Author: Editor

NAPOLI extended their lead at the top of Serie A to 16 points after victory over bottom-of-the-table Cremonese. Goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen and Eljif Elmas gave Napoli their 19th win of the season. The Naples club, chasing their first Italian title since 1990, have now won six matches in a row and have dropped just seven points this season. Second-placed Inter Milan can reduce Napoli’s lead when they play Sampdoria on Monday. Earlier in the day, Adrien Rabiot’s goal gave Juventus a 1-0 win over Fiorentina. The result sees Juve, who were docked 15 points in January because…

BARCLEONA moved 11 points clear at the top of La Liga with a battling win over Villarreal in a scrappy encounter. Pedri’s goal after 18 minutes was enough to give the 26-time champions their sixth consecutive league win. Xavi’s side have conceded just seven goals in the league and their only defeat came to Real Madrid in December. They took advantage of Real’s absence from the weekend’s fixtures because of their participation in the Fifa Club World Cup to extend their lead. Real will return to league action against Elche on 15 February after beating Al-Hilal 5-3 in the Club…

SOME 46,000 homes have lost power as Cyclone Gabrielle lashes the north of New Zealand. Authorities have issued warnings of heavy rain and winds, and hundreds of flights have been cancelled. Some areas have declared a state of emergency, as Gabrielle nears the North Island. It comes weeks after Auckland and surrounding areas were hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people. “Extreme weather event has come on the back of extreme weather event,” said New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who announced a NZ$11.5m (£6m; US$7.3m) aid package. “Things are likely to get worse before they…

AT least 11 people have died in an attack in central Syria that has been blamed on Islamic State militants, a war monitor has said. Militants attacked a group of about 75 people picking mushrooms near Palmyra, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said. Syria’s state news agency SANA reported a lower death toll of four. The attack took place away from parts of northern Syria that were hit by Monday’s deadly earthquake. The SOHR, which monitors developments in Syria through a network of sources, said that Islamic State cells have been exploiting the “preoccupation of the international…

THE Kano governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Bashir Bashir, has abandoned his ambition to join the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. On January 21, the governorship candidate staged a boycott on the party’s presidential rally in Kano alongside the chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council, Mohammed Zarewa; state coordinator of Peter Obi’s campaign, Balarabe Wakili and; a member of the presidential campaign council, Idris Dambazau. A source close to the candidate confirmed the defection of Mr Bashir and other LP leaders to APC on Sunday, saying major reason for their defection is the exclusion of major Northern stakeholders…

Leeds 0 vs Man United 2 MANCHESTER United scored twice in the final 10 minutes at Elland Road to leave managerless Leeds deep in relegation trouble. Five days on from Marcus Rashford netting the Red Devils’ first goal as they came back from 2-0 down at home to draw against the same opponents, the England striker broke the deadlock when he met Luke Shaw’s curling cross to head in his 21st goal of the season. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho then outpaced the home defence before beating Illan Meslier at his near post to the obvious joy of manager Erik ten Hag…

MEMPHIS Depay struck his first Atletico Madrid goal to help his team steal a late 1-0 win at Celta Vigo on Sunday in La Liga. Diego Simeone’s side, down to 10 men after Stefan Savic’s red card, were outplayed but Depay reacted quickly to spin and bury a loose ball in the 89th minute. The Dutch forward, signed from Barcelona in January, netted in La Liga for the first time since September to help Atletico consolidate their hold on fourth place. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak made a string of stunning saves, while Celta striker Iago Aspas hit the crossbar from a…

CYPRUS voters on Sunday elected the former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides as the next president of the small EU member state, with his rival conceding defeat and congratulating him. Christodoulides, 49, defeated fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, according to exit polls by five television stations in the south of the divided Mediterranean island. Mavroyiannis told reporters: “Tonight a journey has ended, a great journey that I shared with thousands of people. I regret we couldn’t achieve the change that Cyprus needed.” The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation put Christodoulides at 50.5-53.5 percent in the vote for head of state and government, ahead…

PARIS’ defence minister on Sunday condemned the latest installment of Marvel’s Black Panther franchise, which depicts French troops caught trying to steal resources belonging to the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda. “I strongly condemn this false and deceptive representation of our armed forces,” Sebastien Lecornu wrote on Twitter, responding to a clip from the November movie posted by a journalist. The scene turns on a group of bound French soldiers being brought into a UN meeting, embarrassing Paris’ ambassador to the world body, after they were caught on a secret mission to a Wakandan base in Mali. Journalist Jean Bexon,…

THE UN denounced Sunday a failure to get desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria, while warning that the death toll of over 33,000 from an earthquake that also devastated Turkey could double. A UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency’s relief chief Martin Griffiths said much more was needed for millions whose homes were destroyed. “We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived,” Griffiths said on Twitter. Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict…

