A tragic plane crash in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state claimed the lives of all 57 passengers and four crew members on board. The city government of Valinhos, which participated in the rescue and recovery efforts, confirmed in a statement that there were no survivors. Vinhedo, a city with around 76,000 residents, is situated approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo. Firefighters, military police, and state civil defense teams were quickly deployed to the Capela neighborhood in Vinhedo. The ill-fated plane had first flown in April 2010, according to the website planespotters.net.

The Take It Back Movement (TIB), a key organiser of the EndBadGovernance nationwide protests, in collaboration with other protest organisers, has announced a massive one-million-man protest scheduled to take place across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on Saturday, August 10, 2024. According to Mr. Sanyaolu Juwon, the National Coordinator of the movement, this protest marks a pivotal moment in their ongoing nationwide campaign, which began on August 1, 2024. “The Take It Back Movement (TIB), side-by-side with other organizers and organizations, will on August 10, lead a monumental one-million-man protest in each of the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. “This event will mark a critical juncture in our nationwide EndBadGovernanceInNigeria campaign, which began on August 1, 2024,” Juwon stated. Initially planned as a 10-day protest, the campaign has now evolved into a sustained and widespread movement, attracting participants from every part of Nigeria and even from the diaspora.

The English Premier League has announced new rules for the upcoming 2024/25 football season. As the domestic league games begin on Friday, August 16, 2024, with an opening match between Manchester United and Fulham, there will be a significant difference in the rules guiding the games, a statement on the EPL website read on Thursday. “There will be a difference this campaign in how match officials will be applying the rules of the game,” the statement partly read. Subs warming upThe number of substitutes in a single match is five players which started in the previous season. “Given that there were 3.28 goals scored per match last season on average, this change may result in a significant drop in stoppage time this season,” the statement noted.

PUNCH Online reports that ongoing speculations and debates continue regarding whether the Federal government removed the subsidy on PMS as announced by President Bola Tinubu in May 2023. One day, we’re told there’s a subsidy, and the next day, it’s gone—Nigerians deserve the truth. He also criticised the Federal Government’s decision to sell crude oil to Dangote’s refinery in naira, calling it disastrous for the country’s already volatile economy. He said, “This decision to sell crude in naira is a ticking time bomb. Crude oil is our major income generator, bringing in foreign currency that bolsters our external reserves.”“But now, our reserves are already depleted, and this policy could be the final nail in the coffin.”

If he is not poor and does not feel the hardship, why should he then protest on the streets? In the southeast, the silence of the southeasters was a protest to their continuous victimization and marginalization in Nigeria. All these happened despite federal government’s mobilization of resources to a few privileged elitegroups to distance themselves from the protest. To him, therefore, it was inconceivable for anyone to think that he would protest in Nigeria, being a rich person. (gba wire, ma lo sun tyre o, to bagba wire o ma ra four tyres).

The Police Service Commission (PSC) announced on Thursday that the successful candidates from the recently concluded 2022 Police Recruitment exercise are expected to begin training this Saturday, August 10th, at various Police colleges across the country. According to the statement, “The candidates expected to report for training are those who have confirmed their status on the Police Recruitment Portal: https://apply.policerecruitment.gov.ng. “The names of the candidates are already with the management of the colleges and only those whose names are on the list will be admitted. “Only candidates whose names appeared on the agreed portal or who received official messages inviting them to report at the colleges will be allowed for training. Dr. Argungu stated that Commission staff would be sent to the colleges to monitor the candidates’ conduct and disposition during training.

The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has called on the Federal Government to investigate and expose the sponsors of protesters who were flying Russian flags during the recent nationwide hunger protests, which included calls for a military takeover. Afenifere urged President Tinubu to view the nationwide protests, the diversity of participation, and the outcomes in different regions as a clear mandate for restructuring the Nigerian Federation. On the demand to lower food prices, Afenifere suggested this should be addressed by increasing food production, not importation. Finally, the group urged the President to not only accelerate the implementation of the Orosanye Report but also to curtail wasteful, profligate, and self-serving expenditures by public officers. “The waste of our commonwealth on expensive cars, official jets, humongous allowances, and renovations of official residences must stop,” Afenifere said.

