Kelly Osbourne says she has lost her “best friend” following the death of her father Ozzy Osbourne.
The heavy metal pioneer died on Tuesday at the age of 76.
He died just a few weeks after performing with Black Sabbath at a big farewell show in his hometown of Birmingham.
The concert was particularly poignant for his daughter Kelly, who got engaged backstage to her long-time partner Sid Wilson, from the band Slipknot.
Many family members were at Villa Park to support the so-called Prince of Darkness for what turned out to be his final performance.
Famous musicians such as Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses also took to the stage.
His band Black Sabbath are credited with inventing heavy metal.
In 2003, the father and daughter released a cover of the Black Sabbath song Changes, which reached number one on the UK singles chart.
In her first comments since his death, Kelly Osbourne posted the opening lyrics from the song on Instagram with a broken heart emoji: “I feel unhappy I am so sad. I lost the best friend I ever had.”
The father-daughter duo were known for having a close relationship.
They appeared together on the MTV reality TV show The Osbournes which ran from 2002-2005. It portrayed the star as the well-meaning, frequently befuddled patriarch of an unruly household.
More recently they reprised their family podcast alongside mother Sharon and brother Jack.
On Tuesday, the Osbourne family released a statement that said: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
They did not specify a cause of death, although the star had a series of health problems and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019. (BBC)
An $8bn (£5.9bn) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The merger between the independent film studio and one of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied companies was first announced in 2024.
The approval came just weeks after Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle a legal dispute with US President Donald Trump over an interview it broadcast on subsidiary CBS with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.
The settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret.
FCC head Brendan Carr, who was appointed by the president, announced the merger’s approval on Thursday, saying he welcomed Skydance’s ideas to make “significant changes” at CBS.
The approval means the merger could be finalised soon but Paramount did not provide an expected completion date when asked by the BBC. Skydance did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The FCC agreed to transfer broadcast licences for 28 owned-and-operated CBS television stations to the new owner.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Mr Carr said. “It is time for a change.”
Mr Carr said Skydance had made promises to the agency, including a “commitment to unbiased journalism” where the merged company would install a ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias.
Skydance also promised to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, something the Trump administration has targeted.
The FCC voted 2-1 to approve the deal, with one commissioner, Anna Gomez, a Democrat, dissenting.
“After months of cowardly capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions,” she wrote.
Paramount Global traces its origins back more than a century to the founding of Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1914. The studio has made many hit films, including the Godfather, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible series.
Paramount owns streaming service Paramount+, as well as Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.
But the entertainment giant has struggled over the past decade.
Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.
The FCC’s approval was necessary for the deal to move forward.
The deal, which includes CBS, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, was approved after a series of moves by Paramount, including settling a lawsuit from Trump.
According to both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the settlement over the 60 Minutes interview was agreed – with the help of mediator – so as to not affect the planned merger, which the FCC was reviewing and therefore Trump technically had the power to halt.
Trump had alleged the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.
Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”.
It also comes just days after CBS, owned by Paramount, announced it would end The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who has been critical of Trump.
The network said the move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters”. (BBC)
France defended its decision to recognise Palestinian statehood amid domestic and international criticism on Friday, including against the charge that the move plays into the hands of militant group Hamas.
President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move.
Macron’s announcement drew condemnation from Israel, which said it “rewards terror”, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “reckless” and said it “only serves Hamas propaganda”.
Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, quipped that Macron did not say where a future Palestinian state would be located.
“I can now exclusively disclose that France will offer the French Riviera & the new nation will be called ‘Franc-en-Stine’,” he said on X.
Hamas itself — which is designated a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union — praised the French initiative, saying it was “a positive step in the right direction toward doing justice to our oppressed Palestinian people”.
But French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday argued that Macron’s initiative went against what the militant group wanted.
“Hamas has always ruled out a two-state solution. By recognising Palestine, France goes against that terrorist organisation,” Barrot said on X.
With its decision, France was “backing the side of peace against the side of war”, Barrot added.
Domestic reactions ranged from praise on the left, condemnation on the right and awkward silence in the ranks of the government itself.
The leader of the far-right National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, said the announcement was “rushed” and afforded Hamas “unexpected institutional and international legitimacy”.
