GUDNESSGRACE

Monday, 11 December 2017

Saudi Arabia lifts 35-year ban on cinemas

Saudi Arabia on Monday announced a lifting of the kingdom’s decades-long ban on cinemas, a landmark decision part of a series of social reforms ushered in by the powerful crown prince.
The culture and information ministry announced in a statement that “commercial cinemas will be allowed to operate in the kingdom as of early 2018, for the first time in more than 35 years,” adding that the government will begin licensing cinemas immediately.

Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital ‘makes peace possible’ – Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that recognising Jerusalem as his country’s capital “makes peace possible”, after widespread international criticism of the US decision to do so.
Netanyahu said the move by US President Donald Trump “doesn’t obviate peace, it makes peace possible because recognising reality is the substance of peace, it’s the foundation of peace,” as he arrived for talks with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

BREAKING: Madrid to play PSG in Champions League last 16, Barca get Chelsea

Two-time defending champions Real Madrid will play big-spending Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League after the draw on Monday.
Real’s La Liga rivals Barcelona were drawn against Chelsea, while English Premier League leaders Manchester City play Basel.

Wednesday, 6 December 2017

BREAKING: FG approves six new private universities

The Federal Government has approved the establishment of six new private universities in the country.
The decision was reached at a meeting of the Federal Executive Council held on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, briefed State House correspondents at the end of meeting which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
President Muhammadu Buhari is currently on an official visit to Kano State.

Mourinho pledges only ‘the truth’ on injuries

Manchester United’s Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho gestures on the touchline during the UEFA Champions League Group A football match between Manchester United and CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England on December 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Oli SCARFF

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has aimed a subtle dig at Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger by declaring he would only tell “the truth” about the fitness of his players.
United, who beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 on Tuesday to reach the Champions League knockout rounds for the first time since 2013-14, face Guardiola’s Manchester City on Sunday seeking to cut their eight-point lead in the Premier League.
Mourinho suggested Guardiola was being less than truthful by expressing doubts about the fitness of David Silva and hinted Wenger had done the same with regard to Alexandre Lacazette prior to United’s 3-1 win at Arsenal on Saturday.
Asked to provide a fitness update on his squad, Mourinho told reporters at Old Trafford: “Do you want the truth? The truth is Eric Bailly no chance for the weekend. Phil Jones a chance. (Marouane) Fellaini a chance.
“Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) a big chance and (Nemanja) Matic is injured, but will play for sure. I’m telling the truth. He’s injured, but he’ll play for sure.
“(Michael) Carrick no chance. It’s the truth, eh? No stories of Lacazette, David Silva. All the truth.”
Wenger ruled Lacazette out of Arsenal’s meeting with United last weekend due to a groin injury, only for the French striker to play the full 90 minutes and score his side’s goal.
Mourinho joked Arsenal’s medical team had performed an “amazing” feat by turning Lacazette “from a no to a complete 90 minutes”.
Silva, meanwhile, has been left out of City’s squad for their game at Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday due to an unspecified injury, with Guardiola saying he does not know if the Spaniard will be fit for Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford.
One player unlikely to feature for United against City is left-back Luke Shaw, who has been frozen out by Mourinho but produced an enterprising display on his return to the starting XI against CSKA.
‘Better I shut up’
“Very positive performance, especially with the ball going forward,” Mourinho said of the England international.
“Really dangerous, creating a lot, great intensity in his game. No surprise that in minute 80 he’s feeling the consequences of that intensity. It’s normal — first match of the season for him.
“He’s been deserving that opportunity for a long time and he’s going to get more because the performance was really positive.”
United fell behind late in the first half when Vitinho’s shot from Mario Fernandes’s cut-back struck team-mate Alan Dzagoev on its way into the net.
Dzagoev appeared to be in an offside position, but the goal was allowed to stand — credited to Vitinho — because Daley Blind was adjudged to have played him onside despite having slid off the pitch.
United turned the game around with two goals in two minutes from Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford to progress to the last 16 as Group A winners.
Bayern Munich, Juventus and Real Madrid are among the teams United could now face in the next round, but Mourinho said his side would advance confident that they will inspire fear in their next opponents.
“I’m not the luckiest guy with draws, so it’s better I shut up and forget it because we only play in February and until then I have to concentrate on the English competitions,” he said.
“But I think it doesn’t matter the team we get in the draw. I think that team won’t be jumping with happiness to play against us.”
gn

Mourinho pledges only ‘the truth’ on injuries

Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics over doping

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach attends a press conference following an executive meeting on Russian doping, on December 5, 2017 in Lausanne. Russia were banned from the 2018 Olympics on December 5 over state-sponsored doping but the International Olympic Committee said Russian competitors would be able to compete “under strict conditions”. / AFP PHOTO / Fabrice COFFRINI

