Mohamed Elneny completes move to Arsenal from Basel

Mohamed Elneny has completed his move to Arsenal from Basel

Arsenal have secured their first signing of the January transfer window by completing a deal for Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny, according to Sky Sport.

The 23-year-old was in London on Wednesday to complete the formalities on a four-and-a-half year contract having already undergone a medical with the current Premier League leaders. 

Arsene Wenger confirmed following his side's 3-3 draw with Liverpool that a deal for Elneny had been completed and hoped to have him available for the Super Sunday clash with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Arsenal have now confirmed Elneny's arrival at the Emirates Stadium, subject to the completion of the regulatory processes.

Elneny, who has been capped 39 times by Egypt, started his career in his homeland with El Mokawloon before joining Basel in 2013. 

He has helped Basel win three successive league titles in Switzerland and also helped them reach the Europa League semi-finals during his first season at the club, losing to eventual winners Chelsea.

Elneny made 28 appearances for Basel this season, scoring six goals.

DasukiGate: EFCC filed a seven count criminal charge on corruption against Mr. Metuh

National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Olisa Metuh

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC has filed a seven count criminal charge on corruption against Mr. Metuh, before a Federal High Court in Abuja and he will soon be arraigned on the charge, according to Channel Television.

Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs speaking with journalist at the Federal High Court, says contrary to the insinuation that Mr. Metuh is being held unlawfully, the Commission had obtained a court order in line with the administration of Criminal Justice Act, approving the detention of the politician pending the completion of investigation into the allegations against him.

However Counsel to Mr. Metuh, Mr. Ifedayo Fadipe complained that his client was held illegally by the Commission, because of failure to arraign him in court within the time stipulated by law.

He is therefore asking the court to compel the Commission to either release his client on administrative bail or charge him to court as required by law.

Cops catch Pennsylvania fugitive after he texts while driving in Holland Tunnel

                                                               HANDOUT

Mitchell Neil Thompson, 24, was busted in Jersey City on Tuesday evening.

A Pennsylvania man wanted on a burglary warrant was fiddling with his phone, veering from lane to lane in the New Jersey-bound Holland Tunnel at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when his U-Haul van nearly crossed into the path of a bus, police said.

Port Authority Police Officer Christopher Paskovich pulled him over, and learned of the warrant, cops said.

Mitchell Neil Thompson, 24, was arrested in April, after cops said he and at least two accomplices broke into an acquaintance's house in Phoenixville, Pa.

One member of his group waved a gun and told a man inside, "You got five seconds and I am going to shoot up the house," according to a criminal complaint.

Thompson, who was charged with burglary, making a terroristic threat and other offenses, skipped out on a court date, officials said.

Cops said Thompson handed police an expired New Jersey driver's license. He was busted in Jersey City and was locked up at the Hudson County jail while awaiting extradition, Port Authority Police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said.

With Daily News

Nick Carter arrested after a bar fight in Florida

Mug shot of Nick Carter after he was arrested in Key West, Florida, following an incident at the Hog's Breath Saloon on Wednesday.

Nick Carter has been arrested after he was involved in a fight at a Florida bar.

The Backstreet Boys member was taken into custody Wednesday night following an incident at the Hog’s Breath Saloon in Key West, TMZ reports.

Carter, 35, was described as getting into some sort of scuffle inside the bar, and was arrested after cops were called to investigate.

Details about the what led to the incident are still unknown, but the singer's arresting charge is listed as "touch or strike," according to Gossip Cop.

The pop star’s arrest comes just a few months after he and his wife Lauren Kitt announced that they were expecting their first child. The couple shared their baby news on “Dancing with the Stars” last fall, in which Carter came in second place.

This isn’t the first time the pop star has been involved in legal troubles. Carter was arrested following an incident in a nightclub in 2002 and on a DUI charge in 2005.

Nigerian Fugitive, Asemota To Be Extradites To United Kingdom

       Franca Asemota

Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the extradition of Franca Asemota, a Nigerian fugitive to the United Kingdom for offences bordering on trafficking of minors.

According to a report credited to Channel Television, the court gave the consent to her extradition through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) on Wednesday.

Asemota, 36, was wanted by the UK government for trafficking of minors to Europe through London.

She was accused of allegedly organising a network that trafficked young women, mostly teenagers, from remote Nigerian villages into Europe using Heathrow Airport as a transit hub.

The girls were promised education or jobs, such as hairdressing in countries including France and Spain, but were forced into prostitution.

However, the long arm of the law caught up with Asemota when she was arrested by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, March 24, 2015 in Benin , Edo State capital on suspicion of money laundering offences.

On arrest, checks on her profile revealed that, she had been on the wanted list of the National Crime Agency, NCA.

When the case came up on Monday, January 11, 2016, Asemota’s counsel, Ugochukwu Ezekiel, prayed the court to grant his client bail to enable her seek medical attention as she had spent almost a year in custody.

Akuta Ukeyima from the office of the AGF, however, opposed the application saying that, it would be better to ask for a short date for ruling on the substantive matter.

Consequently, Justice Kafarati adjourned to Wednesday, January 13 for ruling.

At the resumed sitting, Justice Kafarati granted the extradition request and ordered that the accused be extradited to the United Kingdom to face trial for the charges filed against her.

