The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists Movement, IBN, has called for the recolonisation of Nigeria.
The convener of the movement, Mazi Uche Mefor, said this in a statement to newsmen on Thursday in Owerri.
He said the call became necessary because of what he alleged to be a lack of equitable opportunities for Igbos in the political and socio-economic landscape of Nigeria.
According to Mefor, “If one-Nigeria represents the embodiment of black man’s inhumanity towards his fellow black man, if one-Nigeria means an epitome of backwardness and arrested development for the growth and development of its citizens, if it symbolizes perpetual enslavement and marginalization of the South-East region, particularly the Igbos-Biafrans, if it stands for Nigeria’s apartheid-like suppression of the South-Easterners, and if it means an existence akin to hell for its citizens, then let Nigeria be re-colonised.
“The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists Movement (IBN) and the Indigenous People of Igbo Nation for Self-Determination (IPINS) vehemently support this radical proposition. We argue that the continued existence of Nigeria, in its current form, perpetuates a cycle of oppression, discrimination, and violence, particularly against the South-Eastern region.
“These groups have consistently alleged that the South-East region(the Igbos) have long endured the brunt of systemic marginalization and discrimination. For them, the concept of one-Nigeria has been a euphemism for sustained oppression and deprivation. The political and socio-economic landscape of Nigeria has, for decades, failed to offer the Igbo people equitable opportunities or a sense of belonging within the federation. Instead, it has perpetuated a cycle of disenfranchisement and alienation.
“The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists Movement, therefore, sees the alleged overture for the establishment of American and French military bases in Nigeria as a welcome intervention and must be enforced if Nigerian rogue leaders decline. We urge these superpowers, traditionally seen as global guardians of human rights and democracy (if and when they want to), to disregard the UK’s concerns and to stand firm on their commitments to the principle of the responsibility to protect (R2P). This doctrine, born out of the international community’s collective conscience, mandates intervention when a state fails to safeguard its citizens from gross human rights violations.”
“Our call for international intervention, therefore, is not a cry for external dominance but a desperate plea for justice and equity. The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists believe that a reconfiguration of Nigeria’s territorial integrity, supervised by global powers committed to human rights, might be the only viable solution. Such intervention is seen as a last resort, a necessary measure to safeguard the future of a people who have long been denied their fundamental rights.”
The House of Representatives Committee investigating the Public Private Partnership and Concessions programmes of the federal government has threatened to cancel all leases and concessions at the Ministry of Transport.
The committee said the PPP and Concessions agreement between the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, and the Railway Property Management Company Limited, RPMC, may be cancelled over non-compliance with extant laws.
Ademorin Kuye, Chairman, House Committee on Public Assets and Lead Chairman of the investigative committee made this known when the delegation from the Federal Ministry of Transport led by the Permanent Secretary, Pius Oteh appeared before them at the National Assembly.
Oteh told the committee that the ministry has over 170 leases but was unable to provide the relevant documents as required by the lawmakers to prove whether they are in compliance with the extant laws.
One of such required documents is the receipt of payment which the lawmakers said was not attached to the documents submitted by the ministry in disregard to their request.
The committee in its resolution invited the Minister of Transport, Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Railway Corporation and other relevant organisations to appear at their next sitting.
Kuye warned that the committee will not hesitate to invoke relevant constitutional provisions if any organisation fails to honour their invitation.
“As you may be aware, this committee will not hesitate to invoke the relevant constitutional provisions if any head of ministry, agency or department fails to honour the invitation of this committee.
“We can issue an arrest warrant and direct the relevant security agencies to bring such a person here,” he said.
The committee noted that improper management of government assets through public Private Partnership and Concessions has been one of the major challenges in infrastructure development.
The legislators directed the representatives of Nigerian Inland Waterways and Nigerian Port Authority who appeared before them, to come with their Chief Executive Officer in the next sitting. The lawmakers noted that they can only attend to the CEO of organisations and not representatives, except such persons come with an authorisation letter from the CEO.
The House of Representatives through its resolution in February this year mandated the committee on Public Assets and Special Duties to probe Public-Private Partnership initiatives and concession agreements across the country.
The House noted that despite initiating several PPPs and concession programmes, the outcomes have been mixed, with some projects stalled and others failing to yield anticipated results.
Five Israeli soldiers were killed and seven others injured by errant Israeli tank fire in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) made this known in a statement on Thursday.
The casualties were with a force that entered Gaza City and seized buildings as part of a resumed attack on the refugee camp.
Two IDF tanks, positioned several dozen meters away, apparently spotted a gun in a window of one of the buildings and fired two shells towards the target.
The army said it was investigating why the soldiers were misidentified as Palestinian militants.
A total of 626 soldiers have been killed in Hamas’ October 7 attack and Israel’s ensuing attacks on Gaza, according to the IDF tally.
Wunmi, the wife to the late Nigerian singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, has taken to social media to make a plea to her late husband amidst speculations that there is an attempt to cover up his autopsy report.
ASenior Advocate of Nigeria, Wahab Shittu, while addressing journalists after the Coroner’s inquest on Wednesday, disclosed that the toxicology test carried out on the late music star revealed that his cause of death could not be ascertained.
The lawyer revealed that the pathologist, in his submission in court, said that at the time the test was carried out, the body of the singer had already decomposed.
He said: “According to him, the cause of death cannot be determined.
“He gave a lot of reasons. He said by the time they conducted the test, the body had decomposed and that it is not possible for them to determine the cause of death. So the summary he is saying is that the cause of death cannot be ascertained and when you say the cause of death cannot be ascertained, it means it is suspicious, it is not clear, no particular reason.”
Shittu said the pathologist also said the cause of the death could be attributed to a reaction to certain drugs administered to him before he died.
After the crooner inquest sitting and details of the test, Wunmi took to her social media page on Wednesday night to share a photo of Mohbad with the caption ‘Ilerioluwa masun’, which is translated as ‘Ilerioluwa do not sleep’.
Nigerian Grammy-winning singer, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has recently opened up about his reasons for not having children at this stage of his life.
The singer made the revelation during an Instagram live session where he responded to fans’ questions, including his views on fatherhood.
“Why haven’t I had kids yet? Bro, because I don’t want to have kids yet,” he shared openly with his audience.
Addressing rumours and speculations about his fertility, Burna Boy dismissed allegations of impotence with a nonchalant attitude towards the banters.
