Sunday, 18 May 2014
Wenger celebrates FA Cup success with new three-year contract
Worth £7.5 million a year, the contract had been offered to Wenger regardless of whether Arsenal won the FA Cup but the 64-year-old has now pledged to follow up his verbal agreement by putting pen to paper before he travels to the World Cup.
A formal announcement is likely this week, potentially Wednesday or Thursday.
Millions Lost To Fire In Lagos Daleko Market
As the night guards saw the flames, they were said to have raised the alarm which further alerted residents who raced to the scene to help salvage whatever they could. Their efforts however proved abortive as products stocked in the shops were said to have increased the intensity of the fire. One and half hours later, men of the Lagos State fire service had put out the fire.
Director of the state fire service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe confirmed the incident to Vanguard, saying: “Immediately I received the alert, I deployed three water tankers to the scene.
“We would have been able to put out the fire few minutes after our arrival and more property would have been saved. But the fire was fuelled by the vegetable oil products stocked in the shops.”
He said the fire was put out by 2:45 am, thanks to the professionalism of his men.
He, however, blamed the cause of the fire on power surge from the electric cables within the vegetable oil section of the market.
Fadipe therefore called on the appropriate authorities to completely overhaul the electrical wire in all the markets in the state to avoid similar occurrence in future
Oyo CP Urges Nigerians To Engage In Community Policing
Indabawa said that community policing was the collaboration of the community members with the police to ensure that the society was free of crime.
He said that the police could not achieve any meaningful success in crime prevention without the support of the community
“There should be information sharing among all the security agencies in the country”, Bamgboye said.
He said that consumption of alcohol and other dangerous drugs accounted for the 90 per cent of road accidents in Nigeria.“Every Nigeria has responsibility and a role to play on both drug abuse eradication and security challenge.“Security issues should not be seen as only the states and the Federal Government’s responsibility, it should be the collective responsibility of everybody”, He advised the Federal Government to empower the police to make use of bio-data information collected by the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) as sources to combat crime.
The State Commandant, National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Omolade Faboye, said Nigerians should rise to fight the menace of drug abuse.
Faboye, who was represented by Mrs Ijeoma Chikezie, said that taking drugs like narcotic, heroine and other dangerous drugs destabilised the body system. Faboye said.
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
France are right to leave troublemaker Nasri at home
For followers of the French game, however, who watched Deschamps name his squad on prime-time TV, this embarrassing oversight comes as little shock.
Even as the 26-year-old scored the opening goal as Manuel Pellegrini’s side defeated West Ham 2-0 on a rain-soaked Sunday afternoon to essentially secure his team the Premier League title, he was aware that no stellar his performance, Didier Deschamps was bound to overlook him.
It was an eventuality even predicted by the player himself when he said earlier this week: “I'll watch the World Cup on TV.
“If starting games in a club like Manchester City and winning two titles isn't enough, too bad, I won't regret anything.”
The former Olympique de Marseille and Arsenal star has not been judged on his footballing ability – that would unquestionably see him heading to Brazil bedecked in the dark blue of his national side – he has been omitted because he is perceived to be a troublemaker.
In the mind of Deschamps, who has not selected the Marseille-born player since he started the 2-0 playoff loss to Ukraine in November, another high-profile squad bust up in the France ranks cannot be risked.
Since the days of Raymond Domenech and the Knysna strike of the 2010 World Cup, in which the players staged a sit-in on their bus and refused point-blank to train for the eccentric coach, a wound has festered between the national team and the French public, disgusted by what is perceived to be the behaviour of spoilt-brat footballers.
Vincent Enyeama wins Marc Vivien Foe award
The Lille goalkeeper has joined the impressive line
up of winners of the Radio France International-France 24 best African
prize named in honour of the late Cameroonian midfielder
Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has won the RFI - FRANCE 24 Marc-Vivien Foé Award for the best African player in the French Ligue 1 football championship for the 2013-14 season, it has been announced.The Lille goalkeeper won out over Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier (Toulouse FC) and Cameroon international player Henri Bedimo (Olympique Lyonnais).
Enyeama, 31, was picked by a jury composed of French football journalists after each member selected three names from a list of 10 players previously drawn up by the RFI and France 24 sports departments.
