Bilbao, Madrid candidates to host Euro 2020

Football | Spain

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed on Wednesday that the new San Mames Stadium in Bilbao and Atletico Madrid's future home La Peineta will be their candidates to host matches at Euro 2020.
Espanyol's Cornella El Prat and Valencia's new Mestalla stadium, which had previously been earmarked as potential hosts have now been discarded.
"After analysing the four stadiums initially presented as candidates for the European Championships in 2020, the board has announced that it will propose San Mames (Bilbao) and La Peineta (Madrid) as candidates to host matches during the tournament," the RFEF said in a statement.
Both the stadiums selected have yet to be completed.

Ramos wins appeal against red card

Football | Spain

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos will be free to play against Valencia on Sunday after the club's appeal against his 18th career red card in the game with Osasuna last Saturday was successful.
The first of Ramos' two yellow cards in the first-half of the 2-2 draw in Pamplona was rescinded by the competition committee of the Spanish Football Federation on Wednesday.
Real boss Carlo Ancelotti had described the Spanish international's dismissal as "hard to understand" and the Italian will be relieved that Ramos is available for the trip to the Mestalla as he has a shortage of options at centre-back.

Are D’banj And Genevieve Back Together?!?

 

D’banj confessed in an interview months back that if you could pick anyone to get married to, that he would definitely pick Nollywood screen goddess — Genevieve Nnaji.

Mariah Carey Allegedly Paid ₦200million For 10-Hour Trip To Nigeria

 

Na wa for this our country ooh, with the mass poverty and unemployment rates; top officials in this country still have the mind to waste enormous sums on unnecessary wants and luxuries.
There have been mass criticisms concerning Mariah Carey’s short visit to Nigeria for the Access Bank end of the year party.

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde In Iconic Invanity Interview For CNN African Voices

 

It seems there is no stopping Nollywood superstar Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, everything she does seems to be a step even higher for her brand name.

Saka: “I once rejected comic roles”

 

Actor Afeez ‘Saka‘ Oyetoro has become a brand name on his own and a marketing force that billion dollar companies are even battling to have on their team.
The actor and face of MTN says he once rejected comic roles at the beginning of his career.
‘I rejected several comical roles in a month; I didn’t want to be typecast’, Saka said in a recent interview with NewsWatch.

Seun Kuti Shares Photo With His New-Born Daughter

 

Seun Kuti is one of the happiest men on earth presently as he and his longtime girlfriend welcomed their daughter into the workd.
The Afro-beat legacy has been anticipating this moment for a longtime as he continually shared baby bump photos of his sweetheart when she was heavily preggy.
She put to bed in France weeks ago.

SEE Why Beyonce Has Been Banned

 Beyonce sold more than 618,550 copies of her new self-titled album last week — her best showing ever. But not everyone is a fan.

It has now been learned that Target has made the decision not to sell the CD.
The retail titan announced earlier this week that they would not be carrying “Beyonce” in stores since the singer had decided to release the album in digital format first.
“At Target, we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections,” Target spokeswoman Erica Julkowski told Rolling Stone.

R. Kelly Responds To Village Voice Story About His Past s*xual Assault Allegations

 

Arguably one of the most gifted male vocalists of our time, R&B sensation, R. Kelly has fired back at the Village Voice’s shocking article about his history of alleged s*xual abuse of teenage girls which centered around an interview with Chicago Sun-Times music journalist, Jim DeRogatis, who broke the story 15 years ago.

Pa. Kasumu still needs N6m for treatment abroad

Pa Kasumu

Popular Yoruba actor, Olukayode Odumosu – Pa. Kasumu – still requires the sum of N6m to enable him go for the much needed treatment overseas.  This is against the N12m earlier announced.

Although the family has yet to make this figure public, a family source says the fund raiser  drive for the actor has been suspended for now.

Brazil 2014: Minister, NFF meet again

Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
| credits: economicconfidential.net

The Minister of Sports Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation are billed to meet again in Abuja today in continuation of the checks on the Super Eagles programmes for Brazil 2014 World Cup. The NFF top officials will meet the minister in company with the national coach Stephen Keshi.

The meeting had to be adjourned to this week to enable Keshi present and defend his programmes. The Eagles coach was not available last week which forced the final discussion to be put on hold until today. The meeting is billed to hold when the minister returns to his office after the Federal Executive Council meeting which also holds in Abuja on Wednesday.

An official of the National Sports Commission told our correspondent that the minister was treating the meeting as very urgent.

BON ban goes messier: Nigerian artistes fight back

 

Banky W and TuFace

Artistes and other stakeholders count their losses as a ban on their music due to copyright dispute lingers, JAYNE AUGOYE writes

The ongoing feud between the Copyright Society of Nigeria, the alliance of the Independence Broadcast Association of Nigeria and Broadcast Organisation of Nigeria is taking a toll on the Nigerian music industry.

Since the ban on the airplay of works of 96 Nigerian music artistes was pronounced on December 4.

A huge void has been created with regards to the contents on air at Nigerian radio and television stations.

The ban was conveyed in a press release jointly signed by Sonny Adun and Guy Murray-Bruce who are IBAN Chairman and Secretary respectively.

Fuel scarcity looms as oil workers threaten strike January

 

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke

Nigeria may experience nationwide scarcity of petroleum products immediately after the yuletide if the threat to ground operations in the oil and gas sector beginning from January 1, 2014 is carried out by workers in the industry.

The workers, under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Employees, on Tuesday declared that they would embark on strike from next year if the Federal Government fails to retract plans to privatise the nation’s four refineries.

This was disclosed during a peaceful protest held at the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Abuja on Tuesday.

Lewa drops Bayern hint... in Bavarian

 

Football | Germany

Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski has dropped another heavy hint that he plans to join Bayern Munich in 2014 by responding in Bavarian to a question about his future.
"Schaun mer mal ('let's wait and see' in Bavarian)," Lewandowski told German daily Bild when asked about a possible move to rivals Bayern Munich.
The 25-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has been repeatedly linked to a move to European champions Bayern.

Doctor confirms Messi on the mend

Football | Spain

Argentina's four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi's recovery from a torn hamstring is on schedule, his club Barcelona confirmed on Wednesday.
Messi was ruled out for the rest of the year when he suffered the latest in a number of recent muscle injuries in Barca's 4-1 win over Real Betis at the beginning of November.
The 26-year-old is currently in Argentina as he undergoes treatment, but has been joined in Buenos Aires by Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta and club doctor Ricard Pruna.

Chelsea lack killer instinct - Mou

Football | Capital One Cup

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was forced to recount a familiar tale as he bemoaned his team's latest failure to turn chances into goals after their 2-1 extra-time defeat by Sunderland in the League Cup on Tuesday.
"The quality of football we produced is amazing. We never lost a match because we didn't play or that the opponent was stronger, it's just we don't kill opponents and we give them life," Mourinho told Sky Sports after his team were knocked out in the quarterfinals.
"Every opponent knows they can score a goal (against us). We had fantastic chances to score and didn't score."