Sport: Kai Rooney meets Messi, Suarez and Neymar in trip to Barcelona

Pictures show Wayne Rooney's son enjoying the holiday of his life - proudly flaunting a Barcelona shirt


New pictures from Barcelona have set tongues wagging over a potential summer move for Rooney - Kai Rooney that is...

Wayne Rooney's son has been pictured with the best and brightest of Barcelona's Champions League winning side in a recent trip to the Nou Camp.

Coleen Rooney thanked former Manchester United defender Gerard Pique, who organised the trip, adding: "Kai had the best time ever and is a very lucky boy!"

Kai Rooney's weekend away was topped off with a prime seat to witness Barcelona's 1-0 victory over Malaga in the Nou Camp - not your average school trip away...

Football: Anthony Martial is facing a baptism of fire at Manchester United

Forward follows Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney as the latest talented teenager to arrive at Old Trafford but they had a safety net - he does not

Anthony Martial is facing a baptism of fire as a teenager at Manchester United Photo: AP

It is one those statistics which fades with memories of goals in Champions League finals and countless match-winning interventions, but Cristiano Ronaldo was only able to muster 15 goals in his first two seasons as a teenager at Manchester United.

Wayne Rooney, who marked his United debut as an 18-year-old with a Champions League hat-trick against Fenerbahce following his £27million arrival from Everton in 2004, performed somewhat better than Ronaldo, delivering 36 goals in his first two campaigns at Old Trafford.

But both encountered peaks and troughs during their early days at United, in terms of injury and development, and the same fate is likely to await Anthony Martial who, 11 years to the day since Rooney became the world’s most expensive teenager by signing for the club, now stands to claim that same distinction at United.

Anthony Martial will become the world's most expensive teenager

By moving to Old Trafford from Monaco for an initial £36million, the French youngster will arrive in Manchester bracing himself to encounter the same teenage teething troubles as his glorious predecessors, but without the safety net which helped accelerate Rooney and Ronaldo’s development.

Luke Shaw, the player who Martial will eclipse as football’s most expensive teenager, will attest to the difficulties that come with shouldering such a burden in such a pressurised environment as Manchester United.

With just 64 career appearances to his name, Martial is undoubtedly a rookie - unknown to an English audience one minute and a household name the next.

Anthony Martial - a fine prospect facing a lot of pressure

Ronaldo arrived in similar obscurity in August 2003 as a callow 17-year-old, with a £12.2million price-tag in a summer when David Beckham left for Real Madrid and attempts to land a superstar in Ronaldinho failed spectacularly.

His was an underwhelming signing, with many questioning United’s ambition and transfer strategy, and the same mood music is providing a backdrop to Martial’s arrival.

But while Ronaldo struggled for consistency during his early seasons at United, his progress was aided by the support network of team-mates such as Ruud van Nistelrooy, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane

“Ronaldo wasn’t the finished article when he came here,” Ferdinand said. “He practiced all the time, sometimes taking a bag of balls out on his own after training.

“But we also made him realise that it was about contributing to the team with goals and assists. Still, by the time he left, he was a machine.”

Rooney, who was much further down the road to development than Ronaldo, still benefited from the presence of those senior statesmen alongside him.

Ronaldo was berated and praised in equal measure by team-mates, who urged the Portuguese winger to eradicate the diving, tricks and histrionics from his game, while Rooney was spared the pressure of having to win games on his own by the likes of Van Nistelrooy, Giggs and Scholes.

But who will play the senior roles when Martial requires guidance on or off the pitch and, with Rooney struggling for form, who will shield the French forward from the expectation that he delivers match-winning contributions from the off?

The team and players around them ensured Ronaldo and Rooney had time to develop into the crucial figures that they became - Ronaldo took three years to become the player that eventually prompted Real to come calling in 2009.

Cristiano Ronaldo was not an instant hit at United

Martial will not get that time and Louis van Gaal is also unable to play the long-game which Sir Alex Ferguson played with Ronaldo and Rooney.

He needs an instant return from Martial, just as he does from Memphis Depay, the 21-year-old Dutch winger whose raw talent requires time and patience for him to develop into another Ronaldo or Arjen Robben,

So it will require immense mental strength, as well as football ability, for Martial to make the impact that his new status as the world’s most expensive teenager will demand.

Shaw, compromised by injuries and fitness problems, endured a disastrous first season at United, with the England left-back only now beginning to show his best form.

