Ugandas Nyege Nyege international music and arts festival sponsored by telecom giant, MTN, has been banned because of scheduled open sex, noise, homosexuality, LGBTI.

Let foreigners not come to Uganda for sex. If you are coming for sexual reasons worse still homosexuality and LGBTQ, stay away.

MTN Nyege Nyege will not be accepted it will not take place. I wanted Nyege Nyege cancelled last year but they escaped, Ugandas minister of Ethics and Integrity, Mr. Simon Lokodo warned.

The three-day festival slated to begin on Thursday, Sept. 6, has been banned Lokodo announced.

Lokodo said the government had information that open sex, noise, homosexuality, LGBTI will be part of the Nyege Nyege.

This ugly thing called MTN Nyege Nyege is not taking place this year.

We have already evaluated how much losses will come. We shall save the image of this country but not allow this to take place for the two days and one night, he said.

This years festival is sponsored by telecom firm MTN. Last year, Bell Lager the first Ugandan brewed beer by Uganda Breweries Limited sponsored the event.

The activity will be covered by alcohol and music. There will be drugs, toxicants not accepted by this country.

There will be nudity and sexuality done at any time of the hour. There will be open sex.

The very name of the festival is provocative. It means sex, sex or urge for sex. We have been informed its taking place near Owen Falls dam. This brings uncertainty and fear.

This is close to devil worshipping and not acceptable.

Mr Lokodo said he has written to the police to stop the event from taking place.

The festival had attracted over 300 artists from over 30 countries.

The venue was set on a six-acre forest on the banks of the River Nile, a kilometre away from the source of the river and Jinja town.

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Source: NAN

War lords have reached a ceasefire agreement to end years of hostilities, protect civilians, safeguard public and private property in war-torn North African country, Libya.

The agreement was reached under the auspices of Ghassan Salame, the top United Nations official in Libya.

The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announce in a tweet posted on its official Twitter account.

Tripolis Meitiga International Airport, which had been closed since violence flared up, would also be opened under the deal.

The accord was signed by representatives of the Government of National Accord (GNA), military commanders, security apparatuses and armed groups present in and around Tripoli.

Scores of civilians had been killed and hundreds injured across residential areas of the Libyan capital since fighting escalated last week.

Spokesperson for UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Charlie Yaxley, said that the use of heavy weapons and shelling in civilian neighbourhoods had caused death, destruction and displacement, and is of great concern.

We are closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with the Libyan Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration and UN agencies, and advocating for all refugees and migrants to be relocated to a safer place, Yaxley said.

According to the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a humanitarian worker trying to evacuate civilians trapped in a neighbourhood was reportedly shot , while one of the armed groups involved was alleged to have confiscated three ambulances.

UN agencies, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNHCR, have stepped up their response, with WHO delivering trauma medicines for 200 critical cases, keeping another 2,000 more units on standby and deploying 10 mobile emergency trauma teams to areas where fighting is ongoing.

Similarly, UNHCR is dispatching emergency items to families seeking shelter at a local school, the UN said.

In a statement prior to the announcement of the ceasefire, Syed Hussain, Head of WHO operations in Libya, said the agency was working with national health authorities and partners on the ground to respond to increasing health needs.

Hussain, however, said roadblocks remain a major challenge to the delivery of health care, especially ambulances that are unable to reach the injured.

With greater numbers of injured civilians expected, it is imperative that doctors and other health staff be allowed to move freely so that they can save lives without delay, and without risk to their own personal safety, he added.

There were also reports that a migrant detention facility was hit, causing great concern over the safety of migrants and refugees.

According to UN reports, there are about 8,000 arbitrarily detained migrants trapped in detention centres in areas where fighting had been taking place, without access to food or medical treatment.

The reports added that some migrants, released from detention, had subsequently been captured by armed groups and forced to work for them. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Fearing more defections of aggrieved members, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has resolved to expand the Kano State Caretaker committee to accommodate all interest groups.

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party took the action in line with its adherence to the principles of all-inclusiveness.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday in Abuja said the party was also open to opinions and suggestions from stakeholders.

This according to Ologbondiyan is to allow ensure reconciliation and accommodation for all interests within its fold in the state, so as to ensure good governance to the people of the state.

Ologbondiyan said no stone would be left unturned in the overall quest to bring good governance to Kano state, while putting in place machinery to hedge the infiltration of fifth columnists into the partys fold in the state.