Mahindra Scorpio - 5th​The Scorpio, one of the best-selling models for Mahindra in India, registered the sales of 12,237 units, up by 16 percent, as compared to the 10,522 units sold in the corresponding month last year. As a result, the Scorpio brand ranked as the fifth best-selling SUV in India last month.​

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Osogbo, the vendors and sales representatives said that online media had reduced sales of hard copies. Oladayo Salau, a newspaper vendor at Old Garage, Osogbo, said there was little to no sales due to online media. Another newspaper vendor, Shola Akiolu, said that people have not bothered to buy newspapers again since the advent of online media. Deborah Akinloye, a newspaper vendor at Iyana Offa in Osogbo, said that the newspaper business was no longer the way it used to be. Akinloye, who said that she trained two of her children with the profits from the sales of newspapers, said that the online media was making things difficult for her.

After many aborted deadlines, the NIN-SIM linkage issue provoked outrage again last week as telcos blocked SIMs not linked with the owners’ NINs just before the July 31 deadline mandated by the NCC. Introduced in December 2022, the NIN-SIM linkage policy was part of the government’s effort to enshrine a Know-Your-Customer regime, to ensure that no mobile phone user is anonymous in Nigeria. MTN Nigeria had, in its first-quarter 2024 financial report, said 8.6 million lines had been barred. The NCC and NIMC need to collaborate more, while telcos should be ordered to ensure data NIN-SIM linkage becomes more seamless. No subscriber deserves to be told about an unsuccessful NIN-SIM linkage after going through the rigour of capturing at the NIMC centres and linking the same with their SIMs.

ASP Musa Mohammed, the Police Spokesman in Bayelsa told NAN correspondent on telephone that 20 people have been so far confirmed dead, while rescue efforts by the Marine Police unit were still ongoing. The ill-fated cargo boat laden with farm produce from the rural settlement was en route to Swali market in Yenagoa. ADVERTISEMENTHe said that a rescue team of the union, consisting of two-speed boats, had been dispatched to the scene to assist the passengers on board. NAN gathered that the wooden cargo boats were exempted from the state government’s ban on night navigation on waterways. Due to the slow pace of navigation, the cargo boats set sail a day ahead of the targeted weekly market days of Thursdays when farm produce floods the Swali waterside in Yenagoa.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department personnel on the scene of a deadly fight in West Hollywood on Tuesday. Detectives are investigating after what appears to be a road rage-fueled physical altercation following a collision in a West Hollywood parking lot that left a man dead. The incident, according to an LASD news release, occurred in the 7900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard at Hayworth Avenue and was reported at around 1 p.m.A road rage altercation in West Hollywood reportedly turned fatal Tuesday after one driver punched the other. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the incident occurred about 1 p.m. in the 7900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard. Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department personnel on the scene of a deadly fight in West Hollywood on Tuesday.

Zeta Power says it has partnered with an Italian company named Tartarini Auto Industries to begin the importation of Compressed Natural Gas Conversion kits. The Chairman of Zeta Power, Olusegun Aka-Basorun, told our correspondent in an interview that the company was working with the Presidential CNG Initiative to help ensure the availability of conversion kits needed to change petrol-powered vehicles to gas. “The introduction of our CNG conversion kits aligns with our commitment to environmental responsibility and innovation. “We have started the distribution of conversion kits and the setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector. We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation,” Tinubu disclosed.

The report lately that NNPC plans to borrow another $2 billion crude oil-backed loan is worrisome for its dire implication on the future of the country’s economy. Already, Nigeria is suffering the repercussions of oil-backed credit deals and other future contracts the NNPCL has signed. For instance, operators of local private refineries have complained of a shortage of feedstock, a challenge that has forced them into sourcing crude from other countries. Ghana, Guinea, South Sudan, the Republic of Congo, Angola and Zimbabwe are among African countries that have explored RBLs. For Nigeria, it would have made some difference if NNPCL, which has been struggling to meet its production quota, used the facility to augment production efficiency or exploration.

Credit: Ji-In Jung/StanfordShock experiments are widely used to understand the mechanical and electronic properties of matter under extreme conditions, like planetary impacts by meteorites. However, after the shock occurs, a clear description of the post-shock thermal state and its impacts on material properties is still lacking. A shock wave is a large-amplitude mechanical wave across which pressure, density, particle velocity, temperature and other material properties change abruptly as the wave travels through the material. The shock compression process is thermodynamically irreversible, where a substantial portion of the energy in a shock wave goes into raising the entropy and temperature of the material. The high post-shock temperatures may induce phase transformation of materials during shock release."