The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, has expressed shock and horror at the magnitude of the attacks by terrorists on the people of Yelewata in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State last weekend.
A state by his spokesperson, Terrence Kuanum, said, “The SGF, who remains in a deep state of mourning over the incident denounces it as mindless barbarism, and says it is totally unacceptable that over 200 hundred innocent persons, mostly women and children, will have their lives cut short in such cruel manner.”
Akume, who was Benue State governor from May 1999 to May 2007, consoled the families of the victims and extended his sympathies to the survivors, even as he called for an immediate end to such dastardly acts everywhere in Nigeria.
READ ALSO: IGP Arrives Benue, Deploys More Tactical Teams To End Killings
He said, “As a former state governor, I understand the complexities involved in combating insecurity, and I enjoin all political, religious and traditional leaders to unite on the task to end all forms of insecurity, not just in Benue State, but in Nigeria as a whole.”
The SGF expressed optimism that the directive by President Bola Tinubu to the Service Chiefs of the Armed Forces of the Federation to end insecurity in Benue State will yield the desired results.
As Maura Higgins prepares for her latest television role, the reality star gave fans a glimpse at the makeup must-haves she used to create her summer glow on holiday
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Maura Higgins has secured another major TV show(Image: Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images)
Maura Higgins is preparing to step into her latest stint on reality TV, as it was recently announced that she would be joining the American version of The Traitors. Before heading into the famed Traitors castle, Maura has spent the last few months jetting off around the world for both holiday and work, and along the way has given fans a glimpse at the products she uses to create her glowy holiday makeup.
Although she shared a complete breakdown of all of the products she uses, there were three in particular that were responsible for creating her bronzed glow… and they’re all under £25. Hailing from affordable brands like L’Oreal and REFY, Maura’s sunkissed makeup look is easy and affordable to copy, and we can guarantee her go-to products will be making their way into our holiday makeup bags this year.
READ MORE: Zara McDermott shares ‘unreal’ £30 hair waver that’s been creating her go-to summer hair
READ MORE: ‘Life changing’ IPL hair remover that banishes sun spots and pigmentation works out at £11 per session
One reason Maura’s holiday look is so enviable is its soft, subtle glow that looks healthy and radiant, rather than shiny or oily. For her base, Maura used the L’Oréal Paris Paradise Lumi Glotion, which is a steal at £11.99, which acts as a glow-boosting skin tint that brightens and hydrates your skin for up to 24 hours – perfect for wearing in the sun.
It acts as a primer, foundation, highlighter and contour in one, saving you space in your travel beauty bag, and contains glycerin and shea butter which helps moisturise your skin. It comes in a variety of shades to suit all skin tones, giving you a fresh, natural-looking glow.
Maura shared her holiday makeup(Image: Maura Higgins/Instagram)
To accentuate her tan, Maura applied REFY’s £18 Cream Bronzer to help sculpt her features and add some extra bronzing without the sun damage. The cream formula is buildable with a weightless finish, and contains vitamin E and sunflower seed oil, which help hydrate and condition your skin whilst also getting rid of excess oil.
Finally to add some extra glow, Maura applied Vieve’s Skin Dew liquid highlighter, £24, which is also packed with skin-loving ingredients like papaya fruit extract, which brightens and adds radiance, shea butter and argan oil for hydration and conditioning, and dragon’s blood extract and squalene to moisturise and nourish your complexion. The liquid highlighter also contains golden light-reflecting pigments that suit all skin tones, giving you that instant golden hour glow.
Article continues below
Everything comes in handy travel-sized packaging that leaves plenty of room in your beauty bag and gets through hand luggage restrictions, and each one helps hydrate and nourish your skin making them perfect after a day in the sun.
Bath flanker Guy Pepper has been named in England’s 36-player training squad for their match against a France XV at Allianz Stadium Twickenham on Saturday.
The 22-year-old, who has trained with England in the past, was player of the match as Bath beat Leicester 23-21 on Saturday to lift their first Premiership title in 29 years.
Although Bath flanker Sam Underhill has been selected, he is serving the final match of a four-game ban for a dangerous tackle.
