Cesc Fabregas ex-Arsenal star has announced his retirement from football at the age of 36.

The Spaniard will move into coaching with Italian side Como, which was the Serie B club he played for last season.

During his spell, he played for Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Monaco.

Fabregas said, “It is with great sadness that the time has come for me to hang up my playing boots.

“From my first days at Barca, Arsenal, Barca again, Chelsea, Monaco and Como, I will treasure them all.

“From lifting the World Cup, and the Euros, to winning everything in England and Spain and nearly all the European trophies, it has been a journey that I’ll never forget.

“All those who have helped me, my team-mates, coaches, directors, presidents, owners, fans and my agent. To all my family, from my parents and my sister to my wife and kids, I cherish your advice, mentorship and guidance. To my opponents who tried to knock me, thank you for making me stronger.

“It has already been more than worth it with all the great memories and friends that I have made on the way. I’ve also learnt 3 languages and became more compassionate and wiser along my travels. I lived experiences that I never thought in a million years I would even come close to.”

Fabregas joined Barca’s La Masia Academy in 1997 when he was 10.

He played Premier League matches for Arsenal between 2004 and 2011 and won the FA Cup before leaving for Barcelona.

After three years in Barcelona, he moved to Chelsea in 2014.

He won the European Championship in 2008 and 2012 and was part of the golden team that lifted Spain’s first World Cup in South Africa.

Lifesite News reported that Pro-life priest Fr. Fidelis Moscinski was sentenced to six months in prison for blocking access to a New York abortion facility in an attempt to save innocent unborn children. 

On Tuesday, the priest was dealt the punishment in a federal court, months after being found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Moscinski is frequently involved in Red Rose Rescues and “lock and blocks” — forms of pro-life advocacy in which volunteers enter the waiting room of abortion facilities, or block access to said facilities, in a final attempt to dissuade women from killing their babies. The “lock and block” in question took place on July 7, 2022, in Hempstead, New York. 

“It is almost surreal in these court rooms to listen to the prosecution and the judges,” pro-lifer Theresa Bonapartis, who was present at the sentencing, wrote in a statement shared with LifeSiteNews. “Father [Moscinski] is made out to be a career criminal while the slaughter of the innocent human life and the destruction of their mothers and families that takes place is never even mentioned or allowed to mentioned.” 

The judge reportedly claimed that Moscinski has a “criminal past” and must be given “deterrents from acting like this again.” Bonapartis shared that the judge rejected the prosecuting attorney’s request that the priest have “restrictions … placed on him with pretty much anyone who is pro-life” during his probation but “compar[ed] restrictions of a crime family not being allowed to associate with others in the mafia with pro-lif[ers].” 

“The prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence and unsurprisingly that is what he got. He is not in jail yet but will be waiting to hear when and where he needs to surrender,” Bonapartis wrote. “Of course, there is a basic misunderstanding of the reason and the sacrifice on a spiritual level to what Father (and others) do. No matter your views on rescue, please keep him in your prayers as he lays down his life for the moms and babies.” 

As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, Moscinski was charged and found guilty after he locked the gates of a Planned Parenthood facility, preventing cars from entering the driveway and the killing center. Federal charges were brought against the priest after local authorities only dealt him an ordinance violation immediately following the incident. 

In court on Tuesday, Moscinski told the judge that “my actions on July 7, 2022 were done because Planned Parenthood as an organization is in the business of killing. Every procured abortion that occurs on its premises constitutes the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.” 

Moscinski shared that “I was also aware of the evidence compiled by the House Select Panel on Infant Lives that Planned Parenthood, contrary to federal law, profits from the harvesting and selling of the body parts of unborn children. This grisly trade in human tissues and organs is deemed by many as revolting and sickening since it reduces human beings to mere objects that can be bought and sold.” 

The priest noted that, despite Roe’s reversal last year, “we are still sadly burdened with the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” further arguing that he is “not guilty of violating this law because this law cannot be seen as anything other than null and void since it attempts to give legal protection to actions which are intrinsically evil and unjust.” 

“I recognize that this view may not be shared by your Honor,” Moscinski continued. “I would like you to know that I find the pernicious error of legal positivism both logically incoherent and immensely destructive in practice” 

“Would it not be much better to acknowledge the truth that there must be a necessary and intrinsic connection between our civil laws and the natural moral law written on the human heart, knowable by human reason, and revealed authoritatively by God Himself in the Ten Commandments?” 

