KAI Havertz sent Arsenal to the top of the Premier League as the German’s last-gasp goal clinched a hard-fought 1-0 win at Brentford on Saturday. Havertz was a Champions League final hero for Chelsea in 2021, but he has endured a torrid time since crossing London to join Arsenal in the close-season. The 24-year-old midfielder finally gave a glimpse of why Mikel Arteta splashed out £65 million ($80 million) to sign him when he headed home in the closing minutes. Havertz’s second goal for Arsenal was his first in his last 10 appearances, moving his team one point clear of…
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A SECOND group of Israeli hostages left Hamas captivity on Saturday, after hours of delay had increased the anxiety of desperate families. The Israeli military said 13 Israelis were released in Gaza and in exchange 39 more Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel in the West Bank. Hamas also released four Thai hostages. The first releases took place smoothly on Friday, under a temporary four-day truce deal brokered by Qatar. Urgent talks saved Saturday’s handover. The Israelis had been expected to be handed over to the Red Cross on Gaza’s border with Egypt at 16:00 (14:00 GMT). The Hamas armed…
DEREK Chauvin, the US police officer whose murder of George Floyd sparked massive racial justice protests in 2020, was stabbed in prison on Friday, the New York Times reported citing unnamed sources. Chauvin knelt on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes on a Minneapolis street despite the dying man’s pleas. Floyd’s cries of “I can’t breathe” were a rallying call for demonstrators domestically and abroad who took to the streets in the killing’s aftermath. The US Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed an assault to AFP without naming the person wounded. “An incarcerated individual was assaulted at…
CHAD’s military-led government has issued an amnesty to security forces responsible for killing at least 50 opposition protestors. In 2022 people took to the streets to oppose interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno extending his rule. The authorities responded with a brutal crackdown which officials say left 50 people dead on what has been called “Black Thursday”. Human rights groups put the number of dead much higher, at more than 300. Over 600 people were arrested, including 83 minors and sentenced in mass trials. The amnesty is part of a deal signed with opposition leader Succès Masra to foster national…
MADAGASCAR President Andry Rajoelina has won re-election in the first round of a ballot boycotted by nearly all opposition candidates in the Indian Ocean island nation, the election commission said Saturday. Rajoelina won 58.95 percent of the votes cast in the November 16 presidential election, according to the results presented by the poll body which need to be validated by the Constitutional Court. Turnout was just over 46 percent, down on the previous presidential election in 2018, which the election commission blamed on “ambient political climate” and “manipulation of opinion”. “The Malagasy people have chosen the path of continuity and…
FRENCH police on Friday detained Algerian international Youcef Atal, who plays for Ligue 1 football side Nice, in a probe into suspected “justification of terrorism” after he published a social media pro-palestine post on the Israel-Hamas war, prosecutors said. Last month the 27-year-old defender was banned for seven matches over the post, which he quickly deleted and subsequently issued an apology. The public prosecutor in Nice opened a probe following a request from the local prefect and mayor of Nice. Prosecutors later said that Atal will face trial for incitement to religious hatred on December 18 at the Nice criminal…
PEP Guardiola says he would stay at Manchester City even if the club are found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules and relegated to third-tier League One as a punishment. City’s fate has been brought back into sharp focus following Everton’s 10-point deduction last week, which plunged them into the relegation zone. The Toffees were docked 10 points for breaking rules over a three-year period, while City are awaiting a ruling after being charged in February with 115 breaches of financial rules. The club denies all the charges. City were banned for two years from UEFA competitions in February…
THE families of at least 50 civilians held hostage in Gaza are awaiting the return of loved ones under a truce deal which will see Israel release 150 Palestinian prisoners. Israel is typically forced to release large numbers of prisoners in order to obtain the release of its nationals. Here are the five previous biggest prisoner swaps between Israel and Palestinian or Lebanese freedom-fighting groups. 1983: Pact with PLO On November 23, 1983, Israel freed around 4,500 prisoners, mostly Palestinians, in return for six Israeli soldiers captured by the Palestine Liberation Organization during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon the previous year.…
FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday “vigorously” denied any wrongdoing as he appealed a one-year jail sentence for illegal campaign financing. Sarkozy has faced a litany of legal problems since his sole term in office from 2007 until 2012 and has been charged separately with corruption, bribery, influence-peddling as well as breaking campaign financing laws. “I vigorously deny any criminal responsibility,” the 68-year-old said at the Paris Court of Appeal. “I deny, and I hope to demonstrate, that I ever had any knowledge of fraud, that I ever asked for fraud or even benefited from fraud,” he said at…
FORMER Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius is to be freed from jail on parole, nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He shot her multiple times through a bathroom door on Valentine’s Day in 2013, later claiming he mistook her for a burglar at their Pretoria home. Pistorius, now 37, was sentenced by a South African court in 2016 to serve 13 years and five months in prison. The parole board has set his release for 5 January 2024. Once released, Pistorius will be monitored by the authorities until his sentence officially expires “just like all other parolees”, the…