Luke Shaw can attest to how hard it is for youngsters at United

Having been signed from Southampton, Shaw at least had a Premier League background to draw upon, but Martial will genuinely be heading into the unknown at Old Trafford.

And the space and time which he will need to grow may not be there. He will have to emulate Rooney and Ronaldo by doing it the hard way.

The Telegraph

Man suffers ‘life-threatening injuries’ after being stabbed at Notting Hill Carnival

(Picture: REX Shutterstock)

A man is has been rushed to hospital with ‘life-threatening injuries’ after being stabbed at Notting Hill Carnival.

Three 18-year-old males were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after the incident in London’s street festival today.

The victim, believed to be in his 20s, presented himself to a London Ambulance Service treatment centre near Ladbroke Grove, before being rushed to hospital.

His condition has since been upgraded to ‘serious but stable’.

The arrest of the three teenagers brings the total number of people arrested at this year’s carnival to 200.

23 people were arrested for carrying knives, 31 for drugs offences and five for assaulting a police officer.

Police are now undertaking inquiries into where exactly the stabbing took place.

Metro UK

UK: Tory councillor apologises after posting a Facebook photo of 14 naked women in a boat captioned 'If Carlsberg did illegal immigrants'

Mike Kusneraitis shared several images offensive images on social media

He sits on Runneymede Borough Council and has been blasted for actions

Photos included one of nude women on boat with a slur about 'immigrants'

Also shared a sexually explicit cartoon, but has asked to be judged on his actions in the community, not by 'misjudged postings'

Mike Kusneraitis, a Conservative councillor on the Tory-run Runneymede Borough Council in Surrey, said he should be judged on his actions in the community, not by 'misjudged postings on social media'

A Tory councillor is being investigated by council chiefs after sharing photo of a boat full of 14 naked women with a caption reading 'If Carlsberg did illegal immigrants'.

Mike Kusneraitis, a Conservative councillor on the Tory-run Runneymede Borough Council in Surrey, said he should be judged on his actions in the community, not by 'misjudged postings on social media'.

The councillor admitted making a number of 'offensive' postings on a Facebook page, which have now been removed.

Among the postings included a dog with a towel on his head and a sexually explicit cartoon, both posted on the Facebook page of the Peoples Front of Egham, which is currently unavailable.

He also posted an image on July 24 showing a boat full of 14 naked women, with a caption reading 'If Carlsberg did illegal immigrants'.

Writing on his own Facebook page at the weekend, Cllr Kusneraitis, of Egham, Surrey, apologised if he offended anyone.

He wrote: 'I would like to state that it was never my intention to offend or upset anyone and if I have done then I want take this opportunity to apologise sincerely and wholeheartedly.

'Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not and have never been a racist.

'Judge me by my actions in the community not by a misjudged post on social media.'

Leaders of the Tory party in the area confirmed today that it is looking into the postings by Cllr Kusneraitis, which were made in July and August this year.

Peter Taylor, the chairman of the Runnymede and Weybridge Conservative Association, said he was investigating.

He said: 'At the moment I have not got a comment to make because I've only just seen the images. I need to consult with people.'

The Tory councillor is being investigated by council chiefs after sharing this photo of a boat full of 14 naked women with a caption reading 'If Carlsberg did illegal immigrants'

Writing on his own Facebook page at the weekend, Cllr Kusneraitis, of Egham, Surrey, apologised if he offended anyone

Local Ian Cruickshank, 43, said: 'Posting a photo of 14 naked women on a boat while making light of the plight of illegal immigration is something he should have realised was wrong.'

Mushtaq Deshmukh, the chair of the Islamic Welfare Association of West Surrey, said he had invited Cllr Kusneraitis to a 'Meet Your Muslim Neighbour' meeting on September 19.

He said: 'Whether it is true or not, I would like to extend an invitation to the councillor to one of our events, namely 'Meet Your Muslim Neighbour'.

'He can meet Muslims from the local community and maybe learn more about us and then make an educated opinion about Muslims, rather than be like those who have opinions about Muslims without having ever met a Muslim and asked him or her what do they actually believe in.'

The Mail

24 Things President Jonathan Achieved In His First 100 Days by Reno Omokri

As President Muhammadu Buhari enters the final week before he clocks 100 days in office, see list of 24 things Goodluck Jonathan did within 100 days as President of Nigeria.



