Author: Tona.Today

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Andrea Christensen injury: Barcelona star suffers another setback

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has revealed defender Andreas Christensen has picked up another injury just three days after being cleared to return to action against Real Sociedad this weekend.

Christensen, 28, came off the bench against Valencia in Barça’s first game of the season in August but was then sidelined until January with Achilles problem.

Upon his return to training at the start of the year, the Denmark international injured his calf, ruling him out until the end of February.

Earlier this week, Barça confirmed Christensen had been given the green light to play competitively again, but he received another calf setback on Saturday that will rule him out for four weeks.

“What I can say now is that Andreas got injured in this morning’s training session,” Flick told a news conference.

“He was an option for Real Sociedad on Sunday, but again he is injured. We are looking now how heavy is the injury. Hopefully it’s not so much.”

Christensen joined Barça on a free transfer from Chelsea in 2022 and made 32 appearances to help the club win LaLiga in his first season.

He followed his debut campaign up with another 42 appearances last term, being used as a defensive midfielder at times by previous coach Xavi Hernández, but he has been limited to just one outing this season.

In his absence, Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez have emerged as Barça’s first choice centre-back pairing, with Ronald Araújo and Eric García providing backup.

“We want at least four players for this position,” Flick added. “Normally we have five really good centre-backs, but without Andreas, it’s four.

“Ronald also had a huge injury but he’s doing really good now. He’s a leader. He has everything to reach a very high level. I am really happy with all of them.”

Squad depth may be needed in the coming weeks as the games come thick and fast for the LaLiga leaders.

After Tuesday’s 4-4 draw against Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal, Barça welcome Real Sociedad in LaLiga this weekend before travelling to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Flick aid the fact his side are still in the running to win all three competitions, after already winning the Spanish Supercopa in January, is proof they are exceeding expectations this season.

“We have to accept [the busy schedule] and manage it with the players, maybe by using some fresh legs,” he said.

“It’s good to have [the games]. We have three competitions and can fight for three titles. When we start this season, at this time now, March 1, no one expected that. The team is going great.” (ESPN)

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Billing saves Napoli in draw with Serie A title rivals Inter

Philip Billing kept Napoli right on Inter Milan’s tail at the top of Serie A after scoring a late equaliser in Saturday’s exciting 1-1 draw in Naples.

Denmark midfielder Billing tapped home his first Napoli goal three minutes from the end at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona to keep second-placed Napoli one point behind Inter.

The 32-year-old, on loan from Bournemouth, scored after a driving run from Stanislav Lobotka, pouncing on the rebound when his first effort was saved by Inter goalkeeper Josep Martinez.

Up to that point, it had looked like Federico Dimarco’s stunning free-kick in the 22nd minute would be enough for Inter to strike a huge blow in their bid to retain the Scudetto.

Simone Inzaghi’s Inter were on the back foot for much of the match and needed some desperate defending as they tried to escape Naples with all three points.

But Inzaghi will again be frustrated by his team failing to win a big match, something that his players have struggled to do this season after dominating the division from start to finish last term.

They could not have met Napoli at a better time, as Antonio Conte’s team had conceded the initiative with three points from their four matches in February after previously looking like storming to a second title in three seasons.

Inter’s dogged rearguard action, which had featured a series of last-ditch lunging tackles and hefty clearances, was finally broken by Billing, who saved his new team in his second appearance since signing in January.

Billing’s late leveller also gave a reprieve to Atalanta who failed to win at home for the fifth straight time in Italy’s top flight and stay third, three points behind Inter.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are still in the fight but have not won in front of their own fans in domestic competition since the turn of the year. Atalanta’s form on home turf is threatening their unprecedented Scudetto bid.

“When we play at home against these kinds of teams when always have to deal with packed defences,” said Gasperini.

“We were hoping to be first and the boys gave everything but this is a difficult period for everyone, you can see that with how the other teams (at the top) are doing.”

Davide Zappacosta went closest to breaking the deadlock five minutes before half-time when he clipped the outside of the post after great work from Ademola Lookman.

Lookman had wasted a great chance one-on-one with Venezia goalkeeper Ionut Radu moments before. The Nigeria forward also smashed over from inches out in the 82nd minute.

