Philippine boxing star, Manny Pacquiao, has said he will run for president in next year’s election.
He was nominated as a candidate by a faction of the ruling party, PDP-Laban.
On top of a glittering career as a fighter, Mr Pacquiao, 42, is a senator in the Philippines’ parliament.
Incumbent Rodrigo Duterte is barred from another term but has been picked by a rival party faction to run for vice-president, a move critics say is an attempt to cling to power.
He was selected to run alongside a close ally, Christopher “Bong” Go, but Mr Go says he does not want to succeed Mr Duterte.
While his party says it wants Mr Go to reconsider his decision, his rejection of the nomination has led to suggestions that President Duterte’s daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio could join him on the ticket. As a boxer, Mr Pacquiao won world titles in an unprecedented eight different weight divisions. He lost his most recent bout against a Cuban opponent and said he was considering retiring.
Accepting the nomination, he said: “I am a fighter, and I will always be a fighter inside and outside the ring.”
Mr Pacquiao has pledged to campaign against poverty and corruption.
He is a popular figure in his home country but faces an uphill battle, trailing in opinion polls consistently topped by Sara Duterte-Carpio.
It is not clear which of the PDP-Laban factions will be recognised by the country’s electoral commission for the 2022 election.
The Super Falcons’ class of 1999 that reached the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup staged in the United States of America will be the star attraction of the 3rd NFF-Aiteo Football Awards holding at the Banquet Hall of Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos on Monday evening.
Ably led by Captain Florence Omagbemi, the Falcons defeated North Korea 2-1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with goals from Mercy Akide and Rita Nwadike, before losing 1-7 to the USA despite taking a second-minute lead through Nkiru Okosieme. Defeat to the Americans in Chicago stirred something in Africa’s lone flag-bearer at the first FIFA Women’s World Cup to feature 16 teams.
In their next match, the Super Falcons flew past Denmark 2-0 at the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium near Washington DC, the goals coming from Mercy Akide and Nkiru Okosieme. In the quarter finals, at the same venue, the Nigerian girls stormed back from three goals down to Brazil in the first half to tie the game 3-3, with Prisca Emeafu, Nkiru Okosieme and Nkechi Egbe the scorers. Brazil won in extra-time, in what was the very first time a women’s competitive game was decided by the golden goal. This was after 104 minutes.
“The performance of the Super Falcons in that tournament remains etched in the memory and it is important that we honour them with a special recognition award,” said President of NFF and FIFA Council Member, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick.
Fifteen members of that 1999 squad, as well as Coach Ismaila Mabo, will be on hand at the Banquet Hall of Eko Hotels & Suites on Monday night. Eight of them are being flown down from the United States of America. Sadly, attacking midfielder Ifeanyi Chiejine died last year.
It would be recalled that at the first edition of the awards held in February 2018, and attended by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and then CAF President Ahmad (among a clutch of political and football juggernauts), the 1980 class of Green Eagles led by ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu which won Nigeria’s first AFCON title, was specially recognized. At the second edition in April 2019, also attended by notable football and political bigwigs, it was the turn of the 1994 class of Super Eagles, which won Nigeria’s second AFCON title and played at the FIFA World Cup for the first time, to be specially recognized.
Also to be honoured on Monday night, at an event to be attended by the Secretary General of FIFA, Ms Fatma Samoura, is Princess Bola Ngozi Jegede, a respected pioneer sponsor, promoter and galvanizer of women’s football. Princess Jegede, who is also a former Board Member of the Nigeria Football Federation, founded and funded the team, Jegede Babes.
Organizers announced on Sunday that award categories will include Best Performance of the Year (Men; Nigeria-based); Best Performance of the Nigeria (Men, Overseas-Based); Best Performance of the Year (Women; Nigeria-based); Best Performance of the Year (Women; Overseas-based); Club of the Year (Men); Club of the Year (Women); Coach of the Year (Men); Coach of the Year (Women); Referee of the Year (Men); Referee of the Year (Women); Memorable Performance of the Year; Host State of the Year; Best Supporter of Women’s Football; Inspirational Award; Lifetime Achievement Award and Award for Commitment to Women Football Excellence. There will also be post-humous awards for Prince Larry Eze and Ms Henrietta Ukaigwe (both of blessed memory) for their contributions to women football development.
Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses and the Female Eagles of Mali fought out the first stalemate of the maiden edition of Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Tournament at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Sunday, both sides missing a hatful of chances to put the ball in the net.
The Lionesses, 1-0 winners over the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon on Day 2, were impressive with their ball-management on the park, vision, anticipation and firm control. Mali lost by two late goals to Nigeria on the opening day on Wednesday but were more dogged and pushful against the North Africans on Sunday.
The precocious Fatima Tagnaout, who scored the Lionesses’ goal against the other Lionesses from Cameroon, caught the eye of every spectator with her ball control and dribbling skills, and could have put Morocco ahead as early as the 5th minute but goalkeeper Fatoumata Karentao read her intention perfectly.
Tagnaout, Sanaa Mssoudy, Najat Badri, Chhiri Ghizlane, Sabah Seghir and Captain Chebbak Ghizlane were impressive in their reading of the game, and kept Morocco in the ascendancy all through the first 45 minutes.
Mali, determined to make something out of their last match of the tournament, looked up to the France –based Aissata Traore most of the time, and her deft touches nearly paid off in the 32nd minute as she beat three defenders but was checkmated as she bore down on Errmichi’s goal.
Oumou Kone had a brilliant opportunity to put Mali ahead in the 52nd minute off a defensive error by Zineb Redouani, but her shot flew wide of the goalpost.
Six minutes later, Fatima Tagnaout missed narrowly with the net gaping after a good run and cross by Mssoudy. In the 61st minute, Badri let fly a shot from outside the box but Fatoumata was able.
In the 72nd minute, with only the goalie to beat, Tagnaout could not get enough purchase on her touch, and at the other end, Traore’s well-placed shot from the edge of the box rattled Errmichi but she was able to parry the ball for a corner kick.
The Atlas Lionesses finished their campaign with four points, and immediately flew out of Lagos aboard an Air France flight to Paris, to connect Casablanca on Monday morning.
Mali gained one point and would remain grateful for the opportunity offered by the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament to measure their strength ahead of next month’s 2022 Women AFCOn qualifying fixtures.
On Monday evening, Ghana’s Black Queens, trounced by South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, come face to face with the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena.
Decades-old rivalry, plus the fact that both teams are still looking for their points of the tournament, renders this encounter potentially explosive.
A Louisiana-based research organization and a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi are joining forces in a research project aimed at restoring and protecting the Chandeleur Islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
In a news release announcing the effort, USM notes that the islands provide habitat for gulf fish and wildlife, and provide storm protection for coastal Louisiana.
Led by Dr. Kelly Darnell, an assistant research professor at USM, the project is one of 20 awarded a combined $2.3 million to find ways of best managing natural resources in the Gulf, including marine, mammals, shorebirds, barrier islands, seagrass and fisheries.
The projects are funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration restore Science Program.
The Water Institute of the Gulf, based in Baton Rouge, will be among those working with Darnell.
Others include the University of Florida, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Gulf of Mexico Alliance.
A volcano on Spain’s Atlantic Ocean island of La Palma erupted Sunday after a weeklong buildup of seismic activity, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands as lava flows destroyed isolated houses and threatened to reach the coast.
New eruptions continued into the night.
The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported the initial eruption near the southern end of the island, which saw its last eruption in 1971.
Huge red plumes topped with black-and-white smoke shot out along the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, which scientists had been closely watching following the accumulation of molten lava below the surface and days of small earthquakes.
Authorities immediately evacuated over 1,000 people, but Spain’s Civil Guard said it may need to evacuate up to 10,000 residents.
La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight volcanic islands in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast.
At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.
King Willem-Alexander officially unveiled a new memorial in the heart of Amsterdam’s historic Jewish Quarter on Sunday honoring more than 102,000 Dutch victims of the Holocaust, and the Dutch prime minister vowed that it would remind citizens today to be vigilant against antisemitism.
Designed by Polish-Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind, the memorial is made up of walls shaped to form four Hebrew letters spelling out a word that translates as “In Memory Of.”
