Zika virus 'spreading explosively

The Zika virus is "is now spreading explosively" in the Americas, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday, with another official estimating between 3 million and 4 million Zika infections in the region over a 12-month period.

"The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty," WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan told her organization's executive board members. "We need to get some answers, quickly."

Hazard & Costa available for Chelsea’s clash with Arsenal

The Belgium international has been sidelined with a groin problem since January 3, while Diego Costa has made a recovery from the shin injury he suffered against Everton.

Eden Hazard is available for Chelsea’s clash with Arsenal on Sunday.

The Belgium international hasn’t featured for the Premier League champions since their 3-0 win at Crystal Palace on January 3 due to a groin injury.But Guus Hiddink has confirmed that Hazard returned to training earlier this week and is now fit to face the Premier League leaders at the Emirates Stadium."In the last two days he [Hazard] was in full training. He's available," the Chelsea coach told reporters.
"We have to be careful as he's fallen into injuries recently. I'm not sure whether he can play a full 90 minutes."

The Chelsea boss has also confirmed that Diego Costa is in contention to play despite being taken to hospital for scans on a shin injury after last Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Everton.

Ivanovic signs one-year Chelsea extension

Chelsea have confirmed defender Branislav Ivanovic has signed a one-year contract extension.

The Serbia international, whose previous deal was due to expire at the end of the season, has not enjoyed his best season at Stamford Bridge and regularly came in for criticism for his displays under previous manager Jose Mourinho.

RUMOURS: Real Madrid ready to pay Neymar's €190m release clause

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is prepared to pay Neymar’s €190 million release clause.

The report claims that Madrid would also offer the Brazil international an ‘astronomical salary’ and would elevate him to the club’s leading star - which one mean that one of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema will be sold.
Barca also report that Perez is in need of a big-name signing in the summer in order to excite Madrid’s ‘disillusioned’ fans.

Morocco arrests Belgian with links to Paris attacks

Morocco has arrested a Belgian in connection with the November terror attacks in Paris, officials told CNN on Monday.

French and Moroccan authorities identified the man as 26-year-old Gelel Attar, a Belgian of Moroccan descent.

Burkina Faso attack demonstrates al Qaeda revival in Africa

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, often seen as a fractured and undisciplined group, apparently has carried out its second major terror attack in two months -- claiming more than 20 lives in the assault on a luxury hotel and two other targets in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

The gun attack on the Splendid Hotel bears many similaritiesto that on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on November 20 in which 22 people were killed.

Plane carrying Americans in Iran prisoner swap has taken off

A family member of an American freed in Iran told CNN the U.S. State Department said that a plane carrying the Americans has taken off in Iran.

Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, released from Iranian detention under a prisoner swap agreement between Tehran and Washington, has left the country along with his wife, the newspaper's publisher says. "We look forward to the joyous occasion of welcoming him back to the Washington. 

Who Could Be the Victims of Real Madrid's Transfer Ban?

FIFA has confirmed that Real Madrid will not be allowed to sign new players for the next two full transfer windows.

In the pictures above, we look at the players who are most likely to lose out now that manager Zinedine Zidane won't be able to bring any new faces to the Bernabeu.

Kanye West apologizes to Beck, Bruno Mars

LOS ANGELES — Out of the blue, more than two weeks after criticizing Beck for winning Album of the Year at the Grammys, Kanye West has publicly apologized on Twitter.
"I would like to publicly apologize to Beck, I’m sorry Beck," he tweeted Thursday.
It was the first part in a two-part apology spree in which West also said sorry to Bruno Mars, the "Uptown Funk" singer that he dissed in 2013 as being "overrated" for winning "all the motherf*cking awards and sh*t" at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Istanbul suicide bombing: Deadliest attack on Germans in over 13 years

It was a strike at the heart of Turkey's culture and its multibillion-dollar tourist industry.

The suicide bombing on Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday killed 10 people -- all of them Germans, the German Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday.

It was the deadliest attack on Germans abroad in more than 13 years. And Turkey's Prime Minister promised a determined effort to repel the threat.