Russia was banned Tuesday from the 2018 Winter Games by the International Olympic Committee over its state-orchestrated doping programme, but clean Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under an Olympic flag.
The sanction was the toughest ever levelled by the IOC for drug cheating and came just 65 days ahead of the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
In announcing the decision, IOC president Thomas Bach accused Russia of “perpetrating an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport”.
An explosive report by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) and two subsequent IOC investigations have confirmed that Russian athletes took part in an elaborate drug cheating programme which peaked during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Mounting evidence has indicated that the scheme involved senior government officials, including from the sports ministry, with help from secret state agents.
The IOC also banned Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko — who was sports minister during the Sochi Games — for life.
Mutko is currently the head of the organising committee for the 2018 World Cup, which Russia is hosting.
Attention will quickly turn to see if football’s world governing body FIFA allows the scandal-tainted ally of President Vladimir Putin to retain his senior World Cup role.
In a statement, FIFA said it had “taken note” of the IOC decision but it had “no impact on the preparations” for Russia 2018.
Russia ‘apologised’
The IOC also suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and its chief Alexander Zhukov.
Zhukov said he “apologised” to the IOC on Tuesday for the “anti-doping violations” committed in his country in recent years.
The Winter Olympics’ South Korean organisers said Wednesday they would prefer if Russians competed under their own flag, but accepted as “second-best” the IOC ruling.
Lee Hee-Bum, chief of the Pyeongchang organising committee for February’s Winter Olympics, added the decision caught the Games organisers off guard.
“We did not know that it (the punishment) would be this much,” Lee said, adding there was a “heated debate” among the IOC members before reaching the decision.
The move raises the prospect of Moscow boycotting the Games, something that organisers will be desperate to avoid as they battle low ticket sales and concern over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
‘Principled decision’
The IOC had the option of hitting Russia with a blanket ban, the so-called nuclear option that was applied to apartheid-era South Africa from 1964 to 1988.
The IOC’s decision to choose a more moderate path offers some Russian athletes a route to competing in the Games — although that will be by invitation only and dependent on a stringent testing programme.
“The IOC, at its absolute discretion, will ultimately determine the athletes to be invited from the list,” the IOC said in a statement.
No Russian athlete with a previous doping violation will be allowed to compete and no official who had a leadership role at Sochi 2014 will be invited to Pyeongchang.
Those athletes who do go to the Games will participate under the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia” and the country’s flag will not fly at any 2018 ceremony, the IOC also said.
The US Olympic Committee praised the IOC’s “strong and principled decision.
“There were no perfect options, but this decision will clearly make it less likely that this ever happens again,” it said.
For Grigory Rodchenkov, the former Russian laboratory chief and whistleblower who lifted the lid on the cheating scheme, the IOC’s action was a needed step to clean up the Olympic movement.
“It was the most elaborate and sophisticated doping system in the history of sports. If it did not carry the most significant sanction it would simply have emboldened Russia and other countries who don’t respect the rules”, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, told reporters on a conference call.
Boycott?
Russian officials have previously met doping accusations with defiance.
Mutko has said the allegations were an attempt “to create an image of an axis of evil” against his country while Putin has warned that a Russia ban would cause “serious harm to the Olympic movement”.
He said forcing Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag would amount to a national “humiliation”.
That has fuelled speculation that Moscow would instruct its athletes to boycott the compromise solution decided by the IOC.
“An Olympic boycott has never achieved anything,” Bach said, insisting that given the window left open for clean athletes to compete, a boycott was unwarranted.
But the IOC expulsion sparked immediate outrage in Russia.
Deputy speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy has already called for a boycott.
“They are humiliating the whole of Russia through the absence of its flag and anthem,” he said in televised remarks.
The president of Russia’s Bobsleigh Federation, Alexander Zubkov told Russian TV that the IOC decision was a “humiliation.”
GN

Here's what Trump's tax plan means for people at every income level from $20,000 to $269,000 a year

Congressional Republicans are touting their new tax plan as a wage-boosting, job-creating boon to the middle class - despite harsh criticisms from the public and experts.
Business Insider's Lauren Lyons Cole reported that while take-home pay is set to rise under both plans, most Americans won't see a ton of extra cash in their pockets. But how much you save also depends on how much you currently earn.
Career site Zippia provided Business Insider with data breaking down how different occupations fare under the Senate's tax plan. The estimated federal tax savings below are for a single, childless taxpayer who claims the standard deduction.
MSN

Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 23, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump speaking during a visit to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Trump will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on December 6, 2017, upending decades of careful US policy and ignoring dire warnings from allies across the Middle East and the world. A senior administration official said Trump would make the landmark and keenly watched announcement at 1 pm (1800 GMT) from the White House. / AFP PHOTO / Menahem KAHANA

