The Big 5: NCDC says Lassa fever cases decline to lowest level in 4 months, South Africa’s Ramaphosa leaves Commonwealth summit to deal with protests and other top stories

These are the stories you should be monitoring today.

The Nigerian Senate has resolved to invite Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris and Director-General of Department of State Service (DSS), Lawal Daura, next week to brief it on investigations into the attack.

The Senate added that it won’t be cowed by what happened on Wednesday.

I want to assure Nigerians that we will never waver in the responsibility they have elected us to shoulder. We will all stand together to defend this institution of the parliament and our democracy. We will never fear to legislate, and we will never legislate out of fear,” Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said in an address at plenary.


A witness has narrated how Maryam Sanda (wife who allegedly killed her husband – Bilyamin Bello) made several attempts to stab her husband before his eventual murder.

The witness, Ibrahim Mohammed, said he was with the deceased for over eight hours, the night before his death; and witnessed several attempts by the first defendant, Sanda, to kill him.

According to Mohammed, a friend of Bilyamin, Sanda asked her husband for a divorce and appeared bent on getting it that night.

The witness said she threatened several times to chop off his sex organ if he declined to give her freedom from their marriage.


According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the lowest number of Lassa fever cases in a single week since the beginning of the outbreak was recorded this month.

Only five new confirmed cases of Lassa fever were reported in the week that ended on the 15th of April 2018,” the NCDC said in its situation report released Thursday.

The report stated that it is also the eighth week of continuous decline in new confirmed cases, showing that the efforts to control the outbreak are bearing fruit.


The Police Service Commission (PSC) Thursday, said that 45 officers who participated in the successful arrest of notorious kidnap kingpin, Evans, have been granted special promotion.

A statement by a spokesperson for the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, said the promotions were ratified today at a plenary presided over by Mike Okiro, chairman of the commission. Thirteen of the officers were promoted in an acting capacity because they weren’t eligible for substantive promotion, the PSC said.


President Muhammadu Buhari says Commonwealth countries can improve business within the group and generate resources for sustainable development by facilitating trade and investment in their individual countries.

The president gave the advice in his keynote address at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on Wednesday.


And… stories from around the world.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has cut short his attendance at the Commonwealth summit in London to deal with violent protests at home.

Clashes have taken place in North West province where protesters are demanding jobs, housing and an end to corruption.

Shops have been looted, roads barricaded and vehicles set alight.


Police in the US city of Pittsburgh are preparing for rioting should President Donald Trump fire special counsel Robert Mueller.

A memo from the police commander instructed detectives to bring riot gear to work “until further notice“.

The email said, “there is a belief” that Trump will soon fire Mueller, prompting “large-scale” protests.

Mueller is leading an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.


A large-scale evacuation is to take place in Berlin Friday morning to allow experts to defuse a World War Two bomb.

The zone includes government ministries, a hospital, and the city’s central railway station.


Russia used trolls and bots to unleash disinformation on to social media in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning, according to fresh Whitehall analysis.

According to the BBC, Government sources said experts had uncovered an increase of up to 4,000 percent in the spread of propaganda from Russia-based accounts since the attack,– many of which were identifiable as automated bots.

UK Prime Minister, Theresa May highlighted the cyber-threat from Russia in her Mansion House speech earlier this year, telling the Kremlin: “I have a very simple message for Russia. We know what you are doing. And you will not succeed.”


Lance Armstrong has reached a $5 million settlement with the federal government in a whistleblower lawsuit that could have sought $100 million in damages from the cyclist who was stripped of his record seven Tour de France victories after admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout much of his career.

The deal announced Thursday came as the two sides prepared for a trial that was scheduled to start May 7 in Washington.

Armstrong’s former US Postal Service team-mate Floyd Landis filed the original lawsuit in 2010 and is eligible for up to 25 percent of the settlement.

Seeking millions spent sponsoring Armstrong’s powerhouse teams, the government joined the lawsuit against Armstrong in 2013 after his televised confession to using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs and methods.

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