Classes resume at Garissa University nearly one year after Al Shabaab attack

There have been small renovations. The walls have been painted with new colors. The dormitory where the attackers went room to room killing students has since been renamed.

A police station has been set up at the school and security presence has upped from four officers to 30.Classes resume Monday at Garissa University College, nine months after the school experienced one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks Kenyan soil.

Deadly Blast in Cameroon

Two female suicide bombers killed at least 10 people and injured 12 at a mosque on Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria, the Far North Region's governor, Midjiyawa Bakari, said Wednesday.

Cameroon's Far North Region flanks northeast Nigeria, heartland of the jihadist terror group Boko Haram, and has become a frequent target for the group's insurgents.

Obama hammers Trump-style politics in red state Nebraska

President Barack Obama sharpened his State of the Union warning against divisive politics Wednesday, using a campaign-style rally in Nebraska to deride politicians like Republican front-runner Donald Trump who he claimed was using fear as a tool to gain votes.

"We have to reject any politics that targets people because of their race or their religion. That we have to reject," Obama told a packed arena here on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

UN warns Madaya hospital Must be Evacuated.

Residents are among the estimated 400,000 people caught in Syrian conflict zones without basic necessitiesAround 400 people need to be evacuated from a hospital in the Syrian city of Madaya to save their lives, a United Nations official said Monday.Stephen O’Brien, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, cited starvation and medical complications as key reasons for an emergency evacuation,

Manchester United transfer news: Ronaldo hopes dashed by PSG interest and new Felipe Anderson bid expected.

Cristiano Ronaldo is Targeted by PSG and Felipe Anderson interest has been confirmed.
The Express have reported that Manchester United's hopes or re-signing Cristaino Ronaldo have taken a blow because of PSG interest in the portugese star.

The french champions are prepared to pay the forward  E500,000 a week to lure him to parc des prince

The report suggests PSG are determined to make him their replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

What Obama Will say at His Final State of the Union.

President Obama will address Congress and the nation Tuesday night for his final State of the Union Address as he hopes to reassure a fearful nation and begin to cement his legacy with just over one year until he leaves office. Struggling to break through amid a turbulent presidential primary season, Obama is looking to rebut the doom and gloom on the campaign trail. The president will seek to allay concerns about terrorism after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, defending his administration’s

Parent and Their 2 Daughters Killed in Ohio House Explosion

Authorities were combing through the charred remains of a house in Northfield Center Township, Ohio, early Tuesday to determine why the home suddenly exploded Monday night, killing a family of four, including two children. "It is very sad, very sad," Frank Risko, the fire chief of this small hamlet 20 miles southeast of Cleveland, told that city's Plain Dealer newspaper. "It's difficult. This is our first fatality as long as I can remember ... It's not easy."

Group demand Trump apologize to Muslim woman ejected from rally.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is demanding an apology from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after a Muslim woman was escorted out of a South Carolina campaign rally.
Police removed Rose Hamid, who was wearing a hijab, after she stood up in silent protest in the stands behind Trump when he suggested that Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their home country are affiliated with Islamic State militants. Some Trump backers heckled her as she was led out of the event Friday.

Back Bale over Ronaldo

It’s in Real Madrid’s long-term interest to push Gareth Bale to the forefront over Cristiano Ronaldo, according to the Sunday Supplement panel.Bale has been the subject of transfer speculation in the past week after manager Rafa Benitez was sacked and replaced by Zinedine Zidane.However, Bale showed no ill effects of the change in management in his first game under Zidane, overshadowing Ronaldo by netting a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Deportivo.

Chelsea remove jose Mourinho fan feature from stamford Bridge.

It's little more than three weeks since Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea, but the club have already taken a step to remove evidence of their former boss from around the ground.Chelsea used to have a special board outside their Stamford Bridge home where fans could get their pictures taken as part of the squad.Supporters would park themselves next to Jose while a friend captured the special moment.But fans arriving at the Bridge on Sunday will find they can no longer pay homage to the manager who won three Premier League titles in two spells at the club. The Mourinho wall is gone.

