MINAJ NEWS

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party suffered its first electoral blow on Sunday as rival conservatives dominated French Senate elections. The results comes as the French president embarks on pushing through unpopular changes to labour law and other reforms he hopes will reinvigorate the economy. Macron takes a page from Trump to change France's labour laws   Read more Partial results showed the centre-right Republican Party on track to keep its majority after Sunday’s vote for about half of the Senate’s 348 seats. Senators are not chosen by the public but by 75,000 elected officials - mayors, legislators, regional and local councillors - across the country. French broadcasters forecast the Republicans having between 146 and 156 seats in the new Senate, up from 142. François Patriat, of Macron’s La République En Marche, said it was expected to win between 20 and 30 seats - far less than the 50 it was aiming for. “I wouldn’t say it’s a success,” Patriat ...

Scientists have engineered an antibody that attacks 99% of HIV strains and can prevent infection in primates. It is built to att ack three critical parts of the virus - making it harder for HIV to resist its effects. The work is a collaboration between the US National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical company Sanofi. The International Aids Society said it was an "exciting breakthrough". Human trials will start in 2018 to see if it can prevent or treat infection. Our bodies struggle to fight HIV because of the virus' incredible ability to mutate and change its appearance. These varieties of HIV - or strains - in a single patient are comparable to those of influenza during a worldwide flu season. So the immune system finds itself in a fight against an insurmountable number of strains of HIV. Super-antibodies But after years of infection, a small number of patients develop powerful weapons called "broadly neutralising antibodies" tha...

The Brazilian international scored a trademark curling free-kick as well as recorded an assist as Liverpool ended a four-match winless run Even before the ball had evaded Kasper Schmeichel and curled neatly and typically into the corner, the away end at the King Power Stadium filled the ground with his name. And so, on the day where it leaked that Barcelona had allegedly guaranteed Philippe Coutinho €115 million over five years had he transferred to them this summer, the Brazil international demonstrated why Liverpool rebuffed the Catalans, telling them he was priceless. "No sum will lead us to reverse our decision," was sporting director Michael Edwards’ emailed response to Oscar Grau, the chairman of Barca's board of management. Why? On 22 minutes, Wilfred Ndidi was booked for slicing down Alberto Moreno 25 yards from goal and as referee Anthony Taylor pushed the wall back for the free-kick and the travelling contingent voiced their olé olés, the playmaker...

Ernesto Valverde's side secured a comprehensive win at Girona to make it six out of six in La Liga, with only two goals conceded all season Barcelona's perfect start to the season continues. Ernesto Valverde's side beat Girona 3-0 in the teams' first-ever Catalan derby in La Liga and, after both sets of fans called for the right to vote for independence from Spain, it is the Blaugrana that are separated from the rest of the Primera Division with a maximum 18 points. This victory owed more to graft than grace for Barcelona, their first two strikes untidy own-goals from Aday Benitez (a wicked deflection from a Jordi Alba shot) and goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz (who turned an Aleix Vidal cross into his own net), before Luis Suarez added a third. Nevertheless, it was another extremely effective display from Valverde's men and another clean sheet as well. Barca have conceded only twice so far in La Liga in 2017-18 and that record matches their start from 2001-02...

European countries are boosting relief efforts in their Caribbean territories devastated by Hurricane Irma, amid criticism over the response. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is visiting French islands that took the full force of the storm, said a huge "airlift" was bringing more aid. UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is due in the region and the king of the Netherlands is touring Dutch islands. Irma killed at least 23 people in the three countries' overseas territories. The victims include 10 dead on the French island of St Barts and on the French part of St Martin - which is shared with the Netherlands. As he arrived in the region on Tuesday, President Macron said the government had responded with "one of the biggest airlifts since World War Two". He told reporters that last week's hurricane had been almost unprecedented and that the effort had been hampered by a second hurricane, Jose, in the area days later. He promised to "shake...

Protests have taken place in cities across France against changes to the country's labour laws. The interior ministry said 223,000 protesters had attended but the unions said the number was even higher. Two of the biggest unions distanced themselves from the action, indicating they may be willing to compromise. It is the first big test for President Emmanuel Macron, but he missed the disruption as he was assessing Hurricane Irma damage in the Caribbean. He was visiting St Martin and St Barts, which were among the islands worst hit by the hurricane last week. Macron launches overhaul of labour laws. Irma's trial of destruction in Caribbean Is France already losing its Macron frisson The first marches took place in Marseille, Perpignan and Nice in the south, Bordeaux in the west and Le Havre and Caen in the north, with the biggest attracting several thousand demonstrators. Scuffles were reported in Lyon as police blocked the path of protesters. Police and p...

