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Fuel scarcity may spread across Nigeria from Monday as oil workers brace for showdown with the Federal Government over various unresolved labour issues. Authoritative sources told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday that the oil workers, under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association [PENGASSAN] and their counterparts in the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers [NUPENG], are set to commence nationwide strike today. Continue...

Croydon boy Ben Haenow has been named this year's X Factor winner after going head to head with Fleur East in the 2014 final at Wembley Arena. The contestants, who were both mentored by Simon Cowell in the over-25s group, sang two songs in fro The winner was chosen by the public, with 10 million voting on the night. "This what you've waited for for 12 years," Cowell told Haenow. "This is what turning into a star feels like." "You deserved it, you're a great guy. This is your moment." Continue...

Sierra Leone has banned public celebrations over Christmas and the New Year, because of the Ebola crisis. Soldiers are to be deployed on the streets throughout the festive period to keep people indoors, officials say. Christmas is widely celebrated in Sierra Leone, even though Islam is the largest religion. Sierra Leone has the most cases of Ebola in the current outbreak. Some 6,580 have died, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Continue....

The president of Sudan has claimed victory over the International Criminal Court after it ended its probe into allegations of war crimes in Darfur. The ICC charged Omar al-Bashir in 2009 for crimes in the region dating back to 2003, but he refused to recognise the authority of the court in The Hague. Continue...