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http://ift.tt/2rph9si Tunisia's Ons Jabeur returns the ball to Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova during their tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on May 31, 2017 in Paris. Thomas SAMSON / AFP Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur became the first Arab woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam on Wednesday when she defeated sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3 at the French Open. Jabeur, ranked 114 and who only earned her place in the Roland Garros main draw as a ‘lucky loser’ after being beaten in qualifying, bettered the previous best by an Arab woman at the majors. That mark was set by compatriot Selima Sfar who made the second round at Roland Garros twice, three times at Wimbledon and once at the US Open. The 22-year-old Jabeur, who was the French Open girls’ champion in 2011, goes on to face Swiss 30th seed Timea Bacsinszky for a place in the last 16. “I am very, very happy to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time,” said Jabeur w...

http://ift.tt/2rgc45o A handout picture provided by the Egyptian Presidency on May 29, 2017 shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) meeting with Russia's Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu (2-L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (3-L) in the capital Cairo.AFP Egypt’s president has signed into law a contentious new bill to regulate non-governmental organisations, the official gazette said on Monday, triggering fears of an intensified crackdown on civil society. Authorities have led a brutal crackdown on all forms of opposition, at times targeting human rights organisations directly, since then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Sisi in 2013. Sisi approved the law on May 24 after parliament approved it in November last year, the gazette said. Rights lawyer Gamal Eid slammed the text of the new bill, which the United Nations and New York-based Human Rights Watch have also criticised. “The law eliminates civil society in Egy...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Executive committee members of the All Progressive Congress in Agege and Orile-Agege, in a joint statement, disclaimed the use of their names and offices by alleged unscrupulous persons for fraudulent purposes. In the statement signed by Mr. Lucky Samuel (JP), and Femi Falade, Exco members of APC in Agege and Orile-Agege respectively, the Excos claimed that the party in both local government areas have been notified of the activities of Former Agege council chairman, Hon.   Jubril   Abdulkareem and a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Hon. Taofiq Adaranijo, alleging that the two party chieftains have been parading non-APC members as the party Excos. The reason for the alleged impersonation, the statement said, was to facilitate the emergence of  Hon. Abdulkareem and Hon. Adaranijo’s alleged favoured candidates as Chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the APC in the two councils by disenfranchising the real Exco members...

http://ift.tt/2pst5Vp UN peacekeepers. PHOTO: http://www.un.org Three more UN peacekeepers have been found dead after an attack on a convoy in the Central African Republic, UN officials said Tuesday, bringing the death toll to four. The UN’s MINUSCA mission, which had earlier announced the death of one peacekeeper, said it was “deeply saddened to confirm that three of the four peacekeepers that were missing in action since yesterday’s attack have been found dead.” The fourth peacekeeper remains missing after the attack Monday evening. Eight attackers were killed in the crossfire, MINUSCA added, referring to anti-Balaka Christian militias whose confrontation with pro-Muslim rebels plunged the country into a three-year civil war in 2013. The convoy was attacked near Yogofongo village, more than 470 kilometres (290 miles) east of the capital Bangui, close to the border with Democratic Republic of Congo, a MINUSCA statement said. “One Cambodian peacekeeper was killed and eigh...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Starting line-ups in the Champions League semi-final second leg between Juventus and Monaco at the Juventus Stadium on Tuesday (kick-off 1845 GMT; Juventus lead 2-0 on aggregate): Juventus (3-4-2-1): Gianlugi Buffon (capt); Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini; Dani Alves, Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Alex Sandro; Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic; Gonzalo Higuain Coach: Massimiliano Allegri (ITA) Monaco (4-4-2): Danijel Subasic; Andrea Raggi, Kamil Glik, Jemerson, Djibril Sidibe; Nabil Dirar, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Joao Moutinho, Bernardo Silva; Radamel Falcao (capt), Kylian Mbappe Coach: Leonardo Jardim (POR) Referee: Bjoern Kuipers (NED) The post Juventus v Monaco starting line-ups appeared first on Vanguard News . Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2q3o9IK

