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U.S. agents search Nashville blast site, seeking clues behind Christmas explosion
Police and federal agents were scouring the charred site of a Christmas Day explosion in Nashville on Saturday, trying to determine how and why a motor home blew up and injured three people in the heart of America’s country music capital. The fiery blast, heard from miles away, destroyed several vehicles, damaged more than 40 businesses and left a trail of glass shards around the area. The motor home, parked on a downtown street of Tennessee’s largest city, exploded at dawn on Friday moments after police responding to reports of gunfire noticed the recreational vehicle and heard an automated message emanating from it warning of a bomb. The means of detonation and whether anyone was inside the RV when it blew up were not immediately known, but investigators were examining what they believed...
Qatar to host FIFA Club World Cup 2020 across three venues
Qatar will host the FIFA Club World Cup 2020 from February 1 to 11, 2021, after it was postponed earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Six continental confederations, as well as the host nation’s league champions, will compete in the tournament, which will be held across three FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums — Ahmad Bin Ali, Khalifa International and Education City. The Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, inaugurated just last week on December 18, will stage the opening match between Qatari champions Al Duhail and Auckland City of New Zealand on February 1, and the final will be played at Education City Stadium on February 11. Joining the two teams will be European champions and German side FC Bayern Munich, CONCACAF champions Tigres UANL from Mexico, Al Ahly SC, Egyptian side and winners ...
Lai Mohammed: My only regret as minister
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said his only regret as a minister is that some Nigerians have failed to appreciate that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing so much with little resources. Mr Mohammed stated this at a Special Forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. He said with dwindling resources, no government in the history of Nigeria has implemented programmes alleviating poverty among women and vulnerable groups as well as created jobs for the youth as the Buhari administration had done. The minister said his regret was that some Nigerians have failed to appreciate the efforts of the government but keep celebrating negative developments. “My regret in this government is that Nigerians have failed to appreciate that the ...
2023: There was no pre-merger agreement in APC on zoning – Senator Yerima
A former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, has denied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had any premerger agreement to rotate the presidency between the north and the south. Yerima disclosed this yesterday during a media interaction with reporters covering the activities of the APC. His claim was contrary to the views of the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who recently said that the party had a gentleman agreement on zoning. Yerima said: “I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr. President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such agreement. Agreement can’t be verbal. It has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is co...
Governor Masari: Kidnapped Katsina schoolboys moved to Zamfara
Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, says the schoolboys kidnapped last week have been moved by their captors to a forest in neighbouring Zamfara State. Gunmen invaded the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, on Friday, December 11, 2020, with over 300 students unaccounted a week later. In an interview with BBC Hausa on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, Masari said most of the abducted students are believed to be in the forest in Zamfara. “Right now the security forces have surrounded all these places where the children are thought to be,” he said. Masari had said earlier this week that the government has already commenced negotiations with the kidnappers. He reiterated on Wednesday that this was to ensure the students are returned unhurt. He also disclosed that 400 students ar...
Families of kidnapped Katsina schoolboys fear time running out
Families of more than 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolboys worried they may be brainwashed or held for years as security forces combed a vast forest on Wednesday for armed captors possibly from the jihadist Boko Haram movement. According to an unverified audio clip, the Islamist group – whose name means “Western education is forbidden” – was responsible for last week’s raid on an all-boys school in the town of Kankara in northwestern Katsina state. Parents fear time may be running out: Boko Haram has a history of turning captives into jihadist fighters. “They will radicalise our children if the government does not act fast to help us rescue them,” said trader Shuaibu Kankara, crying as he spoke from home. His 13-year-old son Annas was among those abducted from the Government Science school on...
