Cheick Tiote’s body will arrive back in the Ivory Coast on Thursday where tributes will be paid to the international by his former teammates, the Ivorian Football Federation (IFF) said on Monday. Tiote — who was a member of the Ivory Coast squad that ended a 23-year drought by winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations — died on June 5 aged 30 years after ‘suddenly fainting’ during a training session with his second-tier Chinese club Beijing Enterprises. “The body Tiote Cheick Ismael will arrive on Thursday, June 15 at 13:50 (GMT) at Abidjan International Airport,” the IFF said in…
Author: David Folami
Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon reaffirmed he is “99.9 %” sure of retiring at the end of next season — unless he finally ends his quest to win the Champions League. “Yes, I’m 99.9 % sure that’s how it will go,” said Buffon when asked by Sky Sport if he would keep to an earlier promise to hang up his gloves at the end of the 2017-2018 campaign. “I will have one final, intense season full of key dates, then it will be time to call it a day.” Buffon, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, had…
Italy’s AC Milan have signed striker Andre Silva from Porto for a fee that could rise to 40 million euros ($44.8 million), the Portuguese club said on Monday. The 21-year-old, who has signed a contract that will keep him at Milan until June 2022, made 32 league appearances for Porto last season, scoring 16 goals. He also scored four times in eight appearances in last season’s Champions League. Milan paid Porto an initial 38 million euros for Silva, with a variable component that could see the fee rise by an additional two million euros, the Portuguese club said in a…
Lukaku, who scored 25 Premier League goals for the Toffees last season, has been heavily linked with a return to Stamford Bridge. The Belgium international joined Everton for £28million from Chelsea in 2014, but his goalscoring qualities have since attracted interest from Antonio Conte. Conte is keen to bolster his ranks as he bids to build a squad capable of coping with the dual demands of a Premier League title defence and Champions League football next season. Express Sport understands Lukaku has prompted interest from a host of European clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. But it appears…
Alvaro Morata is set to be handed a monster wage packet should he join Manchester United, if Spanish reports are believed to be true. The Real Madrid striker is closing in on a move to Old Trafford, in what is expected to be one of the biggest transfers of the summer, after failing to dislodge Karim Benzema in Zinedine Zidane’s starting XI. Morata had previously enjoyed a successful spell with Juventus and has been pursued by Chelsea and AC Milan this summer. But he is set to join Manchester United and Spanish newspaper Marca have revealed how much he is…
The Bayelsa Government has established a dialysis centre in the state to bring relief to people with kidney and other related health challenges. Gov. Seriake Dickson said the facility was part of his revolution in the health sector. Dickson made the remark while inspecting the centre in the Government House Specialist Hospital on Wednesday in Yenagoa. He said with the state of the art facilities and medical personnel deployed to various hospitals and health institutions across the state, the era of traveling to other states and countries to seek quality healthcare services were gone for good. “This is a statement…
Atletico Madrid’s French star Antoine Griezmann has extended his contract with the Spanish club by a year, according to press reports in Spain on Monday. “Antoine Griezmann signed a contract with Atletico until 2022,” Madrid sports daily Marca reported. According to As newspaper, “Atletico has revised the player’s salary to reward his performance” and made an “economic effort” to convince the player to stay. The 26-year-old has been heavily linked with a move away from Atletico but said earlier this month that he intended to stay at the club. Griezmann arrived in Atletico in 2014 for 30 million euros from…
“Wonder Woman” didn’t just set box office record, the movie is the most tweeted-about movie of 2017 in the United States of America. The movie which was released a week ago has garnered more than 2.19 million tweets so far this year, Variety reports. The numbers place “Wonder Woman” as the most popular movie of 2017 on Twitter, surpassing “Beauty and the Beast” and “La La Land.” The movie also has the most tweeted characters of the year, with Gal Gadot’s titular character taking the lead and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor taking the third place, just after Batman’s second position.…
Barely 48 hours after the audio release, Falz has released the official music video to his latest single titled ‘Jeje’. The romantic visuals directed by Mex has the signature comic twist that is a crucial part of the Falz brand.
TY Bello and George together perform another worship number titled ‘Heaven has come’. Earlier, she rendered a powerful ‘Victory is won (Darkness falls)’ number, a song about bringing back the lost glory of Nigeria. Be blessed by this.
