Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich???

When asked about Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich, his successor at Barcelona, Tito Vilanova, said on Wednesday night: "When you are at your home club, it's different." He was answering the question: why has Guardiola signed for three years when he would only ever sign for one at the Nou Camp? The answer fits a variety of other questions surrounding his appointment and his ability to repeat the Barcelona successes elsewhere. Thanks to Vilanova, Barcelona are not missing Guardiola. Will he be missing them come the middle of next season, exposed as having been a mere cog in the Barcelona machine and out of place in Germany? The former Barcelona player and Germany international Bernd Schuster has already pointed out the perils of having the three most powerful and influential men in the club's history watching your every move at Bayern. And Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Höness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge aside, there are other obstacles to overcome.

The former Bayern captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, while approving of the appointment, has already asked the question: "At Barcelona, Guardiola was very successful, but the philosophy is well established there; you have to ask if it can work as well at a different club." The bad news for English football is that it probably can, because Guardiola has chosen the club where he is least likely to fail. Rather than mourn his decision to go elsewhere, fans in England might instead fear the consequences of him going to a club with everything in place to dominate European football, along with Barcelona, for the foreseeable future. Winning 14 trophies from a possible 19 – as he did during his four years in charge at Barcelona – will be hard to match, and his predecessor Johan Cruyff spoke about how difficult the next step would be when he said: "I was lucky, when I left Barcelona I only had 10 years or so ahead of me, he has the best part of his career still to go, in which he will have to live up to what he has achieved at Barcelona."

Armstrong finally admits to doping

Lance Armstrong finally has confessed to using performance enhancing drugs during his cycling career, admitting he cheated to win all seven of his Tour de France titles.Describing himself as a "bully" and a "deeply flawed character", Armstrong ended years of denials by revealing his darkest secrets in an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey at his hometown of Austin, Texas.

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Happy Birthday, Michelle Obama!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HER EXCELLENCY!

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

Super Eagles of Nigeria get charged by Mr. President

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday charged the Super Eagles to go all out during the Africa Cup of Nations holding in South Africa from Saturday and make the nation proud. Jonathan told the players and their handlers that their performance at the tournament “must reflect the nation’s status as the giant of Africa.” He gave the charge shortly after a presentation made by the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, during the Federal Executive Council meeting. Abdullahi had intimated the President and members of the council of the level of preparation put in place by his ministry to ensure the team’s success during the competition. The Minister, who spoke with reporters afterwards, said the Super Eagles were in high spirits and were well prepared to triumph over their opponents.

“The FEC prayed for a successful outing for the Eagles. Mr. President also told us that the Eagles’ performance should reflect Nigeria’s status as giant of Africa. He said we should improve on our record of only winning the tournament twice. We appeal to Nigerians to support us,” the minister said. Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said efforts were still ongoing to resolve the differences between the Confederation of African Football and broadcasting organisations on the broadcast rights of the tournament’s matches. Maku expressed the hope that the disagreement would be resolved early enough for Nigerians to be able to watch the matches live.

Arrested Osun goat dies in custody

The five goats arrested by the Osun State Waste Management Agency (OWMA) in Osogbo last week were on Tuesday dragged before an Osogbo Magistrate Court along side their owners. Three owners of the goats including Mrs. Aduke Adetona, Mrs. Esther Ibikunle and Adedoyin Adetayo were docked, while the goats were not allowed into the court hall but kept in the premises of the court. The court presided over by Mrs. A. O. Ajanaku discharged Mrs. Adetayo, who had already lost her goat in the custody of OWMA and ordered other accused persons to pay N2, 500 fine to the coffers of the state government. The court pardoned one of the owners, Mrs. Adedoyin Adetayo whose goat had died, but warned her to comply strictly with the provisions of the state environmental laws and the rules of OWMA. The court ruled that the accused persons violated article 101, cap 11 of the laws of Osun State, which prohibited birds and other animals from straying into residential areas. The prosecutor, Mr. Femi Ogunbamiwo who is also the Director of Environmental Management and Sanitation in OWMA told the court that the accused persons committed an offence contrary to and punishable under the environmental laws of the state. Mr. Ogunbamiwo told the court that the accused persons committed the offence on January 5, 2013 by allowing animals under their control to stray into public domain in a manner that was injurious to the health of the public.

Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, nominates 2 new ministers

President Goodluck Jonathan has commenced moves to replace former defence minister, Haliru Bello Mohammed and former minister of power, Barth Nnaji in the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The president had forwarded the nomination of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (Kebbi) and Prof. Chinedu Nebo (Enugu) as ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. In a January 16 letter addressed to Senate President, David Mark, the president said the nomination was in conformity with Section 147 (2) of the 1999 Constitution. In another correspondence, President Jonathan informed the Senate of the up-coming centenary of Nigeria and requested an allotted time to brief senators on programmes scheduled for the occasion. Nigeria’s centenary would come up on January 1, 2014. The January 10 letter reads: “You may wish to recall that on January 1, 1914 the northern and southern protectorates of Nigeria were formally amalgamated into one country-establishing modern day Nigeria. “This implies that the January 1, 2014 marks 100 years of our union as a nation.

Notwithstanding our challenges, it is considered that this is a significant anniversary deserving of celebration by the citizens and Government of Nigeria. “It is against this background that I constituted a 19-member Planning Committee for the Centenary celebrations under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The committee has articulated a proposed framework for the celebrations, which has already been presented to the FEC and also to the state governors at the National Economic Council for their inputs. “The purpose of this letter is to request for a convenient date for the Senate to receive a full briefing on the proposed programme for the centenary celebrations so that your inputs will also be accommodated in the framework. “It is my hope that this request will receive the traditional expeditious consideration of the distinguished senators.”

Winter health myths and the truth

The cold and flu season is upon us: queue old wives’ tales, rumours and bonkers advice. But what health myths actually hold a grain of truth?

1. Being out in the cold will make you ill
False - You have to ‘catch’ a virus or bacteria to make you ill and this is more likely to happen when you come into contact with people or germs spread by ill people. Unless you’re outdoors with a group of people full of cold, being outdoors could actually lower your risk.

2. Winter makes us depressed
True and false - Cases of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) increase in winter, making it seem depressive, but actually the number of suicides decline around December and peak in the spring and summer, according to research from the journal Psychiatry Research. Medical cases of depression don’t increase in the winter either. However, January can be difficult as many people expect the holidays to have ironed out any problems they were having and make them feel better, and feel disappointed when they don’t.
So winter does bring on the blues, but doesn’t cause depression.

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Facebook Reveals GRAPH SEARCH

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled a new search feature on the world's biggest online social network. Called Graph Search, Mr Zuckerberg said the tool was not a web search. Instead it would search Facebook's database, allowing users to find information about people, photos, places and interests. Until now, Facebook users were unable to search for friends who live in a certain town or like a particular movie. With the new feature, people can search for friends who, say, live in London who also like Zero Dark Thirty. Mr Zuckerberg said the tool was "privacy aware" as users can only search for content that has been shared with them. The company has faced increasing scrutiny from privacy regulators as users entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to the network. Leading up to the announcement, Facebook was keeping mum about the details triggering a guessing game about what it would reveal. Suggestions ranged from a smartphone to a search engine.

Stolen baby boy dies in custody

Culled from Daily Sun:

Tragedy struck in Anambra State capital, Awka, when a three-month-old stolen baby boy delivered by 20-year-old Charity Nwuzor from Ebonyi State died mysteriously in the custody of the Women Affairs Motherless Babies Home, Ifite-Awka. The home is owned and run by the Women Affairs Ministry of the Anambra State Government. Daily Sun reported that the child, who was stolen from a private hospital in the commercial city of Onitsha through the help of the doctor and fiance to Charity and kept in the orphanage’s custody allegedly developed an unusual complication, which caused blood to ooze out from his mouth and nose until he died. The child, who was yet be given a name in the orphanage, was delivered by Miss Nwuzor through a cesarean operation in a hospital in the commercial city of Onitsha.

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Cycling - Lance Armstrong visits Livestrong Foundation to apologise

Lance Armstrong on Monday visited the Austin, Texas, office of the cancer foundation he started to personally apologise to the staff of about 100 people, the same day Oprah Winfrey is scheduled to interview him in what is widely expected to be his first admission of doping."He had a private conversation with the staff, who have done the important work of the foundation for many years," said Livestrong Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane. "It was a very sincere and heartfelt expression of regret over any stress that they've suffered over the course of the last few years as a result of the media attention," she said. The apology came as Armstrong was scheduled to tape an interview with Winfrey to air on Thursday -- his first interview since being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The disgraced cyclist plans to admit in the interview to doping throughout his career, USA Today reported on Saturday. McLane declined to comment on whether Armstrong will admit to doping during the interview."Armstrong will address the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating, and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied cycling career," according to a press release from Winfrey that called the event a "no-holds-barred interview." Armstrong has always vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs and has never been proven to have tested positive.

