Country
Roberto Martinez to stay on as Belgium coach
Roberto Martinez will stay on as Belgium coach despite the country’s European Championship exit and attempt another tilt at a major title at next year’s World Cup, he said in an interview with Belgian newspapers on Friday. Martinez, whose contract runs until after next year’s tournament in Qatar, had not given any clarity on his plans since Belgium were beaten 2-1 by Italy in Munich in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals a week ago in a major disappointment for the team, who have spent the last three years top of the Fifa rankings. “I’m staying as coach. When I feel I no longer have anything to contribute is when I will leave,” he said. “But I don’t have that feeling now. I was a bitterly disappointed to be knocked out but now I’m looking ahead to the World Cup in Qatar. And also the Nations Leag...
Dierks Bentley’s 2021 Seven Peaks Festival Canceled Due to Capacity Limitations
The latest Chaffee County Public Health Order limits outdoor events to 2,000 people. Seven Peaks regularly hosts 5,000 fans. The Chaffee County Board of Health re-evaluates the capacity limitations on a monthly basis, which means the health order could be amended between now and the festival’s launch in September. “It cannot be overstated how much time, thought, effort and energy has gone into gearing up for the festival this year. I want to thank my team for their work, the artists for their trust, and above all our fans, who look forward to this event all year long,” Bentley’s statement continued. Billboard reached out to representatives from Seven Peaks and Bentley but have not heard back as of publication. Seven Peaks’ cancellation closely...
Margo Price Announces New EP Live From the Other Side, Performs “Hey Child” on Colbert: Watch
Margo Price has announced Live From the Other Side, a new audiovisual EP due out July 16th via Loma Vista Recordings. To preview the project, the country singer filmed a Late Show with Stephen Colbert performance featuring a new version of “Hey Child” with Adia Victoria, Allison Russell, Kam Franklin, and Kyshona Armstrong. Live From the Other Side will contain a cover of The Beatles’ “Help” (also featuring Victoria, Russell, Franklin, and Armstrong), a solo arrangement of “That’s How Rumors Get Started,” and “Hey Child.” In a statement, Price reflected on the year since she released the excellent That’s How Rumors Get Started and shared how Tina Turner influenced her new project. “I hope it kept you warm during those cold, lonely nights,” she said about Rumors. “Some things changed f...
Seven Indians, Nigerians docked for ‘cocaine importation’
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Friday arraigned seven Indians and three Nigerians before the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court for allegedly smuggling 43.1 kilogrammes of cocaine into the country. The Indians include Shedrack Yurama; Singh Vikash; Kunnaserypallam Ashraf Inzam; Xaiver Fernando Santhanaria; Mandal Surjeet Ashok; Tandel Pratikkumar Pravinbai; and Barthwal Rohan Sunil. Their Nigerian alleged accomplices are Tobi Ojo; Kunle Animashaun and Omozusi Enorose Terry. Also arraigned before the court alongside the defendants was a limited liability company, Oilways Logistics and Energy Limited. The defendants were arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and unlawful importation of cocaine. The defendants, according to the charge marked FHC/L/100c/2021, were ar...
Haiti police say they have president’s suspected killers, still hunting masterminds
Haiti’s police has killed or apprehended the suspected killers of President Jovenel Moise, officials said on Thursday, and are hunting for the masterminds behind the assassination that stunned the impoverished Caribbean nation. Moise, 53, was shot dead early on Wednesday at his home by what officials said was a commando of apparently foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amidst political divisions, hunger, and widespread gang violence. Police Chief Leon Charles said in a televised briefing on Thursday that authorities had tracked down the suspected assassins to a house near the scene of the crime in Petionville, a northern suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince. A fierce firefight lasted late into the night and six suspects were taken in c...
INEC promises to train Malawian electoral body on delineation, creation of polling units
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to teach its Malawian electoral commission counterpart the tricks it used in the delineation of constituencies and creation of polling units. Speaking when his Malawian counterpart, Justice Chifundo Kachale, led a delegation on a courtesy visit on him in Abuja on Thursday, National Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said he understand that the Southern African country is also faced similar challenges Nigeria had previously. He announced to the delegation that the Commission is currently undergoing a historic voter registration exercise, emphasizing: “We are also doing the voter pre-registration online, which will now be completed physically in person at designated centres nationwide. So you are coming at the right time. ...