As foreign pile up, Obama seen taking few risks in final year

As Barack Obama prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the U.S. president and his aides have insisted he will not be content simply to run out the clock on foreign policy and is acting decisively to tackle crises piling up around the globe.But former U.S. officials and experts familiar with the White House’s thinking say he appears locked into policies aimed more at containing such threats and avoiding deeper U.S. military engagement in the last year of his

Police: Suspect in officer's shooting claims allegiance to ISIS

-A 30-year-old man who allegedly ambushed and shot a Philadelphia police officer sitting in his patrol car confessed he did it in the name of the Islamic State, presumably referring to the terrorist group ISIS, officials said Friday.Officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, was hit three times in the left arm on Thursday night and suffered "some very serious injuries that will require multiple surgeries," police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters.

Mission accomplished:Mexican President says 'EL Chapo' caught.

Mexican authorities snared drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in a bloody raid Friday, recapturing one of the world's most notorious and slippery criminals."Mission Accomplished," President Enrique Peña Nieto announced via Twitter. "We have him."
Members of Mexico's navy caught Guzman in an operation at about 4:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. ET) in the coastal city of Los Mochis in Sinaloa state, a senior law enforcement official in Mexico told CNN.

Congress sends health care repeal to obama, setting up certain veto

Congressional Republicans made good Wednesday on a central campaign pledge from the 2014 midterms, delivering a bill repealing the health care reform law they loathe to President Obama’s desk, forcing a certain veto.The bill passed 240 to 181, with one House Democrat supporting the bill and three Republicans opposing it, after passing the Senate 52 to 47 last month. Neither margin is large enough to override a veto.But House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said the vote would prompt the

North Korea test draws threat of sanctions despite H-bomb doubts

North Korea said it successfully tested a powerful nuclear bomb on Wednesday, drawing threats of further sanctions even though the United States and weapons experts voiced doubts the device was as advanced as the isolated nation claimed.The underground explosion shook the earth so hard that it registered as a seismic event with U.S. earthquake monitors. It put pressure on China to rein in neighboring North Korea.The U.N. Security Council said it would begin working immediately on

Tearful Obama Outlines steps to curb Gun Deaths.

President Barack Obama wept openly Tuesday as he delivered a forceful defense of new executive actions on gun violence, a set of modest proposals to tighten loopholes that likely face quick legal challenges and could be vulnerable to reversal by a Republican White House.
The president ran through a list of mass shootings that have happened during his time in office, and teared up as he recalled the schoolchildren gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012.

Baby 'abduction' : Hip hop star Davido tells it all.

When the second trimester of Sophia’s pregnancy was closing, she tortuously announced to me that she was in the family way.

My mind was bemused, and so was my soul confused. But I quickly realised that nothing more could be done to alter my status as a father-to-be. I knew that I was not ready to be a dad. Still, I adjusted myself to the realities of my new situation and the consequences of my past personal indiscretions. I made the determination that I was going to be a good dad. I also reasoned that my blunder is not

Magnitude Earthquake Hits Northeast India

GAUHATI, India (AP) — A 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit India's remote northeast region before dawn on Monday, killing at least six people, injuring more than 100 others and causing damage to several buildings.
The death and injuries were caused by falling debris. Three people were killed in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, and another three in other parts of the state, said police officer A.K. Jalajit.
The powerful tremor left large cracks in walls and a portion of a popular market building collapsed in

Natalie Cole dies at 65

Natalie cole dies at 65, The legendary singer was 65 and passed away last night in a Los Angeles hospital due to complications from ongoing health issues, her rep said.

“It is with heavy hearts that we bring to you all the news of our Mother and sister's passing," her son, Robert Yancy, and sisters Timolin and Casey said in a statement. "Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived..with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever.”

Sophie Momodu { Davido baby mama} Petitions NAPTIP

A new front has been opened in the crisis rocking Davido and his baby mama which has culminated in the in­volvement of Ovation Magazine publisher, Dele Momodu. According to Saturday Sun checks, Sophie has petitioned NAPTIP, alleging that the singer and his half sister, Coco, attempted to kidnap her daughter and smuggle her to the United States through the Murtala Mohammed In­ternational Airport, Lagos.