The walls are built using bricks, each of which is inscribed with the name, date of birth and age when they died of one of the more than 102,000 Jews, Roma and Sinti who were murdered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II or who died on their way to the camps.
Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee, officially opened the monument with the king in the presence of dignitaries and Holocaust survivors.
After walking through the gates, each picked up a white stone and placed it in front of a commemorative wall, a Jewish tradition when visiting graves.
The king helped Grishaver to pick up and put down his stone. After the ceremony, he spoke to three survivors of the Holocaust.
Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the monument also should force people to confront the question of whether the Netherlands did enough to protect Jews during the war and what he called “the cold reception for the small group who returned from hell after the war.”
He called the era “a black page in the history of our country” and said the monument also has an important contemporary message “in our time when antisemitism is never far away. The monument says — no, it screams — be vigilant.”
The memorial is built close to a former concert hall where Jews rounded up by Amsterdam’s wartime Nazi occupiers were held before being sent to the camps.
Amsterdam Municipality granted permission for construction to start in 2017, but building work was delayed after residents argued that the monument was too big for the location. It was paid for in part by crowd-funding — 84,000 people paid 50 euros ($58) each to “adopt” one of the bricks.
The official unveiling came a year after a friend of Anne Frank, Jacqueline van Maarsen, laid the first stone, which bears the name of 20-year-old Dina Frankenhuis, who was murdered in Sobibor.
Rutte said the monument carries a vital message.
“This name monument says 102,163 times: ‘No, we will not forget you. No, we won’t accept that your name is erased. No, evil does not have the last word,’” he said. “Every one of them was somebody and today they get back their names.”
The governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Governor Udom Emmanuel has flagged of the planting of 300,000 special breed of coconut seedlings in Akwa Ibom State.
The event took place on Saturday 18th September, 2021 at the Government Coconut Plantation, Ekeya, Okobo, in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria’s South-south.
Governor Udom who personally planted 50 seedlings of coconut stressed that coconut is of high value and can possibly serve as an alternative to crude oil.
He stated that the Saint Gabriel’s Coconut Oil Virgin Refinery has been completed and it is the first coconut oil refinery in Africa. “What is left is to test run the refinery and knowledge transfer”, he added.
The governor enjoined Akwa Ibom indigenes to plant coconuts.
“We want to create a future for our young ones. Coconut has at least 365 uses which means that every single day that God created has a use for coconut.
The plantation at Ekeya, Okobo will complement the bigger plantations at Mkpat-Enin, Eastern Obolo and Ikot Abasi. I enjoin all Akwa Ibom people to plant coconuts”, he said.
He also called on the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to partner with the state in coconut investment.
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has appointed 9 people into the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd.
It can be recalled that the President ordered on Sunday, that the NNPC should be fully incorporated in line with Section 53(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, which requires the Minister of Petroleum Resources to cause for the incorporation of the NNPC Limited within six months of commencement of the Act in consultation with the Minister of Finance on the nominal shares of the Company.
Amid Federal Government’s concern over many Nigerians’ reluctance to take the Covid-19 vaccine and its plan to impose sanctions on those who refuse the vaccine when it is made available to all, some states have said they do not intend to force anyone to take the vaccine.
The states, including Enugu, Taraba, Cross River, Ogun, Bauchi and Abia, said they wouldn’t adopt strict measures to compel them.
In Enugu State, the Commissioner for Information and spokesperson for the state Action Committee on Covid-19, Mr Chidi Aroh, the state would respect the fundamental rights of every resident of the state.
In Ogun State, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, ruled out the option of barring persons who had not been vaccinated from its facilities.
Also, in Bauchi State, the Executive Chairman of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Rilwan Mohammed, said the state had no plan to restrict people that had not been vaccinated from public facilities.
1356 English forces under Edward the Black Prince defeat French at Battle of Poitiers and capture the French King during the Hundred Years’ War
1870 Siege of Paris by Prussian Forces begins (lasts until January 28 1871)
1893 New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote
1985 8.1 earthquake in Mexico City kills an estimated 10,000 and leaves 250,000 homeless
1986 US Federal health officials announce AZT will be available to AIDS patients
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