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Real Madrid and Wales forward Gareth Bale has extended his contract with the Spanish giants until 2022. The 27-year-old arrived at the Bernabeu from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur on a sixyear deal in 2013 for a then world record fee of £85m. He has helped Real win five trophies in the past three seasons, including the Champions League twice, and scored 62 goals in 135 appearances. Midfielders Luka Modric and Toni Kroos have also signed new deals this month. Bale’s contract is reportedly worth £600,000 per week, £350,000 after tax. The former Southampton player, who has formed an impressive attacking partnership with Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo and France striker Karim Benzema, is due to speak to the media today.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote needs no introduction. He is at present Africa’s richest man with a net worth of $10.8 billion. His business interests cover manufacturing, oil and gas, haulage services, agriculture among others. His sphere of influence transcends Nigeria as he has vast business interests across the African continent and, indeed, the entire globe. Without doubt, Dangote ranks among one of the highest employers of labour in the country. Indeed, a few analysts have claimed, either rightly or wrongly, that the economy of Nigeria is partly being sustained by Dangote. What many do not, however, know about Dangote is that he is an ardent football fan. As it is characteristic of most Nigerian soccer fans, Dangote is also passionate about the English Premier League as he keenly follows and supports the London Gunners, Arsenal FC. Dangote’s romance with Arsenal FC recently came to public consciousness with reports that the Kano born billionaire has his eyes on buying the London based foot...

Tens of thousands of men, women and children have been snatched from their homes and forced into the center of Mosul as the battle intensified yesterday to drive ISIS out of Iraq’s secondlargest city. The intent is sinister: Using civilians as human shields is ISIS’s attempt to hold onto the city, the jewel of its self-proclaimed caliphate. No one expected the militants to surrender Mosul without a hellish fight. But for Iraqis still living under ISIS control in the city and surrounding areas, every option now is grim. They can try to flee but be branded by ISIS as “apostates,” for which the penalty is death. Or they can potentially be seen as ISIS sympathizers in a new place and risk becoming victims of revenge crimes. They can try to hold out and survive the fierce fighting ahead. Or they can be forced further into the heart of Mosul and serve as human shields.

President Muhammadu Buhari is weighing options on calls for arrest of former President Goodluck Jonathan over his roles in series of corruption cases that allegedly characterized his government, National Mirror can authoritatively report. The option is being considered  even though Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, said last Friday in Houston, United States of America that the government does not believe in arbitrary arrest, but in empowerment of the nation’s security agencies to do their jobs. A source close to the president exclusively told National Mirror last Saturday that Buhari is more irked by recent activities of Jonathan’s wife, Patience. He averred that the security formations, including anti-corruption agencies in the country are given free hands and are truly being empowered to discharge their roles as claimed by Osinbajo. Mrs Jonathan, who was accused by many Nigerians of largely contributing to her husband’s loss in the 2015 presidential election, is claiming ownership ...

Yet another oil facility, “32-inch Effurun-Otor delivery line” in Ughelli North council area of Delta state was about midnight Saturday sabotaged by raging militants. Claiming responsibility for the attack, in a statement signed by their spokesman, Gen. Aldo Agbalaja, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, also threatened to takedown all oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta as promised. Revealing that names are being collected from ethnic nationalities across the oil rich region of the country to negotiate on behalf of the people, it restated its lack of confidence in the E.K Clark’s Pan-Niger Delta Forum. “At about 23:30hour of Saturday, October 29, in furtherance of the OPERATION HAMMURABI CODE, our Akuma Strike Team struck and brought down the 32-inch Effurun-Otor delivery line. This is not ending soon, we shall fulfill our promise of uprooting your entire assets in our land. “We are reiterating our unflinching belief that the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, being coordinated by E.K...

Saudi Arabia says it has thwarted a plan to bomb an international football match in the western city of Jeddah. Militants had plotted to car-bomb a World Cup 2018 qualifying game between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in October, it says. The authorities also say they have foiled a second plot directed by Islamic State (IS) militants to kill security officials near Riyadh. Eight suspects have been arrested from two “terrorist cells”, officials say. Among them are Saudi nationals, two Pakistanis, a Syrian and a Sudanese, the Saudi interior ministry says. It has also published a list of several more suspects wanted for their alleged involvement in planning attacks in the eastern cities of Qatif and Dammam. Saudi Arabia has been the target of attacks by IS over the past two years.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate in the November 26 governorship election in Ondo State, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim has assured workers that their welfare will be of utmost importance to him as he said prompt payment of salaries will be his priority when elected as governor of the state. Ibrahim who was addressing a large crowd of supporters that welcomed him to the state on Sunday berated the present administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko for its inability to pay salaries. Business mogul , Ibrahim was last Thursday listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the PDP flagbearer. “My first priority is the payment of workers’ salaries. This is because it will transform the micro-economic system of the state. “If you pay salaries, the people will use it to buy their goods and services. This is a state where the father and the mother are civil servants and pensioners,” Ibrahim said. “It is criminal for the state government not to pay salaries,” Ibrahim sa...

The Nigerian Army on Sunday foiled another attempt by a suspected suicide bomber to attack the Bakassi Internally Displaced Persons camp in Maiduguri, its spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement. Usman said, “At about 9.00a.m this morning, troops of Operation Lafiya Dole deployed behind Bakassi IDP camp, Damboa Road, Maiduguri, on security duty, intercepted a suspected male suicide bomber. “He had attempted to sneak through the troops’ inner parapet towards the IDP camp before he was shot dead.” He said that “the vigilant sentry sighted the bomber and lay in wait until the suicide bomber came close. “The sniper instantly shot and killed the terrorist as he tried to force his way to the western flank of the IDP camp fence.” Usman said the Improvised Explosive Device vest strapped on the bomber failed to detonate, adding that ‘’a combined team of military and police Explosive Ordinance Device have been called to safely detonate the IED’’. He said that the situation at the camp ...

The Presidency on Sunday frowned at those individuals or organisations attempting to link President Muhammadu Buhari to the legal travails of some judges facing corruption charges in the country. A statement issued in Abuja by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, advised journalists and other Nigerians to stop linking the name of the president to the matter. Shehu said that Buhari would be “the last person to authorise anybody to induce a judge to pervert the course of justice’’. He recalled that despite his personal familiarity with some court judges, the president had never used that familiarity to seek favours from them. According to him, from 2003, 2007 and 2011 when he was challenging the fairness of the presidential election results, from the lowest to the highest courts in the land during the periods in question, he never sought for favour from them. Shehu also explained that, “as a politician, Buhari had never once ever sugg...

A human rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, has described the suit filed against it by wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, as grossly incompetent and urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss it. A group, the Union of Niger Delta Youth Organisation for Equity, had on behalf of itself and Patience sued SERAP for allegedly championing a campaign of calumny against Patience. The group and Patience had accused SERAP of instigating the Attorney General of the Federation to prosecute Patience in relation to a controversial $15m seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. SERAP, however, said it had filed a preliminary objection, seeking the dismissal of the suit on the grounds that the UNDYOE, which filed the suit, was not a registered organisation recognised by law. SERAP also faulted the mode in which the suit was commenced, saying the plaintiffs misled themselves by approaching the court through an originating summons. SERAP fur...