CAFCL: Plateau United threatens protest against Tanzanian side
Nigeria Professional Football League side, Plateau United, have given an indication they would be lodging a protest against Simba SC for the alleged antics they deployed to progress in the CAF Champions League at their expense. Plateau United on their official Twitter handle said they are planning to report the Tanzanian club to the continent’s football ruling body for falsely claiming two of their key players tested positive for COVID-19 and were thus not allowed to play in Saturday’s second leg tie. The club while posting a negative result of one of the players alleged the false-positive results was only meant to weaken the team and give Simba SC an undue advantage. “The management of Plateau United is looking to petition CAF to look into the antics of @SimbaSC_EN who kept out two of our...
Roy Hodgson ‘really pleased’ as Crystal Palace hit 5 goals in West Brom rout
Wilfred Zaha was outstanding for Crystal Palace as they took advantage of the controversial dismissal of Matheus Pereira to claim their first points in three games with a rout at West Brom. Zaha had missed Palace’s previous two matches – both of which ended in defeat – after testing positive for Covid-19 but quickly found his feet again at The Hawthorns with a typically lively attacking display that included two goals and an assist. It was from his low cross that Darnell Furlong diverted the ball into his own net to give the visitors the lead and his whipped finish into the far corner that restored the advantage after Conor Gallagher’s low, driven equaliser. Between these two Zaha contributions, though, came the incident that completely altered the complexion of the game – Pereira’s red ca...
Lagos bye-election: Babatunde Gbadamosi kicks over result
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the Lagos East Senatorial District bye election, Babatunde Olalere Gbadamosi, BOG, has condemned the results released so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the Saturday exercise, as being “manipulated.” Gbadamosi, in reaction to the exercise, said, “The election was manipulated and I was clearly rigged out.” Meantime, in reaction to BOG’s claim, the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APÇ, in Lagos, Mr Seye Oladejo, said, “We’re not surprised by Gbadamosi’s reaction to the results of an election that’s yet to be officially declared because he’s so predictable. “However, we acknowledge feelers from our agents who have reported overwhelming victory for Tokunbo Abiru. “We can only emphatize with a se...
Lagos bye-election: Babatunde Gbadamosi’s rigging claims laughable – APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as laughable the claims by Babatunde Gbadamosi, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Saturday’s bye election for Lagos East senatorial district was rigged in favour of Tokunbo Abiru. Reacting to Gbadamosi’s claim, Seye Oladejo, the APC’s Publicity Secretary said the outcome of the election has put a lie to the fictitious opinion poll by the PDP which predicted victory for Gbadamosi. According to him, it is not surprised at the PDP candidate’s outburst having lost massively to APC in his ancestral hometown. While expressing confidence that Abiru will emerge victorious, he said the APC will help in resuscitating Gbadamosi’s political career He said “We’re not surprised by Gbadamosi’s reaction to the results of an election that...
Eberechi Eze named Crystal Palace Player of the Month
Eberechi Eze has expressed his delight after he was named Crystal Palace’s W88 Player of the Month for November. “It’s a great privilege and I’m grateful the fans have been entertained by my performances. It’s a great pleasure. “Leeds was a huge game for me. It was the perfect opportunity for me to come in and to stake my claim. It was a great performance by the boys, great points on the board.” The summer signing shone for netting his first Premier League goal in style, rifling home a free-kick against Leeds United at the start of the month and bagging an assist in the same game. Frustrating results followed for the Eagles, but fans felt Eze stood out, choosing him for the POTM accolade with almost 64% of the vote. Eze beat Nathaniel Clyne (10%) to first place in the vote after the defend...
Egypt to probe four coronavirus deaths due to alleged lack of oxygen
Egyptian prosecutors opened an investigation into the deaths on Sunday of at least four coronavirus patients at a public Egyptian hospital, after a video of nurses struggling to keep the patients alive was shared widely on social media. The governor of Sharqia province denied allegations by a relative of one of the patients that the deaths were caused by a lack of oxygen at the government-run intensive care unit treating COVID-19 patients. Governor Mamdouh Ghorab said the patients died because they suffered chronic diseases in addition to the virus. The relative, who also filmed the video, offered no immediate evidence to back up their claim that the hospital ran out of oxygen. Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country with more than 100 million people, is facing a surge in confirmed v...