Swiss midfielder Silvan Wallner has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 22, citing his desire to "follow Jesus Christ" and observe the Sabbath as his reasons.
The young defender, who started his professional career with FC Zurich in 2020, has accumulated over 100 appearances, playing for two other clubs, Wil and BW Linz, where he signed a two-year contract in September.
In a statement released by Blau-Weiß Linz, Wallner said, "I am a devout Christian, and I read the Bible. I make my own decisions about my life.
"I wish to follow Jesus Christ, and as a result, the biblical day of rest has become important to me.
"As a footballer, this means that I no longer want to play professionally on Saturdays.
"This is my personal conviction, which I have reached in the last few days. I am not yet a member of any church.
"I say a big thank you to all the people who have accompanied and supported me in my sporting career."
Wallner has played 5 times for Blau-Weiß Linz this season, with his last game a 1-2 defeat against TSV Hartberg at the end of October.
Additionally, Wallner was part of the Swiss U21 national team as recently as October, with his last appearance coming in early September during a 1-2 loss to Albania.
Renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, says it is wrong for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike to give judges houses and cars.
Wike had in October flagged off the Design and Construction of 40 Judges’ Quarters in the Katampe District in the nation’s capital, Abuja, which has generated controversy, with many arguing that it is unethical.
Falana speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, said;
“The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory operates like a state governor by virtue of section 299 of the Constitution.
“So, he cannot say I am going to build 40 houses, 10 shall go to the federal high court, 10 shall go to judges in the FCT high court and 10 shall go to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, no.
“Because you are a minister of the Federal Government like a state governor your budget is limited to the affairs of the FCT.
“So, you cannot as the head of the FCT be dishing out gifts of cars, houses to judges in the federal high court, in the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.
“Number two, you have cases before these courts, on the theory of equality before the court you cannot be seen to be giving cars or houses to the judges who are going to determine your cases,” he said.
The veteran lawyer said this is the reason the autonomy of the judiciary has been constitutionalized, so that the judges have no business going to the executive to buy them cars and houses.
According to Falana, the Constitution has granted financial autonomy to the judiciary which gives it authority to manage its own budget.
The human rights activist also berated Wike over the demolition of private properties in the FCT, saying such demolitions are not authorised under the Urban and Regional Planning Act applicable in the FCT.
“In the FCT, if a house has breached the law, the case must first be taken to the Urban and Regional Planning Board.
“If the property owner loses, they can appeal to the Urban and Regional Tribunal. If that fails, the case may go to the High Court, where an order for demolition may be issued,” he added.
A 35-year-old man Felix, has been found de@d in a mysterious circumstance days after he went missing in the Ojowo area of Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State.
The deceased had arrived the community on Monday, November 11, to pay a visit to his brother, Robert Sunday. After the visit, he was said to have bade his brother farewell at about 9pm and said he was heading back to his own home.
Robert however became apprehensive after he received reports that Felix never got home that night. He reported the matter to the police and a search was launched which proved abortive.
Sadly. after days of searching, Felix's body was found near a stream in the community on November 13 with a wound on the forehead close to the left eye. A team of policemen were alerted and they arrived the scene, evacuated the corpse, and deposited it at Alayangbe Private Morgue for autopsy.
The case was said to have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Ijebu Igbo.
The Controller of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Edo State Command, Martins Moye, has raised alarm over the rising number of irregular migrants entering Nigeria.
He spoke at the 2024 Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) enlightenment campaign against irregular migration in Benin City, Edo State.
The theme of the event was "Say No to Migrant Smuggling. If You Must Migrate, Migrate Safely, Orderly, and Regularly."
Speaking at the event, Moye emphasized the urgency of the campaign given the increasing numbers of irregular migrants.
Assistant Controller of Immigration David Amanahu, a facilitator from NIS headquarters in Abuja, also delivered a message from the Controller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap.
Amanahu noted, "The Controller-General’s message is clear: the NIS is now more focused than ever on border management and migration issues."
Another facilitator, Deputy Superintendent of Immigration Woshak Danladi, outlined the severe dangers of irregular migration.
"Irregular migration can cost you your freedom, and in some cases, even your life.
"There’s a risk of organ harvesting, human rights abuses, and many more dangers," he warned, urging officers to actively educate the public on these risks.
Boris Johnson has warned that Britain may have to send troops to Ukraine if Donald Trump cuts funding to the war torn country when he takes over as President.
The former prime minister told GB News that if Russia gains the upper hand in the conflict, the UK may have to do more to defend Kyiv.
He warned that the US president-elect was listening to some pro-Putin figures in the Republican party with “bonkers” ideas on the war.
Johnson said the decision by the US and its allies to spend billions on helping Ukraine was an “investment” against future expansionism by Russia and China and could prevent the UK having to send ground troops.
