Barca can win trophies despite transfer ban - Iniesta

2015-01-02 12:46
Barcelona - Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta is confident that despite their transfer ban the team has the depth to win trophies as they start the new year with a trip to face Real Sociedad on Sunday hoping to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

The Catalan club will be unable to reinforce their squad in the following two transfer windows as their appeal against a FIFA sanction over the transfer of foreign Under-18 players was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), this week.

The decision is likely to cause most concern for Barca's defence where they have continued to look weak despite making several signings ahead of the season.
 In particular, there is a lack of cover at right back for Dani Alves who himself has received plenty of criticism for below par displays.

Still, Barca are only a point off an imperious Real who have played a game less and take on Valencia this Sunday looking for their 23rd straight win in official matches.

"It is not even crossing our minds the idea of not winning anything this season," Iniesta told reporters.
"The squad that we have has sufficient quality to win trophies and the important thing is to believe in ourselves and that we can keep improving so as to reach our maximum.

"I don't know the full legal details (of the CAS verdict) but having come through the La Masia (Barcelona youth system) myself, I think that the opportunity that it gives to youngsters not only on a footballing level but also personal, is very high.

"We cannot sign now and that is obviously a handicap but we need to concentrate on this season with the players we have and look to win."

Iniesta believes that the team is on the right course while he also has not ruled out the title chances of third-placed Atletico Madrid, who face Levante on Saturday.

"They (Real) won a lot of trophies last year and they will be in the fight. All teams go through ups and downs and while Real are doing well now we are making good progress," he said.

"Atletico though are the reigning league champions and it is our job to take the trophy from them. They have done well for several seasons and we know that they will be challenging."

- Reuters

203 soldiers dismissed from the Nigerian Army

2015-01-02 12:46
Maiduguri – More than 203 soldiers were let off by the Nigerian Army after being detained for 90 days due to allegedly not complying with a commanding officer on Friday, reports Vanguard Nigeria.
The soldiers state they are also owed five months worth of salaries.

It is reported that they requested more weapons from their commanding officer after they had suffered a massive blow in a fight in Damboa loosing another commanding officer and several soldiers.
Instead they were told to stand down and the next day was requested to submit their weapons and uniforms.

19 killed in rebel fire on Syria's Aleppo

2015-01-02 15:11
Beirut - At least 19 people were killed overnight by Syrian rebel fire on government-controlled parts of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said on Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included at least five children, three of whom were killed with their mother when a rocket hit the car they were in.

The Britain-based group said at 32 people were wounded in Thursday night's violence in the western part of the city.

Once Syria's economic hub, Aleppo has been ravaged by fighting that began there in mid-2012.

The city is divided with government forces controlling the western part and rebels controlling the east.
However, government forces have advanced steadily around the eastern outskirts of the city, threatening to besiege opposition-held districts.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, according to the Observatory.

- AFP

2 injured as plane veers off runway in Scotland

2015-01-02 15:11
London — Scotland's ambulance service says two people were injured when a plane veered off a runway on Scotland's wind-whipped Isle of Lewis.
The Saab 340 plane operated by Scottish regional airline Loganair came off the runway as it tried to take off Friday morning from Stornoway Airport in strong winds. Photos showed the plane sitting in the grass with its nose touching the ground.

The plane, with 28 people aboard, was trying to leave the island off Scotland's west coast and fly to Glasgow.

The Scottish Ambulance Service said two people were taken to Western Isles Hospital with minor injuries.

Stornoway Airport said "efforts to remove the aircraft from the runway are ongoing and investigations into the cause of the incident are underway."

- AP

You are here: Home / News / ‘Rivers’ monthly allocation slashed by 50%’ ‘Rivers’ monthly allocation slashed by 50%’

The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, said on Thursday that the monthly federal allocation to the state had been slashed by over 50 per cent as a result of the dwindling oil prices.

Amaechi, who disclosed this during his New Year message broadcast live, explained that his administration would continue to review its finances in order to cushion the negative impact the reduction had on the people.

The governor said that apart from the reduction in the state’s monthly allocation, the ceding of oil wells in Soku and Etche to the neighbouring states by the National Boundary Commission had also affected the finances of the state.

Amaechi expressed sadness that there had been no plan to return the lost oil wells to Rivers State in spite of the evidences in favour of the state. He, however, said that his administration would not relent in its campaign for the return of the oil wells.

The governor said that while his administration inherited a monthly wage bill of about N2.5bn, the Rivers State was now managing a wage bill of about N9.2bn every month.

