MANCHESTER United captain Bruno Fernandes says he will not discuss his future with anyone until after next year’s World Cup. The 31-year-old will make his 300th appearance for United on Saturday, as the club attempt to end a run of three successive home defeats by Brighton. It is an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that Fernandes has missed just 17 games since his £47m move from Sporting in January 2020 – and only three of those were because of injury or illness. The Portuguese rejected a huge offer from Al-Hilal in the summer, then dismissed subsequent interest elsewhere…
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UNITED States top diplomat Marco Rubio says the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) “is not going to play any role” in aid delivery in Gaza, as he also rejected the possibility of Hamas being involved in any future governance of the Strip. Speaking during a news conference while on a visit to Israel on Friday, the US secretary of state claimed UNRWA had become “a subsidiary of Hamas”, echoing an Israeli government line that has been discredited by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In response, UNRWA insisted that its presence “remains vital to meeting urgent humanitarian needs”…
US President Donald Trump leaves on Friday for Asia and high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — as Washington played down speculation that he could meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his trip, aiming for a “deal on everything” to end a bitter trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. The 79-year-old will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first Asian trip since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and geopolitical deal-making. A senior US official…
GUINEANS have reacted with shock after it was announced that presidential candidates would need to pay a deposit of 875m Guinean francs ($100,000; £75,000) to contest December’s election, which should see the military leaders hand power to civilians. Guinea has been under military rule since Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power in a 2021 coup. The elections are being held under a new constitution that allowed Doumbouya to run for the presidency – although he has not announced if he plans to. While the previous deposit was almost as high – 800m francs – some analysts had hoped it would be…
NEARLY two-thirds of South Sudanese children are engaged in the worst forms of child labour, with rates reaching as high as 90 percent in the hardest-hit regions, according to a government study released with the charity Save the Children. The National Child Labour Study, published on Friday, surveyed more than 418 households across seven states and found that 64 percent of children aged between five and 17 are trapped in forced labour, sexual exploitation, theft and conflict. The findings reveal a crisis far more complex than poverty alone, intensified by relentless flooding, the spread of disease, and conflict that have…
MANCHESTER United are open to adding two new midfielders in 2026, talkSPORT understands. Ruben Amorim is seeking more pace and athleticism in the centre of the park at Old Trafford. United also know Kobbie Mainoo’s long-term future is uncertain, while Bruno Fernandes could still be sold next summer. Casemiro’s contract expires this summer, although United have the option to trigger a one-year extension. The Brazilian is highly valued by Amorim, and it remains possible he extends his stay beyond the end of this season despite interest from both Brazilian and Saudi Pro League clubs. United were not quoted any price…
THE hunger crisis in Gaza remains “catastrophic” two weeks after the ceasefire took effect, the UN’s health agency has warned, as international aid groups demanded Israel stop blocking humanitarian deliveries. Supplies entering the besieged enclave are not meeting the nutritional needs of the people living there, aid groups announced Thursday, while the UN’s World Food Programme said that supplies into Gaza were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tonnes because only two crossings into the Palestinian territory are open. “The situation still remains catastrophic because what’s entering is not enough,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of the World…
US President Donald Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the White House said Thursday, accusing Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden of launching an unnecessary “war” against the industry. Binance was created in 2017, and swiftly became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, turning Zhao into a billionaire. Following an investigation into the firm’s operations, Zhao pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money-laundering laws in late 2023 and served a four-month prison sentence for it in 2024. Zhao’s pardon wipes his criminal record and could help pave the way for Binance to return to the United States, around…
GHANA’s former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has died at the age of 76. She was the widow of Ghana’s longest-serving leader, Jerry John Rawlings, who died five years ago. He led two coups before twice being elected president in multiparty polls. Social media is awash with tributes to the former first lady, politician and women’s rights advocate, who Ghanaian presidential spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu said had died after a short illness on Thursday morning. Her family visited President John Mahama in the afternoon to officially notify him of her death. The president leads the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party,…
AT least 40 migrants, including children, have died after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia, in one of the deadliest maritime disasters in the region this year, authorities say. The boat sank off the Mediterranean port of Mahdia in central Tunisia while carrying about 70 migrants, an official said. All the people on board were from sub-Saharan Africa, the official added, without providing further details. This is the latest disaster to hit migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe. Over 210,000 people tried to cross the Central Mediterranean in 2023, according to data shared by…
