Coronavirus
Barcelona, Atletico Madrid ordered to further tighten belts by La Liga
FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will have to cut down the costs of their squads by more than 35 million euros ($42.14 million) following new salary limits imposed by La Liga on Tuesday to cope with the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The figures, published twice annually following each transfer window, dictate how much teams can spend on players, coaches, support staff and their youth teams. They are calculated in line with revenues, which have been obliterated by coronavirus restrictions preventing fans from attending matches for 12 months while depressing the transfer market and reducing income from merchandising. Barcelona are the club most acutely affected by the new limits and will be forced to reduce their costs by an additional 35.7 million euros, to 347 million. League ...
Energy firms’ bank debts rise to N5.94 trillion
The debts owed to Nigerian banks by oil and gas operators as well as power companies in the country rose to N5.94tn at the end of 2020 from N5.25tn in December 2019. The N5.94tn represents 29.16 per cent of the N20.37tn loans advanced to the private sector by the banks as of December, according to the sectoral analysis of banks’ credit by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Oil and gas firms, which received the biggest share of the credit from the banks, increased their debt by N600bn to N5.18tn in December 2020 from N4.58tn in December 2019. The debt owed by power firms to the banks rose to N763.22bn in December 2020 from N671.45bn in December 2019, the CBN data showed. Oil firms operating in the downstream, natural gas and crude oil refining subsectors owed N393tn as of December, up from N3.42t...
Pied Piper of R&Pee & Alleged Herpes Spreader R. Kelly Gets Both COVID-19 Vaccine Shots
Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty While millions of people are still looking for a way to get the COVID-19 vaccination to keep themselves from falling victim to the raging pandemic, sexual predator/pedophile, R. Kelly can count himself safe from the Rona as he’s gotten both shots while behind bars. TMZ reports that the “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number” writer has just received his 2nd shot of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Bureau of Prisons at MCC Chicago after getting the first shot back in January. Wait, huh?! We get that celebrities and millionaires are jumping to the front of the lines to get themselves vaccinated, but how’d a disgraced pariah of a has-been get to be blessed with protection from a deadly virus while serving his prison sentence? What about the frontline workers and older adul...
Okomu Oil Palm wants central bank to review anchor borrowers programme
Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc. wants a review of CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) to accommodate more farmers and to shore up the nation’s foreign earnings from agriculture. The ABP is targeted at smallholder farmers engaged in the production of rice, maize, wheat and cash crops like oil palm, cocoa and rubber, among others. Speaking with newsmen on Monday in Benin, Okomu Oil’s Managing Director, Dr Graham Hefer, noted that cash crop farmers were yet to fully benefit from the programme. He said food crop farmers had an edge because they could cultivate, harvest, sell and repay their loans within the specified one year period. “It is easy for farmers engaged in annual crops to meet their targets. “This doesn’t happen with cash crops because in the first three years of oil palm production...
R Kelly Receives Coronavirus Vaccine in Prison
R Kelly no longer has to worry about contracting the coronavirus in prison while awaiting his upcoming federal sex crimes trials. TMZ reports that the disgraced singer is now fully inoculated from the virus after receiving his second dose from the Bureau of Prisons at MCC Chicago. Kelly and his attorney had expressed concern that the singer would contract the coronavirus while in prison, and had petitioned the court for a temporary release. In a motion filed in April 2020, Kelly’s attorney argued that the his confinement during the pandemic was “tantamount to making [him] drink poison,” citing “substandard” sanitation within the prison and difficultly in practicing social distancing. The judge ultimately rejected Kelly’s request after concluding that he was “a flight risk and poses a dange...
Coronavirus: Niger government directs civil servants to resume work March 1
Niger State Government on Thursday directed all civil servants to resume work from March 1. The State Commissioner for Information, Malam Sani Idris, disclosed this during a press conference in Minna. He said the Gov. Abubakar Sani-Bello gave the directives during Thursday’s weekly State Executive Council Meeting. Newsmen report that the state government had on Dec. 21 directed civil servants to stay at home as a result of the upsurge of the second wave of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. Also, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, the State Commissioner for Water Resources said the ministry presented a memo seeking approval to establish Small Towns Water and Sewage Agency. He said the memo was approved by the council which would be translated to the state house of assembly to come up with a bi...
