The Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to deploy Nigerian troops to the Republic of Benin in support of efforts to restore peace and stability following last weekend’s attempted coup.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced this on Tuesday during plenary after lawmakers considered the request in the Committee of the Whole in line with section 5, Part 11 of the Constitution.
The Senators unanimously voted in favour of the deployment, giving legislative backing for the regional security intervention.
Akpabio described the decision as a step in the right direction, noting that instability in any neighboring state poses a threat to the entire region.
“An injury to one is an injury to all,” the lawmaker said.
He underscored that it is Nigeria’s responsibility to support its Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) partner.
The Senate’s consent letter will be transmitted to President Tinubu immediately.
Tinubu had written to the Senate, seeking their approval for the deployment of troops to the Benin Republic. He said that Nigeria has a historical responsibility to support Benin under the existing Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) security frameworks.
According to the President, the crisis demands “urgent external intervention” to help restore stability and prevent further breakdown of order.
Benin Republic’s attempted coup occurred on Sunday, when some military personnel announced the removal of President Patrice Talon. (Channels)
Iran and Egypt have both objected to plans by local organisers in the United States to brand their 2026 World Cup group-stage match as an event supporting the LGBTQ community.
The organising committee in Seattle, Washington, where the fixture is scheduled to take place next year, had previously announced its intention to hold a “Pride Match” coinciding with the northwestern city’s Pride Weekend in late June.
Following last week’s FIFA tournament draw, Egypt and Iran are now slated to face off in Seattle on June 26, the Friday before.
The head of Iran’s Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, was quoted by local news agency ISNA as saying that Tehran and Cairo had both raised “objections against the issue”, which he labelled an “irrational move that supports a certain group”.
Taj did not mention the specific branding of the fixture.
On Monday, Iranian state television said Tehran would “appeal” to FIFA over the matter.
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran under Islamic law and can be punishable by death.
In a statement, the Egyptian Football Association said it had sent a formal letter to FIFA secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom, rejecting “in absolute terms” any activities linked to LGBTQ support during the match.
The EFA said such initiatives would clash with “the cultural, religious and social values” of both Egypt and Iran and urged FIFA to ensure the match would remain focused solely on football.
In Egypt, homosexuality is not expressly outlawed, but is often punished under loosely worded laws prohibiting “debauchery”.
The EFA cited FIFA’s statutes on political and social neutrality, arguing that matches should not be used to promote causes that are “sensitive or of a contentious nature”.
The 2026 World Cup will mark Iran’s seventh participation in the tournament, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1980, following a hostage crisis in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran had initially opted out of Friday’s draw to protest the US refusal to grant visas to several members of its delegation but eventually reversed the decision.
On Tuesday, Taj said some Iranian players might face visa problems over their service in the Iranian military, which includes the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) — designated a “terrorist organisation” by the US in 2019.
“For the World Cup, we must work on having replacement options, and we have already started that,” he said. (Punch)
Governor Umaru Bago of Niger State has received the 100 abducted pupils of the St. Mary’s Catholic Private Primary and Secondary School, Papiri, whose release was secured by the Federal Government.
Conveyed in separate buses, the children arrived at the Niger State Government House at about 5:20 pm and were received by Governor Bago and other government officials.
The students were formally handed over to the state government today, Monday 8 of December 2025, by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, was represented at the event by Wing Commander Abdullahi Dare.
While handing over the children, Hong disclosed that security agencies had worked tirelessly since the abduction to ensure the safe rescue and return of the students.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting the rights and safety of every Nigerian child, stressing that security agencies remain resolute in implementing measures to safeguard lives and property across the country.
Receiving the rescued students, the governor thanked President Bola Tinubu and Ribadu for their swift and coordinated response that led to the successful recovery of the children.
Bago assured parents and the general public that efforts are ongoing to secure the release of the remaining students still in captivity, expressing optimism that they would be reunited with their families in due course.
He called for sustained prayers to ensure their safe return and to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in the state.
