Captain Massa retires from national team

KAMPALA. Geoffrey Massa has retired from the national team duty after a career spanning 12 years.

The striker announced his retirement in an exclusive interview with New Vision, a local daily and was expected to reiterate the same message at the Fufa weekly press conference today in Mengo.
He was a no show, however, but a few hours later his retirement letter addressed to Fufa president Moses Magogo was shared on the federation website.

“It is with immense pride that I announce my retirement from the national football team after representing the country for 12 years,” Massa wrote.
Massa during his Cranes career that saw him play for coaches; Muhammed Abbas, Laszlo Csaba, Bobby Williamson and Micho Sredojevic, was loathed and loved in equal measure.
“As a teenager, I fulfilled my childhood dream after making my debut against Ghana on September 4th, 2005.

“Although I experienced a couple of low moments during my time with the Cranes, I feel very lucky to have experienced so many wonderful highlights over the course of my international football career,” the striker added.
He scored12 goals in the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers over the years which means he frustrated at times as a striker especially in games played away from home.
The most significant of his goals – and he had a few beautiful ones in there including a belter that tore the Namboole net against Congo Brazzaville in 2014 - was the opener in a 2-0 win against Botswana on June 13, 2016.

That goal set the tone as Uganda broke a 39 jinx to qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup in Gabon. Massa earned the title “historic captain” for leading Cranes during that campaign.
“I am proud to have played over 80 games for the Cranes, scored over 30 goals for the team but most important of all, to have captained the team to its first ever Africa Nations Cup appearance since 1978.
“I will always look back with great pride at every time I represented my country from the LG Cup, through the CECAFA Challenge Cup tournaments, international friendly matches and several Nations / World Cup Qualifiers.

“The experience of representing my country at the 2017 Nations Cup finals in Gabon was truly memorable, while the feeling after winning three CECAFA Challenge Cup titles and becoming the all-time Nations / World Cup qualifying top scorer with 14 goals, was quite satisfying,” he concluded in a letter where he praised teammates David Obua and Ibrahim Sekagya.
Massa is currently without a club but he played for Mbale Heroes and Police, among others here while his professional stint outside the country has seen him play for Jomo Cosmos in South Africa, Yenicami Algeden in Cyprus.
A return to South Africa in 2013 also saw him feature for University of Pretoria, Bloemfontein Celtics before Baroka Swallows released him early this year.

Religious TV Station in Senegal Accidentally Airs Porn At Mid day

DAKAR, Senegal — An Islamic television station in Senegal says it has filed a formal complaint against unknown saboteur "X'' for taking over the network and airing pornography instead of its regularly scheduled religious programming.

Viewers tuning into Touba TV on Monday afternoon got a shock when hardcore pornography was aired from 1:10 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Touba TV on Wednesday called the broadcasting blunder a "criminal act" and said the formal complaint will make it possible to identify the "authors who have an unknown agenda."

The broadcaster said its viewers were offended, and it condemned the attempt as a "satanic move" to sabotage the values it advocates.

The privately run station usually broadcasts religious programs advocating Islamic values and teachings, including sermons and prayers.

Portugal airport to be named after Cristiano Ronaldo

Welcome to Cristiano Ronaldo Airport.

That will be the message awaiting passengers in the Madeira Islands from Wednesday, when the local airport will be renamed after the local star by the regional government.

Ronaldo is expected to attend a ceremony at the airport outside his hometown of Funchal on Wednesday, a day after his Portugal side plays Sweden in the city in a friendly.

The name change attracted a lot of attention locally, with many politicians opposing it.

Portugal's squad landed on Monday at the airport displaying the trophy it won at the 2016 European Championship in France.

Funchal also has a Ronaldo statue and a museum about the player, as well a hotel complex named after him.

US veteran charged with terrorism for killing black man

Police say James Jackson 'prowled the streets of New York for three days in search of a black person to assassinate'.

A white US Army veteran accused of fatally stabbing a 66-year-old black man has been charged with murder as an "act of terrorism" after telling police he was planning a race-based killing spree.
James Jackson, 28, "prowled the streets of New York for three days in search of a black person to assassinate in order to launch a campaign of terrorism against our Manhattan community and the values we celebrate," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement on Monday.
"Last week, with total presence of mind, he acted on his plan, randomly selecting a beloved New Yorker solely on the basis of his skin colour, and stabbing him repeatedly and publicly on a Midtown street corner."
He was formally charged in New York State Supreme Court with one count each of murder in the first and second degrees as an "act of terrorism", murder in the second degree as a hate crime, as well as three counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

 

Most Orphans Have No Parents – Zimbabwe's Vice President Mphoko's research revealed

Zimbabwe’s second Vice President, Phelekezela Mphoko has revealed that after his five year study of social dynamics in Zimbabwe, he has discovered that most orphans in the country do not have parents who are alive.

