Bengaluru Police Arrest Three Nigerians Over MDMA Haul

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Bengaluru Police Arrest Three Nigerians Over MDMA Haul

Bengaluru police arrested three Nigerian nationals after seizing 10.27 kilograms of MDMA crystals worth about Rs 21 crore from a house raid on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

Officers from the Anti Narcotic Wing (ANW) of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) acted on intelligence and raided a residence within the Madanayakanahalli police jurisdiction. The suspects, identified as Ambemo Victor, 37, Chime Moses, 36, and Karikari Ames, 33, had entered India on medical and tourist visas, according to the police statement.

The arrests form part of a wider crackdown. Police said in a statement that the ANW arrested four people, including three Nigerian nationals, in two cases of drug peddling in the city, and that the combined haul from both operations included 2.044 kilograms of hydroponic cannabis. Separate reports put the total value of the seized drugs at Rs 21 crore and Rs 23 crore, a gap police have not yet explained.

Investigators said preliminary findings point to a supply chain running through the capital. The suspects reportedly bought the drugs from another Nigerian national based in Delhi, and that lead is now under investigation, according to police.

The case lands two months after four other Nigerians were arrested elsewhere in India in an unrelated matter. Gurugram Police detained three men accused of running a social media fraud scheme that targeted victims by impersonating women, while a fourth suspect was arrested separately by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force. The two cases are not connected, but together they point to Indian law enforcement stepping up scrutiny of foreign nationals in narcotics and fraud networks this year.

No court date has been announced for the Bengaluru suspects, and it is not clear whether they have legal representation.

Ex Adult Star’s Old Pastor Clip Goes Viral

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Ex Adult Star’s Old Pastor Clip Goes Viral

A years old video of former adult film performer Jazmine Cashmere preaching as a pastor has gone viral again, drawing nearly 5 million views and renewed debate over redemption.

The renewed attention matters because it revives a years old conversion story as if it were breaking news, and reopens a debate that touches on faith, gender roles in ministry and whether a public past should follow someone permanently.

The performer, who used the stage name Jazmine Cashmere during a career in adult films from 2004 to 2010, now leads a ministry in Chicago under her legal name, Nicole B. Jones. She has spoken publicly about becoming a born again Christian around 2016, meaning she has served as a pastor for roughly a decade rather than having just converted.

The clip driving the latest wave of attention is a split screen video that the account My Mixtapez posted on X on June 26, pairing footage of Jones in a bikini from her earlier career with clips of her preaching from a pulpit. The post has drawn close to 5 million views, and users have reposted it widely across TikTok and other platforms in the days since.

Reactions online have split along two lines. Some commenters have praised the transformation as evidence that a person’s past does not have to define their future. Others have questioned whether her adult film history should disqualify her from ministry, and a separate group of critics has objected on different grounds entirely, arguing against women serving as pastors regardless of personal history, citing specific interpretations of scripture that restrict teaching authority to men.

Whether the renewed exposure helps or complicates her ministry is unclear. Jones recorded the sermon footage years after her public conversion, and recirculation, not any new development in her story, appears to be driving the current spike in attention.

TDC’s Volta Housing Push Outpaces Kumasi Rollout

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TDC’s Volta Housing Push Outpaces Kumasi Rollout

Tema Development Corporation (TDC) says its 800 unit Volta Region housing project remains on track for 2027, even as its promised Kumasi expansion remains undated eight months on.

The gap matters because TDC has pitched itself as the engine behind Ghana’s next wave of urban housing, and its ability to deliver in Volta before making good on Kumasi will test whether that national rollout is more than an announcement.

Managing Director Courage Makafui Nunekpeku said contractors on the 1,860 acre Oxygen City Community 27 project near Ho have moved past substructure work on the first batch of buildings, which the company expects to hand over next year. “All the contractors are ahead of schedule,” he said. Company officials set June 2027 as the completion target for the initial 800 residential units when President John Dramani Mahama cut the sod for the project in December 2025.

Buyers of the two and three bedroom units are expected to pay a 25 percent deposit, with the balance financed at single digit interest over 15 to 20 years, according to figures TDC gave at the sod cutting ceremony.

Nunekpeku told The High Street Journal the company is still evaluating options for a Kumasi project and expects to unveil it toward the end of the year. TDC first floated Kumasi as part of a five region expansion, alongside Ashanti, Central, Western and Eastern regions, at the Volta Economic Forum in November 2025, without giving it a firm launch date at the time.

In Tema, TDC is also pursuing a mixed use redevelopment tied to what Nunekpeku called the Tema Development Agenda, including an events centre, retail units and ten towers of fifteen storeys each. He called the project complex and state of the art, with clubhouses and other recreational facilities planned. The Ministry of Finance has separately cleared TDC to redevelop the Kaiser Flats and Italian Flats areas of Tema into high rise housing, part of what officials describe as a shift from low rise to high density development in the city.

