Wenger’s £100m Warchest: Arsenal Eye Three Outstanding Attacking Talents

Arsenal are set to target three key players with their £100 million summer transfer budget, according to the Metro.

The club chairman Stan Kroenke is set to hand his manager Arsene Wenger a huge summer transfer budget to strengthen the club and aim for trophies and a full and proper title challenge.

The Gunners have led the Premier League for the majority of the season but find themselves fighting for their top four place after a run of poor results and Everton’s resurgence below them.

A striker will be top of Wenger’s shopping list – at least fans would hope so – as it is painfully clear the club is lacking a forward this season with just Nicklas Bendtner and Yaya Sanogo back-up to Olivier Giroud.

Pulis hopes Cardiff can avoid relegation

Crystal Palace's Welsh manager Tony Pulis would like Cardiff City to avoid relegation from the Premier League even though his side meet them in a crucial battle to avoid the drop in South Wales on Saturday.

Both clubs were promoted from the Championship last season and while Palace sit five points above the relegation zone, Cardiff are three points from safety in 18th place.

Palace gave themselves a real chance of surviving the drop when they stunned Chelsea 1-0 last weekend while Cardiff have struggled for points and consistency since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Malky Mackay in January.

"It was wonderful to see Cardiff get promoted last year," Pulis said in Thursday's news conference ahead of the game.

Teenage girl gets stuck in a DRAIN after removing metal cover to try and retrieve her iPhone with her feet

A teenager found herself up to her neck in trouble yesterday when she got stuck while trying to retrieve her iPhone from a drain.

The 16-year-old dropped her iPhone 5 down the drain near her home in Dover, Kent.

Armed with wellies and a towel she went down feet first to retrieve it.

Finding herself jammed into the drain emergency services had to be called but, luckily, it was a quick rescue.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service received the call at 7.17pm and by 7.26pm, Miss Sankey was free.

These photographs, taken by an eye witness, show two firefighters grabbing her arms and hauling her to safety while another watches on.

A firefighter from Dover fire station said: 'She was trying to retrieve her iPhone that she dropped down there. It's very unusual! I hear a few people have taken pictures.'

The drain cover and a pair of red wellies and a towel, understood to belong to the teenager, were next to the drain.

The photos of the incident have been posted on Facebook and Twitter and have since gone viral on the social networking sites. 

The girl was not injured but a friend posted on Facebook that the phone was 'ruined'.

Culled from .dailymail

Profits at Nigeria's Stanbic IBTC more than double

Nigeria's Stanbic IBTC Holdings , a unit of South Africa's Standard Bank, said on Thursday its 2013 pretax profit rose to 24.62 billion naira, an increase of 116 percent from 11.41 billion naira a year earlier.

Gross earnings grew to 111.22 billion naira during the period, compared with 91.86 billion naira in 2012, it said in a filing with the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

Stanbic IBTC proposed a dividend of 0.10 naira per share, the same amount it paid in 2012. (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Tim Cocks)

Court Order FG to Tender Public Apology To Sanusi

The Court has declared that the seizure of  the suspended CBN governor Lamido Sanusi’s passport was unlawful, and has asked the Federal Government to return the document.

The Court also grant N50m damages in Sanusi’s favour, asking the FG to tender public apology to the offended party.

Also, the court restrained FG, through its agents, from arresting or detaining Sanusi without following due process or law, as well as interfering with his freedom of movement

(channelstv)

Mourinho slams 'ridiculous' Chelsea defending, strikers

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho branded his side's defending as "ridiculous" while revealing he was unhappy with his frontmen following their 3-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

A well-taken Ezequiel Lavezzi strike, a David Luiz own goal and a superb solo effort from Javier Pastore condemned the Blues to a convincing defeat at the Parc des Princes, with Eden Hazard converting a 27th-minute penalty.

The Portuguese boss was disappointed with the way his players defended throughout the match, and believed that a lack of concentration cost them the game. He also issued a scathing assessment of the Blues' strikers.

Barcelona transfer ban: Rebuilding plans under threat, with Dani Alves, Pedro and Alexis Sanchez likely to stay if signings can't be made

With the dust still settlling on a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid at the Nou Camp on Tuesday that could keep Barcelona out of the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in seven years, the club were told by Fifa on Wednesday that they cannot sign any players for the next two transfer windows. 