AN elephant in Kenya has given birth to a set of twins, a conservation group said on Friday, a rare event for the planet’s largest land mammals. Save the Elephants said that the twins, both female, were born in the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya to a mother named Alto, describing it as “double joy”. Twins make up only about one percent of elephant births, although another pair — one male and one female — were born in the same reserve in early 2022. A video posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Save the Elephants, showed the baby elephants…
SPANISH prosecutors are seeking a nine-year jail term for former Brazil star Dani Alves who is accused of raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022. Prosecutors have also demanded the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain full-back, who has been in jail in Spain since his arrest in January, pay his alleged victim 150,000 euros ($163,500) in compensation, according to a copy of his indictment seen by AFP on Thursday. A date for his trial had not yet been set. The 40-year-old has maintained that he had consensual sex with his accuser. “I have a really clear…
A FOUR-DAY pause in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza will begin this morning and an exchange of hostages will follow hours later, the mediator, Qatar, has confirmed. The ceasefire deal, facilitated by Qatar with help of Egypt and the United States, was due to take effect Thursday, but was delayed after a last-minute hitch. The ceasefire deal followed weeks of war in the Gaza Strip after Hamas fighters broke through the militarised Gaza border with Israel on October 7 in an attack. Israeli airstrikes and ground invasions had since then reportedly killed over 14,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and…
RAP mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is being sued by a woman who says he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1991. In a lawsuit seen by the BBC, the plaintiff says the assault took place during a date with the rapper. Mr Combs recently settled a sexual assault suit brought by R&B singer and former partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. A representative for the rapper called the latest allegations “made up and not credible”. “This is purely a money grab and nothing more,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC on Thursday. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff, Joi Dickerson-Neal,…
NIGER’s military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani on Thursday arrived in Mali to meet his counterpart Colonel Assimi Goita in his first international visit since seizing power in July, an AFP journalist noted. Niger’s neighbours, Mali and Burkina Faso — which are ruled by military leaders who seized power in 2020 and 2022, respectively — have pledged solidarity to Niger’s coup leaders. The three Sahel countries in September signed a pact that includes provisions for mutual defence in the event of an attack on the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of any of the countries. They also plan to strengthen economic ties.…
KENYA’s President William Ruto said Thursday that his government was ready to privatise 35 state companies “trapped in government bureaucracy” in a bid to boost productivity following a change to laws. His government last month signed a revised privatisation bill into law that makes it easier to sell state enterprises to private companies. The revised law aims to push up the private sector’s participation in the economy, the presidency said at the time of the signing. “We have identified the first 35 companies that we are going to offer to the private sector,” Ruto told a gathering of African stock…
NIGER United stretched their lead at the top of the men’s table to 5 points as the 2023 Ardova Premier Handball League reached its title-deciding stage in Lagos. Niger United survived a late fightback from the Safety Shooters to secure a 26-23 win and stayed at the summit with 51 points. Niger United coach Yekini Adebayo commended his team for the victory, stating that it is a pointer that the Minna-based outfit is ready to emerge as champions for the second time at the end of the season. He said, “It was a win that came at the end of…
A GHANAIAN Lawmaker Isaac Adongo has apologised to Manchester United defender Harry Maguire after mocking him last year. Adongo, while addressing the country’s national assembly, on the budget, described Ghana’s vice-president Mahamudu Bawumia as enjoying scoring – political “own goals” in much the same manner as the 30-year-old player. The criticism had come after a torrid season for Maguire, who has fallen down the pecking order during Erik ten Hag’s start as the Red Devils head coach. The England manager Gareth Southgate had come to the defence of Maguire insisting the criticism was a joke He said, “I’ve never known…
ACTRESS Melissa Barrera has been fired from the next Scream film sequel after its makers said her pro-Palestinian social media posts were antisemitic. The star has posted regularly about the Israel-Gaza conflict, including resharing one post that accused Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing”. Production company Spyglass said it had “zero tolerance for antisemitism”. Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon has been dropped by her Hollywood agency after speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally. Neither Sarandon, who starred in Thelma & Louise, nor Mexican actress Barrera have commented on their situations. However, before her departure was announced, Barrera reshared a quote from another account…
AT least one person was killed and tens of thousands were forced to flee their homes after heavy downpours triggered flooding across the central Philippines, authorities said Wednesday. Rescuers used inflatable boats and ropes to reach people stranded in their houses in Northern Samar, one of the hardest hit provinces, where villages and towns have been inundated after a week of rain. The provincial capital Catarman received more than a month’s rainfall in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, with muddy water turning streets into rivers and flooding shopping malls, houses and commercial buildings. “The monthly rainfall in Catarman is…