He pointed out, “Let’s assume that it is true that I couldn’t even have kids, you know that there’s something called IVF? But that is not even true.”
Burna Boy, aged 32, emphasized his unreadiness to start a family, citing the inability to dedicate the necessary time and attention a child would need from a parent.
He highlighted the profound love and support he has received from his parents, which sets a high standard for the kind of father he aspires to be.
“Have you seen my mum the way she loves me? Have you seen my dad the way he loves me? I know I can’t give that to anyone right now with the life I’m living,” Burna Boy expressed, adding that he would consider fatherhood when he is more settled and able to be there for his children every day.
Untreated eating disorders can have serious consequences on physical and emotional well-being.
Eating disorders affect all people from different ages and backgrounds and have serious physical and emotional consequences
Untreated eating disorders can lead to severe health complications, and treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach involving medical, nutritional, and psychological interventions
Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that can have serious consequences on both physical and emotional well-being.
They affect people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds, and it’s essential to recognise the signs, understand the potential health risks, and know the available treatment options.
Types of eating disorders
1. Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is characterised by an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted body image.
Individuals with anorexia often restrict their food intake severely, leading to significant weight loss and malnutrition.
Common behaviours include obsessive calorie counting, excessive exercise, and avoiding social situations involving food.
<img class="image lazyloaded imgWithMetaData" title="A woman enjoying her meal" src="data:;base64,” alt=”A woman enjoying her meal” width=”790″ height=”528″ data-original=”https://ocdn.eu/pulscms-transforms/1/zA8ktkpTURBXy82MTA4ZThhODEwZDZlNzA4OWQwYjNjOTFiZGQ2ZjBjMi5qcGeRlQLNAxbNAhDCww” />
2. Bulimia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa involves cycles of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviours such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives or diuretics, or excessive exercise.
Unlike anorexia, individuals with bulimia may maintain a relatively normal weight, but they often experience feelings of guilt, shame, and loss of control surrounding their eating habits.
3. Binge-eating disorder
Binge-eating disorder is characterised by recurrent episodes of consuming large amounts of food in a short period, accompanied by a sense of loss of control.
Unlike bulimia, individuals with binge-eating disorders do not engage in compensatory behaviours.
<img class="image lazyloaded imgWithMetaData" title="A man binge eating" src="data:;base64,” alt=”A man binge eating” width=”790″ height=”527″ data-original=”https://ocdn.eu/pulscms-transforms/1/JFvktkpTURBXy9hZWQ3YmYzNDc5MThjNTgzMjg0MjkxMmZmZmJlYTM4OS5qcGeRlQLNAxbNAg_Cww” />
They may eat rapidly, even when not physically hungry, and feel distressed or guilt afterwards.
Warning signs of eating disorders
Extreme weight loss or fluctuations in weight
Obsession with food, calories, and body weight
Isolation from social activities involving food
Evidence of purging behaviours such as frequent bathroom visits
Physical signs such as fatigue, dizziness, or fainting
Dental issues from vomiting (e.g., erosion of tooth enamel)
Health consequences of eating disorders
Untreated eating disorders can lead to a range of severe health complications, including:
Treating eating disorders often requires a multidisciplinary approach involving medical, nutritional, and psychological interventions. Some common treatment options include:
Nutritional counselling: Working with a registered dietitian to establish balanced eating patterns and address nutritional deficiencies.
Therapy: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), and interpersonal therapy (IPT) can help individuals address underlying emotional issues and develop healthier coping mechanisms.
Medication: In some cases, antidepressants or other psychiatric medications may be prescribed to manage symptoms such as depression or anxiety.
Support groups: Joining support groups or participating in group therapy can provide individuals with a sense of community and understanding.
Hospitalisation: In severe cases where medical stabilisation is necessary, hospitalisation may be required to address immediate health concerns.
<img class="image lazyloaded imgWithMetaData" title="AI generated image of a patient-in-a-hospital-bed-holding-a-phone" src="data:;base64,” alt=”AI generated image of a patient-in-a-hospital-bed-holding-a-phone” width=”790″ height=”790″ data-original=”https://ocdn.eu/pulscms-transforms/1/fWQktkqTURBXy81OTBlNjM2YjUxYjUxNzBjYzkyODVlM2M0YWZhNzRlZi5qcGVnkZUCzQMWzQMWwsM” />
AI generated image of a patient-in-a-hospital-bed-holding-a-phone
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that require professional intervention and support.
If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating habits, it’s essential to seek help from a qualified healthcare provider.
was always a little hesitant about hypnosis, ever since my stepsister went out with a professional hypnotist. He was hardly Paul McKenna in terms of fame, but I had once seen him take to the stage in a church hall and make a group of people fall in love with him using just his mind. Truth be told, I’ve always found hypnosis a little creepy, and the thought of somebody else taking control of my senses leaves me terrified.
That said, 20 years ago I underwent hypnosis to curb my craving for cigarettes, and it worked – it stopped me smoking 40 a day. Could it also banish my stress and negative thoughts? They typically come to me in the morning, usually around 6am. There’s no particular thread to them. I just have the general feeling that I’m not good enough, and that everything is going to go wrong. I waste so many hours catastrophising. Once I’m up and out of bed it generally dissipates, but still there is that gentle whisper of negativity niggling away at my happiness.
As much as I tell myself to keep things together in the daytime, I struggle to stop myself spiralling into “stinking thinking”, as it’s dubbed in therapy. But perhaps hypnosis is the answer I’ve been looking for. David Beckham, Reese Witherspoon and Mel B are among the stars who’ve reportedly banished negative thinking this way. Could it really be as simple as “look into my eyes…”? Abracadabra and my mind is fixed?
Hypnosis occurs when someone enters a state of relaxed awareness, in which the subconscious is open and receptive to suggestion. The aim is to rewire a person’s mind, providing them with new ways of thinking and feeling. It is an unregulated industry – anybody can set themselves up as a hypnotherapist – but there is growing evidence that suggests hypnosis is effective for many people experiencing problems including pain, anxiety, PTSD, and phobias.
