DALENA REPORTERS

  The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed that the helicopter in which Herbert Wigwe was travelling caught fire after it crashed. A board member, Michael Graham, who disclosed this during a media briefing on the ill-fated helicopter crash on Sunday, confirmed that six persons, including two crew members, died in the crash. DalenaReporters reported on Saturday that the Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe; his wife, Chizoba, son, Chizi and Bimbo Ogunbanjo, a former chairman of the NGX died in the helicopter crash, which occurred on Friday night in the United States. They were going from Palm Springs Airport to Boulder City, Nevada when the accident occurred. Briefing reporters, Graham said that the tragic incident occurred about 90 minutes after the charter flight took off, adding that “the helicopter impacted the terrain south of I-15 near Halloran Springs, California,” about 75 miles (120 ki

  BEIRUT: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the UN chief’s spokesperson said Sunday. Over the years, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon held in absentia proceedings and found three members of the militant Hezbollah group guilty in connection with Hariri’s death in a massive Feb. 14, 2005 truck bombing. The tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, sentenced the three — Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi — to five concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. Hezbollah officials have repeatedly denied that members of the group were involved in the suicide attack and refused to deal with the tribunal. The bombing killed Hariri and 21 others, and wounded 226. The trial judges had said there was no evidence Hezbollah’s leadership or Syria were involved in the attack but noted the assassination happened as H

  Israeli jets intensified attacks on central Gaza on Sunday, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take “many more months” to end. Netanyahu’s comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave’s border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution. The Israeli military will release some reservists who were called up to fight Hamas in Gaza, a move it said on Sunday would help the economy as the country prepares for a prolonged war. Air strikes pounded Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij in the center of Gaza, killing 10 people in one house and driving more to flee to Rafah on the border with Egypt from front lines where Israeli tanks are battling Hamas fighters. Rockets fired from Gaza raced toward central Israel overnight, triggering sirens t

  The Yoruba Council Worldwide has decried the mass killings in communities in Plateau State and called for a declaration of state of emergency in the state.   Dalena Reporters reported earlier on Sunday that gunmen believed to be herdsmen invaded Shere village in the Jos East Council where two residents and one of the assailants were killed.   DalenaReporters reported that Sunday's attack came barely one week after jihadists attacked and sacked 15 communities, killing about 200 people and burning 221 houses in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi council areas of the state.   Reacting to the recent attack, the Yoruba Council in a statement issued on Sunday by its President, Aare Oladotun Hassan Esq, lamented the violence and killings.    Hassan said members of the council were shocked and disturbed by the heinous and barbaric killings.  He offered their condolences to the people of Plateau State, particularly the families of the victims.   "It is heartbreaking and barbaric to see

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman delivered the opening address of the annual royal inaugural speech of the fourth year of the eighth session of the Shoura Council, on behalf of King Salman, on Wednesday.    The crown prince was received at the headquarters of the Shoura Council by the Riyadh Gov. Prince Faisal bin Bandar; Deputy Riyadh Gov. Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz; and the Speaker of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh.   The annual meeting began with the reciting of the Qur’an and then Al-Asheikh took to the podium to deliver the opening remarks before the crown prince’s speech. Saudi Crown Prince delivered the annual royal speech before the Shoura Council on Wednesday on behalf of King Salman. Al-Asheikh said that in the third year of the eight sessions of the council, the Shoura Council had held 48 sessions and issued 379 resolutions.   In his opening remarks the crown prince underlined that the Kingdom had ma

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State died in a hospital near Hanover in Lower Saxony, a state in northwest Germany bordering the North Sea, DalenaReporters has learnt.   DalenaReporters further learnt that before that, Akeredolu received treatment at a hospital in Berlin. But when doctors at the Berlin hospital told the Akeredolu family that there was nothing else that they could do to save him, he was moved to the Hanover hospital, where he breathed his last.   “He died in a hospital near Hanover in Lower Saxony state but prior to that, he was receiving treatment in Berlin,” a source told DalenaReporters on Wednesday.   DalenaReporters earlier reported that more details had revealed that Akeredolu died in a German hospital.   DalenaReporters earlier broke the news about Akeredolu’s death but the report said that he died in Lagos. However, the newspaper later got fresh details revealing that Akeredolu died in a German hospital (in Hanover) after he was rejected by another h

  Osas Nusakare, one of the 14 stowaways arrested onboard a foreign vessel at the Lagos Roadstead, has said he will continue to try to leave Nigeria for Europe.  The 45-year-old said that he wanted to celebrate the New Year in a European country.  He confessed that this was his second attempt and he would keep trying until he succeeds.  The 14 stowaways were arrested last Friday, Dec. 15, onboard a motor tanker, UOG CONSTANTINE, by naval officers from NNS BEECROFT.  Nusakare said he had boarded the vessel with the intention of travelling to Europe, but they were discovered before the ship sailed out of Lagos water.  It was learnt that the ship had gone to discharge petroleum product in one of the tank firms in Lagos.  "We joined the vessel with the aim of travelling to any country in Europe. We were encouraged by the fact that we were going to celebrate the New Year in Europe. This is my second attempt. I am not discouraged. I will continue to try untill I succeed,"