A LATE goal from France condemned Nigeria to defeat in a Group D clash at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. That loss was the Flamingos’ second in a row in the competition. The game was unevenly matched but an 82nd minute strike from the French girls was enough to give them a 1-0 win against the West Africans in Morocco. Maissa Fathallan scored the only goal for the French following Nigeria’s Elizabeth Boniface’s failure to parry the ball to safety. The ball squirmed through her hands, nailing Nigeria to another loss. That defeat was Nigeria’s first back-to-back opening loss…
ISRAEL has ordered the deportation of 32 foreign activists supporting olive-harvesting Palestinian farmers amid mounting Israeli army and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank two weeks into the harvesting season. Israeli news outlet Israel Hayom reported that the activists were arrested last week near the town of Burin, in the Nablus Governorate, as they protested an Israeli general order stating that only those working on the harvest are allowed on the land during the harvesting period. Israeli army and settlers have carried out 158 attacks against olive pickers since the start of the current season, according to the Colonization…
THE Pakistani navy, operating as part of the Saudi-led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), has seized nearly $1bn worth of narcotics from two vessels sailing through the Arabian Sea. The CMF, the naval network overseeing the operation, said in a statement on Wednesday that last week, the Pakistani navy intercepted the dhows in two separate operations over 48 hours and seized narcotics worth more than $972m. The crew boarded the first dhow and seized more than 2 tonnes of “crystal methamphetamine (ICE) with an estimated street value of $822,400,000” on October 18, the CMF said in a statement. “Less than 48…
FIVE French citizens have died while on a charitable mission in West Africa after their bus crashed off a bridge in Togo, several sources told AFP on Wednesday. Confirming Tuesday’s road accident in the centre of the coastal nation, the Togolese government gave a toll of five dead and eight wounded, without specifying the victims’ nationalities. “The bursting of the front tyre of a minibus” led to a “loss of control” of the vehicle, which then “crashed under the Yomaboua River bridge,” the Togolese statement added. The victims were members of the Lions Club charity en route to open a…
MORE than 20 civilians were killed by armed men on Sunday in Oromia, an Ethiopian region that has been enduring attacks from armed groups for several years, two local civil servants told AFP on Wednesday. Africa’s second most populous country, home to some 130 million people and multiple ethnic groups, is suffering multiple armed conflicts. Oromia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa, has seen clashes since 2018 between federal forces and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) designated a “terrorist organisation” by authorities and peace talks have made no progress. The traditional “self-defence” Fano militia of the Amhara ethnic group which…
THERE is never a bad time for a striker to score, but Viktor Gyokeres’ relief was obvious as he ended a barren run with two goals in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid. It can be the start of a prolific spell, manager Mikel Arteta believes. After three goals in his first four matches, £64m signing Gyokeres failed to find the net in Arsenal’s next seven games and looked visibly frustrated at times. But his team-mates continued to praise his overall impact and Arteta said he gave the striker a hug after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over West Ham on Saturday…
ISRAEL and Hamas have exchanged the remains of more captives, but the Palestinian group says Israel is failing to uphold the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement by refusing to reopen the crucial Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The bodies of two more Israeli captives, one soldier and one civilian, were returned to Israel late on Tuesday, and identified early on Wednesday as those of Aryeh Zalmanovich, 85, and army Master Sergeant Tamir Adar, 38. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had earlier received the bodies in Gaza, in a handover organised by the Qassam Brigades, the armed…
NORTH Korea has fired multiple, short-range ballistic missiles towards waters off its eastern coast, South Korea’s military said, marking its first missile launch in months. The launch of missiles on Wednesday morning comes a week before South Korea hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will see Chinese President Xi Jinping, United States President Donald Trump, and other world leaders gather in the South Korean city of Gyeongju for talks. South Korea’s military said that it “detected several projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles” fired towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan,…
AN Algerian court on Tuesday sentenced opposition figure Fethi Ghares to two years in prison over a Facebook post judged to have insulted President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, his lawyer told AFP. Advertisement Ghares, a secular leftist opposition figure, was sentenced “to two years in prison for remarks concerning the president”, lawyer Abdelghani Badi said. He said the court did not order Ghares’s immediate detention, adding that the defence team will file an appeal. Badi said Ghares, who is not in custody, did not attend the hearing. Lawyer Fetta Sadat, another member of his defence, wrote on Facebook that Ghares was also…
A DRONE attack has hit an area near the international airport in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, a day before it was set to resume domestic flights for the first time since war broke out in 2023. Residents of the city reported hearing explosions in several districts early on Tuesday morning. Social media images – yet to be verified by the BBC – appear to show a series of blasts. There is no information on casualties or damage, and no-one has claimed responsibility. On Monday, Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority had announced the airport would reopen on Wednesday, months after the army recaptured…