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. James Faleke, says the delay in the passage of the 2017 budget is to avoid issues of “budget padding”. Faleke, who spoke with newsmen after a closed-door meeting with All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders from Kogi at the party`s National Secretariat in Abuja on Monday, said that the budget was ready for passage. “It is not about delay but doing the right things; if we hurriedly do it and get things wrong, Nigerians will condemn us,’’ he said. He, however, said that what the House tried to do was to do the needful once-and-for-all, with the budget details submitted. The lawmaker confirmed that there was crisis in the Kogi chapter of the APC, but declined further comment on the issue. He said that Nigeria would have collapsed if President Muhammadu Buhari did not win the 2015 presidential election. “It is true that the party will be two years by May 29. I can tell you sincerely that the country has moved f...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The escalating conflict in South Sudan has driven more than one million children out of the country, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on Monday. Ms Leila Pakkala, the Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa of UNICEF, in a statement issued jointly with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), warned that the future of a generation was “on the brink”. “The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable. “Add this to the more than one million children who are also displaced within South Sudan, and the future of a generation is truly on the brink,” she warned. Children make 62 per cent of more than 1.8 million refugees from South Sudan, according to the latest UN figures. More than 75,000 refugee children in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have crossed South Sudan...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Ikeja – A 29-year-old housewife, Onyinyechi Akunne, was on Monday in Lagos sentenced to seven years imprisonment for stabbing to death her 35-year-old husband, Abuchi Akunne, with a kitchen knife during an argument at home over lotto tickets known as “Baba Ijebu”. An Ikeja High Court sentenced her following a plea bargain where the initial charge of murder was changed to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to which she plead guilty. Justice Josephine Oyefeso also rejected a clause in the plea bargain agreement where it was proposed that the housewife should serve a sentence of community service instead of a prison term. “In view of the defendant’s pleading guilty, I hereby find her guilty of one-count charge of grievous bodily harm. “I hereby sentence her to seven years in prison starting from the day she remanded in prison custody which was March 28, 2015,” Oyefeso said. Before the sentence was pronounced, Akunne’s counsel, Mrs P.O. Onu, in her plea for...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Minister of State for Environment Ibrahim Jibril says Nigeria has become a dumping ground for inferior, substandard, expired and poisonous foods and feeds from countries across the globe. The minister said this on Monday in Abuja at a workshop organised by National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) and Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS) to stimulate the collaboration of regulatory agencies. He, however, noted that there might be some machinations by some affluent nations to keep Nigeria a food-dependent nation perpetually. “Nigeria has been marginalised and ostracised by many rich nations in the European Union which suspended some of our agricultural products, citing high volume of  dichlorvos   pesticide as its reason. “This is a reflection of our inability to adhere to global standards, which has come to hunt us at the international level. “And I made bold to say that we — the regulatory Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) — all contribut...

http://ift.tt/2qPvR9h (FILES) This file photo taken on December 10, 2016 shows French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron of the "En March !" mouvement speaking during a campaign rally in Paris. Emmanuel Macron was elected French president on May 7, 2017 in a resounding victory over far-right rival Marine Le Pen after a deeply divisive campaign, initial estimates showed. Eric FEFERBERG / AFP Pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron won France’s landmark presidential election, first estimates showed Sunday, heading off a fierce challenge from the far-right in a pivotal vote for the future of the divided country and Europe. The victory caps an extraordinary rise for the 39-year-old former investment banker, who will become the country’s youngest-ever leader. He has promised to heal a fractured and demoralised country after a vicious campaign that has exposed deep economic and social divisions, as well as tensions around identity and immigration. Initial estimates sh...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A drug manufacturing company, GlaxoSmithKlime (GSK), has urged asthma patients to make good use of oral medications and inhalers for effective management of the illness. The company’s Consultant Pulmunologist, Dr Cyril Chukwu, made the call on Tuesday in a webcast streamed live from Premier Hotel Viewing Centre, Ibadan. The webcast, which was GSK’s contribution to this year’s World Asthma Day marked globally every May 2, was viewed in 15 centres, including Lagos (Ikoyi, Ikeja, Surulere), Abuja, Port Harcourt and Calabar. Other areas were Onitsha, Abeokuta, Kebbi and Ibadan. Chukwu said that most asthma patients don’t follow directives on how to use inhalers properly and in some cases, it could lead to complications before medical help was received. He said “patients should get product information on medicines and vaccines on therapeutic areas. “There are four major steps to proper use of inhalers and these are clearly stated on the information leaflets that a...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The South Sudan Assembly of Judges and Justices on Tuesday declared a nationwide strike over administrative matters and poor working conditions. The Chairperson of the Judges and Justices Committee, Khalid Abdalla Mohamed, said all courts across the country would cease to operate after talks mediated by government to end the dispute between the judges and the Chief Justice failed. The strike came after the body last week suspended it in order to engage in negotiations with President Salva Kiir. The group is demanding the resignation or removal of the Chief Justice, Chan Reec Madut. The chairperson of the Judges and Justices Committee said “we asked the president to ask the honourable Chief Justice to resign or the President should sack him, unfortunately, none of these two things happened. “Our open strike started from today (Tuesday). It is either us or the Chief Justice to go. No court in South Sudan will open unless the President removes him.” Apart from ...