Two Russian long-range strategic bombers landed in Venezuela Monday for what the government said were air force exercises aimed at strengthening the defence of the leftist-ruled South American country.

The aim was also clear: to scare the United States from embarking on a plot to dethrone President Nicolas Maduros government.

General Vladimir Padrino, the Venezuelan defence minister, welcomed about 100 Russian pilots and other personnel after the two TU-160s and two other aircraft landed at the international airport that serves Caracas.

Padrino said the deployment showed we also are preparing to defend Venezuela to the last inch when necessary.

This we are going to do with our friends, because we have friends in the world who defend respectful balanced, relations, he said.

The commander of the Russian Airforces long-range aircraft, General Sergei Ivanovich Kobulash, said the exercises would provide a profound exchange of experience between pilots and technical staff from both countries.

The development follows hot on the heels of a visit to Moscow last week by President Nicolas Maduro during which he had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who expressed support for his beleaguered socialist government.

Maduro often accuses the United States of plotting against his government, which has overseen the plunge of a once-rich petro state into a severe economic crisis.

Besides the two bombers, the deployment included an An-124 transport plane and an Il-62 passenger plane, according to a Russian military announcement in Moscow.

Padrino noted that Russian aircraft had visited before in 2013, but said their current deployment was part of a new experience.

He said exercises would be held to raise the level of interoperability of the aerospace defence systems of both countries.

It was unclear how long the Russian deployment would last, and Padrino did not provide details about the exercises planned.

In recent years, Venezuela has purchased millions of dollars in military equipment from Russia, he said.

Venezuela acquired 24 Sukhoi-30 Russian fighters and signed a deal to purchase 53 MI-24 helicopter gunships and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles in 2016.

Former defense minister Raul Salazar said the exercises with Russia are part of what is called psychological warfare.

The purpose is to increase the perception that Venezuela is supported by Russia, China and Belarus, that it has the support of a power, in case another power tries to invade, Salazar told AFP.

Maduro on Sunday said Washington had set in motion a plan to overthrow him, with the support of neighbouring Colombia.

Underway today is an attempt to disrupt the democratic life of Venezuela, coordinated directly from the White House, said Maduro, who claims he was the target of an August 4 drone attack hatched by Venezuelas opposition with the support of the US and Colombian governments.

Caracas defence minister said nobody in the world should fear the presence of these strategic fighter bombers. We are builders of peace and not of war.

Padrino added however that other countries in the region had created political and military imbalances against which the Venezuelan government could not stand idly by an apparent reference to Bogota, which Caracas has accused of harboring US military bases.

Source: NAN

A Kenyan footballer has been struck dead by lightning as he celebrated his teams equaliser against their opponents.

According to a report by , the victim, Allan Mbote, was a 20-year-old Kenyatta University student. He played as a defender for a team known as Red Sharks.

The incident happened on Sunday, with five other players also injured by the lightning during Nangina Ward Football Tournament at Luchululo village.

Three of the players are still on admission at Nangina Mission Hospital.

Kenyatta University has confirmed the death of the second year student.

The MP for the area, Dr. Oundo Mudenyo also sent his condolence as he wrote: Some tragedies are hard to take: lightening striking a player during a soccer match! RIP Allan Mbote.

The Standard reported that Mbotes death was the latest lightning tragedy to hit Kenya in recent days.

On 9th December, lightning also killed three children in Teso North constituency.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari has completed the mausoleum in honour of Nigerias first president, Nnamdi Azikiwe, what the Peoples Democratic Party failed to do during all its 16 years in power.

Azikiwe, a foremost Nigerian nationalist died on 11 May 1996, during the Abacha administration. He was 92 years old.

A Mausoleum was to be erected in his honour. A contract was awarded and work started 21 years ago.

In 16 years of the PDP in control of Nigerian affairs, Zik was totally forgotten, his memory consigned to the dustbin of history, by the rapacious regime, even as members helped themselves to the commonwealth and looted the treasury. The mausoleum was abandoned and it became the playground of all kinds of reptiles.

It took the Buhari administration just in three years, to face the project squarely, despite dwindling finances of the country and deliver the mausoleum.

On Monday, 10 December, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola was at the mausoleum site in Ziks famous town of Onitsha, Anambra State to declare the project completed, 21 years after.

Fashola, who came in company of Dr. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Productivity described the completion of the project as `promise kept.

During the build up to 2015 general elections, President Muhammadu Buhari made commitment that he would complete Azikiwes mausoleum. Today Mr President has kept his words and we are happy, he said.

Fashola said though furnishing of the monument was yet to be accomplished, the federal government would before long do it. It is a promise and the administration will surely fulfil it.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Ngige who also spoke, described the completion of the Mausoleum as sign of `Mr Presidents open and fair leadership style.

As a South East son, I am happy that this project for the memory of our late father and son was finally completed, it is a big honour done to our people by Mr President, he said.

Source: NAN

Golden State Warriors ace Stephen Curry suggestion that the moon landings may have been an elaborate hoax has left NASA puzzled.