The party leadership further assures of its preparedness to engage with all stakeholders in Kano provided all matters in court against the party are withdrawn, as all members work together to build a united PDP that can confront and send out APC governance in Kano state and Nigeria at large.

Furthermore, the NWC urges all stakeholders to always emulate our members in Benue state in the way and manner they united to resolve all issues concerning party structures of their state.

Reports say that the state chapter of the party had been torn apart by intrigues and power struggle.

It was reported on Tuesday that a notable member of the party in the state was a former governor and minister has dumped the party because of power struggle with a member who recently joined the party. (NAN)

Source: NAN

A 64-year-old woman in Maryland, U.S., has been mauled to death by her newly adopted pit bull, police has said.

Officers reported to the victims home Monday night after receiving a call about a female, Robin Conway of Columbia, getting mauled to death by a pit bull she had adopted only two weeks earlier, Howard County Police Department said in a Facebook news release.

Police said a relative found a wounded Conway in the yard with the dog standing over her and called 911.

The individual managed to restrain the animal by tying the animal to the fence, police said.

Officers found Robin Conway, 64, deceased in her back yard with significant injuries.

The dog, still attached to the post, was barking and lunging on the leash and had to be subdued by animal control officers and ultimately euthanized, police said.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the womans official cause of death.

A necropsy of the dog will help determine if it had rabies or other medical concerns, police said.

Details surrounding the dogs adoption were unavailable, police said, though they said it did come from another state.

Source: NAN

The war songs between President Donald Trump and Syrias Bashar al-Assad has intensified with the U.S. number one citizen warned the Syrian President and his allies in the region not to attack rebels in the countrys Idlib province.

Trump warned in a tweet that hundreds of thousands could be killed if the attack is allowed to go on.

The tweet came shortly after Irans foreign minister said terrorists must be purged from Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in the country.

Mohammad Javad Zarifs comments in Damascus came as Syrian forces and their allies are preparing for an assault.

Syrias territorial integrity should be safeguarded and all tribes and groups, as one society, should start the reconstruction process, and the refugees should return to their homes, Zarif said, according to Irans Fars news agency.

Reports say Assad is planning a huge offensive in Idlibreportedly with three million live.

Syria has been fighting in a seven-year civil war, and Russia and Iran have backed Assad.

U.N. officials believe an offensive on Idlib would trigger a wave of displacement that could uproot an estimated 800,000 people and discourage refugees from returning home.

The U.S. and France have warned an Idlib offensive would trigger a humanitarian crisis and warned that a chemical attack in Idlib would prompt a western retaliation.

All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib, #NoChemicalWeapons, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, posted on Twitter.

Source: NAN

Mr. Donald Duke, former Cross River State governor, has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

He made the announcement on Tuesday at the National Secretariat of the SDP, where he revealed that he will be running for the office of the President come 2019.

Duke was received by the partys National Secretary, Mr. Shehu Gabam, and other officials of the party.

The former governor had earlier showed interest in running for Presidency under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Details later .

Source: NAN

Twenty-eight years after her affair with Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky appears not to have forgiven her former boss.

Lewinsky on Monday stormed out of an interview in Israel, at a conference after the interviewer asked her a question about the former U.S. President.

Lewinsky was sitting for the question-and-answer session after speaking about the pros and cons of the Internet at a conference organized by the Israel Television News Company on Monday.

The interviewer asked if Lewinsky was still waiting for a personal apology from Clinton, Haaretz reported.

Recently in an interview with NBC News, former President Clinton was rather irate when he was asked if he ever apologized to you personally, news anchor Yonit Levi said. Do you still expect that apology, the personal apology?

Lewinsky, 44, replied, Im so sorry, Im not going to be able to do this, before storming off stage.

Lewinsky became a household name after her affair with Clinton in the 1990s when she was working as a White House intern in her early-20s.

Often ridiculed, she became an anti-bullying advocate and activist.

She later took to twitter to defend herself, saying that there were clear parameters about what we would be discussing and what we would not.

The exact question the interviewer asked first, she had put to me when we met the day prior, I said that was off limits.

When she asked me it on stage, with blatant disregard for our agreement, it became clear to me I had been misled.

Lewinsky said that walking off stage sent the message that it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control their narrative.