Ben Curry, Fraser Dingwall, George Furbank and Harry Randall are undergoing rehabilitation programmes with the national team.
Players selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia have not been included.
England training squad
Forwards
Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Theo Dan (Saracens), Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Ted Hill (Bath Rugby), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Manny Iyogun (Northampton Saints), Jack Kenningham (Harlequins), Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby), Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby), Tom Willis (Saracens).
Pop legend Mariah Carey’s diva demands at Capital’s Summertime Ball include switching up her dressing room before she played her set to an ’empty’ Wembley on Sunday
Mariah Carey performing on stage at Capital’s Summertime Ball 2025(Image: David Fisher/Shutterstock for Global)
Pop legend Mariah Carey’s diva demands have been revealed with some interesting requests being made by the notorious diva at Capital’s Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. Mariah was the closing act of the night and appeared to be playing to an ’empty’ stadium with some fans leaving early, according to footage on TikTok.
Mariah took the stage alongside the hottest artists, including Jade, Benson Boone, Tate McRae, and Will Smith, with a surprise performance from JLS. The 56-year-old confidently took the stage in the UK for the first time in six years and host Sian Welby let slip that Mariah changed her dressing room before her performance to be labelled ‘Mimi’s World’.
The presenter told The Sun: “We will do what we’re told. When it comes to Mariah, she is the boss. She’s changed the whole dressing room to just be called Mimi’s World. Doesn’t even have Capital branding anymore. It’s all her zone”.
Co-host Chris Stark added that Will Smith was the ‘most chilled’. He said: “Will Smith by the way is the most chilled, like he’s just wandering around. He was in catering, he just went and sat himself down and got himself some food”. The Mirror have reached out to Mariah Carey’s representatives for comment.
A tiktok video showed Mariah Carey performing to an empty stadium (Image: Tik Tok)
A video posted online showed Mariah performing to a stadium with gaps in the audience and empty seats, along with the caption: “Mariah Carey playing to a almost empty stadium”. Fans were quick to comment and address that the gig was on a Sunday which means public transport stops early and people would need to get home.
Article continues below
One person said: “The reality is its a Sunday, and in the UK, last trains (and everything) stops early Sunday. Any act if the last act after 10pm is going to have reduced crowd as folks need to catch that last train home if they didn’t drive or don’t live locally”.
Last year, it was reported that the star was being a ‘diva’ during her Christmas Time Tour(Image: WireImage)
Last year, it was reported that the star was being a ‘diva’ during her Christmas Time Tour as she allegedly would not go on the tour with any ‘unattractive dancers’, with a source claiming to MailOnline that she was ‘being so extra’.
The source said at the time: “Mariah is just being so extra this year. She is getting paid an insane amount of money. Rehearsals started at the end of September as she wants it to be the grandest tour yet. One of her requests was that her main backup dancers are all “hot” men. She did not want any unattractive dancers.”
The source continued: ‘She also requested hair and makeup for the rehearsals. Everyone who is directly involved in the production has been asked not to speak to Mariah or take photos with her.”
Fans couldn’t get enough of Mariah being back in the UK, with many claiming it was her ‘best vocals in years’.(Image: GETTY)
Article continues below
Mariah closed the Summertime Ball and sang some of her greatest and most popular tracks, including ‘Touch My Body’, ‘We Belong Together’, and Always Be My Baby’.
Fans couldn’t get enough of Mariah being back in the UK, with many claiming it was her ‘best vocals in years’. One person took to social media and said: “Mariah at the #SummerTimeBall – best live vocals from her in years…and hit after hit after hit. Bring on Brighton Pride,” while a second added: “Mariah killed it at the #Summertimeball looking and sounding incredible.”
Tributes have poured in following the death of John Reid, the acclaimed Glasgow-born DJ and vocalist behind Nightcrawlers. John has died at the age of 61.
Beyond his dance floor success, Reid built a notable songwriting career, penning Tina Turner’s 1999 hit “When the Heartache Is Over”, contributing tracks for Rod Stewart, and co-writing Westlife’s UK No.1 “Unbreakable”. The former Crookston Castle student also helped craft “A Moment Like This”, performed by both Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis.
