LAGOS JULY 4TH (NEWSRANGERS)-An Instagram influencer who attracted millions of followers with pictures of a glamorous jet-setting lifestyle has been arrested by Dubai police amid claims of a £350m cyberscam. Raymond Abbas – a Nigerian known to his 2.4 million Instagram followers as “Hushpuppi” – was detained on Thursday night as part of an investigation…
LAGOS JULY 1ST (NEWSRANGERS) – Saudis braced Wednesday for a tripling in value added tax, another unpopular austerity measure after the twin shocks of coronavirus and an oil price slump triggered the kingdom’s worst economic decline in decades. Retailers in the country reported a sharp uptick in sales this week of everything from gold and…
LAGOS JUNE 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Nigeria’s candidate to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) said she feels “strong support” from Africa and expects African leaders to unite behind one candidate as sources following the race said she is gaining broader backing. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former finance and foreign minister who has 25 years experience at the World…
LAGOS JUNE 30TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Nigeria is “saddened” by the sale of two sculptures belonging to the south-eastern Igbo community, an official from the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, has said. A prominent art historian had called on the renowned auction house, Christie’s, to cancel the sale. Prof Chika Okeke-Agulu told the BBC the two…
LAGOS JUNE 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-President Donald Trump’s Twitch account is temporarily suspended from posting because of “hateful conduct,” Twitch said Monday. Trump’s Twitch account is another social platform for his campaign to distribute videos, including rebroadcasts of older events and rallies. One of the offending videos was a recording of the now-infamous rally where Trump said…
LAGOS JUNE 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Iran has issued an arrest warrant for U.S. President Donald Trump and 35 others over the killing of top general Qassem Soleimani and has asked Interpol for help, Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday, according to the Fars news agency. The United States and Interpol both dismissed the idea of acting…
LAGOS JUNE 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-That’s Bill Gates, the Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.26% co-founder whose philanthropic foundation has long funded the global fight against infectious diseases, speaking about the coronavirus pandemic Thursday night during a virtual town hall on CNN. Appearing with anchor Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Gates said the U.S. is “not even close”…
LAGOS JUNE 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-A small-scale miner in Tanzania has become an overnight millionaire after selling two rough Tanzanite stones – the biggest ever find in the country. Saniniu Laizer earned £2.4m ($3.4m) from the country’s mining ministry for the gemstones, which had a combined weight of 15kg (33 lb). “There will be a big party…