The NBC interview that Levi referenced took place back in June. Clinton was asked by Craig Melvin if he ever personally apologized to Lewinsky.

Ive never talked to her. But I did say, publicly, on more than one occasion, that I was sorry, Clinton said during the interview.

He also took issue with Melvins line of questioning, saying: Someone should ask you these questions, because of the way you formulate the question.

Source: NAN

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr Mark Lowcock, has said that in spite of improvements in the humanitarian situation the crisis in the Lake Chad region is not over.

He said that millions of people continue to remain dependent on life-saving assistance.

The top UN relief chief at the Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad Basin region on Monday, urged greater international support for the region to safeguard the progress achieved.

There is still a big humanitarian crisis. It is not over despite the progress we have made, Lowcock told a high-level humanitarian conference on the region.

In February, the meeting at a UN-backed conference in Oslo, Norway, donors pledged over $650 million towards emergency assistance programmes in 2017 and beyond.

According to him, these resources helped achieve a significant scale-up in the humanitarian response, reaching more than six million people with assistance, and averting a famine in Northeast Nigeria.

However, he said that humanitarian needs had continued to grow and so do the resources needed to respond.

Of the $1.58 billion required for 2018, only about $600 million or 38 per cent had been received as of July 25, he said.

The appeal we had on the humanitarian response plan this year has been generously financed but not to the degree where any of us can be comfortable that we can meet the needs of the people we can reach, still less of those we are still trying to reach, Lowcock said.

The UN humanitarian coordinator urged additional funding and resources.

He noted that no fewer than 10 million people across the four countries Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger remained dependent on assistance.

At the same time relief workers face severe challenges reaching the worst affected due to Boko Haram violence, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Alongside life-saving humanitarian response, addressing the underlying cause is vital to ensure lasting solution to the crisis, the UN relief chief highlighted.

Lowcock noted that there was the need to scale up longer-term resilience and development assistance as well as promoting stabilisation.

If we can make more progress with peace building, good governance, the creation of jobs and education opportunities and the respect of human rights we work indeed with the underlying issues and this is what we need to do, he said.

Organised by OCHA and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) together with the Governments of Nigeria, Germany and Norway, on Sept. 3 to 4 in Berlin, the conference seeks to maintain the momentum from the 2017 Oslo conference and increase and expand international support.

It is expected to reinforce an approach combining the response to immediate humanitarian needs with addressing the root causes of the crisis in a way that leads to sustainable, resilient development.

Education, he says, is one of the sectors desperately needing resources is education, an area that often lacks funds in humanitarian emergencies.

Earlier on Monday, Manuel Fontaine, the Director of Emergency Programmes at UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), said that where there is insecurity, education can be both life-sustaining and life-saving.

With some 1,000 schools reported to have been closed or rendered non-functional due to violence or unrest across the region, ensuring access education can be both life-sustaining and life-saving, Fontaine said.

Education supports children and young peoples life-long learning. It gives them the necessary skills to build a better future for themselves and their families, and to contribute to peaceful and prosperous communities.

Yet too often, overall humanitarian education funding is lacking in emergencies, the UNICEF official said.

UNICEF had called for $41.7 million to meet the education needs of children in the crisis but has received just eight per cent of this amount in the first half of 2018.

Other sectoral priorities for UNICEF include food security and nutrition, emergency shelter and non-food items, protection, health, water, hygiene and sanitation, and early recovery. (NAN)

Source: NAN

John Millman has dumped Roger Federer out of the US Open in the fourth round in a stunning upset at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York .

The 29 year-old Australian, ranked 55th came from a set down to beat world number two Federer 3-6 7-5 7-6 7-6, to register his first top ten victory, to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Millman will now meet Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

The Australian was dominated by Federer in the first set but turned the tables on the Swiss to take the second then held his nerve through two tiebreaks to secure the win in three hours and 34 minutes.

Second seed Federer, who had not dropped a set in his first three matches in New York, had 77 unforced errors and 10 double faults and landed just 49 percent of his first serves.

Millman said the victory had yet to sink in.

Im probably in a little bit of disbelief. I have so much respect for Roger and everything hes done for the game, he added. Hes a hero of mine. Today he was not at his best but Ill take it.

Maria Sharapova also lost to Carla Suarez Navarro in two straight sets 6-4 6-3.

It was a sweet victory for the 30 year-old Spaniard, who also marked her birthday.