Mateo Retegui was also guilty of missing presentable opportunities as Atalanta’s usually flamboyant attack struggled to break down stubborn Venezia.

The surprise point gave Venezia a small boost in their bid to stay up, but Eusebio Di Francesco’s team are five points from Parma, who sit just outside the relegation zone and are at Udinese in Saturday’s late fixture. (Punch)

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Microsoft is shutting down Skype after over 10 years

Microsoft on Friday announced it was retiring Skype, the online voice and video call pioneer that the tech titan acquired in 2011.

“Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available,” said a post from Skype support on X, directing users to sign into Microsoft’s Teams platform for further use of its services.

Skype was founded in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in Estonia, revolutionizing internet communication by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones.

Over the years, and as internet speeds improved, Skype evolved to include video calls, instant messaging, file sharing and group communication features.

By 2005, Skype had already reached 50 million registered users, demonstrating its rapid global adoption.

Online auction site eBay acquired Skype in 2005 for approximately $2.6 billion, but the expected synergies never panned out, and in 2009, eBay sold a majority stake to a group of investors, who then sold it to Microsoft.

In recent years, especially after the rise of the smartphone, Skype failed to hold onto its place against new rivals such as Meta-owned WhatsApp and Zoom, as well as Microsoft’s own Teams.

“We’ve learned a lot from Skype… as we’ve evolved Teams over the last seven to eight years,” Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, told CNBC.

“But we felt like now is the time because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we can deliver more innovation faster just by being focused on Teams.”

Microsoft said that Skype group chats would remain intact in the transition to Teams and that during a 60-day window, messages on Microsoft and Teams will be interoperable so you can message contacts from Teams and those messages will be delivered to friends still using Skype.

In one big change, Microsoft is removing Skype’s telephony features, meaning you’ll no longer be able to call regular phone numbers, cell phones, or make international calls through the service.

Microsoft told The Verge that these features are no longer as relevant in today’s communication landscape where mobile data plans are less expensive.

The name “Skype” derived from “Sky peer-to-peer,” the technology that was fundamental to Skype’s original architecture.

The peer-to-peer aspect was crucial as it distributed the network demands across users’ computers rather than relying solely on centralized servers, which was a key innovation that allowed Skype to scale rapidly during its early years. (Channels)

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Going For Gold presenter Henry Kelly dies at 78

Journalist and TV presenter Henry Kelly has died aged 78, his family has announced.

Kelly was a journalist who later pivoted to light entertainment, hosting TV gameshow Game For A Laugh and Going For Gold in the 1980s and 90s.

He also presented programmes on BBC Radio 4, LBC and Classic FM.

In a statement, Kelly’s family said he “died peacefully” on Tuesday “after a period of ill health”.

“Henry will be sorely missed by his friends and family,” it continued, “including his partner Karolyn Shindler, their son Alexander, Henry’s daughter Siobhan and her mother Marjorie”.

Born in Dublin on 17 April 1946, Kelly started his journalistic career in newspapers.

He worked for The Irish Times in the 1970s during civil unrest and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

He left the newspaper and moved to London to join the BBC in 1976, working as a reporter and presenter for Radio 4’s The World Tonight.

But in 1980, aged 34, he left journalism to become a light entertainment presenter.

He went on to front ITV’s Game For A Laugh, and the first iteration of Good Morning Britain on TV-am, alongside Toni Arthur.

Game For A Laugh largely involved practical jokes and elaborate set-ups, often on members of the studio audience or filmed on location on unsuspecting members of the public.

Kelly also fronted lunchtime quiz show Going For Gold for 10 seasons from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

The theme tune for Going For Gold was composed by Hans Zimmer, who went on to become a hugely successful film and TV composer.

The show saw contestants from different European countries compete against each other to answer questions to win prizes.

Going For Gold was briefly revived in the late 2000s by Channel 5, presented by John Suchet.

Kelly later became one of the launch presenters of Classic FM and also hosted shows on speech station LBC, BBC Radio London.

He hosted a show on BBC Radio Berkshire for 10 years from 2005.

Speaking to Challenge TV about his memories of Going for Gold, Kelly – who almost missed the hosting audition as he was planning to play golf – noted how “the whole point” of the show “was that it was Pan-European”.

