Brazil’s supreme court has ordered the suspension of X, formerly Twitter, after Elon Musk failed to meet the deadline to appoint a new legal representative for the social media platform in the country.

In a ruling on Friday, Presiding Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the “immediate, complete and comprehensive suspension of the operation of” X in Brazil.

According to Judge Moraes, “The national communications agency must take all necessary measures to implement this order until X complies with all court orders and pays existing fines amounting to $3.28 million.”

Additionally, Moraes warned that using “technological subterfuges,” such as virtual private networks (VPNs), to circumvent the suspension would incur a fine of $8,900.

According to the judge, inciting speech has been spread through X and is harming Brazil’s democracy.

“We have a right to defend fundamental rights. Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable,” Moraes said.

The row began in April, with the judge ordering the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.

Reacting to the decision, Musk accused the judge of violating free speech for political purposes.

X, via its official handle, tweeted “power to the people in Brazil and everywhere else”.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced that Bruno Labbadia’s appointment as Super Eagles head coach has been terminated due to stringent German tax regulations.

As a result, Technical Director Augustine Eguavoen will take charge of the team for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against, Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7), Rwanda (Kigali, September 10).

This marks Eguavoen’s fourth stint as Super Eagles coach, following previous tenures in 2005-2007, 2010, and 2022.

According to NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, the federation cannot offset the concomitant tax percentage on the German coach’s salary.

According to him, the issue of offsetting the coach’s tax was not part of the initial agreement before the announcement of his appointment.

“We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.

“The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.

“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that,” President of NFF, Gusau, said on Friday evening.

The NFF had on Tuesday announced its agreement with the German tactician to mount the saddle as the head coach of the Super Eagles.

Labbadia would have become the sixth German, after Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008) and Gernot Rohr (2016-2021) to lead the Super Eagles.

Tragedy struck at Faudiya Islamic School in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State as gunmen attacked the institution, killing three students.

According to Dungus Abdulkarim, police spokesperson in Yobe, the assault occurred at approximately 3:45 am on Friday.

The gunmen, armed with dangerous weapons, arrived on about 10 motorcycles, storming the school premises.

Initially, the assailants planned to abduct four students, but instead chose to kill them to avoid the burden of taking them into the forest.

One student who attempted to escape suffered injuries and is currently receiving hospital treatment.

According to The Cable, Abdulkarim said, “It is confirmed, the divisional police headquarters at Geidam received the report this morning by a certain individual that there was an attack on a particular school,”

“We mobilised our men, and they went there and evacuated three dead persons and one with a bullet wound and was admitted to the hospital.

“The attackers came on a motorcycle, about 10 of them, carrying deadly arms such as AK-47 rifles and other items.

“They entered the school and took four of the students and killed three instantly and injured one person.

“The information we received from one of the injured persons was that the attackers invaded and told them they were there to abduct them to the forest and kill them, but they did not want to carry any load; in that regard, ‘we will just kill you here’.

“We are still investigating to find out the perpetrators and why the attack on the school.

“The attack occurred at exactly 3:45 to 4:00 am today. The school is a day and boarding school. There is a quarter in the school.”