24 Key Economic Achievements as Listed by Reno Omokri

1. Nigeria’s oil industry expanded by 20% and we reclaimed our position as Africa’s largest oil exporter which we’d hitherto was lost to Angola.

2. Recognized by OPEC in July as the 2nd largest oil exporter 2nd only to Saudi Arabia. It is the first time Nigeria has recorded such a feat.

3. Inflation rate had been reducing as the administration enforces tighter fiscal policies.

4. In June the Consumer Price Index showed an inflation rate of 10.2% which dropped to 9.4% in July being the lowest rate in the past 4 years.

5. Foreign Reserves rose by 10% to $35 billion.

6. Nigeria’s GDP growth rate month-over-month had continued to grow from 6.7% in May to 6.9% in July of 2011.

7. Nigeria declared top three investment destinations in Africa (number 2) by the independent Africa Business Panel in the Netherlands.

8. Nigeria generated power at her highest level ever (4,000mw) which is still far from enough but which will improve monthly.

9. Nigerian Railway Corporation commenced Mass Transit Services in 5 of 6 geo-political zones. Last zone will come on stream by year’s end (December 2011).

10. With establishment of the NSIA, President facilitates direct investments into infrastructure with priority areas being Power and Roads.

11. The Federal Government also awarded contracts for various road projects across the country whose impact was soon to be felt nationwide.

12. Launch of NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X Satellites to expand Internet Bandwidth and provide early warning to prevent natural disasters.

13. President introduced the policy of engaging the Private Sector on kerosine pricing and price reduced between May and September, 2011.

14. Recognizing the sacrifices of youth corps members, President approved upward review of allowances from 9,700 to 19,800 Naira.

15. Implementation of Minimum Wage Increase for Nigerian Workers to 18,900 Naira monthly.

16. 35% Slot For Women in the cabinet.

17. Deepening Security and expanding Peace in the Niger Delta.

18. Reduced kidnapping in South East with implementation of President’s order establishing the 14 Brigade of the Army in Ohafia, Abia state.

19. Maritime Safety has been ensured and stabilized in the last 100 days.

20. A stellar cabinet comprising former MDs of the World Bank & Goldman Sachs, Chairperson Accenture and multiple Ph.Ds.

21. The National Automobile Council established an Automotive Development Fund to resuscitate the automobile industry and generate jobs.

22. Approval for genuine foreign investors to obtain visas at the point of entry to facilitate FDI investments.

23. Model Skills Training Centers in Abuja- collaboration between Industrial Training Fund & the Institute for Technical Education, Singapore.

24. Establishment of the Nigerian Vehicle Credit Purchase scheme.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: Shocking pictures show children looking on as teams of men struggle to rip apart live goats in barbaric Nepalese festival

The Deopokhari festival, held in the village of Khokana in the Kathmandu Valley, has gone ahead despite protests 

A young female goat is thrown into a pond in the village, and bitten, strangled and pulled by villagers until it dies

PETA and Nepalese animal charities have spear-headed a campaign against the festival, branding it 'barbaric'

Shocked members of the public have launched petitions online calling on the Nepalese government to ban it 

+30

Photos: The Mail UK

8 little-known facts about Princess Diana

Diana, the ‘people’s princess’ (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

Princess Diana died in a car crash 18 years ago.

The ‘people’s princess’, as former prime minister Tony Blair famously referred to her after her death in 1997, has certainly been long remembered as people paid tribute to her on social media today.

Many facts about Diana’s life are well known to the public – but here are some that might still surprise you.
She had an impressive heritage

And we’re not just talking about the circles of aristocracy she was born into, being the daughter of the 8th Earl of Spencer.

She had pretty impressive relations from Audrey Hepburn, Winston Churchill and a handful of US presidents through to Duchess of Devonshire Georgiana Cavendish, the focal character of the 2008 film The Duchess starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.



She’s also related to Mary Queen of Scots, meaning to be royal must have obviously been in her blood.
Her grandmother worked for the royal family

The royal connections were strong with this one. Five years before Diana was born, in 1956, her maternal grandmother Baroness Fermoy became one the Queen Mother’s ladies-in-waiting.

Diana talking with her grandmother, Baroness Fermoy (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

She was also an extremely close friend of the Queen and a concert pianist, with the King’s Lynn Festival making Fermoy widely known in Norfolk.
She started her career in teaching and childcare

Before she was a princess, Diana embarked on a very different career path.

Starting work at age 19, her first few jobs were that of a babysitter, an executive and of a teacher’s assistant at Young England Nursery School.

