Headline

Mummified Corpses: Edo Police Command Reveals Details Of Investigation

Published

3 years ago

August 29, 2022

The Edo State Police Command has said that the building where mummified bodies were found can not pass for a morgue, as the principal suspect, Gabriel Otu, has no approval to operate such, noting that a severed body at the facility showed there was more happening at the place than claimed.

At a press conference on Monday, the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigative Department at the Command, Olawore Oluwole, said in the course of the investigation, there was an interface with medical personnel, lawyers, members of the public, representatives of the Benin Traditional Council, families of those who deposited corpses, as well as a pathologist.

Oluwole said, “Following investigations by the command’s team and health personnel led by the commissioner for health, some documents were recovered portraying an approved location from the ministry of environment and sustainability.

However, the principal suspect, Gabriel Otu, later reported and made statements, and some other hospitals and mortuaries were equally visited and the following facts emerged.

“The principal suspect didn’t acquire formal training but only worked at different mortuaries as a mortuary attendant. He doesn’t have the certificate to practice as a mortician or any certification from the traditional board, ministry of health, ministry of environment, or any other appropriate certification.

“The building utilised by him was not certified nor approved by the ministry of health or environment. Other facts revealed is that the mortuary is not a layout for trado-medical institution.”

He added, “Twenty three corpses, as well as a dismembered without a skull, were found, and it depicts an unlawful possession and violates section 329 of the criminal code.

“There were also sacrilegious effigies found at the scene; some were inside while others were outside. These depict criminal elements in his possession and against section 213 of the criminal code. Some specimens were extracted and have been sent to experts for forensic analysis”.

Also speaking, the Edo State Commissioner for Health, Obehi Akoria, said the state government had given September 9 as the deadline for mortuary operators who are yet to obtain operational licenses to get approval from the ministry of health.

Akoria urged owners of registered mortuary homes to present their proof of registration to the state ministry of health by Friday, September 30.

She said, “The Edo State Ministry of Health is using this opportunity to reach out to all persons who own or operate mortuaries or embalmment homes to come to the ministry of health, directorate of regulation and monitoring, with evidence of due registration if they are duly registered latest by September 30.

“However, for those who are not duly registered, we are giving till the close of business on September 9 for them to present themselves to the ministry of health, where we will give them the basic requirements for the operation of mortuaries or embalmment homes in the state”.

Headline

42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

13 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

Headline

Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

13 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

Headline

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

13 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP