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Tag: World

  • APC chairman says party, N’Assembly collaborating on diaspora voting

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, has revealed that the ruling party is working closely with the National Assembly to ensure Nigerians in the diaspora are able to vote in future elections.

    Ganduje made this statement during the unveiling of a new executive committee for the APC France chapter in Paris on Monday.

    According to a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, Ganduje said the party will collaborate with relevant agencies to achieve full political inclusion for Nigerians living abroad.

    The former governor of Kano State also assured the gathering that the APC in Nigeria is growing stronger. He emphasized that the party’s stability has led to a wave of defections from opposition parties in the lead-up to the 2027 elections.

    “We appreciate you for holding the banner of our party, expanding its membership, and supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, especially in light of the critical reforms he is undertaking,” Ganduje stated. He further added, “There is now more funding for capital development, and both governors and local government chairmen can attest to this. There is peace in the APC, unlike in other parties that are battling internal crises. Because of this enabling environment, many are decamping to our party, including senators, members of the House of Representatives, State Assembly members, and other notable political figures. Our party respects its constitution and practices internal democracy.”

    Read also: NPFL: Remo Stars boost title hopes with win, Rivers Utd keep chase

    Ganduje also expressed his optimism that the party and Nigerians will re-elect President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in the 2027 election.

    In her remarks, the newly sworn-in Chairperson of the APC France chapter, Hajjiya Amina Baba-Suzuki, acknowledged the significant economic and political contributions of Nigerians in the diaspora to the development of Nigeria.

    She advocated for stronger support for APC chapters in the diaspora, highlighting their role as mobilizers and promoters of Nigeria’s interests abroad.

    Ripples Nigeria reports that Nigerians in the diaspora have long been advocating for a legal framework that would allow them to exercise their right to vote, even while residing outside the country.

    In late 2024, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and Sadiq Abdullahi, a lawmaker representing Kano State, jointly sponsored a bill aimed at enabling qualified citizens living abroad to participate in elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria.

    The bill, which is still in its second reading stage, has been described by lawmakers as a crucial piece of legislation that could enhance Nigeria’s democratic standing.

     

    Source: Ripples Nigeria

  • ACA’s Preventive Services at Risk in Supreme Court Case

    An ideologically driven, little-known Supreme Court case could bring back pricey copays and gut essential health coverage. (Credit: Joe Ravi/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0)

    by Joseph Williams

    A group of public health experts warned on Thursday that a Supreme Court case set for arguments next week could lead to the end of a central, highly popular component of the Affordable Care Act — one that has improved a range of health outcomes for Black Americans.  

    The case hasn’t received widespread notice, but Braidwood Management v. Becerra has the potential to cause millions of Americans to avoid ACA-mandated free screening and services for preventable diseases, like diabetes or colon cancer. If that happens, the experts said, things will almost certainly get worse in Black communities. 

    And Black women — who disproportionately rely on free prevention services — could be at particularly high risk.

    “Expect to see more heart disease, more lung cancer, more kidney disease in communities of color,” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said after a joint press briefing Thursday. If low-income patients are forced to hand over a copay for cancer screening, he says, “people will receive less care, later in the course of their disease, at a higher cost and a higher death rate.”

    In turn, “the Black-white death gap, the Hispanic-white death gap will increase in those communities,” he says.

    Ideology Jeopardizes Public Health Progress

    At issue is a very narrow provision in the ACA that allows the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent entity convened by the federal government, to determine which preventive services private insurance policies must cover without cost-sharing. Braidwood, a private management company run by conservative Christians, objects to a task force recommendation that birth control, the HPV vaccination and devices and PrEP — a drug which prevents transmission of HIV — should be considered preventive treatments.

    In court filings, Braidwood contends that requirements to include those provisions “encourage homosexual behavior, intravenous drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman,” in violation of their religious beliefs. They want the court to rule that the task force’s role in determining preventive care is unconstitutional, a ruling that would effectively hollow out that part of the Affordable Care Act. 

    In the press call, Benjamin, along with Kathy Hempstead, a senior policy officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Dorianne Mason, director of health equity for the National Women’s Law Center, laid out what’s at stake in the case. All three agreed that people are less likely to pay for services they now get for free — even if those services are potentially life-saving. (Disclosure: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supports Word In Black’s health journalism.)