The study, which was funded by his government, was meant to provide answers to Zimbabwe’s most notorious unanswered questions.

Speaking to people who gathered at a rally in Bulawayo, Mphoko, who is affectionately known as Mboko (a rotten useless pumpkin), the Vice President who himself often behaves like his head has pumpkin and not brain shocked many.
‘Look, for five years, I studied the Zimbabwean people, so that I can give new answers. And you know what I found? I found out that most orphans do not have biological parents who are alive.’

‘Some have adopted parents, some have uncles, some have aunts. But their bilogical parents will be dead.’

‘This is something you would not know, if it was not for my intelligent self working hard to help you find answers’
The Vice President then demanded that he take over from Mugabe when he dies because of this. ‘Look, look, see the answers I found. I must be next President because of this. Because I am very smart.’ he added.It was not known yet if the Vice President had ever opened a dictionary and looked up the definition of ‘orphan’.

Kenya dominates 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships

IAAF  World Cross Country 2017 Kampala Final Table standings:

• Kenya – 95 Points
• Ethiopia – 76 Points
• Uganda – 32 Points
• Eritrea – 15 Points
• Bahrain – 13 Points
• United States of America – 11 Points
• Morocco – 8 Points
• Tanzania – 8 Points
• Japan – 7 Points
• Turkey – 6 Points
• Spain – 3 points
• Burundi – 2 Points
• South Africa – 2 Points
• Peru – 1 Point

Medal Table:

• Kenya – 10 Total (3 Gold, 4 Silver, 3 Bronze)
• Ethiopia – 8 Total (4 Gold, 4 Silver, 0 Bronze)
• Uganda – 3 Total (1 Gold, 2 Bronze)
• Bahrain – 1 Total (1 Bronze)
• Eritrea – 1 Total (1 Bronze)
• Turkey – 1 Total (1 Bronze)

Kenya dominated the 42^nd edition of the IAAF World Cross Country championship held at the green lush of Kololo Ceremonial Independence grounds in the heart of Kampala.

Police officer shot dead by fellow cop

SEMBABULE- Grief has engulfed Sembabule District after a police officer shot dead his colleague during an uncoordinated operation.

Vicente Semuvumbi who was attached to Lwebitakuli Police Post was shot dead by a  police officer attached to Matete Police Station.

The cop shot his colleague after mistaking him for a thief.

Ms Joelia Mukabalisa, the Lwebitakuli councillor said the tragic incident occurred as police officers tried to intercept thieves who had attacked Ntete, Kimbeja and Katogo village before proceeding to Bugolobi late in the night

“I called Lwebitakuli police officers to come and rescue us not knowing that some residents had also called police officers from Matete Police. When the two groups met at Katogo, they suspected each other of being thieves. In the ensuing shootout,  Semuvumbi was shot dead,” Ms Mukabalisa said

World Cup winner, Bayern and Man. United player Schweinsteiger signs with MLS

Major League Soccer has landed another foreign, former star. Manchester United’s 32-year-old German midfield Bastian Schweinsteiger, a World Cup and Champions League winner, has joined the Chicago Fire. The American club announced the move on Tuesday morning.

Schweinsteiger, who won eight Bundesliga crowns at Bayern and took home the FA Cup at Manchester United last season, is set to become a designated player signing for the Fire, who are 1-1-1 to start the season. 

The midfielder also announced the move on Twitter, leaving a nice message for the fans of the Red Devils.

Car bomb kills at least 5 in Somalia's capital

Blast near the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu targeted a security checkpoint with soldiers among the dead.

Mogadishu, Somalia - A deadly car bomb blast targeting a security checkpoint near the Presidential Palace in the Somali capital has killed at least five people and wounded several others.

Security officials at the scene told Reuters news agency on Tuesday the checkpoint 500 metres from the palace was rammed by a car bomb driven by a suicide attacker, causing the explosion outside a theatre.

"At least five people were killed including security personnel and 10 others wounded," said Abdifatah Omar Halane, spokesman for the Mogadishu administration, told AFP news agency.

Somalis hope for peace under new president

Mohamed Hussein, a police officer, said: "Casualty numbers may rise. There were pedestrians along the street at the time of the explosion."

Radio Kulmiye journalist Farhio Hussein told Al Jazeera the victims included Somali soldiers at the checkpoint in downtown Mogadishu. The scene of the blast was close to second gate of Presidential Palace.

"I was at the radio station when I heard huge bang of the explosion. I opened the window and saw huge black smoke. I counted five charred bodies lying on the scene," Hussein said.

The armed group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on its website.  

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, which is fighting to overthrow the Somali government, has been blamed for a string of attacks in Mogadishu.   

Al-Shabab was forced out of the capital by African Union troops in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military, and civilian targets in the capital and regional towns.