The front man was at it again on Tuesday as he led United to Champions League victory with another goal and a convincing performance up front. Manchester United returned to Champions League football after a 21-month hiatus on Tuesday night, and by full-time it felt a bit like they’d never been away. They saw off Basel 3-0 with a bit to spare at Old Trafford and were led, as they have been so often in the past, by a clinical showing in the final third from a big-name striker. Romelu Lukaku has a long way to go before his European exploits can be compared with some of United’s great front men, but the Belgian marked his Champions League debut with a crucial goal and a very convincing individual performance leading the line. Coming just days after Jose Mourinho claimed his value has already doubled since his £75 million signing this summer, Lukaku’s sixth goal in six appearances served to underline the point. “I think we were very clever,” Mourinho told  The Times  . ...

It took less than 40 minutes for all three to score in Scotland, and while stiffer tests lie ahead, Europe's big guns will have noticed Paris Saint-Germain made it clear they were serious about winning the Champions League when they swooped for Neymar and Kylian Mbappe this summer in a pair of deals the likes of which football had not previously seen. The best part of €400 million will eventually depart the Parisian capital to fund the acquisitions of the two forward players, whose mission it is to bring the Champions League trophy to the French capital for the first time. They might only have taken one small step as they defeated Celtic 5-0 in Glasgow on Tuesday, but it was a mightily impressive one. Few teams visit Parkhead and win easily, yet by the interval Unai Emery’s men already had the game in the bag, having netted all their goals without really giving the impression of hitting top gear. And there were goals for each of their new star forwards. Neymar, wh...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, appeal panel set up to handle complaints  from the party’s Anambra State governorship primary election held on August 26 has submitted its report. Hide quoted text APC Assistant Director, Publicity, Edegbe Odewinge, in a statement said that Osita Izunaso, APC national organising secretary, received the report on behalf of the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, from appeal committee scribe, Nosa Aladeselu. “Receiving petitions according to the APC constitution is seven days after the primary election and within the next seven days, the committee meets to submit a report and that is exactly what we have done in this case”, Aladeselu said. “A number of persons submitted petitions and also a good number of representations of our party members in Anambra state also made personal appearances. “We also had situations where some who could not come, submitted the affidavit of their understanding of the processes they observed to t...

The Blues eased to 6-0 victory against lesser opposition as they showed that they have the depth required to be competitive this season. Antonio Conte gave Davide Zappacosta his first start at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night as he rotated masterfully to show that his side can handle the demands of competing on all four fronts this season. Qarabag are one of the weakest Champions League teams to ever come to Stamford Bridge but dropping any points would have spelled disaster for Chelsea, as their group will become more competitive with AS Roma and Atletico Madrid to come. The Premier League champions ridiculed Qarabag with their fans chanting "Zappacosta, he scores when he wants" and "duh, duh, duh, duh... Zappacostaaaa." This came as the relatively unknown wing-back ran some 30 yards and hit the back of the net as his cross flew in past Ibrahim Sehic in the 30th minute. This was soon after Pedro's earlier strike from the edge of the box as Qarabag fail...

This is the moment when Michelle Williams, 37, found out that she was getting married in less than 24 hours time. Her boyfriend Scott got down on one knee at a winery on Santorini in front of 50 friends and family members, and she (mercifully) said yes immediately. It was then that he revealed that they were actually getting hitched the next day – after he’d spent the past nine months secretly planning it. He’d arranged everything, from the venue and flowers to the bride’s and bridesmaids’ dresses. ‘Scott had planned everything with all my friends and family and I didn’t have a clue,’ says Michelle. ‘He’s quite a man’s man, so he’s not usually this romantic. He can be at times, but this was really something special. I still can’t believe he pulled it all off.’ Scott had booked a family holiday to the Greek island as a treat for Michelle who was coming up to the first year anniversary of her mum’s death. ‘My mum passed away last year on August 7. I thought t...

A fearless and outspoken newspaper editor has been shot dead in a horrific murder outside her home. Gauri Lankesh, who edited the weekly newspaper Lankesh Patrike, was well known for her staunch criticism of right-wing political ideology. Last year, she was convicted of criminal defamation for an article she published in 2008 that levelled corruption claims against some right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party leaders in the region. Lankesh was found lying in a pool of blood outside her home in Bengaluru, in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka, in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time. She was 50 years old when she died. ‘People in front of her house heard gunshots,’ the city’s police commissioner T Suneel Kumar told reporters. ‘We found four empty cartridges from the scene.’