The sentence to imprisonment of this heroic priest is highly condemnable and an unjust law. Abortion is murder clear and simple and the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision has made it illegal in the US. Therefore, it is against the laws of God, nature, and man and so the priest is justified in blocking access to the murderous Planned Parenthood premises so that lives can be saved.

African pro-choice apologists should learn from the travails of the noble priest. If these liberals can punish their own, they will unleash ruthless venom on Africa in their avaricious bid to aggressively expand their blood-soaked empire on the world’s most raped continent. It is not worth it being their stooge – they should ask their non-biological ancestors cum chiefs who colluded with the Caucasians to sell their brethren into slavery for ridiculous gifts like gin, mirrors, guns, gun powder among other hilarious rewards. The leopard never changes its spots – the benefits of betraying Africa and opening up the wombs of women for their seeds to be slaughtered will always be smaller than Esau’s mess of pottage.

History repeats itself because man in his usual frailty learns the stories but never its salient lessons. It is high time the African pro-abortion lobby began to pay close attention to the lessons of history and not get caught up in the ‘frenzy’ of the ‘good life.’

Sierra Leone’s main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) has rejected results of the 24 June 2023 general elections and called on Sierra Leoneans “to play their part in resisting tyranny and fight for the restoration of democracy, civility and good governance” in the country.

Sitting President Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has since been sworn in for a second term of five years after the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) declared him winner of the presidential poll with 56.17% of the votes. 

The Commission said Dr Samura Kamara, the APC candidate came second with 41.16%.

In its latest statement issued on Friday in Freetown, “the APC unequivocally rejects the announced results of the recently concluded multi-tier elections in Sierra Leone, given the glaring irregularities and violations of established electoral procedures.”

“We demand the resignation of (Chief Commissioner) Mr. Mohamed Konneh and all the other commissioners of the ECSL based on demonstrated bias and failure to conduct their duties impartially,” the APC said, adding: “We insist on a rerun of the elections within six months to be overseen by credible individuals and institutions who will ensure a fair and transparent process.”

The party also “declares its non-participation in any level of governance, including the legislature and local councils, as the results have already been tampered with to give the SLPP an unjust majority at all levels.”

It further “demands the resignation of the following: Fayia Sellu, the Inspector-General of Police; Major General Patrick Lavahun, the Chief of Defence Staff; Abdulai Caulker, the National Security Coordinator; Francis Langumba Keili, the Chief of Staff of the Office of the ONS; and Desmond Babatunde Edwards, the Chief Justice,” alleging that “these individuals have shown a clear disregard for their constitutional duties and have instead aligned themselves with the undemocratic aspirations of (President) Julius Maada Bio.”

The APC also “urges international development partners to impose travel bans on key individuals who have played instrumental roles in stealing the mandate of the Sierra Leonean people,” including re-elected President Maada Bio and his wife, ministers of foreign affairs, information, internal affairs, Chief of defence staff, Inspector General of Police, Coordinator of the Office of National Security, deputy justice minister and the deputy Speaker of parliament.

“We call on all well-meaning Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad to play their part in resisting tyranny and fight for the restoration of democracy, civility and good governance in Sierra Leone,” the party added in the three-page statement.

The statement said the “stance of the APC in the last few days should not be mistaken as an acceptance of this obnoxious announcement of illegal electoral result but was an opportunity to document evidence and avoid falling into a mindless trap of violence that had been planned by this monstrous regime.” 

The ECSL has not released results of the parliamentary, mayoral and Local Council elections.

The APC statement said: “They have not only tried to steal the presidential election, but also are working assiduously to give the SLPP a 2/3 majority in parliament and take a comfortable lead in local councils across the country.”

Sierra Leone has remained largely calm since the announcement of the election results with International Election Observation Missions to Sierra Leone’s 2023 General Elections, including ECOWAS, AU, the Commonwealth as well as the West Africa Elders’ Forum in sustained engagements with major political stakeholders to exercise restraint and work together for national peace to prevent the country from relapsing into conflict after its 10-year civil war that ended in 2002. 