Last week, at least five people were killed and 12 others injured in two separate car bombings in Mogadishu.

NORTH CAROLINA: WOMAN KICKED OUT OF LADIES’ BATHROOM BY POLICE AFTER BEING MISTAKEN FOR TRANSGENDER

Charlotte, NC | A North Carolinian woman was brutally ejected from a ladies’ bathroom yesterday after nearby police officers were alerted by local citizens that a transgender was using a public women’s bathroom.

“I tried to fight them to at least put my pants back on, that’s when they threw me on the floor and started kicking the life out of me and tased me I don’t know how many times,” she told local reporters in tears.

Linda Hovensky, a 54-year-old resident of Charlotte, was tased multiple times by police officers as she was forced outside of the ladies washroom with her pants down and in front of a large crowd.

“I was taking a crap when police officers started yelling at me and telling me to open the door but I wasn’t finished, so they kicked the door open and grabbed me with my pants down and rushed me outside” recalls the victim, visibly traumatized by the latest events.

Indian engineer named Saddam Hussain cannot get a job Because of his names

Rejected for jobs 40 times, this Saddam Hussain goes to court for a new identity

His grandfather had lovingly given him his name, hoping that one day he would grow up into a ‘positive’ human being. Some 25 years later, the marine engineer from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand is despondent on being forced to bear the burden of his name.

Two years after passing out as a marine engineer from Tamil Nadu’s Noorul Islam University, Saddam Hussain says he has failed to find a job because of his namesake: the former Iraqi ruler executed in 2006. Saddam Hussein was a dictator blamed for atrocities on his subjects until toppled by the US in 2003.

“People are scared to hire me,” laments Jamshedpur’s Saddam. His job application has been rejected each of the 40-odd times he has appeared for interviews with multinational shipping companies. His batchmates around the world have secured employment, but Saddam remains unemployed despite ranking second in his batch of 2014.

For the initial six months, Saddam was unable to decipher why he was being rejected. “I then inquired with the HR departments of the companies and some of them told me my name was the problem,” he recounts. He was told that having a crew member with a name that arouses instant suspicion could be an operational nightmare.

A top executive of Delhi-based TeamLease Services, a leading recruitment consultant, agrees. “If the issue involves crossing the borders, then nothing can be done as border patrol and airport authorities are very process-driven and if there is a red flag, they will check out. If the person’s job involves frequent travel abroad, he might just keep getting stuck or the company has to pull him out of the sticky situation, making the hire cumbersome,” he points out.

“Even Shah Rukh Khan gets detained at US airports. What is this Saddam in comparision?” he asks.

Getting rid of the name is proving to be a bigger nightmare.

Once it hit him that his name was the impediment, Saddam legally got his name changed into Sajid and procured all relevant documents, including passport, voter ID and driving licence, under the name.

But his woes did not end there.

Prospective employers ask for his educational certificates, but his university has refused to change the name until he got his Class 10 and 12 exam certificates changed first. He approached the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for a name change, but the authorities have not acted yet.

Driven to desperation, Saddam, now Sajid, moved the Jharkhand high court with a plea to direct the CBSE to change his name. But since unscrupulous people often abuse the system by frequently changing names, the court acted with caution. Last week, it set the date for a considered hearing on May 5.

Saddam remains fond of his grandfather, though he feels he is paying for his folly. As one by one his batchmates set sail after securing jobs, Saddam is left to spend sleepless nights. “I am an innocent victim of somebody else’s crimes,” he says.

African football president seeks eighth term

Issa Hayatou has been the president of African football for almost 30 years.

As the former Cameroonian former athlete looks to win another four-year term at Thursday's election, he faces a contender who could challenge him for the top job.

Al Jazeera's Andy Richardson reports from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

This whole Oregon town In USA is up for sale for $3.8m

The entire town of Tiller, in the US state of Oregon, has been put up for sale with a price tag of $3.8m (£3.1m).

The deal includes six houses, a flat, petrol station and a shop. Roughly 250 people live in the surrounding area.

But residents began leaving the area after the decline in timber harvesting and the closure of the town's mill, according to the estate agent.

Tiller originally went on the market in 2015 but didn't include the old primary school building.

Only two residents remain in Tiller itself - a former teacher who lives next to the school, and the vicar of the local church. Neither of their plots is for sale.

So why does nobody want to live here?

"When the federal money started dwindling away for timber, basically the mill shut down," said Garrett Zoller, the owner of Land and Wildlife.

"And when the mill shut down, a lot of the loggers started having to go away."

The family that owns Tiller now bought it lot by lot as other families left.

Interested buyers have so far included a number of Chinese investors, people interested in starting medical facilities and hemp-growing operations.

