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There will soon be three fewer familiar faces in the “Sesame Street” neighborhood.  During a panel at Florida Supercon on July 2, 84-year-old original “Sesame Street” cast member Bob McGrath, said that he, along with longtime costars Emilio Delgado (Luis) and Roscoe Orman (Gordon) had been let go by the long-running series. McGrath added that the move was just another part of “Sesame Street’s” recent retooling, both with its move to HBO, as well as its shortened episodes. “They let all of the original cast members go, with the exception of Alan Muraoka — who is probably 20 years younger than the rest of us — and Chris Knowings, who is also young,” McGrath said, according to audio obtained by “The Muppet Cast” podcast. “Sesame Street” released a statement via Twitter on Thursday morning confirming the cast changes, but stating that the three men “remain a beloved part of the ‘Sesame’ family.” All the departing actors have served as foundational characters in t...

The FBI is investigating an apparent cyberattack on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, Fox News confirmed Friday. The breach appears to be part of a series of cyberattacks targeting Democratic organizations, including the the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The investigation was first reported by Reuters, which said that the Justice Department's national security division was investigating whether the cyberattacks threatened national security.  A Clinton campaign official said a statement was expected later Friday. An FBI statement did not mention the Clinton campaign specifically, but said it was aware of reporting "on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters. The report that Clinton's campaign was hacked comes a day after the cyberattack on the DCCC, which raises money for Democratic congressional...

Thirty-five years ago this week, London was en fete, and the rest of the United Kingdom and much of the world came to a halt as Lady Diana Spencer promised to love, honour — but not obey — Prince Charles. Her vows — like her wedding dress, her hair and even her virtue — were under global scrutiny. No wonder she fluffed her lines and muddled the Prince's names, calling him 'Philip Charles' instead of 'Charles Philip'. In hindsight, the mix-up seems another omen for a doomed marriage, along with the Prince of Wales's notorious 'whatever in love means' remark on the day of their engagement. This year, as in years past, there has been nothing to distinguish the date, July 29 — but then, there has been precious little recognition, anyway, of the contribution Diana made to the Royal Family and to the life of the nation. The rush to commemorate her in the aftermath of her death at the age of 36 in a Paris car crash (she would be 55 now) is but...

Justin Bieber got a $5 million offer to perform at a Republican event during the GOP Convention, but turned it down after his manager considered quitting andLeBron James urged him to reject it ... sources tell TMZ. Sources connected with CAA -- the talent agency which reps Bieber and received the offer -- tell us a promoter contacted Justin's people with the offer, saying he would perform for 45 minutes at a venue near Quicken Loans Arena, where the RNC was held. We're told the promoter assured Justin's people the event was "not political" and Justin would not be endorsing Trump or any GOP policies. According to the contract, the $5 million was bankrolled by GOP donors. The money was to be paid "up front" -- before Justin even arrived. The donors would also cover production expenses. It represented the biggest single payday ever for Justin. Or, for that matter, just about any other singer, and he seriously considered doing it ... partly becau...

His son, shared the following on his Instagram handle: Former Super Eagles Coach funeral rites are finally underway, but not without some drama. “I sat in front of the federal government on national television a few weeks ago and they promised they would honor pops the way he deserves. They said that he has done to much for the country for them not to. They made us change dates to fit the federal governments schedule. But they didn’t do as promised, we aren’t mad, nor sad, just disappointed, they should be ashamed of themselves. This sends a terrible message to our youth that are striving to do great things for Nigeria. The good thing is that We was raised not to ask for handouts. There will be no more postponements, today the funeral ceremonies began in Benin, the place he loved, where his career started. My sisters, brother and I held it down, with the help of a few others, and now we are putting our pops to rest. We don’t owe anyone shit and we can say they owe pops everything. No ...