“We were the only people in this country at the time, and probably since, who were really European, and so we had contestants from all over Europe,” he said. (BBC)

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LISABI (THE UPRISING)

Release Date: 2024
Distributor: Netflix
Producer: Anthill Studios
Director: Niyi Akinmolayan
Starring: Lateef Adedimeji, Ibrahim Chatta, Adebowale Adebayo, Odunlade Adekola, Gabriel
Afolayan, Femi Adebayo, Peju Ogunmola, Eniola Ajao.
Runtime: 1h47m

Based on the Egba legend about a rebellion led by Lisabi, a traditional Yoruba hero with a
hunger for freedom, the story begins with the invasion of multiple towns under the Egba
Kingdom where residents are forced to pay a tribute or tax to the King (Adekola). Whoever
refuses will be punished or killed by the king’s guards led by Sangodeji (Chatta). Tragedy
unfolds and it is up to Lisabi (Adedimeji) to free his townsmen from the evil mercenaries.

If you ever think of Robin Hood stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, LISABI follows
that direction. It is filled with action, drama, and fantasy. The film is a historical tale of
violence, corruption, friendship and tragedy. The good part is the story which is well
grounded: the camera angles are good as well as the subtitles. The acting from the cast
members is terrific. For someone renowned for dramatic and funny roles, Adedimeji is
impressive as Lisabi. Chatta, in the role of Sangodeji, is reminiscent of Agbako, the master
criminal perfected by the late Charles Olumo. Adekola may have been LISABI’s villainous
king, but Chatta takes the crown (similar to most James Bond villains).

The violent fight scenes could have been better coordinated or choreographed, and the
special effects were less than perfect: an overuse of CGI rather than practical effects added
an unnecessary incredulity to the action. The cinematography is noteworthy however and
brings to mind movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age of Technicolor or Metrocolor.

It is rare to see a movie that is passionate about storytelling without offering a lesson. LISABI
reminds one of Nigerian films and television shows from the 70s and 90s that are filled with
morals and lessons for society today and for future generations.

A sequel to LISABI has also been released. Yet to watch the first instalment? Go stream it.

Opeyemi Ajao

December 31 st , 2024

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Mother and child die from injuries after Munich car attack

A mother, 37, and her two-year-old daughter have died from injuries they sustained in Thursday’s car attack in the German city of Munich, police say.

At least 37 people were injured when a car was driven into a crowd of people at a trade union rally.

The driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, police said, identified in local media as Farhad N.

He was arrested at the scene and prosecutors say he has admitted to carrying out the attack. He appeared to have a religious motivation, officials said.

The mother and child were among those taken to hospital with serious injuries following the attack.

Authorities have said the suspect arrived in Germany in 2016 and, although his application for asylum was turned down, he was allowed to stay in Germany as he faced risks being deported back to Afghanistan. He had a valid residence and work permit.

He had no previous criminal record, and police said there was no evidence of a link to a jihadist group. He also appears to have acted alone, German authorities say.

On Friday, police said the suspect told officers during questioning that he had driven his Mini Cooper car intentionally into the crowd.

Munich public prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann told reporters that the suspect had said “Allahu Akbar” – God is greatest in Arabic – when he was detained. She suggested he “may have had an Islamist motivation”.

Campaigning around Germany’s election on 23 February has for weeks been embroiled in a fevered debate about migration. It was called due to the collapse of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government last year.

A number of violent incidents linked to migrants over the past year have led to increased support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

In December, six people were killed and at least 299 injured after a man drove a car into a German Christmas market.

The suspect was a 50-year-old Saudi asylum seeker who had been an outspoken critic of Islam.

And in January an attack that shocked the country saw a two-year-old child and a passer-by who attempted to intervene killed after a group of children were stabbed in a park in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.

The suspect in that attack is a 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. (BBC)

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Adeleke unveils scholarship for Osun best SSCE students

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has unveiled the ‘Imole Statewide public and private schools students Senior Secondary Certificate Examination Scholarship .

Adeleke said the initiative was to reward the best-performing students in the SSCE across the state.

