England scrape past Nigeria on penalties to reach World Cup quarter-final

BRISBANE, Australia -- England scraped into the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup when they beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties in Brisbane on Monday.

Despite Nigeria having the better of the chances throughout, the European Champions -- reduced to 10 players after 87 minutes -- snuck home in front of 50,000 spectators after the match had finished 0-0 at the end of extra time

England held on after playmaker Lauren James received a red card for a needless stamp and will know they have to improve if they want to add the World Cup to their European crown.

They will face Colombia or Jamaica on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals.

England got off to a terrible start in the penalty shootout when Georgia Stanway fired wide, but Desire Oparanozie couldn't take advantage and missed with an almost identical effort.

Beth England made no mistake, but Nigeria's Michelle Alozie shot way over top to give England an advantage they never surrendered, sealing the win when Chloe Kelly calmly converted.

The Lionesses, who last year won the European Championship at a packed Wembley Stadium in London, were expected to win comfortably against the world's 40th ranked team.

The Nigerians, however, have shown in this World Cup that they have the game to challenge anybody.

They stunned hosts Australia in the group stage, taking advantage of their speed in the transition to score a 3-2 win.

And they employed the same tactics against England, whose back three were regularly exposed by the Nigerian attack.

England had started the match strongly and rattled Nigeria in the opening skirmishes as the Lionesses found plenty of space out wide.

They also controlled possession, completing 173 passes in the first half to Nigeria's 83.

But it was the Nigerians who looked the most dangerous and they gave the European champions a real fright on a number of occasions.

England-born Ashleigh Plumptre had two golden chances to open the scoring, the first coming in the 16th minute when a strike from outside the box crashed into the crossbar.

A minute later she forced a fine diving save from Mary Earps.

The Nigerians had eight shots at goal in the first half, three more than England, whose best chance fell to Alessia Russo in the 23rd minute.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first, England dominating possession but Nigeria looking the more dangerous.

England had a golden chance to seal the match with 15 minutes left only for Chiamaka Nnadozie to pull off a fine save from Rachel Daly's powerful header.

The game inevitably went to extra time and again Nigeria looked most likely, Michele Alozie and Oshoala both going close, but neither team could break the deadlock.

Agence France-Presse

Meta, Chime file lawsuit against alleged phishing scam on Facebook, Instagram

Facebook parent Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it had filed a joint lawsuit with digital banking company Chime against two Nigeria-based individuals who engaged in phishing attacks to deceive people and gain access to their online financial accounts.

The lawsuit, which is the first joint complaint between Meta and a financial services company, alleged that the defendants used Facebook and Instagram accounts to impersonate Chime and lure people to fake branded phishing websites with the aim of obtaining their Chime account login information and withdrawing funds.

In the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Meta said the defendants used a network of computers to control more than 800 impersonating Instagram accounts and five Facebook accounts, in order to conceal their activity and evade technical enforcement measures.

Reuters could not immediately reach the defendants for comment.

"Impersonation scams are a serious challenge, and this action represents a major step forward in cross-industry collaboration against this abuse," Meta's director of platform enforcement and litigation Jessica Romero said in a blog post.

Fintech company Chime was launched by former Visa Inc executive Chris Britt and Comcast Corp alumnus Ryan King in 2012. Reuters exclusively reported last month that Chime had asked Goldman Sachs to help it with IPO preparations.

Meta said it had taken several previous actions against the defendants since June 2020 for violating its terms, including disabling their accounts, blocking impersonating domains on its platforms and sending cease and desist letters. (Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in New York; Additional reporting by the Lagos bureau; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

-reuters-

Reinhard Bonnke, the 'Billy Graham of Africa,' dies at 79

The Rev. Reinhard Bonnke, a German-born Pentecostal faith-healer whose open-air revivals in Africa attracted so many followers that in one case people were trampled to death hoping to be cured of their afflictions, died at his home in Florida on Dec. 7. He was 79.

The evangelical organization that he founded in 1974, Christ for All Nations, confirmed the death but did not give a cause of death or specify where he lived.


In a petition for prayers posted on his personal Facebook page last month, Bonnke said he had undergone “a right femur bone surgery” and was “learning to walk again.” Followers from Nigeria to India responded with 41,000 prayers.

"Heavenly Father, remember this man, a great general of the faith," wrote one follower, Nugari Mugi-Irenge, from Kikuyu, Kenya.

From the time he left his home in Hamburg for the kingdom of Lesotho in 1967, by his account, Bonnke felt called to bring the word of God to the people of Africa. Often called the "Billy Graham of Africa," he asserted that he had inherited the mantle of a healing evangelist from the British preacher George Jeffries (1889-1962), whom he had encountered in London.

