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Eden Hazard believes Lionel Messi's continued brilliance means Chelsea will be able to take little comfort from Neymar no longer playing for Barcelona when the sides meet in the Champions League. "You know, they have a guy who is not from this world," he said. "He's different, a superclass. But this is not about one player, it is about the whole team." Chelsea have suffered a collective slump of late, with Hazard's fine solo goal not enough to stave off a damaging 4-1 loss at Watford last time out. Nevertheless, facing an in-form Barcelona is a prospect that sparks excitement rather than trepidation for the Belgium star.

 Russia will vote in presidential elections next month that Vladimir Putin is certain to win. Consider that statement for a moment. An election implies a contest. So how can the current president, who has already served three terms and wielded power in the Kremlin continuously since 1999, be assured of victory in advance? The answer is that Russia’s is an election in name only. In truth it is a sham and a smokescreen, designed to confer democratic respectability on to a corrupt oligarchy. For Russians accustomed to unaccountable rule from on high, this is nothing new. More surprising is the supine acquiescence, bordering on complicity, of western democracies. Putin will win on 18 March because the system he created, politely known as “managed democracy”, removes all elements of surprise. His most credible challenger, Alexei Navalny (who in any case did not expect to win), has been banned from participation on specious legal grounds.

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber went to church together last night! The 25-year-old “Wolves” singer and the 23-year-old “Sorry” singer were spotted arriving at the same time on Wednesday (February 7) in Beverly Hills, Calif. They were also seen leaving in the same ride. Justin wore a peach-colored hoodie, black pants, and black and white sneakers, while Selena‘s outfit can be seen in full (from earlier that day) here. The duo was joined by Justin‘s pastor Carl Lentz as well.

WhatsApp has begun testing a new payments feature in India that will allow people to send money to other WhatsApp users, excluding merchant accounts. The feature is currently in beta, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans, but hasn’t been publicly announced because it’s not widely available at this time. The company has been working on support for a payments feature for some time, which would take advantage of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and include support by a number of Indian banks, including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank. Beta testers have now found that this functionality is live, with a large list of supported banks displayed in the WhatsApp user interface.

Philippe Coutinho scored his first goal for Barcelona as they secured a 2-0 win over Valencia on Thursday and a 3-0 aggregate victory in their Copa del Rey semi-final. The Brazil international, a €160million signing from Liverpool last month, came off the bench to break the deadlock before Ivan Rakitic sealed the win and kept the Catalans' hopes of a treble alive. Coutinho was perhaps surprisingly left out of the starting line-up in favour of Andre Gomes at Mestalla as head coach Ernesto Valverde named a strong side that included Gerard Pique, who recovered in time from a knee problem. Valencia had lost their last three matches in a row but looked the more dangerous in the first half, with Rodrigo Moreno powering their best chance off the underside of the crossbar. Coutinho's half-time introduction changed the course of the game, though, the midfielder sweeping home a cross from fellow former Liverpool man Luis Suarez, who also set up his first goal for the Premier Leag...

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has taken a swipe at the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, over the recent killings in the state. Mr Idris had appeared before a Senate Committee on Friday to brief the lawmakers on the progress made in the effort to end the crisis between herders and farmers in Benue. It was, however, reported that the police boss allegedly blamed the recent killings by suspected herdsmen on the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law enacted by the state government. In his reaction Governor Ortom condemned the alleged comments by the IGP, saying they indicated complicity in the act and an abdication of responsibility to protect the citizens and maintain law and order. In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary Terver Akase on Saturday, the governor noted that the alleged statement by Mr Idris was out of place, given the fact that the anti-open grazing law was only a fallout of the continued attacks on farming communities in...