“It is the oldest western form of psychotherapy,” says the US-based Dr David Spiegel, a Stanford University psychiatrist and leading researcher of hypnosis, who has co-founded Reveri, an interactive hypnosis app that helps people manage stress, pain, insomnia, fears, and to stop smoking. “But it’s still tainted by fears about mind control, or [ideas] of stage hypnotists making people do silly things. It’s sometimes considered unscientific because it is not ‘biological science’ – eg: is not a drug. That can be a good thing. I am a physician – I prescribe drugs. But not all the time.” Despite hypnotherapy’s record of success, he says that it is “used rarely and by a small number of healthcare professionals – it’s been derided as a stage show trick, considered useless or even dangerous, none of which is true. Hypnosis is an underappreciated means of controlling consciousness with enormous therapeutic potential.”
The UK hypnotist Aaron Surtees, who runs City Hypnosis and has been featured on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies and How to Lose Weight Well, says that “practically any mental issue can be helped through hypnotherapy,” as long as a person is “open and wants to change”. Surtees also has a hypnosis app called Subconsciously and his clients include Ant McPartlin and Charlie Brooker. “A lot of my clients are Hollywood stars – with anxiety and addictions to smoking,” he says. He also helps bankers to regulate their stress and anxiety, and treats footballers and top athletes to “enhance performance, focus and confidence”.
Hypnosis is increasingly popular in our fast-paced society – it’s the lure of the quick fix
Zoe Clews, hypnotist
Hypnotism sounds like a magic wand to me. Could the dark skies of my mind turn technicolour after just one session? I set off to see hypnotist Zoe Clews in London’s Marylebone. She has a long list of celebrity clients and specialises in anxiety, depression and complex PTSD (an initial two-hour session is £295, while 90-minute follow-up sessions are £245). A team of 12 work with her, who specialise in other issues including fear of public speaking. She tells me that being hypnotised is “increasingly popular in our fast-paced society – it’s the lure of the quick fix”. She claims hypnotherapy has much faster results than traditional therapy “as it works to override the subconscious – which is the true powerhouse when it comes to change”.
Clews is bright and breezy company, dressed in a peachy pink satin trouser suit. Her voice is incredibly relaxing – it’s almost as if she is the living incarnation of a clinking ice cube melting into a cool drink. That also happens to be one of the images she uses to help me. I’m told to imagine my stress dissolving much like that ice cube, as Chews guides me into a “trance state”.
When Clews started in the profession 22 years ago, she says her choice of career was looked upon as “bizarre” – but not anymore. Psychotherapists will send to her clients with complex trauma when they’ve got phobias they are unable to shift. “Hypnosis is really targeted on the issue, and forensic in shifting something specific,” she says. While there are some things hypnosis can shift easily, she says, like smoking and phobias, others take longer because “there is more damage”. These include complex PTSD, for example. “It might be between five and 20 sessions.” But she’s confident a single two-hour session will do the trick for me.
Guru: Paul McKenna is one of the biggest names in hypnotism (Getty)
Only 30 per cent of her clients “go out like a light”, Clews tells me. The idea panics me. But it doesn’t impact the benefits if you remain alert – as I do. Like many people trying out hypnotism, I have fears about ending up on all fours barking like a dog, talking to fairies or dancing with a broom thinking it’s a really attractive man. But it’s nothing like this, she assures me.
“When a stage hypnotist is working with somebody for entertainment, they’ll have done suggestibility tests to check that somebody is good for hypnosis,” she says. “It might be subtle so you don’t see it, because what a stage hypnotist will want is someone who is going to go into hypnosis as quickly as possible.” Hypnotherapy is about “healing damage” and “setting people free” from all sorts of conditions, she continues. In my case, I have to let go of negative thought patterns, fears, subconscious blocks, limiting beliefs, and unhelpful behavioural patterns.
She sets to work clearing layers of my negative thinking, first by talking about my childhood. Then she works with my subconscious to let those feelings go, so I’m ready for a more abundant life. “Health, wealth, happiness, joy,” she says. Most interestingly, she is going to do some “cord cutting” of toxic people in my life – “to lessen the impact on the nervous system”. As she explains, “if a friend behaves badly, you say ‘bye’, but when it’s family or work colleagues you often have to deal with it.”
She warns me I might feel “icky” when I’m “cord cutting” – but “it’s only temporary and I will feel a lot freer afterwards”. Not only this, but she wants to help me let go of historical stress and find a “window of tolerance”, she says, to reconnect me to “a state of calm” and ask the subconscious to keep me “grounded and connected to a sense of safety and stability within”.
‘Hypnosis is really targeted on the issue, and forensic in shifting something specific’ (iStock)
I’m told my nervous system is “in shatters” and “I’m stuck in flight or fight response”. “My job is to take you out of it,” she says. “Turn the volume down on acute stress.” As she counts me down from 10 to zero, I keep panicking about losing control – I had no idea I was such a control freak. By the time I’m told to imagine the letters of the alphabet dropping in front of me, my mind is distracted enough to move into a highly relaxed state.
It’s almost as if I’m in a room filled with rose coloured air. I feel “as light as a feather” … “as light as a feather” …. ”as light as a feather”. I can hear Clews licking her lips as I go deeper into a calm space. Never once do I feel like I have lost my awareness – even as I visualise cutting cords with half my family and seeing them skuttle off like tiny mice while I stand in my light.
That night, I enter a deep sleep. And when I wake up, I feel more joyous. I still get niggles of fear and negativity, but I throw them off more easily. I have an MP3 of the session to listen to at home – to help my subconscious accept my new reality. I don’t know if it’s connected to being hypnotised, but by day three I’m having the most mind-blowing coincidences that I think could impact the course of my destiny.
Luck feels on my side; people offer to do incredibly nice things for me and difficult people in my life are reacting better. Has my subconscious activated a new reality? Am I seeing it play out in front of me? I’m certainly going to believe in it. After all, there is nothing stronger than the power of the mind.
A supermarket chain in China will allow its staff to take up to 10 ‘unhappy days’. With many employees still uncomfortable telling bosses they need a mental health day, could this new concept save the wellbeing of burnout workers, asks Katie Rosseinsky
hen you’re feeling overwhelmed by unhappiness, the last thing you feel like doing is gritting your teeth and gearing up for a day of work. Whether you’re experiencing a mental health issue or whether you’re simply dealing with a passing mood slump, coping with the demands of the working day when you’re out of sorts can feel like wading through concrete. Basic tasks turn into unfathomable chores; simple requests from colleagues become veiled pass-agg jibes; criticism that you’d normally brush off feels unbearable.
