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Tornado storm in Mississippi produces heavy rain, hail, tornadouproots trees, as it causes damages in Wesson

 

Severe weather moved through central Mississippi Monday, producing at least one tornado. The twister formed about 12:15 p.m. east of Wesson, the National Weather Service confirmed. Debris could be seen on radar, the 16 WAPT Weather Team said.

Widespread damage was reported across the town, according to the Wesson Police Department. Trees and power lines were down.

Downed trees and roof damage were reported at Wesson Attendance Center. The roof was leaking in a hallway near the school library and in an area of the gymnasium, school officials said.

About 1,000 students were in the school when the storm hit. None were injured, authorities said.

The tornado knocked down several trees along Highway 429, east of Thomastown in Leake County, the weather service said.

The tornado moved into Copiah County about 12:20 p.m. and damaged a home in the Stronghope community, according to the weather service.
A few minutes before the tornado formed, winds of up to 100 mph were clocked in Lincoln County, near Copiah-Lincoln Community College. School officials said in a tweet that there was no damage reported on campus.
There was also damage reported to some homes in Walthall County, authorities said.
Tornado warnings were issued for several areas of central Mississippi late Monday morning, including Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties.

Heavy rain fell in Clinton, and radar showed rotation in the eastern side of the city. There was a report of trees down on Cynthia Drive, north of the Natchez Trace.

Pea- to quarter-sized hail was reported in areas of Madison and Rankin counties, the 16 WAPT Weather Team said.
The fast-moving storm moved into Lincoln County about noon and produced winds as strong as 80 mph in the Loyd Star area, meteorologists said.

Support for the Nigerian Premier League – Senator Ben Murray-Bruce

The call for Nigerians to back the Nigerian Professional Football League has found a new high profile voice in politician and businessman 
Ben Murray-Bruce. 

The outspoken senator has in recent times been whipping up patriotic sentiments in a relentless Twitter onslaught, calling for patronage and support for local businesses as a way to get our stricken economy back on track. 

He has urged support for the likes of local car manufacturer Innoson, Nasco Foods, Arik Airlines and Aba manufacturers among others and this week someone drew my attention to his tweets on our domestic football.
 

Finally, perhaps we are making some progress, albeit necessitated by our harsh economic realities. Some of us suspected we would get here, and that our businesses will be in trouble. We also knew that despite our unabashed sponsorship and support of European football, when the crunch came, we would be left on our own. 

The Arsenals, Chelseas, Manchester Uniteds, Barcelonas and Real Madrids will not come to the aid of the Nigerian economy, they will not be creating the jobs locally that our nation needs to bounce back. 

So, now appears that time when we must do the needful and invest our resources in the domestic game so we can create the jobs and wealth at home not abroad. As the senator has succinctly put it “We spend billions on European soccer and abandon our own local leagues. 

Sports can be a major employer of labor #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira”

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, supporting the NPFL is not a favour, but a business imperative. Sports create jobs, jobs lead to disposable income, and disposable income leads to business patronage and profits. 

For years now, while our league laid prostrate, our big business leaders have unwittingly spent billions promoting European football to Nigerians and this has seen them win millions of fans for leagues like the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga. 

The consequence of this has been Nigerians shipping billions overseas yearly through TV networks and direct travels to watch football games and buy tons of merchandise overseas. Well payback time is time is here. Nigeria is broke, the naira is plunging, business sales are dipping and thousands are being thrown into the job market. 

I doubt the marketing managers who felt really smug about blowing billions on the European game in the last decade are feeling smug about the figures the sales are showing.

They always argue that they back the European game because that is what fans are watching, well they are still locked in that foolish logic in 2016 when the fans have lost their jobs or have had their salaries slashed. 

What is the point of promoting to people who do not have disposable income? 

Money that should have been used to support the local game and create jobs within have all been shipped away to instead create jobs overseas. 

I do not hear the British, Germans, Italians and Germans crying the way we do about fallen oil prices, I do not here them talking about devaluation and looking for loans to survive, and I can only hope we have learned some lessons.

Thanks to the senator for drawing attention to this. I personally do not know him closely and, being a bit circumspect about politicians, I would tread softly, but commonsense like this means people like me will be paying closer attention to him.


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Bruno Mars and Beyonce's Perforance at Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show

Coldplay, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars celebrated 50 years of Super Bowl halftime shows — and Beyoncé’s new single “Formation” — during Super Bowl 50 on Sunday.

The trio of performers collaborated on a number of songs throughout the show, with headliner Coldplay kicking things off. Martin started the performance by crouching on the field as men and women, dressed in dark clothing, ran toward the stage. 

His band then ripped through “Viva La Vida” and “Paradise,” before playing their new single “Adventure of a Lifetime.” (Coldplay was joined members of the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles during the performance.)

“Wherever you are, we’re in this together,” Martin said during “Viva La Vida.”

Coldplay, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars celebrated 50 years of Super Bowl halftime shows — and Beyoncé’s new single “Formation” — during Super Bowl 50 on Sunday.
Strangely, what the halftime show did best, though, was fun

A Super Bowl halftime show whose early going promised to make it one of the franchise’s worst ever managed to evolve, briskly, into something far more interesting; a meta-commentary on various star personas and on the Super Bowl halftime show itself.

