Tevez To Ditch Manchester United For Real Madrid? Los Blancos are lining up a summer swoop for 'Apache' as Fergie and co continue to dither over his p

The Sun, that blinding beacon of journalistic integrity, claims that Real Madrid will attempt to take Carlos Tevez from Manchester United at the end of the season.

The Argentine forward is approaching to conclusion of his two-year loan spell at Old Trafford, and yet still no permanent contract has been put on the table.

It was initially hoped that a deal would be signed, sealed and settled last summer, but Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to buy Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur scuppered those plans.

The Red Devils pre-agreed a fee of around €34 million with Media Sports Investment, the firm which owns Tevez's rights, but now the club are reportedly uncomfortable with that evaluation.

And now that the 24-year-old has slipped behind Berbatov in the pecking order, there is a very real possibility that he could leave United once his loan expires.

However, it remains to be seen whether the giants of the Bernabeu are actually interested in Tevez, given they already have Raul, Gonzalo Higuain and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at their disposal - not to mentioned the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Inter Milan have also been linked with Tevez.

Tim Allen Offers Condolences to Travoltas

As a father himself with another child on the way, Tim Allen can sympathize with John Travolta and Kelly Preston.

Allen, who costarred in the hit biker comedy Wild Hogs with Travolta, today expressed his heartfelt prayers to his friend in the wake of Jett Travolta's unexpected death Friday.

"Jane, Kate and I wanted to extend our condolences to John, Kelly and Ella. We know how much they loved and adored Jett, and words cannot express how sad we were to hear about his passing," Allen said.

On a happier post-holiday note, the 55-year-old Allen also confirmed that he and his 42-year-old wife, actress Jane Hajduk, are going to have the opportunity to do some Home Improvement of their own, as they get a new bedroom ready for the impending arrival of their first baby together.

No word whether it's a boy or a girl, but the little bundle of joy is due in the spring.

Allen has a 19-year-old daughter, Katherine, from his first marriage to high school sweetheart Laura Diebel. The two divorced in 1999. He and Hajduk tied the knot in 2006.

‘Electricity will decide 2011 election’

The Federal Government on Monday said that availability of electricity would be a major electioneering campaign tool in 2011.
It said that because of this, government would adopt a radical approach towards changing the status quo, as records indicated that current generation level vacillated between 2,000 and 3,000 megawatts.

The Minister of State for Power, Mr. Nuhu Wya, stated this in Abuja on Monday when he visited the Rural Electrification Agency.

He said that rural electrification was very vital to poverty reduction in the country, adding that as a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, the government was aware of the role of power availability in tilting the pendulum in the next election.

Wya said, “As a faithful of the PDP, this is a vote- winning agency. We’ll deliver the dividend of democracy to the rural community. This is, therefore, a very fundamental and important agency to the power sector and to the nation.”

According to the minister, the delivery of electricity to the rural communities may turn out a way for the PDP to secure victory at the poll in 2011, since it plans to deliver on its promises on power generation.

He described the REA as a fundamental unit in the power sector and to the nation, adding that government would redouble its support to it.

Nigeria, the minister said, was currently in energy crisis, stressing that operators of the sector needed to generate more electricity to change the current ugly situation.

Wya also charged the REA to increase its efforts in the generation of electricity from non-conventional sources.

He directed the agency to collaborate with the Energy Commission of Nigeria and other relevant agencies in the sector to generate between five and 10 megawatts for the consumption of rural communities.

Earlier, when Wya visited the ECN, he stressed the need to pass the National Energy Policy and National Energy Master Plan into law.

He said that he would soon send a memo to President Umaru Yar’ Adua on the need to pass them into law.

The minister lamented that many discoveries of the commission had not been embraced by the private sector, stressing that there were many advantages in the use of alternative sources of energy.

He however, criticised the ECN for not marketing its discoveries at the various trade fairs in the country.

He said, “I cannot remember seeing your stands at the various trade fairs in Lagos, Kaduna, and Enugu.

“Place emphasis on exhibitions of your findings so that people will be aware of your findings; there is Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission.

“Also, partner with them and give them your findings so that they can help you propagate your findings. Talk to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria and other bodies.”

The minister also challenged the agency to improve on its performance so as to assist in the delivery of 6000 mega watts of electricity by the end of the year.

Yar‘Adua had during his inauguration as president instituted a seven-point agenda, with which he hoped to transform Nigeria.

These are power and energy; food security and agriculture; wealth creation and employment; mass transportation; land reform; security; and qualitative and functional education.

He had added the Niger Delta and the disadvantaged groups as two special interest issues also to be focused on.

By making power and energy the first of the seven- point agenda, he said focus in that area would be on infrastructural reforms through the development of sufficient and adequate power supply to ensure Nigeria‘s ability to develop as a modern economy and an industrial nation by the year 2015.

Accordingly, he promised that more than 30,000 mega watts of electricity would be realised in the first five years of the administration, and assured that the ongoing reforms in the power sector would be sustained.

“Our plan is to launch a national emergency programme on the power sector because we believe that there cannot be any meaningful industrial development without steady power supply,” he said.

Yar’Adua had announced at a media chat in December 2007 that he would declare a national emergency on energy and power, to get Nigeria out of economic predicament, since power was the tonic for industrial growth.

The President expressed hope that power supply would rise to 10,000MW before the end of 2008.