‘Forever’ and ‘till death do us part’ are not for every relationship. Some are destined to last. Many end even before they start. Others just get wobbly at some point. The going gets painful. Both parties know in their hearts of hearts that they are not going to go the whole nine yards but they continue to make the efforts anyway, patching and stitching. Sometimes, it is one of them carrying the two of them, which makes the trip more tedious until they both get to the point of no return. Whichever way the parting of ways happen in a relationship, the bottom line is that walking away is never easy. There is that temptation to make more efforts to make it work, to wait for another couple of months and see if the unserious guy would realize the errors of his ways and turn a new leaf, to see if he would stop being a leech and make something of his life. Shouldn’t he just bear with her, even pray for her and see if she would stop cheating on him? But too often too late, you find out that a player is always a player, cheaters hardly ever stop and that a leech will always be a leech.

If you have invested in an unprofitable business, the only sensible thing to do is to divest and move on to a more profitable venture. Holding on may look like you are brave, patient and long-suffering but please, must you suffer in a relationship that is going nowhere fast? There is a time to let go, time to walk away. My darling, take a good look at that relationship and ask yourself the hard questions. Are you happy, fulfilled? Do you wish you were somewhere else, with someone else most of the time? Does he make you cry so often you have forgotten how to laugh? Does that woman in your life make you feel less and less a man every day? Let go, dear, walk away. If it’s not working, it is not working. You can’t force a limp ‘third leg’ walk.

You can’t force anyone to love you. If you need to beg him or her to stay with you, what you feel is not love and it is time to stop fooling yourself. A man you blackmail not to leave you or you are considering trapping with pregnancy, real or fake, is not your man. Even if he stays, he’s only there in body not in spirit. If you are grabbing at straws to stay afloat while dating, how will you cope when the high waves of marriage arrive in a stormy weather?

Although it feels like it, but the end of a relationship is not the end of life. Love leaves you sometimes. It does not mean you are cursed or jinxed. Just learn the lesson and move on. The right person will come. It may take a while but the right person is always worth the wait.  As the saying goes, you must kiss a few frogs before your prince charming comes along.

If you are in a relationship where you are constantly having to sacrifice your happiness to please your partner, you are not on to a good thing. For instance, you have to pretend to be a teacher because his mum doesn’t want him to marry a lawyer. You have to hide all evidence that you have enrolled for your Ph.D because his ego is fragile and he’s thin skinned.  You have to pretend your brand new car is ‘tokunbo’ because it would make him ‘feel somehow’. You are in the wrong place. You may be managing it now but a few years down the road, you will resent him and what he has turned you into.

A woman who demands but supplies no value to your life is only good for a short ride. If you allow a girl to make more withdrawals than deposits in your life, you will be out of balance and in the red before you know it.  You must know when to close the account and take stock.  It’s always better to be alone with dignity than in a relationship that constantly requires you to sacrifice your happiness and self-respect. 

Is your relationship giving you more pain than joy? Do you wonder more why you are in it than wishing you had met your partner earlier? If all your relationship offers is great sex, something is wrong. If the only time you are not bickering is when he’s on top of or under you, you are in a dry pasture. Don’t be so blinded by the wild orgasms as to forget the real deal, the morning after. If that relationship leaves you frustrated, upset, unhappy, miserable more often than not; if it leaves you in tears every so often, perhaps this might not be the right person for you. The relationship you are in now should be one which brings you happiness now.  It is simple enough, in business the aim and objective is to make profit.  In a relationship it is happiness, and it has no substitute.

Any kind of abuse, physical or verbal, are definite no-nos. If he hits you, slaps you around, punches you to drive his point home, it is time to let him go. Forget the beautiful gifts and nice words he says after, there is clearly something wrong with him and you too for staying in there for this long. If her way of expressing anger is throwing the intercom at the flat-screen television, please start walking and keep walking. What those crazy moments show is something deep that needs addressing.

Perception is reality. Emotional abuse is even trickier because only the victim feels it. You have told yourself long enough that things will get better. It hasn’t. It won’t. Time to walk away is now.

Aunty, if he believes in God and you believe in science, the two of you aren’t heading in the same direction, so boarding the same plane will be a mistake. For any friendship or relationship to work out, the parties involved must share certain fundamental beliefs and values. The values you share are the big rocks which will hold the relationship in place and help you weather through even the toughest storms.  Of course, you know there are storms ahead, don’t you?