A Nigerian man identified as Godwin Onwuneme Udu was arrested at Haatso, Ghana on July 19, for allegedly hacking into a bank’s electronic mail and stealing GH¢25,000. The deputy director in-charge of the Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Eugene Nyavor, said the management of the bank (name withheld) arrested and handed over Godwin to the police. Godwin allegedly transferred the cash from the customer and transferred it into his personal account at a different bank. He was nabbed by the police and bank officials on his way to withdraw the money from his bank at Haatso. It was also revealed that he been operating with other gangsters and have engaged in another fraud case also being handled by the Documentation Fraud Unit at the police headquarter in Accra. According to ASP Nyavor, the suspect hacked into the bank’s email account and transferred the money from a customer’s account into a different account. The bank noticed the fraud and mounted surveillance, which led to ...

Lionel Messi The acting head of Argentina’s FA, Armando Perez, insisted he would do all he could to lure Lionel Messi out of international retirement during an upcoming visit to the Barcelona superstar in Spain. “We need Messi,” Perez stressed to AFP on Friday, with Argentina left in shock after the five-time world player of the year announced his retirement following a penalty shootout defeat to defending champions Chile in last month’s Copa America Centenario final. “I get to Madrid on Saturday. I’ve spoken with Jorge, his father, who told me he would be available on these days,” said Perez, the head of a FIFA-appointed normalisation committee currently in charge of the AFA. “We’ll see what he tells me. I want to know the reasons that drove him to quit the national team and to see if I can do something to get him to come back,” he added. Perez is also due to meet Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli, the man who led Chile past Argentina to their maiden Copa America title a year ago and is A...

Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party killed five Turkish soldiers in an ambush in the troubled southeast of the country, local media reported on Friday. The soldiers were attacked while on patrol in Hakkari province on the road between Hakkari city and the town of Cukurca, Dogan news agency reported. Eight soldiers were also wounded in the attack close to the border with northern Iraq, the agency said. Turkish security forces were engaged in a large-scale military operation in Hakkari to target Kurdish militants in the area earlier this month. Attacks against Turkish military personnel intensified since the collapse of a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire last July, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of security forces. The government has conducted military operations against the group in the region’s towns and cities in an attempt to rid urban areas of fighters in recent months. Activists claim that innocent civilians have also been caught up in the renewed conflict. Ne...

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the removal of Chief Executives of five major parastatals in the nation’s health sector. They include the Director-General of Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi; Director-General of National Agency for the Control of Aids, Prof. John Idoko; and Chief Executive of Nigerian Institute for Medical Research, Prof. Innocent Ujah. The Executive Director of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad; and acting Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme, Mr. Olufemi Akingbade. They were replaced by Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu (NCDC); Dr. Sani Aliyu (NACA); Prof. Babatunde Salako (NIOMR); Prof. Echezona Ezeanolue (NPHCDA); and Prof. Usman Yusuf (NHIS). According to the statement Ihekweazu is the Managing Partner of EpiAfric, a public health consultancy firm that focuses on Africa, while Aliyu is a Consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. Salako is th...

Russia’s eight-strong Olympic Games weightlifting team was banned from the Rio Games on Friday in the latest doping-related blow to the sporting powerhouse. “The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians, therefore an appropriate sanction was applied in order to preserve the status of the sport,” said a statement by the International Weightlifting Federation. AFP

18 year old Kaleb Amponsah (left), has been found guilty of the stabbing to death, 27 year old Ade Afariogun (right) which took place on January 29th this year. On the day of the incident, Ade was in Plaistow Park with three female friends when they noticed Amponsah ride his bike past them on several occasions and staring aggressively at them. As Ade was leaving the park, Amponsah confronted and started an argument with him. A scuffle ensued during which the two exchanged punches. Ade's friend attempted to intervene by pulling Amponsah away but Amponsah produced a large knife from his waistband, ans stabbed Ade in his stomach twice. So brutal was the attack, that Ade received a 12cm injury to his abdomen. He was rushed to Royal London Hospital, but despite the best efforts of medical staff, he died during the early hours of Monday 1 February. Immediately after the incident, Amponsah fled from the scene, leaving Ade bleeding on the ground. In his haste, he left behind his bike and...