BANDITS operating in Niger State carried out a series of attacks this weekend, leading to the deaths of Mukhtar Sabiu, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Paiko, Headquarters of Paikoro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State, and four other police officers. The victims were shot dead along Kwakuti village, Minna-Suleja road on Sunday. The Niger State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, said the DPO and his men were killed in a gun duel. “At about 1100hrs, information was received that armed bandits were sighted around Kwakuti-Dajigbe villages area of Lambata, in an attempt to attack some communities…

– 559 cases, 18 deaths recorded across the border THE Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said the agency had an emergency meeting in Jigawa state over the meningitis outbreak in the state. Dr Adetifa said the Emergency Operation Centre meeting reviewed the response, identified challenges, and proffered solutions to the outbreak. The NCDC boss disclosed this in a series of tweets via his verified Twitter handle on Sunday. Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, a thin layer of the connective tissue that covers the brain and the spinal cord. If…

BRAZIL have dismissed as “unfounded” reports that Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti has agreed to become their next manager. Ancelotti, 63, is currently with the 14-time European champions in Morocco at the Club World Cup. The Brazilian Football Confederation said: “The coach chosen will be announced at the right time.” Brazil have been without a boss since Tite departed after December’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Croatia. Ancelotti, whose only previous experience of international management came as an assistant with Italy in the 1990s, said on Friday that it was his intention to see out his present deal with the Spanish…

BAYERN Munich “need to improve” for Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Paris St-Germain despite a third straight win, says Julian Nagelsmann. Bayern earned a 3-0 home win against Bochum to stay top of the Bundesliga. Surprise challengers Union Berlin are a point behind the 10-time defending champions after fighting back to beat RB Leipzig 2-1 later on Saturday. English teenager Jamie Bynoe-Gittens scored as Borussia Dortmund, who play Chelsea this week, beat Werder Bremen. Despite the win against Bochum, Bayern boss Nagelsmann said his side must raise their level when they face PSG at Parc des Princes. “We played well…

UNREST in southern Turkey has disrupted rescue efforts in some places following Monday’s deadly earthquake, three rescue groups have said. The death toll in Turkey and Syria from the quake has surpassed 28,000, and hope of finding many more survivors is fading despite some miraculous rescues. German rescuers and the Austrian army paused search operations on Saturday, citing clashes between unnamed groups. Security is expected to worsen as food supplies dwindle, one rescuer said. Turkey’s president said he would use emergency powers to punish anyone breaking the law. An Austrian army spokesperson said early on Saturday that clashes between unidentified…

ANOTHER unidentified object has been shot down over North American airspace, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed. He said the latest object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over Yukon in north-west Canada. Both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to track down the object which Mr Trudeau says was taken out by a US F-22 fighter jet. It is the third object to be shot down over North America in the last week. The American military destroyed a Chinese balloon last weekend, and on Friday an unspecified object the size of a small car was shot down…

THE Defence Headquarters has dismissed as malicious propaganda, the report peddled by some unscrupulous elements of plot by some military officers to disrupt the forthcoming general elections. The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Tukur Gusau, said this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. The defence spokesman added that the Armed Forces of Nigeria was dismayed that even politically exposed persons had denigrated themselves into joining the agents of destabilisation. He said that the unscrupulous elements claimed that some military officers met with a Presidential candidate with the aim of disrupting the general elections and setting the country on…

Arsenal 1 vs Brentford 1 SUBSTITUTE Leandro Trossard scored his first goal for Arsenal but the Premier League leaders missed the chance to move eight points clear at the top as Ivan Toney earned resilient Brentford a deserved point. After a goalless first half in which the Bees hit the woodwork through Toney, the Gunners took the lead when Trossard struck at the back post four minutes after coming off the bench. But Brentford got the reward their excellent away performance at Emirates Stadium deserved when Toney nodded in Christian Norgaard’s cross from close range. There was a lengthy check…

REAL Madrid lifted the Club World Cup for a record fifth time with a pulsating 5-3 win over Al Hilal on Saturday in Morocco. Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde struck twice each, while Karim Benzema also scored on his return from injury in Madrid’s spectacular victory over their Saudi Arabian opponents. Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who qualified as Champions League winners last season, had far too much attacking quality for their opponents to handle. Madrid’s emphatic triumph at Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium secured their second piece of silverware of the season, after winning the European Super Cup in August. It…

BARCELONA coach Xavi Hernandez hailed striker Robert Lewandowski for helping change the mindset at the club. The Catalans are eight points clear of rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and beat Los Blancos in Saudi Arabia to win the Spanish Super Cup in January. Last season, Barcelona failed to win a trophy but the mood changed in the summer when the club brought in several players, including former Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski. “Lewandowski is accustomed to winning titles with Bayern. He had brought us that winning mentality, that of a champion,” Xavi told reporters Saturday. The 34-year-old…