Ghana established TDC in 1952 to manage Tema, and law confined it to the 63 square mile Tema Acquisition Area until a 2017 mandate change let it operate nationwide. Officials have tied the wider push to Ghana’s housing deficit, which traditional leaders in Ho put at more than 1.8 million units when TDC first announced the Volta project last year.

Ports Pledge Reform Again as AI Duty Anger Persists

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Ports Pledge Reform Again as AI Duty Anger Persists

Ghanaian port agencies and private shippers pledged on June 25 to fix cargo delays and high charges, even as freight forwarders demand the government suspend a contested AI duty system.

The pledge is at least the second such promise this quarter, after a separate Ghana Shippers’ Authority forum in early June heard similar complaints about high charges and slow clearance, raising questions about whether quarterly meetings are translating into lasting change at the ports.

The Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) convened the session at Shippers’ House in Accra, bringing together the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division, the Integrated Customs Management System, the Ministry of Finance and shippers ranked Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze by trade volume. Shippers repeated concerns raised in earlier consultations, including port congestion, multiple inspections, documentation fraud, corruption and informal charges.

GPHA Deputy Marketing Manager Abena Serwaa Opoku Fosu said the authority would waive rent charges on cargo held up by congestion and continue modernising the Tema and Takoradi ports. Tema Port National Security Coordinator Major Adams Suleman pledged safer cargo movement and stricter professionalism among security personnel.

The sharpest tension centred on the GRA’s AI driven cargo valuation tool, rolled out in March to curb under declaration. Ministry of Finance representative Kofi Baidoo told the meeting that genuine appeals over duty discrepancies would be handled promptly and urged affected shippers to file formal complaints. Freight forwarders have been far less patient. A widely read industry commentary published this year called the system a de facto price floor and argued regulators should “scrap demurrage on weekends and public holidays when clearing is impossible,” pressing for the tool’s suspension until a full review is complete.

The friction fits a pattern. A nationwide internet outage in 2024 halted cargo clearance for days while demurrage and storage fees kept accumulating. In April this year, freight forwarders at Tema protested a GPHA decision to relocate transit containers to the Kpone Terminal without consulting them, and the authority later suspended operations there.

Monica Josiah, head of Shipper Services and Trade Facilitation at the GSA, said the Authority would keep engaging shippers quarterly and use the sessions to track whether agencies deliver on their commitments. Stakeholders agreed that cutting port costs remains central to Ghana’s ambition to become the preferred maritime gateway for its land linked neighbours.

Elba, Google Tie AI Grant To Ghana Village Plan

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Elba, Google Tie AI Grant To Ghana Village Plan

Idris Elba and Google will give 100,000 African creators, including in Ghana, free access to Gemini AI tools as part of a wider push that includes a planned creative village.

The announcement matters for Ghanaian creators specifically, since Elba, whose mother is Ghanaian, has named the country as the site of a planned production hub alongside the free software rollout, signalling long term investment rather than a one time gift.

Google and the Elba Hope Foundation will jointly fund about $1 million worth of access to Google’s Gemini AI assistant and other digital tools for roughly 100,000 creators in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone. James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President for Research and Technology, said the grant targets “those creatives who don’t have access to these enormous studio budgets.”

Elba framed the initiative as solving an access problem rather than a talent gap, arguing during a video appearance at Google’s AI summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday that vision is not scarce among African creators, but tools and opportunity are.

Africa’s media and entertainment market is valued at about $93 billion and is projected to grow to $118 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence. Despite that scale, the continent has fewer than 3,000 cinema screens, a gap Elba has cited as evidence that funding alone will not fix the industry’s infrastructure problems.

Elba has tied the AI grant to a broader investment push that includes the planned creative village in Ghana, a studio complex in Zanzibar, and Akuna Wallet, a fintech platform built to speed cross border payments to African creators. Earlier this month, King Charles III knighted Elba at Windsor Castle for his youth and community work, and Danone, in which Elba holds a stake, agreed to buy the nutrition company Huel for about €1 billion.

Some industry observers have questioned whether free software access can offset deeper problems, including patchy internet connectivity and uneven digital literacy across the continent, arguing that the real test will be how well Google and Elba support creators after the initial rollout.

The grant follows Google’s wider push to expand AI adoption in Africa. The company plans to select 15 African startups for an AI program starting July 21, part of a goal to back 50 African ventures by 2028.

Minority Demands Fair Split Of GH¢350m Flood Fund

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Minority Demands Fair Split Of GH¢350m Flood Fund

Ghana’s parliamentary Minority has demanded an equal share of the newly transferred GH¢350 million flood relief fund for regions beyond Accra, after record June rainfall displaced thousands nationwide.

