The Youth Panorama

  13 Fulani herdsmen were killed in Taraba by a group of unknown gunmen on June 28, 2014, Saturday, NAN reports. According to a statement by the police in the state’s capital, Jalingo, on June 29, 2014, Sunday, the deceased were returning from village markets in Maihula and Garba-Chede. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Joseph Kwaji said the herdsmen were ambushed and killed by a group of yet-to-be identified armed youths. The incident happened along a bush path in the outskirts of Maihula in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba. The PPRO said the security was beefed up in the area. The officer promised police would do its best to locate and arrest the attackers. The motives of the ambush were also not clear to the police, but further investigations may reveal both the reasons for the attack and the people behind it. Bali LGA Chairman, Andrew Yerima, confirmed the development. He noted that the perished herdsmen, but were trailed and gunned down by ...

Costa Rica's goalkeeper Keylor Navas saves from Greece forward Fanis Gekas in the penalty shoot-out in Recife. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images Costa Rica made history by reaching their first World Cup quarter-final at Greece’s expense, though it was the way they did it that will live long in the memory, surviving half an hour of extra-time with only 10 men before going on to prosper in the penalty shoot out. When Sokratis Papastathopoulos equalised in the 91st minute it appeared Costa Rica were going to suffer the same fate as their Concacaf neighbours ,Mexico. Greece’s late goal took the game into...

More and more people in the three troubled North-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are ordering what passes for bulletproof clothing, buying homemade muskets and organising ragtag militias, Wall Street Journal reports. Nigeria may soon witness vigilante groups of “new generation”. They will be different from the ‘Civilian JTF’ (Volunteer Vigilance Youths’ Group). The new groups will be better equipped, as the residents are gathering weapons to defend their territories from terrorists. Vigilante groups went looking for suspected militants after the attack on Giwa Barracks, March 14 New York’s Council on Foreign Relations estimates that over 14,000 people lost their lives in three years due to Boko Haram insurgency. All in all, the unrest lasts since 2009. The people are extremely tired of it. Their move to protect themselves is explained by endless suicide-bomb attacks, killing sprees and mass abductions of boys, girls and women. Another aspect is poo...

Another Chibok girl who escaped the boko haram sects’ den after being kidnapped with over 200 girls by the terrorists on April 14 in Borno state has revealed how she and eight other girls managed to escape and how they were treated by the sects. Schoolgirls who have escaped from Boko Haram kidnappers in the village of Chibok, sit at the Government house to speak with State Governor Kashim Shettima in Maiduguri on June 2, 2014. Credit: STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES The escaped Chibok girl revealed to Leadership how the sects divided them(Chibok girls) into three different camps on their arrival at the forest. She said: “When we got to the Sambisa forests they decided to divide us into three groups and each group was asked to go to different direction of the forest”. We were taken to the camp from where we were able to escape. We never saw the other girls in the other two camps till we managed to run back home,” she told Leadership. “Some of them were speaking to us...

A massive attack by suspected Boko Haram members started in Kautikari and some other villages of Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State in the morning of June 29, 2014, Sunday.   The terrorists targeted Christian churches in the area, AFP reports. They have chosen the most suitable time for the attack in the morning, when worshipers were gathering for the Sunday Service. The death toll is expected to be high. According to Reuters, Boko Haram fighters killed at least 10 people in one place only, while at least five churches in the area have reportedly been hit with small arms and bombs. According to PremiumTimes, the attack started in Kwada (about 10 km from Chibok). The gunmen targeted worshippers, set at least four churches ablaze, including COCCIN church, Deeper Life Bible Church and EYN church. A resident of Kwada, who introduced himself as Mallam Yahi, informed that armed men attacked the residents and burnt Churches and houses in his home village...

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scores the 90th-minute penalty that gave Holland victory after Mexico had led for 40 minutes. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Fifa via Getty Images This World Cup gets more dramatic by the day. Two goals in the last six minutes, one of them a penalty in the dying moments, sent Holland through to the quarter-finals. Wesley Sneijder and the substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored them, but no one had been as significant as Arjen Robben, and he it was who sprinted towards the end of the stadium and leapt in the air, clenching his fists at the full-time whistle. It was a run he had made over and over; he had don...

