Author: David Great

Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland is a doubt for the Club World Cup, with the striker set to miss Manchester City’s home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday. City’s top scorer, who has scored 19 goals this season, missed last weekend’s win at Luton and the midweek victory over Red Star Belgrade with a foot injury and has been receiving treatment in Marbella, in southern Spain. Haaland reported back to City on Friday, and manager Guardiola said he would be assessed by club doctors before a decision was made on his availability. Reigning European and English champions, Manchester City are…

Troops of the Joint Task Force, North West Operation Hadarin Daji, have killed three terrorists in Sokoto State. In a statement via its verified X, formerly Twitter handle, the Nigerian army stated the offensive clearance operation, which took place Thursday at Sokoto’s Bauni village and forest, “led to a gun duel that lasted for several hours.” The Army said the operation was a continuation of the onslaught against terrorists to ensure hitch-free Yuletide festivities through a series of coordinated clearance and offensive operations in its areas of responsibility. Troops kill one, recover arms during raid on IPOB, ESN camps However,…

Alphabet’s Google said on Thursday it will begin testing a new feature on its Chrome browser as part of a plan to ban third-party cookies that advertisers use to track consumers. The search giant is set to roll out the feature, called Tracking Protection, on Jan. 4 to 1% of Chrome users globally, that will restrict cross-site tracking by default. Google plans to completely phase out the use of third-party cookies for users in the second half of 2024. The timeline, however, is subject to addressing antitrust concerns raised by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Google said. The CMA has been…

President Bola Tinubu has sympathised with the Ezeife family, the people, and the government of Anambra on the passing of Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a former governor of the state. The late Ezeife, Okwadike of Igbo-Ukwu, was governor of Anambra from 1992 to 1993. Tinubu expressed his condolences in a statement by his media aide, Ajuri Ngelale, on Friday. The president extolled the towering influence of the former federal permanent secretary in Nigeria’s political landscape and his leadership credentials, describing his passing as a painful loss. Tinubu recalled the deceased’s contributions to shaping public discourse and governance in Nigeria and laying the…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rising inflation and exchange rates will decline in 2024. The apex bank also projected less revenue from oil exports in the coming year. CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso stated these on Thursday in Abuja when he appeared before the Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions. Mr. Cardoso said the total trade from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) stood at N18.804 billion as of the third quarter of 2023. According to him, the outlook for the nation’s domestic economy for 2024 is very positive, as both the inflation and exchange rates…

Popular clergy and General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has hinted that the second coming of Jesus Christ might happen on October 1 of a year that is yet to be revealed. The mathematics scholar turned clergy stated this in a video played at the homecoming reception ceremony organised in honour of the just-recalled Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sharafa Tunji-Ishola, in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State. Adeboye, in a video message delivered during the homecoming event, lauded Ishola for being the first ambassador to welcome him to Nigeria House in…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it arrested twin brothers Taiwo and Kehinde Adio alongside five others over alleged internet fraudulent activities in Ibadan, Oyo. EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. According to the statement, the suspects were arrested on December 7 in the Apete and Apata areas of Ibadan, following surveillance and actionable intelligence on their suspected involvement in internet-related offences. “The five other suspects are Jeremiah Gabi, Dennis Gomina, Adepoju Ibukun, Olabode Opeyemi and Adewumi Ayomide. In the same vein, the Oyo state police command handed over three suspected…

The Cross River Internal Revenue Service (CRIRS) says it has grown its monthly revenue collection from N1.9 billion in May to about N2.97 billion in October. The Cross River IRS chairman, Edwin Okon, disclosed this in Calabar on Thursday during an interactive stakeholders’ session and training on best practises for tax consultants operating in Cross River. Mr. Okon also used the occasion to announce plans by the government to introduce property tax in the state. The chairman, who gave the projection of the state revenue service to raise N35bn as internal revenue in 2024, noted that the state could grow…

South Korea’s military said Thursday it scrambled fighter jets as two Chinese and four Russian military planes entered its air defence zone, an area wider than the country’s airspace. The Chinese and Russian planes entered and exited the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, from 11.53 a.m. (0253 GMT) to 12.10 p.m., Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.But “there was no invasion of airspace,” it added, and the South Korean military identified the planes “before they entered KADIZ and deployed air force fighter jets to take tactical measures in…

Israel kept up its barrage of the Gaza Strip on Thursday despite intensifying international calls to reduce civilian casualties from its bombardment as a surge in deadly diseases sweeps through displaced residents. Israel says its attacks on Gaza are aimed at annihilating Hamas, the group whose fighters stormed across the border fence from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and seizing 240 hostages. “A number of patients come with cases of extreme dehydration, some of which can get to the point of kidney failure or weakening kidney function,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics. There had already been…