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The kidn@pped former Delta State Commissioner for Technical Education, Hon. Joan Onyemaechi Mrakpor, has been released by her abd¥ctors.

Mrakpor, an evangelist and politician, was released late Friday night, August 9, after 11 days in captivity.

The abd¥ctors had earlier demanded N1billion ransom, however, SaharaReporters reliably gathered that a yet-to-be-disclosed huge amount of money was allegedly paid as a ransom before she was released.

A source who spoke to the news outlet disclosed that former governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, and the Delta State government played vital roles towards her release.

“You know initially the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N1billion from the family and the family said they didn’t have such huge amount of money. The family begged for a lesser amount of money and at the end of the day, a compromise was reached and ransom was paid and she was released,” the source stated.

The spokesman of the Delta State Police Command, SP Bright Edafe, also confirmed the release of Mrakpor, popularly known as ‘Ada Anioma’, late Friday night.

Hon. Mrakpor was kidn@pped by g¥nmen on July 30 from her church premises along the DBS Road in Asaba, Delta State. A Police aide and one other person lost their lives in the kidn@p att@ck while some others sustained inj¥ries, Leadership reports.

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President Bola Tinubu has promised to review the request for the convening of a national constituent assembly with the mandate to draft a new constitution.

The request was made by a group of eminent personalities known as ‘The Patriots’ led by former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

Speaking during a visit to the president in Abuja on Friday, August 9, Chief Anyaoku, appealed to the President to send an executive bill to the National Assembly, proposing two measures: ”The convening of a national constituent assembly with the mandate to produce a draft people’s democratic constitution.

The constituent assembly should be of directly elected individuals, on a non-political basis, from the 36 states of the federation, possibly three individuals per state, and one from the FCT.

They should be assisted by seven constitutional lawyers, one drawn from each of the six geo-political zones and the FCT.

The deliberations of the constituent assembly should take into full account the 1960/63 constitutions, as well as the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference and indeed of the various national conferences that considered the Nigerian constitutions.

The draft constitution, produced by the constituent assembly, should be put to a national referendum and if approved, should then be signed by the President as the genuine Nigerian people’s constitution.”

Responding to these requests, the President said: “I have listened to you carefully, and this is not a group that I can ignore. This is a group of patriots reflecting the heart and aspirations of society. I thank all of you for being here…(continue reading from next slide.)

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Nollywood actress and politician, Tonto Dikeh reportedly risks jail term as she’s invited by the police for multiple alleged crimes, including defamation, forgery and others.

Reports gathered that the photo of the letter of invitation by the police has been making rounds on the internet.

The movie star was charged with the following crimes which include, cyberbullying, defamation, forgery, falsehood, and criminal conversion which were reported to the police.

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Paramount Global (PARA) wrote down the value of its cable-TV networks by nearly $6 billion, a day after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) also took a massive charge, as streaming services like Netflix (NFLX) continue to disrupt traditional networks.

It also announced plans to save at least $500 million in annualized costs, and will cut about 2,000 jobs, or 15% of its U.S. workforce, the owner of CBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon said in its earnings call.

Still, investors welcomed the news of the cuts, with Paramount's shares rising 5% before the opening bell Friday.

Paramount, whose controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone's National Amusements, struck a deal after months of talks to merge with Skydance Media last month, also reported an 11% year-over-year decline in second-quarter sales to $6.81 billion.

That included a 17% revenue drop in its TV Media unit, which was "primarily driven by fluctuations in licensing revenues."

Subscribers of its Paramount+ streaming service also fell by 2.8 million to 68 million during the second quarter, "principally reflecting the planned exit from a hard bundle agreement in South Korea."

The company said, however, that it is on track for Paramount+ to reach domestic profitability in 2025.

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Yakuk Ishaq, a Nigerian businessman, has made a striking revelation after stating that he married his second wife the day she was born.

He clarified that he visited a friend who had recently given birth at the hospital in 1993 with his mother, without knowing that the baby girl would end up becoming his bride thirty-one years later.

Yakuk Ishaq noted that after seeing the baby, he took her and offered prayers for her.

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), the world's largest contract chipmaker, said July revenue surged 45% year-over-year, showing buoyant demand for the chips that have helped power the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Sales for the month reached 256.95 billion New Taiwanese dollars ($7.93 billion), while revenue between January and July soared 30.5%.

TSMC last month reported second-quarter results that beat analysts' estimates on booming AI demand and projected an up to 33% gain in third-quarter sales. TSMC supplies chips to both AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) and iPhone maker Apple (AAPL).

TSMC is a beneficiary of the CHIPS and Science Act aimed at bringing advanced production of chips to the U.S. The White House announced plans to award TSMC up to $6.6 billion in grants earlier this year, which the Taiwanese firm said would help it fund a third factory to its site in Arizona.

The news of the July revenue boost lifted TSMC's American depositary receipts (ADRs), which gained 2% an hour before the opening bell Friday.

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