SUPER EAGLES NOT AFRAID OF ARGENTINA

  Nigeria is pitched against Iran, Argentina and Bosnia in Group F of the 2014 World Cup, which kicks off on June 12.

   In an interview published in the Argentine media, Sabella said Nigeria and the other Group F opponents would be intimidated by the quality of attackers at his disposal in Brazil.

  But Keshi, who said the Argentines should be worried by the Super Eagles’ work ethics, argues that no team at the Mundial Coupe has the power to intimidate his boys.

  Speaking during the launch of Peak brand of milk’s promotion in support of the Super Eagles’ World Cup campaign Tuesday, Keshi said, “Afraid? I am not afraid of Argentina or any team in the World Cup.” 

  Part of the issues Keshi did not address Tuesday was the fact that so many Nigerian players are not getting enough playing time in their various clubs while star-studded Argentine players play regularly in their own clubs.

MISSING MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT MH370 CRASHED INTO SOUTHERN OCEAN

Missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean according to flight data, the Malaysian Prime Minister has said.

Najib Razak held a news conference on the latest developments this afternoon.

He said flight data had shown the aircraft was last recorded in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysia Airlines officials have told the families of passengers from missing flight MH370 to assume "beyond doubt" that no one survived.

The airline said in a text message to family members that "we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean".

Speaking at a press conference in Malaysia today, prime minister Najib Razak said: "Based on new analysis we have concluded [the jet] flew along southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of Indian Ocean west of Perth

"This is a remote location far from any possible landing site.

"It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform that in accordance with this new dqayta Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

KNIFE ATTACK IN CHINESE MARKET

In echoes of the recent Kunming train station attack that the Chinese government blamed on Xinjiang militants, three people are killed at a market in Changsha by knife wielding assailants, one of whom is shot dead

One person was shot and killed after a knife attack that left at least three people dead in a Chinese market Friday, state media said, in the second such attack in two weeks.

Another person was injured in the attack in the southern city of Changsha, according to local radio station Hunan Jiaotong.

The attack comes two weeks after 29 people were killed in a knife attack at a train station in southwestern China that the government blamed on separatists from the far west Muslim region of Xinjiang.

Besides the attacker who was shot to death by police, another was captured and three escaped, the Hunan Daily newspaper reported. Changsha is the capital of Hunan province.

The media reports gave no details on the identity of Friday's attackers.

US. RAPPER, CHRIS BROWN REMANDED IN PRISON WITHOUT BAIL

LOS ANGELES - A US judge ordered US rapper Chris Brown on Monday to remain behind bars for allegedly breaching his probation stemming from his notorious 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna.

The 24-year-old, arrested Friday after being booted out of a rehab facility in Malibu, will have to stay in custody until a probation violation hearing on April 23.

Judge James Brandlin said he found it troubling that Brown had told a group therapy session there: “I am good at using guns and knives,” prompting his ejection from the center for drug and anger management.

Brown also violated the center’s internal rules by “touching elbows or standing very close to a female client,” the singer’s attorney Mark Geragos acknowledged.

Geragos asked for Brown to be allowed to begin another rehab program immediately, but prosecutor Mary Murray opposed this, saying the court had given him “repeated opportunities.

“He’s put himself in custody,” Murray told the Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

Brown was arrested in February 2009 after getting involved in a physical confrontation with Barbadian superstar Rihanna that left her with a bruised and battered face.

He pleaded guilty to the assault and was sentenced to five years’ probation and community service, as well as being required to take part in domestic violence counseling.

California authorities filed probation violation charges against Brown last year, giving him an additional 1,000 hours of community service work on his sentence for beating the pop star.

In October, Brown checked into the rehab facility two days after being charged over an altercation in the US capital Washington, in which he allegedly hit a man trying to take a picture of him outside a hotel.

In February, judge Brandlin said Brown was doing well with the court-ordered treatment program, but ordered him to remain at the rehab facility.

The judge warned him at the time that any negative change in behavior “could dramatically change your custodial status.”

CHINA FINDS NO TERROR LINK TO NATIONALS ON MALAYSIA PLANE

Intelligence checks on 153 Chinese passengers on a missing Malaysian airliner produced no red flags, China said Tuesday, as Malaysia marshalled ships and planes from 26 countries to search an area the size of Australia.

Eleven days after contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew, there has been minimal progress in determining precisely what happened or where the plane ended up.

Lending fresh weight to the belief that the plane was deliberately diverted, the New York Times reported that the first turn it made off its flight path was programmed into the Boeing 777′s computer navigation system, probably by someone in the cockpit.

Rather than manually operating the plane’s controls, whoever altered Flight 370′s path typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer situated between the captain and the co-pilot, the newspaper said, quoting US officials.

The head of Malaysia Airlines, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said he was unable to confirm the report.

“The aircraft was programmed to fly to Beijing … (but) once you are in the aircraft, anything is possible,” he told a daily press briefing.

Two thirds of those on board were Chinese, and Malaysia had asked authorities in Beijing to run an exhaustive background check on all their nationals as part of a probe into everyone aboard.

Particular attention was paid to a passenger from China’s Muslim ethnic Uighur minority.

On Tuesday China’s ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang said no evidence had been found that would link anyone to a possible hijacking or terrorist attack on the jet.

MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT MISSING

A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing lost contact with air traffic controllers early on Saturday, the airline said in a statement, the plane likely missing in Vietnamese airspace.

Flight MH370, operating a Boeing B777-200 aircraft left Kuala Lumpur at 12.21 a.m. (11.21 a.m. ET Friday) and had been expected to land in the Chinese capital at 6.30 a.m. (5.30 p.m. ET) the same day.

"We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370," Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement.

"Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their search-and-rescue teams to locate the aircraft," it said.

An official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said the plane had failed to check in as scheduled at 1721 GMT (12.21 p.m. ET) while it was flying over the sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh city.

"Its code didn't appear in our system," Bui Van Vo, the CAAV's flight control department manager, told Reuters by telephone.

China's official Xinhua news agency also quoted the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) as saying the flight lost contact while flying through Vietnamese airspace.

The CAAC said 158 Chinese nationals were on board the plane. China's aviation regulators said they had not received any signals from the plane and that there had been no reports of any aircraft crashing in Chinese waters.

"We are extremely worried," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. "We are doing all we can to get details. The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe."

Chinese state TV also said there had not been any immediate reports of a plane crashing in Chinese waters.

If the plane is found to have crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year, after an unblemished safety record since the jet entered service in 1995.

Last summer, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three passengers.

Boeing said it was aware of reports that the Malaysia Airlines plane was missing and was monitoring the situation but had no further comment.

Malaysia Airlines said it was contacting the families of those on board flight MH370 and had set up support facilities for those affected.

FAMINE IN MOZAMBIQUE

The Mozambique Agriculture Minister, Jose Pacheco, has warned that more than 300,000 people face famine.  which affects mainly the central and southern regions of the country, has been caused by various factors, including drought, flooding and insect plagues. Crops are also being destroyed by animals such as elephants and hippos.

He also said the government is helping peasant farmers produce more food via financial packages to buy fertilizer and to help them irrigate their fields.