Sharapova, the 2006 champion, had never lost a night session match in New York prior to her first Grand Slam meeting with Suarez Navarro.

Five-times Grand Slam champion Sharapova paid the price for 38 unforced errors and won less than half of her first serve points while committing eight double faults.

I didnt take care of the chances that I had, the Russian told reporters. By chances, I mean the balls that were a little bit shorter.

I hesitated to move forward. The balls where I did attack, I made unforced errors, especially on that inside-out forehand today.

With her most potent weapon not firing, Sharapova succumbed in one hour and 31 minutes under the floodlights at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, allowing 30th seed Suarez Navarro to record just her second career victory over the Russian in six attempts.

I just tried to be focused. I tried to think about not too much things, just my work, my job. Today it worked.

The Spaniard will meet last years runner up Madison Keys in the quarters and knows she will be the underdog against the 14th seeded American.

It will be a really tough match. She is from the United States so the crowd will probably help her, Suarez Navarro added.

Source: NAN

ExxonMobil said a blockade by former employees threatens crude production at oil facilities in Nigeria, adding that disruptions to these operations have the potential to significantly impact revenues.

The continued denial of access to lproduction facilities could impact the companys ability to safely continue production operations, ExxonMobil said.

The protest which began on 17 July was over the sacking of 860 Nigerian workers most of whom had worked with the company for over 22 years without regards for the rule of law.

Mr Rasak Obe, the Chairman of ExxonMobil Branch of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said the union was shocked by the mass sack of security personnel who had faithfully served the company for many years.

He said the management should immediately reinstate the employees of the security department and pay all entitlements due to them.

The union leader also urged the management to immediately reinstate the 16 employees purportedly sacked in Dec. 2016 in a similar fashion.

He demanded the immediate release and repatriation of over 20 expatriate personnel in the security department who had been engaged and kept in defiance of extant Nigerian laws and security directives.

According to him, this was an unfortunate situation which the Supreme Court of Nigeria had corrected with its April 20, 2018 judgment.

This underscored the scale of error in companys assessment of the reality after the Supreme Court judgment.

There are tens more who by the judgment are active employees of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.

To say the least, this wholesale sack unambiguously conveys managements disdain for the highest court of the country and mocks its ruling on the subject.

Obe said the company was quick to indiscriminately sack Nigerians and replace them with expatriates, taking jobs Nigerians have successfully performed over the decades.

He said expatriate security personnel, many of whom were ex-service men, were currently engaged in the security department against the directives of National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and the Nigerian Defence Ministry.

Source: NAN

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

The PDP has picked Senate President Bukola Saraki to lead its National Campaign Committee to face Kano Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje s APC committee for Osun governorship election.

PDP on Monday in Abuja urged the campaign committee to do everything within the law to win the Sept. 22 governorship election in Osun just as the All Progressive Congress (APC) earlier tasked its 63-member Campaign Council.

National Chairman of PDP, Mr Uche Secondus, gave the charge when he inaugurated the partys National Campaign Committee for the election.

Secondus said that members of the committee were carefully nominated because of the importance of Osun to the PDP.

He said that PDP believed that its candidate was the best for the state, and assured that it would not allow itself to be rigged out in the election.

We will not allow vote-buying in Osun because that is rigging and rigging is corruption.

I believe that the international community is watching and all eyes are on this nation, he said.

Secondus advised security agencies not to allow themselves to be used, reminding them that they had sworn to uphold the Constitution, not an individual or politician.

He urged them to the loyal to Nigerians, the Constitution and the electoral process and law.

He also called on all stakeholders to rise and condemn rigging, vote-buying and intimidation in elections by security agencies.

Seconduc said that the committee had the responsibility to augment all activities of campaign and reach out to all the critical stakeholders.

It should mobilise all our people in all the local government areas of Osun, and to do everything necessary within the law for us to win the state.

In his response, Saraki promised that the committee would ensure that the PDP won the Osun poll.

He said that the election was important because PDP had lost two governorship elections in the South-West Ekiti and Ondo.

We must win Osun to prove that Osun is the home ground of the PDP. This is a state where salaries are not being paid, he said.

Saraki said that winning the Osun poll was not just about the state but to also serve as a momentum for the 2019 general elections.

