The award-winning actress and stunning fashionista turned 40 yesterday July 12th and hosted a dinner party with family and friends. Happy belated birthday to her. More pics after the cut...
This has to be their one of their sickest videos yet. ISIS over the weekend released a video showing the mass executions of prisoners. The men - in their hundreds - were made to lay in shallow graves and were then sprayed with bullets. The men are believed to be military cadets captured during their battle with the terrorists. The men were brought to their death place in trucks and were heard in the video pleading for their lives before they were machine-gunned. Some were shot individually and their bodies dumped into the Tigris River, while an excavator is seen shifting piles of bodies as the executions continue into the night. More photos after the cut...
Male fans at Nicki Minaj's concerts must really enjoy themselves...she gives them a show! The rapper performed last night at Splash! Festival in Germany, wearing a sheer costume comprising of black lace veil and a sheer wrap skirt, which she later peeled off. See more photos after the cut...
Nigerian Prison sources say ex Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido and his two sons Aminu and Mustapha, have been flown to Abuja this morning ahead of the court hearing for their bail application holding tomorrow July 14th. The former Governor and sons who are standing trial for allegedly collecting bribe totaling N1.35 billion from government contractors when he was governor, were on July 9th ordered to be remanded in Kano Prisons by Justice Evelyn Anyadike.
Former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido and his two sons may regain their freedom on Tuesday.
Federal High Court in Kano State had last week ordered that the immediate former governor of Jigawa State , Alhaji Sule Lamido, his two sons and one other person be remanded in prison custody over 28-count charge of alleged money laundering charges.
Information made available to LEADERSHIP through Lamido's spokesman, Malam Kyari J. Madamuwa, revealed that a vacation judge has been appointed and will sit on Tuesday, adding that they were hopeful Lamido and his two sons and one other person would be granted bail. Lamido was arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) along with his two sons, Mustapha Sule Lamido and Aminu Sule Lamido and one Aminu Wada Abubakar over alleged money laundering charges to the tune of N1.3 billion.
The accused persons, who were charged under various money laundering prohibition acts, pleaded not guilty to all the charges counted against them in the court.
However, in his submission, last week counsel to the defendant, Mr. Offiong E. Offiong, while seeking for the bail of his clients, told the court that they have applied for the bail since last Tuesday, stressing that the alleged offences are bailable.
Hence, the presiding judge adjourned the case to 28th September, 2015 for continued hearing and ordered that the accused be remanded at the prison custody pending the bail application by the defence lawyer to the vacation judge at the Abuja Federal High Court.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's goalkeeper
Asmir Begovic takes part in a training session at the Sammy Ofer
Stadium in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa on November 15, 2014 (AFP
Photo/Jack Guez)
London (AFP) - Premier League champions Chelsea on Monday announced the signing of Bosnian international goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from Stoke City.
Begovic,
28, has agreed a four-year deal at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea paying
Stoke an undisclosed fee to make the goalkeeper their second major
signing of the summer.
British press reports put the fee at £8 million ($12.4m, 11.2m euros).
"I
am very happy to be joining Chelsea FC. After speaking at length to the
manager, I feel like I can develop here and be an important part of
this team," Begovic told Chelsea's official website.
His arrival in west London follows the signing of Colombian striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco, and the giant shot-stopper will give Thibaut Courtois competition for places between the posts after Petr Cech was sold to Arsenal.
Begovic,
who went to school in Canada and represented that country at the
under-20 World Cup in 2007, spent more than five years with Stoke after
moving to the Britannia Stadium from Portsmouth in 2010.
It wouldn't be
unfair to say that 26-year-old Chilean midfielder Charles Aranguiz spent
much of his time under the radar, most likely due to career decisions.
He started his career at Chilean club Cobreloa, moving to Colo-Colo
after three seasons of service in 2009, helping the latter win a Chilean
League title. He then moved to Argentinian club Quilmes, but only spent
half a season with them before joining Argentinian head coach Jorge
Sampaoli in Universidad de Chile in 2011.
Aranguiz was fundamental for
the club and especially for Sampaoli's tactics, which were heavily
influenced by Marcelo Bielsa. But unlike his colleagues who lost their
way after the coach left "La U" for the Chilean national team, Aranguiz
found further success.