On a day like this, the temptation is to cut your losses and call in sick: when you’re labouring under the cloud of low mood, there’s little chance that you’re going to be able to even pretend to look productive. But instead of citing mental health as the reason behind our absence, many of us will feign physical sickness instead. We’ll temporarily develop a croaky voice in order to sound more flu-stricken over the phone, or tell a dramatic story about a bout of food poisoning in order to skirt around the truth – because despite all the campaigns and pastel-coloured Instagram infographics telling us that it’s “good to talk”, the stark fact is that opening up about mental health is still incredibly difficult. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could just call in “unhappy” instead, with no questions asked?
For employers at Pang Dong Lai supermarket chain in China’s Henan province, this is becoming a reality. Speaking at a business conference last month, the company’s founder Yu Donglai revealed that his staff can take up to 10 “unhappy days” annually, on top of their usual sick leave and holiday entitlement “I want every staff member to have freedom,” he said. “Everyone has times when they’re not happy, so if you’re not happy, do not come into work.” Yu also made it very clear that managers aren’t allowed to turn down their employees’ requests for this leave either. “Denial is a violation,” he added.
Gregg Wallace shares touching moment with autistic son
China is known for its relentless working culture: the controversial “966” system, whereby many employees are expected to work from 9am to 9pm, six days per week, is seen as a badge of honour for some tech industry workers (despite the fact that this practice is actually illegal). Only last week, the head of PR at the country’s biggest search engine Baidu came under fire for sharing videos glorifying over-work and suggesting that employees shouldn’t complain about 50-day work trips. But even though the expectations don’t tend to be quite so extreme in the UK (unless you’re working for a magic circle law firm or an investment bank, perhaps), the introduction of “unhappiness leave” would still be a game-changer for workers here.
In 2018, a study from the occupational health service BHSF found that two-fifths of UK employees had called in sick with a physical illness when they were actually experiencing poor mental health. Although there are some statistics to suggest that younger generations are gradually getting more comfortable with telling bosses that they need a mental health day – last year a survey by workplace wellbeing platform Unmind found that 66 per cent of workers between 16 and 25 had taken time off due to poor mental health – many of us still struggle to express this, to such an extent that even sharing a white lie feels less daunting. An umbrella term like “unhappiness leave” might make it easier for employees to honestly ask for the day off, without having to go into too many difficult details with their boss. It’s also worlds away from “duvet day”, the cutesified term that some companies have adopted as an alternative to “mental health day”.
Of course, there is an argument that employees taking time off for unhappiness addresses the symptom rather than the cause: it might act as a sticking plaster, covering up the issues that might be making workers feel low in the first place. A measure like this would certainly need to be paired with other measures to redress the work-life balance in the long run: flexible working, strict rules about overtime, no emails out of hours, to name a few. But in the shorter term, I’d gladly swap two working weeks of unhappiness leave for the gimmicky policies foisted on workers in the name of “mental health awareness” (a concept that, naturally, often only seems to exist in most workplaces during Mental Health Awareness Week, before conveniently dematerialising).
Warning sign: taking a day off for ‘unhappiness’ could act as a red flag to your bosses (Getty)
Plus, a bout of “unhappiness leave” in a team would act like a warning sign. If everyone’s off under the guise of various imaginary ailments, then it’s hard to see a pattern emerge: your boss could tell themselves that flu season is to blame for the fact that half their team is wiped out, for example, rather than overwork and exhaustion.
Wellbeing measures in the workplace are too often overly sanitised and mistake random, one-off freebies for useful action. I don’t want someone coming into the office and offering head massages in a boardroom suffused with eau de Pret sandwiches. I don’t want a lunchtime yoga class that no one actually has time to attend, or to be pointed to an internal website that tells me to download the Headspace app for the millionth time. I’d much rather be able to benefit from a scheme that recognises that, yes, “unhappiness” can sometimes have a major impact on whether you can do your job effectively or not. A policy that doesn’t shy away from calling sadness what it is. Wouldn’t you?
When it comes to being whisked away into a whole other world, nothing quite beats a book. Unlike a TV drama or a big new cinema release, words on a page encourage you to conjure whole universes inside your mind – textures, smells, landscapes, emotions, adventures.
Whether fiction or non-fiction, books can make us feel seen. They can help us escape. They can serve as a guide. A lot of the time, they can even shape our lives.
EM Forster put it beautifully when he said, “What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.”
Anne Enright – Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll
“When I was a child, the book I adored, the one that intrigued, delighted and held me was not Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland but the lesser classic, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. The first volume may be theatrical but, at the age of six, the second felt more philosophically satisfying (jam tomorrow) and properly interested in ambition (‘Well, this is grand!’ said Alice. ‘I never expected I should be a queen so soon’). I found the watery transitions wonderful in both (tears, rowing boats), but I think the knitting sheep mattered more to me than the Dormouse and I found the Red Queen was more alarming than the Mad Hatter. Also, the epic Jabberwocky soars above the best verse that Wonderland can provide – I am speaking, of course, of the minimalist, failed haiku, Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat.”
Enright’s novel ‘The Wren, The Wren’ is out now
Anne Enright (Ruth Connolly)
Rory Stewart – Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne
“Tristram Shandy is my most comforting, wise, and provocative companion. It is an essay on ignorance decorated with the most splendid erudition. A story of a country enjoying dignified absurdity. A backward portrait of the good life. And in the modesty, simplicity and goodness of Uncle Toby – his childish play, childish intense seriousness, his utter lack of intellectualism and his courage – a vision of a saint. All packaged in the most enticing, impossible, infuriating, excessive and hilarious prose. In Tristram Shandy the most irresponsible, uncensored, reckless art carries aesthetic and moral insights of intense profundity.”
Stewart’s book ‘Politics on the Edge’ is out now
Rory Stewart (Hay Festival)
Judy Murray – Tennis Handbook, by Nick Bollettieri
“When I started out in coaching in the late 1980s, there was nobody to learn from in Scotland. Tennis was a minority sport, played only in the summer months, so nobody aspired to be a world-class player or a world-class coach. There was no track record of any success, no infrastructure, very few coaches and no indoor courts. And the internet didn’t exist in those days. So I bought Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Handbook. Nick was the first person to build a tennis academy. He bought a tomato patch in Florida and converted it to a tennis facility for emerging players to train together. It opened in 1978 and he produced a conveyor belt of champions over many years. His handbook was gold dust to me.”