Not only will the world governing body’s ban, if upheld, seriously affect the massive rebuilding job Barcelona believe they must carry out this summer, it will also have huge ramifications for many of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Chelsea had hoped to sell David Luiz to Barcelona before the World Cup, Everton wanted to keep loanee Gerard Deulofeu, and a host of Premier League clubs were watching the situation of Dani Alves, Pedro and Alexis Sanchez, aware they could be available at the right price. If  Barça fail to overturn Fifa’s punishment on appeal, not only will they be unable to bring in Luiz but it will also change their attitude towards selling and loaning out players.

BARCELONA BANNED FROM MAKING TRANSFER - BUT IT'S NOT NEYMAR'S FAULT

Super Eagles Can Surprise the World, Says Westerhof

Clemens Westerhof has been dreaming lately. And from far away Holland, his home, the man who turned Nigeria's football around spoke of his dreams yesterday in a telephone chat.

"I sleep and in the middle of the night I wake up. They ask me what is the matter and Isay I have just dreamt of Nigeria doing well in the World Cup in Brazil."

Stephen Keshi, the Eagles coach was captain of Nigeria when Westerhof was the manager. Nigeria placed 5th in the FIFA ranking after USA '94 World Cup which followed the Nations Cup victory in Tunisia. A television house is doing a documentary on what transformed Nigeria's football and has invited Westerhof to Nigeria this April to speak on how he did it. Interestingly, May 3 is Westerhof's birthday and he will be in Nigeria to celebrate it.

"Westerhof could make you play like Pele," Keshi said of the Dutch in his media chat last week.

The Dutch was known for inspiring players and high discipline. And these virtues, he said, Keshi must imbibe in the current team for them to excel in Brazil.

Lagos boat accident kills eight

A passenger boat sank after hitting a rock in Lagos, killing eight people, the Nigerian emergency services said on Thursday, in the latest such accident in three weeks.

"The boat capsized after hitting a rock ... around 6pm yesterday," Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency told AFP.

"Eight people lost their lives while we were able to rescue 12 others," he said.

He said the small, privately-owned passenger ferry had launched from the Ebute-Ero neighbourhood in southern Lagos and was headed north across the city's vast lagoon towards Ikorodu when the accident occurred.

He said the boat was carrying 20 passengers, all of whom have now been accounted for.

UNIBEN Stampede: one person dead during the screening

One person was feared dead yesterday in a stampede at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), during the screening of fresh students. stampede occurred when the students were attempting to force their way into the premises of the hall where the screening exercise was taking place and UNIBEN security personnel forcefully closed the gate against them, forcing the surging students to fall, following which hundreds of them marched on those on the ground.

Thousands of applicants who besieged the Akin Deko auditorium, venue of the screening, were still at the two gates leading to the hall.

It was observed that the iron barricade of the western gate was twisted, broken and almost to the ground, even as students still held on to it as they tried to make their way into the hall.

Anambra Electionl: Tribunal rejects video evidence

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Awka yesterday rejected the video evidence presented by African Independent Television (AIT) during the hearing of the petition filed by Senator Chris Ngige against INEC, Governor Willie Obiano and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

 The AIT was summoned by the Tribunal via a subpoena dated March 6 to give evidence in the case.

But following the objection by Gboyega Awomolo (SAN) representing INEC, that the document could not be admitted in evidence because it had not satisfied Section 84 of the Evidence Act which deals with tendering of electronic evidence, it was not admitted by the Tribunal.

'I will try to rope in more assets - Datuk Seri

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will fly to Perth, Australia, tomorrow to visit the MH370 search operations centre as the hunt for the Malaysia Airlines jetliner enters its 26th day.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Najib would be making a working visit to the Pearce Air Force Base to see the operations firsthand and to thank all personnel, including the Malaysian crew, involved in the multinational search effort.

A spokesman from the Prime Minister's Office said Najib was expected to arrive in Perth about 10.30pm tomorrow.

Hishammuddin, who held a meeting with the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Rod Smith yesterday, said Najib had been updated on the search operations during a conversation with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday morning.