If Ukraine goes down, then we face an even bigger threat on our borders, the borders of the European continent wherever the democracies butt up against Russia,” he said.
“So, it’ll be the Baltic states. It’ll be in Georgia. You’ll see the impact of a Ukrainian defeat in the Pacific theatre. You’ll see it in the South China Sea.
“What I’m saying is for people watching, thinking ‘why are we supporting the Ukrainians?’
“It’s because otherwise our collective security will be really degraded by a resurgent Russia threatening all sorts of parts of Europe, and we will then have to pay to send British troops to help defend Ukraine.”
“There’s a front of the Republican Party, quite a lot of them actually, who take the wrong line on Ukraine and who are, frankly, a bit entranced by Vladimir Putin and they have a kind of weird sort of fanboy thing about Putin,” he said.
“You know, taking his shirt off. And it’s creepy, It’s bonkers, it’s wrong. He’s listening to some of those people… he’s hearing all that.
“On the other hand, this is the same Trump who made a huge difference to the fortunes of Ukraine when he authorised the supply of the Javelin shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons.
“If Trump hadn’t done that, then the battle for Kyiv might have been very, very different.”
The former Conservative leader said Trump won the election on the issue of the economy.
“A lot of people looked back to the time of Donald Trump and remembered that things were not only stable, but also quite prosperous and he had a clear and incredible economic message about growth, about tax cuts, about deregulation,” he said.
Johnson said Britain should emulate the Republican’s plan to deport illegal immigrants, saying: “I agree, and I looked at that and I thought we should.
“We’ll see how he gets on because, be in no doubt, the lawyers will be all over it, as they were all over our various projects.
“It’s like I said in April 2022, when I launched the Rwanda scheme, you’ve got to get the legal ducks in a row. And I said to the people, I said to the country that when we launched, that it would only work if we could get the lawyers to back down.
“We live under the rule of law, and we try to protect human rights, but sometimes that protection of rights is done in such a way as to be, I think, unreasonable and against the clear manifesto commitments that the Government has.”
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has announced that it has stopped importing refined petroleum products. Speaking at the 42nd Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) annual international conference and exhibition in Lagos, NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Mele Kyari confirmed that the company is now sourcing fuel exclusively from domestic refineries, including the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
“Today, NNPC does not import any product, we are taking only from domestic refineries,” Kyari stated, highlighting the shift towards a locally sourced supply chain.
In a recent deregulation move, the federal government ended NNPC’s sole off-taker role, allowing other marketers to purchase directly from local refineries. Addressing claims that the NNPC was not supportive of local refineries, Kyari refuted the notion, emphasizing the company’s commitment to domestic refining.
“We are very proud part-owners of Dangote refinery, no doubt about it,” he said. Kyari explained that NNPC’s decision to supply local refineries was based on strategic business insight. “We saw an opportunity that there is a clear market for at least 300,000 barrels of our production; we know that as time moves on, people will start struggling to find markets for their production. Therefore, we saw an opportunity to log supply to the domestic refinery, not just Dangote but any other refinery that operates in the country.”
Addressing calls for Nigeria to fully domesticate its oil, Kyari pointed out that Nigeria’s crude is often blended with lower-quality crude in the global market. “We should never forget that Nigerian crude is ’Lamborghini crude,’” Kyari said, explaining that if all domestic products were derived from high-quality Nigerian crude, it would impact pricing. “Everybody buys Nigerian crude and blends it with dirtier crude to process… no one takes Nigerian crude except one or two refineries that I know.”
Kyari further commented on quality concerns, suggesting that product quality is relative. “You are driving a Keke-Napep and you want Lamborghini fuel, you do not need it. So, the quality issue is a relative thing… we will do everything possible to make sure that we domesticate this.”
The NNPC GCEO also dispelled rumors that the company was reluctant to sell crude to Dangote in naira, refuting claims of sabotage. “There are too many claimants out there, that the NNPC does not want to sell crude to the refinery in naira as a form of sabotage. Far from it!” he said. Kyari explained that selling in naira would be a neutral transaction, adding, “It’s a net zero gain. You lose nothing, you probably gain nothing.”
Kyari praised President Bola Tinubu for backing this approach, noting that settling such transactions domestically would reduce foreign exchange (FX) pressure on the naira. “If you stop the import and sell in naira, what you are simply doing is just a substitution… you would have controlled inflation, and you would have controlled the FX pressure because we would have settled the exchange rate for 50 percent of your imports.”
Former France international footballer Wissam Ben Yedder has been handed a suspended two-year jail sentence for s3xually assaulting a woman in September. The 34-year-old, who previously captained French Ligue 1 side AS Monaco and is the club's second all-time leading goal scorer, was sentenced on Tuesday after being found guilty of the offense.
The incident occurred on the evening of September 6, when Ben Yedder, who had been drinking, met a woman and invited her into his car. The woman later told police that Ben Yedder performed a s3x act in front of her. She immediately filed a complaint with the authorities, and Ben Yedder was arrested later that night.
During the trial, Ben Yedder claimed that he did not remember the events and attributed his actions to alcohol consumption. "I don’t remember anything, I can’t say if I did it. It’s because of alcohol that I’m here," he said. The footballer, who entered a rehab program after the incident, did not attend the sentencing.
In addition to this case, Ben Yedder is facing another trial in December on charges of psychological violence against his wife, as the couple is in the process of divorcing. He is also under investigation for a separate allegation of rape by another woman in the summer of 2023, which he has denied.
Ben Yedder began his professional career at Toulouse before moving to Sevilla in Spain. He was convicted of tax fraud in Spain in 2023, receiving a six-month suspended sentence. He joined Monaco in 2019, scoring 118 goals in 201 appearances, but his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2023-2024 season. He also scored three goals in 19 appearances for the French national team.
A flour-loaded truck that was allegedly being pursued by some soldiers has killed three persons including a lawyer, in Utu Etim Ekpo, the headquarters of Etim Ekpo Local Government Area (LGA), Akwa Ibom State.
Eyewitnesses say the tragedy occurred around 8 p.m. on Monday when a military patrol team began pursuing the truck after its driver failed to stop at a checkpoint near Nkwot Ikot Ebo on the Iwukem-Etim Ekpo-Abak Roadhouse
“The truck, loaded with flour, was coming from the Iwukem direction toward Abak and was flagged down at the soldiers’ checkpoint at Nkwot Ikot Ebo. The driver refused to stop.
The soldiers overtook the truck, but the driver still wouldn’t stop, speeding towards them. The soldiers scrambled for safety as the truck sped down a slope toward the roundabout. It was impossible to navigate safely at that speed.
The driver lost control, veering off the road and crashing into a row of makeshift shops by the motor park, killing the unsuspecting victims instantly, including the lawyer, whose name has yet to be released.”Eno Umanah, a motorcyclist and eyewitness told Vanguard
A female survivor, whose legs were mangled in the crash, was initially turned away by nearby Divine Love Hospital in Utu Ikot Imonte and later by the Utu Etim Ekpo Government Hospital. She was eventually rushed to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), about a 45-minute drive from the accident site.
The state police command nor the military is yet to comment on the incident
A 24-year-old man from Shurugwi, Zimbabwe, Tatenda Masunda, faces murder charges after allegedly administering acid to his three-month-old stepdaughter, leading to her tragic death.
Authorities report that Masunda used acid commonly employed in gold extraction, which caused the infant’s death shortly after ingestion.
Masunda, a resident of Donga and an employee at Nash 1 Mine, appeared before Magistrate Patricia Gwetsai, who ordered him to remain in custody pending further investigation. He is scheduled to appear in court on November 15, 2024, to face charges that have shocked the community.
According to reports, the incident took place last Friday. Masunda allegedly returned home carrying a 200ml spirit bottle filled with acid, which he concealed inside the house. Early in the morning, the child’s mother, Muchaneta Zindera, left home to wash clothes at a community borehole two kilometers away. Masunda reportedly asked her to leave the baby, Tatenda Junior Hwacha, in his care. Once alone with the child, he allegedly administered the acid, causing her to cry in pain.
Shortly after, Masunda took the baby back to her mother before fleeing the area. Recognizing the baby’s deteriorating condition, Zindera rushed her to Zvamabande Hospital, from which she was later transferred to Shurugwi District Hospital. Tragically, the child passed away upon arrival.
Masunda was apprehended in Chegutu on Tuesday, November 12, after evading capture by fleeing Shurugwi. He has since been charged with murder, with prosecutor Tafadzwa Guzete outlining the case against him in court.
Soldiers from the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Barracks, 14 Brigade Headquarters in Ohafia, successfully repelled an attempted attack by gunmen on police and military checkpoints in Abia State.
The gunmen targeted police officers conducting a stop-and-search operation near Aro Ngwa along the Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway. However, soldiers from the 144 Battalion in Ukwa West responded swiftly, preventing the attackers from setting the police patrol van on fire.
Upon learning of the attack, soldiers stationed at Aro Ngwa alerted the Forward Operation Base (FOB) in Aba for additional support. Witnesses described the ensuing gunfire as intense, with several commuters abandoning their vehicles to seek refuge in nearby bushes.
A source within the 14 Brigade, Ohafia, told The Nation that the gunmen were suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), allegedly seeking weapons.
The attackers, who were in a white Sienna SUV, were eventually overpowered by the soldiers’ superior firepower, forcing them to flee into the surrounding bush. During the confrontation, one soldier was wounded and is currently receiving medical treatment. The gunmen ultimately retreated through the Owerrenta axis of the Owerri-Aba Expressway.