Marine Le Pen, the RN’s parliamentary leader, said the French move amounted to “recognising a Hamas state and therefore a terrorist state”.
On the other side of the political spectrum, Jean-Luc Melenchon, boss of the far-left France Unbowed party, called Macron’s announcement “a moral victory”, although he deplored that it did not take effect immediately.
By September, Gaza could be a “graveyard”, Melenchon said.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a right winger whose relationship with Macron is tense, declined on Friday to give his opinion, saying he was currently busy with an unrelated “serious topic” linked to the “security of French people on holiday”.
But the vice president of his Les Republicains party, Francois-Xavier Bellamy, blasted the decision as possibly “counter-productive” or, at best, “pointless”.
The move risked “endangering Israeli civilians” as well as “Palestinian civilians who are victims of Hamas’s barbarism”, he said.
Bellamy said that Macron’s move was a departure from the president’s previously set conditions for recognition of Palestine, which included a Hamas de-militarisation, the movement’s exclusion from any future government, the liberation of all Israeli hostages in Gaza and the recognition of Israel by several Arab states.
“None of them have been met,” he said.
Among people reacting to the news in the streets of Paris was Julien Deoux, a developer, who said it had been “about time” that France recognised Palestinian statehood.
“When you’ve been talking about two-state solutions for decades but you don’t recognise one of the two states, it’s a bit difficult,” he told AFP.
But Gil, a 79-year-old pensioner who gave only his first name, said he felt “betrayed” by his president.
“As a Frenchman, I’m ashamed to see that tomorrow Hamas could come to power in the territory,” he said.
While France would be the most significant European country to recognise a Palestinian state, others have hinted they could do the same.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he would hold a call on Friday with counterparts in Germany and France on efforts to stop the fighting, adding that a ceasefire would “put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state”.
Germany, meanwhile, said on Friday it had no plans to recognise a Palestinian state “in the short term”.
Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia all announced recognition following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, along with several other non-European countries.
Once France follows through on its announcement, a total of at least 142 countries will have recognised Palestinian statehood. (Vanguard)
Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary Black Sabbath frontman and solo star who helped pioneer the follow-around reality TV genre with his MTV series The Osbournes, died Tuesday. He was 76. His family confirmed the news in a statement but did not provide a cause of death.
Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath for a livestreamed final concert on July 5 that also featured a who’s who of hard rock and heavy metal bands.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the statement reads. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in England, he co-founded the ever-influential and controversial Black Sabbath in 1968 with guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward. Draped in demonic lyrical themes and often-foreboding music, the British quartet was a near-instant success and helped birth and define the heavy metal genre.
After an unharmonious split from the group in 1979, Osbourne enlisted former Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhodes and released a pair of 1981 solo discs that reinvigorated his career — and the genre. Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman were multiplatinum hits on both sides of the Atlantic, bringing Osbourne new fans and making a star of Rhoads, who would die in a 1982 plane crash.
Osbourne went on to make many more solo albums to varying critical and commercial success, but he would conquer another medium as the millennium changed.
In 2002, MTV premiered The Osbournes, a verité-style reality series focusing on the home life of patriarch Ozzy, matriarch Sharon Osbourne, daughter Kelly and son Jack. The show provided a side of the singer few had seen — a bit doddering, sometimes befuddled and the source of the series’ comedy. Memorable catchphrase: “Sharrrr-onnnnn!” The final episode aired on March 21, 2005.
The Osbournes reunited in 2009 for the variety show Osbournes Reloaded on the Fox network. A flop with critics and viewers, the series was canceled after one episode. Osbourne and son Jack next starred in Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour, a reality series that aired for three seasons from 2016-18, first on the History channel and then A&E. Most recently, reality show The Osbournes Want to Believe aired in 2020 on Travel Channel.
But all of that was secondary to the music.
Fueled by Osbourne’s signature, singular wails, Black Sabbath caught the attention of a public tiring of flower power and pop rock, hurling onto the scene with its powerhouse self-titled debut album in 1970. Featuring such dark classics-in-waiting as “Black Sabbath,” “The Wizard” and “N.I.B.,” the disc — and the group — certainly weren’t for everyone, but it went Top 10 in the UK and just missed the U.S. Top 20, and a legend was born.