He expressed hope that President Muhammadu Buhari would live up to his promise to world leaders that the 2019 elections would be free and fair.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had last week constituted a 63 Campaign Council made up of 14 governor and 8 Ministers and 41 other members of the National Assembly and seasoned politicians, include former Akwa Ibom state Governor, Godswill Akpabio to spear head the partys campaign for the governorship election in Osun State.

The governors in the campaign council are Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano) who will serve as the chairman of the campaign council, Abdulazeez Abubakar Yari (Zamfara) who will serve as Deputy Chairman, Akinwunmi Dapo Ambode (Lagos), Sen. Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Sen. Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Arakunrin Olwarotimi Akeredolu SAN (Ondo), Owelle Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Simon Bako Lalong (Plateau), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Sen. Mohammed Umar Jibrilla (Adamawa) and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa).

The campaign council also include eight serving Ministers namely, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau Rtd (Interior), Alh. Manir Dan-Ali (Defence), Alh. Adebayo Shittu (Communications), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu (Petroleum) Babatunde Fashola SAN (Power, Works

Edo government is to clinch a chunk of the $60 billion proposed Chinese governments financial support for the African continent.

Mr Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser, media and communication to Governor Godwin Obaseki, confirmed in a statement on Monday.

He said Obaseki is currently attending ongoing 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) where he is formalising partnership with Chinese investors on the states critical projects..

Osagie quoted the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, that in the next three years China would float eight major initiatives with African countries, to realise a closer China-Africa community of shared destiny.

The Chinese President noted that the fields of interest for China included industry, investment, trade, infrastructure, health, culture, environmental protection and security.

Obaseki, with representatives of the federal government in Beijing, has engaged representatives of the Chinese government and top officials of the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) Limited.

Osagie said the discussions were the last lap of talks to secure final investment decisions and commence full scale development of the Benin River Port project, the Benin Industrial Park and the Modular Refinery.

The project is expected to open the state for foreign trade and boost local production, leveraging the states strategic location to attract investment and grow manpower.

Before leaving for China, Obaseki approved the release of N700 million for the Benin Refinery project, which the state government is executing partnership with a Chinese consortium.

With the initial investment capital approved, experts conversant with the project, say the state government is well placed to seal the deals for the projects so that development work can commence in earnest, Osagie said.

According to Osagie, the governors investment drive is to steer the state away from dependence on oil and set it on the path of prosperity anchored on a solid industrial base.

We are excited about the Modular Refinery project and are certain that with our Chinese partners, we will begin work on the project in no distant time.

The project is going to transform the states economy and position us as a hub for fabrication of refinery parts with the setting up of SIPS fabrication yard to groom local capacity in that sector.

Source: NAN

Democratic Republic of Congos top court has definitively excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from Decembers presidential election because of a witness tampering conviction at the International Criminal Court.

Bemba, a popular former vice president, was tipped as one of the leading candidates to replace outgoing President Joseph Kabila. His exclusion from the race could spark a violent reaction by his supporters.

His defeat to Kabila in the 2006 election touched off deadly clashes in the capital Kinshasa between his supporters and state troops. He then spent a decade in prison in The Hague before his war crimes convictions for murders and rapes committed by his militia in Central African Republic were quashed in May.

In a judgment broadcast on national television on Monday, the constitutional court said the election commission had rightly invalidated Bembas candidacy last month, finding that witness tampering is a form of corruption as stipulated in the electoral law.

The Dec. 23 election is due to usher in Congos first democratic transition of power after Kabila agreed last month to respect constitutional term limits and step aside in favour of close loyalist Emmanuel Ramazani Shadarys candidacy.

That announcement has calmed tensions that exploded into deadly street protests when Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his constitutional mandate in December 2016.

But fears persist of further violence with Kabilas opponents accusing him of trying to rig the vote to ensure Ramazanis victory.

Congo has fallen very low! the secretary-general of Bembas MLC party wrote on Twitter after the judgment.

Kabilas camp denies that it is improperly trying to influence the election.

Besides Bemba, opposition leader Moise Katumbi was barred from re-entering Congo last month to register his candidacy after two years in exile.

Katumbi placed joint first in a rare public opinion poll in July with 19 percent of the vote. Another opposition leader, Felix Tshisekedi, also received 19 percent, while Bemba placed third with 17 percent.

Ramazani did not receive enough votes to be included in the results.