    “We know that since the preventive services requirement has occurred, millions more women have received preventive care,” Mason says. “That means cancer screenings are leading to early stage interventions, higher depression screenings have led to improvement of mental health symptoms. We know that contraception has also decreased unwanted pregnancies.”

    For insurers, early screenings and preventive care have reduced the costs they would have incurred down the road, says Mason: “It’s been a win-win, including $26 billion in annual savings from identifying cancer early and $19 billion saved annually from contraception.”

    Preventive Care Is an Equity and Justice Issue

    Still, “It’s important to note that access to preventive care is also a gender and racial justice issue and key to achieving health equity,” she says. “Data show that there have been larger increases in preventive services uptake among women of color compared to white women since the Affordable Care Act’s passage, and racial and ethnic health disparities have narrowed.”

    That includes a narrowing of the black-white gap among women in rates of heart disease, coronary disease, and utilization of mammograms to detect signs of breast cancer, Mason says. 

    Benjamin pointed out that, if free preventive care disappears, low-income communities will be affected the most. 

    “If you don’t have the 20 bucks to put down as a copayment, you’re less likely to get checked for lung cancer or colorectal cancer,” he says. The healthcare system, he says, will revert from one in which prevention is key to one that depends on treating diseases that are already here. Insurers will increase costs and revert to requiring copays [for currently free treatment], and consumers will seek less care.” 

    The problem, Benjamin says, is ideology is getting in the way of sound public health policy. 

    “It’s a shame they want to take away this service from millions of Americans,” he says, “based on this small number of people based on religious or ideological grounds.”

    Source: Seattle Medium

  • Not in Kansas Any More

    As America and the world deal with the phenomenon of Trump 2.0, with the Left slinging the ACLU at the court system and educated liberal ladies demanding HANDS OFF! and Standing up for Free Speech, and the rest of us wondering if our Democratic friends are really serious about flying to El Salvador on the taxpayers’ dime to advocate for helpless innocent Central American gang members. Of course, maybe traveling to the country named after The Savior during Holy Week is a brilliant and sophisticated pitch for the votes of Christians.

    The rest of us are wondering if this is really the start of the promised Golden Age or just the descent into another recession.

    The only thing we know for sure is the maxim of popular philosopher Dorothy Gale that we are not in Kansas anymore. Remember when the young Barack Obama was assuring us that the future was full of Hope and Change? Truth is, Mr. President, that Change is very seldom Hopeful. Usually it is terrifying, and it is especially terrifying if you have lived all your life in the liberal bubble and the only thing you know is that the liberal way is the only way.

    I suspect that the most terrified Americans right now are educated women. As a profound sexist I believe that women are more inclined to believe the ideology they were taught in their education, and so are most likely to regard the election of Donald Trump as “inconceivable,” because it goes against everything they were taught in K thru grad school. It was they that put out the #WeBelieve signs after the election of Trump 1.0. And now they are out protesting the Trump agenda displaying the protest signs du jour. Of course, there is the dollar-and-cents aspect of this. Educated women are the most likely to suffer from the end of DEI and NGO grants from sea to shining sea.

    I’ll bet that the Lawfare Industrial Complex is going crazy too. That’s why it is mobilizing Democratic federal judges into a World War I style Big Push to roll back the Trump agenda. The problem is, I think, that they might push Chief Justice John Roberts into a corner and force him — eventually! — to take a stand for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Eventually, I prophesy, he will find a case that makes the current domination and the hegemony of Democrat-nominated federal district judges seem unjust and absurd to everyone except educated white women with DEI jobs.  But that day is not yet.

    Also terrifying to our liberal friends is the Trump Art-of-the-Deal culture. If you have been raised up through the curated hierarchical system of modern education, and then gone on to a lifetime career in academe or administrative government, you live in a very safe and very predictable world. The crazy world of Trump with his deals and bankruptcies, of Musk with his impossible startups, is utterly foreign and frightening. The very idea of upsetting the safe world of administration is unthinkable.

    And now Trump is coming for Harvard. I learned about the culture of the university from Bryan Magee, the British TV philosophy popularizer. In Confessions of a Philosopher he advised the innocent that universities are not “student–centered.” Not at all. The academics are researchers and administrators, with numerous projects and vast budgets and mind-numbing hierarchies. The last thing on the list is teaching students. Imagine if Trump starts to make universities follow the law, pitching the comfortable academic insiders into his world of risk and turmoil!

