Vitalii Mykolenko shocked and grateful over Everton support for Ukraine
Everton’s Ukraine defender Vitalii Mykolenko said he has been “shocked” by the club’s support following Russia’s invasion of his homeland.
Mykolenko, who arrived at Goodison Park from Dynamo Kyiv on New Year’s Day, was handed the captain’s armband in Everton’s FA Cup win against Boreham Wood earlier this month as a show of solidarity.
The 22-year-old left-back has been moved by requests from team-mates and club staff to help house refugees.
He told the club’s official website: “I am shocked. Honestly, I am shocked.
“Donny van de Beek, a world-class player, approached me and said, ‘my father and I want to rent a house for people, whether in the Netherlands or in Poland. We will take them from the border, settle them, and pay for it’.
“I’m pleasantly shocked. I don’t know how to thank these people.
“A physiotherapist came up and said, ‘I have a room, a bed for two people, those who have nowhere to live, we are ready to shelter them’.”
Mykolenko, capped 21 times by Ukraine, has made six appearances in all competitions for Everton and three in the Premier League after making his debut in the FA Cup win at Hull in January.
He added: “Everyone came up and asked how my family was, my friends.
“On the second day, the head coach (Frank Lampard) came up and said, ‘if you need a rest, if you need time, take your time’. I am grateful to the club for its support from all sides.”
Everton said they had pledged £250,000 to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal and that had been matched by a joint donation from club chairman Bill Kenwright and majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
EXCLUSIVE: Real Reason Former Lagos Governor, Tinubu Cancelled 70th Birthday Colloquium In Lagos
Former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, was shocked on Tuesday to realise that President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and a host of other dignitaries snubbed his 70th birthday colloquium, SaharaReporters has learnt.
SaharaReporters further gathered that Tinubu was therefore forced to call off the event which was only attended by two South-West governors and Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje while other expected dignitaries shunned the colloquium, which came only days after the much controversial APC national convention in Abuja.
Top sources familiar with the drama revealed that Tinubu used the Abuja-Kaduna train bombing only as a smokescreen to save face when he realised that the dignitaries had shunned the event and it would not get the momentum he so desired.
At the Eko Hotels in Lagos, the venue of the 13th Bola Ahmed Tinubu Colloquium with the theme, “Pivoting Nigeria Into The New Order,” Tinubu, while trying to hide his displeasure had said, “Today is supposed to be a very joyful 70th birthday of mine living on earth. I give thanks to God Almighty for being able to survive to this age. I have just been informed of a very sad incident in our country, very sad indeed, that over 60 people and many more were killed and bombed on a train between Kaduna and Abuja just last night. That is a very serious incident about the security of lives in this country and it calls for a very serious sober reflection.
“For me to be here celebrating, dancing and enjoying myself doesn’t show enough concern for a statesman and a senior citizen of this country. This event should not be held. I have consulted with the people you see around me here and they’ve agreed with me and being a very highly committed democrat, I have given myself to their suggestion that they agree that this event be cancelled.”
However, sources told SaharaReporters that Tinubu did not need to get to the venue of the event to make the announcement if he truly cared about the victims of the train bombing, which occurred on Monday evening, the previous night.
“Contrary to his claims, the real reason was poor attendance; Buhari boycotted; the Senate President boycotted; only three governors showed up; Ganduje, Oyetola Gboyega of Osun and Lagos Governor, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu.
“Even the new chairman of APC (Abdullahi Adamu) was absent. The Kaduna incident happened the night before. It was all false that he cared about the train victims,” one of the top sources explained.
SaharaReporters also learnt that by shunning the event, the President and other chieftains of the APC were sending Tinubu a subtle but important message – you don’t have our support for 2023 presidency.
“They used their absence to send a final message to Tinubu that he won’t be their candidate. Tinubu had arrived in the hall and was ushered in by his supporters and even Governor Sanwo-Olu was ready to read his speech when the event was cancelled under the pretext that ’60 persons’ were killed in the Kaduna train bombing.