A statement signed by the state Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, obtained in Osogbo on Tuesday said the scholarship supported by Electronic Collections Group was designed to recognise and support outstanding students from both public and private schools in all 30 local government areas and the area office of Osun State.

Eluwole stated, “The initiative will award a ₦1,000,000 (One Million Naira) scholarship to the overall best student in the state. Additionally, each of the best students in both public and private schools per local government will receive a ₦100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) scholarship award.

“Beyond individual student awards, the best-performing public and private schools will also be granted a ₦500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) educational support fund to enhance their academic programs.

“Furthermore, to recognize the role of educators in shaping academic excellence, teachers of the best students from both public and private schools in each local government area will be rewarded with exciting gift items.”

He emphasised the government’s commitment to improving education standards and fostering intellectual growth among Osun students.

He urged teachers and school administrators to prepare their students adequately for the 2025 SSCE, to ensure they perform exceptionally well to qualify for the scholarship awards. (Punch)

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Leeds student jailed in Saudi Arabia for 34 years over tweets is released

Campaigners have welcomed the release of a Saudi PhD student at Leeds University who was sentenced to 34 years in prison for posting tweets in support of women’s rights.

Salma al-Shehab, 36, is understood to have left the prison in Saudi Arabia where she was being held and has been reunited with her two young children.

“It is fantastic news,” said Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and advocacy at the Europe-based Saudi rights group ALQST. “She has not seen her children during her whole four years of imprisonment.”

Al-Shehab was arrested while on holiday in Saudi Arabia in January 2021. Campaigners say she was kept in solitary confinement for more than nine months before she was brought before Saudi Arabia’s specialised criminal court.

She was initially sentenced to serve three years in prison for the “crime” of using a website to “cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security”.

An appeals court later handed down the new sentence – 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban – after a public prosecutor asked the court to consider other alleged crimes.

The additional charges included the allegation that al-Shehab was “assisting those who seek to cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security by following their Twitter accounts” and by retweeting their tweets.

Amnesty International said her “crime” was no more than “posting tweets in support of women’s rights”.

Last March an open letter was signed by more than 300 academics, students and employees at Leeds University calling for al-Shehab’s immediate release. It said she had been jailed “on the basis of peaceful tweets”.

Al-Hathloul said al-Shehab had had a hard time in prison. “It has been difficult for her,” she said. “Not seeing her kids, not knowing whether she could complete her PhD. She was originally sentenced to six years, then it was increased to 34 years and then it was reduced to 27 years and then 4 years. It has been a nightmare really not to even be able to trust the judiciary and its decisions

“She is very strong. Salma is a very brave woman. She went on hunger strike to complain about the conditions.”

In June 2023 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) found her detention to be arbitrary and called for her immediate release.

Al-Hathhoul said al-Shehab was not an exception. “She is symbolic of a pattern. She was released because of this pressure but many more others still remain in prison for the same charges.”

The battle now was to get al-Shehab’s travel ban lifted so she could return to Leeds where she is a dental student, al-Hathhoul said. (Guardian)

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Supreme Court reserves ruling on appeal seeking to nullify Rivers LG polls

The Supreme Court, yesterday, reserved judgment in the appeal the All Progressives Congress, APC, filed to nullify the outcome of the Local Government elections that held in Rivers State on October 5, 2024.

A five-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, okayed the matter for judgment, after parties adopted their final briefs of argument.

The court had earlier in the day dismissed an appeal Governor Siminialayi Fubara filed to challenge another judgment that sought to compel him to re-present the 2024 budget of the state before the Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State Assembly, which he argued had been overtaken by event.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Coalition has clarified that no Supreme Court judgment was issued against Fubara, despite speculations to the contrary, adding that Oko Jumbo remains the legitimate Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

While the APC, through its team of lawyers, led by Mr. J. Daudu, urged the Supreme Court to set-aside the November 21, 2024, judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which declined to invalidate the election, Mr. Yusuf Ali, who announced appearance for Fubara, as well as Chris Uche, who represented the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, sought the dismissal of the appeal.

Recall that the appellate court vacated the judgment that barred the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from releasing voters register to the RSIEC for the conduct of the LG polls.

The Justice Onyekachi Otisi-led panel, in a unanimous decision, held that the high court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain suit against the Rivers State LG elections.