    We don’t know what is ahead of us in the U.S. We don’t know if Trump’s tariffs will work; we don’t know if he can beat the nationwide injunction culture in the judiciary or whether the system will get the better of him. We don’t know if he will get the better of the liberal activist/protest culture or if they will end up flooding the streets with a genuine “armed insurrection.”

    The fact is that we are not in Kansas anymore.

    Although fairy tales like The Wizard of Oz are often stigmatized as old wive’s tales, experts are starting to agree that there is something in there that is basic to the human experience, or at least the “lived experience” of women down the ages. One curious aspect of fairy tales is the preponderance of wicked witches and evil stepmothers. Oz has four witches, two wicked and two good. It is easy to see how this witch narrative applies to real life. In the U.S. today, it is obvious that the Wicked Witch of the West is Nancy Pelosi, and the Wicked Witch of the East is Hillary Clinton. The Good Witch of the South, now and forever, is Glinda. I nominate J.K. Rowling, from Scotland, defending women from men in the women’s bathroom, as the Good Witch of the North.

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    Christopher Chantrill@chrischantrill blogs at The Commoner Manifestoand runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get hisAmerican Manifesto and hisRoad to the Middle Class.

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  • Pro-trans protesters chant at school meeting

    Protesters advocating for transgender male athletes to continue participating in girls’ sports chanted “Hail Satan” at a California board meeting last Thursday.

    According to Fox News, last week’s Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) board meeting in San Bernardino County, California, included multiple speeches by protesters on opposite sides of the transgender sports issue. The outlet noted that police officials escorted one woman out of the board meeting who opposed the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ sports and cited the Bible to support her position.

    On the other hand, protesters supporting the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ sports used graphic language and chanted “Hail Satan” during the school board meeting.

    In a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by CVUSD School Board President Sonja Shaw, one protester can be heard saying, “Y’all are all a bunch of transphobic pieces of sh-t. I hope y’all burn in hell. Hail Satan b-tches” as they walked out of the meeting.

    Another protester can be heard saying, “Y’all are really afraid of authenticity and people being their own true selves. You’re afraid of love. You’re afraid of solidarity. Y’all are crazy… absolutely crazy.”

    Christina Salazar, a parent of one of the students who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, told Fox News that her daughter’s speech was interrupted by the protesters’ chants. Salazar told the outlet, “There was even a teacher from my daughter’s school who was interrupting the meeting yelling and said ‘Hail Satan’ as he walked out and flipped everyone off.”

    READ MORE: Trump transgender military ban denied by judge

    On Friday, Shaw told Fox News that the school board passed “several pro-parent and pro-female athlete resolutions that provide measures that protect girls sports and uphold the fundamental rights of parents to raise and guide their children without government interference or radical agendas.”

    “In response, a small but loud group of outside agitators descended on our meeting, screaming, cussing and even chanting phrases like ‘Hail Satan’ all in front of families and children,” Shaw said.

    The school board president told Fox News that the protesters allegedly tried to have outside groups rally at the school board meeting to “overwhelm” the school district. Shaw described the protester’s movement as a “complete embarrassment” that only succeeded in a “handful of angry, disruptive individuals trying to bully a community that’s working to protect kids and ensure that education remains focused on learning, not divisive ideologies.”

    The school board president also told Fox News that she received a “violent and graphic death threat” prior to Thursday’s meeting due to her position against transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports. “This is the level of hatred and evil we’re up against,” Shaw said. “But no threat, no mob and no political machine will scare me into silence.”

    WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT:


    Source: American Military News

  • Kaduna To Revamp Primary Health Care Centers

    Stakeholders in Kaduna State, including government officials, policymakers, and health experts, have converged to explore strategies to address workforce challenges in Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).

    The stakeholders’ meeting, held in Kaduna, aimed to advocate for increased primary healthcare service delivery and improved health outcomes in the state.

    The Director of Programmes, Nigerian Health Watch, Dr Kemisola Agbaoye, said, “We are looking at two critical things, sustainable financing and improved workforce capacities,” Agbaoye said.