Aid workers kidnapped in famine-hit South Sudan

Aid workers employed by a US-based Christian charity have been abducted in famine-hit South Sudan and negotiations were ongoing for their release.

The local aid workers were taken from a village near Mayendit in Unity state, where a famine has been declared, 680km northeast of the capital, Juba.

The circumstances of the kidnappings was unclear.

"The rebels attacked and abducted eight local staff from Samaritan's Purse and they are being held to ransom," Brigadier-General Lul Ruai Koang told Reuters news agency.

However, the rebels dismissed as "propaganda" the military's claim of a kidnapping, The Associated Press reported.

Death Toll Passes 60 in Ethiopia Garbage Landslide

ADDIS ABABA — 

The death toll from the landslide at a massive garbage dump in Ethiopia's capital has climbed to more than 60 people.

Ethiopian government media said Monday that at least 62 people died in the weekend disaster, while Addis Ababa Mayor Deriba Kuma put the death toll at 65 — including 20 men and 45 women.

Hundreds of people live on the 50-year-old Koshe dumpsite, the city's main landfill, in mud-and-stick shacks. Many scavenge for items that they can sell, such as recyclable metal.

Residents say dozens of people are still missing after a mountain of trash at the 30-hectare dumpsite came crashing down with little warning Saturday.

The accident was so huge that we do not know the number of people who have died and who survived," one survivor told a VOA Horn of Africa reporter in Addis Ababa.

A city spokesman said 49 dwellings were destroyed in the landslide. Hospital workers say at least 50 people have received treatment.

On Monday, rescue workers used bulldozers to move piles of trash to search for survivors. Volunteers dug through the trash with their hands.

The government did not give a cause for the landfill collapse, but squatters blamed it on a biogas plant being constructed nearby.

Communication Minister Negeri Lencho told the French News Agency the plant construction did not contribute to the landslide. He blamed the squatters for digging into the trash pile and destabilizing it.

Residents say smaller collapses have occurred in previous years, but only a few people were killed.

Addis Ababa's mayor has vowed to relocate those living at the landfill in Ethiopia's capital, a rapidly growing city of 4 million people.

Government officials had tried to close Koshe — which means "dirty" in Amharic — last year, and create a new dumpsite outside Addis Ababa. But the community there did not want the landfill, and garbage collectors resumed taking trash to Koshe.

Hosts Zambia beat Senegal to win the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations

For Senegal it was a tale of double disappointment having lost the 2015 final on home soil against Nigeria.

There had been fears that Zambia, who had looked impressive all tournament, may crack under the weight of expectation but the junior Chipolopolo held their cool to go into the break leading 2-0.

Senegalese goalkeeper Lamine Sarr made two horrendous errors that a merciless Zambian frontline punished him for.

The two sides had been sizing each other up in the opening minutes with Senegal having the first sight of goal when Ibrahima Niane's tame shot was easily picked up by Mangani Banda in the seventh minute.

Zambia roared to life in the 14th minute when Fashion Sakala controlled the ball in the box but his ferociously struck shot went wide.

Three minutes later Sakala was back on the by-line to tease the ball into the box with Sarr spilling it into the path of a grateful Patson Daka (pictured) whose predatory instincts came to life toeing home.

Senegal were not deterred and continued to pressure the Zambians with Niane forcing Shemmy Mayembe to trip him in the 28th minute, but the Senegalese fluffed the resulting set piece.

Landslide of Garbage Kills 46 at Ethiopia's Largest Dump

A landslide of trash has killed at least 46 people and left a number of others missing at a massive garbage dump outside Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

Officials Sunday said most of the victims were women and children who either live in shacks at the Koshe dump or dig through it every day, looking for anything to sell.

Witnesses say the mountain of rubbish collapsed so fast that it gave victims little time to get out of the way.

Police believe about 300 people lived at the dump, with hundreds of scavengers showing up every day.

The dump is the main depository of garbage for Addis Ababa, a city of about 4 million people with a burgeoning economy.

The Ethiopian government had eased up dumping trash at Koshe in recent years, but resumed it when farmers near the site of a new dump protested.

Mesut Ozil: Arsene Wenger says Arsenal star won't play v Bayern Munich

The Gunners are in search for a miracle to overturn their 5-1 first leg deficit of the Champions League last-16 clash.

But they will have to do it without the playmaker who is still recovering from an illness.

Ozil missed the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on Saturday and hasn’t played since the game at the Allianz Arena three weeks ago.

Manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the German’s absence at today’s pre-match press conference.

"[Ozil] is not in the squad,” he said.

“He was sick all last week and I don't think he's ready physically.”

Ozil’s long-term future at Arsenal isn’t certain with his contract up at the end of next season.

Fellow contract rebel Alexis Sanchez was dropped for the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Saturday.

And it’s been claimed Ozil would also have been on the bench if fit for the Premier League clash.