Jones full of praise for Blackburn boss Kean.

                  

Villa captain Petrov diagnosed with leukaemia.

Tips to reduce pot belly.

Nigerian Idol: Who wears the crown?

The final contestants on the Nigerian Idol show are out to make a mark in entertainment. The last show, which was themed, The American Legend Show’, witnessed the six finalists perform hits from American stars through the years — Elvis Presley, Donna Summer and lots more.  It was a night of excitement.

Joseph Benjamin and Nse Ikpe Etim as Mr and Mrs.

Lewis gets support from girlfriend in Malaysian.

Now X Factor USA days are behind her, Nicole Scherzinger slipped into the role of Grand Prix WAG. The popstar is standing by her man Lewis Hamilton this season, supporting him in Kuala Lumpur.

Kebbi poll: A litmus test for INEC, PDP.

Saturday’s Kebbi State governorship rerun election will serve as a litmus test for the Independent National Electoral Commission, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and what is left of the opposition political parties.

Barton ready for crucial Arsenal contest.

Queens Park Rangers skipper Joey Barton says his team should not be overawed when they take on in-form Arsenal at Loftus Road this weekend.
The two sides do battle in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday afternoon with QPR fighting relegation and Arsenal aiming to tighten their grip on third spot with an eighth successive League win.
But despite the gap between the clubs in the table, Barton insists QPR should take confidence from the way they performed against Arsenal at the Emirates earlier this season when Robin van Persie gave the Gunners a 1-0 victory.

Kobe Bryant just dropped $329,000 on a brand new Ferrari.

According to the intrepid reporters at TMZ, Kobe Bryant is now the proud owner of a Ferrari 458 Italia, a fancy-and-fast-as-hell "supercar" that officially makes him the coolest guy in school. (Or, at least, the coolest guy on the Los Angeles Lakers bench.)
"We're told the Black Mamba paid $329,000 yesterday for the car ... which he paid for in full with a check," TMZ reported. It was probably a designer Batman check, because Kobe is Batman. (Also: Duh.)

Ferguson praises Ferdinand influence.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is hoping defender Rio Ferdinand can remain a big influence at the club for years to come.
Ferdinand's contract at Old Trafford runs until the end of next season, but Ferguson expects the 33-year-old to be at the club much longer.
England centre-half Ferdinand has struggled with a back problem in recent years, but he is likely to line-up against Fulham on Monday having already made more Barclays Premier League appearances this season than any campaign since 2008-09.

Waoh, Chelsea and Tottenham share points.

Emmanuel Adebayor twice went close to scoring for the visitors
Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham shared a goalless draw in a hard-fought battle in the Barclays Premier League.

Abramovich doesn't know who I am, says Redknapp.

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea's "hire them and fire them" owner Roman Abramovich has a fan in Harry Redknapp, even if the Tottenham Hotspur manager says the Russian billionaire does not even recognise him.
Redknapp takes his side to Chelsea on Saturday (1245 GMT) with the hosts scrapping for a place in the top four - a unique situation at this stage of the season for Abramovich who bought the club in 2003 and has won three Premier League titles.

Deadly clashes in Egypt after soccer club banned.

PORT SAID, Egypt (Reuters) - One person was shot dead and 18 injured when angry soccer fans clashed with security forces in Egypt's Port Said after their club was banned over the country's worst stadium disaster, a medical source said on Saturday.

Houston full autopsy report to offer more details.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston's full autopsy report may offer more clues about whether the singer suffered a heart attack before her drowning death, officials said Friday.
The full report, which is expected to be released in a few weeks, may include test results and physical descriptions of the singer's heart that will show whether she suffered a heart attack, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said. The report is being compiled and Winter said he did not have access to its findings, which might show whether there were any obvious signs such as discoloration of her heart that would suggest Houston had a heart attack before slipping underwater in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 11.
Houston's death has been ruled an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors.

Lyon reaches semi-finals with 3-1 victory over PSG.

Paris Saint-Germain’s 12-match winning streak ended Wednesday as Lyon came from behind for a 3-1 victory that has put them in the French Cup semi-finals.