The midfielder was bought by
Spanish club Granada in 2014 but was quickly sent on loan in January of
the same year to SC Internacional, a traditional Brazilian club. In
Brazil, he also made an instant impact, scoring goals at the State
Championship and in the Brazilian League while helping his club achieve a
Copa Libertadores berth. He was bought by the Brazilian club after he
was named State Championship MVP in June in the same year.
He had been involved with the
Chilean national team since 2010, but it wasn't until the last World Cup
that Charles Aranguiz started making noise while playing for La Roja.
Scoring against Spain in the Maracanã last year and being a key player
for the team that won Chile's first Copa America in 99 years a few weeks
ago, he was quickly linked to a number of European clubs - including
Chelsea.
Just what is it that has made him so sought after?
First, Aranguiz is a
jack-of-all-trades kind of player. He's not a destroyer, nor a deep
playmaker and neither a box-to-box midfielder. But he can help a team in
all of these roles.
For Internacional, Aranguiz
recorded 2.7 successful tackles and 1.4 unsuccessful ones per 90 minutes
played, which would bring him to a tackling success of approximately
66% while receiving 7 yellow cards and no reds in 24 matches. He's not
as good as Matic in his positioning, but he has more awareness as a
pivot player than Fabregas or Ramires.
He's known to be a great short
passing player, connecting almost 87% of his passes. He's not as good as
Fabregas with killer and pin-point passing, but his cool head will help
his team with cycling possession and setting up the tempo.
Aranguiz is also reckoned as an
accurate shooter and a good free kick taker. Of his 6 goals scored for
Internacional in the Brazilian League last season, none were penalties.
He's got a good awareness inside the box, as that is where 5 of those
goals came from, but he's also got a powerful shot from outside the box
having scored some screamers in his career.
He's also very versatile. A
natural pivot midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, Aranguiz has also seen playing
time as a wide midfielder and as an attacking midfielder for Chile and
also for Internacional.
Second, his cost. With a
rumoured price tag of £16 million, Charles Aranguiz might be too
expensive for most South American and European clubs to take a look at,
but certainly not to English clubs with their new TV deal.
Third, his utility. As
mentioned before, Aranguiz can do almost anything in the midfield with
mild success at club and national team level. With John Obi Mikel
perhaps looking to leave Chelsea and Ramires' lack of technique becoming
a glaring weakness, it makes sense for Chelsea to look for an upgrade
in the position and Aranguiz seems to fit the bill perfectly.
Moving to get Charles Aranguiz
is not without risk. Although he's been quite successful for his
national team, he never experienced European football, which might be a
huge problem given the gap in quality between South America and Europe
at the moment.
Also, at 26 years old, he has
practically no resale value. We didn't mind that while buying Willian,
Diego Costa and Fabregas and they've been staples in our squad; but we
did the same with Cuadrado and Torres. Aranguiz still is a gamble and
while he wouldn't be much of a hit on Chelsea's books - his weekly wages
in Brazil are probably less than £25,000 - he'd still generate a loss
for Chelsea if he fails to adapt to English football.
Finally, there's the risk of
unsettling the squad. Mikel's transfer out seems more than ever before,
but we have heard of talks between the club and Ramires for a contract
extension while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is supposed to be integrated into the
first team squad. If Aranguiz manages to adapt quickly to English
football like he did in Brazil, I'm sure he'd jump into Chelsea's third
preferred pivot player behind Matic and Fabregas, "robbing" playing time
from Ramires, RLC and from Mikel if he stays.
Even with those lingering
problems, I'm confident in Aranguiz's ability to justify his transfer
fee. He adapted to Brazilian football seamlessly, which is something
other quality South American players failed at before. Although he's
close to his physical peak, his game is more related to his mental
strength and acute technique. He's also quite consistent, and enjoys
playing high stake matches as shown by his performance against Argentina
in the Copa America finals.
Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Monday named a
new housing minister and replaced the head of the royal court in his
latest government shuffle.
A decree named Minister of State Khalid bin
Abdulrahman al-Issa to replace Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Suwailem as head
of the royal court, a type of gatekeeper to the king.
