It is still very fresh in our memory how the General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T.B Joshua prophesied in November 2013 about the Abuja bomb blast which eventually came to pass barely two weeks ago.

Again, during the Sunday service, 20th April, 2014 he prophesied that Kenya should tightened up its security and become more prayerful.

That came to pass on Wednesday, 23rd April 2014 when a car exploded in Nairobi killing about four people. Of which, Kenyans suspected the Islamist militants of Somali al-Shabab group behind the attack. Now, the prophet has urged them to brace up and pray harder.

In the same vein, the prophet has predicted that France may be the next target for terrorism if they are not watchful.

In this light, he prayed for France to be free from terrorism.

Source: http://www.osundefender.org/?p=160541

Europa League

BENFICA vs JUVENTUS. First leg in Lisbon.

SEVILLA vs VALENCIA. First leg in Seville. 

Juve faced last season's winner Benfica back in the 1992-93 Uefa Cup. The Portuguese side won the first leg 2-1, but the Bianconeri smashed them 3-0 in the return fixture, en route to winning the competition, beating Dortmund in the final.

 The winner of semi final one - Sevilla vs Valencia - will be considered the 'home' team for the final in Turin on May 14. It's purely an operational designation, as Infantino is at pains to remind us.

The briefest of interludes as the Uefa crew switch stages. We now move on to the  Champions League draw.

Update!

Luis Figo is in the house after all, and duly takes his place to assist in the final draw. Turns out he was smarter than us, taking note of the procedure change from the quarter final draw - where the Champions League was drawn first and the Europa League second.

Or maybe Uefa decided to do their final ambassador a solid and switch the order so he could get in on time...

UEFA Champions League

 REAL MADRID vs BAYERN MUNICH.

 ATLETICO MADRID VS CHELSEA. 
 
Both Real Madrid and Chelsea will be playing the first leg as the home team, at the Bernabeu and Stamford Bridge respectively.

Dwayne Johnson, known as The Rock, has not died but has become the victim of two death hoaxes in the same week. One says he was killed in a fall and another scam said he died during “Fast & Furious 7″ filming, but neither are true.

A recent one being spread via Facebook says Johnson died after falling to his death in New Zealand. It comes a few days after one–complete with a “RIP” image–said he died while filming a movie stunt for “Fast & Furious 7.”

But a new scam, which was being spread on Tuesday and Wednesday, reads: “Actor Dwayne Johnson died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning … Preliminary reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set. At about 11 a.m. ET on Saturday (April 05, 2014), our beloved actor Dwayne Johnson passed away. Dwayne Johnson was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.”

The Blues boss defended his decision to start with Andre Schurrle and suggests that he expected more from Fernando Torres when he introduced him as a second-half substitute

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho criticised his side's "ridiculous" defending following their 3-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Mourinho's side were level at half-time in the first leg, with Eden Hazard's penalty having secured a crucial away goal after Ezequiel Lavezzi had struck to give the hosts the lead at Parc des Princes.

But the visitors paid for some slack defending in the second half, with first David Luiz scoring an own goal before Javier Pastore ghosted in from the touchline to sneak home a third at Petr Cech's near post.

And Mourinho struggled to put into words his frustration at his side's lapse in concentration, telling Sky Sports: "It's ridiculous [the defending for the third PSG goal].

"Don't ask me to tell you that [what I plan to say to the players]. I can't do that. I have to do it inside not outside.

"But we played against a great team full of good players, especially their attacking players are fantastic. You would expect them to score fantastic goals. You don't expect them to score the goals they scored.

"The first goal was a ball in an easy position. After the cross comes in we assist the striker and nobody fought the second ball in a crucial position.

"The second goal it was one of my players on his own goalline but that's obviously unlucky.

"But the way the team was positioned defensively was not the correct one. The third goal was even more sloppy; ridiculous."

The Chelsea boss concedes his side will now have a mountain to climb to reach the semi-finals but is adamant that the tie is not yet over. He added: "It's a difficult job [to reach the semi-finals] but not impossible.

"They are the kind of team that with the players they have that out of nothing they can score goals. So we don't have an easy job. We are not a team full of talent to score lots of goals especially at this level but we never know. We have to try. We have to go with everything.

"I changed at 1-1 because I thought that Fernando [Torres] could give us more depth than Andre [Schurrle]. The team was comfortable with Andre, had good control of the game, good ball possession, Andre was working back. I thought Fernando could give us a bit more."

