LASEMA prevents potentially disastrous fire at Lagos Civic Centre (Guardian)
The Fire Response Unit of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) in collaboration with the State Fire Service prevented a potentially disastrous fire at the Civic Centre in Lagos at midnight on Wednesday.
The Director-General of LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, disclosed this in a statement issued by the agency’s Public Affairs Officer, Mr Nosa Okunbor, on Thursday in Lagos.
According to Oke-Osanyintolu, it took the timely response of the agency to douse a fire that broke out when the outdoor decorations on the Civic Centre caught fire at midnight on Wednesday. Read more
2 Killed, 23 others injured in Lagos gas explosion (ThisDay)
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has confirmed the death of two people in a gas explosion which occurred on Thursday.
It added that 23 others who were seriously injured were rescued from the explosion that occurred at Adule Street, Off Ojo Road, in Ajegunle area near Apapa, in Lagos State.
The Director-General of LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). The DG said that when LASEMA officials arrived at the scene of the incident, they discovered that a gas cylinder store had exploded as a result of leakage. Read more
Electricity: AFDB approves $210m power projects in Nigeria (Vanguard)
The board of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s, TCN’s, NTEP -1 projects in a board resolution in Abidjan.
The NTEP is one of the projects under TREP financed by AfDB that is targeted at rehabilitating and expanding parts of the transmission grid in the North West, South South and the South East.
The project would reconstruct old transmission lines and build new ones as well as construct new substations, contributing to further increase in TCN’s transmission capacity. Read more
2Baba, Blackface settle out of court (Nation)
Nigerian legendary Musician, Innocent Idibia, famously Known as 2baba, has settled the long existing legal battle with his former group member Ahmedu Augustine Obiabo, famously known as Blackface. This happened on Wednesday when they opted for an out-of-court settlement.
They signed a yet to be disclosed settlement agreement at the Ikeja High Court shortly after 2baba dropped the N50m defamation suit filed against Blackface.
Blackface had since accused 2baba that he stole the song from him after he composed it, without giving him credit on the sang after he sang it. Read more
FRSC makes U-turn on use of Google map while driving (Punch)
The Federal Road Safety Corps on Thursday made a U-turn on the use of Google map while driving.
On Wednesday, the Sector Commander, Federal Capital Territory, Corps Commander Wobin Ayuba Gora had said that driving with the aid of Google map using mobile phones is a serious traffic offence.
However, in a statement signed by Bisi Kazeem, the Corps Commander Public Education Officer, FRSC said that Gora was “quoted out of context on the use of google map app while driving.” Read more
Canadian group wants Nigerians to help build health sector (Nation)
The Nigerian Association for Young Adults (NAYA) in Canada and USA has called on Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country’s health sector.
The group’s president, Shola Agboola stated this over the weekend at Bida, Niger State where they donated hospital equipment worth several millions of naira to the Federal Medical Centre, Bida. Read more
Model told to give £2,200,000 back after boyfriend’s death (Metro)
A former model who received £2.2 million following the death of her wealthy art collector partner and faces giving it back to his children. Dr Rainer Kahrmann, who was also a highly successful banker and clock expert, died suddenly from a blood clot, in July 2014. The 71-year-old left behind four children to two different women, the first being his Swiss socialite wife Christiane De Muller and his girlfriend in later years, former model Hilary Harrison-Morgan. At the time of his death, he had been set to net £4.4 million from London property deals and after they went through, Mrs Harrison-Morgan received half of the cash. Read more
Hong Kong protests: China warns US over Human Rights and Democracy Act (BBC)
China has warned the US it could take “firm counter-measures” if Washington continues to show support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The warning came after US President Donald Trump signed the Human Rights and Democracy Act into law.
The act mandates an annual review, to check if Hong Kong has enough autonomy to justify special status with the US.
Mr Trump is currently seeking a deal with China, in order to end a trade war between the two countries. Read more
Hong Kong activists celebrate Trump for signing pro-democracy legislation (Newsweek)
Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have been lauding President Donald Trump after he signed new legislation formalizing the strongest international support of the ongoing anti-government protests to date.
Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act on Wednesday, after the legislation sailed through Congress with broad bipartisan support.
The act will allow the U.S. to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in the restive territory. It will also mandate an annual State Department review of Hong Kong’s special autonomous status, which gives the territory beneficial trade treatment. Read more
Hillsborough police chief David Duckenfield cleared of manslaughter (BBC)
Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield has been found not guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans in the 1989 disaster.
The former South Yorkshire Police chief superintendent, 75, was in charge of the FA Cup semi-final in which 96 fans were fatally injured.
Men, women and children were crushed on the Leppings Lane terrace.
Mr Duckenfield, of Ferndown, Dorset, was cleared after a seven-week retrial at Preston Crown Court. Read more
Neanderthals’ extinction may have been due to sheer bad luck (RT)
The question of what caused Neanderthals to go extinct has long puzzled scientists, with many pointing the finger at our Homo Sapien ancestors. But a new study suggests our stocky cousins actually died out due to bad luck.
Experts in the field had come to a broad consensus that our forebearers played a key role in the extinction of Neanderthals by invading their territory and outnumbering or outsmarting them. But fresh research suggests that their small population of only around 10,000 left Neanderthals extremely vulnerable to extinction, and some natural fluctuations in birth rates could have done them in. Read more
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante accuses former agent of fraud (Punch)
Chelsea and France midfielder N’Golo Kante has filed a criminal complaint accusing one of his former agents of fraud and attempted fraud, Paris prosecutors said on Thursday.
