Welcome to Sprintgist Blog

 Janet Jackson says she is postponing her Unbreakable tour to have an unspecified surgical procedure. The 49-year-old posted a message on her website and social media sites announcing all future tour dates had been postponed until spring. No new dates were announced. The singer's statement asked for prayers of support and said no further details on her medical condition would be revealed. Jackson had been next scheduled to perform on 9 January in Denver. Her Unbreakable tour has been the Top 20 global concert tour listing compiled by Pollstar. The entertainer's catalogue of hits dates back to the mid-1980s. Among her best known numbers are What Have You Done for Me Lately, That's the Way Love Goes and All for You.

Bieber Beaten By NHS Choir To Christmas No 1 Justin Bieber has been beaten to the UK's official Christmas number one spot by the NHS Choir after he urged his fans to back their charity single. The Lewisham and Greenwich choir said they were "absolutely overwhelmed" that their song, A Bridge Over You, had pipped Bieber's track, Love Yourself. Speaking to Sky News, moments after hearing the news, one of the choir said: "It's a amazing, absolutely amazing - we got to number 1. Two of the choir celebrate their success "We were hopeful, very hopeful, but, this is a dream come true." Their recording had combined chart sales of more than 127,000 copies against the Canadian star's 97,000. Just heard the news. Amazing. That is what Christmas is all about. @Choir_NHS congrats!! Very cool — Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) December 25, 2015 Bieber was quick to congratulate the choir, tweeting: "Just heard the news. Amazing. That is what

At least 32 people were killed and 90 wounded in two bomb explosions in the Syrian city of Homs on Monday, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The blasts, one from a car bomb and another from a suicide attack, struck the Zahra district in the middle of the city, the Britain-based Observatory said. It was the second major attack in the city since a ceasefire deal between warring sides took effect earlier this month, paving the way for the government to take over the last rebel-controlled area of Homs.

David Cameron is likely to face tough questions later as he visits communities affected by unprecedented flooding in the north of England. Thousands of people have been affected as river levels keep rising in York - where entire streets have been submerged. The Prime Minister has promised to "help people in their hour of need" and some 500 soldiers have been drafted in to help. One thousand more are on standby to help in Leeds, Greater Manchester and swathes of Yorkshire and Lancashire which are also affected. Flood warnings and alerts from the Environment Agency The River Ouse is around 5.1m above its normal summer levels but the Environment Agency (EA) said its level has now peaked. The EA has 24 severe flood warnings in place for the North East and three severe flood warnings in place for the North West, meaning there is a danger to life. Video: PM: We'll Do Everything We Can There are almost 200 other flood warnings and alerts in place acros

El Salvador's most-capped football player Alfredo Pacheco has been shot dead at a petrol station, authorities have said. The 33-year-old, who was banned for life for match-fixing in 2013, was with a group of friends chatting in the petrol station when an unknown assailant shot at the group several times. Two friends who were travelling with Pacheco were hurt in the attack, which took place in Santa Ana, 66km west of the capital San Salvador. "The attorney general's office in Santa Ana processed the crime scene of the murder of Alfredo Pacheco at 3.30am in a petrol station," an official said. Pacheco was a defender who played for the Salvadoran clubs Club Deportivo FAS and Asociacion Deportiva Isidro Metapan. He also played for the New York Red Bulls in the US. Pacheco was a national hero until he was banned for match-fixing Pacheco earned 86 caps for his country, making him the player with the most caps for the national squad. But he was banned from

The England international scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season in the weekend win over Norwich and the Spur boss insists he will not be leaving the club any time soon Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino insists striker Harry Kane is not for sale at any price. Kane scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season in Saturday's 3-0 win over Norwich City, becoming the first Tottenham player to score 27 goals or more in a calendar year in the process. Kane's form over the past 12 months has also seen him called up to the England squad, and reportedly prompted interest from a number of elite clubs, including Manchester United and Chelsea

Islamic State has set up departments to handle "war spoils," including slaves, and the exploitation of natural resources such as oil, creating the trappings of government that enable it to manage large swaths of Syria and Iraq and other areas. The hierarchical bureaucracy, including petty rivalries between officials, and legal codes in the form of religious fatwas are detailed in a cache of documents seized by U.S. Special Operations Forces in a May raid in Syria that killed top IS financial official Abu Sayyaf. Reuters has reviewed some of the documents. U.S. officials say the documents have helped deepen their understanding of a militant group whose skill in controlling the territory it has seized has surprised many. They provide insight into how a once small insurgent group has developed a complex bureaucracy to manage revenue streams - from pillaged oil to stolen antiquities - and oversee subjugated populations. "This really kind of brings it out. The level of

President Barack Obama has joked that as his daughters Sasha and Malia grow into their teenage years, they no longer think it is cool to hang out with Dad. That was not the case on Sunday when Sasha, 14, and Malia, 17, joined the president for their annual outing for shave ice, a frosty flavored Hawaiian treat. Returning again to Island Snow, near the home where the first family is vacationing in Hawaii, Obama ordered a cone with melon, cherry and lime syrups. He passed over a flavor the dessert shop had created especially for him: Snowbama. The Snowbama cone is rainbow colored, signifying the strides for gay and lesbian rights made under the Obama presidency. Obama, dressed casually in a White Sox baseball hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeve T-shirt, shook hands with a crowd gathered outside Island Snow before returning to his motorcade.

A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least one person and wounded 13 in an attack on a road near a school close to Kabul airport, officials in the Afghan capital said on Monday, barely two weeks after a major Taliban assault in the city. Police said the target of the bomber appeared to have been a white pickup truck similar to the kind often used by security contractors in Afghanistan. The truck was partially destroyed in the blast. The head of Kabul police, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, said one person had been killed and 13 wounded, including three women. He said the aim of the attack in an overwhelmingly civilian area had been to create fear among Afghans. "Enemies of humanity detonated a suicide car bomb in front of a madrassa where children were learning the Koran and Islamic studies. It shows that they are enemies of mosques, God and the Koran," he said. A minibus was also destroyed by the explosion, which shattered the windows of nearby shops and spread debris across the

Storms hit the U.S. South, Southwest and Midwest over the Christmas holiday weekend, unleashing floods and tornadoes that killed at least 43 people, flattened buildings and snarled transportation for millions during a busy travel time. The bad weather, or the threat of it, prompted the governors of Missouri and New Mexico to declare a state of emergency for their states. Flash floods killed at least 13 people in Missouri and Illinois. In Missouri, emergency workers have evacuated residents from their homes and conducted dozens of water rescues, Governor Jay Nixon said on Sunday. He said at least eight people had been killed and numerous roadways had been closed. Nixon declared a state of emergency, saying continued rains would make already widespread flooding conditions worse. Three adults and two children were near the village of Patoka, Illinois, 85 miles (137 km) east of St. Louis, Missouri, when their car was washed away by floodwaters on Saturday night, according to Ma