“He (Tinubu) only used that to save face; the truth is that he was embarrassed by the level of attendance despite assurances that heavyweights would attend.
“Even the Vice President (Prof Yemi Osinbajo) didn’t attend, though he was in Abeokuta the previous day,” another top source said.
Tinubu has been going round the country and meeting with traditional rulers and other leaders to seek support for his 2023 presidential bid which he called a “life-long ambition”.
He met with Buhari in January 2022 to formally declare his intention to run, saying he intends to step into his shoes, and not on his toes.
It’s Time To Change Bad Leaders, All Christians Should Vote In 2023 – CAN President, Ayokunle
The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Rev. Samson Ayokunle, on Tuesday urged Nigerians, especially from the South to produce a Christian candidate to take over the mantle of leadership in 2023.
Ayokunle said this at the 53rd ministerial anniversary and dedication of a church auditorium of the Christ Revival Church, Molete in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He said, “Let me urge all Christians in this auditorium and tell other Nigerians; you are crying about bad leadership in Nigeria. It’s another time for you to change the bad leaders by your votes.
“You are saying you don’t want bad leadership, especially in Nigeria, we are looking for diligent people who can direct and rule Nigeria the way the masses will appreciate better.
“This is another opportunity for us by your votes. Anybody who has not collected his Permanent Voters’ Card, PVC, should go and do so. If you have any problem obtaining yours, let us know.
“You can’t sit at home and want to enjoy good governance without voting for the right person. Your destiny of voting for the right leaders lies in your hands. Collect your voters’ card at the right time.”
He added, “Evil people will no more rule us again in Nigeria. Don’t vote because someone is a moneybag or he’s influential, vote for someone you can vouch for and who has the fear of God in his life.
“Those who came from the north have ruled us for eight years and they are Muslims. Now, it’s the time for Christians to take over for another eight years; because that was how God allowed it to be. He created us equally in Nigeria.
“We are over 200 million in Nigeria; Christians are 100 million, while Muslims are 100 million. You cannot tell me after eight years of rulership from a northern Muslim, you cannot get a competent Christian from the South out of 100 million Christians to take over for another eight years.
“That is the wisdom that will make this nation survive when all the ethnic and religious groups are given fair play in the scheme of things, and Christian voters also should be able to vote wisely this time around.”
Lady Gaga’s awkward interaction with Caitlyn Jenner at Oscars viewing party
Lady Gaga had an awkward run-in with Caitlyn Jenner at an Oscar viewing party, and now social media can’t stop talking about the cringe-worthy moment.
The interaction was captured by BBC journalist Bahman Kalbasi outside of Elton John’s AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party on Sunday evening. Kalbasi posted the 26-second video to Twitter, where it was viewed more than 1.5 million times.
In the clip, Caitlyn Jenner asks Lady Gaga — whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta — why she hasn’t seen the singer at their local Starbucks in Malibu for quite some time.
“Are you spending time in Malibu anymore?” the former Olympian asked Gaga, to which she replied, “Yes.”
As the singer began to turn away, Jenner said, “I haven’t seen you at the Starbucks in a while.”
In a now-iconic response being hailed on social media, Lady Gaga responded, “I’ve switched baristas.”
The video quickly went viral, with social media users deeming Lady Gaga’s “switching baristas” excuse as a snub to Jenner.
“Choosing to believe Gaga changed her Starbucks location to avoid Caitlyn Jenner,” tweeted writer Sam Stryker.
“Lady Gaga switched Starbucks to avoid Caitlyn Jenner,” wrote another fan. “Celebrities are just like us.”
“Lady Gaga telling Caitlyn Jenner she ‘switched baristas’ is an incredible way to say ‘we are not friends goodbye’ lmao,” tweeted author Preeti Chhibber.