Bayelsa Poll: Edwin Clark Lambastes Sylva And Dickson

         Chief Edwin Clark

A former Federal Commissioner for Information who is also an Ijaw Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, on Wednesday described the Bayelsa State governorship election as not only a disgrace but a brazen and open show of shame, according to The Punch. Newspapers.

He said the conduct of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Governor Seriake Dickson, and that of his major contender, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress, showed that they were not true democrats.

Clark, who spoke at a press conference at his residence in Abuja, explained that political violence in the state was due to desperation and greed.

He said that in some areas, guns and other weapons became the voting tools rather than the Permanent Voter Cards.

He said, “It is very unfortunate that both of them are not democrats and therefore do not know what democracy means.

“What they know is power. I want to repeat here a very popular and apt saying that “Power belongs to the Almighty God. He gives it at each given time to whoever He wishes.”

Clark said he expected the election to have been peaceful as the two contenders, Silva and Dickson, had each served as governor of the state for four years and yet “lives were lost”.

He said, “These two contestants have both served the people as governor of the state. The people already know their individual capabilities. They should have allowed the electorate to peacefully decide who they wanted.

“It is very unfortunate that both of them are not democrats and therefore, do not know what democracy means. What they know is power.”

Clark said he felt compelled to talk – even though he had resigned from partisan politics – because the election was a disaster.

He said it was difficult to exonerate the two contenders of blame.

He, however, appealed to Sylva to accept the result of the election in the interest of Bayelsa people, saying that subjecting the people to another election portends grave danger.

Clark also advised Dickson to extend a hand of fellowship to the loser.

Clark, who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ijaw National Congress, said it was time for the Ijaw nation to look inward.

He said, “If a son of Ijaw land can prevent nationwide bloodshed by conceding defeat, why can’t we replicate this same feat at home and display uncommon courage?

“I have heard Sylva’s statement that he will go to the tribunal to prove that the elections were not properly conducted due to an alleged conspiracy between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the PDP.”

While saying that this was the proper action to be taken by an aggrieved candidate in any election, he nevertheless appealed to the former governor to allow peace to reign by jettisoning the idea.

Clark said, “But I am appealing to him that in the interest of the ljaw nation and to prevent the danger of subjecting the people of Bayelsa to another gruesome ordeal, he should please accept the results of the election and allow peace to reign.

“Sylva is a young man and has another opportunity in 2019 to become the governor.”

MH370 searchers stumble across 200-year-old shipwreck, but no plane

Search for the elusive plane which vanished nearly two years ago leads investigators to 19th century shipwreck.

                            Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The search team which is tirelessly working to track down the remains of flight MH370 have made an astonishing discovery - but it has little to do with the missing plane.

Instead the hunt for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane has led to the discovery of a centuries-old shipwreck, deep underwater.

The wreck is estimated to have gone down during the 19th century, sinking nearly four miles through the ocean's depths.

From a distance, the large metal object lurking at the bottom of the ocean would have looked eerily similar to a downed plane.

Little is known about the derelict ship, which appears to have been used to transport cargo, least of all what led it to sink in the first place.

But the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre, which was tasked with the search, will have felt bitterly disappointed when they learned the mysterious shape, detected by sonar, was merely an old wreckage.

"In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area," Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), which is overseeing international search efforts, said in a statement.

MH370's 239 passengers and crew vanished during a flight to Kuala Lampur in 2014 and investigators have only found a handful of clues as to its fate.

The search has so far been focus on a remote part of the Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have gone down.

Last July a piece of the plane was discovered on the island of Reunion, sparking fresh hopes that the mystery of the Malaysian Airlines plane was close to being solved.

The flaperon, a piece of the plane's wing, was stumbled upon by a beach cleaner, who also claimed to have seen an airplane seat on the beach.

But the riddle continues to baffle investigators, who have little to go on besides the flaperon and tide analyses which suggest the wreckage was swept through the Indian Ocean.

With The Telegraph

Missing Budget: Dogara Cautioned The Media To Be Professional

                      Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara

According a report from House of Representative, the Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 cautioned the media to be professional and confer with legitimate custodians of documents before misleading the public with their stories. The statement was prompted as regard the rumors making round that the 2016 budget proposal presented to the joint session of the National Assembly in December 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari is missing.

He asked the Clerk to the House to display copies of the Budget proposal which was taken from the box that contained the documents laid before the National Assembly by the President, for the world to see that the stories of missing budget proposal were untrue. The Speaker further directed that lawmakers should secure and verify copies of the budget proposal from the secretariat of the Committee on Appropriation of the House.

Meanwhile, the House has continued debate, amendment and passing of more Bills to bring them to terms with existing realities. On this note, 18 Bills were slated for deliberation and passage for second reading during the plenary. The General Principles of these Bills were debated on the floor of the House and following the majority voice votes of members, the Bills were passed for second reading and referred to relevant Committees for further legislative inputs.

Among the Bills that were passed are ' A Bill for an Act to Repeal the National Inland Waterways Authority Act, Cap. N47, LFN 2004 and to enact the National Inland Waterways Authority Act to provide for the management, regulation and Development of the National Inland Waterways and to promote private sector participation in the development of Inland Waterways in Nigeria and for other related matters (HB.48)', sponsored by Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai.

Also, ' A Bill which sought to amend the National Minimum Wage Act, Cap. N6, LFN, 2004 to exclude the establishments that have foreign participation from the list of establishments exempted from payment of National Minimum Wage; and for other matters related thereto (HB.281)' standing in the name of Hon. Peter O. Akpatason.