On the other hand, if your core values are fundamentally different, love or no love, when the storm comes, holding your union together will be like jogging uphill or trying to hold the ground together in a mud slide.

Are you both growing or this relationship is holding one of you down? Indeed if you will be true to yourself, this relationship has altered your plan and desire for your life. You have God’s calling on your life. You know you have special gifts for pastoral work but she has issued an ultimatum that the day you become a pastor is the day she leaves you but you are hanging in there hoping she will change her mind, praying on seven prayer mountains that God changes her. Bro, you are not married yet. If she’s God’s will for your life, why is she opposing God’s will in your life?

Sisi, you know your ultimate ambition is to become the first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in your village but the man in your life has made it clear that no wife of his will ‘answer sir’ to any man because he makes enough to take care of his family. He told you his woman will not go out to work which is why you are learning cake-making. Take a step back and see the road ahead. Are you where you want to be and do you see a future where you will be happy making cakes? If the only reason you are doing what you are doing is to make him happy and keep him, then you need to think again.

He is mean and abusive. He is lazy and unambitious. But he has proposed and his nice ring is on your bruised finger. So you decide to wait it out expecting a better future. Wake up girl. You don’t live in the past, and the future is not yet here. Are you happy now? You need to make it to tomorrow. It is okay to hope for better days ahead but not in this situation. Take a good look at what you have, at him. He is what he is. She is fully formed. A one-day wedding ceremony will not change him or her. Wedding ceremonies are not designed to change fully-formed adults, trust me.

In all, when you give yourself to someone who doesn’t add value to you, you surrender pieces of your soul, pieces that you’ll never get back. 

Twitter Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has set temporary limits on the social media platform to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.

Musk who made the announcement on his Twitter page on Saturday said Verified accounts are temporarily limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, adding that the unverified accounts and new unverified accounts are limited to reading 600 posts a day and 300 posts per day, respectively.

He said, “To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits:
– Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day
– Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day
– New unverified accounts to 300/day,” tweeted Musk on Saturday hours after the social media platform was suffering from a global outage.

His clarification came as millions of users across the globe suffered a major outage globally, which prevented thousands of users from accessing the social media platform.

According to the outage monitor website ‘Down Detector’, more than 7,000 users reported issues with Twitter.

Daniil Medvedev feels World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz will win up to five Wimbledon titles in his career.

The Russian No. 1 has had a terrific start to the 2023 season, winning five ATP singles titles before traveling to Paris for Roland Garros. However, since his first-round defeat at the Paris Major, Medvedev has struggled for form.

In a recent conversation with the ATP, Daniil Medvedev opined that Alcaraz could win up to five Wimbledon titles, given the way he operates on every surface. However, he also added that it is tough to say because grass is 'a tough surface'.

“In my opinion, the way Carlos plays on every surface, he can win maybe five Wimbledons, but you never know. It's a tough surface to play on," he said.

The Russian went on to recall playing against the Spaniard and said that this year the 20-year-old has improved on grass.

"When we played [in 2021], he was not the same player, so I managed to get the best of this match," Medvedev said. "Last year, I think he improved [on grass] already, played this four-setter against [Jannik] Sinner [in the fourth round]. I remember it was a great match."

The 2021 US Open winner mentioned that grass is really tough for the players, but he feels Carlos Alcaraz's potential is 'really high' on this surface.

“So I think his potential is really high on any surface, but grass is a tough surface for many players. Let's see how he handles this task," Daniil Medvedev added.

The two-time Australian Open finalist also expressed his admiration for Alcaraz for playing so well on grass despite the perception that his style of play does not suit the surface.

“Then there is going to be someone else [like Alcaraz], where you say in your mind that while his game is not really suited for grass — maybe he doesn't go to the net that often and stuff like this — and then he plays so well on grass, and he says it himself that it is his best and favorite surface. That's where it's surprising," he concluded.

Wimbledon 2023: Daniil Medvedev to play Arthur Fery in 1R; Carlos Alcaraz to lock horns with Jeremy Chardy

Daniil Medvedev will kickstart his 2023 Wimbledon campaign by taking on Britain's Arthur Fery in the first round. The Russian was barred from participating in 2022 due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In his last appearance in 2021, Medvedev reached the fourth round of the tournament, where he lost to Hubert Hurkacz.

