Author: Chronicle Editor

Chelsea have signed Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud on an 18-month deal for about £18m. France international Giroud, 31, leaves Arsenal having scored 105 goals in 253 games since signing from Montpellier for a reported £12m in June 2012. Borussia Dortmund have also confirmed a deal to sign Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi until the end of the season. Earlier on the closing day of the winter transfer window, Dortmund sold Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal. READ: Riyad Mahrez upsets teammates by not turning up for training “Chelsea is one of the biggest teams in the Premier League – they have won maybe…

The number of known sexual abuse victims of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar has grown to 265, a Michigan judge has said. At least 65 victims are set to confront Nassar, 54, in court this week in the last of three sentencing hearings, prosecutors say. He was sentenced last week to 40 to 175 years in prison after nearly 160 women testified that he had molested them. He was earlier sentenced to 60 years’ prison for having child abuse images. Wednesday’s hearing is to sentence Nassar for molesting patients in the back room of Twistars gymnastics club in Dimondale,…

Chelsea have completed the signing of Olivier Giroud from London rivals Arsenal. The Frenchman’s agent arrived in London on Wednesday morning to thrash out the final details of the deal taking him to Stamford Bridge on an 18-month deal for an undisclosed fee. Sky Sports News understands the deal is worth £15.3m with £2.2m in bonuses. His move to Chelsea was confirmed hours after Arsenal completed a club-record transfer for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund. Read Also Riyad Mahrez upsets teammates by not turning up for training Speaking to Chelsea’s official website, Giroud said: “Chelsea is one of the biggest…

About a week after former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a damning letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, his touted Coalition Movement has been launched in Abuja. The movement was launched at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre. The former president in a lengthy and critical public statement on Tuesday, January 23 suggested the formation of the movement and advised Buhari against seeking a second term in office. Obasanjo was not present at the launch, but two former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Donald Duke, were in attendance. READ: UNHCR appeals for $157 million for IDPS in Nigeria The former…

Riyad Mahrez has upset his Leicester City teammates after he refused to turn up for training on Tuesday, Sky sources have been told. Mahrez is trying to force a move through to Manchester City after the league leaders showed interest in signing the winger. “Riyad Mahrez’s effort to force through a move to Manchester City have left a number of Leicester players feeling angry and let down,” Sky sources say. On Tuesday, Mahrez handed in a transfer request but the club have no interest in selling him before the transfer deadline. It is understood Manchester City have made a bid…

The United Nations High Commission For Refugees, UNHCR, appealed on Wednesday for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The UNHCR, acting with more than 40 other agencies, said it needed to help 208,000 Nigerian refugees and 75,000 of their hosts in Niger, Cameroon and Chad, where infrastructure has been strained by the influx. Since 2013, the Boko Haram conflict has internally displaced another 2.4 million people in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, it said. “The Boko Haram crisis lingers…

Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal to stay at the club until 2021. Ozil, 29, becomes the highest-paid player in the club’s history – earning about £350,000 a week before tax. The deal, signed on Wednesday, follows months of speculation about the future of the Germany international, whose previous contract was due to expire at the end of the season. He joined the Gunners from Real Madrid in 2013 for a then club record £42.4m. Ozil could have left Arsenal as a free agent in the summer and had been able to discuss a move with…

Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, has advised tax defaulters to take advantage of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) and avoid prosecution as well as other penalties at the end of the scheme on 31 March. Speaking on Tuesday at the a one-day VAIDS Workshop for professionals in tax advisory services, Fowler, who was represented by Mr. Gbolaga Oshiga, urged Nigerians to truthfully declare their incomes and assets under VAIDS. The scheme, an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Finance, he said, was conceived to bring more Nigerians into the tax net…

DStv and GOtv subscribers will have the opportunity of watching the 2018 Winter Olympics live when it kicks off on 9 February. The event will be broadcast live on DStv across four dedicated SuperSport channels: SS11, SS12 and the soon-to-be launched pop-up channels, SS13 and SS14. GOtv MAX and GOtv Plus customers will also be treated to a piece of the action with Winter Olympics news and highlights on Select 3. The 2018 Winter Olympics, being hosted in PyeongChang, South Korea, will see Nigeria and Uganda make their debut. DStv subscribers will witness history in the making when the Nigerian…

The Nigerian Army on Wednesday said it had embarked on road construction project in Sambisa Forest as part of ongoing clearance operation to dislodge remnants of Boko Haram insurgents. The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Kukasheka, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Maiduguri. Kukasheka said that the army had begun construction of access road to open the forest and link adjourning communities. He listed the projects as Gwoza-Yamtake-Bita-Tokumbere-Sambisa and Gwoza-Yamtake-Bita roads. “In its efforts to make Sambisa forest habitable and also training ground, the Nigerian Army is following up the ongoing clearance operations with road construction into…