On September 21, 2013, what began as an ordinary Saturday at Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Shopping Mall turned into one of Kenya’s most devastating terrorist attacks. Armed attackers stormed the mall, opened fire on civilians and trapped hundreds of people inside. The siege continued for approximately four days before Kenyan security forces declared the building under…
In the history of religious and communal violence in Nigeria, few cases remain as disturbing as the killing of Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo Christian trader who was murdered in Kano in the mid-1990s after being accused of desecrating the Qur’an. The Allegation Against Akaluka Gideon Akaluka was an Igbo trader living in Kano, a major…
On April 15, 2013, thousands of runners and spectators gathered in Boston, Massachusetts, for the annual Boston Marathon. What began as one of the city’s biggest sporting celebrations ended in tragedy when two bombs exploded near the race’s finish line. The attack killed three people, injured more than 500 others and triggered a massive investigation…
On July 20, 1973, the world lost one of its most influential martial artists and film stars. Bruce Lee was only 32 years old when he died suddenly in Hong Kong, just as his international fame was reaching extraordinary heights. His death shocked fans across the world and quickly became surrounded by rumours, conspiracy theories…
On the morning of June 8, 1998, Nigeria awoke to news that would abruptly change the country’s political direction. General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s military Head of State since 1993, had died suddenly in Abuja at the age of 54. His death came at a critical moment. Abacha was overseeing a controversial transition programme and had…
For years, Harold Shipman appeared to be exactly what his patients expected from a trusted family doctor: professional, familiar and available to people in his community. Behind that image, however, was a crime that would eventually become one of the darkest scandals in British medical history. Shipman was convicted in 2000 of murdering 15 patients,…
In the early 20th century, lonely men searching for love, companionship, or a new beginning could turn to personal advertisements and matrimonial notices. For some, these advertisements led to marriage. For others, they may have led to something far darker. Among the most infamous figures associated with this world was Belle Gunness, a Norwegian-born woman…
Death did not always mark the end of a king’s role in traditional African societies. In several precolonial kingdoms, royal funerals were elaborate ceremonies through which political authority, religion, ancestry and the afterlife were connected. In some West African societies, historical accounts describe servants, court officials, wives, captives or other attendants being killed or buried…
September 16, 2026, marks the death of one of Nigeria’s most recognisable actors, Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, who died at the age of 84. The death of the veteran actor was announced by his family on Wednesday through his wife, veteran actress Joke Silva, and his son, Olusoji Jacobs. In a…
Joe Metheny remains one of the most disturbing figures in American criminal history. A Baltimore-area killer, Metheny was convicted of murdering multiple people in the 1990s, and his case became infamous not only because of the violence involved but also because of his grotesque claim that he disposed of victims by mixing their remains with…