The Federal Government has on Friday confirmed the gradual deployment of troops into strategic positions in the Niger Delta region and the possible option of force against members of the new militants engaged in attacks on oil and gas pipelines if the ongoing dialogue between the groups and representatives of the government fail. Just as it unveils its sustained security plan in the region to tackle militancy and other criminal activities with the proposed recruitment of indigenes of oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta into local arm of the Joint Military Task Force, the government disclosed that it was setting up an emergency military brigade team to respond to attacks and engage the militants and trained Amnesty beneficiaries in intelligence gathering in the region. The Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammad Dan-Ali, while speaking in Yenagoa during a call on the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, represented by his Deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (RTD), confirmed that th...

An investigation by SaharaReporters suggests that Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State orchestrated a false and misleading campaign when he recently asserted that his state had earned $5 million by exporting vegetables. Speaking recently in Abuja, Mr. Obiano said his government had boosted agricultural exports and was selling millions worth of vegetables, mostly to Europe. Reports also said that these exports earnings are from pumpkin leaves and bitter leaves. SaharaReporters has found that, as part of Mr. Obiano’s campaign, he used images allegedly from Anambra farms depicting luscious produce, including red tomatoes. The governor’s public relations stunt has been circulating on Internet platforms featuring photos of tomato farms said to be producing “European standard” tomatoes. However, when SaharaReporters reverse-image-searched the photos being circulated by Mr. Obiano’s government, our investigators found that the images were lifted from other websites but deceptively identif...

Premature babies who predominantly receive their nutrition from breastfeeding have higher IQs in later life, than those who do not Premature babies which are breastfed during their first month have higher IQs later in life, research has suggested. The infants have been found to have larger volumes of certain brain regions at term equivalent and have better IQs, academic achievement, working memory and motor function. Research, published in The Journal of Paediatrics, followed 180 premature infants from birth until they turned seven. They identified babies which had received breast milk as more than 50 per cent of their nutritional intake from birth to 28 days of life. This information was subsequently cross referenced with data related to regional brain volumes measured by MRI scans at each baby’s term equivalent age and again at seven years old. They conducted further analysis on cognitive capabilities, including IQ, reading, maths, attention, working memory, language and visual perc...

Swedish police officer Mikaela Kellner pins down a man suspected of stealing a friend's mobile phone AP She was off duty and wearing a bikini but that didn't stop Swedish police officer Mikaela Kellner from catching a suspected thief. A photo of Kellner pinning the suspect to the ground was trending on social media in Sweden this week. "My first intervention while wearing a bikini during my 11 years as a police officer," she wrote on Instagram. Kellner and three friends were sunbathing Wednesday in a Stockholm park, a homeless man selling newspapers approached, she told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. After he left, one friend noticed her phone was missing. Kellner and a fellow police officer gave chase. Kellner said she did not hesitate to make the arrest while wearing a bikini.

There was no immediate confirmation of which party in the conflict was behind the hospital strike but Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces or Russian allies were suspected. Idlib province is almost completely under rebel control, including a strong presence of al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusragroup. It claimed it had split from Osama bin Laden’s terror organisation on Thursday and re-named itself as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of the Levant) in a suspected attempt to garner greater support from moderate rebel groups and international backers. Friday's bombing was the latest in a series of air raids hitting medical facilities in Syria, including others in Idlib province, as well as neighbouring Aleppo. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said it believed suspected Russian air strikes on its hospital in Maarat al-Numan in February were a "deliberate attack". A maternity hospital in Idlib province that was damaged by an air strike on 29 July (Save th...

James Comey said the number of Isis killers traveling to the West is '10 times’ worse than al-Qaeda of the 1980s and 1990s Isis fighters will 'slip through the fingers of the crush' of the counter-Isis coalition, said Mr Comey The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that beating the Islamic State on the battlefield will send hundreds of terrorists out of Syria and Iraq to conduct attacks in the West. Speaking at a cybersecurity conference at Fordham University, James Comey urged the audience not lose focus on what is largely a future threat. “And that is at some point there is going to be a terrorist diaspora out of Syria, like we’ve never seen before,” he said “Not all of Islamic State’s killers are going to die on the battlefield,” he added. His comments come while US airstrikes are battling to take out Isis strongholds in Aleppo and Raqqa, and while about 40,000 displaced Syrian citizens are starting to return to the embattled city of Fallujah. Is...