President Donald Trump will recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Wednesday, upending decades of careful US policy and ignoring dire warnings of a historic misstep that could trigger a surge of violence in the Middle East.
A senior administration official said Trump would make the announcement — ignoring frantic warnings from US allies in the region and around the world — at 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) from the White House.
“He will say that the United States government recognises that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He views this as a recognition of reality, both historic reality,” the source added, “and modern reality.”
Plunging further into a decades-long dispute over a city considered holy by Jews, Muslims and Christians, Trump will also order to begin planning to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“It will take some time to find a site, to address security concerns, design a new facility, fund a new facility and build it,” the official said, indicating that the move would not be immediate.
“It will be a matter of some years, it won’t be months, it’s going to take time.”
The status of Jerusalem is a critical issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming the city as their capital.
In a frantic series of calls, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the European Union, France, Germany and Turkey all warned Trump against the move.
Anticipating protests, US government officials and their families have been ordered to avoid Jerusalem’s Old City and the West Bank.
On Wednesday, further warnings came from Britain, China, Syria and the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process.
“We view the reports that we have heard with concern, because we think that Jerusalem obviously should be part of the final settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, a negotiated settlement,” British foreign minister Boris Johnson said as he arrived for a NATO meeting in Brussels.
China warned the plan could fuel tensions in the region and Syria called it a “dangerous” move that showed US “contempt for international law”.
UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said “we all have to be very careful with the actions we take because of the repercussions of these actions.”
Trump’s move comes close to fulfilling a campaign promise, and will delight his political donors and the conservative and evangelical base so vital for the embattled president.
‘Red line’
Most of the international community does not formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, insisting the issue can only be resolved in final status negotiations.
US officials talk of “threading the needle” — fulfilling Trump’s campaign pledge, while keeping the peace process on the rails.
The White House argues that such a move would not prejudge final talks and would represent the reality that west Jerusalem is and will continue to be part of Israel under any settlement.
“President Trump remains committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians and is optimistic that peace can be achieved,” a second official said.
Trump “is prepared to support a two-state solution… if agreed to by the two parties.”
Critics say Trump’s approach is more like “splitting the baby” and could also extinguish his own much-vaunted efforts to broker Middle East peace while igniting the flames of conflict in a region already reeling from crises in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Qatar.
The armed Islamist Hamas movement has threatened to launch a new “intifada” or uprising.
Palestinians were calling for three days of protests starting from Wednesday, raising fears of potential unrest.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman warned his close ally that moving the US embassy was a “dangerous step” that could rile Muslims around the world.
“Mr Trump! Jerusalem is a red line for Muslims,” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a raucous televised speech on Tuesday.
‘Embassy Act’
Israel seized the largely Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, claiming both sides of the city as its “eternal and undivided capital.”
But the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state and fiercely oppose any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty there.
Trump was pushed to act on the embassy as a result of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, which stated that the city “should be recognised as the capital of the state of Israel” and that the US embassy should be moved there.
A waiver has been repeatedly invoked by successive US presidents, postponing the move on grounds of “national security” once every six months, meaning the law has never taken effect.
GN

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

PDP rules out special concession for Atiku, others

Ahmed Makarfi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has ruled out granting special concession to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and others who defected from other parties.
It however declared that Atiku has made no request for any special concession.
Chairman of PDP national caretaker committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, who made this known while inaugurating the convention planning committee in Abuja, yesterday said that the party is committed to adhering strictly to its rules for the convention.
He allayed the fears of PDP members over the possibility of the party imposing a presidential candidate on them in 2019.
Makarfi said: “As you must have read, one of the founding fathers of this party, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar declared for the PDP yesterday. He is highly welcome. We are expecting more people like him. They might not have been former vice presidents but they are weighty individuals in their own rights. PDP will continue to receive both serving and former this and former that.
“But I also want to correct some media reports about his return. His excellency, Waziri Adamawa, did not seek for any special concession. He joined on his own will. And the party did not extend any special concession to anybody other than what is due to him. It is only then that we will accord such people such recognition and status that they deserve.
“Atiku never asked for anything and we never offered anything. Whatever aspirations he or anybody coming to PDP may have, they will be free to pursue them. So are all other PDP men and women are free to pursue whatever political aspirations they may have. The party will give a level-playing field for party men and women to exercise their right.”
Makarfi also warned against attempts by those he called very disloyal party men to sabotage the party’s efforts in conducting a successful convention.
He expressed satisfaction with Tuesday’s judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Ado Ekiti, which nullified the judgment of a High Court that would have affected the smooth conduct of the December 9 national convention.
Makarfi urged all contestants to go about their campaign with decorum.
Also, the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, declared that the board is ready to partner with the National Working Committee, Governors Forum and other stakeholders to ensure the success of the national convention.
He urged the party members to “run away” from act that may negatively affect the convention.
The chairman of the Convention Planning Committee, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa gave assurance that the “electoral process will be free, fair and credible.”
Meanwhile, the National Secretary of the caretaker committee, Chief Ben Obi, has said that the national convention would deepen democracy and set the tone for its winning the 2019 general elections.
He told The Guardian that the PDP was on the verge of restoring confidence of Nigerians in the leadership of the country, stressing that the party was committed to credible convention that could produce acceptable candidates, despite present challenges.
He said the goodwill and strong imprint, which the PDP has made in the minds of Nigerians
were gradually returning to the party.
Obi stated that the Ahmed Makarafi national caretaker committee has used the opportunity offered to it to reposition the party to the delight of its founding fathers, stressing that the “PDP remains a strong brand”.
The former Presidential Adviser said: “The way we have gone so far is such that nobody can stop us from fielding a candidate in 2019. If you go through the length and breadth of this country, people are already yearning for PDP to come
back.