According to the governor, the moment marks a significant milestone in the history of Niger State, noting that he was deeply moved by the tender ages and number of the rescued children.
He added that medical personnel have been directed to conduct comprehensive health assessments on the students to ensure their physical and psychological well-being.
He further disclosed that the state government was collaborating with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), UNICEF, and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen child protection mechanisms and guarantee the safe return of all abducted students.
The Federal Government secured the release of the children on Sunday. (Channels)
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Fubara announced his defection at a stakeholders meeting held at the government house in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
The Rivers State Governor joined Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno; Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah; and his Bayelsa counterpart, Duoye Siri, all of whom defected from the opposition PDP.
Speaking at the meeting, the governor said, “We can’t support President (Tinubu) if we don’t fully identify with him, not just the backyard support.
“So we have taken that decision here today that everyone who has followed and suffered with me, the decision this evening is that we are moving to the APC.”
His defection came after visiting President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on Monday.
He reportedly arrived at the Presidential Villa about 5:01 p.m. and was received by the Presidential Protocol Liaison Officer before being escorted to the President’s office and departed at about 5:45 p.m.
Although the details of the meeting were not disclosed.
Recall that on March 18, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for six months over political tension in the oil-rich South South state.
The President said the decision was taken to restore stability in the state that has been witnessing political turmoil as a result of the disagreement between the state governor and the state lawmakers.
He then appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, who has now been appointed an ambassador, as the state’s administrator to oversee governance.
Six months later, Fubara resumed office and pledged to restore peace and reconciliation in the state.
The governor, in a statewide broadcast, described the period (emergency rule) as enormously challenging but necessary to restore order and safeguard democratic institutions.
He said that, as governor, he chose to abide by the declaration and to co-operate fully with President Tinubu and the National Assembly, prioritising peace above personal or political gain.
“I resisted pressure to challenge the constitutionality of the emergency declaration, suspension of democratic structures, and other measures taken during the turbulent period,” he said.
The governor noted that after Tinubu brokered peace among contending parties, he, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and the Rivers State House of Assembly later resolved to bury the hatchet.
He said reconciliation was embraced in the best interest of Rivers’ people and for the progress of the state. (Punch)
Iran will play at least one of its World Cup matches in the United States though the tournament draw on Friday avoided a group-stage clash between the geopolitical rivals.
The Iranian team, representing a country targeted by U.S. airstrikes in June and whose citizens are subject to a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, will open its World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Seattle or Inglewood, California, on June 15.
Iran’s next two games could be played across the Canadian border in Vancouver or in Inglewood and Seattle. FIFA will confirm the detailed game schedule Saturday.
The United States was drawn to play Australia, Paraguay and a third team to be determined in the European playoffs in March.
Iran’s participation in the tournament, co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, has already presented diplomatic challenges.
Last week Iran said it would boycott the draw after several officials including soccer federation president Mehdi Taj and general secretary Hedayat Momebeni were denied U.S. travel visas. The federation later modified its stance saying Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei would attend the event at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Ghalenoei was present at Friday’s draw.
Iran was among 12 countries subject to a travel ban ordered by Trump’s administration on June 5. A second World Cup nation, Haiti, also is on it.
Exemptions were promised for teams and support staff traveling for the World Cup, but not for fans.
The Trump administration called Iran a “state sponsor of terrorism” and barred visitors except for those already holding visas or coming special visas issued for minorities facing persecution.
Later in June, Trump ordered a bombardment of Iran by so-called “bunker buster” bombs and cruise missiles targeting underground uranium enrichment plants. Within days he declared a ceasefire in a 12-day war between U.S. ally Israel and Iran.
Iran is an established force in soccer, ranked No. 20 in the world by FIFA and second only to Japan among Asian national teams.
Team Melli, as the squad is popularly known, is preparing to play at its seventh World Cup. Its best known player is forward Mehdi Taremi, who has played for Inter Milan, Porto and now Olympiakos.
