INTERNATIONAL

The British Council says Nigerian citizens planning to write the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examinations will now pay N107,500 from September 2023. Nigerians currently pay about N80,000 and N90,000 for IELTS as they need it to relocate to the United Kingdom…

A direct appeal has been made to King Charles to refuse approval, or so-called royal assent, for a controversial bill to deal with Northern Ireland’s troubled past. There has been widespread opposition to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill which would…

The Economic Community of West African States has ordered its standby force to restore constitutional order in the Niger Republic. The President of ECOWAS, Omar Alieu Touray, made the declaration while reading the resolution of ECOWAS on the Niger coup at the ECOWAS…

Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency on Thursday following the assassination of a presidential candidate, but vowed to hold general elections scheduled for later this month. “The Armed Forces as of this moment are mobilized throughout the national territory…

The military leaders in Niger, who seized power in a coup last month, have formed a new government, according to a decree read out on national television on Thursday. Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine will lead the 21-member junta, with generals from…

The United States has said China has the potential to influence the Nigerian government through Chinese loans. This was stated in the Integrated Country Strategies document by the US Department of State, which was obtained by The PUNCH. The document was originally approved on…

World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a new strain of Covid-19 as a variant of interest. However, the organisation said the new COVID-19 variant does not constitute high public health risk. The variant, known as EG.5 or “Eris”, is related to an Omicron subvariant…

Niger’s new military rulers on Wednesday accused France, the country’s traditional ally, of having “unilaterally freed captured terrorists,” a term used for jihadists, and of breaching a ban on the country’s air space. They claimed that France released a number of jihadists, who…

A former rebel leader and politician in Niger Republic has launched a movement opposing the military government that took power after the July 26 coup, a first sign of internal resistance to army rule in the strategically important Sahel country. In a statement…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned against Russia’s Wagner mercenaries taking advantage of instability in coup-hit Niger, whose neighbor Mali has become a partner of Moscow. In an interview with the BBC released Tuesday, Blinken doubted that Wagner — which in…