The final two episodes of “Game of Thrones” seventh season will be the longest ever. According to Watchers in the Wall, the HBO show will end its seventh season with an 81 Minutes episode. The first two episodes are 59 minutes each, the same with the fifth episode. The third episode is 63 minutes, while the fourth episode, which is also the shortest, is 50 minutes. The penultimate episode which prepares fans for the finale is 71 minutes. It was recently confirmed that the season which will end the popular HBO fantasy drama will be four episodes shorter than what…
The Deputy Director, Society For Family Health (SFH), Mrs Bolanle Oyebola on Saturday, June 10, called on the Federal Government to address the healthcare needs in rural communities to reduce child death. Oyebola made this call during the Health Outreach organised by Lydia Dolapo Komalafe Foundation (LDKF) at Wukara community in Abuja tagged: “Partnership For improved community healthcare.” She said that addressing health needs in rural communities would also improve the quality of antenatal care for the survival of both new-born and mother. “The Northern region in the country bears a large percentage of the predicament. “This is due to…
Prof. Ganiyu Arinola of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, says certain lifestyles including excessive consumption of alcohol may damage the human immune system with high risk of susceptibility to infections and life-threatening conditions such as liver cancer or liver diseases. “Excessive alcohol may damage the immune system because alcohol reduces white blood cells (cells of defence system) and destroys essential nutrients like vitamins needed by the white blood cells to function well,” Arinola, the Chemical Pathology lecturer, told NAN in Ibadan on Sunday, June 11. “Excessive alcohol intake can harm the body’s immune system in two ways —…
Alhaji Atolagbe Alege, the Kwara Commissioner for Health on Monday confirmed that the state was now 100 per cent free from cholera infection and other communicable diseases. Alege made the confirmation in llorin while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the fate of six residents of llorin who were afflicted with cholera a week ago. He said that the state government had combed all parts of the state with the aim of eliminating cholera outbreak, which he noted had yielded positive result. Alege said that the outbreak of cholera had not claimed any life in any part…
Chelsea and Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Borussia Dortmund centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos this summer. According to Goal, both London clubs are admirers of the Greece international, who has developed into one of the standout defenders in the Bundesliga during his time at the Westfalenstadion. In the report, it’s suggested the Blues also hold an interest in Southampton man Virgil van Dijk as well as Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci. However, should manager Antonio Conte miss out on those two, it’s said he will go after the Dortmund man. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is also reported to be keen on bolstering…
Michael Keane’s prospective move to Manchester United appears unlikely to materialise with the England defender eager to ensure regular football ahead of next year’s World Cup. United’s £30million capture of Victor Lindelof has changed the picture. While the Old Trafford club remain interested in also securing their former academy graduate, Keane is understood to have cooled on the move. The 24-year-old will only leave Burnley for a club where he is convinced he will play and Everton have now re-emerged as the favourites to land the centre-back. Liverpool and Tottenham, who have also monitored the situation, may also firm up…
Arsenal have emerged as favourites with the bookies to sign Manchester United defender Chris Smalling. Smalling is reportedly surplus to requirements at Manchester United this summer. The Red Devils announced on Saturday that they had agreed a deal with Benfica to sign centre-half Victor Lindelof, who should complete his move to United by the end of the week. According to the Daily Star, Lindelof’s arrival will spell the end of Smalling’s seven-year stay at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho will reportedly look to partner Lindelof alongside Eric Bailly in the heart of defence, with Phil Jones providing back-up. And bookmakers Betfair…
Ciara is 1,2 stepping her way to a killer bod. The R&B songstress revealed she’s dropped an impressive 20 lbs. in the weeks since welcoming daughter Sienna Princess with husband Russell Wilsonin late April, and has no intentions of stopping at her current weight of 178.6 lbs. “I said I wasn’t going to gain 60lbs Carrying Sienna, and… I did exactly that!!” the proud mama wrote alongside a snapshot of herself standing on a scale. She continued, “4 weeks after her birth I lost 20 lbs. This Weeks Goal is 10lbs. I was 183 yesterday. #BounceBack #LevelUp” When Ciara gave…
She’s a Golden Globe Award winning actress and stars on the mega hit show Empire. But in 1988, Taraji P. Henson was just an aspiring actress with a dream. The 46-year-old shared her senior picture to Instagram on throwback Thursday, captioning it: ‘You couldn’t tell her ISH!!!!’ Taraji added: ‘She knew she belonged in #Hollywood right here, she just didn’t know how she was getting there but she DREAMED BIG AF!!!!’ The actress finished off the sassy caption with: ‘#DidntKnowIn91BetchaKnowMeNow *Diddy voice*.’ The TV star graduated in 1988 from Oxon Hill High School in Maryland. For her senior picture, Taraji…
Amnesty International presented Alicia Keys with the Ambassador of Conscience Award on Saturday, and the singer delivered a moving speech at the Montreal, Canada event. Keys spoke about the rights of indigenous people, as well as the gender wage gap and other human rights issues. The singer started her speech by quoting the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Keys noted that the declaration was adopted almost 70 years ago — but inequality is still rampant across the globe. Keys spoke specifically…