Iran’s most problematic diplomatic relations among its future World Cup opponents are with Egypt.
Their diplomatic ties were severed in 1979 after Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel and remained strained until recent years.
New Zealand’s government condemned the death in September 2022 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police.
Amini’s death just a few weeks before the last World Cup played in nearby Qatar brought domestic politics into the stadiums where Iran played.
The team refused to sign Iran’s national anthem before its opening game in Doha against England, and there were clashes between fans and pro-government supporters at its second game against Wales.
Many fans displayed the “Woman, Life, Freedom” slogan to protest the government before Iran’s World Cup campaign ended with a 1-0 loss to the U.S. (JapanToday)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged “One Battle After Another” leads the nominations for the Golden Globes with nine, organizers announced Monday, as the race to the Oscars kicked into high gear.
Norwegian family dramedy “Sentimental Value” was second with eight. It is followed by period horror movie “Sinners” with seven and Shakespeare family drama “Hamnet” with six.
“Wicked: For Good” ended up with five nominations – a disappointing showing for the smash hit musical, which failed to secure a nod for best musical/comedy.
The Globes, set for January 11, are widely seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards.
The Golden Globes offer separate awards for dramas and comedies/musicals – widening the field of stars who could walk the red carpet, and fueling the suspense.
“One Battle After Another,” which centers on an aging revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his teenage daughter (Chase Infiniti), leads the contenders in the comedy/musical categories.
The film is a rollicking ride featuring leftist radical violence, immigration raids and white supremacists.
It won a pile of nominations, including best comedy/musical picture, best director and five acting nods: DiCaprio, Infiniti, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Teyana Taylor.
“Sentimental Value,” a moving story of a fractured family, won nominations for Swedish legend Stellan Skarsgard and co-star Renate Reinsve.
It is one of several foreign language films to gain traction in the main categories, along with Brazil’s “The Secret Agent” and South Korea’s “No Other Choice.”
On the drama side, past Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence (“Die, My Love”) and Julia Roberts (“After the Hunt”) will do battle with Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”), Reinsve, Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) and Eva Victor (“Sorry, Baby”).
Each main category will have six nominees, not five as in past years.
On the drama side, beyond the leader “Sentimental Value,” the top contenders all delve into the past.
“Sinners,” from “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler, stars Michael B. Jordan as twins in the criminal underworld who encounter a sinister force as they return home to racially segregated Mississippi in the 1930s.
The film was a runaway box office success, and both Coogler and Jordan secured nominations. It led the nods for the Critics Choice Awards on Friday with 17.
“It has so much going for it – it’s a big moneymaker, it was a culturally significant hit,” explained Davis.
“Hamnet,” from Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao, stars Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare, who tries to forge a career as a playwright while his wife Agnes – played by Buckley – contends with the perils of plague and childbirth in Elizabethan England.
Both stars earned nominations, along with Zhao.
Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of “Frankenstein” earned five nominations including one for Jacob Elordi as the iconic monster.
Oscar nominations are due on January 22, so the picks for the Globes will begin to map the road to the Academy Awards.
The Globes also honor the best in television, with HBO’s black comedy anthology “The White Lotus,” sci-fi office thriller “Severance” and searing teen murder saga “Adolescence” leading the contenders.
Last year’s Globes gala hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser was a hit with audiences, with more than 10 million tuning in.
Glaser will return as host of the January 11 gala in Beverly Hills. (Vanguard)
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher labelled Mohamed Salah “a disgrace” on Monday after the Egypt star’s stunning outburst at Reds boss Arne Slot.
Salah said he had been “thrown under a bus” and had no relationship with Slot after he was left on the bench for last Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Leeds.
It was the third successive game that Salah had been kept out of the starting line-up by Slot amid the forward’s loss of form this season.
In response to Salah’s astonishing rant to reporters, Liverpool axed the 33-year-old from the squad for Tuesday’s Champions League clash at Inter Milan.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher, a 2005 Champions League winner with Liverpool, said: “I thought it was a disgrace what he did after the game.