Murray’s novel ‘The Wild Card’ is out on 8 June
Judy Murray (Getty Images for LTA)
Caitlin Moran – Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
“I can remember wanting to be a writer from a very young age – perhaps six – but fretting that books had to be about saving the world, or aliens, or wars, or… diseased rabbits hallucinating some kind of rabbit god. Watership Down was very big at the time. But when I read Anne of Green Gables, along with Little Women, it showed me that longing for a puffed-sleeve dress, or being obsessed with a friend, or getting very excited about the cherry blossom – ‘The White Way of Delight’ – were just as interesting to a reader as some robot getting its head blown off. If you love a character, their peril and stakes can be as small as ‘dyeing your hair green’, and you’ll feel it just as much as you feel Scarlett O’Hara despairing over the burning of Atlanta, or Katniss being terrified into saving the world. In fact, if I’m being honest, I think writers cheat when they make their stakes so huge, and dramatic. It’s kind of cheating. Do the harder thing! String your story together out of tiny things! Being ginger in 1890 is a true peril. It still is now. Ask my sisters.”
Moran’s book ‘What About Men?’ is out now
Caitlin Moran (Alex Lake)
Hollie McNish – Sky in the Pie, by Roger McGough
“Like most people, there are probably a few or hundreds that ‘made me’, but the first book that burst open my brain and imagination was a tiny book, literally a miniature book, which is also why I loved it, with the poem Sky in the Pie, by Roger McGough, written inside. I read this poem over and over again and realised that the world of words and poetry and stories could make absolutely anything possible, including eating the entire universe on a plate; my eight-year-old mind was blown. And it made me laugh a lot, which is still my favourite hobby.”
McNish’s collection ‘Lobster: And Other Things I’m Learning to Love’ is out now
Hollie McNish (Maxime Hugeux)
Adam Kay – The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
“What if I told you the funniest, cleverest children’s book ever written was also an ode to education? A pun-crammed journey through a world built on wordplay, dedicated to the joy and adventure of maths and reading. And only about one in 10 people I mention it to have heard of it. Well, now you have too. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster follows Milo and Tock the Watchdog as they trek through the kingdoms of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, meeting a wonderland of characters including a spelling bee, the world’s shortest giant and the 0.58 of a child from the average American family of 2.58 children. Mixing education and humour is everything I aim for as a kids’ author, and The Phantom Tollbooth is the gold standard, unmatched since 1961.”
‘Kay’s Incredible Inventions’ by Kay, illustrated by Henry Paker, is published on 23 May
Adam Kay (Charlie Clift)
Kaliane Bradley – Frost in May, by Antonia White
“I first read Frost in May by Antonia White as a teenager, and have reread it over and again as an adult. Set in a Catholic convent school in Edwardian Britain, it follows recent convert Nanda, who enters the Convent of the Five Wounds school at the age of nine and is brutally expelled aged 15. It’s a vivid depiction of a youthful experience of passion – for religion, or at least a child’s understanding of religion; for friends (and what I’d now call a romantic relationship between two girls, Nanda and her best friend Léonie); and for the creative process. Nanda obsesses over her experience of art, of engaging with it (how do you engage with art in the right way?) and nervously, newly trying to make it (how do you make art in the right way?). Her questions result in a painful exploration of the horror that restriction, authority and propriety can wreak on a curious soul. This is not, admittedly, a cheerful subject, but the novel is semi-autobiographical – so White did succeed in finding her voice despite everything.”
Bradley’s ‘The Ministry of Time’ is out on 16 May
Kaliane Bradley (Robin Christian)
John Vaillaint – Tree in the Trail, by Holling Clancy Holling
“Holling was an American writer and illustrator active in the mid-20th century who wrote a number of children’s books, most famously Paddle-To-The-Sea (1941). All of Holling’s stories centre on a non-human character (a tree, a turtle, a wooden carving of a man in a canoe), around which biology, history and human activities swirl, across geography and time. I was captivated by these books – as a young child by the vivid colour illustrations; as a young reader by the sweeping stories and, when I was a bit older – 10 or 12, by the marginalia he would include, illustrating more technical aspects of what was going on on that particular page. This three-tiered approach is, more or less, my model for non-fiction writing.”
‘Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World’ by Vaillaint is out now
John Vaillant (John Sinal)
Anthony Horowitz – Adventures in the Screen Trade, by William Goldman
“Goldman was one of Hollywood’s greatest screenwriters: his films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man and The Princess Bride. Although it came out 40 years ago, this very personal, sometimes sceptical but always informed account of his three decades in show business is still the bible for anyone who wants to write for film and TV. It was Goldman who came up with the three words that have always hung above my desk: NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING. It’s so true. Nobody can tell you if your script is an Oscar winner or a turkey until it’s been made and released. You can only live in hope.”
‘Close to Death’, by Horowitz, is out now
Anthony Horowitz (AFP via Getty Images)
Lisa Jewell – High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
“In 1995, when High Fidelity by Nick Hornby was first published, I had just left a marriage to a very serious man who had guided me towards some pretty heavyweight reading for five years. After years of battling my way through my ex’s bookshelves, it was giddying to pick up High Fidelity and find myself in a world that was so fresh, recognisable and relatable. I immediately wanted to write a book just like it, and a few weeks later I started writing my first novel, Ralph’s Party, which was published in 1999 and which changed the course of my life for ever.”
‘None of This is True’ by Jewell is out now
Lisa Jewell (Charlotte Graham/Shutterstock)
Blindboy – The Third Policeman, by Flann O’Brien
“I read The Third Policeman as a teenager and it made writing seem like something I could at least try. The book revealed to me how Hiberno English and a very specific strain of surreal Irish humour could exist as literature. Novels were scary, serious things when I was a teenager who hated school, but The Third Policeman changed all that for me. It gave me permission to find my own voice.”
Blindboy’s ‘Topographia Hibernica’ is available now
“On Sunday 12 February 2023, I set off from home to Manchester airport for the holiday of a lifetime,” says Valerie Coleshaw.
“By Monday 13 April I was home by breakfast, without luggage and in total despair.”
Ms Coleshaw, from Bolton, lost her £11,000 Antarctic cruise with Hurtigruten (now HX) after cabin crew on a KLM flight from Manchester to Amsterdam asked her to check in her cabin baggage “as the plane was extremely full”.
She says she was told it would be returned to her at Amsterdam, where she was due to transfer to Buenos Aires and onwards to the southern Argentinian port of Ushuaia.