U.K Student Arrested For Over-Reading

A British high school called police to remove a star pupil who is so “obsessed” with revising that he refused to leave the library.Jamie Gagliardi, 18, was ejected from Ifield Community College in southern England, after refusing to leave the library. The school accused Gagliardi, who is predicted to be an A-grade student, of being “obsessed” with after-school tuition and said that it called the police because the pupil was causing a “nuisance”.
Gagliardi, who was forced to call his mother to pick him up, said: “I have been punished for wanting to do well. I am a hard-working and dedicated student, and this could have such an impact on my future.” The student went to the library despite being banned from the premises for the day as a punishment for interrupting the school principal during a meeting – to request extra revision sessions. Marilyn Evans, the school’s director of administration, said: “He became vociferous and irritated that he couldn’t have after-school revision.” She described Gagliardi as a “top student” who should do well in his exams, but said he had been “causing a nuisance and a disturbance on the premises.” A police spokeswoman confirmed that officers were called to the school to remove a “disruptive” pupil who was refusing to leave the premises, but said that Gagliardi will not face any charges.

* * * nawa oo! tins dey happen for this world, over reading, e dey cause accident ooh!* * *

Pastor Chris Okotie Says Tattooing, Plastic Surgery Not Sin Before God

Reports say former presidential aspirant, Pastor Chris Okotie at a service held on Sunday January 13th at his church auditorium, Household of God Church said that tattooing their body or even undergoing plastic surgery is not a sin before God. According to reports, the pastor said a lot of people misinterpret a scripture in the bible which is supposedly against body art and enhancement. He said getting tattoos and plastic surgery is an individual decision and has nothing to do with God. A lot of people however disagree with the pastor’s position on tattoos and plastic surgery, his church members inclusive; more reason why a regular Sunday sermon has become a talking point today. It is not unusual for people and even church members to disagree with their pastor’s views. We understand differently, but Pastor Okotie’s antecedents have brought up not-so-good comments following a sermon, one of the many he gives every year.

* * * I know I may not be a perfect Bible person, but what happened to Lev.19:28? * * *

Samsung sells 100million Galaxy S phones.

Electronics giant Samsung said global sales of its Galaxy S smartphone series have passed 100 million since the first model was launched less than three years ago. The South Korean firm said it has sold more than 25 million Galaxy S smartphones, 40 million Galaxy S II smartphones and 41 million Galaxy S III smartphones in the last three years. Samsung rolled out the first Galaxy S model at the end of May 2010, scrambling to catch up with Apple, which was reshaping the market with the iPhone. Despite being a late entry, Samsung quickly caught up the US firm and became the biggest smartphone maker. Galaxy S series achieved the 100 million sales milestone faster than Apple's iPhone. It took about four years for Apple to sell more than 100 million iPhones. Something big is coming too . . . SAMSUNG GALAXY S IV. Watch out for it because it would be another innovation.

Gov. Chime battling with heart disease in UK

Governor Sullivan Chime, who has been missing from Enugu State since September 2012 when he applied accumulated leave that ought to have lasted only one and a half months, is battling heart disease in London’s Cromwell Hospital, sources have told SaharaReporters. Despite efforts to ferry him home to quell public restlessness in the State, the condition of the governor, whose medical sojourn started in India, has remained dire. The prolonged absence of the Governor has left the state under the complete control of his Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo. Deputy Governor Sunday Onyebuchi, who is a neophyte, is limited to monetary spending limit of not more than N500,000k at a time.

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Top Boko Haram commander captured in Nigeria.

The Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Restore Order in Borno said yesterday it arrested a high profile Boko Haram commander, one Mohammed Zangina in Maiduguri, the state capital. According to the JTF spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, Zangina, who was among the top Boko Haram leaders on the wanted lists of the task force was nabbed at GRA Maiduguri in the early hours of yesterday.

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