By News Wires (text)

 

AP - Paris Saint-Germain’s 12-match unbeaten run under coach Carlo Ancelotti came to end on Wednesday, and its shaky defense was again exposed, as Lyon came from a goal down to win 3-1 at Parc des Princes and reach the French Cup semifinals.
Ancelotti, who took charge of PSG in January, had seen his team rescue draws and scrape wins with very late goals in recent matches, but this time PSG’s luck ran out and it has now conceded 13 goals in the last six games -- including a 4-4 draw away to Lyon last month.
Nene put PSG ahead in the 19th minute from the penalty spot, but Kim Kallstrom equalized with a sweetly struck freekick soon after and Lisandro Lopez gave Lyon the lead shortly before the interval.
PSG pressured Lyon’s defense throughout the second half, but France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris kept his cool to make several saves and Bafetimbi Gomis punished Ancelotti’s side for those missed chances when he stroked home a penalty in injury time.
“No team had won here this year, so it’s a great win for us, but we have to keep our feet on the ground,” Lyon coach Remi Garde said. “We struggled a bit in the second half, PSG pushed us all the way. I take my hat off to the players.”
Lyon looked comfortable until center half Samuel Umtiti was harshly judged to have handled Jeremy Menez’s cross from the left and Nene sent Lloris the wrong way from the spot.
After Kallstrom curled a sublime freekick over the wall, PSG went close to regaining the lead in the 35th when Menez burst down the left and set up striker Kevin Gameiro, but his shot was smothered by Lloris.
Lyon rocked PSG when Lopez scored from close range after a mix up in PSG’s defense, and Lloris then denied Nene before PSG left the field to jeers.
Ancelotti brought on record signing Javier Pastore for the second half, and PSG immediately pressured Lyon’s defense, with center half Alex, Menez and then Pastore forcing Lloris into smart saves.
The action was almost entirely in Lyon’s half and, in the 60th minute, Pastore’s pass gave midfielder Blaise Matuidi the perfect chance to equalize, but he blazed over the bar.
Lopez missed an even easier chance as Lyon hit PSG on the break down the right flank. Gomis squared the ball to him, but he smacked it over with goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez stranded.
Gomis wrapped up the win with moments left after Alex tripped Michel Bastos as he cut inside the area.
Earlier, semiprofessional team Gazelec Ajaccio produced another upset to reach the semifinals for the first time, beating league title contender Montpellier 1-0 from Yohan Bocognano’s goal.
The defender volleyed in from a corner with 15 minutes remaining to stun Montpellier, which is in second place in the French league behind PSG.
“It’s huge. It’s very satisfying for me as I scored,” Bocognano said. “We had nothing to lose. We didn’t ask ourselves any questions and in the end you couldn’t tell the difference between us and a first division team. Our fabulous adventure continues.”
The Corsican club’s win followed Marseille’s 3-2 loss to Quevilly in extra time on Tuesday. Both Gazelec and Quevilly play in the semiprofessional National league, three tiers below the first division.
“The pitch didn’t help us, but that’s no excuse,” Montpellier midfielder Karim Ait-Fana said. “We knew what it would be like, but we still weren’t prepared. It’s a match we have to forget.”
Rennes joined Gazelec in the last four after winning 3-1 at Valenciennes in an all-first division match.
Winger Jonathan Pitroipa put Rennes ahead in the 12th minute before Mamadou Samassa equalized for the home side. Second-half goals from defender John Boye and forward Youssouf Hadji sealed the win for Rennes.
“Sometimes we were on top and at other times we were up against it a bit,” Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti said. “But on the whole I think we deserved to win.”
Gazelec plays Lyon, and Quevilly face Rennes in next month’s semifinals.

Man City boss says victory over Chelsea has given his side a boost in title battle.

Sergio Aguero's penalty set Manchester City on their way to victory against Chelsea

Manchester City Roberto Mancini said his side's comeback victory against Chelsea on Wednesday was worth "more than three points" to his Barclays Premier League title-chasing side.

City were facing the prospect of championship rivals Manchester United keeping a four-point lead at the top of the table after Gary Cahill gave Chelsea the lead on 60 minutes with a deflected shot.

But a penalty from Sergio Aguero 12 minutes from time and a late Samir Nasri goal gave City a vital win which reduces the gap on the League leaders.

UTME: 1.5m candidates jostle for 500,000 admission slots.

OVER 1.5 million candidates are to sit for the 2012 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations across the country on Saturday, the national examination body said on Tuesday.

The candidates are to compete for about 500,000 admission slots in various tertiary institutions for the 2012/2013 academic season.

Registrar of JAMB, Prof. ’Dibu Ojerinde, said this at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said, “A total of 1,503,931 candidates registered for the 2012 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, making it the highest number of candidates so far since the existence of JAMB.”

Ojerinde said 1,375,642 registered for the examination in 2010 while 1,493,603 candidates registered for the same examination in 2011.

According to him, the figure in this year’s UTME is only a marginal increase of 10,338 candidates against an increase of 117,961, the 2011 UTME had over its maiden edition in 2010.

He said Saturday’s exam would hold simultaneously in the 375 towns in Nigeria and six foreign centres. They are Accra (Ghana), Buea (Cameroun), Cotonou (Benin Republic), London, Jeddah and Johannesburg.

According to him, the increase in the number of centres at home and abroad underscores the acceptability of the exam.

Ojerinde said about 467,000 gained admission to various institutions last, saying “it may be above 500,000 this year.”

Ojerinde said, “A total of 3,001 centres will be used for the conduct of the examination against the 2,872 centres used for the 2011 UTME.

“About 129 additional centres were created across the country.

“The implications of this development is that the board has registered more examination centres, thus providing more access to deserving Nigerian children to tertiary education.”

He also explained that the biometric fingerprint machine had been improved upon to deliver quality service, adding that it would take between 30 and 40 minutes to screen the 540 candidates in each centre.

He advised candidates, supervisors and invigilators to stick to instructions to avoid sanctions.

Ojerinde reiterated the board’s determination to conduct a better exam than what obtained in the past.

Confusion at Police HQ

 

For the second week running, confusion has had the better of the Force Headquarters of the police in Abuja. While it has not got over the helicopter crash that killed DIG Haruna John and three other senior officers last week in Jos, Plateau State, yesterday was a different turn in the event of things.

The day that started normally later ended in confusion as the last batch of Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) came back to the offices they left.

The return that looked like a hijack of the offices, was said to have been at the behest of the Presidency.
As the ex-AIGs came back, they all headed to the offices from where they left the service. Even those of them that served at the zonal divisions were also there in their official uniform.

The drama took the police headquarters unaware as the story making the rounds was that since the AIGs had challenged their ouster, they possibly got orders from powerful offices for their return pending when the matter would be resolved.
During the drama, those who got to their former offices and met some other AIGs already posted there, ordered the new occupants to leave immediately.
But for those whose offices were still unoccupied, it was a smooth sail as they simply got back into the saddle as if they were never out.

Power sector reform under threat,

Strong indications emerged on Friday that the power sector reform of President Goodluck Jonathan may have stalled following unresolved matters with the labour  unions in the sector.

It was learnt that the National Union of Electricity Employees and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies on the one hand, and the top representatives of the Federal Government on the other, have lingering disagreements threatening the power reform.  

An investigation by our correspondent showed that the Federal Government and the representatives of the workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria are in disagreement on three core issues expected to be tabled for resolution on April 16, 2012 when the suspended negotiations would resume.  

The April 16 negotiations, it was learnt, might be the last round of meeting between the FG and electricity workers, no matter the outcome.

But the General Secretary of NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajaero, said on Friday that it would not be appropriate for anybody to say that the April meeting would be the last one as crucial issues had not been resolved. 

In February, negotiators of the PHCN and the FG delegation could not strike a compromise due to the workers’ insistence on increased remuneration in line with the recent wage increase in the public sector.

The FG team had insisted that the government did not have the funds to take care of the workers’ demand.

Findings showed that the situation would not change, even when negotiations resume in April.

The three core issues are the workers’ demand for a 53.7 per cent salary increase for public servants, the issue of the N18,000 minimum wage and the call for a re-negotiation of an expired agreement with the workers.

It was learnt that a collective agreement reached with the PHCN workers in 2009 expired in August 2011 and was due for renegotiation this year.

Chelsea face Benfica in Champions League.

Chelsea enjoyed a stunning UEFA Champions League win against Napoli on Wednesday

Chelsea will face Benfica in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final after being paired with the Portuguese side in Friday's draw.

Roberto di Matteo's side made it into the last eight of the competition after their superb second-leg performance against Napoli when they overturned a 3-1 first leg deficit with a 4-1 win in extra time.

De Gea: Title is our focus

David de Gea could not prevent Man Utd's European exit on Thursday

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea says he is confident the club can bounce back from their European exit by winning the Barclays Premier League.

Despite Wayne Rooney's goal, United were beaten 2-1 by Athletic Bilbao in the UEFA Europa League last 16 on Thursday, a result which completed a 5-3 aggregate loss.

However, the exit means that United - like neighbours City who also went out of the competition on Thursday - have the Barclays Premier League title as their only possible silverware this season.

Committee chair demanded N44m –Oteh, SEC boss

•Ms. Aruma Oteh

House of Representatives probe of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hit turbulent weather yesterday as the Director-General, Ms. Aruma Oteh, fired allegations at the panel from all cylinders.

Oteh did not mince words and repeatedly challenged the Chairman of the committee, Hon. Herman Hembe, to prove his credibility to sit as judge over such probe when he allegedly collected a cheque from her office to travel to the Dominican Republic last year and never did. Oteh asked Hembe to tell Nigerians if he returned the money for the trip, which he did not make. 
The shocking turn in the event actually had shocking effect on Hembe, who managed to find his words in reply that the investigation must continue. He, however, avoided answering Oteh on whether the allegations from her were false. He rather threw it back to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe him.

Cabinet reshuffle: Ministers jittery over impending sacking .

Fears have gripped ministers over President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan to reshuffle his cabinet and drop three members of the Federal Executive Council.

SUNDAY PUNCH’s investigations in Abuja showed that the ministers and some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party have been pressurising the president since they got the information about the planned cabinet reshuffle.

It was gathered that ministers, who are afraid of losing their positions, have been appealing to Jonathan to shelve his plan until May 29 when his administration would clock one year.

A source in the presidency told our correspondent that the ministers, who were imploring Jonathan to shelve his plan, said they should be given more time because they had not spent a year in office.

Although Jonathan was sworn in as president on May 29, 2011, he did not send his ministerial list to the Senate until June 27, 2011.

banana is now available, loiz.

Biography of Aliko Dangote unveiled in the US.

 

The book is titled - Aliko Dangote: The biography of the richest black person in the world. And has been accepted for publication by a publishing company based in New York, USA will be released to the market in June, 2012. This is the first and only biography of this exceptional Nigerian, and African. Written by Moshood Ademola Fayemiwo and Margie Marie Neal.

                                                      

It is our pleasure to introduce to you the biography of the richest black person in the world, Aliko Mohammad Dangote.  We were in Nigeria for fourteen months for field work on this important book. We visited the ancient city of Kano in Northern Nigeria where Aliko was born, Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Wudil and other important places tracing the many paths of Aliko Dangote and his successful career as Nigeria’s foremost industrialist and Africa’s richest person.                                                                       

Saturday's Barclays Premier League round-up.

Didier Drogba got the decisive goal as Chelsea beat 10-man Stoke at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea 1-0 Stoke City

Didier Drogba scored his 100th goal in the Barclays Premier League to hand Roberto di Matteo victory in his first League match in charge of Chelsea.

Drogba finished off expertly from a Juan Mata pass in the second half to earn the Blues a valuable three points against Stoke, who had Ricardo Fuller sent off for violent conduct before half-time.

Mata almost added a second late on when he fired a superb free-kick against the post with Asmir Begovic well beaten.

View full match information

Aston Villa 1-0 Fulham

Andreas Weimann scored his first goal for Aston Villa to give them a dramatic late win over Fulham.

Weimann showed great persistence to bundle in from close range three minutes into injury time after Mark Schwarzer could not deal with a shot from Gary Gardner.

Villa had earlier hit the post through Marc Albrighton, while Fulham also went close through Damien Duff.

View full match information

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn climbed three points clear of the drop zone with a crucial win away to relegation rivals Wolves.

Junior Hoilett got both of Blackburn's goals to hand them only a second away win as they also earned their first clean sheet in the League this season.

Hoilett opened the scoring two minutes before half-time and then added a fine second with a low, left-foot shot from outside the area.

View full match information

Sunderland 1-0 Liverpool

Nicklas Bendtner scored for the second consecutive week to earn Sunderland victory over Liverpool at the Stadium of Light.

Bendtner fired home from close range 11 minutes after the break when a shot from Fraizer Campbell came back off the woodwork and Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina.

The home side climb up to eighth in the table, just two points behind their opponents Liverpool.

Tottenham beaten by Jelavic goal.

Croatian forward Nikica Jelavic scored midway through the first half at Goodison Park

Everton 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Croatian forward Nikica Jelavic's first goal for Everton earned them a hard-fought win over Tottenham to extend their unbeaten run in the Barclays Premier League to seven matches.

Everton had already gone close through a Marouane Fellaini shot that was saved by Brad Friedel's legs before Jelavic scored with a half-volley from a Leon Osman cross.

Spurs' Jermain Defoe had a goal ruled out for offside, while substitute Louis Saha was denied by the post in injury time against his old club, as Spurs drew a blank for only the third time in the Barclays Premier League this season.