Category News

Flooding: Lagos Govt Calls For Calm After Downpour

By in News, Nigeria News

Following the recent heavy rains, the Lagos Government has assured all state residents that the state has implemented resilient infrastructure to stop flash flooding.

Tokunbo Wahab, the commissioner for environment and water resources of Lagos State, made a statement on Tuesday letting people know that a new weather advisory from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency for the next three days was warning of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Wahab claimed that because the major collectors are unable to contain the run-off created by the extremely heavy rainfalls, it is possible that some parts of the state may experience flash flooding.

He cautioned residents to stay calm and to avoid panic because Lagos is a coastal city with its own peculiarities and the effects of climate change.

The lagoon’s water level will increase as a result of the heavy rainfalls, according to the commissioner, which will cause all collectors to be unable to discharge water because Lagos is a coastal state.

Read more about Lagos communities flooding and car crashes after the marathon rains.

He claimed that flash floods, which may result from high currents, are also possible in lagos and areas abutting rivers and lagoons.

He demanded extra vigilance in light of the holiday season that the majority of students and pupils are currently experiencing.

Wahab also reiterated the earlier caution against wading through floods, warning that it is possible for cars to become submerged and people to be swept away by such severe floods.

He cautioned people against dumping their trash in the drains as the rain falls, not to mention the possibility that it would lead to flash floods and the removal of the refuse.

The Commissioner claims that to prevent runoff from rainfall, the state is accelerating the year-round cleaning and maintenance of all drainage channels.

Patrick Kielty shared taxi driver’s cheeky question after make-or-break Cat Deeley flight

By in Entertainment News, News

After flying half-way across the world to impress Cat Deeley, Patrick Kielty once claimed a taxi driver had warned him that his attempts to win her would be unsuccessful.

Content Editor: Lindsay McInerney

The pair married 13 years ago during a ceremony in Rome (Image: Karwai Tang/WireImage via Getty Images)

A taxi driver once cheekily suggested to Patrick Kielty that his relationship with Cat Deeley may not go to plan after a make or break flight.

The celebrity couple announced last week they had split after marrying back in 2012 in Rome. And during an appearance on Loose Women three years after their special day, The Late Late Show presenter spoke about how a taxi driver once cast doubts about their romance. Ruth Langsford told the Northern Irish comedian, 54, that his love story with Cat, 48, was “lovely” because they were friends for a long time beforehand.

And asked how that changed into a romantic relationship, he said: “There was a moment, we always used to keep in contact, it was her birthday, and she was in Beverly Hills and I was in Dundrum (County Down).

And LA are obviously eight hours behind, so we had tea with her. I texted her happy birthday via a small Irish pub. Around two in the morning, the clock was approaching the closing bell.

I promised to go there because she said it was a shame that I wasn’t in LA for lunch tomorrow.

Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley have announced their separation after more than a decade of marriage
They have two young sons together (Image: Damien Eagers/PA Wire)

So I jumped on a six-o-clock flight from Ireland, flew into Heathrow at seven, flew into a 20 to ten flight, entered at a quarter past one, and entered the Beverly Hills Hotel at five. She slammed into the chair after I said hello, and we haven’t laughed since. ”

A taxi driver made up jokes about keeping the engine running just in case Cat’s romantic gesture was not well received.

He recalls a fantastic situation where the taxi driver and the airport taxi driver pulled up outside the hotel and asked, ‘Sir, would you like me to wait for you?’ ’”

Cat, who has been presenting This Morning with Ben Shephard, later lived in LA with Patrick until the pair, along with their sons, eight and six, moved to the UK in 2020.

And Patrick has spent the last two years frequently in Dublin for his weekly RTE show, even though Cat has been in London performing as she does.

Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley attend an event with Patrick in jeans and top and Cat in a silver long dress
Patrick and Cat used to live in the US with their boys(Image: Getty)
Continue reading the article below.

Cat and Patrick said in a joint statement to the PA news agency last week that they are now divorcing. No other party is involved, at all.

We will continue to be one loving family, and we kindly ask that you respect our family’s privacy.

‘I needed to get myself together’ – Fitzpatrick on finding form

By in News, Sports News
Images courtesy of Getty
Carter, Iain
Correspondent of golf
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Former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick has a demanding day job, but he also has a passion for football, to the extent that he wants to play the sport.

The 30-year-old’s top priority has been resolving his biggest slump in an otherwise glittering golf career for the time being, though it might come one day.

Although it has been a difficult and heartfelt experience, last month’s Open resulted in a tie for fourth place in his career.

That was a great way to wrap up the men’s major season as he was the leading UK golfer that week on the Antrim coast.

Even more so now, given how Fitzpatrick’s game started at the Masters in April.