According to the appellate court, section 28 of the Electoral Act does not cover elections conducted by states but only Federal elections, governorship and Area Council Elections in the Federal Capital Territory.

Meantime, the Supreme Court adjourned the case for judgment on a day it dismissed an appeal Fubara filed to challenge another judgment that sought to compel him to re-present the 2024 budget of the state before Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State Assembly.

When the appeal was called up for hearing, yesterday, Fubara’s lawyer applied to withdraw it, saying it had been overtaken by events.

Neither Wole Olanipekun, who stood for the Amaewhule-led Rivers State lawmakers, nor Mr. Daudu, who represented the 3rd to 12th defendants, challenged the withdrawal, though they persuaded the apex court to award N2million cost to each of them.

The respondents further convinced the Justice Abba-Aji-led panel to dismiss the matter instead of striking it out, noting that they have already exchanged processes with the Appellant.

Maintaining that Fubara’s loss was “self-inflicted,” the appelate court held that since his counter-affidavit was withdrawn, “the appellant is deemed to have admitted the rather weighty facts that were presented by the respondents.”

The Supreme Court, yesterday, also reserved its verdict on seven consolidated appeals that are trailing the Appeal Court judgment that vacated the order that initially stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from releasing monthly statutory allocations to Rivers State.

Factional members of the Rivers State Assembly loyal to the immediate past governor of the state and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr. Nyesom Wike, had insisted that all federal monthly allocations meant for Rivers state, should be withheld.

On his part, governor Fubara argued that the Amaewhule-led group had since ceased to be lawmakers in the state, having decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which sponsored their election, to the All Progressives Congress, APC. (Vanguard)

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Lula pushes mega-oil project as Brazil prepares to host COP30

Brazil’s president this week amped up pressure for a major oil project to go ahead at the mouth of the Amazon River, despite criticism from environmentalists as the country prepares to host UN climate talks in November.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 79, aspires to make Brazil a leader in the fight against global warming, but has fiercely defended oil exploration as key to the growth of Latin America’s biggest economy.

“We want oil because it will be around for a long time,” Lula said Wednesday, arguing that the windfall from the black gold should be used “to finance the energy transition, which will be very expensive.

He was speaking as Brazil’s environmental protection agency IBAMA, an autonomous public body, is mulling whether to grant state-owned oil giant Petrobras an exploration license in an offshore area known as the Equatorial Margin.

That maritime area extends over 350,000 square kilometers (135,000 square miles) across northern Brazil and lies some 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon River.

Petrobras estimates the potential reserves in the basin at 10 billion barrels.

Brazil’s proven reserves amounted to 15.9 billion barrels in 2023, according to the government.

However, the project has been highly criticized, given that fossil fuels such as oil are the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming.

The first two years of Lula’s third presidential mandate saw multiple environmental successes, with a sharp reduction in deforestation and the upward revision of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

But experts say the looming oil project tarnishes Lula’s environmental ambitions, just a few months before COP30 — the 30th session of the UN climate change conference — is held for the first time in the Amazon, in the city of Belem.

“You can’t be a climate leader and at the same time aim to increase the production of fossil fuels,” said Suely Araujo, from Brazilian NGO Climate Observatory.

Araujo, a former IBAMA president, said the argument that the energy transition can be financed with oil revenues “is tantamount to saying that we want to wage war to obtain peace.”

“Opening the Amazon to fuel exploration goes against the (government’s) discourse on preserving the Amazon to help regulate the climate,” said Ilan Zugman, Latin America director of the 350.org climate NGO.

Almost half of the energy consumed in Brazil comes from renewable sources, more than three times the global average, according to official data.

But the country is also Latin America’s largest oil producer and the eighth largest in the world, producing an average of 3.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2024.

Lula has pointed out that countries like Guyana and Suriname were already “exploring oil very close to our Equatorial Margin.”

“We need to find a solution in which we guarantee the country, the world and the people that we will not blow up any trees, nothing in the Amazon River, nothing in the Atlantic Ocean,” Lula said this week.

Toya Manchineri, from the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, warned that the project also threatened Indigenous peoples and could cause “irreversible environmental damage, destroying forests and polluting rivers.” (Vanguard)