NEWS

Achievers University, Owo, in Ondo State, has expelled no fewer than 15 female students over acts of indiscipline bordering on the production of s3x videos. The affected students were reportedly found to have violated the institution’s rules and regulations by engaging in the recording and sharing of inappropriate videos. The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof. Bode Ayorinde, disclosed this during the university’s matriculation ceremony held on Friday, January 30, 2026. Ayorinde warned students against behaviours that could jeopardise their academic future, stressing that the university operates a zero-tolerance policy on indiscipline. “You place your phone in front of you, dance nak3d and tag Achievers University—I will dismiss you. Social media should ...

An Abidjan court on Friday sentenced a Malian politician to three years in prison for insulting Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. Mamadou Hawa Gassama, a member of junta-ruled Mali’s transitional parliament, referred to the long-standing Ivorian leader as an “enemy of Mali” during an interview with Malian media in September 2022. Diplomatic relations between Mali and Ivory Coast have been tense since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, which brought General Assimi Goita to power in Bamako. Ouattara has strongly opposed the coups which have shaken several countries in West Africa’s Sahel region in recent years.  Gassama was arrested after a stay in Ivory Coast in July and detained. He was prosecuted for “insulting” the head of state and “disseminating offensive expre...

U.S. President Donald Trump has sued the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for $10 billion over the disclosure of his tax returns to the media in 2019 and 2020. The president sued alongside his two oldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization. The complaint names the IRS and the Treasury Department as defendants. In a complaint filed in Miami federal ‍court, Trump, his adult sons, and his namesake company said the agencies failed to take “mandatory precautions” to prevent former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn from leaking their tax returns to “leftist media outlets”, including the New York Times and ProPublica. The plaintiffs said they suffered “significant and irreparable harm” to their reputations and financial interests, and ma...

The son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has gone on trial on r@pe charges. Marius Borg Hoiby, Mette-Marit's 29-year-old son from a relationship before she married Crown Prince Haakon, has been charged with a total of 38 counts, some of which date back to 2018. He faces up to 16 years in prison if the Oslo district court finds him guilty. The trial, scheduled to last until March 19, is expected to attract intense media coverage. "When it comes to the Norwegian royal family, it is without a doubt the biggest scandal" in its 120-year history, Trond Noren Isaksen, a historian and expert on Norway's monarchy, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "There have been controversies surrounding the choice of spouses, about renovations of the palace and these kinds of thi...

French lawmakers on Wednesday, Jan. 28, unanimously approved a bill seeking to end the notion of "marital duty" following criticism from women's rights groups that it undermines s£xual consent and enables marital r@pe. The text – backed by more than 120 MPs in the lower house National Assembly – clarifies in the civil code that cohabitation does not create any obligation for spouses to have sexual relations. The cross-party bill will now have to go through the Senate upper chamber for approval. The French civil code lists four duties attached to marriage – fidelity, support, assistance and cohabitation – but it does not mention s£xual obligation.  However, older court rulings sometimes interpreted cohabitation as implying a "share...

South Africa’s major cinema chains have withdrawn a documentary on US First Lady Melania Trump just days before its scheduled release, with the local distributor citing “the current climate” as the reason. The documentary, titled Melania, was absent from the listings of Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor cinemas on Thursday, January 29, a day ahead of its planned international release on January 30. Local media reports indicated that the South African distributor, Filmfinity, had abruptly dropped the film. According to the distributor’s head of marketing, Thobashan Govindarajulu, the decision was taken due to the prevailing climate in the country, although no further clarification was provided. Attempts to obtain additional details from the company were unsuccessful. Nu Metro later confirm...

China has carried out the execution of 11 individuals linked to cyber scam centres operating in Myanmar, including figures authorities described as key members of the criminal network, according to reports from state media. The executed individuals were identified as members of the Ming family crime syndicate and were convicted of several serious offences, including intentional homicide, large-scale fraud and running illegal gambling operations. State broadcaster China Central Television reported that the group played a central role in cross-border online and telecommunications scam activities. Cyber scam networks worth billions of dollars have grown rapidly across Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has noted that ...

A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people, including a Colombian lawmaker, Diogenes Quintero, crashed in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border. According to AFP, the aircraft departed from the border city of Cúcuta and lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was scheduled to land in the nearby town of Ocaña at about 5:00 p.m. GMT on January 28. “There are no survivors,” an official of the aviation authority told AFP. The plane was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members.  The government deployed the Colombian Air Force to locate the aircraft and recover the bodies. Local parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo expressed concern over the incident, saying, “We have received with concern the information about the air accident in which my colleague, Diogenes Quinter...

A London bus driver who chased down and restrained a thief after a passenger was robbed has been dismissed from his job, despite police finding that his actions were lawful and proportionate. Mark Hehir was driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in June 2024 when a man boarded the vehicle, snatched a necklace from a female passenger and fled. Acting instinctively, Hehir left the bus and pursued the suspect, successfully recovering the necklace and returning it to the victim. However, because the driver left the bus unattended with the engine running while he chased the suspect, Metroline, the company he had worked for for two years, initiated disciplinary proceedings, accusing him of bringing the company into disrepute. According to tribunal evidence, the suspect later...

The Rwandan government is claiming it is owed £100m by the UK over payments due under an asylum agreement cancelled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Rwanda has filed an international arbitration case, arguing the UK has breached the terms of the deal to send some asylum seekers to the east African nation. Under the deal, which was signed by the previous Conservative government, the UK agreed to make payments to Rwanda to host asylum seekers who had arrived illegally in Britain. In a statement, Rwanda’s government said it had decided to pursue claims in arbitration after facing the UK’s “intransigence on these issues”. A Home Office spokesperson said: “The previous government’s Rwanda policy wasted vast sums of taxpayer time and money. “We will robustly defend ou...