He had missed the cut the month before, when he won the 2022 US Open with caddie Billy Foster, at the Players.

After taking some time to reset his career following a disappointing 2024, this miserable early spring stifled expectations. Although he was prepared to fight once more, his game persisted.

Fitzpatrick told BBC Sport, “I simply didn’t have it.” “I put in a lot of work, my coaches put in a lot of work, but it just didn’t happen.”

There is no stone unturned in my favor, but it’s difficult when you intend to hit a shot and go too far. Simply put, I was unsure of what was coming.

The former world number six was in the top 75th by the time the Masters was over, earning him a share of 40th place.

He had no idea how to stop the decline. Additionally, there are times when things go wrong with the course.

Since Fitzpatrick’s mid-twenties, these vicissitudes have caused what had previously been a mystery to split up with his coach and confidante, Mike Walker.

Before turning professional, Walker helped his protégé win the US Amateur alongside fellow South Yorkshireman Pete Cowen.

Fitzpatrick remarked, “My relationship with Mike is really more important than golf.” I’ve been admiring him since I was 14 or 15 years old.

I have no idea what to say to him, and I respect him so much. I wasn’t playing well at the same time, and things probably needed to change.

“It’s my job, and I needed to get myself together.”

Fitzpatrick and Alabama-based coach Mark Blackburn started working on the game the week after the Masters.

In 15 years, Fitzpatrick said, “It was the first time I’ve ever had anyone look at my swing or learn a lesson from someone other than Mike Walker or Pete Cowen.”

Blackburn was interested in learning about his new student’s physical prowess and flexibility. They soon learned that Fitzpatrick’s arms are unusually long.

Which is less effective for hitting irons because it is more difficult to control the club’s depth and is more likely to hit it heavier, he said.

“The other thing is that I don’t have great shoulder flexion, and as a result, I lose my swing as a result of swinging it too far.”

Before each shot, Fitzpatrick would pull back his shoulders and stutter out his chest, making it clear that he was 11 under par at Portrush.

He said, “I’m trying to pinch my shoulder blades together.”

The effort is worthwhile. Fitzgerald placed eighth in the US PGA at Quail Hollow in May, joining only five of the top 10 players since the Masters, including placing fourth in Portrush the week before the US Open, and eighth overall at the Wyndham on Sunday.

He is now aiming to surpass the top 30 on the PGA Tour in Atlanta in order to advance to the season-ending Tour Championship. He is currently 41st and will compete in the FedEx St Jude play-off, which will take place on Thursday in Memphis.

When asked who he credits with guiding him through the most difficult period of his career, Fitzpatrick responds, “My mum, dad, and wife Katherine.”

She kept saying, “You’re a great player, you’re going to get it back,” when I won the US Open.

Fitzpatrick is fascinated by football tactics.

Matthew Fitzpatrick lines up a puttImages courtesy of Getty

His enthusiasm for football has remained constant. Fitzpatrick and Fitzpatrick sat down to get in touch with a tactical expert who had appeared on the BBC Sport website.

Although some people believe it to be a joke, Fitzpatrick expressed his delight in football over golf. I have a football obsession. It is fantastic for me.

“I love supporting Sheffield United, over here in the States, they show me every game I could want to see, which is amazing.

Fitzpatrick has visited Brentford, the Premier League champions, to learn from his encounters with the performance team. His voice echoes the conversations he had with and the people he met.

He was “absorbing information like a sponge.” He said how they use data and how culture is so crucial. Simply fascinating.

Finding little things that might be useful for golf, I believe we’ve learned a lot from it.

not just golf, though. He asserts that he might switch sports one day.

Although I’m not sure when I’ll ever have the opportunity to work in football, Fitzpatrick said, “I’d love to do this if the opportunity ever came up in some way, shape or form.”

“I just find that to be very wishful thinking, but I really enjoy it.” I enjoy learning everything there is to know about it.

A resumed golf career is more important. He wants to keep his place in the Ryder Cup team from Europe for the upcoming trophy defense at Bethpage in New York along with making it to East Lake for the Tour Championship.

“It’s nice to play well in the play-offs and Ryder Cup,” Fitzpatrick said. “It would be very special to be a part of that once more.”

He has won three Ryder Cups, but his eight-game record, which is disappointing, and does not reflect someone’s talent with ten tournament victories in his professional career.

He said, “I still want to be a part of it to give myself a chance to improve it,” despite my past.

Fitzpatrick will provide a lot of perspective for the European team if he makes Luke Donald’s team.

He acknowledged that “in the last 15 months there has been an extra effort to try to be a little more understanding of my own psychology really” and to be “forgiving” of myself.

Catching things earlier is what I would take away from the slump, I thought. I am unable to reach that point once more.

