News
Italy Prime Minister Meloni Separates
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Friday she was separating from her partner, with whom she has a daughter after he was recorded making sleazy comments.
The announcement came after Andrea Giambruno, a television presenter, was caught making overtly sexual and sexist comments to female colleagues off-air.
“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” Meloni wrote on social media, saying their paths had “diverged for some time”.
“How do you do, darling?” Giambruno is heard telling a female colleague on the sidelines of his talk show on the Rete 4 channel, owned by Mediaset.
“Do you know that (name redacted) and I are having an affair? All of Mediaset knows it and now you do too,” he tells the woman, who is also off camera
“But we’re looking for a third person, as we do threesomes. Foursomes too. Would you like to be part of our working group?” he says in remarks broadcast by a different television channel on Tuesday and Thursday.
In another comment, he says: “Can I touch my balls while I talk to you?”
On Friday afternoon, a spokesman for Mediaset, which is owned by the Berlusconi family, told the ANSA news agency Giambruno had been suspended as a presenter while the company looked into the situation.
The news of the break-up coincides with the one-year anniversary this weekend of Meloni’s accession to power at the head of a hard-right government which strongly defends traditional family values.
The pair never married but Meloni always brushed off suggestions that her marital status was at odds with her position on family, which is that children should have a mother and a father.
Giambruno, who she met in a broadcast studio while giving an interview, has increasingly become a source of headlines for his controversial comments.
In August, he was accused of victim blaming for remarks he made while discussing two gang rapes this summer that had shocked Italy.
On his talk show, he said: “If you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf.”
He had also hit back when a German minister on holiday in Italy complained about the heat, saying: “If you don’t like it, stay at home.”
In her social media post on Friday, Meloni thanked Giambruno for “the splendid years we spent together, for the difficulties we went through, and for giving me the most important thing in my life, our daughter Ginevra”.
Meloni has previously spoken of the challenges of juggling family life with running the government, and takes Ginevra, seven, on official trips wherever she can.
She did not mention the recordings of Giambruno’s remarks in her statement.
But she warned anyone who hoped to use her personal life against her: “While the drop may hope to hollow out the stone, the stone remains a stone and the drop is just water”.
Meloni’s coalition allies rallied around her. Matteo Salvini, of the far-right, anti-immigration League, told her: “Go forward with your head held high!”
AFP
By Abubakar Yunusa
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has slashed its ex-depot price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N825.
Esan Sunday, head of media relations and branding communications at Dangote Group, announced the reduction in a statement on Wednesday.
The development comes more than three weeks after the refinery reduced petrol price from N950 per litre to N890.
The new price means that the refinery has significantly cut the ex-depot price by N125 from N950 per litre in January.
“This recent price reduction will also ensure that Nigerians pay between N860 and N865 per litre for petrol at the pump in Lagos,” the statement reads.
“This strategic price adjustment is designed to provide essential relief to Nigerians in celebration of the Ramadan season, while also supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic recovery policy by alleviating the financial burden on the Nigerian populace.
“It is important to note that Dangote Petroleum Refinery has consistently lowered the prices of petrol and other refined petroleum products to the benefit of Nigerians.
“This marks the second reduction of PMS prices in February 2025, following a previous decrease of N60 earlier in the month.
“Additionally, in December 2024, during the yuletide period, the refinery reduced the price of PMS by N70.50, from N970 to N899.50 per litre, as part of its commitment to easing the cost of living and providing relief to Nigerians during the holiday season.”
The oil firm refinery also said previous reductions have positively impacted the overall cost of living, benefiting various sectors of the economy.
Dangote refinery added that its high-quality products, which have become a favourite in both domestic and international markets, will remain available nationwide, particularly through its key partners — MRS Holdings, AP (Ardova Petroleum), and Heyden — at market-friendly rates.
The organisation assured the public of a consistent supply of petroleum products, with sufficient reserves to meet domestic demand and a surplus for export, thereby boosting the country’s foreign exchange (FX) earnings.
The refinery also called on marketers to support the initiative, ensuring that Nigerians remain the primary beneficiaries of its effort
Abdullahi Ganduje, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says the ruling party had a debt of N8.9 billion when he assumed office.
Ganduje took over from Abdullahi Adamu, who was the national chairman of the APC until his resignation in July 2023.
Speaking during the APC’s NEC meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the former Kano governor said the expenses were incurred during pre-election legal battles, election cases, and appeals for legislative, governorship, and presidential elections.
“The current NWC inherited debts and legal liabilities to the total tune of N8,987,874,663, arising from various legal engagements,” Ganduje said.
However, the APC chairman said Kareem Kana, the national legal adviser, has been working to reduce the debt burden.
“We still passionately appeal to the national executive committee to intervene accordingly,” he said.
Earlier today, the chairman said the party is making efforts to mend internal divisions and bring aggrieved members back into the fold.
Ganduje explained that the APC had initiated high-level discussions among party leaders and stakeholders to address lingering disagreements and strengthen party unity.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Jude Okoye, the elder brother and former manager of Paul and Peter Okoye of the defunct music group, P-Square, on charges of laundering ₦1.38billion, $ 1 million and £34,537.59.
Jude was arraigned alongside his company, Northside Music Ltd, before Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on a seven-count charge
One of the counts read: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Ltd sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as No 5, Tony Eromosele Street Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos worth ₦850,000,000.00 (Eight hundred and fifty million naira) only, which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2) (d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Another count read: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Ltd sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did indirectly using bureau de change convert the sum of $1,019,762.87 (One million nineteen thousand, seven hundred and six-two dollars eighty-seven cents), domiciled in Access Bank Plc operated by Northside Music Lid to the naira equivalent and remitted into various bank accounts with the intention of concealing that the said fund form part of the proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Larry Peters Aso, applied for a date for hearing as well as for the remand of the defendant in the correctional facility pending trial.
The defendant’s counsel, Inibehe Effiong, informed the court of a pending bail application. He asked for a short date for the hearing. Effiong also asked that the defendant be remanded in the EFCC’s custody pending the hearing of the application.
Aso objected to the request for the defendant to be remanded in the EFCC custody. He argued that the EFCC custody was already congested with suspects awaiting arraignment. He urged the court to remand the defendant to the correctional facility since he had taken his plea.
Justice Owoeye adjourned the matter till February 28 for bail hearing and April 14 for trial.
He also ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional facility.