"From Cape to Cairo for Jesus" was a rallying cry on which Bonnke founded Christ for All Nations, which grew to become a multimillion-dollar operation that claims to have brought more than 79 million people to follow Christ, first in Africa and later in Asia, Europe and North America. It also claims to have brought a dead man back to life.

"I am interested in bringing Africa to the foot of the Cross," Bonnke said in an interview with The New York Times in 1984. "I believe that the preaching of the living word of God is something that Africa hungers for."

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria said in a statement posted on Twitter that Bonnke’s death was a loss "to Nigeria, Africa & entire world."

Reinhard Bonnke was born on April 19, 1940, in the historically Prussian city of Königsberg. (Today it is known as Kaliningrad, Russia.) His father left the military for the ministry after World War II, and the family settled in northern Germany. Mesmerized by tales of 19th-century missionaries like David Livingstone, Bonnke studied at The Bible College of Wales.

From the earliest days, technology was part of his preaching. His sermons, held in the 1980s in a giant tent that seated 35,000 and stood seven stories high, incorporated flashing lights and videos shot by camera teams that would accompany his journeys throughout Africa.

The videos were sold to followers eager to take the message home with them. The advent of the internet allowed him to increase his outreach through daily messages posted on social media, and a 10-part film series recounted his journey of faith.

But his refusal to take a political stance against repressive African leaders earned him criticism as well as praise. While living in and maintaining his ministry’s headquarters in an all-white area of Johannesburg in the 1970s and ’80s, he refused to join South African church leaders in speaking out against the country’s apartheid regime, insisting that politics and faith did not mix.

As many as 1.7 million Africans at a time would flock to one of his revivals, requiring them to be held in open-air locations. Many of those attending were ailing with AIDS, cancer and other maladies, drawn by promises of being healed.

In 1991, at least eight people died in violence that broke out in the northern Nigerian city of Kano after thousands of Muslims took to the streets to protest a decision by the police to grant Bonnke permission to hold a revival meeting. In 1999, also in Nigeria, at least 14 people were trampled to death trying to reach the stage to receive Bonnke’s professed healing powers.

Two years later, a Nigerian minister, the Rev. Daniel Ekechukwu, was pronounced dead after the car he was driving smashed into a stone pillar. His wife, saying she had a vision, took her husband’s body in its coffin to the basement of a church where Bonnke was preaching. During his sermon, the man’s wife said, her husband sat up in his coffin and spoke.

"The raising of Daniel from the dead is a story that will offend some people," Bonnke wrote in his book "Raised From the Dead" (2014). "I can guarantee it."

He added: "I tell of the miracle now because it towers over my life and ministry like the steeple of a great cathedral. It points to the heavens, and to the God I serve."

In 2013, at the age of 73, he took his ministry to the United States, which for decades was the source of most of his organization's funding. Although he never attracted a following in America as large as he had in Africa, he made regular appearances on Christian television and spoke to conferences. The Associated Press reported in 2014 that he lived in a roomy $3 million Ritz-Carlton condo near West Palm Beach, Florida with prime ocean views.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Ann (Sülzle) Bonnke; their three children, Kai-Uwe, Gabriele, and Susanne; and eight grandchildren.

Bonnke’s organization is now led by Daniel Kolenda, an American living in Florida whom Bonnke designated as his successor in 2001.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gay men seen dying from AIDS due to Africa's homophobic laws

NAIROBI - Thousands of gay men in Africa are likely dying from HIV-related illnesses every year due to homophobic laws that stifle their chances of being tested and treated, said researchers behind a study published on Monday in The Lancet HIV journal.

A study of the data of 45,000 gay men in 28 African countries including Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria found only one in four living with HIV were taking medication.

Half had taken an HIV/AIDS test in the past 12 months and researchers said the low rates were due to anti-LGBT+ laws in many African countries, which promoted stigma and discrimination and neglected HIV/AIDS programs targeting gay men.

"We found countries that had more repressive anti-LGBT laws or harsher penalties for same sex relations had lower levels of HIV testing," said Kate Mitchell, one of the researchers at Imperial College London who was involved in the study.

"Some of the studies suggested that this was due to stigma. More research is required to see whether, if these laws were repealed, more gay men would be tested and treated."

According to the United Nations, about 470,000 people living with HIV in Africa still die every year because they cannot or do not get tested and gain access to treatment, accounting for more than 60 percent of all global HIV-related deaths.

While there are no official figures on the number of deaths of men who have sex with men (MSM), Mitchell said it would be fair to estimate that thousands of gay men who were unaware or unable to get medication were dying every year.

African countries have some of the world's most prohibitive laws governing homosexuality. Same-sex relationships are considered taboo and gay sex is a crime across most of continent, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to death.

A 2019 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association found 32 African countries out of a total of 54 nations criminalize same sex relations. South Africa is the only African nation to legalize gay marriage.

