Papiss Cisse: Newcastle United striker accepts spitting charge

By Saulo Kastuli.

Newcastle United's Papiss Cisse has accepted a Football Association charge of spitting at Manchester United defender Jonny Evans.

The striker, 29, faces a possible seven-game ban for his part in the incident, which happened during Manchester United's 1-0 win at Newcastle on Wednesday.

Evans, 27, has yet to respond to the FA after being charged on Thursday.

However, he has denied deliberately spitting at Cisse.

Senegal international Cisse had earlier issued a statement apologising for his actions. 

After the striker accepted the charge, Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley said: "Both ourselves and Papiss agree that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable.

"When you do something wrong you have to front up, admit your mistakes and accept the punishment. 

"Papiss was proactive this morning in making a full and heartfelt apology, which he did in advance of any notification from the FA regarding this charge.

"This was something he felt strongly about and we fully support him in quickly accepting the charge."

The FA charge read that "in or around the 38th minute of the game the two players spat at each other" and Cisse could receive a ban of up to six matches for the offence after admitting his part in the incident.

He would also have to miss an additional game, having already received a ban this season.

Charnley said Cisse recognised his importance as a role model to young fans and was eager to atone: "He is keen to carry out extra community activities on behalf of the club during his ban."

Evans has until 18:00 GMT on Friday to respond to the FA charge.

What It Means To Be Happy

 By Kimena Noah.
Suppose there were an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired.Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel youwere writing a great novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting book. All the time youwould be floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain. Should you plug into thismachine for life, preprogramming your life experiences? [...] Of course, while in the tank youwon't know that you're there; you'll think that it's all actually happening [...] Would you plugin?"The  above  thought  experiment,  known  as  the  Experience  Machine,  was  presented  by  theAmerican philosopher Robert Nozick (1938-2002). In answer to the question,'would you plugin?', I suspect (although I could be wrong) that you would decline the offer. Yet, why would youdecline? After all,  the experience being offered to you seems to tick all the right boxes: youwould be happy because you would be satisfying your desires,  and,  importantly,  there is animportant element of self-actualisation here for you would be able to fulfil what you consideredto be your potential. You might want to argue that the experience is not real, but you would notknow that whilst experiencing it. The point here is that what we consider the 'good' life, thefulfilled life is something more than just ticking the right boxes; we have to be the agent. TheExperience Machine also raises an important question that I wish to consider here:what does it mean to be happy? What constitutes the fulfilled life? The question itself goes rightback to at least the Greeks, and Aristotle in particular, but is also a concern amongst moderncircles. Consider the quote from the Conservative leaderDavid Cameron:"It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money, and it's time we focused not just onGDP, but on GWB - general well-being. Well-being can't be measured by money or traded inmarkets. It can't be required by law or delivered by government. It's about the beauty of oursurroundings,  the  quality  of  our  culture,  and  above  all  the  strength  of  our  relationships.Improving our society's sense of well-being is, I believe, the central political challenge of ourtime.” (May 2006)It may be unlikely that Cameron knew that in highlighting the importance of wellbeing, he isechoing the words of Aristotle over two thousand years ago. In fact, 'wellbeing' is not a badtranslation  of  what  Aristotle  called  eudaimonia.  Other  suitable  modern translations  use  suchterms as ‘flourishing’ or ‘doing-well’,  whereas the more traditional translation of ‘happiness’suggests  a  transitory state,  and a  feeling or an  emotion rather  than  something far  more  all-encompassing. But this begs the question, is it really possible to experience an all-encompassingsense  of  well-being?  Aristotle  certainly  thought  so  and  it  was  a  primary  concern  of  hisNicomachean Ethics  to determine what makes human life worthwhile. Aristotle is not unlikePlato in adopting the now common philosophical strategy of challenging people’s assumptionsby addressing the ‘common sense’ view of what makes a worthwhile life (in Greek this principleis  known  as  eudoxa,  the  ‘received  opinions’ of  most  people)  and  then  subjecting  them  tophilosophical analysis. The ‘eudoxa’ of the average ancient Greek would not differ from what the‘average  Joe’ in  any street  today  would retort  if  asked  Aristotle  on  What  It  Means  To  Be  HappyRichmond Journal of Philosophy 16 (Winter 2007)the question, ‘What do you aim for in life’? : happiness! However, Aristotle rightly does not treatthe received opinion as meaning simply an emotional state of euphoria,for most people, whenpushed, would seek to define what they mean by happiness and it would soon become evidentthat it is a rich and varied thing. Hence the word ‘happiness’ may not be the most appropriateword, although the most widely used translation of the Greek word eudaimonia.