Birmingham house cordoned off after man arrested on suspicion of murdering three week old baby
“I have heard of this happening before. So after checking several times that I would pick it up in Amsterdam, I agreed,” she says.
“Arriving at Amsterdam, my case was not on the carousel. I was advised to go straight to the boarding gate for Buenos Aires and it would be waiting for me there. It wasn’t.
“After hours of badgering the staff, my hand luggage could not be found. In it was my asthma spray.”
She explained to ground staff that her medication was missing. They told the KLM captain, who decided she would not be able to make the 7,100-mile journey without the asthma spray.
“I was left with a member of staff who said she would try to put me on another flight the next day. I realised that without my hand luggage I would have the same problem.
“I could not contact Hurtigruten as all the paperwork was in my hand luggage.
“Having never experiencing anything like this before, I felt humiliated and confused. I was given vouchers for a hotel and flight back to Manchester the following morning.”
KLM says when passengers are asked to put cabin baggage in the hold, they are asked to remove valuables and items needed during their flights as the hand luggage will be forwarded to the final destination.
Ms Coleshaw disputes that this happened and says that she was told the cabin baggage would be waiting for her at Amsterdam airport.
“I have never before been parted from my hand luggage but went along with the request – even checking four times before I boarded the flight to Amsterdam that it would be waiting for me,” she says.
KLM has given Ms Coleshaw a full refund for the value of the flights plus a £500 voucher for future travel.
“It suggests quite strongly to me that they understood the implications of my cases travelling on the plane without me,” she says.
However, this is just a small proportion of the total cost of the holiday. Ms Coleshaw paid Hurtigruten £10,660 for the package, and spent hundred of pounds more on preparations for the trip including travel insurance, guidebooks and Antarctic clothing that she never got to wear.
Under the Package Travel Regulations, the organiser of a holiday – in this case Hurtigruten (now HX) – is responsible for providing the trip as booked, including services contracted out such as flights.
Normally, if an airline does not fly a passenger in time to begin their holiday, the customer would expect a full refund.
But the cruise company does not accept that KLM was at fault, and therefore is refusing to hand the money back.
Instead, HX (formerly Hurtigruten) is offering £8,500 for an alternative cruise as a goodwill gesture.
Ms Coleshaw describes the offer as “honourable but not usable”. She tried to use some of the credit on a West African cruise, but the voyage was cancelled by the company ahead of departure.
She says her circumstances have changed significantly since losing the cruise, leaving her unable to plan any similar expedition. She has suffered a serious shoulder injury, and the health of her 95-year-old mother has deteriorated.
A spokesperson for HX said: “We are disappointed that we have been unable to resolve this current issue to date. Our guest experience team have been in direct contact with Ms Coleshaw for several months now and we have worked hard to try and find a resolution to this situation.
“Following a thorough review of this booking, we offered a ‘Future Cruise Credit’, equivalent to the value of the sailing and available for use on all our itineraries around the world. This amount far exceeds our standard cancellation policy and was provided by our team as a sincere goodwill gesture.
“Furthermore, we have also offered the opportunity to extend the rebooking period to the end of 2024, for any expedition voyage departing through to the end of 2025.
“We remain fully committed to making this option available to Ms Coleshaw. Our dedicated guest experience team will continue to look for a suitable resolution to this matter, in line with what has already been offered, and hope this can be achieved soon.”
Ms Coleshaw says: “I chose Hurtigruten for two reasons: one, I had travelled with them before and it was top class; and two, the flights were included so I felt that I had peace of mind if a connecting flight were delayed.
“I did not cancel my ‘Holiday of a Lifetime’ – but realised that without medication and everything in my hand luggage I would be unable to travel further. Tickets, holiday reservation, emergency contact details and so on. I asked repeatedly at the boarding gate about the collection of my hand luggage, and was told it would be waiting for me.”
She says the pursuit of the refund “is having a considerable impact on my health and well-being”.
“I am beginning to give up the challenge and quit, but it is so much money as well as the shattered dream.”
The Garuda Indonesia plane was travelling from an airport in the Indonesian city of Makassar to Madinah in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with 468 passengers onboard when the incident happened.
Plane recovered after making emergency landing on Blackpool beach
All the 450 passengers, including those going on Hajj pilgrimage, and 18 crew members were safely evacuated and no one was hurt in the incident, it said.
Videos shared on social media by JACDEC, a plane crash data evaluation firm, showed a blaze emanating from the engine just as the plane took off.
Garuda president-director Irfan Setiaputra said: “The decision was made by the pilot in command immediately after take-off, considering engine problems that required further examination after sparks of fire were observed in one of the engines.”
He said the plane was grounded as an investigation was being carried out into the incident.
The passengers of the flight were given accommodation before boarding a replacement flight later the same day, he said.
It was the latest incident to hit Indonesian carriers which were infamously banned by the US and the EU from flying into countries from 2007. The ban by the US was lifted in 2016 and by the EU in 2018.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, since 1945, the archipelago nation has recorded 106 civilian airline accidents, killing 2,305 people.
Three popular seaside resorts in southern England are set to the be first destinations in the UK to introduce a ‘tourist tax’ for visitors.
As part of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID), those staying overnight in the Dorset holiday hotspotswill be charged £2 per room or unit, per night from 1 July – just ahead of the school summer holidays.
The model for this levy mirrors those being rolled out across Europe and the US, and it follows a successful consultation period in which 16 out of 31 local businesses voted in favour of the scheme.
The tourist tax is being introduced to help enhance tourism and officials estimate it will generate £12m in the next five years.
ABID said it would “safeguard the local economy” by generating money to attract more visitors to the county.
Andy Lennox, destination management board chair, called the move a “historic moment for the towns,” while councillor Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council said: “We are excited at the prospect of working alongside them to deliver a more productive and resilient visitor economy and destination management.”
Key calendar events expected to be supported by the tourist tax include Bournemouth Air Festival, Arts by the Sea, Poole Christmas Maritime and Christmas Tree Wonderland.
Thecouncil has previously revealed cost-cutting measures, including an end to subsidies for the resort’s annual air festival after 2024, as well as stopping financial support for entries to the Blue Flag beach award scheme.
Rosie Radwell, Marsham Court Hotel managing director and chair of the shadow ABID board, believes that the tourist tax is “good news for the destination”, and said “we are thrilled that the accommodation providers have voted in favour of the ABID”.