The complaint, originally reported by L’Equipe sports newspaper, also alleges breach of trust and the illegal practising of the profession of the agent.
The allegations concern an agent who had responsibility for Kante’s image rights whom the player accuses of demanding additional payment in return for cancelling their contract in 2017. Read more
Mike Tyson gives advice to Anthony Joshua and questions Andy Ruiz Jr. weight loss (Metro)
Mike Tyson says Anthony Joshua doesn’t need to be worried about facing off against Andy Ruiz Jr. if he has properly analysed what went wrong last time, while he questioned the Mexican’s weight loss. The two heavyweights go head-to-head once again in Saudi Arabia at the start of December with AJ looking to win back the WBA, IBF and WBO titles he lost after being stopped in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden. Both fighters have noticeably slimmed down since their previous meeting and Tyson isn’t sure that is wise, while he feels Joshua can have success in the rematch. Read more
NFF queries Gernot Rohr over alleged ‘breaches of contract’ (Guardian)
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday revealed that it has queried Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr over alleged several breaches of the contract he signed with the body, which forbids him to divulge to the public/media information on some aspects of the contract.
NFF’s Technical Director, Bitrus Bewarang said in Abuja yesterday that Rohr’s new-found love for disclosing information beyond technical matters to the media is highly unprofessional and against the spirit and letter of his contractual relationship with the football–ruling body.
“In as much as we appreciate the work that Mr. Rohr has been doing with the Super Eagles in the past 40 months, his recent penchant for breaching provisions of the contract he signed with the NFF and the Code of Conduct for coaches is not good for the relationship. Read more
Manchester City’s owner is worth nearly $5 billion after Silver Lake deal (Vanguard)
US private equity giant Silver Lake is investing $500 million in the owner of Manchester City, a deal that values the soccer group at nearly $5 billion and signals a concerted move by the veteran tech investors into sports.
Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Silver Lake will buy just over 10% of City Football Group, which is controlled by the United Arab Emirates royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In addition to the English Premier League champions Manchester City, the soccer group owns teams in the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Spain, and Uruguay. Read more
Messi marks 700th game for Barcelona with YET ANOTHER SCORING RECORD as Catalans beat Dortmund (RT)
Lionel Messi marked his 700th official game for Barcelona with a goal and two assists as the Catalans beat Borussia Dortmund at the Nou Camp and booked a spot in the Champions League knockout stages.
Messi collected a Luis Suarez pass in the 33rd minute, steering the ball past Roman Burki in the Dortmund goal to hand Barcelona a 2-0 lead.
Messi had earlier assisted strike partner Suarez when he shot through Burki’s legs to put Barcelona in front just before the half-hour mark, having already seen a strike ruled out for offside. Read more
Emery seeks Europa League comfort as Man United battle Kazakhstan’s Astana (Guardian)
They are united by the struggles in the English Premier League this season. Arsenal and Manchester United, which for so many years dominated the English Premiership, are currently down, looking on as Liverpool, Leicester City, Manchester City and Chelsea fight for the 2019/2020 EPL title.
It is a strange situation, but there is nothing their fans can do about it, aside wishing that the owners of the clubs brought in new coaches for the fallen giants.
However, the Europa League promises to give these long suffering fans something to cheer today. Arsenal will host Eintracht Frankfurt at the Emirate Stadium at 4:50 p.m. African time, while Manchester United will travel to Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan for their tie against Astana at 9:00 pm African time. Read more
FIFA Ranking: Nigeria moves by 4 spots, now world 31st (Nation)
Nigeria’s Super Eagles have moved up by four spots in the November ranking to place 31st on the ranking table.
In the ranking table on the website of the world football governing body, FIFA, Nigeria garnered 1493 points as against 1481 points gotten in October.
The movement still helped the Super Eagles retain the third position on the continent behind Senegal and Tunisia who are placed 20th and 27th with 1555 and 1506 points respectively. Read more
Ibrahimovic files ‘hate crime’ complaint after house and statue vandalised (Guardian)
Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic Thursday filed a “hate crime” complaint Thursday after being the target of vandalism and racists threats, police said, a day after the star announced his part ownership in football club Hammarby.
A statue of the player in Malmo was attacked with fire and paint while the word “Judas” was daubed across the front door of his residence in Stockholm.
The perpetrators of the threatening acts have not been identified but “Ibra” angered fans of Malmo FF (MFF) — the club where he started his professional career in 1999 — on Wednesday when he announced he had bought a share in rival club Hammarby. Read more
Unai Emery says he has the backing of the Arsenal board amid sack fears (Metro)
is Unai Emery insists he has the full support of the Arsenal board despite talk of his potential sacking becoming all the more persistent. The Gunners boss is going through a torrid time with his side winless in six matches in all competitions. Pressure is mounting on the Spaniard as not only are results poor, but performances have been listless, with clear defensive problems going unattended. Candidates to replace Emery are being bandied about, but the manager remains confident that the Arsenal hierarchy have his back. Read more
World’s Best Club Coach: Liverpool’s Klopp beats Guardiola to 1st place (Vanguard)
The Liverpool Football Club manager, Jurgen Klopp has clinched the first place in the best club coach ranking 2019 after finishing second in the last year’s list.
The Premier League side’s head coach and “Gegenpressing” pundit was ranked number one in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) World’s Best Club Coach 2019 list.
IFFHS on its official website announced the award thus; “2019 was the year of Jürgen Klopp, he is the 15th coach to receive this World Award since 1996, the third German after Ottmar Hitzfeld and Jupp Heynckes. José Mourinho holds the record with 4 Awards as the World’s Best Coach!” Read more