After posing with Elton John’s sons at the charity viewing party, Lady Gaga dropped by the Oscars ceremony where she presented the award for Best Picture alongside Liza Minnelli. The House of Gucci star received praise for her kind gesture towards Minnelli, when the 76-year-old actor tried to read her lines displayed on the teleprompter. Gaga leaned over to her and said, “I got you,” to which Minnelli responded, “I know.”
The 94th annual Academy Awards was full of many more historic moments, including Will Smith slapping Chris Rock for his joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. Read a breakdown of the Oscars’ biggest talking points here.
Lawyers, PDP Ask New Ruling Party, APC Chairman, Adamu, Deputy, Kyari To Resign As Senators
Two Nigerian senators, Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) and Senator Abubakar Kyari (Borno North) who have been elected as the national chairman and deputy national chairman (North) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have been asked to resign from office.
Adamu, who has been representing Nasarawa West since 2011, emerged as the national chairman of the party on Saturday during the national convention.
Like Adamu, Kyari has been in the Senate since 2015 when he was first elected to represent Borno North Senatorial District. He emerged through consensus as the deputy national chairman (North) of the ruling party.
Since their emergence as key members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling party, tongues are wagging over their seats at the National Assembly, Daily Trust reports.
It would be recalled that the Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni piloted the affairs of the party for 21 months as the head of its caretaker committee.
A senator’s seat will be declared vacant following death of the lawmaker, resignation, recall demand by constituents or court pronouncement ordering INEC to withdraw his or her certificate of return. This is done through official communication from the Senate President to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A cross section of lawyers spoken to expressed mixed reactions on the matter.
Professor Paul Ananaba (SAN) said although there is no straight law on a senator retaining another paid employment as it is for a governor in Section 183 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999, the senators have a moral duty to quit.
“Having been elected to the executive, they have to choose which one to take. Being the chairman of the ruling party in the largest country in Africa is not a small work, you cannot combine it with any other responsibility,” he said.
While highlighting the conflict of interest in functioning in both offices, Ananaba said “When he (Adamu) speaks in the Senate, how do we know whether he is speaking as a chairman or as a senator? When he votes will he be voting as a chairman or as a senator?”
He said the matter can be challenged in court, explaining “I don’t think the court would be favourable to allowing a person to hold two positions; I think the court may find a way around it even though there is no straight legal provision.”
He, therefore, called on the senators to give up their positions to other Nigerians who could do the job.
On his part, Femi Falana (SAN) said the executive of the APC and those of the PDP are different sides of the same coin and both political parties are making a mockery of Nigerians.
He said his group was preoccupied with mobilising Nigerians to reject the insult by the political class.
“Very soon you will know that we are taking up the challenge,” he said.
Reacting to the matter, Debo Ologunagba, who is the spokesman for the PDP, said “It is the APC that should be bothered about whoever they choose as their leader, whether he is qualified or not, we are not worried about that.
“If the person has a corruption case against him like we have identified against the chairman, that is what concerns us, whether he is qualified or not is not for us to challenge.”
Julia Fox’s Oscar gown had a hand around the neck and was accessorised with human hair purse
Julia Fox has drawn attention for her unusual Oscar after-party dress which had a hand-shaped neckline which she accessorised with a purse ‘made out of human hair’.
The Uncut Gems star attended the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, held at the Wallis Annenberg Centre for Performing Arts, in a black leather gown, which featured a neckline that was designed as hands around her neck. Her outfit was accompanied with a pair of leather gloves and pointed heels.
She also carried a black purse which she claimed was covered in real human hair.
Speaking to Catt Sadler, the co-host of the party’s coverage, Fox was asked if she had “real hair” on her purse. In response, she said: “I think so, I mean, it looks like it.”
When Sadler said that a few online jokes could be made about Fox’s dress, the model agreed. However, that isn’t something that matters to her.
“Oh my god, I’m going to get roasted for this tomorrow,” she said. “The comments are going to be ridiculous. But, you know what, I’m having fun and that’s all that matters.”