Carlos Alcaraz, on the other hand, will play against France's Jeremy Chardy in the opening round of Wimbledon. The top seed recently won his first grass-court title at the Queen's Club Championships. In 2022, at Wimbledon, he lost to Jannik Sinner in the fourth round of the tournament.

[sportskeeda]

The Anambra State Government says it has commenced the installation of clock-in devices in public health facilities to curb absenteeism and ensure that health workers take their duties seriously.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, disclosed this in Awka while speaking at a meeting with administrators of public hospitals in the state.

Obidike observed that during some of his unannounced visits to hospitals, many health workers were absent while some health facilities did not open for services.

According to him, such an attitude has contributed to mortalities recorded in the state and hindered progress in the health sector.

The commissioner said the device would end absenteeism and indolence among health workers.

He said Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration takes healthcare seriously and wants residents to have access to quality health services at the primary health centres, general hospitals and tertiary health facilities.

“This is part of the reasons for the installation of the clock-in device in all government hospitals; it is to ensure that healthcare workers are at their duty posts to attend to the health needs of the people.

“The device will also be used to monitor the hours health workers put in each day and that will subsequently determine their monthly salaries and allowances.

“The goal is to eliminate maternal and infant mortalities, as well as restore the confidence of our people in the healthcare services we provide in the state,” he said.

The commissioner also said the government was digitilising healthcare services through telemedicine as well as strengthening the referral system among the hospitals in the state.

“We are establishing the ‘Hub and Spoke’ approach for proper networking among the hospitals. Telemedicine will also allow primary healthcare centres to have access to different doctors.

“We are strengthening at least one general hospital in each local government area so that primary health centres can refer patients when the need arises.

“The state government is doing all it can with limited resources and as healthcare providers, we cannot afford to fail,” he said.

Obidike urged the hospital administrators to hold weekly clinical and mortality reviews and report findings to the ministry for appropriate action.

NAN

The Lagos chapter of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), has announced a new price list for PoS transactions in the state.

In an interview on Channels Television on Friday, Stephen Adeoye, the spokesperson of the association, said the measure was put in place to deter fraud and curtail “agents who still overcharge.”

He said the uniform fee structure would prevent a recurrence of what happened during the cash scarcity period, where agents overcharged customers without any regulation.

For withdrawal, Adeoye said, agents in the state are now mandated to charge N100 for an amount between N1000 – N2,400; N200 for N3,500 to N4,000; and N300 for N4,100 to N6,400.

Adeoye said withdrawals from N6,500 to N7,900 will attract a fee of N400; while a charge of N500 will be for transactions from N8500 to N10,900.

Others are N600 for N11,000 to N14,000; N700 for N14,500 to N17, 900; and N800 for N18,000 to N2o,000 for withdrawal.

“Some still overcharge customers and we don’t want that. All of us want things to be easier for our customers and the country as a whole,” he said.

“That’s why we have brought out this list. Depending on your area, you can decide to lower it for your customers but it shouldn’t be more than the fees in the list.

“We expect agents to paste the fee structure in their locations. To enforce this is easier because we have a good relationship with the Lagos police command and very soon a task force will be set up to work along with the force.”

Adeoye added that for deposits and transfers, agents can now charge N100 for N1,000 to N4,900; N200 for N5000 to N10,900; N300 for N11,000 to N20,900; N400 for N21,000 to N30,900; N500 for N31,000 to N40,000; and N600 for N41,100 to N50,000.

[TheCable]

President of Guinea- Buissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo says the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) supports President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to reposition the giant of Africa.

President Umaro, the Chairman Authority ECOWAS Head of State and Government, said this during a private visit to Tinubu on Saturday in Lagos.

He said the economic steps so far taken would not only be for the good of Nigeria but the entire West Africa.

Addressing newsmen after the visit, Mr Dele Alake, Special Adviser, Special Duties, Communications and Strategy to the President, said the visit was strictly private.

“It was a meeting between two African brother presidents, and it was very cordial. Of course, the visiting president appreciated the steps taken by President Bola Tinubu within the last one month.

“He said he is ready to cooperate with Nigeria and President Bola Tinubu at all times, just as the rest of the world have commended him over his recent policies.

“They also spoke of the ECOWAS head of government meeting which is imminently coming up and also spoke on other areas of cooperation,” he said.

The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos and Alake, among others.

The Guinea-Bissau leader left after the over three hours private meeting.

[DailyPost]