Churchill Choken

The United States Embassy in Nigeria has said that the ongoing U.S. government shutdown will not affect its consular services in Nigeria.In a statement yesterday, the embassy said contrary to reports that were incorrect, its offices in Abuja and the Consulate General in Lagos would remain open during the shutdown. It, however, said the American Centers that operate libraries and other information services within its consulates in Lagos and Abuja would remain closed. “American Centers and EducationUSA offices operating on embassy and consulate grounds that are managed by Mission Public Affairs Sections will remain closed throughout the shutdown. “American Spaces, such as American Corners operated by partner institutions and located off embassy or consulate grounds, however, will remain open,” the statement said. The ongoing U.S. government shutdown was based on a decision taken by President Donald Trump to get the Congress to approve money for his proposed border wall between the U.S. a...

It has just been reported that a clergy man in Zimbabwe, Pastor Tito Watts and his wife, Amanda, were arrested for selling tickets to heaven to church members. According to Egypt Today, the police disclosed that he pastor and his partner scammed several people into buying the tickets for $500 (N181,000). It was added that, the tickets is to get people into heaven without facing judgements. The police further disclosed that Pastor Watts church members have called for the release of the man of God. Watts reportedly told those who sought salvation that the tickets were made from solid gold and each ticket reserved the buyer a place in heaven. Pastor Watts said: “I don’t care what the police say. The tickets are solid gold… it ain’t cut up two by fours I spray painted gold. And it was Jesus who give them to me behind the KFC and said to sell them so I could get me some money to go to outer space. I met an alien named Stevie who said if I got the cash together he’d take me and my wife on h...

The US military will this year conduct its first ever missile drill around the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to a report Thursday, as Washington seeks to counter an increasingly assertive China. The US military has told its Japanese counterpart it plans to deploy surface-to-ship missiles in the strategically important Okinawa this year for the first such drill by Japan's key ally, the Sankei Shimbun reported, without citing sources. The drill would involve a mobile rocket launcher seen as a counter-measure to potential attacks from Chinese surface-to-sea ballistic missiles, the paper said. In recent years, Chinese warships have frequently sailed through waters near Okinawa, where the majority of US troops in Japan are based. Experts say China's increasingly active maritime activities are part of a plan to establish control of waters within the so-called "first island chain" that links Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines. Some analysts believe Beijing seeks to...