Curry raised eyebrows on Monday when he became the latest basketball player to advance a conspiracy theory, echoing Kyrie Irvings assertion in 2017 that the Earth was flat.

Speaking on The Winging It podcast, Curry said he had doubts about whether NASA had actually put a man on the Moon in 1969.

We ever been to the moon? Curry asked on the podcast, before several fellow guests replied: Nope.

Theyre going to come get us, Curry added after advancing the theory.

Sorry, I dont want to start conspiracies, he added.

Currys remarks drew a bemused response from a NASA spokesman, who invited the two-time NBA MVP to a tour of the agencys facilities.

Wed love for Mr Curry to tour the lunar lab at our Johnson Space Center in Houston, perhaps the next time the Warriors are in town to play the Rockets, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told The New York Times.

We have hundreds of pounds of moon rocks stored there, and the Apollo mission control. During his visit, he can see firsthand what we did 50 years ago, as well as what were doing now to go back to the moon in the coming years, but this time to stay.

Retired US astronaut Scott Kelly, a veteran of four space flights and former commander of the International Space Station, meanwhile weighed in on Twitter.

Steph, so much respect for you, but re the moon landing thing, lets talk, Kelly wrote. DM me.

Source: NAN

By Mohammed Ahmed Kaigama

The Bauchi House of Assembly has approved N103 million loan request submitted by Gov. Mohammed Abubakar, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.

The loan, which is to be deployed into tackling acute malnutrition and facilitating immunisations, was approved by the lawmakers on Tuesday at plenary.

In the letter seeking their approval for the facility, Gov. Abubakar had said that the loan would be obtained from Keystone Bank for the payment of counterpart contribution in respect of community managementof acute malnutrition, and routine immunisation.

We need the loan to enable the state government access the World Bank Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, it said.

Moving a motion for the approval, Chairman, Committee on Health, Alhaji Ibrahim Katagum, urged his colleagues to endorse the request so as to help government to tackle malnutrition in the rural communities.

Katagum, however, appealed to the state government to use the money judiciously, and cautioned against misappropriating it.

In his contribution, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, member representing Kirfi constituency, urged his colleagues to approve the facility for the benefit of the children who, he noted, were the nations future leaders.

We cannot afford to delay this approval because the facility is very crucial to our future, he said.

The Speaker, Mr Kawuwa Damina, while endorsing the request, said that the loan would facilitate adequate care for malnourished children and ease access to routine immunisation against killer diseases. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Two California Catholic nuns who stole around $500,000 dollars from the school where they worked and splashed out on travel and gambling in Las Vegas are facing criminal charges, their order confirmed Tuesday.

Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, who are said to be best friends, reportedly embezzled the huge sum over the course of a decade from St James Catholic School in Torrance, south of Los Angeles.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said the money was discovered missing during a routine audit after Kreuper, who was principal at the school for 29 years, retired earlier this year. Chang was a teacher at the school for 20 years and also retired this year.

The nuns order confirmed it had been informed the Archdiocese had filed a criminal complaint against the pair.

As a religious community we will not defend the actions of our Sisters. What happened is wrong. Our Sisters take full responsibility for the choices they made and are subject to the law, it said in a statement to AFP.

It added the two sisters have been removed from their residence, placed in a religious house under supervision, and banned from all public ministry.

This has definitely been shocking to the entire school and parish community, Adrian Alarcon, head of media relations for the Archdiocese, told AFP.

She added the case was all the more disquieting given the Churchs teachings that clearly spell out thou shall not steal.

The order on Monday said Kreuper and Chang admitted to their misdeeds and were cooperating to determine the full amount of money taken.

The sisters expressed remorse over their actions in a letter shared with parents at a school meeting last week, and their order has vowed to make full restitution.

Justice demands this of us, it said in its statement.

Source: NAN

An angry Donald Trump told Democratic leaders at the White House on Tuesday that he will shut down the US government because they refuse to approve billions of dollars in funding for his controversial Mexico border wall.

The president and top opposition congressional leaders had been meant to hold a reassuring Oval Office photo-op. Instead, their blazing row in front of the worlds media gave a glimpse of the dire challenges confronting Trump as he reels from legal scandals and the new reality of his Republican party no longer controlling Congress.

Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the still Republican-dominated Senate, and Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to become speaker in the newly Democrat-controlled House in January, bluntly told Trump that he had no chance of getting the $5 billion he wants for the wall.

Exasperated, Trump doubled down on earlier threats to retaliate by refusing to sign a federal spending bill required by December 21 to avoid leaving swaths of the government without funding.

Yes, if we dont get what we want one way or the other, I will shut down the government, he said. I am proud to shut down the government for border security.

Schumer argued that one thing that I think we can agree on is we shouldnt shut down the government over a dispute.

And Pelosi suggested that the debate shouldnt take place in front of journalists.

But Trump, whose US-Mexico wall idea was at the center of his surprise 2016 election, could not control his irritation.

Taking out two memo cards, he read off figures that he said showed a near end to illegal immigration at portions of the border already featuring high fences.