The decree gave no reason for that or the other changes.
Suwailem
had held the post since late April when he took over from Salman's
powerful son Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a major shake-up
which saw the king's son named Deputy Crown Prince and second in line to
the throne.
Mohammed bin Salman is also defence minister and holds other positions.
Concentrating power in his inner circle, the king at that time also named Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince.
A
day later, King Salman further streamlined administration by merging
the royal court with the crown prince's court, based on a suggestion by
Mohammed bin Nayef, official media said at the time.
A separate royal decree on Monday named Majid bin Abdullah bin Hamad al-Hugail as housing minister.
The decree described Hugail as a professor.
He replaces an official who temporarily held the portfolio after the previous minister's dismissal in April.
The kingdom is building hundreds of thousands of homes for its citizens in an effort to address a severe shortage.
Another
royal decree named Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Musaid bin Jalwi
al-Saud as governor of the Northern Frontier Province which borders Iraq
to replace the previous governor who died this month.
Prince Mishaal had been serving as an adviser to the king.
MOSCOW (AFP) - Dozens of
Russian soldiers are facing trial for fleeing their unit, fearing
deployment to Ukraine, a news site and a lawyer for five of the men said
Saturday.
The popular
Gazeta.ru website said several dozen soldiers would be prosecuted after
fleeing a training ground in southern Russia where they were under
pressure to "volunteer" to fight in Ukraine.
The troops had freely enlisted for the army and are not draftees, it said.
It
is the latest report to allege Russian soldiers are being sent to
eastern Ukraine despite Moscow's insistence that only "volunteers" are
fighting alongside the pro-Russian separatists.
The
defence ministry said that only four soldiers named in the report are
under investigation for "disciplinary offences", denying dozens were
involved, the Echo of Moscow radio station reported.
Gazeta.ru
cited mothers of two soldiers from the unit, based in the town of Maikop
in the North Caucasus, as saying their sons had fled a training ground
in the southern Rostov region, fearing being sent to Ukraine.
Russian Taifun, mine-resistant armoured vehicles, seen at a training ground during a military drill …
- Pressure to 'volunteer' -
A
lawyer representing five of the soldiers, Tatiana Chernetskaya,
speaking by phone to AFP confirmed the report and said "dozens" of
soldiers faced tribunals.
"They
all have the same story. They all served together in the same unit,"
said Chernetskaya, based in the southern town of Krasnodar.
"They
weren't directly forced to go to Ukraine. People came to the unit to
canvass them to go," Chernetskaya said, adding the recruiters were "not
wearing any identification tags."
"According to the soldiers, they offered 8,000 rubles ($142) per day," she said.
A Ukrainian serviceman stands at a position as workers dig trenches on the frontline of fighting aga …
The soldiers fled, not wanting "to find themselves in battle," she said.
Since
Russia is technically not at war with Ukraine, "if they were sent to
Ukraine, it could be seen as a criminal act," she added, calling the
soldiers "law-abiding."
"They
went back to Maikop and started writing resignation letters but these
were not accepted and this all led to the launching of criminal cases."
She said four of her clients are charged with going AWOL while one is charged with the more serious offence of desertion.
She said soldiers started going on trial in March and several had already been convicted.
Gazeta.ru cited the mother of 21-year-old soldier Ivan Shevkunov, who is facing up to 10 years' jail as a deserter.
"He
said that soldiers were being forced to go (to Ukraine) as volunteers,"
said the soldier's mother, named as Svetlana Nikolayevna.
Gazeta.ru
also published a handwritten statement by another soldier, Pavel
Tynchenko, who has been charged with going absent without leave.
In
the statement to the judge of the military tribunal, Tynchenko wrote:
"I did not want to go against the oath I swore and did not want to take
part in military actions in Ukraine."
Gazeta.ru
cited official statistics on Maikop garrison's military tribunal,
saying it convicted 62 soldiers of going AWOL in the first half of 2015.
The
court's website says a soldier from the Maikop unit on Thursday was
convicted of going AWOL and robbery and sentenced to nine months in a
prison colony.
