FOOTBALL: Karim Benzema confirms he won't participate in Europe 2016...

France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema won't participate in this summer's Euro 2016 tournament due to an ongoing investigation of a sex tape scandal involving teammate Mathieu Valbuena. Benzema is being investigated for his part in an alleged plot with his friend to blackmail France team-mate, Valbuena. He posted on Twitter yesterday

“Unfortunately for me and for those who have always backed me and supported me, I will not be selected for our Euro in France...” 

Then later through their official website French soccer federation informed Benzema that he would not be called up for this summer’s European Championship.

The French football federation (FFF) noted that its president, Noël Le Graët, met with the national team’s manager, Didier Deschamps, today to decide Benzema’s international fate for the coming Euro tournament.

See the FFF's press statement below...

'Sporting performance is an important factor but not the only one that decides whether a player is called up to the France squad. The capacity of the players to strive towards unity, within and around the squad, to be exemplary...are also taken into account. As a result, Noel Le Graet and Didier Deschamps have decided that Karim Benzema will not be able to participate at Euro 2016.”

source:lindaikejisblog 

ARGENTINE: The world's first religious amusement park

Holy Land, a religious amusement park in Buenos Aires, Argentina is just the place for fun-seeking worshippers. It features Christian, Islamic and Jewish installations. Dubbed ‘Christianity’s answer to Disneyworld’, the park opened 15 years ago when Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, was the local Archbishop. Tierra Santa is dedicated to the key moments in the life of Christ and is the first religious amusement park in the world.

LONDON: The rich kids at it again...

Exotic cars, jet life... The rich kids of London! Photos after the cut

 

 

 

 

FOOTBALL: SLOVENIA: Olimpija coach Marko Nikolac apologizes to Nigerian striker after racially abusing him as “a black idiot”

Marko Nikolac, the head coach of Slovenian league leaders Olimpija, has apologized to Nigerian striker Blessing Eleke for fear of losing his job after he racially abused him, calling him “a black idiot”. Blessing was called a 'black idiot' by his own coach in Slovenia for wildly celebrating an equalizer.

Marko Nikolac said his remarks about Eleke were not racist as he only wanted his team to conserve time and try to score a winning goal as they aim to reach the championship playoffs, so he was very angry when he saw Eleke 'over celebrating' after the Nigerian scored a leveler for Olimpija on Sunday.

“I wish to apologise to the to everyone - the President, the Sports Director, Blessing Eleke and finally all fans of Olimpija for an inadvertent remark, which when heard again on television later sounded very distasteful and worthy of condemnation,” said the young coach.

“My only wish was that after the equaliser on 92 minutes, we should try to get the winning goal. My target is to reach the national championship playoffs and go on to win the championship. I would like to thank all the team for understanding that my remarks were not meant to be racist."

The club president Milan Mandaric said;

“The remarks of our coach were not racially motivated. He just wanted to win the game,” he defended. We are all focused on qualifying for the championship playoffs and going on to win the league.”

TERROR SCARE: Amsterdam airport and hotel partially evacuated due to security fears

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and the Sheraton Hotel adjacent to it were partially evacuated late Tuesday night and one person arrested amid an unspecified suspicious security alert, an airport spokeswoman,  Danielle Timmer told AFP. She said she didn't have further info on the incident.

Television images showed heavily armed special border patrol policemen patrolling outside areas of the airport.

source:lindaikejisblog

CRIME: Man posing as Uber driver kidnaps and rapes woman

Los Angeles police have arrested a man they say posed as an Uber driver and picked up a woman waiting for a ride in the Westlake district area into his car. According to Police Chief Charlie Beck, 39 year old Dartanyun Smith pretended to be an Uber driver and pulled up to a woman waiting for an Uber driver. She said Yes and got into his car. However, as soon as she got in, he drove about two blocks, he choked her unconscious several times and raped her several times as well.

Fortunately for her, she fought Smith each time she was conscious, she screamed and cried which alerted neighbours in the area who thankfully called the Police.

Responding officers heard her cries coming from a dark-colored SUV, in which they said they saw a male suspect assaulting a woman in the back seat.

“The victim was valiantly fighting the suspect,” police said in a statement. “The officers tried to open the doors of the suspect’s vehicle, but they were locked. Officers used their batons to break the vehicle’s side windows in an attempt to render aid to the victim.”

Police said the man jumped into the driver’s seat, started the engine and drove towards one of the Police officers.  The officer shot at Smith but missed.

“The suspect vehicle continued to flee from the officers,” police said in their statement. “The officers pursued the vehicle but lost sight of it.”

Beck told reporters that officers found the woman standing in the street after she had been pushed out of the vehicle by Smith.

“We believed that we had a predator loose on the streets of Los Angeles,” Beck said. “We didn’t want the second crime in a series to occur.”

Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Monday that Smith was arrested over the weekend after he was tied to the “horrific” crime through DNA evidence collected from the victim, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Smith was arrested at Saturday morning, according to police booking records. He is being held on $1 million bail.

FOOTBALL: Cristiano Ronaldo sets two new records on Tuesday(12/04/2016)

Real Madrid faced an uphill task to qualify for the last four of the Champions League after falling to Wolfsburg 2-0 in the first leg of the tie and they were up to the task. Ronaldo opened scoring in the 15th minute to put the Spanish side ahead, he doubled the lead in the 17th minute to give Madrid a comfortable lead. The star man capped off a memorable night with his third of the evening when he whipped in a superb freekick in the 77th minute.

His haul makes him the only player in the competition's history to score 15 or more goals in two different seasons and the first player to score a hat trick thrice in the same season.

SAUDI ARABIA: A cleric in Saudi Arabia says women will be 'exposed to evil' if allowed to drive

Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh has defended the kingdom's ban on female drivers on the grounds that they will be 'exposed to evil' if allowed to drive. He said men “obsessed with women” and with "weak spirits" could end up causing female drivers harm and that male relatives would not know their whereabouts.

Although women driving in Saudi Arabia is not against the law, in practice women are unable to obtain driving licences.  Exceptions are occasionally made in rural areas if a woman needs to drive for her family life.

Despite stifling conservative norms, the Kingdom has made some progress in women rights, women were allowed to vote for the first time last year.

In February 2015, Saleh al-Saadoon, a conservative historian, sparked an outcry by saying that women in Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to drive on the grounds that they might get raped if their cars broke down.

Western women drove, he explained, because rape was not such a big deal to them.

NIGERIA/CHINA: Buhari visits China's Aerospace Science Technology Corporation Center

President Buhari today visited the China Aerospace Science Technology Corporation Centre in Beijing China. He was accompanied by the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Transport Rotimi Chibuike and others.

6.9 magnitude earthquake shakes Myanmar

6.9 magnitude earthquake hits Myanmar formerly known as Burma yesterday 13th April 2016.
Reports have it that the earthquake isn't likely to cause any severe damage though the tremor was felt in many areas.
Facebook has since activated the 'marked safe' tool...