Al-Nusra Front is considered an affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria.

 By Taraba Baraka

The military chief of Syria's al-Nusra Front militant group has been killed in an air strike, the group has said.

The jihadist group said on social media that three other leaders were killed along with Abu Homam al-Shami.

Syria's state-run news agency said the army had targeted Nusra leaders as they met in northern Idlib province, the Associated Press reported.

The Nusra Front is one of the most powerful groups fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

It was involved in a major attack on the Air Force Intelligence headquarters in Aleppo on Wednesday.

Al-Nusra named the three other leaders killed as Abu Musab Falastini, Abu Omar Kurdi, and Abu Baraa Ansari.

Details of the attack are unclear. However, the official Syrian news agency described it as a "unique operation" carried out by the Syrian army in the al-Habit area.

Other sources quoted by Reuters said the strike had taken place in the town of Salqin, near the Turkish border.

Al-Nusra has emerged as the strongest rebel force around the embattled city of Aleppo.

Earlier on Thursday, fierce clashes took place in Aleppo near the air force facility attacked by Nusra Front rebels on Wednesday.

The Air Force Intelligence headquarters in Aleppo was badly damaged in an attack by the Nusra Front.

Government forces reportedly launched an assault on rebel positions in the west of the city.

Wednesday's attack began with the detonation of a large quantity of explosives in a tunnel under the building.

Nusra Front fighters and other hard-line rebel groups then launched a ground assault but were repelled by government forces.

Twenty soldiers and militiamen and 14 rebels were said to have been killed.

The US lists al-Nusra as a terrorist group and it is under UN Security Council sanctions.

The group has long been considered an affiliate of al-Qaeda, however there have been reports that it is considering cutting those ties to try to secure arms and finance from wealthy Gulf states.

Correspondents says those states, like the West, are looking for allies in the fight against Islamic State as well as against President Assad's forces.

The UN's envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has also hinted that the UN could negotiate with al-Nusra in order to allow the delivery of aid to civilians stranded in Aleppo.

He told the BBC's Lyse Doucet that he was willing to talk to everyone to save lives.

He said there were no talks now with al-Nusra but he hoped they would listen to his appeal, and there was a possibility he would talk to them too.

Nisman family say Argentina prosecutor was murdered

  

By Taraba Baraka

Independent tests show that Argentine special prosecutor Alberto Nisman was murdered, his family says.

 At a news conference, Mr Nisman's ex-wife said the findings ruled out theories of accident or suicide.

Mr Nisman was found dead in his home on 18 January, hours before he was due to testify in Congress against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

He was probing Argentina's deadliest terrorist attack, the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre.

Sandra Arroyo Salgado, Mr Nisman's ex-wife, said a team of experts had made their conclusions based on reports from a post-mortem examination and existing forensic evidence.

Ms Salgado, a federal judge, added that her report was at "the disposal of the prosecutor and judge" involved with the official investigation into Mr Nisman's death.

Despite telling journalists the report's conclusions, Ms Salgado has not released the full details of the document.

Thomas Sankara remains: Burkina Faso orders exhumation

Thomas Sankara was one of Africa's most idealised leaders

 By Taraba Baraka.
The government of Burkina Faso has ordered the exhumation of the remains of Thomas Sankara, the former president who was killed in a 1987 coup.

The move means the remains can be formally identified - a long-standing demand of Mr Sankara's supporters, who wanted proof that the remains were his.

Mr Sankara - seen as Africa's Che Guevara - was hastily buried in a coup led by his successor, Blaise Compaore.

Mr Compaore quit the presidency amid massive street protests last October.

While he was in office, a Burkina Faso court blocked a request by Mr Sankara's family for his remains to be exhumed.

Mr Compaore has always denied being involved in the ex-leader's killing, insisting that the "facts are known" and he has "nothing to hide".