The segment of the show belonging solely to Coldplay was the set’s worst. Though the band was the halftime show’s notional headliners, it was the least relevant-seeming of the three acts onstage. 

Bruno Mars and Beyoncé had been invited, the language around the show suggested, as a nod to the franchise’s “history,” and yet they felt far more urgent and intriguing than the British band, whose act was also plagued by significant audio problems. 

Lead singer Chris Martin’s onstage leaps felt like an attempt to gin up the sort of enthusiasm that Mars, with the opening bars of his hit “Uptown Funk,” generated organically.

Mars and Beyoncé are a part of halftime show history, sure, but it’s very recent history. They performed on the world’s biggest stage two and three years ago, respectively.



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Riders Blown Off Bikes Due To High Winds

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It’s not often that you see races cancelled, because of wind but the Volta a La Marina in Benidorm, Spain had winds so high that they had to do exactly that. This takes riding in the wind to a totally new level.  

Cyclists in stage three of the Volta a La Marina in Benidorm are blown about in strong winds on Sunday, forcing organisers to abandon the race. Some of the 153 riders try to keep moving, but are soon forced to put their feet down, while others are blown off their bikes. 

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Ex-Rivers Lawmaker, Eleanya, Shot Dead In Port Harcourt

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Unknown gunmen on Thursday shot a former member of Rivers State House of Assembly, Monday Eleanya in Port Harcourt.

A witness said Eleanya, who represented Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni constituency in Rivers State House of Assembly between 1999 to 2003 under the platform of the People Democratic Party (PDP) was shot in the early hours of Thursday by yet to be identified gunmen.

Daily Trust learnt he was driving out of his Ada George road, Port Harcourt residence when the gunmen struck.



A colleague of the former lawmaker, George Tolofari confirmed the incident to journalists in Port Harcourt.

"Eleanya was my friend, brother and former colleague. I received the news of his murder with rude shock.

“I don't know the gist of his recent move to APC, but I know he has been a committed member of our great party from when we moved to APC from PDP," he said.


Fondly called World Bank.

Eleanya was a top PDP member until few months ago when he defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Spokesman of the Rivers state police command Almad Muhammad said he was yet to have the report of the incident.


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US concerned over Rwanda's destabilising activities

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The US has raised concerns with Rwandan officials over reports suggesting it is involved in "destabilising activities" in neighbouring Burundi, officials have said.

Rwanda is reported to have armed and trained refugees to fight on behalf of the Burundian opposition.

Rwanda's government has denied similar allegations in the past.
Burundi has been hit by civil conflict since President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to stand for a third term.

Has African Union let down Burundi?
Burundi on the brink
Tit-for-tat killings spread fear

In a hearing in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, two top diplomats cited reports from colleagues in the field that they said pointed to Rwandan involvement in the Burundi crisis.

Thomas Perriello, US envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, said the reports suggested that Burundian refugees, including children, were being recruited from camps in Rwanda to participate in armed attacks against the Burundian government.

Burundi's Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe welcomed the statements, saying they were "better later than never because we've been telling the Obama administration about this for the last seven or eight months," Voice of America reports.

He also urged the US "to move beyond simple rhetoric and take action", without giving further details.

Turmoil erupted in Burundi after Mr Nkurunziza announced plans last April to run for a third term, which he went on to win.

More than 400 people have died in the violence and at least 240,000 have fled the country.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US assistant secretary of African affairs, said that US officials had encouraged Rwandan authorities "to play a productive role and not to do anything that might further destabilise Burundi".

Writing on Twitter, Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo mocked the international community for not doing more to stop the cycle of violence in Burundi, without responding to the latest statements from the US:

The governments of Rwanda and Burundi are from rival ethnic groups and there is growing international concern that another ethnic conflict could take root in the region.

Last week, a UN panel reported that Burundian refugees had been recruited at a refugee camp in eastern Rwanda in May and June 2015, and given two months of military training.
At the time, Ms Mushikiwabo described the allegations as "unfounded".

Burundi's deepening crisis:

• April 2015: Protests erupt after President Pierre Nkurunziza announces he will seek a third term in office.

• May 2015: Constitutional court rules in favour of Mr Nkurunziza, amid reports of judges being intimidated. Tens of thousands flee violence amid protests.

• May 2015: Army officers launch a coup attempt, which fails.

• July 2015: Elections are held, with Mr Nkurunziza re-elected. The polls are disputed, with opposition leader Agathon Rwasa describing them as "a joke"

• November 2015: Burundi government gives those opposing President Nkurunziza's third term five days to surrender their weapons ahead of a promised crackdown.

• November 2015: UN warns it is less equipped to deal with violence in Burundi than it was for the Rwandan genocide.

• December 2015: 87 people killed on one day as soldiers respond to an attack on military sites in Bujumbura.

• January 2016: Amnesty International publishes satellite images it says are believed to be mass graves close to where December's killings took place.

 

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