Author: damazah@gmail.com

Survivors clawed through mountains of brick and concrete with their bare hands across Venezuela’s earthquake-shattered north on Friday, hushing each other to listen for whispers of life and praying to reach people still trapped under the ruins.At a small hospital in La Guaira, the worst-hit state, Juan David Arsia, 17, said he had spent 21 hours under rubble. “I was there with my mom, and I could hear her screaming,” he said. “I would yell to her, ‘Don’t give up, mom, have faith — don’t give up.’”Under the wreckage with a fractured leg, Mr. Arsia could hear other trapped people…

Children with battered faces and broken legs. A patient facing his third night on a gurney in a hospital yard, his IV held up by a tree branch. A morgue designed to hold two bodies was packed with 30. Deprived of electricity, the morgue’s refrigeration units failed, and the heat accelerated decomposition. The stench was overwhelming.Two days after a pair of history-making earthquakes struck Venezuela, hospitals and morgues in Caracas and the nearby state of La Guaira were overwhelmed with patients, with the dead and with family members hoping to find their loved ones alive. Doctors who have spent years…

Chams Holding Company Plc has announced the appointment of Segun Oloketuyi as the Chairman of its Board of Directors, effective 9 July. The board approved the appointment in line with the company’s governance processes and applicable regulatory requirements, Chams Holding stated in a regulatory filing on Friday. Mr Oloketuyi’s appointment comes as the tenure of the Founder of the Chams Group, Demola Aladekomo, ended after 40 years of strategic leadership at the company. “The Board expresses its sincere appreciation to the outgoing Chairman for his invaluable contributions, exemplary leadership, and dedicated service to the Company,” Chams Holding stated. Before his…

Thousands of Venezuelans are feared dead after two major earthquakes struck the country less than a minute apart on Wednesday evening.People felt the ground shake across the north of the country, including the capital Caracas, as the earthquakes struck just outside the northwestern town of Yumare around 6 pm locally. The second shock, with 7.5 magnitude, was the largest to hit the country since 1900.So far 164 people have been confirmed dead and more than 971 are injured, according to interim president Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in after the US captured the former authoritarian president Nicolás Maduro in January.The…

By Vincent Ujumadu Former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has alleged that there are efforts by the Federal Government to prevent him from participating in the 2027 presidential election, expressing confidence that such attempts would not succeed. Obi made the remarks while speaking at Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State. According to him, despite the challenges facing his political ambition, he remains determined to pursue his presidential bid. “If I tell you about what I am going through today, I won’t be here. Today, everything is being done to ensure that Peter…

The presidential candidate of the The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has expressed disappointment with a court ruling reversing an earlier order to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC as a political party.  PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Friday, set aside its earlier judgement directing INEC to register NDC as a political party. The ruling followed an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP) in which it asked that the December 2025 judgement be set aside because it was not joined in the suit. The judge, Isah Dashen,…

FILE: Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk reacts after defeating Netherlands’ Rico Verhoeven (off frame) by TKO during their WBC World Heavyweight Championship ‘Glory in Giza’ boxing match at the Pyramids of Giza on May 23, 2026. Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP. Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk said on Friday that he was vacating his three boxing world title belts but is not retiring. The 39-year-old Ukrainian, who is unbeaten in his professional career, said that he wanted “to make them free so that the guys who are in line for them can box”. Usyk’s announcement came just a month after he came…

For years, Madonna’s younger brother was one of her closest confidantes. He was a background dancer on her first UK TV appearance, and later become her tour director.But they fell out when Madonna appointed a different director – the choreographer Jamie King – for her Drowned World tour. Things got worse when Christopher wrote a tell-all book, Life With My Sister Madonna, in 2008.The star has previously said that “for a really long time” she had perceived Christopher as one of her “biggest enemies” – but they reconciled before his death.”It was him being ill and reaching out to me…

Renowned gospel music ministry MrM & Revelation is set to receive the Music Icon of the Year award at the upcoming Anambra Man of the Year Award in July this Year. Organisers said the Music Icon of the Year award recognises MrM & Revelation’s remarkable impact on gospel music, their commitment to promoting peace, love and unity, and their role in projecting African gospel music to audiences across the continent and beyond. The honour celebrates a music ministry that has grown from a small collective led by Mr Miracle (MrM) into one of Africa’s most celebrated gospel ensembles, using music…

Pentagon says US ‘conducted strikes against Iran’ on Friday in response to strait of Hormuz ship attackUnited States Central Command, which directs US military forces in the Middle East, said US forces “conducted strikes against Iran, June 26, as a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.The Pentagon statement posted on social media continued: double quotation markU.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran hit M/V Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one-way attack drone. The Singapore-flagged cargo ship was exiting the Strait…