John also collaborated with Simon Cowell and Ian Levine on tracks like “Whenever You Need Someone” (Bad Boys Inc), and also wrote for Eternal, Gemini, and Claire Richards’ festive song “My Heart Is Heading Home (This Christmas).”
His defining 90s anthem with Nightcrawlers, Push The Feeling On, found new life through remixes by underground artists JCA and Rosabot, climbing back to No.1 on the U.S. Dance Chart. With fresh versions featuring artists such as Big Narstie, the track cemented John’s legacy as a key figure in 90s dance music.
John with music icon Boy George
Mary Kiani, the former TTF vocalist and John’s nine-year fiancée, shared the news of his sudden death as she wrote: “Just heard this morning that my first love John Reid died suddenly. We met in Glasgow but fell in love in London.
“He was recording his album with Roy Hay (Culture Club) for his new band ‘This way up’. Myself and Danusia DanooshaZaremba were on tour, and every night we met at the Columbian hotel. We bought our first flat in Dennistoun age 21 & 22. We were both doing great with our music.
“The birth of The Nightcrawlers happened (Push the feeling on). We toured, we recorded, we did our vocal sessions together. We parted 9 years later. Last year, I got in touch with him. I said I’d love to say hello again before one of us dies. I saw him just last year in Glasgow.”
John has sadly died at the age of 61
Elsewhere, Chris Judge, who is Susan Boyle’s vocal coach and Red Hot Chilli Pipers singer, also paid tribute: “RIP John Reid, an incredible Scottish singer with so much soul most famous for his vocals in the Nightcrawlers hit push the feeling on.. it’s been sampled so many times Pitbull, the Friday song by Riton Mufasa & Hypeman etc.
“He was also an extremely talented topline writer, who wrote ‘A moment like this’ hit after hit for Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Leona Lewis, Westlife. Sending love to my besty Mary Kiani you guys were the OG Session singers of the 90s I’ve loved hearing your story’s Sjo Big hugs xxx”
Chris added: “I remember him from doing road shows all over the country.. back when I was in the boy band days he was always such a nice guy very encouraging and supportive to all the new bands.
Tributes have poured in for John
“He had so much success as a writer but it was his voice I loved he was an incredible singer and well respected like Mary in the session scene doing all the backing vocals working for people like Ian Levine.”
The cause of John’s death has not yet been confirmed by his loved ones.
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
A German court has handed down a life sentence to a Syrian doctor convicted of committing acts of torture as part of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on dissent.
The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court imposed the sentence on Alaa Mousa on Monday, ruling that the doctor’s actions formed part of the Assad regime’s “inhumane and repressive” campaign against opposition figures.
The court had found the 40-year-old guilty of crimes against humanity, including murder and torture, in connection with acts committed during Syria’s civil war between 2011 and 2012.
Presiding judge Christoph Koller said the verdict underscored the “brutality of Assad’s dictatorial, unjust regime”.
The trial, which ran for more than three years, was one of the most significant cases brought under Germany’s principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows serious crimes committed abroad to be prosecuted domestically.
Mousa was accused of torturing patients at military hospitals in Damascus and Homs, where political prisoners were regularly brought for supposed treatment, on 18 occasions.
He had denied the charges during the trial, which came to a close months after al-Assad was deposed in December 2024.
‘Slaughterhouse’
Prosecutors said rather than receiving medical treatment, detainees were instead subjected to horrific abuse, with some dying as a result.
Witnesses described numerous acts of severe cruelty, including Mousa pouring flammable liquid on a prisoner’s wounds before setting them alight and kicking the man in the face, shattering his teeth.
In another incident, the doctor was accused of injecting a detainee with a fatal substance for refusing to be beaten.
One former prisoner described the Damascus hospital where he was held as a “slaughterhouse”.
Mousa arrived in Germany in 2015 on a skilled-worker visa and continued practising medicine as an orthopaedic doctor until his arrest in 2020. Colleagues reportedly said they had no knowledge of his past, with one describing him as “unremarkable”.
During the trial, which opened in 2022, Mousa denied personally harming patients but admitted witnessing abuse.