During the interview, she addressed the “fun” that she had throughout her two month relationship with Kanye West, who she split from in February, noting that they are still on good terms.
“I’m young, I was coming out of the pandemic, coming out of being a single mom, and I just want to have some fun, and, like, rejoin society, and pop out, have a moment,” she said. “Have a few moments.”
On social media, the 32-year-old actor’s fans weren’t deterred by the spooky elements of her outfit.
“Julia Fox ate that leather dress up at the Oscars,” one tweet said.
“The fact that she did her eye makeup to resemble the bloodshot red you get from being choked out,” another person wrote. “F*** SHE IS THE MOMENT.”
How to clear up space on your iPhone when you’re running out of storage
Our iPhones are so much more than just phones. Sure, they’re where we store our photos, books, music, and movies, but they also have the apps we use daily for work, socializing, ordering groceries, transportation, managing finances, and even our health. Used for so many different things, it’s easy to quickly take up all of the phone’s storage — which can become a nightmare.
But don’t panic. If you’re on the verge of running out of space, you’re not doomed, and you don’t necessarily need to delete every photo or upgrade your phone. Here we’ll guide you through nine things you can do to create space, many of which are free, quick, and easy.
First, figure out what’s eating up your storage
Check what’s taking up the most of the space on your iPhone by heading to Settings, clicking on General, and tapping iPhone Storage. There, you’ll find a helpful breakdown of the files, media, and apps eating up your space so you can start working on deleting accordingly. At a minimum, aim to delete at least 2GB of storage, so you’ll have space to install more apps and take photos.
Head to Settings and click on General.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Then click on iPhone Storage.
Image: Sheena Vasani
You’re there!
Image: Sheena Vasani
Back up your photos and videos with a cloud storage service
In all likelihood, you’ll soon find that photos and videos are gobbling up a good chunk of your space. If you don’t want to delete these forever, back up your photos and videos to a cloud storage service, like Apple’s iCloud (you can learn exactly how to do that here). That way, you’ll still have copies of your memories safely stored away before deleting them from your iPhone.
Be mindful, however, that while the first 5GB of iCloud storage is free, you’ll have to pay 99 cents every month for up to 50GB. There are also other, more expensive plans available if you need more space, which you can learn more about here.
After you delete the photos, you should also be aware that the Apple stores pictures you deleted in the past 30 days are in the Recently Deleted folder in your Photos app — and will still be taking up space, so make sure you delete them there, too. You can do that by heading to the Albums tab and looking for Recently Deleted. Tap the Select button in the upper right corner and click on Delete All.
You can also set up your iPhone so that it saves smaller photos while storing the original, larger resolution images in iCloud, thus saving space. Under Settings, head to Photos and make sure there’s a checkmark next to Optimize iPhone Storage to turn that option on.
Delete photos and videos you sent or received from others
If you don’t have time to decide what to delete or back up to iCloud, and you just want a quick and easy way to start freeing up some space, head on back to Settings, tap on General, and click iPhone Storage. When you’re there, click on Review Large Attachments, which is located below the color-coded bar that shows how much storage apps, photos, the system, and other settings are taking up. Here, you’ll see a list of photos and videos you’ve sent or received in messages, which you can delete by placing your thumb on one, swiping to the left, and clicking the red Delete button.
Prioritize getting rid of the first couple at the top, which will likely be videos, as those occupy the most amount of storage. In my experience, I have found that deleting these sometimes gives me just the bit more storage I need if I’m on the go and don’t have a lot of time to think through which apps, photos, or videos I really don’t need anymore.
Once again, head to Settings and click on General.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Then click on iPhone Storage.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Click on Review Large Attachments to see a list of videos and photos you’ve sent or received.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Get rid of old text messages
On the topic of text messages, click on your Messages app and delete old conversations you don’t need anymore. Your iPhone can also automatically delete messages if you’d like. Just head to Settings, scroll down and tap on Messages, and then click on the Keep Messages option under Message History. There, you’ll be able to choose whether you’d like your phone to keep messages for 30 days, one year, or forever.