She added: “The additional funds raised will have a huge impact on the future of tourism in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. On behalf of the volunteer shadow ABID board, I would like to thank our fellow accommodation providers for recognising the power of partnership working and the necessity to act now.
“We are excited about the future and have already started to plan projects and events to enhance tourism in the area”.
The boss of Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, will leave in less than a year.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren will have served seven years at the helm of easyJet as it endured its most turbulent times since its launch in 1995: the consequences of the UK leaving the European Union, followed by the Covid pandemic.
Mr Lundgren, who joined in December 2017 will be replaced at the start of 2025 by the current chief financial officer, Kenton Jarvis.
The announcement to the Stock Exchange said: “Johan is expected to step down from the board and as chief executive on 1 January 2025. He will remain with the business until the conclusion of his notice period on 16 May 2025.”
The carrier’s share price fell by almost 6 per cent as the markets opened.
The outgoing CEO said: “I congratulate Kenton on being nominated my successor, it is fully deserved, and I will work closely with him and the whole executive team to achieve this year’s goals and hand over responsibilities smoothly at the end of the year.
“There are important things still to accomplish over the balance of the year, but when the time comes I will leave easyJet with a great sense of loyalty and of pride at the progress made and the potential the company has for the future.”
The chair of easyJet, Sir Stephen Hester, praised Mr Lundgren for “steering the company through the immense challenges of the Covid period”, as well as “setting up a clear strategy and strong execution plan towards its ambition of ‘being Europe’s most loved airline’”.
Mr Jarvis said: “I am a huge believer in the future for our airline, which is powered by the talents and enthusiasm of our front-line staff.”
Ryanair, easyJet’s biggest rival, has been led by chief executive Michael O’Leary for 30 years.
News of Mr Lundgren’s departure accompanied easyJet’s half-year results for 2024. The airline lost £350m in the six months between October 2023 and March 2024 – about £9.50 for each of the 36.7 million passengers flown.
Winter losses are normal for budget airlines, and the figure represents a £61m improvement on a year earlier, with 12 per cent more capacity.
For the key three months of summer 2024 – July, August and September – sales and fares are ahead of 2023 levels.
Mr Lundgren said: “We are now absolutely focused on another record summer which is expected to deliver strong [full-year] earnings growth and are on track to achieve our medium term targets.”
The airline will re-open its base at Southend airport at the start of the aviation summer season in March 2025.
The Essex base was closed, along with Stansted and Newcastle, in August 2020. John Upton, chief executive of London Southend Airport, said: “This move is indicative of the demand from people in the east of London, Essex and the wider East Anglia region.
“Our dedicated on-site rail station is less than one hour from central London; only 43 minutes from Stratford, London with connections to the Elizabeth Line; and only 100 paces from the terminal door.”
Aviation analyst Sean Moulton said: “The return of an easyJet base to London Southend, five years since its closure, will boost the viability of the airport.
Barely hours following the release of the embattled singer Portable, he releases a song detailing his car debt and why he refused to pay in due time.
It would be recalled that the singer was forcefully arrested after trying to make a run for it when approached by the car dealer and police.
Barely hours following his release on bail, Portable entered the studio, wrote and released a song titled ‘Spiderman’ about his arrest and debt.
According to the singer, the secret to living long is to owe debt while emphasizing his reason for running as a personality when faced with danger.
The lyrics say in part, “Call me Spiderman, I saw danger, I jumped the fence. They say I owe money; if you want to live long, owe them debt, let them owe you. It’s a rich man who owes a car debt.”
Reactions as Portable drops song about his arrest following release
BusayoOtebata said: “You can’t even hate on this guy fr😂😂😂 One minute you’re disgusted by what he does and the next minute you’re laughing 😂.”
Real_ijbconcept penned: “If you want to live long you must owe debts and they must owe you too. Na rich man dey owe debts. Baba werey ni bobo yii.”
Wizebaba quizzed: “Or maybe it was all staged??”
iamkelechiO wrote: “I’d have been surprised if he didn’t drop a song about his arrest saga. 😂”
However, Brazil’s Ferreira won the second frame on every card, before dominating Rebecki in the final round.
With nine seconds left in the fight, 39-year-old Ferreria dropped Rebecki and secured a TKO of the grounded 31-year-old.
Rebecki’s face was left a mess, with blood dripping from his eyes – both of which were swollen, almost to the point of closure.
After the fight, Rebecki shared a photo of the damage on Instagram, seemingly posting from his hospital bed. The Pole wrote the caption, “Zycie”, meaning “life”.
You can see the photo below. Discretion is advised.
Conor McGregor’s comeback has already broken the UFC’s live-gate record, according to Dana White – two months before fight night.
McGregor will face Michael Chandler in the main event of UFC 303 on 29 June, marking the Irishman’s first fight in three years. In July 2021, McGregor suffered a broken leg in his second straight loss to Dustin Poirier.
Yet fears over McGregor’s abilities and fitness have seemingly done little to dampen hype for his comeback. According to UFC president White, McGregor vs Chandler has set a new live-gate record for the promotion, at “way over $20m”.
Fans have criticised the steep ticket prices for UFC 303, which takes place at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, but many tickets have already been sold – seemingly including VIP packages, which have been priced at over $12,000 in some cases.
The UFC’s current live-gate record is $17.7m, set by McGregor’s knockout win against Eddie Alvarez in 2016. The pair headlined UFC 205, which took place at Madison Square Garden when the UFC staged an event in New York City for the first time.
In second place is McGregor’s defeat by Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. The Russian submitted McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena, with the live gate at just under $17.2m.
McGregor, 35, is seeking his first win since January 2020, as the former dual-weight champion prepares to take on Chandler.
Chandler, 38, last fought in November 2022, losing to fellow American Poirier by submission.
China has rolled out the red carpet to welcome Russian president Vladimir Putin for a potentially consequential and heavily symbolic state visit that will be closely watched in the West.
Mr Putin’s second visit in less than a year comes as Western nations, led by the US, are putting pressure on China to stop throwing its economic and industrial weight behind Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The two-day trip is Mr Putin’s first abroad since starting his new term as president earlier this month.
Mr Putin arrived in Beijing on Thursday morning to a grand fanfare, with a red carpet reception outside the Great Hall of the People where a marching band played the Red Army Choir classic Moscow Nights. There he was greeted by Chinese president Xi Jinping, and the two shook hands for the cameras before doing laps of the grounds.
