LAGOS JANUARY 30TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The former head of a Chinese state-owned asset management company was executed Friday on charges of taking bribes in an unusually severe penalty for a recent corruption case. Lai Xiaomin of China Huarong Asset Management Co., was among thousands of officials snared in a long-running anti-graft campaign led by President Xi Jinping….
LAGOS JANUARY 30TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Pirates who kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish-crewed container ship in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday have made their first contact with the shipping company to discuss a ransom, Turkish state media reported on Thursday. “Communication has been established with crew members of the Mozart container ship,” Istanbul-based Boden Shipping, which…
LAGOS JANUARY 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The death of former President Jerry John Rawlings seems to have given some people the boldness to do things that they wouldn’t have gathered the courage to do when he was alive. Apparently, another person has come out claiming that Rawlings was his biological father. A village drunkard identified as Akwasi George…
LAGOS JANUARY 28TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Amnesty International on Thursday accused the Nigerian government of attempting to cover up the killing of a dozen citizens during peaceful protests in Lagos last October. Youth-led demonstrations in Nigeria began against police abuse, quickly spiralling in broader calls for reform. But they ended weeks later when security forces shot at demonstrators…
LAGOS JANUARY 28TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Tanzania’s President John Magufuli said on Wednesday that no lockdown was planned because God would protect people from COVID-19 while homespun precautions such as steam inhalation were better than vaccines. “Vaccines are not good. If they were, then the white man would have brought vaccines for HIV/AIDS,” he said in a speech…
LAGOS JANUARY 27TH (NEWSRANGERS)-South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday urged wealthy countries not to hoard surplus COVID-19 vaccine supplies, adding his voice to calls for global production to be shared more equally. With Africa struggling to secure sufficient vaccines to start countrywide inoculation programmes for its 1.3 billion people, the head of the international…
LAGOS JANUARY 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Pirates who seized 15 sailors when they stormed a Turkish-crewed container ship in the Gulf of Guinea two days ago have not yet made contact with authorities, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Monday. An Azeri sailor was killed when armed attackers boarded the vessel, which was headed to Cape Town from Lagos,…
LAGOS JANUARY 25TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced he has tested positive for Covid-19. The 67-year-old said on Twitter that his symptoms were mild and that he was “optimistic” following the diagnosis. The development comes as Mexico grapples with an upsurge in infections, with deaths nearing 150,000. Mr López Obrador says he…