The constitutional court also on Monday upheld the invalidation of former prime minister Adolphe Muzitos candidacy but reinstated another former prime minister Samy Badibanga as a candidate.

Source: NAN

A 20-year-old Instagram star died after being found in critical condition on a billionaire's superyacht in Greece.

Australian Sinead McNamara, who was working on the six-storey $140 million boat, was found on Thursday on the island of Kefalonia where it was docked, according to the BBC.

She died while being airlifted to hospital in Athens.

Sunkissed little munchkin 🕊 W/ @ecotan

A post shared by Salt Bby 💦 (@sineadmcnamara) on Aug 9, 2018 at 12:33am PDT

The circumstances of her death remain unclear, and Greek authorities have reportedly launched an investigation while the coast guard has ordered the yacht to remain docked at the port of Argostoli.

Authorities told The Times that McNamara was found by a crew member hanging on the rear deck of the yacht, with initial evidence pointing to a possible suicide.

A senior officer with knowledge of the investigation told The Times: "By the looks of it, she took her life. We expect the autopsy to verify this in the coming days."

The happiest of happy little mountain goats 🐐

A post shared by Salt Bby 💦 (@sineadmcnamara) on Aug 5, 2018 at 10:38am PDT

The Mayan Queen IV superyacht is owned by Mexican mining magnate Alberto Bailleres.

Bailleres and his family had reportedly left the yacht, which had been sailing around Europe, days before McNamara was found, according to Greek media, and only members of the crew were left on board.

McNamara, who had over 22,000 followers on Instagram, had posted a number of photos of her time in Greece calling herself "the happiest of happy."

In early August, she posted a photo stating: "I can't believe this fairy tale is almost over. I don't want to leave."

My head is all over the shop today 🌪🌋 take me back to this where my only worry was not cracking my skull open 💉

A post shared by Salt Bby 💦 (@sineadmcnamara) on Aug 19, 2018 at 6:07am PDT

However, just two weeks ago she captioned this photo of her on a quad bike: "My head is all over the shop today… Take me back to this where my only worry was not cracking my skull open."

According to Australian news, McNamara's mother and sister were on their way to Greece to meet her for a holiday when they heard of her death.

She posted on Facebook on August 26: "Happy birthday to the most amazing big sister I could ever ask for, 5 days till I get to see you!!! Excitement is an understatement."

Three local government chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have lost their lives in an auto crash in Saudi Arabia.

The party chieftains who died on Friday are Alhaji Jafaru Gidan-Sambo, (Kaura-Namoda), Malam Mudi Mallamawa, (Shinkafi) and Alhaji Abdullahi Ruwan-dorowa (Maru).

In order the cushion the effect of the deaths, the Speaker of Zamfara state House of Assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji and Senator representing Zamfara West, Alhaji Ahmad Sani, have donated N6 million and 120 bags of rice to families of the deceased.

Presenting the items to families of deceased in Kaura-Namoda, Shinkafi and Ruwan-Dorowa towns on Sunday, Rikiji described their death as a great loss to the state in particular and the country at large.

He said the donation was aimed at assisting the families of the three deceased APC chairmen.

“I personally donated one million Naira and 20 bags of rice to each of the affected families.

“Also our leader, the former governor of the state and Senator representing Zamfara West, Alhaji Ahmad Sani asked me to present similar amount and quantity of rice to the families”, Rikiji said.

Meanwhile, the state government’s delegation led by the state Acting Governor, Malam Ibrahim Wakala, has condoled the families over the loss.

The delegation, comprised the Secretary to the state government, Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi, Commissioners, Special Advisers and other top government functionaries in the state.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it had set aside N220 billion to be disbursed as loans to cooperative organisations under Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF).

Mr. Isaac Okorafor, Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, announced the plan while addressing newsmen in Gombe on Monday during the bank’s programme on Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development.

He said the loan was set specifically aside to encourage artisans, including people into vulcanising works, hair dressing and barbing among others, especially those who employed others to work with.

“If you empower this group of people, the economy will move faster because they will also employ others,” he said.

He added that they were discouraged to apply for the loan because they would not be able to access such in commercial banks, where they needed to have a collateral.

“This is the reason why we made the provision for this loan for them to access through their cooperative organisations. All they need to do is to open an account with a bank, operate it for sometime and apply.

“The loan is without collateral and the interest is only nine per cent.” he said.

Okorafor also called on the youth to embrace farming activities and make money out it.