He said the Perth base would also house the new Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) to be headed by former Australian Defence Force chief Air Chief Marshal (retired) Angus Houston.

Total Nigeria 14 pct increase in 2013 full year pre-tax profit

Gasoline marketer Total Nigeria , a unit of France's Total, posted a 14 percent increase in 2013 full year pre-tax profit to 8.12 billion naira ($49.23 million), compared with 7.09 billion naira in the previous year.

Total revenue also rose to 238.16 billion naira, from 217.84 billion naira. The fuel marketer proposed a dividend of 9 naira per share to shareholders payable on June 16, in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange. ($1 = 164.93 naira) (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Tim Cocks)  (reuters)

Jailed murderer set to become Britain's youngest grandfather at just 27 after his 13-year-old daughter got pregnant by a boy her own age

A jailed murderer is set to become Britain’s youngest grandfather at just 27 years of age, as his 13-year-old daughter is pregnant.

After she posted a picture of the scan on Facebook her father - jailed when she was just two for knifing to death a bystander who was trying to prevent a robbery - urged her to have an abortion, it was reported.

But her friends have posted messages of encouragement for the teenage mother-to-be, who got pregnant by a boy her own age.

After revealing that she was five months’ pregnant one friend wrote: ‘Hurry up and push that baby out. You and ******* are going to be the best mum and dad.’

Support for her wasn’t unanimous, though, with one friend labelling the situation ‘disgusting’.

She said: ‘The girls round here think this is what you do - and make out it’s a good thing she’s pregnant. 

‘She thinks she’s a bit of a rebel. My mum would have killed me if I got pregnant at that age.’

'I want the truth to come out': Black female firearms officer in elite police unit claims her career was held back because of her race and sex

A black firearms officer who was once Scotland Yard's Olympics security poster girl was bullied by an officer who spied on her through CCTV and Facebook, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Carol Howard, 34, is suing the Metropolitan Police for racial and sexual discrimination, claiming she was intimidated by an 'aggressive' inspector.

She said he had once 'scolded' her in front of other senior officers while he was armed with a Taser and a handgun, reducing her to tears.

Yesterday Miss Howard cut a glamorous figure as she arrived at the Central London Employment Tribunal.

The elite Diplomatic Protection Group officer, who helped safeguard London from terror attacks during the 2012 Games, claims she was picked on by a supervisor who monitored her Facebook account where she had posted images of herself in a bikini.

Pensioners plan to go against the 2015 general elections

The President of Nigeria Union of Pensioners Dr Abel Afolayan on monday issued the threat in Enugu that the union will  mobilise its members across the country against the 2015 general elections over neglect by governments at all levels.

Dr Abel who was represented by the South East National Vice President of the union, Dr Emeka Onwumere, listed their grievances to include non-payment of outstanding arrears of pensions and gratuities to federal and state pensioners.

Emeka counted the non-payment of outstanding 33 per cent pension increment and its arrears which had been paid to military pensioners as well as the nonchalant attitude toward pensioners’ welfare by state governments.

Singapore: Indian national jailed for Little India riots

A 31-year-old Indian national was on Tuesday jailed for 18 weeks in Singapore for his role in the country's worst riot in 40 years, the sixth person to be sentenced in connection with the incident.

Krishnan Saravanan was convicted of the amended charge of failing to disperse from the riot scene in the Little India precinct -- a precinct of Indian businesses, eateries and pubs -- despite being lawfully commanded to do so, The Straits Times reported.

Saravanan is the sixth man to plead guilty to his role in the riot on December 8 last year, which was sparked by the death of an Indian national in a bus accident. He had originally faced a rioting charge, which carried a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and caning.

His sentence was backdated to the time of his arrest on December 9 last year. Saravanan was among 25 people charged in relation to the riot to plead guilty.

Five others were sentenced under the same amended charge to serve between 15 and 18 weeks in jail in the last two months. Cases against the remaining 19 charged with rioting are pending in court.

Some 400 migrant workers from South Asia rioted following the fatal accident, injuring 49 police and Home Team officers and damaging 23 emergency vehicles.

(ibnlive)

Court Asks 37 Defecting PDP Members to Resign

The issue of 37 member of PDP who join the APC in the  House of Representative took another dimension on Monday when Federal High Court in Abuja asked them to resign their seats 

The court was delivering judgment in a matter brought by PDP asking that the legislators should not be allowed to take part in the activities of the assembly.

The presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, held that the lawmakers no longer had any business, morally and legally in the assembly.

He said they should honourably resign from their seats as members of the House of Representatives, having moved to another political party while their tenure had yet to expire.

FG Set to retire 1,050 civil servants very soon

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Alhaji Bukar Aji, has said that 1,050 civil servants, who were in the service illegally, would be retired in the next three weeks.

He spoke in Abuja at the ongoing 60th anniversary of the Nigeria Public Service Commission.

Aji said the screening done by Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) discovered that the civil servants were supposed to have retired from the service.

“Through the IPPIS, we screened those who were supposed to have retired long time ago. They will leave the service within the next two to three weeks,” he said.

The HOCSF said the exercise would create opportunity for those in legitimate service to be promoted.

Aji said there had been synergy, cooperation and collaboration between the HOCSF and the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).

OSUN 2014: PDP is no more exist – Oladejo

All Progressive Congress (APC) chieftain in Osun State, Mr. Abiodun Oladejo (Atayese), formerly resident in Europe (Austria) returned home to contribute his quota to Nigeria’s democratic process.  He was educated at the Polytechnic, Ibadan and Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta (now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic) where he read mass communication.  In this interview, Oladejo speaks on the forthcoming gubernatorial contest in Osun State.

At the outset of the Aregbesola administration in Osun State, expectation was high that the government would perform. More than three years later, opinions are divided as to whether the government has actually performed. 

Where do you stand?
Honestly speaking, I don’t praise sing. But I am proud to say that this is not a vuvuzela government.  When you define democracy, how it operates in other climes, democracy is in action in the State of Osun.  Ogbeni Aregbesola has the wisdom to govern, he is clairvoyant, he is a fighter; it is like he has an engine in his system to build a society one can be proud of.

Doctors in Ekiti threaten strike

Doctors in public and private health facilities in Ekiti State have threatened to embark on industrial action effective from April 7, if the state government fails to reverse the ‘outrageous tax’ imposed on its members, as well meet their other demands.

The doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, also demanded immediate restoration of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS, to their members at the local government level.

NMA State Chairman, Dr. Obitade Obimakinde, said the grouse of the doctors, which the state government should address to avert the strike, included implementation of specialist allowance to consultants working at the Hospital Management Board, computation of retirement benefits for doctors using CONMESS template and immediate release of running grants to general and specialist hospitals.

2015: Osun SSG’s senatorial ambition may tear APC apart in Iwo

Ahead of the 2015 general elections, indications have emerged that the ruling All Progressive Party, APC, may be in trouble in Osun West Senatorial District, especially in Iwo – a stronghold of the party, and the development may not be unconnected with the alleged senatorial ambition of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti.

Adeoti, who is from Iwo and former state chairman of the party until his appointment as the SSG in 2011, was reportedly nursing the fear that he may not be returned as the SSG, even if Governor Rauf Aregbesola wins his re-election bid, and was therefore busy strategising, covertly to contest the osun West senatorial ticket with the incumbent, Senator Mudahir Hussein, who hails from Ejigbo, the headquarters of Ejigbo Local Government Area of the state.

But National Mirror investigations revealed that party members in Adeoti’s hometown are not satisfied with the performance of their kinsmen elected on the platform of the party to the state’s House of Assembly and the House of Representatives, Ezekiel Adeyemi and Gafar Akintayo Amere respectively, who they claim were imposed on them by Adeoti in the first place.

21 Boko Haram suspects killed in Abuja DSS attack

No fewer than 21 have been confirmed dead as a combined team of operatives of the Department of State Service, DSS, and men of the Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army, yesterday foiled an attack on the DSS Headquarters.

The office is a few metres away from one of the gates of the Presidential Villa in the Three Arms Zone, Abuja.

It was the second time terrorists would make a brazen incursion into the zone which houses Nigeria’s three arms of government, the Presidential Villa, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court.

Terrorists had on October 1, 2010 detonated bombs close to the Eagle Square, where President Goodluck Jonathan and other dignitaries, including foreign heads of state, were commemorating Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebration.