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Cristiano Ronaldo has received a congratulatory message from Iran’s legendary striker Ali Daei after equalling the record for most international goals in men’s football. The Juventus striker scored two penalties in the 2-2 draw with France at Euro 2020 on Wednesday evening, which puts him level with Daei on 109 international goals. Ronaldo now has the chance to break that record in Portugal’s last-16 clash against Belgium on Sunday evening. Earlier today, Daei, who scored 109 goals in 149 games for Iran, praised Ronaldo for his achievement. 'Congratulations to Cristiano who is now one goal away from breaking the men’s international goal-scoring record. he said ‘I am honoured that this remarkable achievement will belong to Ronaldo – great champion of football and caring humanist who inspires and impacts lives throughout the world. Vamos!’    

Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino has died of renal failure as a result of diabetes. He passed away on Thursday morning, at the age of 61. Aquino's death was announced by President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman, Harry Roque, and his family, hours after local media reported the former president had been transported to a Manila hospital. "It is with profound grief that on behalf of our family, I am confirming that our brother, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III died peacefully in his sleep," the family said in a statement read by one of his four surviving sisters, Pinky Aquino Abellada. "His death certificate pronounced his death at 6:30 a.m. due to renal disease secondary to diabetes." The presidential palace offered condolences to Aquino's family. Vice President Leni Robredo, who ran under the then Aquino-led ruling party when elected in 2016, said it was "heart-breaking" to hear of his death.  "He tried to do what was...

UEFA has announced the scrapping of away goals from all European club competitions with immediate effect after they voted to take the decision.  The rule, which was introduced in 1965, has since been used to determine the winner of a two-legged knockout tie where teams had scored the same number of goals on aggregate over the two matches. Now in matches where two teams score the same number of goals over two legs, games will go straight to extra time and then penalties, if they are required. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said: 'The away goals rule has been an intrinsic part of UEFA competitions since it was introduced in 1965. However, the question of its abolition has been debated at various UEFA meetings over the last few years.  'Although there was no unanimity of views, many coaches, fans and other football stakeholders have questioned its fairness and have expressed a preference for the rule to be abolished.  'The impact of the rule now runs counter ...

Five people have been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after a pedestrian bridge that was in "poor condition" collapsed onto a busy Washington, D.C., highway.  The incident occurred before noon on Wednesday, June 23,  on DC-295 near Polk Street.  The collapse was caused by a collision, D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Chris Geldart said during a press briefing Wednesday afternoon.     Based on the preliminary investigation, a truck carrying diesel fuel may have collided with the bridge, causing it to separate from its mooring, he said. Multiple cars were then involved in the crash, with five people in those cars transported to local hospitals, he said.     "Everything we see on the accident scene right now leads to this being a collision pulling the bridge off its mooring," said Geldart, who noted they were "very lucky" there weren't any serious injuries. Images from the scene show a truck crushed under the bridge whi...

Former Barcelona striker Kevin Prince Boateng has returned to his boyhood club Hertha Berlin in what is the 16th transfer move of his career. The former Ghanaian international made his Bundesliga debut at the club in 2006, before going on to star in the Premier League, LaLiga, and Serie B.  Boateng, 34, unveiled the news at the same time as Hertha's official Twitter account on Wednesday. He simply tweeted: "I'm back!" "Kevin-Prince Boateng knows Hertha BSC, the Bundesliga and Berlin. He won't need long to settle in. Prince's leadership qualities are a great addition to our team, both on and off the pitch. "He has also proven his skills as a player at the highest level for several years. Overall, everything about this transfer is right," said sporting director Fredi Bobic. Boateng joined the Hertha BSC academy as a seven-year-old and moved up through the ranks of the club's youth sides, before breaking into the first-team squad in ...

Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has been declared winner of the governorship primary election organized by the Chief Victor Oye-led faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) held yesterday Wednesday, June 23. Soludo scored a total of 740 votes to defeat his closest rival, Hon Okwudili Ezenwankwo, representing Orumba North and South Federal constituency, who scored only 41 votes. The results were announced by National Vice Chairman of the party in the Southwest, Deacon Samson Olalere. 812 delegates were accredited by the party from the 326 wards in the 21 local government areas. The state governor, Willie Obiano, attended the primary.This development comes hours after he was suspended by the Jude Okeke-led faction of the party.

John McAfee, the founder of antivirus company McAfee, has been found dead in a Spanish prison near Barcelona after the Spanish high court authorised his extradition to the United States The Bristih technology entrepreneur reportedly commited suicide by hanging on Wednesday afternoon June 23, in a prison cell, just hours after a preliminary ruling for his extradition to the United States on charges of tax evasion. The Catalan justice department confirmed in a statement that the likely cause of death is suicide, Reuters reported. Employees at the Brians 2 penitentiary tried to revive the 75-year-old Mr McAfee but were unsuccessful, according to a statement cited by Spanish newspaper  El Mundo  and reporting by the Associated Press. According to the newspaper  El Pais,  the software entrepreneur was arrested in October and was awaiting extradition to the US when he was found dead. The paper added that police are investigating the circumstances surrounding h...

Lois Enanushe Amos, the daughter of former supervisory Councilor for Agriculture of Karu Local Government Council, Nasarawa State, ASP Amos Akaito (Rtd) has died 6 weeks after her wedding. Lois got married to Allanana Israel Alu on Saturday, May 8, 2021 in Keffi, Nasarawa State and died on Wednesday, June 23 after a brief illness.     Meanwhile, family and friends have taken to social media to mourn her.    "Flash back 13years ago,I could still recall us walking home from school with Blessing. Back to 2020,when we had a little conversation about career and you convocating...May 2021, wished you a happy married life...June 2021, celebrated your birthday...Coming to see RIP on your pictures today sent a shock wave, Lois Amos . You've always been radiant and full of life. Rest in Peace" - Tosin Isaac wrote.    Precious Ajegena wrote: "Hmmmmmmmm..... LOIS AMOS, d news of ur death came in as a shock 2 me I was sad and angry at d same...

  The Euro 2020 knockout stages are set, with the first of the last-16 games starting on Saturday. The group stages games were concluded on Wednesday after Portugal played 2 - 2 with France, while Germany also played 2 - 2 with Hungary. who were sent home from the tournament after finishing fourth in Group F.   For the last-16, England will face Germany in a huge clash at Wembley, while current champions Portugal will take on Belgium,  See the Euro 2020 last-16 knockout fixtures. Saturday June 26 5pm: Wales vs Denmark, Amsterdam 8pm: Italy vs Austria, Wembley Sunday June 27 5pm: Netherlands vs Czech Republic, Budapest 8pm: Belgium vs Portugal, Seville Monday June 28 5pm: Croatia vs Spain, Copenhagen 8pm: France vs Switzerland, Bucharest Tuesday June 29 5pm: England vs Germany, Wembley 8pm: Sweden vs Ukraine, Glasgow  

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Wednesday said the introduction of the National Identification Number in the 2021/2022 exam registration helped it to uncover over 500,000 fake candidates. Prof. Isha’q Oloyede, the Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB disclosed this during a press conference in Enugu, during his visit to the South-East to access the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination as well as to visit the new university in Ebonyi.  The registrar said the use of the NIN as directed by the Federal Government helped to reduce examination malpractice. He said, “Before the introduction of NIN in the registration, there were about 2.2 million candidates for the examination, but after the introduction of NIN, over 500,000 candidates were discovered to be fake.” He disclosed that the actual number of candidates that JAMB registered for UTME 2021 was 1,415,501, and out of it, 1,122,095 candidates had taken the examinations, while 66,111 c...

Queen Elizabeth II has lost £10million in her finances as a result of the pandemic. Buckingham Palace revealed on Wednesday, June 23, that it had lost just over half its annual income outside of Government funding after closing its gates to visitors.   Income plunged from £20.2million in 2019/20 to £9.4million in 2020/21.   Meanwhile, its property maintenance bill soared from £38.4million to £49.5 million as part of its planned upgrade of the Queen's official residence. The sovereign grant, money given to the monarch by the UK Government which is based on the income surplus from The Crown Estate two years ago, increased by £3.5million to £85.9million during 2020/21. It was comprised of a core element of £51.5million that funds the Queen's official duties and her household, plus an additional £34.4million to pay for reservicing costs at the palace. In all, the monarchy cost the British taxpayer £87.5million in 2020/21, an increase of £18.1million from the ...

Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi is in the final week of his contract with the Spanish club, and it has been confirmed that he will sign a new contract till 2023.  The recent signings of Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay convinced the Argentine playmaker to extend his contract with the Spanish giants.  Transfer window specialist Italian journalist, Fabrizio Romano, confirmed that an agreement between Barcelona and Messi is all but reached, with only a few details of the contract remaining to be finalised. Messi, as claimed by Romano, will sign a new contract that would keep him at the club till 2023. "Lionel Messi will extend his contract with Barcelona until June 2023, all parties involved have no doubt - but there are still some clauses to be fixed in the contract ‘structure’. #Messi  ...that’s why there’s no official announcement yet. But it’s just a matter of time," he tweeted. According to Le10 Sport , the announcement of Messi's contract extension could be ma...