“In CBN, we do not give grant to people, but we show you the way to follow and make money,” he said

In his presentation, Mr Oludaramola Atanda, Assistant Director, Consumers Protection Department at the apex bank, added that customers should know their right to be served better by their banks.

Atanda implored them to always report any case of strange transactions concerning their account.

He, however, urged them to desist from giving their ATM pin and BVN numbers to others, because they could be defrauded.

Cristiano Ronaldo is locked in a race to be crowned FIFA men’s world player, alongside former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah.

If Ronaldo wins on 24 September, it will his sixth FIFA award.

But Lionel Messi — who has dominated the award along with Ronaldo over the past decade — has been omitted from the shortlist after featuring in the top three for 11 straight years.

Ronaldo, who like Messi is a five-time winner of the award, lifted a fourth Champions League title in five years before joining Italian champions Juventus in July.

France’s World Cup-winning manager Didier Deschamps, Zlatko Dalic and Zinedine Zidane were nominated as the finalists for FIFA’s coach of the year award.

Deschamps became just the third man to win the World Cup as a player and coach with victory over Dalic’s Croatia in Russia while Zidane led Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions League win in May before stepping down.

The Best FIFA Women’s Player award is certain to change hands. Lyon duo Ada Hegerberg and Dzsenifer Maroszan, who enjoyed an unbeaten Division 1 Feminine season and lifted the UEFA Women’s Champions League, are joined by Brazil’s triumphant Copa America Feminina captain Marta in contending for the honour.

Netherlands’s tactician Sarina Wiegman both in contention for the Best FIFA Women’s Coach, along with Lyon’s Reynald Pedros and Japan’s Asako Takakura, the latter having guided her side to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

The Best FIFA Goalkeeper Award will be contested between a trio who shone in Russia, namely Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois, France’s Hugo Lloris and Denmark’s Kasper Schmeichel. Meanwhile, the shortlists for the FIFA Puskás Award and FIFA Fan Award were revealed, with voting now open for supporters to help decide the winners.

All seven awards, as well as the FIFA Fair Play Award and FIFA/FIFPro World 11, will be handed out on 24 September in front of football’s biggest names amongst the impressive surroundings of London’s Royal Festival Hall, FIFA.com reported.

A new interactive monument honouring African American, Althea Gibson and set to be revealed at the 2019 US Open will capture the spirit of an iconic pioneer.

While the exact design and placement on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be determined at a later date, renowned sculptor Eric Goulder is planning a larger-than-life bronze figurine that will feature a combination ofdigital media and augmented reality, a nod to both the past and the future.

Gibson was the firstAfrican-American player to break the colour line in international tennis and, in 1956, she became the first person of colour to win a Grand Slam title.

Now she will be immortalised alongside Arthur Ashe, who is honoured with a statue outside the stadium that bears his name, and Billie Jean King, after whom the tennis centre was renamed.

The monument was commissioned by the USTA in collaboration with Sothebys. The USTA also sought the input of Fran Gray, one of the committee members and long-time friend of Gibson whoruns her estate.

Katrina Adams,chairman of the board and president of the USTA, saidapproval was granted in December to erect a monument to celebrate her greatness.

She is an historic icon, said Adams. In our sport of tennis, she was the one that really broke the colour barrier. She is the Jackie Robinson of tennis.

Shes very important to our society, in our sport, particularly back in the 50s, to be able to pave the road and provide pathways for others like Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison, Lori McNeil, Chanda Rubin, Venus, Serena, myself and others, to be where we are today. Its a proud moment to be able to say that we will be putting a monument on the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center premises next year.

Goulder said the monument will probablybe made in clay, cast in bronze and feature an element of stone.

It really got me thinking of how I could approach a sculpture of a sporting figure in a new way instead of just a figurine, and also to make something that doesnt just memorialize her, but tells more of her story, which I think is really important, Goulder said.

Added Sotherbys chairman Ben Doller: I think Eric is one of the best sort of figurative and modernist sculptors out there. I think Erics project and proposal combines something that will have a magic, a genius of capturing a personality, and then also has a concept of having something be traditional, but really looking forward, as well.

Born in 1927 in South Carolina, Gibson won the U.S. National Championship in 1957 and 1958, in addition to two Wimbledon titles and a French Open crown. Gibson, also won the 1957 U.S. National Championship mixed doubles and five womens doubles titles and became the world No. 1 in 1957. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971.

