Today, Sunday, March 24, marks the celebration of Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It is a day of procession in which the faithful carry branches of palm leaves as a re-enactment of the biblical story in which the crowd greeted Jesus by waving palm branches and covering his path with palm branches. This triumphant entry of Jesus soon marked the beginning of his journey to the cross where he was eventually crucified.

ONE week to this year’s Easter Sunday and still basking in the euphoria of the inauguration of a new Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, Catholics the world over and other orthodox denominations will today celebrate the Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusal-em, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels.

Athletics Federation of Nigeria officials have registered their displeasure at the decision by West African neighbors, Cote’d Ivoire and Ghana to shun the African Youth Athletics Championships, which begin on Mar 27 in Warri, Delta State.

FROM the different approaches into Warri, it was obvious that something extraordinary was in the offing. Large billboards strategically located loudly tell the visitor to the oil city that women were gather-ing there for Daughters of Sarah international conv-ention 2013—an annual spirit-ual fiesta sponsored by the Women Fellowship of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri. It is a time of refreshing and a moment when women from all walks of life renew and sharpen themselves for the task of nation building and home keeping, as well as spiritual empowerment.

In the times of victory, prophets are unnecessary distractions – Trevor Roper
In 2010, the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) met and constituted a committee chaired by a former finance Minister, Adamu Ciroma. The committee had, in its terms of reference, the responsibility of selecting a single candidate out of the contestants then, as a way of charting a formidable political direction for the North.

Military personnel have chased away the gunmen, who laid siege, on Thursday, to the Benin River in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State and hijacked four boats.

•Pick World Cup ticket…
Nigeria’s Under-20 team eased into the semi-final of the African Youth Championship and also booked their place in the FIFA World Cup billed for Turkey with a 3-1 thrashing of Gabon in Oran, Algeria Saturday.

Chinua Achebe, I repeated to the man who informed me. Let me sit down first!
There are issues we cannot handle as human beings – standing on our feet. The news of Achebe’s transition hit me with such reality defying savagery. I needed to gather my bones and senses – into one bowl of recovery.

‘We held on to cylinder for 2 days as fellow passengers went down with ill-fated MV Soni’ …
With the name MV Soni boldly inscribed on its dark body, the ill-fated boat, strung together with wood, set sail for Gabon, at about 9 p.m. on March 15, after it had docked at the Oron quay for over a month to take passengers and complete other travel logistics.

France confirmed Saturday that one of the key leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, had been killed in fighting with French-led forces in northern Mali.

Pope Francis flew in to a papal residence near Rome on Saturday for a meeting with “pope emeritus” Benedict XVI — an unprecedented encounter in the history of the Catholic Church.

The Omomen family of Sobe in Edo State has raised the alarm over their missing member, Mr Abie Omomen, 58, who, they claimed, travelled from Benin-City to Kwoi in Kaduna State on February 20, 2011 but has since not been found.

Two suspected members of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram were killed Saturday when an explosive they tried to throw at policemen at a checkpoint went off in the flashpoint city of Kano, police said.

In his first novel and masterpiece, “Things Fall Apart” (1958), Mr. Achebe, who died on Thursday at 82, did exactly that. In calm and exacting prose, he examined a tribal society fracturing under the abuses of colonialism. The novel has been assigned to generations of American high school and college students — my college dispatched a copy to me before my freshman year.

Kenya’s Harambee Stars, after the first 45minutes is leading the African Champions, Nigeria by a lone goal in a pulsating World Cup qualifying match in Calabar.