Mr Putin is meeting Mr Xi for the fourth time since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, and has been billed as marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their countries.
Mr Xi told Mr Putin he was prepared “to consolidate the friendship between the two peoples for generations to come”.
“In the new journey ahead, China is willing to always be Russia’s trustworthy good neighbour, good friend and good partner, strengthening generation-after-generation friendship between the two peoples and jointly achieving rejuvenation of their respective countries as well as upholding justice in the world,” he said.
He also congratulated his “old friend” Mr Putin for winning a fifth term as president that will keep him in power until at least 2030.
Mr Putin and Mr Xi are set to discuss ways to strengthen their “no limits” partnership which was announced at a previous meeting between them nearly two years ago.
The West has been testing this partnership by pressuring China to end economic and industrial support that has enabled Russia to blunt the impact of American and European sanctions cutting it off from global markets and supply chains.
China’s bilateral trade with Russia soared by 26 per cent to a record $240bn last year.
Analysts told The Independent that Beijing and Moscow will try to find ways to expand bilateral trade and sidestep Western sanctions.
“The Putin-Xi meeting is both consequential and symbolic as they will definitely seek to strengthen their partnership in the face of enormous fatigue and reluctance to support the war in Ukraine among Western leaders,” said Swaran Singh, an international relations expert and professor of diplomacy at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Vladimir Putin meets Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow in 2013 (Getty)
For Mr Putin, the visit is a chance to show off his alliance with the world’s second largest economy and signal that he still has powerful friends, despite being otherwise largely isolated on the global stage.
“Putin’s visit to Beijing, which is usually full of pomp and show, will be a good opportunity of portraying himself as an acceptable leader while seeking endorsement from Xi for his actions in Ukraine,” Mr Singh said.
On the eve of his visit, Mr Putin hailed the Chinese leadership’s understanding of the “root causes and global geopolitical significance” of the Ukraine war and welcomed Beijing’s peace plan to end the conflict.
“We are seeking a comprehensive, sustainable and just settlement of this conflict through peaceful means,” he told the Chinese news agency Xinhua. “We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours.”
Mr Putin added that they plan to have “closer cooperation in industry and high-tech, outer space and peaceful atom, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and other innovative sectors”.
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are meeting for the fourth time since the start of the Ukraine war (Getty)
“Putin’s visit to Beijing, which includes a delegation of Russian cabinet members and the heads of state-owned banks and energy corporations, shows the Russia-China ‘comprehensive partnership of strategic coordination for a new era’ continues to move forward with full force,” said Dr Jonathan Ward, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC and author of The Decisive Decade.
Dr Ward noted that with Chinese support for Russia in Europe and Russian support for China on Taiwan, “there may be much more dangerous activity to come in the years ahead as these two authoritarian states continue to deepen their relationship”.
Trade between China and Russia soared to a record $240bn last year (Getty)
Washington has claimed that Beijing is aiding Russia’s war in Ukraine by providing satellite intelligence, parts for fighter jets, microchips and other equipment while filling Moscow’s war chest with record oil imports. For this, the US has sanctioned several Chinese companies and threatened to blacklist Chinese banking institutions unless they suspend business with Russian companies.
China has not directly sold arms to Russia since the Ukraine war began, but has exported so-called “dual-use” components that can be used in weapons manufacturing as well as to non-military ends. Beijing claims it is neutral in the Ukraine conflict and insists it hasn’t broken US sanctions over the war.
But Beijing’s tactical backing of Moscow has also angered the European Union, with questions over Ukraine overshadowing a recent trip to France by Mr Xi that was supposed to serve as a charm offensive. Mr Xi, during his first visit to Europe in five years, insisted that “China is neither the creator of the crisis, nor a party to it or a participant”.
“I don’t think China will significantly increase its support to Russia that may lead to Russia having a much stronger war-fighting capability. Very likely, China will continue to argue its commercial transactions with Russia are normal international trade and attempt to maintain roughly the same level of trade relations with Russia,” Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at Singapore’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told The Independent.
“Now that the US and European countries are exerting quite strong pressures on China’s export of dual-use technologies and equipment to Russia, Putin may seek commitment from the Chinese leader that China will not waver under Western pressures.”
While Mr Putin is likely to seek further support from Beijing as it gains ground in Ukraine, Mr Xi needs Moscow to counterbalance the US.
America’s support for Taiwan – which it formally acknowledges is a part of China but says it will support against any attempt at forceful occupation by mainland forces – its naval presence in the South China Sea, repeated threats of sanctions and escalating trade war have greatly damaged relations with the Asian superpower.
In this context, Mr Singh said, the Chinese president will not fundamentally change his approach to showing support for Russia.
The actress asserted that most celebrities engage in online feuds solely for the sole purpose of chasing clout.
She recently spoke with Hip TV, where she stated that some musicians utilize online beef as a publicity ploy for new music or projects they intend to release.
According to Nkechi Blessing, when she sees celebrities arguing online, she ignores it and does not get involved because she recognizes that they sometimes plan the ‘fight’.
Nkechi Blessing, Nigerian actress
In her words;
“My thoughts on celebrities bashing each other on the Internet, I feel it’s some form of publicity stunt. By the time they come out on social media to exchange words, is either they have a new single coming up or they’re about to drop a song.
“So most times when I see celebrities fighting online, I just walk away because most times we sit down and plan these things.
“Sometimes, it’s not actually bad blood. As I said they might want to release a single so they will need all the clout and engagements to get their songs out there in your faces. So that’s it literally.”
Mohbad’s widow, Wunmi Aloba has broken her silence following the pathologist’s statement that the cause of deathof her husband was unknown.
On September 12, 2023, Ilerioluwa Aloba popularly known as Mohbad passed away in suspicious circumstances.
After Nigerians demanded justice, his body was exhumed on September 21 so that an autopsy could be performed to ascertain the cause of his death.
The pathologist testified that the 27-year-old singer’s body had already deteriorated when the test was conducted, making it impossible to determine the cause of death during a coroner’s inquest on Wednesday, May 15.
Late Mohbad and wife, Wunmi
A witness at the hearing also told the judge about the singer’s problems with Sam Larry and Wunmi.
Wunmi, the mother of Mohbad’s son, then posted a blank, dark page on her Instagram Stories to express her sorrow.
She also shared a photo of Mohbad and wrote: “Ilerioluwa masun (do not sleep)”