For her to grace us, to grace our sport with her talents and to be able to have the accomplishments that she did, is one of the main reasons why we are celebrating her, and we have in our own way, but now the world will be able to see it, Adams said.

*Written by Ashley Marshall for UsOpen.org

Source: NAN

Serena Williams daughter Alexis Olympia kept social media users busy over the weekend as her first birthday picture shared on Instagram by her father Alexis Ohanian, received more than 75,807 likes and 1,361 comments.

Alexis Ohanian shared a snap of Olympia, his daughter with his wife, professional tennis player Serena Williams, on Instagram for the girls first birthday Saturday.

Since it was posted, the image of his adventure princess has received comments from fans of the family.

Kids humble us. The other day on a flight home Olympia had so much energy and insisted on running up and down the aisle. When I finally got her to calm down and sit still, she threw up all over me and in the aisle. #ThisMama wants to remind all mothers the importance of supporting one another through the highs, lows, laughs and tears. _ Share your own stories of motherhood with hashtag #ThisMama. I’d love to hear them!

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Aug 26, 2018 at 1:12pm PDT

And down in the comments section, the 35-year-old father took time to respond to an Instagram user.

Its so sad that Olympia will not have a first BD party, the person wrote.

Williams recently shared at a news conference that the toddler wouldnt be celebrating the big occasion.

The countdown is on for New York! I’m so excited for my first pop-up shop in NYC from Friday - Sunday @Tictail, a female-run business like mine. If you can’t make it in person, you can still shop our exclusive NYC tee that launches this Friday.

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Aug 21, 2018 at 6:12am PDT

Olympia doesnt celebrate birthdays, the 36-year-old athlete was quoted as saying by a media outlet People. Were Jehovahs Witnesses, so we dont do that.

Other commenters offered their own takes and tagged the Instagram user.

No its not. Lol. Sad for who? She will not even remember it, one person said.

Another wrote, who remembers that anyway? Respect their beliefs.

She was ready to go!!!! @olympiaohanian

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Aug 11, 2018 at 6:49am PDT

Im sure her parents make her feel special every day and she doesnt need one day out of the year to be celebrated, someone else said.

The remark also drew the attention of Ohanian himself.

Im not a Witness, but I considered how made up it all is: the purpose of celebrating a birthday is to celebrate life with the people who love you (and to eat cake), he told the user.

Ohanian added, This baby is loved and will get to celebrate life with people who love her plenty of times, with plenty of parties (and eat cake in moderation) throughout her life.

Source: NAN

The structures of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue were on Monday handed over to Gov. Samuel Ortom.

Former President of the Senate David Mark handed over the structures at the partys stakeholders meeting in Makurdi.

Mark further said that the stakeholders meeting was the first of the harmonised PDP since Ortom came back to the party.

He said that with the calibre of the people that had come back to PDPs fold, it could win any election in the country.

He said that both the old and new members of the party had equal rights in the party, stressing that it was on that basis that the partys executive positions had to be reviewed so as to accommodate the people that just defected to it.

As they joined us we need to give them some positions thereby giving them a sense of belonging.

We have constituted an Integration Committee which will work 24/7 to ensure proper harmonisation right from the council ward upwards, he said.

Also, Ortom promised that all the political leaders of the party in the state would continue to work together and it would be sustained.

The governor said that in politics there was neither permanent enemy nor friend but what was permanent was interest.

Our coming together was for the interest of the state and that was what brought them together, he said.

He commended the partys leadership for agreeing to review the partys structure in order to accommodate the people that defected with him to PDP.

He said that other governorship aspirants of the party should not be worried because even as a leader of the party now he could not compromise the rules and constitution of the party.

There will be a level playing field for all the aspirants, he said.

Former governor of the state, Mr Gabriel Suswam, informed the people that the officers whose offices were affected by the review would be given immediate appointment by the state government.

Suswam said that the decision was arrived at for the best interest of the state, stressing that the party was considering the future; and all affected should accept the decision in good faith.

Earlier, the state Chairman, Mr John Ngbede, warned local government chairmen against preventing people from joining the party at the local government level.

You do not have the right to deny anybody membership card of the party, he said.

He expressed optimism that Ortom would move the party to lofty heights now that he assumed leadership of the party.

Source: NAN