Trisha Yearwood Tests Positive for COVID-19, Garth Brooks Tests Negative
“The Queen and I have now tested twice,” he said in a statement , adding, “Officially, she’s diagnosed as ‘on her way out of the tunnel’ now, though, which I’m extremely thankful for.” “Anyone who knows me knows my world begins and ends with Miss Yearwood, so she and I will ride through this together,” he continued, noting that he’ll be spending some time laying low, pausing his weekly Inside Studio G conversation on Facebook for the time being. “And anyone who knows her knows she’s a fighter and she’s been doing everything right, so I know we’ll walk out the other side of this thing together.” While Yearwood is doing alright, Brooks asked for prayers and good thoughts from fans, as she is still experiencing symptoms. “If anyone asks, that’s what you can do for her....
Strictly Discs in Wisconsin, in a Pandemic: ‘We Have Decided Not to Apply’ for Federal Assistance
Now that cases are going down, we’ve had a lot of states lifting restrictions, including in California. I’m wondering if you’ve seen any restrictions on retail establishments being lifted or relaxed at all? Nothing for retail, but there have been quite a few modifications of some of the gathering regulations, as well as some initial conversations about reopening schools. So there’s certainly some movement towards reopening, but nothing that specifically impacts us. Last time, we talked about government assistance, and you said you might qualify for something. Have you figured out what you might be eligible for at this point? We’re eligible to apply, [but] so far, we have decided not to apply because we don’t need it as much as others do. So for now, that...
Edo government warns worship, events centres against violating coronavirus protocols
The Edo State Government has warned owners of event centres, eateries, restaurants, pubs, shopping malls and other places hosting social events in the state against violating the state’s COVID-19 prevention protocols. In a statement signed on Saturday by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, the government said event centres or business premises that violate regulations on social gatherings would be shut and owners or operators would be prosecuted at designated mobile courts. Ogie noted that the state COVID-19 compliance team had been mandated to ensure strict enforcement of the directives at the weekend, starting from Friday, February 19, 2021, with instructions to ensure full compliance with the protocols. “The Edo State Government hereby warns all event centres, eaterie...
South Park Returning with “South ParQ Vaccination Special”
An alternate spelling suggests an invasion of alternative facts in South Park’s just-announced one-hour episode, the “South ParQ Vaccination Special”. It airs Wednesday, March 10th at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. This isn’t the first time the cartoon denizens have wrestled with COVID-19. Last September, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone kicked off Season 24 with “The Pandemic Special”, in which Cartman flourished in isolation while Randy began to suspect he had personally created the novel coronavirus. Now it’s time for the townspeople to protect themselves, but there’s a catch. According to the official description, “The citizens of South ParQ are clamoring for the COVID-19 vaccine. A hilarious new militant group tries to stop the boys from getting their teacher vaccinated.” Militant grou...
WTO: We need to build capacity for international competitiveness – LCCI
Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has posited that for Nigeria to take advantage of opportunities offered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) under the leadership of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, it was important to build capacity for international competitiveness of our products and services. The Chamber also emphasised the need to address trade facilitation issues, especially around port processes, ports infrastructures, international trade documentation, foreign exchange policies, trade policies and industrial policies. The Director General of the chamber, Muda Yusuf, made the disclosure following the appointment of Okonjo-Iweala as the DG of the WTO, saying her emergence comes at a time when the global trading system is faced with n...
AC Milan ready to pay €30 million for Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz
AC Milan are willing to pay as much as €30 million (£26m/$36m) to land Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz, with the 21-year-old having made a positive impact during his loan spell with the Serie A side. Goal can reveal that Milan bosses are keen to make the loan move permanent and, although they do not have a purchase option, they are keen to discuss a transfer with Madrid. While Brahim has always wanted to succeed at the Bernabeu, Madrid will now weigh up whether to keep him beyond the end of the 2020-21 campaign or sell for what would be a significant amount amid the coronavirus crisis. Following his loan switch to Milan in September 2020, Brahim immediately took to life in Italy and has become an important member of Stefano Pioli’s first-team squad. He has made 25 appearances in all compet...