After putting in some remarkable performances right throughout the season, Enyeama impressed football enthusiasts by keeping a clean sheet for 11 consecutive matches (1062 minutes).
With 82 caps to his credit in the national team, he helped the Super Eagles to win the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and will be playing with them in the World Cup in Brazil.
The Trophy for the Best African Ligue 1 player was renamed the Marc-Vivien Foé Award in 2011 in tribute to the Cameroonian player who died unexpectedly during a match in Lyon's Gerland stadium on June 26, 2003.
The Nigerian had lost the Professional Footballers Union (UNFP) best goalkeeper award on Sunday evening to Paris Saint Germain's Salvatore Sirigu.
Previous winners of the RFI-France 24 Marc Vivien Foe trophy are Marouane Chamakh 2009 (Morocco), Gervinho 2010 & 2011 (Ivory Coast), Younès Belhanda 2012 (Morocco) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon) in 2013
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Hazard the only positive as Chelsea's season ends with a whimper
The Blues were effectively eliminated from the
Premier League title race after Sunday's goalless home draw with
Norwich, with dropped Eden Hazard in bright form off the bench
When Jose Mourinho proudly rolled back into town last summer as the returning Messiah, he could not have predicted that the final home game of the season would be greeted by boos and the Chelsea players would walk a ‘lap of honour’ in a half-empty stadium.
But that is what happened after their title challenge was all but mathematically ended with a goalless draw with Norwich at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
In some respects, it was a fitting way to end a season that has offered encouragement - they will finish at least third and were Champions League semi-finalists - but exposed the attacking deficiencies in the squad.
On a beautiful sunny day in west London, the Blues were lethargic from the outset and never really looked like scoring, despite hitting the woodwork twice through Andre Schurrle and David Luiz.
It is a problem Chelsea have struggled with all season, when lesser sides come here to defend with men behind the ball. Mourinho may be a tactical genius but he is yet to work out a way to break down the very gameplan with which he has had so much success in big games this season.
Mourinho has steered Chelsea to a brilliant record of 16 points from a possible 18 against their top-four rivals, but the Londoners' title challenge has faltered against bottom half sides that sit deep and play "19th Century football".
Chelsea's sense of frustration will be rooted in the fact that they have dropped so many unexpected points. Since the turn of the year, they have drawn home matches against West Ham and Norwich while they have lost against Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Sunderland.
Incidentally, all of those results have occurred since Juan Mata - their best player in the two previous seasons - was sold to Manchester United in January.its station after a week when they won away at title rivals Liverpool and lost their Champions League semi-final tie against Atletico Madrid.
The hosts lacked intensity in their passing and were short of ideas, particularly during a dreadfully insipid first-half performance when most of the players seemed to have their minds more on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and the World Cup than the Premier League title race.
They were lucky to avoid coming in behind at half-time and down to 10 men after Norwich were denied a blatant penalty when Ashley Cole and John Terry both took out Martin Olsson in the penalty box early on.
The obvious problem, as has been the case all season, was the lack of a top quality striker. The anticipated €42 million deal to sign Diego Costa in the summer should solve that problem and take some of the burden away from Eden Hazard.
Hazard has been the go-to man to get Chelsea out of trouble throughout the season but found himself on the substitutes bench here after his public to-and-fro with Mourinho this week over the team’s tactics.
Mourinho criticised Hazard for his unwillingness to sacrifice himself for his team-mates, and made his point by relegating the Belgian to the bench.
Yet after such a poor opening period, Hazard was summoned at the break to inject some life into Chelsea’s performance, going some way to proving the attacker’s claim that he is often “asked to do it all by myself”.
Hazard showed why, whatever his relationship with Mourinho and whatever the rumours about a summer transfer, he must stay at Stamford Bridge next season.
Simeone: Losing the best thing to happen to Atletico
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone says losing to Levante on Sunday evening is the best thing that could have happened to his team.
Los Rojiblancos entered Sunday's match looking to capitalise on Barcelona's draw with Getafe a day earlier and stretch their lead at the top of La Liga to six points.
However, Simeone's men were stunned by Levante, as a Filipe Luis own goal gave the hosts the lead before David Barral killed the game off in the second half.