The dispute matters because it could determine whether coastal and inland communities outside the capital receive meaningful support, since flooding this year has also struck the Western, Central, Eastern, Volta and Ashanti regions.

The Ministry of Finance confirmed this week that the Controller and Accountant General has credited the full GH¢350 million to a dedicated National Disaster Management Committee account at the Bank of Ghana, after Parliament approved the withdrawal under Article 177 of the 1992 Constitution. Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson authorised the release following a directive from President John Dramani Mahama to mobilise resources from the Contingency Fund.

Of the total, GH¢200 million will fund urgent relief for flood victims, while the remaining GH¢150 million will fund mitigation projects meant to reduce future flooding.

The final figure marks an increase from the GH¢300 million the Presidency first announced on June 30, when the flooding began. Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak told Parliament the same day that government intended to release GH¢350 million, a discrepancy between the Presidency’s statement and the Interior Ministry’s figure that was not publicly explained.

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo Markin used the announcement to press government on distribution. Addressing reporters in Parliament, he argued the package should reach every affected region rather than concentrate on the capital because it draws the most attention. He said “the GH¢350 million package be applied equitably across all affected regions.”

The rains that triggered the emergency were the heaviest Ghana has recorded in a single month. The Ghana Meteorological Agency logged 593.2 millimetres of rainfall in June 2026, well above the previous record of 420.6 millimetres set in 2002. The flooding displaced nearly 39,000 people in the Greater Accra Region alone and also hit the Volta, Central and Western North regions.

Government has deployed personnel from the Ghana Armed Forces, including the 48 Engineer Regiment, alongside the Ghana Police Service to support the National Disaster Management Organisation in ongoing rescue and relief work.

Man United Priced Out As Osimhen Bids Mount

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Man United Priced Out As Osimhen Bids Mount

Manchester United have abandoned their years long pursuit of Victor Osimhen after Galatasaray’s asking price and the striker’s tax boosted salary put a deal out of reach, reports said.

The retreat matters because it leaves Galatasaray dictating terms in one of the summer’s biggest transfer sagas, with two fresh €120 million bids now on the table from Europe and Saudi Arabia and no sign the Turkish champions will budge.

Turkish transfer insider Serhan Türk reported that Galatasaray now have two separate €120 million offers to consider, one from an unnamed European club and another from an unidentified Saudi Arabian side. The development follows an earlier €120 million approach from Atlético Madrid, which Galatasaray rejected, and a verbal offer worth €125 million from another European club that never became formal.

Manchester United are the clearest casualty of Galatasaray’s asking price. According to the Manchester Evening News, United have ruled out a move for Osimhen because the combination of his transfer fee and salary, boosted by Turkey’s favourable tax treatment for high earners, has pushed any deal beyond their budget. Manager Michael Carrick has already signed Atalanta midfielder Ederson and is expected to bring Marcus Rashford back into the squad rather than pursue Osimhen further, with Joshua Zirkzee expected to leave after two indifferent seasons.

Club president Dursun Özbek values Osimhen at €150 million and has shown no willingness to negotiate. Reports in Turkey say the club is working on an improved long term deal and a bigger salary package to reward him, though accounts differ on whether this extends his current contract, which already runs to 2029, or simply revises its terms.

Galatasaray are also considering giving Osimhen the captain’s armband and the number 9 shirt once Mauro Icardi leaves the club, a move officials see as cementing his status as the team’s central figure.

Osimhen scored 22 goals and provided eight assists in 33 appearances last season as Galatasaray defended their Süper Lig title, their fourth straight championship. The club paid Napoli a club record €75 million to sign him permanently last year after an initial loan spell.

Özbek has previously downplayed suggestions that money alone could pull Osimhen away. “He’s a player who adds great value to Galatasaray and loves Galatasaray very much,” he said last month. Osimhen turned down interest from Saudi Arabian clubs in 2024 when he left Napoli, opting instead to stay in European football, and Saudi sides have since offered him more than $50 million a year without success.

India Gives Meta Three Days on Usernames

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India Gives Meta Three Days on Usernames

India’s technology ministry has given Meta three days to explain WhatsApp’s new username feature, warning of possible regulatory action if the company launches it before consultations end.

The clash matters because online fraud already costs Indian users heavily. Government figures show Indians lost close to three billion dollars to cyber fraud in 2025, nearly forty times the amount lost in 2021, and officials worry usernames could open a new avenue for scammers.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent the notice to WhatsApp’s chief compliance officer for India on Wednesday, citing the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021. The notice asks why the company should not face regulatory action for a feature the ministry says could enable phishing, identity spoofing and digital arrest scams. WhatsApp must respond within three days.

Not everyone agrees the government has the authority to intervene. The Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group, said the law MeitY cited covers platform liability, not product design, and argued the ministry cannot turn compliance rules into a licensing system. Nikhil Pahwa, founder of the technology publication MediaNama, went further, noting that rival apps Telegram and Signal have offered usernames for years without facing similar pressure. “We’re not in a license raj,” he wrote.