Ugandans led by President Yoweri Museveni told a crowd gathered for a rally that personal objection both to homosexuality -- which he claimed had "unhealthy repercussions" -- as well as to oral sex.

Museveni told the crowd: "Oral sex! The mouth is for eating, it's not for that purpose," he told the crowd.

Thousands of Ugandans celebrated tough new anti-gay laws, praising the bill despite international criticism and donor aid cuts. 

Yoweri Museveni

"Thank you for saving the future of Uganda," read signs held by the demonstrators, who marched through the streets of the capital Kampala.

Last month, Museveni signed a bill that calls for "repeat homosexuals" to be jailed for life and requires people to report homosexuals.

US Secretary of State John Kerry likened the new law to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany and warned it could damage ties with Washington.

Other demonstrators, who sang a song called "bye-bye homosexuality", appealed directly to US President Barack Obama.

"Obama, we want trade, not homosexuality," one sign read.

Critics have said Museveni signed the law to win domestic support ahead of presidential elections scheduled for 2016, which will be his 30th year in power.

Diplomats and rights groups had been hoping the president, who is already under fire from key Western donors over alleged rampant graft and for stifling opposition groups and media, would refuse to sign the legislation into law.

The European Parliament responded to the law by backing sanctions against Uganda, saying the country had violated human rights and democratic principles.

Annual foreign aid to Uganda accounts for a fifth of the east African country's $12-billion (8.6-billion-euro) annual budget.

But Museveni said Uganda would survive the cuts.

"Thanks for the support, but let us produce wealth so that we don't have to beg," he said.

"The Europeans are threatening us with aid because we are lazy, that is a weakness," he added.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and President Jacob Zuma

SOUTH Africa's President Jacob Zuma will not travel to Brussels, Belgium this week for the EU-Africa summit, backing a call by President Robert Mugabe to boycott the meeting.

Mugabe and his wife are the only remaining Zimbabweans on EU's travel ban of more than 200 people, which was imposed in 2002.

In theory, they can be temporarily exempted to attend international conferences and Mugabe was invited to Brussels after the AU said it would boycott the meeting if he was not allowed to travel.

But Mugabe pulled out of the meeting, angered by Belgium's refusal to grant his wife a visa with EU envoys in Harare saying Grace would not travel because "there is no programme for spouses at the summit."

"The EU has no right to interfere in any way on who should attend the summit from Africa," Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said.

Zimbabwe then sought solidarity from other African leaders.

"Consultations were still ongoing to decide whether other AU members should attend or not," said secretary for Foreign Affairs, Joey Bimha.

Mumbengegwi added: "Indications so far are that very few African leaders will attend, given the treatment we are getting from the EU."

EU officials however dismissed Mumbengegwi's statement as completely unfounded.

"I am 100% sure that African leaders will attend," an official told dpa.

"About 60 European or African heads of state have confirmed their attendance, and we expect 80 to come. It will be a huge summit - maybe the most important of its kind."

Apart from the Grace dispute consternation over the invitation list also relates to strife torn Egypt which was invited to attend while Eritrea has been barred because of its human rights record.

The SADR, also known as Western Sahara is also excluded because of its territorial dispute with Morocco, which is not an AU member.

President Barack Obama met with Pope Francis in Vatican City today, an opportunity for both world leaders to discuss their shared commitment to combatting economic inequality. "I'm a great admirer," Obama told Francis

President Barack Obama meets with Pope Francis, March 27, 2014 at the Vatican.

President Barack Obama met with Pope Francis on Thursday at the Vatican, in his second Papal visit and first with the new Pontiff. 

“Wonderful meeting you,” Obama told the Pope upon being greeted outside the Papal Library, following a ceremonial procession led by the Vatican’s Swiss Guards. 

“It is a great honor. I’m a great admirer,” Obama said. “Thank you so much for receiving me.”

The White House said before the visit that the meeting would be an opportunity for the two world leaders to discuss their shared commitment to combatting economic inequality, an issue Pope Francis has prioritized during his first year in office. Democrats have increasingly used the Pope’s emphasis on inequality as a political cudgel against Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. 

But the gathering is also seen as an opportunity for the president to smooth ties with the Vatican and the large Hispanic Catholic population in America whose support for Obama has waned since helping vote him into office. The Vatican has been critical of a measure in Obama’s health care reform law that mandates contraception coverage, and officials said before the meeting that Pope Francis would likely raise those concerns. 