Sabbath’s 1971 follow-up Paranoid solidified Osbourne and the band as hard rock superstars. Stacked with essential songs including “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “Fairies Wear Boots” and the near-perfect title track, it topped the UK chart and reached No. 12 stateside.
The band followed that success later that year with its biggest U.S. album, Master of Reality, which went Top 10 on both sides of the pond, featuring “Children of the Grave” and “Sweet Leaf.”
All of Black Sabbath’s first three discs made the Top 300 of Rolling Stone‘s 2003 list of greatest albums of all time, with Paranoid ranking 130th.
The band continued to score hit albums with Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1974) and Sabotage (1975), all of which hit the UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 30. Its fortunes took a hit in the mid-1970s as Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978) were shrugged off by critics and many fans. Osbourne would leave the group amid reports of substance abuse before the end of the decade.
Never a “singles band,” Osbourne-era Black Sabbath left its mark on hard rock with the aforementioned tracks and others. (Deadline)
Nigeria’s Super Falcons, on Tuesday, secured a spot in the final of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over South Africa’s Banyana Banyana in a tense semi-final clash.
The match, played with high intensity, saw the Super Falcons take the lead in the first half through Rasheedat Ajibade, who calmly converted from the penalty spot in the 45th minute to give Nigeria a 1-0 advantage heading into the break.
Earlier in the game, South Africa were forced into a substitution in the 26th minute after striker Hildah Magaia was withdrawn due to injury, with Thubelihle Makhubela coming on in her place.
South Africa responded strongly in the second half and levelled the score in the 60th minute when Linda Motlhalo converted a penalty to make it 1-1.
With the game seemingly headed for extra time, Nigeria found the winner deep into stoppage time.
Michelle Alozie struck in the 90+4th minute after a setup from Esther Okoronkwo, sealing a dramatic win for the Falcons.
Substitutions from both sides added to the pace and physicality of the match, with the Super Falcons showing greater composure in the final moments.
The victory sees Nigeria book a place in the WAFCON final, continuing their dominance on the continental stage and putting them within reach of another title. (Punch)
A Bangladesh Air Force jet crashed into a college in the capital Dhaka on Monday, killing at least 20 people, according to the military.
The incident is the country’s deadliest air incident in recent memory.
CNN reported that the crash at Milestone School and College campus, in the Diabari neighbourhood of northern Dhaka, injured 171 others, quoting the Bangladesh Armed Forces.
Most of the injured are students who are being treated in hospitals in the capital, the military said.
Students were attending afternoon classes when the BAF F7 jet hit the two-storey campus around 1:18 pm local time (3:18 a.m. EST) after a mechanical fault, according to state media BSS News, citing the country’s armed forces.
The plane’s pilot made “every effort to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas toward a more sparsely inhabited location,” the military said. The pilot was among those killed, The Associated Press reported, citing regional officials.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Scores of people rushed toward the crash site, where emergency crews could be seen trying to extinguish the smoking wreckage of the jet.
The government announced a day of mourning and special prayers, BSS News said.
“I express my deep grief and sorrow over the tragic incident of casualties caused by the crash,” the country’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, wrote in a post on X.
“This is a moment of profound pain for the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured and direct all concerned authorities, including hospitals, to address the situation with the utmost priority,” the interim leader added.
“When I was picking (up) my kids and went to the gate, I realised something came from behind,” Masud Tarik, who is a teacher at the school, told Reuters. “I heard an explosion. When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke.”
A family member was heard saying his injured sister is a grade four student. Another family member told Channel 24 that the first batch of victims arrived at the hospital with severe burns.
“We literally saw skin being torn off,” she said.
Condolences came in from across the region with Pakistan and India’s prime ministers expressing their solidarity with Bangladesh, CNN reported. (Punch)
Six-time African Player of the Year, Asisat Oshoala, 30, has called time on her illustrious career with the Super Falcons.
The former Barcelona Femeni forward announced her retirement from international duties for Nigeria on Facebook on Monday, stressing that it was a necessary step to pave the way for emerging talents to shine on the global stage.
“At 30, with six African Women’s Best Player awards, I will bow out to start a new chapter after WAFCON 2024/25,” she wrote on Facebook.
She continued: “Thank you for your unwavering support. I’m forever grateful for the love and sacrifices shared with me through this journey.”
