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  A  Romanian court has sentenced an American rapper, Cameron Jibril Thomaz popularly known as Wiz Khalifa to nine months in prison for smoking cannabis on stage. The rapper  admitted to smoking a joint during his performance at the Beach, Please! festival last year in Costinesti. A Romanian appeals court overturned an earlier fine of 3,600 Romanian lei (£619; $829) for drug possession and ruled the rapper must serve the sentence in custody. However he was sentenced in absentia. Earlier this week he was seen on stage performing with Gunna in California, and on Thursday he posted pictures and clips from his home on streaming platform Twitch and social media. Some journalists  approached the ten-time Grammy-nominated artiste for comment. Police briefly held and questioned Jibril after the concert on 13 July 2024, and prosecutors later charged him with possession of “risk drugs” for personal use.  Romanian investigators said he was in possession of more than 18 gra...

  China  has announced that it will start taxing contraceptives for the first time in over 30 years as it tries to encourage families to have more children. From  January 1, 2026, contraceptive products such as condoms and birth control drugs will now be part of China’s 13 per cent value-added tax. The move comes as the country’s birth rate continues to fall. In 2024, China recorded 9.5 million births, a big drop from the 14.7 million babies born in 2019, according to official figures. Reports also show that deaths now exceed births in the country. China  once strictly controlled family size from about 1980 to 2015, couples were limited to having only one child. The policy was enforced through fines and other penalties, and in some cases, women were forced to end pregnancies. Children born outside the rule were sometimes denied official identity documents. As the population began to shrink, the government relaxed the policy, allowing two children in 2015 and later th...

  Nollywood actress and film producer, Ini Edo has denied claims that her movie title, ‘A Very Dirty Christmas’, was meant to demean Christianity or disrespect the Christmas season. It was earlier gathered that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) recently raised concerns about the movie title, calling it offensive to Christian beliefs. The  association said the title conflicts with the sacred meaning of Christmas, a season that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and represents peace, love, and purity. CAN stated that linking the holy season with the word “dirty” undermines its spiritual significance and turns a solemn religious celebration into something crude. While acknowledging the importance of creative freedom in art and film, the association insisted that such freedom should be exercised responsibly, particularly in a religiously diverse country like Nigeria. In response, Ini Edo, in a statement released on Thursday, explained that the film was created to spark ...

TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance has signed binding agreements with the U.S. and global investors to operate its business in America, TikTok's boss told employees on Thursday. Half of the joint venture will be owned by a group of investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX, according to a memo sent by chief executive Shou Zi Chew. The deal, which is set to close on 22 January, would end years of efforts by Washington to force ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations over national security concerns. It is in ​line with a deal unveiled in September, when the U.S. President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a law that would ban the app unless it was sold. In  the memo, TikTok said the deal will enable “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities as part of a vital global community”. Under the agreement, ByteDance will retain 19.9% of the business, while Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will hol...

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Gwarinpa has granted bail to Chris Ngige, the former Minister of Labour and Employment. Maryam Hassan, presiding judge, ordered that Ngige should continue on the administrative bail earlier granted to him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The court however ordered that Ngige must present a surety who is a director under the employ of the Federal Government. The surety, the court added, must have a landed property and is expected to deposit documents of the landed property and travel documents with the court pending when Ngige finalises the retrieval of his own passport.  The EFCC had granted administrative bail to the defendant in October on self recognisance and one surety. He was allowed to go for medical treatment abroad on the condition that he must return his international passport upon arrival. However, in opposing the bail application, Sylvanus Tahir, prosecution counsel, told the court that Ngige failed t...

  The  Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has paid a visit to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), at the Sokoto Correctional Centre. Former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore disclosed the visit on Thursday, commending the cleric for his show of solidarity. “Thank you so much, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, for taking the time to visit Mazi Nnamdi Kanu today. As the distinguished Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, your visitation symbolizes your solidarity & that of Sokoto Diocese with #MNK in this time of distress,”  Sowore said. Kanu was convicted on terrorism charges by the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 20, 2025, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was subsequently transferred to the Sokoto Custodial Centre on November 21, 2025, in accordance with a court directive that excluded Kuje Prison, where he had been held. The conviction followed prosecution on seven terr...