“He can cause people around to the world to stop and perhaps rethink old attitudes and begin treating one another with more decency and compassion,” Obama said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera before the meeting. 

The White House said Obama presented Pope Francis with “a custom-made seed chest featuring a variety of fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House Garden,” noting that the Pontiff said earlier this month that he would open the gardens of the papal summer residence to the public. 

“I bring greetings from my family,” Obama told the Pope upon meeting him. “The last time I came here to meet your predecessor I was able to bring my wife and children.” 

Obama, on a week-long tour in Europe that has primarily focused on regional security amid recent tension with Russia, is the ninth president to make an official visit to the Vatican.

South African President Jacob Zuma will meet his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to discuss a diplomatic row following the expulsion of embassy staff who may be linked to an attempted murder of an opponent of the East African nation’s government. 

No date has been set yet for the meeting, Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said by phone today. “The issue between the two countries” will be discussed, he said. 

South Africa expelled four Rwandan diplomats and one Burundian official on March 7, three days after an attempt was made to kill exiled former Rwandan army general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa in Johannesburg. Rwanda’s former head of intelligence, Patrick Karegeya, 53, was found dead two months earlier in a hotel room in Johannesburg’s affluent Sandton area. 

Rwanda responded by ejecting six South African diplomats, with Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo accusing the government of harboring dissidents responsible for terrorist attacks in Rwanda. South Africa said on March 15 that investigations linked the expelled Rwandan diplomats to organized criminal networks seeking to undermine the nation’s security. 

Zuma and Kagame met yesterday at a summit of heads of states in Angola’s capital, Luanda, and plan to hold direct talks on the diplomatic disagreement, the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corp. said on its website. 

http://www.bloomberg.com

Zimbabwe's government said Wednesday it would boycott a summit between the European Union and African Union in Brussels next week, if President Robert Mugabe's wife was not granted a visa to travel with him.

 

Grace Mugabe

Mugabe and his wife Grace are under an EU travel ban imposed in 2002, after a government crackdown on the opposition and the eviction of white farmers from agricultural land.

The EU had waived the visa ban on Mugabe, who is the vice-chairman of the AU, saying it was not bound by the ban when hosting large international conferences.

But his wife was denied a visa, Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Joey Bimha told dpa.

"We are expecting the Southern African Development Community and the AU to ensure that she gets a travel visa.

Otherwise, the summit has to be postponed," he said.

In addition to vice-chairing the AU, Mugabe vice-chairs the SADC, making him "very crucial for issues of Africa," Bimha said.

EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell'Ariccia said he would comment on the matter Thursday.

The EU lifted most sanctions on Zimbabwe in February, but those against Mugabe remained in place.

Cape Town – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba has reportedly taken a swipe at the EU's "attempt to stop First Lady [Grace Mugabe] from travelling with her husband" who is set to attend an EU-AU summit in Belgium next week.

According to The Herald, George Charamba said it was strange that the EU had not extended an invitation to the First Lady, adding "What God has put together the EU is trying to separate".

Charamba asked: "Do they expect the president to respect the EU and disrespect his own marriage?"

Previous EU-AU summits have been rocked by controversy over Mugabe, who is banned from travelling to Europe.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace

 Political co-operation

The summit is expected to focus on strategic priorities under the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.

The strategy seeks to enhance political co-operation and partnerships at all levels.

The report said the EU has also not invited AU member, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir.

The development is reported to have incensed Mugabe who is the first AU deputy chair. The report said Mugabe "might not participate in the summit as a result".

A senior government official said Mugabe questioned where the EU was getting the authority to determine who was an AU member and who was not.

The official said the EU was trying to dictate who should the delegations of African leaders and even the membership of the AU.

- News24

Malaysian Airlines says it now has to assume "beyond any reasonable doubt" that missing flight MH370 has been lost and and there are no survivors.

The announcement came in a text message, seen by the BBC, that was sent to families of those on board.
Malaysia Airlines light MH370, with 239 people on board, went missing after taking off from Kuala Lumpur 8 March.

The announcement came as a search effort in the southern Indian Ocean completed a fifth day of operations.

The First Lady of Uganda made some bizarre claims this week about why she believes same-sex attraction is unnatural.

During a speech in which she reportedly congratulated the Church of Uganda's bishops on their anti-gay work, Janet Museveni told the crowd that if cows can't be gay, humans definitely can't.

"We must listen to God and obey him," Museveni reportedly stated. "Thank you God for leading us... If cows did not practice homosexuality, how could we, the human beings, start arguing over homosexuality?"