The education of children was always an important part of Diana’s life (Photo by Daily Mail/REX Shutterstock)
Diana’s sister, Lady Sarah, also dated Prince Charles

Obviously before Diana.

Lady Sarah is now married to Neil McCorquodale, but she is still very close to the Royal Family in the years after her sister’s death.

In 2013, she was spotted with Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George on the 16th anniversary of Diana’s death near Grantham.

Prince Charles talking to his future Sister-in-Law, Lady Sarah Spencer, at Windsor Castle in 1977 (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)
She invited Cindy Crawford round as Prince William had a crush on her

When William was 13 years old, he let slip to his mother that he had a teenage crush on Cindy Crawford. So what else was Diana going to do but invite the supermodel round for dinner?

Crawford said she was terrified about meeting him.

‘It was a little awkward,’ Crawford later said in 2006. ‘He was a boy, so I didn’t want to look too trampy. But I didn’t want to look dowdy either. I somehow had to look supermodel for a kid.’

Cindy Crawford in 2014 (Photo by Gabriel Grams/REX Shutterstock)
She changed the way the world thought about AIDS

It is a well-known fact that philanthropy was a huge part of the Princess of Wales’ life.

She supported over 100 charities and even won a Nobel Peace Prize a few months before her death.

One of those causes was awareness about HIV and AIDS, and combating stigma around the disease.

Here she is appealing for compassion for sufferers in 1993.


She was a magazine cover favourite

She wasn’t just the people’s princess, but the media’s too. The press were a part of her life and, tragically also, a huge part of the story of her death.

During her lifetime, she was featured on the cover of People magazine more than 50 times, Time magazine featured her eight times and Newsweek featured her on the cover seven times, according to the Asia-Pacific Economics Blog.

Diana appearing on the cover of Life Magazine in 1983 (Photo by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)
She struggled with depression and bulimia

One of Diana’s greatest struggles was personal – namely bulimia. Later she would reveal they started around the time her engagement with Charles began.

‘Bulimia started the week after we got engaged,’ she said in tapes obtained by NBC.

‘My husband put his hand on my waistline and said: “Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?” That triggered off something in me.’

Prince Charles with Diana Princess of Wales and Prince Edward (Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images)

Metro

Series: Breaking The Jinx I - By Badero Olusola

By Badero Olusola

Life they say, is "the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death." - the origins of life. Life begins from our first breath and ends at our last. While human nature is described as the primary determinant of what a man would become. Simply defined as "the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans." We all have the same instinct of survival whenever our comfort zones are threatened.

On this note I want share my personal opinion and advice with the people of my constituency -- the youth.

I wrote a similar post on how the youth can break the jinx of enslavement covertly embedded in the policy of successive governments in Nigeria and indirectly, sustained the generational socioeconomic incapacitation prevalent among the millions of Nigerian youth still living in the country.

I wrote about cooperative investment and middleman ideals in gaining economic independence.

In this article, I will enunciate further on why it is better to be an employee of labour than "apply-er" of labour, -- and how.

I had a discussion on this same topic with a friend in Nigeria asking me to raise some money for a business back home. He had a very brilliant idea in agricultural business that can yield good return, with a moderate investment. But my friend had no capacity to put his idea into practice cuz of the needed start up capital.

In my response; I asked if there were no alternative ways of raising the money? The banks -- especially the micro finance banks? He only belabored me with sad tales of what you will have to go through in securing the loans, and other sundries! Then I asked if he knew anything about "crowd funding"? I knew he won't have an idea, just like many of you reading this.

"Crowd funding", is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. So many people have raised unbelievable amounts of money to support good causes, all around the world - via the Internet. Crowd funding can be used to raise campaign money for a popular candidate who has no financial strength to back his campaign.

But you don't need an internet based "crowd funding" group before you can start something that will change your life forever. You can live your dreamed life by working with another group of people with the same goal like yours, all by pulling your small resources together to start a business.

In the next two series, I'll explain more on;

***How can you set up a successful "Crowd Funding" group, backed by a solid legal agreement, signed by all the stakeholders, for your next business adventure.

***Three business ideas that can be funded through "Crowd Funding".

The two series above will be next.

You don't need to be in government before you can become somebody. The spirit to "Breaking The Jinx" is right there waiting inside of you, day and night. Just take a minute to talk to it.

To be continued...

Stay tuned!

Maiyegun General