*RB Leipzig will resist Liverpool's attempts to get Naby Keita in January*

*RB Leipzig will resist Liverpool's attempts to get Naby Keita in January*

RB Leipzig intend to resist Liverpool's attempts to sign Naby Keita in January.

Liverpool agreed a deal with Leipzig in August of last year worth £66.4m (€75m) for Keita to come to Anfield on July 1, 2018.

Sources have told Sky Germany that Leipzig are reluctant to let Keita go in January, even for an improved fee.

Liverpool have money to spend after selling Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, who completed his move to the Nou Camp on Monday, for a fee understood to be £146m.

Keita had a release clause in his contract at Leipzig which meant he would have been available this summer for £48m but Liverpool paid a premium to secure the player 12 months early, amid interest from Barcelona.

The 22-year-old has made 13 appearances for Leipzig in the Bundesliga this season, scoring twice and adding one assist. Last season, the Guinea international scored eight goals and added seven assists in 31 Bundesliga appearances.

Iran bans English from being taught in primary schools

Iran bans English from being taught in primary schools

Iran has banned teaching the English language in primary schools, calling the subject a "cultural invasion".

The education ministry "envisages strengthening Persian language skills and Iranian Islamic culture of pupils at the primary school stage", its secretary told state media.

English is a foreign language option for many at secondary level, which begins at the age of 12, but its popularity has led to classes being offered by some schools much earlier.

"Teaching of foreign languages has not been recommended by any means" at primary level, Mehdi Navid-Adham, secretary of the Supreme Education Council, told the state-run IRIB news agency.

"These remarks do not mean terminating English language teaching at schools, but the main issue is to know our rival and how precisely the opposite party has made planning to influence the country's future generation," he said.

*Borussia Dortmund bus bombing suspect 'did not intend to kill'*

*Borussia Dortmund bus bombing suspect 'did not intend to kill'*

A man on trial over the bombing of the Borussia Dortmund football team bus last year has admitted he detonated explosives along its route. Sergei W, 28, told a court in Dortmund that he had not intended to kill anyone. He is a German of Russian origin. His full name was not revealed. The attack left a defender, Marc Bartra, with a fractured wrist and a police officer with hearing loss.

Prosecutors believe Sergei W gambled on the team's share price plunging. He has been charged with 28 counts of attempted murder, which he denies. But he told the court: "I deeply regret my behaviour". He went on trial on 21 December.

He had bought more than 26,000 put options on Borussia Dortmund shares, predicting that the share price would plunge after the attack. It is reckoned that if the share price had fallen to one euro, Sergei W could have made a profit of more than 500,000 euros (£443,270; $600,000). Police initially treated the bombing as a suspected terror attack by jihadists. Three bombs packed with metal pins were hidden in a hedge and set off as the bus passed.

*Sydney swelters with near-record high temperature*

*Sydney swelters with near-record high temperature*

Sydney endured its hottest temperature in nearly 80 years on Sunday, Australian meteorologists say. The mercury rose to 47.3 degrees Celsius, or 117.14 Fahrenheit, in the Sydney metropolitan area. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the area was 47.8 Celsius degrees (118.04 Fahrenheit) in 1939, the Bureau of Meteorology for the state of New South Wales (NSW) said.

The agency had predicted that temperatures would soar, tweeting: "Are we forecasting all-time record high temperatures today? No, but it would not surprise if some stations go close."

So, while brutally cold temperatures hit the US, emergency services in Sydney prepared residents on the other side of the equator for dangers of a different sort.

Temperatures cooled slightly on Monday with showers forecast to provide some relief. In the western Sydney suburb of Penrith, where the high of 47.3 degrees Celsius was recorded Sunday, the maximum forecast slipped to 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit).

*Stop Pampering Fulani Herdsmen, Shehu Sani Tells President Buhari*

*Stop Pampering Fulani Herdsmen, Shehu Sani Tells President Buhari*

Shehu Sani, the senator representing Kaduna Senatorial District, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari's administration to stop protecting Fulani herdsmen, saying their murderous attacks on farmers in various parts of the country have eroded the integrity of the government.

Mr. Sani's offered his advice in a press statement issued on Sunday. Titled "Herdsmen and Helmsmen", the statement condemned the repeated horrors visited on farmers by the herdsmen.

”The mass murder in Southern Kaduna, Taraba, Benue, Numan and other affected places are unpardonable and despicable crimes. These killings and bloodletting threaten the peace, stability and unity of our country," Mr. Sani said. He urged helmsmen, an allusion to political leaders, to urgently confront the herdsmen, adding that repeated condolences will not end the bloodshed.

*Kaduna Teachers Begin Indefinite Strike*

*Kaduna Teachers Begin Indefinite Strike*

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUJ) in Kaduna State on Monday commenced an indefinite strike to protest against the sacking of over 21,000 teachers by the state government. The union directed all teachers in the state to remain at home until the state government reverses its decision after the sacked primary school teachers scored below 75 per cent in a competency test conducted for them in June 2017.

The directive was contained in a notice served to NUT members across the state and signed by the union Chairman and Assistant Secretary-General, Audu Amba and Adamu Ango respectively. The NUT explained that the decision to commence the industrial action followed the expiration of the two weeks’ notice it gave to the state government to rescind the decision.

They also criticised the government’s decision to proceed with the sack despite a suit at the National Industrial Court on the matter. However, the state government is not taking the matter with kid gloves as it warned public school teachers not to obey the directive by the union.