Once you’re in Settings, click on Messages.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Once in Messages, scroll down and tap on Keep Messages.
Image: Sheena Vasani
You can then click on which option you’d prefer.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Delete or offload apps you’ve not used for awhile
When you do have the time, you should definitely delete or offload apps you no longer want or use. Apple conveniently shows you the last time you used certain apps when you head to Settings, select General, and click iPhone Storage, so that can help make this process faster and easier.
If you don’t want to lose data associated with the app, you can offload them instead. By doing that, your documents and data will still be available when you reinstall it. To offload, you just need to head back to Settings, click on General, and once again tap on iPhone Storage. Click on the app and select Offload App.
While you’re at it, prevent your iPhone from running out of space in the future by heading to the App Store option under Settings and toggling on the Offload Unused Apps switch.
Under Settings click App Store.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Toggle on Offload Apps under App Store.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Add site links to your home screen instead of keeping apps
Back in the day, when I had an ancient 32GB iPhone and constantly ran out of storage, I had no choice but to delete pretty much all of my apps. It made me realize there were a few I only used because they stored certain files I needed, like Google Drive.
It dawned on me that I could instead just add links to the files I needed to my home screen, so I could access them as if they were apps instead. In fact, it was even easier and faster to access those files this way, rather than constantly opening up and digging through Google Drive for them. I started adopting this approach to other apps, too, adding links to news sites instead of using news apps, for instance, which saved me some space.
So if there’s information you can easily look up on the web or with a Google search, you may want to consider adopting this approach. Just use your Safari app to head to the site, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the square icon with an arrow inside, then click on the Add to Home Screen option located towards the bottom of the list. Tap on Add, and then you should be able to find it somewhere on your screen.
On the Safari app, click on the square icon with an arrow inside right at the center bottom.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Click on Add to Home Screen.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Then click on Add.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Remove videos, books, and music stored on your phone
Sometimes what’s taking up the most amount of storage are the data and documents stored within an app on your phone. You can find out if that’s the case by once again heading to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and then clicking on an app. A page will appear that tells you how much space is taken up by both Documents & Data and the App Size itself. That’s information you can use to, say, delete ebooks you’ve finished reading, close tabs in your browser, or remove specific podcast episodes you no longer need, as opposed to getting rid of the entire app itself.
Clear your cache
Deleting apps, photos, and videos will free up a good chunk of your storage, but clearing your web browser cache can also give you a bit more space if you’re in a crunch. Just note you will be signed be out of websites if you go down this route.
If you’re a Safari user, head over to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data clear your cache.
Click on Safari under Settings.
Image: Sheena Vasani
Under Safari, click Clear History and Website Data.
Image: Sheena Vasani
There are a few more steps involved if you use Google Chrome. First, open up the browser and click on the three dots at the bottom. Tap on History > Clear Browsing Data, where you’ll see a list of what you can clear. You’ll be able to select options that will let you delete browsing history, cached images and files, cookies and site data, saved passwords, and autofill data or you can delete everything. You can also delete your browsing history from the last hour, the last 24 hours, a week, the last four weeks, or from all time by clicking the appropriate option under Time Range. After you’ve made your selections, click Clear Browsing Data at the bottom.
Use Snapchat to take photos
I rarely ever use Snapchat — I only use it as a second camera and private storage space. I downloaded it once while traveling because I was just about to run out of local space to take pictures. Thankfully, despite the fact my iPhone storage was technically full, I was able to use Snapchat to take and store both videos and photos since the app saves its Memories in the cloud. So if you’re on the go, this could be a good hack if you need to take pictures and don’t have the time to clear up space.
Jason Momoa wears French braid and a scrunchie at Oscars: “Obsessed with the formal scrunchie situation’
Jason Momoa attended the Oscars on Sunday in style, with his hair in a french braid and a pink scrunchie.