Manchester United are on the verge of signing Paul Pogba in what will be the most expensive transfer ever seen after an agreement worth £112m was reached with Juventus. After completing the signings of Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan earlier in the transfer window, United manager Jose Mourinho has got his fourth “pivotal” signing that he called when he took the reins at Old Trafford last month. The question now is how will Pogba slot into United’s starting 4-2-3-1 line-up? With a large squad to choose from, Mourinho has a number of selection dilemmas on his hands, although that could be alleviated by the departure of nine fringe players including Bastian Schweinsteiger, as has been suggested. There are also question marks over Wayne Rooney’s role in the team, given the introduction of attacking players like Ibrahimovic and the emergence of Anthony Martial last season. And with a number of players fighting for the wide positions to flank the lead strik...

The father of a Muslim American war hero addressed the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, delivering a brutal takedown of Donald Trump and his inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric. Khizr Khan spoke about the heroism of his son, Army Capt. Humayun S.M. Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq by an advancing vehicle loaded with hundreds of pounds of explosives. The 27-year-old soldier, who was born in the UAE, ordered his unit to halt while he walked toward the vehicle, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. With his wife standing beside him, Khan brought Democratic delegates to their feet by denouncing Trump and his proposed ban on Muslims. “Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son the best of America. If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America,” he said. “Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, and even his own party leadership. Donald Trump loves to build walls and ban us from ...

The Director of National Payments at Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank, Josephat Mutefpa said many, many things (forgive the Trumpism) at their Mobile Money and Digital Payments Conference. During his speech, he talked a bit about how quickly their electronic payments space is growing, and a little Googling tells me their recent cash crisis is the culprit. In the past one year, they’ve gone from 15,908 registered POS terminals (in June 2015), to 16,363 (in December 2015), to 20,000 in June 2016. The cash crunch is literally forcing Zimbabwe out of the past, and I thought you should know about it. It’s pretty decent progress for a country as small as theirs (with an even smaller middle-class). Source – Techzim

Hillary Clinton’s was better, but Trump’s made him look more normal, which he badly needed. Hillary Clinton and Democrats staged a smoother, more powerful convention, but Donald Trump’s convention helped give him the image of a normal candidate. PHILADELPHIA – It was a tale of two swing-state cities. Cleveland, where Republican Donald Trump’s official presidential nomination was marred by a prime-time speaker who refused to endorse him, a plagiarized speech from his wife, and a workmanlike acceptance address that painted a gloomy portrait of America. And Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton became the Democratic nominee in a program that, despite early worries of divisive drama, featured A-list entertainment and soaring, optimistic speeches from the sitting president and vice president. First impressions notwithstanding, it was Trump who likely won. While the four days in Philadelphia brought Clinton the traditional benefits of a nominating convention – especially party unity and...

  In 1968, Hillary Clinton, known at the time as Hillary Rodham, was taking in the excitement of the Republican National Convention in Miami. The young Republican had jumped at the chance to volunteer for Nelson Rockefeller’s last-minute effort to take the nomination from Richard Nixon and attend her first political convention. “The Republican convention was my first inside look at big-time politics, and I found the week unreal and unsettling,” Clinton wrote in her 2003 memoir. The 20-year-old Rodham probably never anticipated that 48 years later, she’d be at another political convention ― this time standing on the stage at the Democratic National Convention, making history as the first woman to ever receive a major party’s presidential nomination. “Tonight, we’ve reached a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president,” Clinton said Thursday night. “Standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my...

Melania Trump’s billowy white dress was perhaps the second-biggest piece of news to come out of her partially plagiarized Republican National Convention speech last week. In fact, people were so enchanted with the former model and fashion designer’s $2,190 off-white Roksanda “Margot” dress that it sold out less than an hour after her speech. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Melania Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) was apparently one of the lucky few people to get her hands on the outfit, and, in what has to go down as one of the sickest political convention burns ever, she wore it to her address at the in complete baller move, Rep. Joyce Beatty wears Melania Trump’s RNC dress at DNC pic.twitter.com/rDouZetx9h — Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) July 29, 2016 While some outlets are treating this like a fashion faux pas , it’s almost too good not to be a deliberate dig at the wife of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who herself t...