Gay rights groups say the laws promote homophobia across the continent and are used daily to persecute and discriminate against sexual minorities who face prejudice in getting jobs, renting housing or seeking medical care or education.

Hate crimes like blackmail, extortion, physical and sexual assault are common - but most are too fearful to go to the police due to their sexual orientation, say rights groups.

"Globally, men who have sex with men are about 28 times more likely to be living with HIV than men in the general population, an inequality that is particularly apparent in sub-Saharan Africa, where the human rights of MSM are often violated," said the study.

"These attitudes also create barriers to implementing effective HIV research, policy and health programs for MSM, through prohibition of activism and research, arbitrary arrests of health-care providers, and disruption of services provided by community-based and non-governmental organisations."

LGBT+ rights campaigners in Kenya, where gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in jail, said they were not surprised by the results of the study.

"It is true the law makes if very difficult for MSM to seek medical treatment. Many people fear they will be outed or face some kind of abuse or be shamed by insensitive medical practitioners," said Andrew Maina, program coordinator at HIVOS.

"If these anti-gay laws are scrapped, there will be more openness, more advocacy and more awareness of the issue. Gay men living with HIV would be able to seek medical care knowing they will be treated with respect and dignity."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

FIBA World Cup: Loss to Nigeria, Iran rout dash China's Olympic dreams

Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Josh Okogie scored 7 of his team-high 19 points in the final 1:37 of the game, as Nigeria thwarted a late rally by China to win 86-73 in the 2019 FIBA World Cup on Sunday.

A 3-pointer and 2 free throws by Abudushalamu Abudurexiti got the hosts closer 77-71 inside the last 2 minutes in Guangzhou. 

But Okogie converted a 3-point play off Abudushalamu's foul, then went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line as a result of China fouling in the next possessions, which gave Nigeria enough cushion to frustrate star center Yi Jianlian and the hometown fans.

Yi finished with 27 points to lead all scorers.

The win sent the African side to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because it finished the tournament with the best record among other teams from the continent.

Meanwhile, China had held out hope that its point differential would be sufficient to qualify for the Olympics.

But after Iran dismantled the Philippines 95-75 in a game that ended later, the Middle Eastern squad ended up with a higher aggregate margin of victory (plus-7) compared to China (minus-10).

After a rousing 70-55 victory over Cote d'Ivoire in the group stage, China was stunned in a 79-76 overtime loss to Poland.

Needing a win in its third game, the once dominant team in Asia stumbled out of the gates against Venezuela and ended up falling 72-59.

China beat Korea 77-73 in its first classification game, but had hoped to win big against Nigeria to grab an Olympic seat.

Instead, the hosts — who boast of players with NBA experience and size advantage such as Yi — couldn't take advantage of the crowd support to finish the World Cup as underachievers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Africa's richest man withdrew $10 million just to look at it

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast--Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, known as Africa's richest man, told a forum in Ivory Coast on Saturday how he once took $10 million in cash out of the bank just to look at it and get it into his head that this was real money, not just figures on paper.

"When you're young your first million is important, but after, the numbers don't mean much," Dangote, a manufacturing tycoon with a range of companies spanning cement to flour, told the Mo Ibrahim forum in Abidjan.

"One day, I cashed 10 million, put them in the boot of my car I put it in my room. I looked at them and thought 'now I believe I have money' and took it back to the bank the next day," he told his audience.

Anecdotes aside, Dangote said that the 2 most promising sectors for Africa's future were agriculture and new technologies. But he advised young African entrepreneurs not to get carried away by the first flush of success.

"Often in Africa we spend our projected incomes. There are ups and downs" in business, he warned.

Dangote said he regretted the customs and administrative problems that hamper business development throughout the continent.

As an example he cited the difficulties his cement group faces in exporting to Benin from Nigerian factories 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border. Benin imported "more expensive" cement from China instead.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Croatia need own goal and penalty to overcome Nigeria

KALININGRAD, Russia - Croatia beat Nigeria 2-0 on Saturday with an own goal from Oghenekaro Etebo and a penalty from Luka Modric to go top of World Cup Group D, one of the toughest and most unpredictable in the tournament.

Modric's coolly taken 71st minute spot kick gave the scoreline a clear-cut feel, but the fact that Croatia failed to score on their own from open play was testament to some wayward shooting.

While dominating for long periods, they struggled to penetrate the Nigerian defence and failed repeatedly to find the target with speculative shots from well outside the penalty area.

The result puts Croatia in pole position for now after Argentina - their next opponents in the group - were unexpectedly held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland.

Looking ahead to that clash in Nizhny Novgorod next Thursday, Modric told reporters: "It is going to be a difficult match, maybe against the favourites in our group. They have quality but this win will boost our confidence.

"It will be tough, granted, but they will have to play for a win because of the scoreline today that they never expected."

