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Muhammad Ali, the eloquent, colorful, controversial and brilliant three-time heavyweight boxing champion who was known as much for his social conscience and staunch opposition to the Vietnam War as for his dazzling boxing skills, died Friday. Ali, who had a long battle with Parkinson's disease, was taken to a Phoenix area hospital earlier this week where he was being treated for a respiratory issue. He was 74. Once the most outrageous trash talker in sports, he was largely muted for the last quarter century of his life, quieted by a battle with Parkinson's Disease. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Ky., Ali learned to box after his bicycle was stolen when he was 12 years old. When young Clay vowed to "whoop the behind" of the thief, a local police officer encouraged him to learn to box to channel his energy.

Buhari was due to make his first visit to the Niger Delta—a major oil-producing region in Nigeria—on Thursday to inaugurate a $1 billion initiative to clean up areas affected by oil spills in Ogoniland. But the president abruptly withdrew from the trip on Thursday and will be represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, according to Sahara Reporters. No official reason was given for the cancellation and Newsweek contacted several presidential advisors, none of whom responded to requests for comment.

 BARCELONA (Reuters) - Soccer's five-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messi arrived at a court in Barcelona on Thursday to testify against charges of tax evasion. A few bypassers applauded the arrival of the Argentina and FC Barcelona player while several people shouted at him, but in contrast to when he appeared at a local court in 2013 to give evidence, there were no Barcelona supporters present. Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, entered the court immediately without speaking to reporters. The trial began on Tuesday although Messi missed the first and second day, which he was not obliged to attend, citing a back injury sustained in Argentina's international friendly with Honduras last Friday. Lionel and Jorge Horacio Messi are accused by the Spanish tax office of defrauding the government of 4.2 million euros ($4.7 million) between 2007 and 2009. They could face jail terms of up to 22 months if found guilty, although it is customary in Spain that off

Cristiano Ronaldo is a captivating character in world football, and his exploits in the aftermath of Saturday's Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid have been capturing the world's attention. During Real Madrid's celebrations of their 11th continental crown, the Portuguese star was filmed taking photographs with fans in the disabled section of Milan's San Siro Stadium. And now, according to Spanish journalist Pipi Estrada (via the Irish Independent ), it has emerged that the competition's top scorer this term donated his entire bonus—some €600,000—to charity.

Amid intense speculation over his future, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has reportedly signed a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid. The Polish international had hinted at a move earlier this week, by conceding that given he had won everything on offer after six years in Germany, perhaps a fresh start was needed. Although that was met with a staunch rebuttal from the Bavarian giants, AS have reported that a pre-contract has been signed with Los Blancos. The agreement is believed to be for a contract worth €25m gross per season, with the former Borussia Dortmund hitman set to move to the Spanish capital after the conclusion of Euro 2016, where he will lead the line for Poland. His arrival will force Real to consider their options though, with Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez expected to be sacrificed in order to create space in the squad for the prolific Bayern star. By selling that duo, the club will be confident of having the required funds to finance a mo

The Federal Government has scrapped post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, UTME, as a pre-condition to gaining admission into universities in the country. The government and stakeholders in education sector also pegged 180 as the benchmark for 2016 admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. These decisions were reached  at the 2016 Combined Policy Meeting on Admissions to Universities, Polytechnics and other higher institutions in Nigeria. The Minister of Education , Malam Adamu Adamu,while declaring open   the meeting, said since the federal government and stakeholders had confidence in the examinations conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, there was no need for other examinations to be conducted by universities after JAMB exams. He said:  “As far as I am concerned, the nation has confidence in what JAMB is doing, the universities should not be holding another exa