“We inherited a wage bill of about N2.5bn but we now pay almost N9.2bn every month. We do not regret the injection of needed manpower into the system especially in the health and education sectors for the sake of the future of this state, but our monthly allocation has dropped by over 50 per cent.

“Our administration has been faced with the battle of confronting the injustices that have been visited on our people. Besides the denial of economic opportunities, we have lost many of our assets. Our oil wells in Soku and Etche have been ceded to neighbouring states by the National Boundary Commission, with no plan to return them despite numerous evidences in our favour.

“We will continue to demand for our rights as a people because that is a debt that we owe you. With oil prices crashing below budgeted levels, the pressure on our finances is very high.

“Despite these, Rivers State is one of the few states in Nigeria that have paid salaries up to December 2014. We will continue to review our finances and the options before us so as to reduce the impact of these natural and man-made pains inflicted on our people,” Amaechi said.

Stating that his administration would review some of its projects in the face of fresh financial constraints, Amaechi promised that his government would not only pursue these projects and programmes, but would document them properly for handover.

The governor said his administration had embraced transparency with audited accounts and open transactions.

Man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II puts roses on his tomb

Wochit

Man Who Tried to Kill Pope John Paul II Puts Roses on His Tomb

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The man who tried to kill former Pope John Paul II 33 years ago showed up at the Vatican on Saturday …

 

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The man who tried to kill former Pope John Paul II 33 years ago showed up at the Vatican on Saturday to put white roses on his tomb and said he wanted to meet Pope Francis.

Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, left John Paul critically injured after firing several shots in the failed assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

The former pope forgave Agca, once a member of a Turkish far right group known as the Grey Wolves, and went to meet him in 1983 in the Rome prison where he had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the attack.

Agca called the Italian daily la Repubblica on Saturday to announce he had arrived in the Vatican, his first visit since the assassination attempt and exactly 31 years after John Paul met him in prison.

The visit was confirmed to Reuters by Father Ciro Benedettini, the Vatican's deputy spokesman, who said Agca stood for a few moments in silent meditation over the tomb in St. Peter's Basilica before leaving two bunches of white roses.

Agca, 56, was pardoned by Italy in 2000 and extradited to Turkey where he was imprisoned for the 1979 murder of a journalist and other crimes. He was released from jail in 2010.

The attack against John Paul, who died in 2005, has remained clouded by unanswered questions over who may have been behind it. An Italian investigative parliamentary commission said in 2006 it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that it was masterminded by leaders of the former Soviet Union.

The Vatican on Saturday gave a cool response to Agca's request to meet with Pope Francis. "He has put his flowers on John Paul's tomb; I think that is enough," Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi told la Repubblica.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Stephen Powell)

PDP may lose Abia, group warns Mu’azu

A group, Abia Pro­fessionals Forum (APF) has alerted the national leader­ship of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party ( PDP) to what it called imminent loss of gov­ernorship election and other elective offices in Abia State.
In a statement signed by President of the forum, Mr. Sam Onukwe and made available to newsmen at the weekend in Abuja, the APF expressed regret that nothing had been done by the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Commit­tee (NWC) led by Adamu Mu’azu to placate aggrieved governorship aspirants, who felt cheated over the manner the party’s governorship can­didate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu emerged.

The forum declared that mere admonition by President Goodluck Jonathan that ag­grieved aspirants should not dump the ruling party was not enough and noted that some of the candidates being parad­ed for the forthcoming general elections were not popular with the Abia electorate.

“We particularly note the situation in Abia State where there seem to be total loss of confidence in the leadership of the ruling party and par­ticularly, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the controversial governor­ship candidate of PDP, who was reportedly stoned at Aba Township Stadium and had to be quickly smuggled out of the sports facility to avert the danger to his life by the police.

“We wonder how a candi­date who is so unpopular will go round the state to canvass for votes.
“It is our fear that unless urgent action is taken by the leadership of PDP at the state and the national level, the electorate may be forced to speak with their voters’ card during the election, a situa­tion which may turn out to be unpalatable for the PDP,” the group said.

The forum further sub­mitted that the fate of the party hangs in the balance, given what it called the cred­ibility of candidates that had emerged on the platform of key opposition parties in the state.

The group advised the PDP NWC to take urgent steps to save the party from the dis­mal political loss it suffered in 2007 when it lost the Abia governorship election to the Peoples’ Progressive Alliance ( PPA) which produced the in­cumbent governor, Theodore Orji.