VAR Makes Its Debut In English Football*

*VAR Makes Its Debut In English Football*

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) made its debut in England, in the FA Cup game between Brighton & Crystal Palace.

Just as it seemed the match was set to finish without using the VAR, Glenn Murray's late winner caused enough doubts for the offiicials to take another look from the new backup technology.

The replays checked for two things: Whether the player was offside and if there was any contact of the ball with the scorer's hand. The replays were inconclusive and so the referee declared that there was no clear reason to disallow the goal.

*SpaceX reportedly lost its mysterious Zuma payload*

*SpaceX reportedly lost its mysterious Zuma payload*

While SpaceX successfully relanded the most recent Falcon 9 it launched -- Elon Musk even tweeted about it -- its top-secret payload apparently met a different fate. According to The Wall Street Journal, Zuma failed to make it to orbit, and authorities believe it has plummeted back into the atmosphere.

No government agency stepped forward to claim the satellite, but industry experts estimate its cost to be billions of dollars. WSJ says the satellite didn't separate from Falcon 9's upper stage as it should have, but Bloomberg reports that it was the rocket's second stage itself that had failed.

Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell noted that space situational awareness service Space-Track catalogued Zuma. Space-Track adding something to its catalogue means that object made it to orbit. However, Navy Captain Brook DeWalt told Bloomberg that the military division has "nothing to add to the satellite catalogue at this time." It's all conflicting reports all around, and unfortunately, both SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, which built the satellite, refuse to talk. "We do not comment on missions of this nature; but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally," the space corporation told Engadget.

*Nigeria's DSS 'arrests Cameroon separatist leader'*

*Nigeria's DSS 'arrests Cameroon separatist leader'*

The leader of Cameroon's separatist movement has been arrested by Nigeria's intelligence agency, a government source has told the BBC. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was arrested on Friday in Abuja for engaging in a clandestine meeting against Cameroonian authorities, the source said. Officially, the Department for State Service has denied making the arrest.

His movement of English-speaking campaigners wants to separate from the French-speaking majority. Mr Tabe was taken from an unnamed hotel around 19:00 by a group of at least 15 armed men in military gear, an eyewitness told the BBC.

His group, the Governing Council of Ambazonia, released a statement demanding the release of their leader who had been based in Nigeria.

*Man United To Face Yeovil in FA Cup 4th Round*

*Man United To Face Yeovil in FA Cup 4th Round*

12-time winners Manchester United will play Yeovil Town the lowest ranked team in the draw, in the 4th round of the FA cup. 7-time winners Liverpool are at home to West Brom.

The FA Cup 4th round will be played over the weekend of January 26-29.

Here are the fixtures:

Liverpool v West Brom

Peterborough v Fleetwood or Leicester

Huddersfield v Birmingham

Notts County v Wolves or Swansea

Yeovil v Manchester Utd

Carlisle or Sheffield Wednesday v Stevenage or Reading

Cardiff or Mansfield v Manchester City

MK Dons v Coventry

Millwall v Rochdale

Southampton v Watford

Middlesbrough v Brighton or Crystal Palace

Bournemouth or Wigan v Shrewsbury or West Ham

Hull v Nottingham Forest

Newport v Tottenham

Norwich or Chelsea v Newcastle

Sheffield Utd v Preston

*A record-breaking 22 women are now serving in US Senate *

*A record-breaking 22 women  are now serving in US Senate *

The number of women currently serving in the US Senate reached a new high of 22 on Wednesday.

Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota was sworn into office at noon following Al Franken's resignation amid allegations that he touched women inappropriately.

Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who defeated Republican Roy Moore in an upset in deep red Alabama last month, was also sworn into office Wednesday by Vice President Mike Pence.

There are 106 women serving in all of Congress, making up just less than 20% of all 535 seats in the House and Senate, according to the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics.

The US stands at 102nd in female representation among the nations tracked by the World Bank -- lower than countries like China, Iraq and Pakistan.

*FG appoints Jega, Okebukola, others to review Nigeria’s varsity system*

*FG appoints Jega, Okebukola, others to review Nigeria’s varsity system*

The Federal Government has appointed former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola; and former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, as part of those to review the university system of Nigeria. The NUC has also stated that it has not rated tertiary institutions in the country for “many years,” dismissing recent rating allegedly by the commission as fake.

The Executive Secretary, NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, made this known in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Monday after he appeared before the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND to defend the 2018 budget proposed by the commission.

He said, “The NUC has constituted a high-powered committee of very credible senior academics. “Most of the members of this small committee are former vice-chancellors, former executive secretaries of the NUC and some had held positions like pro-chancellor, chairman of INEC and minister of education. “We have given them a six-term reference to help us with the re-positioning of Nigeria’s university system.”