WeChat, the Chinese messaging platform owned by Tencent, already lets users connect through usernames instead of phone numbers, a feature that has run for years without comparable regulatory action in China.

Meta has not launched the feature in India and says it already blocked usernames matching the names of public figures and verified accounts to prevent impersonation. The company maintains that a phone number is still required to use WhatsApp and that it built additional safeguards against scams into the new system.

India remains WhatsApp’s largest market, with more than 500 million users. The notice arrives weeks after Meta named Indian fintech entrepreneur Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp globally, putting an executive familiar with the country’s digital habits in charge as regulators tighten scrutiny of the platform.

For now the rollout stays frozen in India while Meta prepares its written response and the two sides continue talks.

Analyst Doubts New Air Force One’s Overseas Range

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Analyst Doubts New Air Force One’s Overseas Range

President Trump’s retrofitted Air Force One flew to North Dakota on Wednesday, but an aviation analyst says its equipment suggests limited use to domestic trips.

The doubt lands days before Trump plans to fly the same jet to Turkey for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, raising questions about whether the aircraft can handle the international travel the administration has promised.

The jet itself is not new. Records show the Boeing 747-8 is roughly 14 years old, built years before Qatar’s royal family donated it to the United States government last year. The Air Force spent months retrofitting the interior and adding security systems to meet presidential standards. The planes it replaces have carried presidents for 35 to 36 years, Trump said before boarding.

Jeremiah Gertler, a senior analyst with the Teal Group aviation consultancy, said the jet appears to carry fewer communications antennas than a typical presidential aircraft, a detail he said points to a plane built for shorter, domestic trips rather than long international missions. He compared it to keeping a car reserved for special occasions rather than daily errands.

The retrofit cost 400 million dollars and drew scrutiny from reporters over the use of taxpayer funds on a foreign gift. Trump defended the spending, saying it cost far less than building a comparable jet from scratch.

“This is a gift from a country that has treated us very well,” Trump told reporters, referring to Qatar.

Passengers now have fully reclining seats with massage functions, individual screens for streaming and cable news, and a conference room finished in cream and gold tones. The plane’s hull carries a new red, white, navy blue and gold design that Trump selected himself, replacing the pale blue scheme used on Air Force One for decades.

Trump toured the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora at the invitation of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a former North Dakota governor, ahead of the site’s public opening on July 4. He is scheduled to visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota on Friday, then fly the jet to Turkey next week for the NATO summit.

The Air Force considers the retrofitted plane a temporary bridge. Boeing is building two permanent replacement jets that are not expected to enter service until close to 2028.

Naira’s Black Market Premium Shrinks to Near-Yearly Low

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Naira’s Black Market Premium Shrinks to Near-Yearly Low

Nigeria’s naira held steady against the US dollar on Thursday, narrowing the gap between official and black market rates to under two percent, the smallest spread recorded in months.

The narrowing premium matters for businesses and travelers who depend on official currency channels. A smaller gap between the two markets reduces the profit incentive that pushes traders toward informal dealers instead of licensed banks.

The official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) traded within a range of ₦1,368 to ₦1,378 per dollar on Thursday, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data. Separate reports on the exact volume weighted average differed, with some outlets citing ₦1,374.18 and others closer to ₦1,379.68. Editors should confirm the precise closing figure against CBN’s rate table before publication.

At street exchange points, dealers quoted the dollar between ₦1,385 and ₦1,400, depending on the source and location. That range sits close to the pattern recorded over the past week, when the currency moved between a low of ₦1,376.09 and a high of ₦1,390.02, based on Wise currency data.

Traders said parallel market rates eased slightly from Wednesday’s levels near ₦1,390 to ₦1,400, continuing a gradual pullback that began in late June.

CBN has repeatedly urged individuals and companies seeking foreign exchange to use licensed banks rather than street traders, arguing the formal market offers better protection and more predictable pricing.

Analysts tie the recent calm in both markets to steady dollar inflows and CBN’s push to unify exchange rate reporting since its 2023 reforms. Those changes eliminated multiple official rate windows that once ran alongside the parallel market, a shift the bank credits with improving transparency in dollar trading.

Nigeria’s currency touched its weakest point of the year in January, near ₦1,480.58 per dollar, and its strongest in February, near ₦1,333.28, according to Wise historical data. Thursday’s range sits between those two extremes, closer to the stronger end.

Market watchers expect the naira’s near term direction to hinge on oil export earnings, import demand heading into the third quarter, and the size of the reserves CBN holds to defend the currency.

At Thursday’s official rate near ₦1,374, one hundred dollars converts to roughly ₦137,400, while one thousand dollars trades near ₦1,374,000.

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