The result means Atletico are now three points clear of Barca and six ahead of their Champions League final opponents Real Madrid, who have two games in hand over them, with just two matches remaining.
Simeone, though, believes a defeat is the best result as it will inspire his side to finish the campaing strongly.
"The defeat was the best thing that could happen to us," he told reporters. "That leads us to three weeks of high intensity and great emotion, it is the ideal moment for the players, they will surely have a fantastic three weeks.
"The team tried and had several chances. Their goalkeeper had a great game. Levante did very well.
"Now we have to focus in the first final we have: Malaga [at the Vicente Calderon on May 11]."
NFF replies 'myopic' Amiesimaka
The former national team player has been told to
maintain his peace and watch the Super Eagles excel in Brazil despite
his predictions of doom
The Nigeria Football Federation has called Adokiye Amiesimaka's
declaration that the Super Eagles will not do well at the World Cup as
"myopic".Amiesimaka told Goal in an exlusive last week that the country was "not ready" and would not make it past the group stages in Brazil where they have been drawn in Group F with Argentina, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina
“I have said it over and over again that we are not ready for the 2014 World Cup. Everyone is talking about the provisional list, no one seems to be asking, 'what of the technical crew?'" Amiesimaka said.
NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire dismissed the former footballer as a self-important character who never sees anything good in any other human being, or any process initiated by others.
“Mr. Amiesimaka has behaved true to type. At a time that good-hearted ex-internationals are egging the Super Eagles on, expressing faith in them to do Nigeria and Africa proud and generally giving the players immense psychological boost, Amiesimaka has again erected his tent in the Sadists’ Corner, wishing the team failure," Olajire wrote in a media release.
“He is never going to be happy about other people going to play in the FIFA World Cup finals, because he never got to play at that esteemed level. He is spewing evil and ill-will for the whole nation and continent all in the pretext of a myopic campaign for an ex-team mate to be included in the technical crew.”
Olajire said that the NFF is sincerely appreciative of the support of the Federal Government and all stakeholders for the African champions to go to Brazil and fly the nation’s flag high, and expressed belief that Amiesimaka would be put to shame by the end of the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
Boehner: Don't repeat Iraq mistakes in Afghanistan
Flying over Kabul at
night, I was struck by the changes: Electric lights and even traffic are
visible throughout the valley. I was encouraged by what I saw and by
what I heard from Ambassador James Cunningham and General Joseph F.
Dunford, Jr.
The Afghans are taking
the lead for their own security, and now they are poised to successfully
transition to a new government for the first time in their history.
After 13 years, I am
often asked why Afghanistan still matters. The world is growing more
complicated by the day, and, in my view, more dangerous. The
responsibility is on leaders in Washington to remind the American people
why finishing the job right in Afghanistan remains important.
Rep. John Boehner
The explanation is
straightforward: Not only was it the location from which the 9/11 attack
that killed 3,000 Americans was planned, but the country also remains
uniquely vulnerable to becoming a terrorist stronghold again if we don't
complete our work to empower the Afghan people, security forces and
government to protect their own country.
Our mission quite simply is to prevent another terrorist attack.
And, there's another
reason we don't talk about much, but it remains equally important. Both
friends and foes are watching to see whether America has the resolve to
complete its task or if we will fall short of our mark out of fatigue or
political expediency. This has ramifications not just for Afghanistan
but other critical areas where America has strategic national security
interests.
Make no mistake,
Afghanistan remains a tough fight. The progress has been significant,
but the country will continue to have setbacks. Violence, like the
recent tragic shooting at a Kabul hospital, is going to continue.
Terrorist organizations will continue to attempt high-profile attacks to
break our resolve.
But because of the
courage and sacrifices of our deployed men and women, both military and
civilian, I am optimistic that we can achieve our mission successfully
if Washington doesn't squander this progress.
At the time of my visit,
I said that I hoped Washington and Kabul would always be worthy of the
shared sacrifice and effort that our troops, the international
community, and the Afghan people have made. The biggest takeaway from my
visit is that of all the challenges facing our strategy for
Afghanistan, the most potentially damaging and completely avoidable is
quitting just short of the goal line.