At the 94th Academy Awards, the Dune star posed at the Dolby Theatre in an all black tuxedo and bowtie. His suit had a blue and yellow pocket square in it, in support of Ukraine. He styled his long hair into a french braid, which was kept secure with a pink scrunchie.
The 42-year-old actor also wore a black scrunchie and bracelet on his wrist and statement rings on his fingers.
On social media, fans have praised Momoa’s hairstyle and outfit.
“Obsessed with the Jason Momoa formal scrunchie situation,” a tweet reads.
Another person wrote: “Jason Momoa has graced the red carpet and looks dapper as ever!,” while someone else added: “Jason Momoa is a handsome teddy bear.”
However, this isn’t his first time wearing a scrunchie to the Oscars, as he wore a pink suit and pink scrunchie on his wrist at the event in 2019.
The Aquaman star was a presenter at the 2022 awards show, along with his stepdaughter, Zoë Kravtiz.
Momoa recently announced his split from Lisa Bonet, his partner of 16 years. However, according to the actor, they’re still on good terms. While attending the premiere of Kravtiz’s movie, Batman, earlier this month, Momoa expressed how he and his children were there to represent Bonet.
“We’re just so proud,” he told Entertainment Tonight about Kravitz. “Lisa couldn’t be here so we’re representing, me and the babies. We’re very excited to just be here. …It’s still family, you know?”
This morning, I received a very blatant spam text offering me “a little gift” for supposedly paying my phone bill. Normally I’d groan, roll my eyes, and quickly delete such a thing, but there was something different about this particular message: it was spoofed as coming from my own phone number. As best my iPhone could tell, it was a legitimate message from me to myself. Tapping into the sender details took me to my own contact card.
Equally frustrating was that I had no obvious way of reporting the alarming spoof to my carrier, Verizon Wireless. Spoofed calls and texts are nothing new; most people face a constant deluge of spam calls that appear on caller ID as from a number similar to their own. But this was the first time I actually got something from my own number. These scammers keep getting more sophisticated.
Turns out I wasn’t alone. More than a few customers on Verizon reported getting similar spam from their respective numbers over the last few days — same for its MVNO Visible — and several Verge employees on other carriers have also encountered them. I posted an Instagram story about it and have gotten plenty of “same” responses. SMS phishing, or “smishing,” has been on the rise in recent years, but there’s something more disconcerting and invasive about it being linked to your own number. It’s all very “the call is coming from inside the house.”
The main reaction on Twitter is confusion and “how?!” Again, this is all spoofing and technological impersonation. It’s trivially easy for spammers to camouflage as any number they choose. My Verizon account is secure, and my number hasn’t been hijacked. If you’ve gotten the same message, there’s no cause for panic. Just don’t go clicking that link.
Still, it often feels like the phone carriers are losing the war against scammers. I don’t envy having to contend with the sheer volume of spam attacks that come across their networks daily, but this is getting out of hand. I’ve noticed an uptick in general SMS spam over the last several weeks. And as Alex Lanstein noted on Twitter, this particular message contains several phrases — “free msg,” “bill is paid,” “gift” — that one assumes would be flagged by Verizon’s spam protection systems. And yet it came through successfully. And since this one showed as coming from me, the text also successfully evaded Apple’s “filter unknown messages” feature.
So what can be done? In addition to offering various measures of spam protection, Verizon and other US carriers encourage customers to forward spam texts to SPAM (7726). Some people might have pause about reporting spam “from” their own number, though. I’ve asked Verizon about what happens in that situation.
If you’re deeply annoyed by any spam texts or calls you receive, you can always file a complaint with the FCC about this stuff, where “my own number is being spoofed” is a sub-issue that can be reported.
Aside from those options, all you can really do is delete the texts and wait for the next scam tactic that seems like it shouldn’t even be possible. Damn you, scammers. Do better, carriers.