    According to Agbaoye, Kaduna State has made significant progress in allocating 15 per cent or more of its budget to the health sector over the last three to four years.

    However, she noted that there are still challenges in ensuring that these funds are released and adequately utilised to improve healthcare delivery at the primary level.

    “The deliberations have been encouraging, and there have been very clear calls to action, some of which are the need for cash planning, the need to ensure that resources are prioritised, and the need to leverage digital and data for budget performance tracking and implementation,” Agbaoye said.

    The Permanent Secretary, Planning and Budget Commission, Kaduna State, Bashir Mohammed, emphasised the government’s commitment to providing timely goods and services to its citizens.

    He described the health sector as one of the most important services that the government should look at, noting that the Kaduna State government has been trying to maintain the 15 per cent allocation of its budget to the health sector.

    “We have identified some gaps and advised on prioritisation, cash planning, and budget performance tracking to improve health service delivery in the state.

    “Moving forward, it is hoped that welfare for health workers will be improved. Sometimes it is not just about salaries but about allowances and other welfare things that make the retention of health personnel in the state key and very important,” Mohammed said.

    The Commissioner of Health, Hajiya Umma Ahmed, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Aishatu Sadiq, disclosed that the state faces recurrent healthcare burdens and service delivery challenges to its 10.6 million citizens. She noted that the state currently recorded a multidimensional poverty index of 88 per cent, with a higher value of 89 per cent for females.

    “Even though the state government has taken deliberate steps in managing the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to channel resources directly to PHC facilities, sustainability is not guaranteed by funding alone but requires transparent disbursement and tracking mechanisms, community participation in budget planning and monitoring, and a commitment to result-oriented spending,” she said.

    To address these challenges, the state is exploring models such as state-level health trust funds, performance-based financing pilots, and the integration of community-based health insurance schemes to improve equity and reduce out-of-pocket expenditure, especially for the poor and vulnerable.

    The state has also developed a human resource for health policy, generated a cost implementation plan, and obtained executive approval to commence recruitment processes.

    According to Ahmed, this will enable the state to recruit midwives and CHIPS agents for underserved wards, reposition the Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) to improve training, supervision, and workforce planning, and strengthen collaboration with partners to deliver continuous professional development.

    Our correspondent reports that the policy will also explore incentives, including rural hardship allowances and career progression schemes, to retain talent where it is needed most and mitigate the state’s brain drain challenges.

    The stakeholders’ meeting is a significant step towards addressing the workforce challenges in Kaduna State’s primary healthcare sector.

    With the state’s commitment to improving healthcare delivery and the exploration of innovative models to address these challenges, there is hope for improved health outcomes for the citizens of Kaduna State.

    Kaduna To Revamp Primary Health Care Centers is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

    Source: The Whistler

  • Police probe d3ath of Delta Governor’s Special Adviser, Shimite

    The Delta State Police Command has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the d3ath of Shimite Love, the Special Adviser to Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori on Trade and Export. 

     

    Shimite passed away in the early hours of Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at St. Luke’s Hospital, Asaba, where she was rushed for medical treatment. 

     

    It was gathered that Shimite’s body was found after her maid called her elder brother, expressing concern that the husband had allegedly locked her in the house all day. 

     

    Her brother rushed over and found her inside the house with foam already coming out of her mouth. He took her to the hospital, but she was declared d3ad on arrival.

     

    The spokesperson of the command, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the d3ath and the ongoing investigation.

     

    Edafe stated that Shimite was “confirmed d3ad at the hospital where she was taken, while her husband is currently in protective custody.

     

    “He (the husband) was the one who called to report that his wife died early this morning and that he was receiving threats from her family, and feared he might be attacked. It was on this basis that we went to his house and brought him in for his own safety,” Edafe stated. 

     

    The PPRO emphasised that the husband is in protective custody and not under arrest.

     

    “However, the situation became more complex when the deceased’s family later lodged a formal complaint with the police,” Edafe revealed.

     

    In their complaint, the family expressed suspicion that the husband may have played a role in Shimite’s d3ath.

     

    In response to these concerns, the police said a thorough investigation had begun.

     

    “We are currently investigating. In situations like this, only an autopsy can determine whether the d3ath was natural or due to other causes,” he added.

     

    The police have indicated that they will release further updates as the investigation progresses. 