Oshoala’s illustrious career is adorned with a record six CAF Women’s Player of the Year titles (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023), making her the most decorated player in the history of African women’s football.
Her relentless drive, goal-scoring prowess, and global impact have made her a role model for countless young athletes across the continent. (ThisDay)
Ex-police personnel under the aegis of the Kwara State Chapter of Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria held a peaceful demonstration in Ilorin, on Monday, demanding that they be immediately exited from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
They said the scheme has been fraught with a number of challenges since its inception; hence, retired officers who fall in the category of the pension platform should be excused like those who rose to the position of Generals in the force.
In its stead, the protesters sought the establishment of a Police Pension Board with sole responsibility of overseeing the pension matters of the police as applicable in other security agencies.
The ex-Police officers who brandished placards with inscriptions such as “President, NASS and IGP should honourably exempt the police from the “CPS, Establish Police Pension Board to manage gratuity and pensions, “Mr President: Improve Police Welfare for effective service delivery”, If CPS is so good, why did AIGs, DIGs and Is exempt themselves from the scheme?”
The Chairman of the state chapter of ARPON, Yakubu Jimoh, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police, who addressed his members during the peaceful demonstration to the Press Centre of the state Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ilorin, pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently come to their aid.
He said the retired police officers should be removed from the contributory pension scheme, adding the force pension board should be established to manage the pension of the officers.
Jimoh stated that the report of the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Services on the bill for the establishment of Police Pension Board, which was held in public hearing in November last year, should be released, notwithstanding that it was conducted eight months ago.
He also called on the federal government and the National Assembly to fast-track the legislative process for the disbursement of the N758 billion, a pension shortfall owed to security agencies. He noted that retired officers were informed that payment was scheduled for June 2025, but expressed concern about the delay in the disbursement.
He appealed to the National Assembly to expedite action on the payment so as to assuage the suffering of the retirees and improve the retirement welfare of both serving and retired officers.
In the letter of agitation made available to the press, Jimoh said, “Our exit being advocated should be outright removal from the scheme. Since the inception of the contributory pension scheme, it has been one problem or another.
“It is unfortunate that officials of the National Pension Commission/Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), who came to deliver a lecture on the workings of the scheme, do not reveal their bitter experiences in the hands of their host to their masters when they get back.
“We have always resented this contributory pension scheme, which provides gratuity and monthly pension, but it is just a pittance and not a living wage. We are all witnesses to the lamentations of the retired police officers on social media. Imagine Superintendent of Police being paid N2.4million as his gratuity after 35 years of meritorious service and a paltry N30,000 as monthly pension.
“This, to say the least, is responsible for corruption in the Police Force, as the officers want to make it by all means. From Commissioners of Police down the ladder are lamentations of woe. Only the Police “Generalismos”, retired Inspector Generals, Deputy Inspector Generals and Assistant Inspector Generals recently exited the scheme while this agitation was on. They are getting fat pension benefits as the case may be.
“Back to memory lane, when the Military was to exit this scheme, their senior officers did not discriminate. They pulled out all the other ranks. In the case of the Police, IGP Egbetokun was asking a Police lecture parade of Senior Officers and men in Kwara State, Where are you expecting to? Because of the regimentality of the job, the audience kept mute and watched in “admiration” of the Speaker/IGP.
“The answer from retirees since then has been that we want to exit to where the Police Generals had gone to. Those agencies that exited the scheme, such as the Military, DSS, take more pension compared to their counterparts, of the same rank in the Police.”
The Legal Adviser of ARPON, Adekunle Iwalaiye, said the retired officers deserve to be paid living pension away from the crumbs they receive monthly.
Iwalaiye, a retired Superintendent of Police, tasked the government to act on the demand of the retirees, considering the meritorious services they rendered to the country for 35 years.
“We are here to get across to the press so that our voices can be heard in respect of the pains retired Police Officers have been passing through under the current pension scheme. What we are saying is that retired Police Officers are human beings too, that we deserve a living wage, that we are Nigerians with flesh and blood flowing in our veins.
“The set of people you are seeing here are Nigerians who have used 35 years of our youthful age to serve this country in various capacities. Some of us carried bullet wounds and various degrees of wounds suffered in the cause of our service to this nation.
