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Defense attorneys representing three men accused of murdering XXXTentacion have suggested that Canadian rapper Drake might be linked to the 2018 killing, on the opening day of the trial. XXXTentacion, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed on June 18, 2018, aged 20, after he was ambushed during an apparent robbery as he was leaving a motorsports store in Deerfield.   Michael Boatwright, 28, is accused of being the shooter, while his friend, Trayon Newsome, 24, is accused of being the other gunman. Dedrick Williams, 26, is accused of being the driver. They could all receive life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder. A fourth man who prosecutors say was in the SUV, 26-year-old Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and is set to testify against his former friends at the trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.   The New York Post reports the defendants' defense team have argued investigators ...

The Church of England has announced it will look into the use of gender neutral terms to refer to God in prayers. According to the Church, the issue reflects growing global awareness about the assumed usage of pronouns causing offence or upset to those who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. The centuries-old institution said on Wednesday, February 8 that there were no plans to abolish current services but that it will look into gender neutrality for God. "Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female," a spokesperson for the Church said.  "Yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship." He added that there were "absolutely no plans to abolish or substantially revise" authorised services and that no changes could be made without "extensive legislation". The comments follow a conversation in the General ...

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan has admitted there were problems with his government's initial response to a devastating earthquake on Monday in southern Turkey and Syria, that has killed over 12,000 people amid anger from those left destitute and frustrated over the slow arrival of rescue teams. Erdogan said on a visit to the disaster zone on Wednesday February 8 that operations were now working normally and promised no one would be left homeless.   Across a swathe of southern Turkey, people sought temporary shelter and food in freezing winter weather, and waited in anguish by piles of rubble where family and friends possibly still lie buried.     Many Turks have complained of a lack of equipment, expertise and support to rescue those trapped even as they constantly hear cries for help. There were similar scenes and complaints in neighbouring Syria, whose north was also hit by Monday's huge quake. Syria's ambassador to the United Nations admitted the governme...

  After five Memphis police officers brutally beat Tyre Nichols last month, one officer took two cell phone photos of the visibly injured 29-year-old Black man and texted one image to at least five people, newly revealed internal police department documents show. On January 7, 2023, five Black police officers of the Memphis Police Department (MPD), severely assaulted Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop. Nichols was hospitalized in critical condition and died three days later.     Demetrius Haley, one of five officers fired and charged with murder in Nichols death admitted that he texted a photo to five people, including two other Memphis officers, a female acquaintance and a civilian employee, according to the documents, obtained by CNN.   A sixth person was also identified as a recipient of the same photo, the documents state. Also, surveillance video of the beating released to the public shows one of the officers Demetrius Haley ...

  Former deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has denied offering money to secure a donor's kidney in order to save his sick daughter, Sonia. Ekweremadu's wife Beatrice and their 25-year-old daughter are on trial in London for allegedly trafficking a young man from Nigeria to serve as kidney donor.   The Ekweremadus were alleged to have offered 7,000 to the 21-year-old trader whom they flew to London and falsely presented as Sonia's cousin so as to obtain his kidney.   According to  Daily Mail,  in his opening addresses at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, lawyers for the defendant, Martin Hicks, insisted they believed the donor was acting altruistically.   Hicks told jurors, Be alive please to the possible cultural differences between this country and that of Nigeria, particularly to altruistic donation.   We say the issue in this case is simple did there exist an agreement to exploit (the donor) in the way the prosecution allege and if so...

The Deputy Commander Land Forces in Uganda, Major Gen Francis Takirwa has asked health workers to stop treating homosexuals in public health facilities.   Maj Gen Takirwa made the statement on Sunday, February 5, 2023, when the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) commissioned and handed over different projects to Mbarara District residents at the headquarters in Bwizibwera.     " Don't use our health facilities to treat homosexuals, someone comes with pampers leaking and wants treatment because he made a decision as if he didn't have brains. No. No. This is too much and unacceptable, Maj Gen Takirwa said.     He said such practices are shameful and should not be accepted.     "Someone comes and starts doing such shameful, unnatural, un-African practices and you keep quiet. Something just a dog which you give food on the ground can't do but you with brains who eats on a plate can do, it's shameful. God is about to fix us, and prepare yourselve...

  The image of the King which will feature on first and second-class stamps has been revealed, with Royal Mail expected to make them available for the public to buy from 4 April.   The image depicts the king in profile facing to the left, known as a definitive stamp, using an adaptation of the portrait to be used on new UK coins in a tradition dating back to the creation of the Penny Black stamp for Queen Victoria in 1840.  The continuity also includes retaining the background colours of the stamps featuring Queen Elizabeth II: plum purple for first class, holly green for second class, marine turquoise for large first class, and dark pine green for large second class.   The guidance we got from His Majesty was more about continuity and not doing anything too different to what had gone before, said Royal Mail's director of external affairs and policy, David Gold. There is no embellishment at all, no crown, just simply the face of the human being, on the p...