Brazil's Júlio César saves a penalty from Chile's Mauricio Pinilla during the World Cup second round shootout. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images Júlio César, Brazil’s hero in the penalty shootout win against Chile, reflected on the prize of a World Cup quarter-final and said he felt he had won back the country’s trust after being the scapegoat in South Africa four years ago. Júlio César saved Chile’s first two penalties and referred immediately to his mistake in the quarter-final against Holland at the last World Cup. “After what happened in 2010 I see now how many people are cheering for ...

Some unknown gunmen reportedly attacked Zion community of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, in Bayelsa State, Southern Nigeria on Saturday, 28 June, 2014. According to the Commander of the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta, Emmanuel Atewe, the force got reports that the armed militants were from Ekene community in the same local government and that they were shooting sporadically when they invaded the community. “The hoodlums harassed, extorted money and consumable items from their victims before escaping,” Mr. Atewe, a Major General, said. “The same gang also intercepted and diverted two passenger boats and abducted passengers on board.” It was gathered that one of those kidnapped by the g   * Some members of JTF unmen was a technician working with a communication company, who was on assignment to effect repairs on a faulty community communication mast. “The gang also carted away the sum of N1 million from the staff of the company,” he said....

The ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup has been filled with impressive statistics and figures. Already a total of 136 goals have been scored after the group stage averaging 2.83 goals per match . It is interesting to note that the Iranians left the tournament with their heads held high, emerging as the best defending team after the group stage. Team Melli made 151 defending attempts that included 72 tackles, 12 saves and 67 clearances. For the first time in World Cup history, Africa will have two teams in the knockout stage – Algeria and Nigeria. Supersport.com picks an Africa XI based on their performance after the group stage. Vincent Enyeama: Enyeama has a six-save-per-game ratio and two clean sheets. He has also conceded one goal per game – all three in Nigeria’s last group game against Argentina. After the second round of group stage games, he had a 100 per cent save record without conceding, before a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina ended that. * Nigeria’s goal keeper, ...

Colombia's James Rodríguez celebrates after the first of his two goals against Uruguay at the Maracanã. Photograph: Sergio Moraes/Reuters Uruguay have followed Luis Suárez in departing the World Cup though, unlike their talismanic striker, they had no cause for shame at this exit. This nation’s outrage at the sanction handed to the Liverpool forward will pursue them back to Montevideo but, if the sense of fury ever subsides, they might concede it was a Colombian genius, rather than the actions of a flawed one of their own, who jettisoned them from the tournament. James Rodriguez was afforded a deafening reception upon his departure five minutes from time here, the tournament’s leading scorer having registered the brace which eased his wonderfully impressive side into a quarter-final against Brazil next week. If Chile scared the hosts in Belo Horizonte on Satu...

Brazil celebrate after their dramatic World Cup penalty shoot-out win over Chile. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images It was an epic contest and, when it was all done, the final explosion of joy and bedlam told us Brazil had made it to the quarter-finals and the World Cup would not have to go on without its hosts. Chile had given everything but, ultimately, it all came back to that moment, at 2-2 in the penalty shootout, with one player left on each team. Neymar, superstar, kissed the ball, shuffled his feet and put his shot in the corner. Gonzalo Jara hit the post and Brazil, finally, could breathe. They had made it difficult for themsel...

Luis Suárez has claimed he did not intentionally bite Giorgio Chiellini but simply lost balance and fell into him. Photograph: Daniel Garcia/AFP/Getty Images Luis Suárez, the Uruguay striker banned for four months for biting Giorgio Chiellini, claimed in his defence to Fifa that the shocking act was not deliberate and he simply lost his balance and fell on to the Italian player with his teeth. In a defence that makes the “dog ate my homework” excuse look plausible, Suárez wrote to Fifa’s disciplinary panel saying the incident was an accident. “In no way it happened how you have described, as a bite or intent to bite,” t...