     

    Meanwhile, family members allege that Shimite’s husband had isolated her from loved ones and tightly controlled her movements.  

     

    “Since he came into her life, he cut everyone off. Her brother couldn’t even visit. He wouldn’t let her go to the office. He was always trailing her. Even the name on all her properties in Abuja and elsewhere was changed to his name. We believe she was manipulated—hypnotised even,” a family source told Sahara Reporters.

     

    “If she were not hypnotised, which woman with her right senses would do such? What kind of love is that your husband would follow you everywhere you went, and you wouldn’t see anything wrong with that? Your husband would lock you in and not allow you to go to the office? Anytime you tell Shimite about certain things, she would tell you, ‘Don’t worry, my husband is a pastor. He’s my spiritual father. He sees everything.’ It’s very unfortunate Shimite had to learn the hard way. How could a special adviser to a governor just die like that?” the source added

     

     

    Source: Linda Ikeji

  • BREAKING: New Terrorists Group Mahmuda Kills Security Personnel As Kwara Governor, Others Visit Troubled Communities

    Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is currently visiting communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State where a new terrorists group has tightened its grip on the residents, SaharaReporters has learnt.

    The visit is coming a few hours after the deadly group known as Mahmuda killed a vigilante member.

    “The Kwara State governor, the Army General Officer Commanding in charge of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the Army Brigade Commander of Ilorin, Police Commissioner, DSS director just landed in Kaiama,” a source told SaharaReporters.

    “However, few hours before their visit, one of the vigilante members was killed in Kemanji. He was killed today (Monday) in an attempt to stop the attack of this Mahmuda militant group.”

    SaharaReporters recently reported how the new terror group which emerged in the North Central part of Nigeria had been terrorising residents of rural communities around the Kainji Lake National Park (KLNP).

    The affected communities are in Kaiama Local Government Area (Kemaanji, Tenebo, Baabete, Nuku, Nanu) and Barutein Local Government Area (villages in Yashikira District), both in Kwara.

    According to multiple sources, the group had also taken over communities in Babana and Wawa District in the Borgu Local Government in Niger State.

    SaharaReporters also exclusively reported how the militants attacked a vigilante group last Wednesday in Kemanji, killing over 15 members and villagers.

    “They called themselves Mahmuda group. Their leader in a voice note is threatening all the communities. They kill and kidnap victims and also demand ransom,” one of the sources had said.

    Another source added, “The surge of insecurity in Nigeria has been a source of concern to the citizenry because of its destructive factor to livelihood, and unfortunately, new militant groups continue to emerge and occupy the ungoverned spaces in the country.

    “With the Kainji Lake National Park left unguarded, the loggers, fishermen, and hunter groups take the opportunity and start enjoying the common good of the citizens for their personal gain,” the source said.

    At the beginning there was a clash between the loggers and the militants as well as the vigilantes, but the loggers negotiated with the militants, and the loggers gained access to the forest to harvest trees without any hitches and this as well serves as the biggest opportunity for the militant to make money through the logging activities.

    “Currently, the community of Kainji National Park (KLNP), which includes Kaiama LGA (Kemaanji, Tenebo, Baabete, Nuku, Nanu) and Barutein LGA (villages in Yashikira District that share a border with the park), all in Kwara State, part of Babana and Wawa District in Borgu LGA in Niger State, have been under siege for years, and the world does not know what is happening to the Borgawas (Borgu people).

    “The militants occupied the park visibly over five years ago when they raided the park and chased the Range Guard out of the park. They migrated from Mokwa LGA when they were chased away by the then Governor of Niger State, Muazu Babangida Aliyu. He accused them of being members of Boko Haram,” the source explained. 

    “Upon their eviction from Mokwa LGA, they relocated to a village called Welele in Kaiama LGA. The local government authority, with the collaboration of the security forces, forced them out of Kaiama LGA. Following their eviction from Kaiama, they relocated to the Kaduna State forest. The same group, well-armed, resurfaced in the national park, and became a monster.

    “Thus, who are these new militant groups? Some people claim that the militant group came from the Benin Republic or Niger Republic. This claim is also similar to a report from BBC Radio that there was an influx of militant groups to Kainji Lake National Park. Further study of them will reveal the true identity of this faceless group.