“And that for God being so merciful enough for us to retire well, we deserve a living pension, and our demand is just simple. The government should just do the needful by pulling us out of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), the same way it has been done to some other security agencies in the country.
“It is disheartening for senior citizens to earn peanuts as monthly pension and even money that cannot get you anything as gratuity. Just imagine somebody, who retired after 35 years, being given less than N3million; the money cannot even buy a tricycle, assuming you want to go into a tricycle business.
“Somebody who retires, on a monthly basis, is being given less than N50,000 as pension that cannot even buy a bag of rice. Our wives and children are suffering. Most of our members are dying prematurely of all forms of illness. We can’t take care of our children, either.
“We have chosen not to be violent. We are not violent people. We have served this country diligently and we cannot be part of what will lead to breakdown of law and order,” he said (Punch)
The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, has expressed confidence that the All Progressives Congress will take over Enugu State in the 2027 general elections.
Nnaji made this assertion while receiving over 500 defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance into the APC on Monday.
The minister condemned the Enugu State government’s indiscriminate demolition of markets and people’s shops without notice and compensation, saying it has inflicted untold hardship on traders, leading to the death of several traders in the last year.
“Enugu has never had it this bad, and as I stand today, I imagine how a people can survive without something like Ogige Nsukka market.
“Ogige Nsukka market has gone; they have bulldozed Ogige Nsukka to ashes, without any notice.
” Many of our people have died out of that singular act of government. If you come to Enugu too, Holy Ghost suffered the same fate, Garki and Abakpa suffered the same fate, and Ogurute market here in Igbo-Eze North LGA suffered the same fate, and I wonder how our people who are predominantly businessmen can survive without trading.”
Nnaji expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for appointing Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, who is from Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, as the Chief of Naval Staff.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu knows that we are here; he knows we are doing all these things for the state and for him and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“He knows and he has our support 101 per cent and he is behind us, we are APC,” Nnaji said.
The minister assured that the APC will do everything possible and within the law to displace the PDP government under Governor Peter Mbah in 2027.
“We are going to fight, we are going to do everything humanly possible and within the ambit of law to make sure that come 2027 our people will start rejoicing again,” Nnaji asserted.
The APC State Chairman, Ugochukwu Agballah, welcomed the defectors, describing the influx of new members as a “rainbow movement.”
“You know that in the last election, the Labour Party won in Igbo-Eze North, LP won the House of Assembly, won the House of Rep, won everything, but they were rigged out.
“Do you know why they were rigged out? It’s because they were in a one-man show. One-man-show parties don’t go far, politics is like a market, one person does not constitute the market,” Agballah said. (Punch)
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has faulted United Kingdom Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, over her claim that she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender.
During an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Badenoch asserted that she cannot pass on her Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender. She suggested that it is easier for Nigerians to acquire British citizenship than for foreigners to become Nigerians.
She said, “It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents. I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
Reacting in a statement issued on Monday, Falana described Badenoch’s statement as “a display of utter ignorance” and accused her of misinforming the British public to score political points.
Falana said, “In her desperate attempt to impress the British electorate, Kemi Badenoch keeps running down Nigeria.
“Contrary to her misleading claim, her children are Nigerians because she is a Nigerian. Her assertion that she cannot give Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman is not in consonance with Section 25(b) and (c) of the Nigerian Constitution which provides that every person born in Nigeria after independence, either of whose parents or grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria, or any person born outside Nigeria to a Nigerian parent, is a citizen.
“Furthermore, by virtue of Section 42(2) of the Constitution, no citizen shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of circumstances of birth, gender, or class. Therefore, her two children are Nigerian citizens. The fact that she may not want them to claim it is irrelevant. For now, they are dual citizens of Britain and Nigeria.”
Falana also faulted her assertion that Nigerian citizenship is impossible for foreigners to obtain, noting that “Sections 26 and 27 of the Constitution clearly state that foreigners can acquire Nigerian citizenship through naturalisation or registration once they meet the legal conditions.”
He, however, acknowledged gaps in the law, saying that “A woman married to a Nigerian man can be registered as a citizen, but the same privilege is not extended to a man married to a Nigerian woman, which reflects the patriarchal nature of the law. This should be urgently amended.” (Punch)
English