He gave the assurance that the proposal was feasible, because the country needed to achieve at least 30,000MW in 2011 and 50,000MW by 2015.

He argued that improvement in power generation capacity would facilitate Nigeria‘s efforts in industrialisation and move the country from a consumer nation to a productive one.

However, more than 18 months afterwards, none of the promises has yielded fruits. If anything, the situation has grown from bad to worse with power generation dropping to less than 2,000MW in August 2008.

Autopsy Confirms Jett Travolta Died of "Seizure," Body to Be Cremated

John Travolta and Kelly Preston's 16-year-old son, Jett, who had a history of health problems, was killed by a "seizure," according to the death certificate issued today.

While the official results of an autopsy today have yet to been publicly announced, mortician Glen Campbell of the Restview Memorial Mortuary in the Bahamas confirmed to E! News that cause of death was a seizure and "there was no sign of head trauma."

"The body was in good condition," Campbell said.

A source close to the proceedings also told E! News that a preliminary report on Jett's death determined "there is no foul play," corroborating what a Travolta family lawyer initially stated last Friday.

"It is not a suspicious death. The body wouldn't already be turned over to the mortuary if there was anything suspicious," the source said. Autopsies are standard procedure in the Bahamas in cases of sudden death.

Bahamian Minister of Health Hubert Minnis did not say when, or if, the autopsy findings would be made public. Bahamian official and close Travolta family friend Obie Wilchcombe tells E! News that the autopsy was completed at 12 p.m. local time.

Mortuary director Keith McSweeney also confirmed that Jett's body is being cremated. "The remains will be turned over to his family tomorrow," he said.
A funeral service was expected Wednesday in Ocala, Fla., where the Travoltas have a home.

Late Monday afternoon, a black hearse—apparently a decoy—traveled from the funeral home to the local airport, where two jets waited. Police in dress uniform blocked access to the tarmac.

The autopsy was conducted by two pathologists this morning. The local coroner in Freeport was joined by a U.S.-certified specialist, who was flown in from Nassau at dawn. The dual reports were intended to ensure accuracy and provide a more thorough analysis of what transpired.

Wilchcombe says the Travolta family doctor was also flown in to observe this morning's autopsy after getting special clearance from the health ministry.

The results confirm Travolta family lawyer Michael Ossi's statement that Jett suffered a fatal seizure. Jett's body was discovered by a caretaker Friday morning, and despite efforts to revive him, including an attempt at CPR by John Travolta, the young man never regained consciousness.

Jett, who suffered from Kawasaki disease, had a history of such attacks, Ossi said.

There is one minor mystery, however. The report that there was no indication of head trauma contradicts initial statements made by local police, who said that Jett had hit his head on the bathtub in his room at the Old Bahama Bay resort, presumably after suffering a seizure.

There's been no immediate comment from authorities on the discrepancy.

Yar’Adua’s govt visionless – CAN President

As Nigerians settle down into the New Year, President of Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN], Rev. John Onaiyekan has launched a scathing criticism on the government of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, describing it as visionless.

Speaking exclusively with Daily Sun in Abuja, the CAN president, who is also the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese said with regret “that it is difficult to know the particular direction, which the present administration is heading to.

“It is not the issue whether one is slow or fast, but the issue is which direction are you facing and where are you going to?
“You can be fast and running the wrong direction, and so the important thing is are we facing the right direction and are we really taking the right steps? Even if it is slow.

“ We rather prefer a slow movement in the right direction than a headlong movement to disaster. It is difficult to say – in the area of the rule of law, we can see from the situation, how often and how much that is being respected. We can see now that it is difficult to take things on their face value, and by their fruits you shall know them,” the clergy stated.

Bishop Onaiyekan berated the Yar’Adua government for not being open to all and sundry, noting that expectations was that the government should by now be ruling beyond party lines.
The CAN president said that it was undemocratic for Yar’Adua’s political party, the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] to continue to insult the nation that it would rule for 60 years in the face of the mirage of problems that had been left unattended to.

He advised the opposition parties to remain and give the people choice to make in the next election, while decrying the action of politicians who changed political parties because they lost elections.
On the Jos crisis, the Archbishop said the issue of strangers, settlers’ syndrome as raised by some people in the state as the cause of the mayhem was not peculiar to Plateau State but a worldwide problem, stressing that only an amendment to the nations’ constitution could solve the problem.

According to him, “ I don’t believe that the recent Jos crisis was really a religion-induced crisis, and by the way, it is politicians who always make any crisis look like a religious one so as to achieve their objectives. But it is clear to us that we are talking to issue of interest, socially and economically. Strangers \ settler’s syndrome is not only peculiar to Jos but all over the world.

“ When we went to Jos with the Sultan of Sokoto recently, an old Hausa\Fulani asked a pertinent question that his grandfather came to Jos and the father was born in Jos as well as himself. Then, how long are they going to be in Jos before stop being strangers? I said that is a pertinent question, which should be asked not only in Jos.

We should go and ask it too in Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi that how long will an Igbo man live in those places before they stop being treated as strangers or settlers? And how long must a Yoruba man live in Onitsha before he stops being a stranger.

“ The issue of citizenship enshrined in our constitution should be addressed squarely. But no matter what you do, there will still be rivalry over scarce resources, which happens everywhere,” Onayeikan stated.