saturday to decide whether to formally detain the artist. The Prosecution Authority told AFP they didn't want to comment on the level of evidence since it was "too early in the investigation".

ASAP Rocky was in the Swedish capital for a concert.

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/rapper-asap-rocky-arrested-in-stockholm.html

Fuming bride accuses sister-in-law of trying to upstage her in wedding outfit (see photo)

A woman who wore a white gown to her brother's wedding has been accused of trying to upstage the bride - who has also accused her of doing it on 'purpose to be mean.'

The unnamed sister-in-law raised eyebrows with the 'over the top frock' with some suggesting she 'breached wedding etiquette' as it was a similar colour to the bride's dress.

A stunned guest at the ceremony shared a photo online of the group and said the outfit drama was "still a touchy subject" despite the wedding taking place almost three years ago in the Alps.

The picture shows the newlyweds stood near the groom's sister in her posh frock, which she paired with long black gloves.


A fuming friend of the bride shared the snap on a "wedding shaming" Facebook page and wrote: "Not my wedding but a friend of mine had a really extravagant winter wedding in the Alps.

"Her SIL [sister-in-law] (far left) showed up in a white dress.

"The dress code was black tie and there were no bridesmaids or groomsmen.

"Still a touchy subject so roast away!"

Many criticised the bride's sister-in-law for choosing to wear a 'suspiciously white' gown.

One said: "Imagine trying to steal the limelight with a white dress and over the top gloves... and failing miserably because the bride is a literal goddess and her gown is heavenly."

Another added: "The SIL looks awful in that outfit but next to that bride she looks ten times worse, I doubt anyone could upstage her, she looks stunning."

While a third commented: "I'm going to agree with a lot of the others here, that the bride looks so amazing that it makes the SIL look that much more ridiculous."

Others, however, defended the woman and suggested the dress was more of a cream colour.

source https://www.ladunliadinews.com/2019/07/fuming-bride-accuses-sister-in-law-of.html

Video: Senator Elisha Abbo weeps as he apologises to nigerians over assault on woman

Video: Kwara State Governor AbdulRahaman Abdulrazaq spotted queuing to board a flight