Author: News Room

TikTok has unveiled a new generation of cultural trailblazers, honouring Africa’s biggest creators at the 2025 TikTok Awards Sub-Saharan Africa. Held in Johannesburg on December 6 under the theme “New Era, New Icons,” the event celebrated the creators reshaping style, conversation, and creativity across the continent — with Nigerian talents emerging as the night’s biggest winners. A Monday statement shared with PUNCH Online revealed this. Guests were treated to high-energy performances by Ciza, Lord Kez, Thuli P, DJ Fif_Laa and Thabsie. Popular entertainer Bontle Modiselle-Moloi hosted the star-studded ceremony, while Keegan Gordon and Zayaan Noorani lit up the red carpet.…

Nigeria’s hopes of returning to the global stage were shattered once again as the Super Eagles fell short in their bid to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup. OLAMIDE ABE writes on the challenging campaign of a footballing giant struggling to reclaim its place among the world’s elite For the first time since 1990, Nigeria failed to reach back-to-back FIFA World Cup tournaments. The Super Eagles’ latest defeat, a play-off loss to DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, has forced the nation to confront a deeper history of fragility, inconsistency, and costly missteps. It is not merely a failure to qualify…

All year on The Vergecast, we’ve been tracking the many bizarre and problematic actions of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. There has been a lot to discuss! Then, this week, ahead of one of our last episodes of the year, Carr appeared in front of the Senate Commerce Committee and spent three hours explaining how he thinks about his job, the FCC, and the state of online communication and entertainment. It was a lot.On this episode of The Vergecast, we begin with a dissection of Carr’s testimony, his threats against broadcasters, and the ways in which he’s using old ideas about…

Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps said a cluster of 23 wallets linked to the deployer of the Solana-based AI token Ava accumulated around 40% of the token’s supply at launch, raising new questions about insider coordination around the project’s debut.The sybil wallet cluster related to the deployer shared similar patterns, including being funded in a tight time window through Bitget and Binance, receiving similar amounts of Solana (SOL) and having no blockchain activity before buying up the Ava AI (AVA) token supply at launch, Bubblemaps claimed in a Thursday X post.“Connected to these snipers are other wallets that also bought $AVA…

Rapper Wiz Khalifa has been sentenced to nine months in prison in Romania on a drug possession charge. Khalifa, 38, was sentenced Thursday, December 18, more than a year after he was charged with allegedly possessing 18 grams of cannabis following a performance at the Beach, Please! festival in the coastal village of Costinesti in July 2024, the Associated Press reported Thursday, citing Romania’s national news agency, Agerpres. According to AP, the rapper — real name Cameron Thomaz — was convicted of “possession of dangerous drugs, without right, for personal consumption,” In April, Khalifa was issued an $830 fine for…

INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, on Friday, met with leaders of the two warring factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of the forthcoming Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections, as well as the governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti states. Mr Amupitan, while addressing the party leaders at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, stated that the meeting had become necessary following several correspondence received by the commission from various parties requesting various things. He said that INEC, as an independent commission with a statutory mandate to monitor the activities of political parties and to conduct elections, deemed it…

Nigeria has recorded notable progress in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), exceeding global targets for lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, as a Gates Foundation–supported project officially concluded. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the close-out ceremony and virtual results presentation of the “Eliminating Lymphatic Filariasis and Onchocerciasis in Nigeria Assessment to Stop Ivermectin Treatment Project.” Mr Salako said the outcomes represent a major boost to Nigeria’s public health response and align with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2030 roadmap for NTDs. Millions removed from mass treatment Mr…

The Nigerian Senate has approved the appointments of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA. The confirmations followed nominations by President Bola Tinubu and were expedited by the upper chamber to ensure seamless continuity in the regulation of Nigeria’s petroleum industry. Eyesan, a petroleum economist, has more than three decades of experience in the oil and gas sector, having served in various capacities within the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and its…

A 67 years old woman, Lydia Osanebi, has been arrested for allegedly producing fake drinks in Ughelli, Delta State. The suspect was arrested during an operation on 14th December 2025, during which the police recovered large quantities of dangerous drinks and chemicals. Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the development in a statement on Friday. The statement read, “On 14th December 2025, at about 0730hrs, operatives of the Eagle Net Special Squad, Ughelli Surveillance Team, acting on credible intelligence, executed a search warrant at the residence and premises of one Lydia Osanebi, female, aged 67 years,…

American hip-hop star Wiz Khalifa has been handed a nine-month prison sentence by a court in Romania over a drug-related offence connected to a stage performance in the country last year. The conviction was delivered in absentia after prosecutors overturned an earlier judgment that had imposed only a monetary penalty. Khalifa, born Cameron Jibril Thomaz, was arrested in July 2024 after allegedly smoking cannabis during a live performance at a music festival in Costinești, a resort town along Romania’s Black Sea coast. He was briefly held by authorities before being released, and later issued a public apology, saying his actions…