The Kremlin's
rights council, an advisory body, is due to visit Maikop next week and
Chernetskaya said she planned to meet them to raise the soldiers'
trials.
"The number of
witnesses of this state crime (illegally sending soldiers to
participate in an undeclared war) is already such that it is impossible
to conceal them," opposition politician Alexei Navalny wrote on his
blog.
Eurozone leaders reach agreement on Greek bailout, removing threat of euro exit for now
.
View photo
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with French President
Francois Hollande, center, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
during a meeting of eurozone heads of state at the EU Council building
in Brussels on Sunday, July 12, 2015. Skeptical European creditors raced
Sunday to narrow differences both among themselves and with Athens,
aiming to come up with a tentative agreement to stave off an immediate
financial collapse in Greece that would reverberate across the
continent. (AP Photo)
BRUSSELS (AP)
-- A summit of eurozone leaders reached a tentative agreement with
Greece on Monday for a bailout program that includes "serious reforms"
and aid, removing an immediate threat that Greece could collapse
financially and leave the euro.
Nine hours after a self-imposed deadline passed, the leaders announced the breakthrough early Monday.
If
the talks had failed, Greece could have faced bankruptcy and a possible
exit from the euro, the European single currency that the country has
been a part of since 2002. No country has ever left the joint currency,
which launched in 1999, and there is no mechanism in place for one to do
so.
For three days of negotiations between
Greece and its international creditors, Greek Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras held out for a better deal to sell to his reluctant legislature
in Athens this week, even though financial collapse is getting closer by
the day.
A breakthrough came in a meeting
between Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President
Francois Hollande and EU president Donald Tusk. Details were not
immediately available.
The breakthrough came
after the threat of expulsion from the euro put intense pressure on
Tsipras to swallow politically unpalatable austerity measures because
his people overwhelmingly want to stay in the eurozone.
Greece
has requested a three-year, 53.5 billion-euro ($59.5 billion) financial
package, but that number grew larger by the tens of billions as the
negotiations dragged on and the leaders calculated how much Greece will
need to stay solvent. The creditors are demanding tough austerity
measures in exchange for Greece's third bailout in five years.
Early
Monday, a Greek official said the key sticking points were the
involvement of the International Monetary Fund in Greece's bailout
program and a proposal that Greece set aside 50 billion euros ($56
billion) worth of state-owned assets in a fund for eventual
privatization.
The official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the
negotiations, said any agreement would provide quick help for Greek
banks from the European Central Bank. Without it, they risk running out
of money this week.
The negotiations began
Saturday with a meeting of finance ministers. The heads of state
convened mid-afternoon Sunday and were still negotiating at dawn Monday.
The
deal on the table appeared to include commitments from Tsipras to push a
drastic austerity program including pension, market and privatization
reforms through parliament by Wednesday, and from the 18 other eurozone
leaders to start talks on a new bailout program.
Sunday's
four-page discussion paper put to eurozone leaders and obtained by The
Associated Press spoke of a potential "time-out from the euro area" for
Greece if no agreement could be found.
It highlighted the increasing frustration of European leaders during five months of fruitless talks with Greece.
"The most important currency has been lost: that is trust and reliability," Merkel said.
Tsipras insisted his government was ready to clinch a deal.
"We
owe that to the peoples of Europe who want Europe united and not
divided," he said. "We can reach an agreement tonight if all parties
want it."
Hollande
insisted it was vital to keep Greece in the euro and said in the event
of a departure, "it's Europe that would go backward. And that I do not
want."
Greece
has received two previous bailouts, totaling 240 billion euros ($268
billion), in return for deep spending cuts, tax increases and reforms
from successive governments. Although the country's annual budget
deficit has come down dramatically, Greece's debt burden has increased
as the economy has shrunk by a quarter.
The
Greek government has made getting some form of debt relief a priority
and hopes that a comprehensive solution will involve European creditors
at least agreeing to delayed repayments or lower interest rates.
Greek
debt stands at around 320 billion euros ($357 billion) — a staggering
180 percent or so of the country's annual gross domestic product. Few
economists think that debt will ever be fully repaid. Last week, the
International Monetary Fund said Greece's debt will need to be
restructured.
___
Menelaos Hadjicostis and John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this story.