La Liga chief: Impossible for Barca to keep Lionel Messi without departures
Barcelona must considerably reduce their wage bill in order to keep Lionel Messi, LaLiga chief Javier Tebas said on Thursday, adding that the club would not be shown any leniency when it comes to obeying the league’s strict financial control rules. Messi, Barca’s all-time top scorer and appearance maker, ended his 21-year association with the club last month and is currently a free agent as the Catalans cannot offer him a new deal due to their financial predicament. President Joan Laporta said last month that Messi was keen to remain at the club but giving him a new deal was being held up by the league’s Financial Fair Play regulations. Spanish media reports had suggested LaLiga could relax the rules to allow the six-time Ballon d’Or winner to stay at Barca but Tebas said there was no chan...
Mass defection: House member asks PDP national chairman to resign
Rep Rimamnde Shawulu (PDP-Taraba), has urged the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Uche Secondus, to resign following mass defection from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Shawulu said this a letter addressed to the chairman and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday. He decried the rate at which the party was losing members to the ruling APC in recent times. Shawulu also urged members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to resign. “Today, unexpectedly, four members of the House of Representatives from Zamfara defected from the PDP to APC,” he said. He said unlike before, when leaders of the party at the House usually put up a form of protest, not a whisper was heard or a hand raised in protest against the defection. “Dear...
Colonel Umar: Blame President Buhari for separatist agitations
Former Military Administrator of Kaduna State Colonel Abubakar Umar (rtd) has blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government for separatist agitations threatening national unity. The current administration, he said, has failed to unite the country. Umar also lambasted the government for what he described as undue attention to threats of separatist movements in contrast to the more daunting threats posed by bandits, kidnappers and insurgents in the North West, some parts of North Central and North East. In a statement on Wednesday titled: ‘Nigeria; A Nation Challenged,‘ the former MILAD said the best way to unite a diverse and fragile nation like Nigeria is through justice, fairness and equity. He stated the current administration has so far exhibited poor skills management of...
PDP vice chairman: Electronic transfer of results, a must for free, fair polls
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-south has called on the National Assembly to retain electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act The National Vice Chairman, South-south of the party, Dan Orbih, made the call on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin. He was reacting to the purported removal of the provision for the electronic transfer of result provision from the proposed amendment Act currently being debated by the National Assembly. “Nigerians should resist the removal of electronic transmission of election results during elections from the Electoral Act because it is an invitation to unending electoral fraud,” Mr Orbih said. The introduction of electronic transmission of election results from the polling units to collation cen...
School feeding programme: Nigerian government to enroll 67,307 pupils in Ebonyi – NOA
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) says Federal Government will enrol 67,307 primary school pupils into the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme in Ebonyi. The Director of NOA in the state, Dr Desmond Onwo, said this on Wednesday during his visit to the Traditional Rulers Council in Abakaliki. Onwo said the programme would capture 561 public primary schools in the 13 local government areas of the state. He urged the traditional rulers to key into the programme and support NOA’s campaign to ensure that the people participated actively. “The programme is going to commence across communities in the state with an enumeration in order to identify the children. “It is going to cover from primary one to three in public primary schools. “This is not for all states in the country but Ebon...
NNPC commits to ensuring energy sufficiency, wealth creation for Nigerians
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reiterated its commitment to ensuring effective stewardship of the nation’s hydrocarbon resources to guarantee energy security and drive wealth creation in Nigeria. The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, made this assertion while delivering the keynote address at the 2021 Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG 2021) on Tuesday in Abuja. Speaking on the topic: “Vision and Priorities for Nigeria’s Energy Transformation,” Mallam Kyari stated that for a nation with a teeming youth and a developing economy, Nigeria needed the right policies to unlock its huge economic potential, stressing that NNPC was working towards bridging the energy gap to multiply wealth for its varied stakeholders. “We see a nation that m...