The First Lady also reportedly stated that Uganda should follow the will of God and not repeal the country's anti-gay law.

Last month, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the country's anti-gay bill into law, penalizing first time "offenders" of same-sex acts with up to 14 years in jail and life in prison for repeated gay sex between consenting adults. 

Immediately following the institutionalization of this legislation, a Ugandan newspaper published the names of the country's "200 Top" homosexuals, contributing to the development of a pervasive climate of fear and violence for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Ugandans.

From Nasa's instagram account

It's World Water Day! While our home planet is about 71 percent water, only 3 percent of that is available as fresh water. And many people do not have access to safe and clean water sources. On a water planet like Earth, "following the water" is a massive undertaking but one that is essential to predicting the future of our climate and the availability of water resources around the globe. Viewed from space, the most striking feature of our planet is the water. In both liquid and frozen form, it covers 75% of the Earth's surface. It fills the sky with clouds. Water is practically everywhere on Earth, from inside the rocky crust to inside our cells. Image Credit: NASA/MODIS #space #water #clouds #nasa #worldwaterday #earth #earthrightnow

President Paul Kagame has said that leveraging opportunities in science and technology contributes to building capacity across key sectors for development.

The Head of State said this while giving a keynote address during the closing ceremony of a two-day conference on Higher Education for Science, Technology and Innovation. The event, under the theme: "Accelerating Africa's Aspirations", brought together ministers of education, scholars, and the private sector from across the continent.

"Science, technology, research and innovation are critical enablers that shape socio-economic transformation of nations" President Kagame said, but added that the number of students enrolled in science, engineering and technology in Africa is still low.

Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region, challenged African youth to formulate African solutions to African challenges and praised President Kagame for teaching policy makers much about implementation and results.

• Chelsea face Paris Saint-Germain with first leg in France
• Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund; Barcelona v Atlético Madrid

This Colombian President is just something else,he peed in his pants while giving an address. The video has since gone viral on social media networks! The 62-year-old President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia  was speaking at the launch of his re-election campaign when the patch suddenly began to appear on the crotch of his beige trousers. The , President who is not known to have any illness, continued with his speech, apparently unaware of the drama unfolding “downstairs”! The wet patch continued to enlarge as he went on with his speech in the coastal city of Barranquilla. He is a product of  the London School of Economics and Harvard.

Source: ihalale

Joyce Banda,the humble malawian president lead by example by a carrying a bucket of water on her head just to share experiences of motherhood and to promote water supply and other development projects with her people.

President Museveni meets Uganda’s members to the Pan African Parliament after the conference

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has advised African governments to be strong to prevent Western countries from intervening in their national and continental affairs.
Museveni said this Tuesday during celebrations to mark 10 years of the Pan African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa. Museveni said by being weak and under developed, Western powers were returning with a new wave of colonialism.
“You were weak and got colonized. Fortunately we survived and got our freedom again. We did not use our freedom to make ourselves stronger; now they have come back to start from where they stopped,” said a statement from the Pan African Parliament.
“After independence we did not analyse why we had been colonized so that we quickly rectify the problems. We simply relaxed and enjoyed being in power forgetting that the lion cannot live with the lamb,” he said using the Biblical references on how the lamb would lay with the lion in heaven.

Museveni was unhappy that Western countries had intervened in Libya, which, he said has never recovered, ignoring possible solutions proposed by the African Union (AU). He said it was contemptuous of NATO to prevent a team of six presidents with the AU mandate to try and resolve the Libyan issue, from travelling to the country.

He said that although he was part of the named AU team, he was not on the fateful flight to Libya.
“African Presidents, on African soil, carrying out an African mission were ordered by NATO to go back (arguing) that they had not allowed them to land. This was contempt,” he said.

“I want to advise African governments, we should not tempt the greedy people, to come and colonise us by being weak. When you are weak, you tempt the greedy,” he said, adding that, “It is your fault to be weak, why would you allow yourself to be weak. Avoid making yourself so vulnerable.”

Museveni identified ten factors preventing African countries from developing including ideological disorientation by the political elite; attacking the private sector; inadequate infrastructure; underdevelopment of human resource, lack of education and health; small markets; lack of industrialization, underdeveloped services, agriculture and lack of democracy.

The President of Saharawi Mohamed Abdelaziz, the President of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and the former President of Ghana Jerry Rawlings also addressed the sitting, advocating for the granting of legislative powers to the Pan African Parliament.

 NEW VISION