Author: Prima News

Dapper Live, the live events division of Dapper Group, is ramping up plans for international expansion following its official recognition by Guinness World Records as the title holder for the largest orchestra at an Afrobeats concert, it said on Wednesday. The record was achieved during Trench Symphony: The Dapper Live Experience, held on December 16, 2025, at the Balmoral Eko Convention Centre, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, where more than 80 orchestra members performed live alongside leading Afrobeats artistes in what organisers described as a landmark fusion of classical orchestration and contemporary African music. The production, conceived and executive…

There will be a new leader at billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s philanthropic group that aims to expand access to the digital revolution’s economic opportunities. Omidyar Network President Michele Jawando takes over as CEO next month, according to a Wednesday announcement from the left-leaning organization that blends charitable grantmaking with for-profit impact investments. A civil rights lawyer and former Google executive who managed the company’s public policy partnerships, Jawando will helm one of the best-financed technology organizations looking to loosen Silicon Valley’s grip on artificial intelligence’s development, deployment and regulation. “Our focus will be making sure that there is a much…

China said it was disappointed after the UN Security Council failed to adopt a Russia-backed draft resolution mourning the “tragic loss of life throughout the ongoing hostilities” in the Middle East. China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, said the draft reaffirmed the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and called on all sides to halt military actions. The proposal also condemned attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and urged parties to return to diplomatic negotiations, Fu said, according to the Global Times. “China welcomes and supports this, and was disappointed and regretful that the draft resolution…

Senegal’s National Assembly late on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a ‌bill doubling the maximum prison term for same-sex sexual acts to 10 years and criminalising any efforts to promote homosexuality. The law – passed by 135 votes to zero, with three abstentions – fulfils a campaign promise of the government that ​came to power in 2024, led by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister ​Ousmane Sonko. It now awaits Faye’s signature. Senegal’s penal code already carried an article, last ⁠amended in 1966, imposing up to five years’ jail and fines of up to 1,500,000 CFA ​francs ($2,700) for “acts against…

A man was arrested with more than 2,200 live garden ants in his luggage at Nairobi’s main airport ​this week amid a rise in cases of smuggling ‌of the insects in Kenya. Chinese national Zhang Kequn, 27, was arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday while he was trying to ​leave the country, court filings seen by Reuters on ​Thursday showed. Immigration officials flagged a “stop order” on ⁠Zhang’s passport after he evaded arrest in Kenya last year. Ant ​aficionados pay large sums to maintain colonies in large transparent vessels known ​as formicariums, which offer a literal window into the species’…

A Russian military court handed down life sentences on Thursday to four ​Tajik men and 11 accomplices over ‌their involvement in a mass shooting that killed 149 people at a concert hall near Moscow two ​years ago, Russian state news agency ​TASS reported. Prosecutors charged 19 people in connection ⁠with the shooting spree at the Crocus ​City Hall on March 22, 2024 – the deadliest ​such attack in Russia in two decades. The Islamic State-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, claimed responsibility. The four other defendants ​were given sentences ranging from 19 to ​22 years in prison, Russia’s RIA state news agency ‌reported. It ⁠was…

A new Chinese law on ethnic unity could ​give Beijing another legal basis to go after Taiwanese it views as separatists given language it ‌contains on protecting China’s sovereignty and security, officials in Taipei say. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, already has laws and regulations against Taiwanese independence supporters, among them guidelines published in 2024 to punish “diehard” activists, including with the death penalty, even though Chinese courts ​have no jurisdiction on the island. The new law, passed by China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament on Thursday, aims to create ​a “shared” national identity among the country’s…

Australian police have recovered two bodies during a search for two Chinese backpackers who went missing in ​a flood-hit region in the country’s east, local ‌media reported on Thursday. The bodies, believed to be those of the missing Chinese tourists, were found inside a car, national broadcaster Australian ​Broadcasting Corp reported, citing police. Police divers and emergency personnel ​were expected to be at the scene in ⁠the Gympie region of Queensland state on Thursday to ​confirm the identities of the bodies, ABC News said. Australian police ​said in a statement that the missing tourists – a 26-year-old man and 23-year-old…

Drone strikes hit Goma in east Congo ​on Wednesday, killing at least three people including a French aid worker, the first ‌such attack in the city since AFC/M23 rebels seized it last year, according to the group and the U.N. The AFC/M23 blamed the attack on the Congolese army, saying in a post on X that Kinshasa had launched drones against a ​densely populated urban area in the lakeside city. A spokesperson for the rebels said in a ​separate post that three people had died, including a foreign humanitarian worker. A senior ⁠official for U.N. children’s agency UNICEF told Reuters…

Shipping company MSC has signed a 45-year concession agreement with ​Nigerian maritime company Nigerdock to develop, operate ‌and maintain a new container terminal at Snake Island Port in Lagos, the Switzerland-based company said. The ​dedicated MSC terminal would be part of ​the company’s announced $1 billion investment in infrastructure ⁠and logistics in Nigeria. Global shipping companies ​are pushing to secure long-term footholds in emerging ​markets as supply chains are reconfigured worldwide. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is grappling with chronic congestion at Lagos’ ​ports. MSC said the terminal, to be built ​by ITB Nigeria and DEME Group, is expected to be…