More than 100 days since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 carrying 239 passengers and crew disappeared on 8 March, 2014, shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, a new report has revealed that the passengers and crew of the Boeing 777 most likely died from suffocation. According to the new report released by Australian officials on Thursday, 26 June, 2014, the passengers and crew of the ill fated flight mostly likely died through suffocation and coasted lifelessly into the ocean on autopilot. In a 55-page report, the Australian Transport Safety Board outlined how investigators had arrived at this conclusion after comparing the conditions on the flight with previous disasters. The report narrowed down the possible final resting place from thousands of possible routes, while noting the absence of communications and the steady flight path and a number of other key abnormalities in the course of the ill-fated flight. “Given these observat...

Latest information coming in from Bauchi State, northern Nigeria, indicates that no fewer than t hirteen people were killed and 34 injured when gunmen attacked a hotel in the state on  Friday night . According to the spokesperson of the police in the state, Haruna Mohammed, the incident took place at about 9:50pm on Friday, 27 June, 2014, at a brothel at Bayangari area. The police boss also informed that the injured persons were taken to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, for treatment. It was gathered that corpses of the dead were evacuated to the Mortuary. “The entire surrounding has been cordoned and scene secure. No arrest has been made yet and investigation has commenced on the incident,” Mr. Mohammed said in a statement late Friday evening. When newsmen visited the scene of the attack on Saturday morning, Military, police and Nigeria Red Cross personnel were already at the scene. An eye-witness, Malam Ah...

Goodluck Jonathan writes for the United States’ newspaper The Washington Post about the missing Chibok girls and fighting with the Boko Haram terrorist sect President Goodluck Jonathan On June 26, a popular and one of the most prominent U.S. newspapers, The Washigton Post , published an article by President Goodluck Jonathan entitled "Nothing is more important than bringing home Nigeria’s missing girls" . In it, he explains his previous silence on the ongoing rescue operations, commiserates with the families of the abducted girls. Nigeria, along with the whole world, has been holding its breath since mid-April, when 276 girls were kidnapped from Chibok town in Borno State. Officially, 197 still remain in captivity. In his Washington Post article, President Goodluck Jonathan notes that, in order to defeat the Boko Haram menace, Nigerians need to overcome certain  "political, religious and ethnic cleavages"  and to establish "grea...

The Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has been ranked Africa’s best player at the ongoing World Cup held in Brazil. Photo: Best players according to Castrol Index, June 23 According to the official FIFA ranking system Canstrol Index as on June 23, the 31-year-old Nigerian goalkeeper occupied the fifth place among all the players, having been proceeded only by Karim Benzema (France), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands), Arjen Robben (Netherlands) and David Luiz (Brazil). Newswire this concludes that he became best footballer among the African players of the Mundial. Which is none of the surprise after the Eagles’ shot-stopper had made several close-range saves during 1-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, fifa.com provides. Although in the today’s update (June 27) the correlation of points has changed, Enyeama still has the highest Castrol Index among the goalkeepers. It would be recalled that despite losing to Argentina 2-3 in the last group game, the Super Eagle...

Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini has come out and described the ban on Luis Suarez is "excessive." Luis Suarez was banned by FIFA for biting Giorgio Chiellini during Italy’s crucial but futile 0-1 lost to Uruguay. The Azzurri defender had earlier described his anger that the referee had not noticed the incident. Luis Suarez was banned by FIFA yesterday for nine games and four month Suspension. Chiellini however said that he has forgiven the Liverpool man, but the ban By FIFA was "excessive". He said: “Now inside me there’s no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez for an incident that happened on the pitch and that’s done," he said in a statement on his official website. "There only remain the anger and the disappointment about the match. "At the moment my only thought is for Luis and his family, because they will face a very difficult period. "I always thought that official judgements are unquestionable, but on the other h...

Luke Shaw has joined Manchester United from Southampton on a four-year deal. Photograph: John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images Luke Shaw has become the fourth most expensive defender in world football after Manchester United continued their summer rebuild by signing the teenager for an initial £27m from Southampton. United completed their second big-money transfer inside 24 hours on Friday when the 18-year-old England international signed a four-year contract with the option of a fifth at Old Trafford. The fee for Shaw will eventually rise to £31m, based on appearances, and Southampton have insisted the proceeds will be reinvested in Ronald Koeman’s squad as they attempt to ease fears over the summer clear-out at St Mary’s. Shaw joins the manager Mauricio Pochettino and the striker Rickie Lambert in leaving Southampton since the end of last season with the captain,...