Its been very effective, he said.

Pelosi parried that the statistics were incorrect.

What the president is representing (with) his cards over there, are not facts. We have to have an evidence-based conversation about what does work and what money has been spent and how effective it is, Pelosi said.

Outside the White House afterwards, Schumer was even more scathing about Trump.

This temper tantrum that he seems to throw will not get him his wall and it will hurt a lot of people, he said.

Tweeting ahead of the White House meeting, Trump claimed that the wall was needed to prevent large scale crime and disease brought by illegal immigrants.

The issue is popular with his political base, which wants radically tighter controls at the southern border, a magnet for impoverished Latin Americans seeking work in the United States.

Opponents say the wall is not only a waste of money but has been used by the president to whip up xenophobia.

Trump, who leads chants of build the wall at campaign rallies, has been frustrated in the first two years of his administration. Now, as the government funding deadline approaches, both sides will have to decide whether to blink.

Source: NAN

The Peoples Democratic Party said it regretted that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar did not attend the signing of the Peace Accord in Abuja on Tuesday, blaming the incident on communication lapse.

Publicity secretary Kola Ologbondiyan said Tuesday night that the party will probe the communication gap between it and the National Peace Committee, chaired by General Abdusalami Abubakar, a former Nigerian leader.

President Muhammadu Buhari and 75 other presidential candidates attended the peace meeting at the International Conference Centre in Abuja today. And all signed the Peace Accord, but the PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar were conspicuously absent.

OLogbondiyan said despite the absence of both the party and its candidate, it is committed to a peaceful election

Already, the party @OfficialPDPNig is conducting investigations into the circumstances that could have resulted to this unfortunate communication lapse.

Nevertheless, it is instructive to state that our Presidential candidate, @Atiku and the party @OfficialPDPNig are fully committed to a peaceful electoral process and elections in 2019.

Our Presidential candidate @atiku is known worldwide as a global ambassador of peace, who will always support processes that will engender peace in our country and the world over, Ologbondiyan said.

Source: NAN

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur picked two of the remaining four tickets into the Last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, knocking out two Italian favourites, Napoli and Inter.

Liverpool heeded the advice of Coach Jurgen Klopp and really put up a magical display against Napoli at Anfield, with Mo Salah almost walking into the net with the only goal of the match in the 34th minute.

The goal, well deserved because Liverpool put on a gutsy display, was all the Reds needed to oust Napoli from the next round. The Italians had arrived at Anfield as group leader with nine points. They left demoted to third place.

The other member of the Group C, Paris Saint Germain whipped
FK Crvena Zvezda, a.ka. Red Belgrade 4-1, with goals by Edinson Cavani, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Marquinhos to lead the group with 11 points.

Liverpool came second with 9 points, while Napoli, with same points will now be relegated to Europa League.

In Camp Nou, Tottenham Hotspur also forced Barcelona to 1-1 draw to scrape passage into the Last 16, along with Barcelona, which had qualified weeks ago, with two matches to spare.

The Londoners were helped by PSV Eindhoven, which also played a 1-1 draw with Inter at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan.

PSV scored first in the 13th minute and took Inters Mauro Icardi, 60 minutes after to slot in the equaliser. BUt they needed a win to move to the next round. Like Napoli, they will also now be relegated to the Europa League.

: Ajax, Atltico Madrid, Barcelona*, Bayern Mnchen, Borussia Dortmund*, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain*, Porto*, Real Madrid*, Roma, Schalke, Tottenham Hotspur

*confirmed group winners

Source: NAN

A Canadian was confirmed as being held in China on Tuesday, intensifying a diplomatic stand-off over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a top executive of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

The arrest of the Canadian came as a judge in Vancouver considered Mengs bail application.

Michael Korvig, a former diplomat who served in Beijing, was reported as having been detained as Meng Wanzhou was due in court for a bail hearing on US charges of violating Iran sanctions.

We are aware of the situation of a Canadian detained in China, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding to concerns voiced by the International Crisis Group think tank, Korvigs employer, which first raised the alarm.

China has expressed outrage over Mengs arrest in Vancouver and warned of grave consequences if she was not immediately released, although Canada said no link between the two cases had been established.

Washington, which requested Mengs detention to have her extradited to US soil, called on Beijing to abide by its commitments to human rights.

We urge China to end all forms of arbitrary detentions and to respect the protections and freedom of all individuals under Chinas international human rights and consular commitments, deputy State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters.

The Huawei chief financial officer was arrested on December 1 on US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking dealings with Iran.

A third day of court deliberations focused on her proposed release plan, with a judge expected to come to a decision in the afternoon on whether to free her on bail.

Meng has agreed to surrender her passports and submit to electronic monitoring if she is released, pending the outcome of the extradition case.

Given her unique profile as the face of a Chinese corporate national champion, if she were to flee or breach her order in any way in these very unique circumstances, it does not overstate to say she would embarrass China itself, Mengs lawyer David Martin told the court on Monday.

Source: NAN