    “However, a recent audiotape record from the militant claims to be a moderate Islamist, this assertion confirms that they are a sect of Boko haram that broke away from the Shekau-led extremist group. Regrettably, the locals are gradually being recruited into their ranks as informants. They referred to themselves as the Mahmuda Group or Mallam Group, their leader’s name and a jihadist fighting to promote the cause of the Sunni group.

    “The militant group mainly speaks Hausa. The saddened reality is that the activities of these militants, controlling a vast territory of 3970.29 sq. km of the Nigerian state, have resulted in the community members living at the mercy and dictates of the non-state actor. Living at the mercy and dictates of the militants manifests in a number of ways.

    “First, the herders within the park pay dues (zakah) to the militants to allow them to graze their cattle. Second, the farmers to whom the militant allocates farmland within the forest also pay farming levies to the militants. Third, the militants forced the residents to work on their farm as sadaka. Fourth, members of the community are kidnapped and made to pay ransom. Fifth, illegal mounting of roadblocks along the community, and regulating the social activities, particularly the sale of alcohol and all forms of smoking, and even settling disputes among the community’s members.

    “Sixth, the militants threaten the existence of herbalists that they assume are fortifying the community vigilante members to confront them. Unconfirmed reports also have it that the Mahmuda Group or Mallam Group is into illegal mining in the park environment. 

    “In their ploy to deceive the people with religion, they timely gather community members to preach about Islamic ethics as well as persuade community members to be disloyal to the Nigerian state and also instruct that any disputes within the community must be reported to them.

    “The loss of trust in the security agent to address the insecurity challenges in the area makes the vigilante group work hand in hand with the Mahmuda Group to rescue kidnapped victims from the bandits. The group was able to force out all the bandits from the park area, and their collaborators within the communities were kidnapped to their place, and ransom was collected, or those judged to be more involved in the act of banditry were slaughtered.

    “The assumption among the locals is that the militant group present in the National Park is known to the authority above, but by whom? Guess time will tell. To some, it’s simply because of the sophisticated weapons in their possession, which makes it practically difficult for them to be dislodged from the national asset.”

     

     

    Source: Sahara Reporters

  • Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ Leads Box Office with $45.6M

    Jayme Lawson as Pearline, Wunmi Mosaku as Annie, Michael B. Jordan as Smoke, Miles Caton as Sammie Moore, and Li Jun Li as Grace Chow, in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Sinners.” (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures via CNN Newsource)

    By Auzinea Bacon, CNN

    (CNN) — Ryan Coogler’s supernatural horror “Sinners” drove a stake through the competition this weekend to finish No. 1 at the box office while shattering industry expectations.

    “Sinners” pulled in $45.6 million domestically, surpassing estimates of about $35 million, and edging “A Minecraft Movie,” which grossed $41.3 million in its third weekend, to put its domestic total at nearly $345 million.

    Both “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie” are distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

    Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory, told CNN that “Sinners” was boosted by the duo of Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan, who have teamed up on four films, including Disney’s “Black Panther.”

    “That star power for ‘Sinners’ (and) really kind of a fresh, original take on the vampire movie (genre) … helped bring out moviegoers,” he said.

    “Sinners” has also been boosted by critics’ reviews, which can help a film’s long-term box-office success. It has a 98% rating on movie-ratings site Rotten Tomatoes and an 84 score — the seventh highest for a film in 2025 — on Metacritic.

    “This may be one of the best-reviewed No. 1 films ever, especially for the horror genre,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore.

    The success of “Sinners” is encouraging for the horror genre, which was most successful in 2017, when “It” and “Get Out” were released, according to Dergarabedian. Horror movies earned more than $1 billion at the box office in 2017, according to Comscore data. In 2024, the genre earned $948 million.

    “Horror movies can be very budget-friendly and have a very strong profitability factor, so that makes them particularly of interest to studios and filmmakers,” Dergarabedian told CNN.

    Universal Pictures is set to release two horror sequels this year, “M3GAN 2.0” and “Black Phone 2” in June and October, respectively.

    Meanwhile, the industry’s overall domestic earnings, which were down 13% at the opening of “A Minecraft Movie,” are now up 5.3% compared to 2024, according to Comscore.