“Some people have painted it as an emotional outburst. I don’t think it was. I think whenever Mo Salah stops in a mixed zone, which he has done four times in eight years at Liverpool, it’s choreographed with his agent to cause maximum damage and strengthen his own position.
“He’s chosen this weekend to do this now, and he’s waited I think for a bad result… everyone involved with the club (feeling) like they’re in the gutter, and he’s chosen that time to go for the manager and maybe try to get him sacked.”
Salah is a two-time Premier League champion with Liverpool and has also won the Champions League during his iconic eight-year spell at Anfield.
But, although he only signed a new contract in April, Salah hinted he might have played his last game for Liverpool as he prepares to jet off to the African Cup of Nations after their Premier League clash with Brighton at Anfield on Saturday.
Salah has been linked with a lucrative move to the Saudi Pro League and and Carragher added: “What he’s done off the pitch, I think the club have made the right decision in terms of him not going abroad. Whether he will play for Liverpool again, I don’t know.
“I hope he does, because he’s one of the greatest players we’ve ever had, but if you continue like that, and statements like that, if he doesn’t play, who knows.” (Guardian)
Frank Gehry, who in the second half of the 20th century forged a new language in architecture, becoming one of the most famous architects of his time, has died at the age of 96, according to a spokesperson at Gehry Partners. He died at his home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness.
Gehry was born in Toronto, Canada. After studying architecture at the University of Southern California and urban planning at Harvard, he set up his practice in Los Angeles in 1962.
Redeveloping his own home using utilitarian materials — cinder blocks, plywood, corrugated metal and chain-link fencing — helped jump-start his career in 1978 in and around the state.
“We bought this tiny little bungalow in Santa Monica and for like 50 grand, I built a house around it,” he told TED founder Richard Saul Wurman in a 2008 discussion. “And a few people got excited about it.”
He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989, which vaulted him and his work to international acclaim.
But Gehry was in his late 60s when he received the commission for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, perhaps the most critically-acclaimed and renowned building of his career.
In 1998, the late Philip Johnson, the godfather of American modern architecture, stood in the atrium and was moved to tears. According to Vanity Fair, he anointed Gehry “the greatest architect we have today.” It was a rare moment in architecture: critics, academics and the public collectively enraptured by a single building.
Gehry transformed our idea of what was architecturally possible, shaping and sculpting buildings with the same software used to design fighter jets. The titanium-clad Guggenheim swooped, curved and shimmered by a river, which Vanity Fair correspondent Matt Tyrnauer likened to “a gargantuan bouquet of writhing silver fish.”
Fish were a recurrent theme in Gehry’s work, but his designs were also sparked by ideas as diverse as the shape of Japanese Buddhist temples, ice hockey and Stratocaster guitars.
The Guggenheim led to a series of high-profile commissions: the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle (2000), Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003), the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris (2014) among them. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016. Gehry brought spectacle and showmanship to the field, undoubtedly, but did not see such qualities in himself.
“You are not going to call me a f***ing ‘starchitect’?” he told a Financial Times reporter in 2013. “I hate that.”
In person, Gehry was a plain-speaking, soft-spoken and good-humored, if occasionally cantankerous, communicator.
He had many close collaborators over the years, and those who knew him spoke to both his momentous impact and his character.
Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, who worked with Gehry across multiple projects including the Louis Vuitton Foundation, called the architect “a dear friend” in a statement posted to X.
“I owe to him one of the longest, most intense, and most ambitious creative partnerships I have ever had the privilege to experience,” he said. “He will remain a genius of lightness, transparency, and grace.”
US representative and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called him “a gentleman titan of architecture and a master communicator of the future,” in a statement posted to X, praising his contributions to global visual culture.
“Frank left an indelible mark on his beloved Los Angeles, in California, across America, and indeed around the world — not only through his designs, but also through his generosity,” she said.