“It was difficult for me, and the issue was that it lasted for a long time. You need to catch those things as soon as you can and turn them around as quickly as you can because you can’t afford to be behind the eight ball.

related subjects

  • Golf

Hong Kong cancels passports, bans financial support for wanted activists

By in News, World News

In their most recent crackdown on activities that they fear threaten national security, Hong Kong authorities have ordered the cancellation of 12 international activists’ passports.

Following a local court’s arrest warrants last month for the 12 activists and seven other pro-democracy campaigners over their alleged roles in the establishment of an unofficial parliament abroad, Hong Kong’s Security Bureau announced the measures on Monday.

Additionally, the bureau said it outlawed entering joint ventures or partnerships with 16 of the “absconders” and prohibited individuals from lending money or leasing property to them.

Chongyi Feng, an Australian national and University of Technology Sydney professor, and Sasha Gong, a journalist and citizen of the United States, are the wanted activists.

According to Hong Kong authorities, the 19 activists’ participation in the “Hong Kong Parliament” advocacy group is considered subversion under the city’s strict national security law.

The activists were still hiding in countries like the United States, the UK, Canada, and Australia, according to a spokesperson for the Hong Kong government.

The Hong Kong parliament criticized the campaigners’ announcement of arrest warrants and bonuses as a “blatant abuse of legal tools to pursue political persecution” last month.

The group claimed that “These actions are a clear escalation of Beijing’s transnational repression that extends beyond China’s borders and violates the sovereignty of democratic countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and members of the European Union.”

Since the passage of a comprehensive Beijing-decreed national security law in 2020 in response to violent anti-government protests, Hong Kong has radically reduced the space for dissent.

Opposition parties have been essentially outlawed from the city’s legislature, and public events like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre have been effectively prohibited.

Since 2020, 332 people have been detained for national offenses, according to Hong Kong’s CEO, John Lee, last month.

NI’s Burrows given 16-game ban for alleged assault

By in News, Sports News
Inpho

Kelsie Burrows, the Cliftonville captain, was given a 16-game ban for allegedly assaulting a match official.

Following the Reds’ 2-0 victory over Glentoran Women on July 25th, the Northern Ireland international received a red card from the referee.

The club are understood to be appealing the decision, which means defender Burrows will be able to play in Friday’s Premiership game against Crusaders Strikers. The suspension is effective immediately and applies to all competitions.

For “entering the field of play to confront a match official,” team coach Brendan Lynch received a three-game ban from the same game.

With two games in hand, Cliftonville are currently six points clear of Linfield, and the incident occurred after the final whistle of the victory over Glentoran.

related subjects

  • Football
  • Women’s Football
  • Irish Football

Australia, Japan strike largest defence deal for advanced warships

By in News, World News
According to Australia’s minister for defense Richard Marles, the two nations have reached the largest defence-industry agreement to date regarding the production of advanced warships for the Australian Navy.

Marles announced on Tuesday that Australia will upgrade its naval force with 11 Mogami-class frigates, which Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built for the Japanese company, with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reporting that the contract, valued at $10 billion Australian dollars (some $6.5 billion), was under construction.

Marles remarked, “This is unquestionably the biggest defence-industry agreement that Japan and Australia have ever reached.”

In contrast to Australia’s current Anzac-class frigates, which have a range of about 6, 000 nautical miles (11, 112 kilometers), Marles said, Mogami-class warships are advanced stealth frigates with a range of up to 10, 000 nautical miles (18, 520km).

The new ships have a smaller crew than the Anzac class, which will be in service by 2030.

It is a vessel of the future. It is shady, according to Marles.

According to Marles, “impactful projection is at the heart of the strategic challenge,” and the deal was also “a very significant moment in the bilateral relationship between Australia and Japan.”

Our sailors will receive the cutting-edge weapons and combat systems they need, according to Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, who can now fire 128 missiles against our general purpose frigates.

The Reuters news agency reported that the “three frigate contract” will see three ships built in Japan and eight ships are anticipated to be built by Australia, despite Canberra’s decision to not specify a price tag for the vessels.

The contract for the frigates is Japan’s largest and most significant defense agreement since 2014, when it lifted its decades-old ban on military exports, and only the second time it has done so.

Gen Nakatani, the Japanese defense minister, called it a “major step forward in Japan’s defense cooperation efforts.”

He stated at a briefing in Tokyo that the advantages include improved interoperability and joint operations with both Australia and the United States.

Nakatani remarked that this collaboration is crucial to Japan’s security.

According to Australian and Japanese officials, negotiations on a contract for the agreement will start this year. It is anticipated to be signed in 2026.

Australia is currently undergoing a significant military restructuring that will take place in 2023, with an emphasis on long-range strike capabilities to combat China’s growing naval might.