    Box office analyst David A. Gross of FranchiseRe said “A Minecraft Movie” is trekking toward $1 billion at the worldwide box office. After its strong opening, the fantasy adventure comedy has gone viral for engaging audiences with its chicken jockey scene.

    “Audiences are totally engaged — this is mainstream action-adventure entertainment at its best,” Gross told CNN.

    Dergarabedian expects the overall box office to maintain this momentum as the first slate of summer movies debuts in May, followed by a strong Memorial Day weekend with Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”

    The-CNN-Wire
    & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

    Source: Seattle Medium

  • African state signs oil exploration deal with Russia

    African state signs oil exploration deal with Russia

    The partnership with two Russian corporations comes as Sudan seeks deeper ties with Moscow

    RT World News

    Two Russian companies, including state-owned Zarubezhneft and Al-Rassi International Services (LLC), have signed a memorandum of understanding with Sudan’s Bashayer Petroleum Pipelines Company (BAPCO) to cooperate in the field of petroleum services.

    High-ranking representatives of the firms concluded an agreement in Port Sudan, the capital of Red Sea State, the Sudanese Ministry of Energy and Petroleum announced on Saturday. A delegation from the Russian embassy in Sudan also attended the ceremony, the ministry stated.

    African state signs oil exploration deal with Russia

    According to the statement, acting undersecretary of energy and oil, Mohamed Awad Al-Khair, and the companies’ representatives also held technical and administrative discussions aimed at finalizing agreements on a number of other issues.

    READ MORE: Sudan to cooperate with Russia on oil exploration – media

    The parties also addressed possible partnerships with the Sudan National Petroleum Corporation (Sudapet) in oil sector investment, such as exploration and production, the ministry said. [Picture: ©  Facebook/وزارة الطاقة و النفط]

    Sudan has sought Russian investment in an array of sectors in recent years, including gold mining and the oil industry, but efforts have reportedly been hampered by an ongoing war in the African state.

    Earlier this month, Khartoum’s ambassador to Moscow, Mohammed Sirraj, reportedly said the northeastern African country intends to strengthen ties with Russia and seek its help in ending its civil war.

    Late last year, Sudanese Oil and Gas Minister Mohi-Eddin Naeem Mohamed Saeed stated that Sudan plans to sign industrial, commercial, and oil-related agreements with Russian companies.

    The deals are said to involve exploration of more than 20 oil wells in regions considered safe from the deadly conflict that erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023.

    Earlier in November, the northeastern African nation’s government also announced an agreement with Russian firm Power Machines to upgrade Sudan’s hydropower infrastructure.

    On Saturday, the Sudanese Energy Ministry said a group of Russian companies had arrived in the country a week ago and have held talks with senior government officials to explore investment opportunities.

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  • Pope Francis dies at 88

    The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis died on Monday morning at the age of 88 following his recent health struggles, including an extended hospitalization with pneumonia.

    According to CNN, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis died early Monday morning at his Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican.

    In a statement obtained by Fox News, Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said, “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.”

    “He taught us to live the values ​​of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized,” Ferrell added. “With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”

    Fox News reported that Pope Francis was elected to succeed Pope Benedict XVI in March of 2013 and was the first non-European pope to serve in the position in more than 1,000 years.

    READ MORE: Deadly shootout leads to rescue of kidnapped pastor in South Africa

    According to CNN, Pope Francis was hospitalized for five weeks earlier this year after being diagnosed with double pneumonia; however, the pope was released from the hospital last month. The outlet noted that the Vatican reported last week that the pope’s health was improving.

    CNN reported that Pope Francis met with Vice President J.D. Vance on Sunday and gave the Easter blessing at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

    In a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, Vance shared pictures of his meeting with the pope, tweeting, “Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health.”

    Following the announcement of the pope’s death on Monday, Vance wrote, “I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill.”

    President Donald Trump also released a statement on Monday regarding the pope’s death. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!”

    Dr. Marc Siegel, a senior medical analyst, told Fox News that the pope’s death could have been linked to a “respiratory failure event” on Monday.

    “What I heard from inside sources… I heard that there was a respiratory failure event this morning, Rome time, in the morning. Five to seven AM, where he was unable to catch his breath,” Siegel said. “We don’t know what caused that. It was likely due to another asthma-type event like he had in the hospital.”


    Source: American Military News