Describing his aesthetic, Gehry once told Vanity Fair: “Overall, the kind of language I’ve developed, which culminated in Bilbao, comes from a reaction to Postmodernism. I was desperate not to go there.”
He simply had an aversion to historical pastiche.
“I said to myself, ‘If you have to go backward, why not go back 300 million years before man, to fish?,’” he continued. “And that’s when I started with this fish shtick, as I think of it, and started drawing the damn things, and I realized that they were architectural, conveying motion even when they were not moving.” (CNN)
Manchester United great Paul Scholes says Kobbie Mainoo is “being ruined” by his lack of chances under Ruben Amorim, suggesting his best option is to leave Old Trafford.
The 20-year-old had a breakthrough season in 2023/24, which ended with the academy graduate scoring in the FA Cup final and breaking into the England squad.
But the midfielder has gone from starting the Euro 2024 final to struggling for game time at United.
He requested a loan move in August but was turned down.
Mainoo, still waiting for his first Premier League start of the season, was not brought off the bench in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with lowly West Ham United.
That disappointing result left Man United eighth in the Premier League ahead of Monday’s trip to bottom club Wolves.
United boss Amorim said last week that he considered Mainoo “a starter”, but Scholes reacted angrily in a now-deleted Instagram story that reposted the manager’s quote.
“The kid is being ruined, not being played in a team that can’t control a game of football,” said the former United and England midfielder, who won 11 Premier League titles at Old Trafford.
“Hate seeing home-grown players leave but it’s probably best for him now, enough is enough.”
Mainoo’s only start for United this season came in August’s humiliating League Cup exit at Grimsby and Amorim’s reluctance to use him has been a major talking point.
“I understand what you are saying,” he told reporters on Thursday following the draw against West Ham.
“You love Kobbie. He was… he starts for England, but that doesn’t mean I need to put Kobbie (in) when I feel I shouldn’t put Kobbie (in), so it’s my decision.”
Mainoo won the last of his 10 England caps in September 2024 and appears unlikely to make Thomas Tuchel’s squad for next year’s World Cup.
Amorim said he understood that the lack of time on the pitch could be demoralising for the midfielder but said his target was to win matches.
“I just try to put the best players on the pitch,” he said.
Pushed on whether the upcoming departures of Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo for the Africa Cup of Nations could present an opportunity for Mainoo, Amorim said: “I don’t know what is going to happen. It depends.
“If I see in the training it is the best thing, I will put it. That is the only way I know how to respond to that.” (Guardian)
Enzo Maresca said he had no choice but to rotate his Chelsea squad when questioned Friday over his team’s damaging 3-1 defeat at Leeds in midweek.
The loss at Elland Road on Wednesday left the Blues in fourth place, nine points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.
“We did many things bad,” Chelsea boss Maresca said. “Probably we also paid the bill for playing one hour with 10 players against Arsenal.”
The Italian, who has previously been criticised over his rotation policy, made five changes for the game at Leeds.
Wesley Fofana was not included in the squad and Moises Caicedo was suspended while Malo Gusto, captain Reece James and winger Pedro Neto were named as substitutes.
But Maresca said his hand was forced.
“Most of the rotation we do is because the other one they cannot play,” he said. “So we have players in this moment not able to play every three days.
“And the reason why we have done most of the rotation in the past is for this reason.
“It’s always the same thing — when you pick 11 players and you win it’s fine. When you pick 11 players and you don’t win, it’s always the reason why.
“For sure, playing with 10 players for one hour (in Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Arsenal) then going to Leeds is not the best situation for us.”
Maresca was asked ahead of Chelsea’s game at Bournemouth on Saturday whether his young side needed an injection of experience.
“We always talk about experience when we drop points but when we beat Barcelona and drew against Arsenal, no one was mentioning about experienced players,” he said.
He added: “I know that we are always looking for experience but it was a bad game (at Leeds) for all of us.” (Guardian)
English