3 Americans killed in Afghanistan attack
Amputees find new hope with prostheses
Racing to honor her husband
It's essential that we
do not repeat the same mistakes in Afghanistan that we made in Iraq.
Before the end of this year, the Obama administration must reach a
bilateral security agreement with the Afghan government that reinforces
our commitment to the Afghan people and its security forces.
With input from our
commanders on the ground, this will likely require retaining a credible,
residual troop presence to help continue to thwart terrorist networks
as well as provide appropriate levels of training and advice to the
Afghan security forces as they continue to grow and mature into an
effective, independent fighting force.
As a former small
business man, I like an analogy I heard on our efforts to train and
assist the Afghan Security Forces: we've helped them open for business,
and now we need to ensure they have the processes and logistics in place
to stay in business. Our military has a clear, understandable plan to
put themselves out of business at the end of this process.
There is a shared,
bipartisan legacy in Washington for Afghanistan. I am convinced history
will judge both the executive branch and the legislative branch not on
whether we ended wars, but how we ended them.
It is increasingly
apparent that the United States left Iraq too soon, and it is with heavy
hearts that we see the black flags flying in areas of Iraq where the
United States expended our most precious treasure, the blood of our
fellow citizens. We cannot let that happen in Afghanistan. A bilateral
security agreement is critical if we're going to successfully complete
the work that has been accomplished to date and to help ensure that the
gains we have made are not jeopardized like they have been in Iraq.
America's foes, both
state and non-state actors, are watching with great interest how we
leave Afghanistan, watching to see whether we leave after securing our
interests and honoring our commitments, or if we just leave.
And over the last year,
our commander-in-chief has often talked more about leaving Afghanistan
than how we are going to achieve our mission. We all want to bring our
remaining troops home as soon as possible, but succeeding in Afghanistan
is vital to our national security interests and it must take priority
over any calendar dates. The President has an obligation to better make
that case to the American people. And if he does, I will support him.
For more than a decade,
our troops and civilian personnel have fought to bring peace and
security to Afghanistan -- and to ensure it can never again be used as a
safe haven for terrorists to attack the United States. Many Americans
have sacrificed to secure these goals, and far too many have lost their
lives or suffered life-altering wounds.
Washington and Kabul must work together to secure the gains we have made together and complete our mission.
Ramon Azeez scores to help Almeria out of relegation
The one-cap Super Eagles midfielder came from the
bench to seal the winner for Rojiblancos as they moved steps above
relegation in Sunday's La Liga game
Nigeria international and Almeria midfielder Ramon Azeez has scored his second La Liga goal in his side’s 3-2 home win against Real Betis on Sunday afternoon.
The Super Eagles player came off the bench to grab the winner in 10-man Rojiblancos’s hard fought win over the visitors at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos.
Azeez who replaced Corona in the 74th minute was left completely unmarked in the heart of the area to head home Fernando Soriano's cross four minutes into injury time, provoking a small group of Almeria fans to invade the pitch.
Almeria struck first in the 52nd when Aleix Vidal found Oscar Diaz at the far post, but Jesus Fernandez saw a direct red card for a dangerous tackle on Damien Perquis one minute later.
Betis took the lead through goals by Braian Rodriguez in the 60th and Salva Sevilla in the 71st. Vidal hit back for Almeria on the break in the 77th before Soriano set up the late winner from the Nigerian.
With this result, Almeria have climbed above the relegation zone, pushing Osasuna down to join Valladolid as the other two teams currently in danger to join Betis in the second division next season.
Police Arrest Suicide Bomber In Yobe After Bomb Failed To Detonate
A lone suicide bomber was on Sunday arrested in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital while on a mission to blow off a police station.They added that the suicide bomber, who had thought the van would have immediately detonated, was disappointed when the device jammed. He was subsequently arrested minutes later.
He later confessed to having some Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) loaded in the pickup van. This was later confirmed and diffused by the anti-bomb squad of the Damaturu Police command.
The suicide bomber was suspected to be a member of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, a group that has wreaked serious havoc on the country for years, which had killed thousands in different attacks.
Subscribe to:
Comments
(
Atom
)