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr highlighted his team's weakness in defending at set-pieces, and said victory against Iceland next Friday was now a necessity.

"All is possible for the qualification... We keep smiling, we are disappointed, and we will try to be better in the next game," he said.

"Of course it is important now to make at least four points if you want to qualify. We are one point behind now. It is all in our hands. We have the youngest team in the World Cup - let them learn from this, and we will do better."


SCRAPPY OPENER

The first goal came just after the half-hour mark when a Croatian corner from the right was headed across the box and on to striker Mario Mandzukic, whose diving header found its way into the net off Etebo's foot.

Just three days into the World Cup, the scrappy goal added to what is becoming a pattern, following a Moroccan own goal that handed victory to Iran on Friday and a deflected Paul Pogba effort that earned France a 2-1 win over Australia earlier on Saturday.

Until then, Croatia and Nigeria had appeared evenly balanced, with the African side's goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa untroubled by powerful but long-range shots from Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric - the first going over the bar and the second finishing wide.

As the game heated up, Kramaric headed onto the roof of the Nigerian net, while at the other end Alex Iwobi had a shot charged down and Victor Moses fired over the bar.

Nigeria started the second half with intent as Leon Balogun headed over, but the first half pattern reasserted itself as Croatia imposed their authority while failing to land shots on target.

Their best chance fell to Ante Rebic, but his well struck volley zoomed wide of the goal as he ran onto a pass from Perisic.

Croatia again had their opponents to thank for their second goal, after William Troost-Ekong grabbed Mandzukic in the penalty area, wrapping both arms around him from behind in a tight embrace that would have done credit to an amorous Cossack.

Modric strode up to stroke the ball low into the left-hand corner, giving Ezenwa no chance.

Asked if he had been nervous after Lionel Messi's penalty miss for Argentina against Iceland, the Croatian captain was dismissive.

"I wasn't nervous. I was fully focused on scoring from that penalty spot. Thank God I managed to score - nothing more to be said, really."

(Additional reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar; Writing by Mark Trevelyan in Yekaterinburg; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

More than 30 dead as carnage returns to NE Nigeria

KADUNA - More than 30 people were killed Tuesday when a bomb blast ripped through packed crowds in Yola, northeast Nigeria, just days after President Muhammadu Buhari visited declaring that Boko Haram were close to defeat.

The explosion happened at about 8:20 pm (1920 GMT) in the Jambutu area of the Adamawa state capital, although it was not immediately clear whether it was caused by a suicide bomber or an improvised explosive device.

"So far, we've recorded about 32 dead and about 80 injured," said Sa'ad Bello, the Yola coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency.

The Red Cross and state police gave a slightly lower toll of 31 dead and 72 injured.

The blast bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has previously attacked Yola with suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices in recent months.

Buhari this month was in Yola to decorate soldiers for bravery in the counter-insurgency as well as visit a camp for people displaced by six years of violence that has left at least 17,000 people dead.

He told troops he believed Boko Haram "are very close to defeat" and urged soldiers "to remain vigilant, alert and focused to prevent Boko Haram from sneaking into our communities to attack soft targets".

Red Cross official Aliyu Maikano and residents said the area targeted was a lorry park which also houses a livestock market, an open-air restaurant and a mosque.

The area was immediately cordoned off but poor power supply in Yola meant the rescue effort was conducted in near darkness.

"Victims could be lying all over the place," Maikano said.

'DEADLIEST GROUP'

Tuesday's blast was the first in Nigeria this month, indicating the army's strategy to cut off the Islamists' supply lines and target their camps was paying off.

Buhari has set his military commanders a deadline of the end of next month to crush the rebels, who have increasingly taken to attacking border areas of neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

But the Yola explosion also shows the difficulty in completely neutralising the threat, particularly in crowded urban areas.

On Monday, the army said it had foiled an attack using high-powered assault weapons and bombs in the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri, as well as having uncovered a bomb-making factory.

Yola had been seen as a relative haven from the bloodshed across the northeast and last year housed hundreds of thousands who fled their homes as the militants advanced into Adawawa state.

The military declared the state "cleared" earlier this year.

But in October, 27 people were killed and 96 injured in a blast at a mosque in Jambutu, while in September, seven people died and 20 were injured by a bomb left at the displaced persons camp visited by Buhari last week.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at one of Yola's main markets in June, killing 31.

There have also been multiple raids in the north of the state, near the group's Sambisa Forest stronghold across the border in Borno.

The blast came as Boko Haram was named in the latest Global Terrorism Index as "the most deadly terrorist group in the world", having killed 6,644 people last year.

The index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, said the Islamic State group, to which Boko Haram has pledged allegiance, killed 6,073.

It highlighted "the major intensification of the terrorist threat in Nigeria" and said it had "witnessed the largest increase in terrorist deaths ever recorded by any country".

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com