BRUNO Fernandes ran the show for Portugal as they romped to a record 9-0 win over Luxembourg on Monday without suspended talisman and all-time top goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo. Roberto Martinez’s side have now won all six of their qualifying games, without conceding a single goal and scoring 24 themselves, with this the country’s largest ever victory. Portugal lead the Group J standings, five points clear of Slovakia in second place, whom they beat in Bratislava on Friday. Luxembourg are third, three points behind Slovakia. Manchester United playmaker Fernandes, who scored Portugal’s winner against Slovakia, laid on three goals as the…
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THE United States on Monday described Russian President Vladimir Putin as desperate over the Ukraine conflict in a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and renewed warnings that any arms deal could trigger US sanctions. “Having to travel across the length of his own country to meet with an international pariah to ask for assistance in a war that he expected to win in the opening month, I would characterize it as him begging for assistance,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “President Putin launched this war against Ukraine, with its full-scale aggression, with a dream of…
DONALD Trump has asked the judge overseeing his federal election meddling case to step aside due to previous statements she made in court. He said in a legal filing some past comments create a perception of bias against the former president. The request for a recusal was filed to Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday. She is overseeing the case being brought by special counsel Jack Smith, who accuses Mr Trump of a conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The former president said last month that he planned to petition Judge…
TAYEB ait Ighenbaz was forced to choose whether to save his 11-year-old son or his parents when they became trapped under rubble after Morocco’s earthquake struck. The goat herder from a tiny community in the Atlas Mountains says he is haunted by the decision he had to make. Tayeb was with his wife, two children and parents on Friday night in their small stone home when it was rocked by the country’s biggest earthquake in 60 years. He leads me to his former home, which now lies in ruins. You can still see partially inside the building and he points…
ZIMBABWE’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been accused of nepotism after naming his son to a new cabinet following his controversial re-election last month. Mr Mnangagwa on Monday named his son, David Kudakwashe, as deputy finance minister as part of the parliament’s youth quota. He also appointed his nephew, Tongai Mnangagwa, the deputy tourism minister, local media reported. Mthuli Ncube, an ex-banker, was retained as the finance minister while the ruling Zanu-PF party’s national chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri was re-appointed as the defence minister. Outspoken main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) lawmaker Fadzayi Mahere termed the new cabinet “indefensible”, and accused…
THOUSANDS of people are feared dead after a powerful storm triggered devastating flooding in Libya. The leader of the east Libyan government, which is not recognised internationally, said deaths exceeded 2,000 and thousands were missing. Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist, told the BBC the death toll could reach as many as “several thousand” people. Storm Daniel made landfall on Sunday, prompting authorities to declare a state of extreme emergency. Seven Libyan army personnel went missing during ongoing rescue efforts. Officials in the east imposed a curfew, while schools and shops were ordered to close The eastern cities of Benghazi, Sousse,…
THE National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal, on Monday, sacked the son of Prof. Jerry Gana, Rep Joshua Gana, from the House of Representatives. This newspaper reports that Rep Gana was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Edati/Lavun/Mokwa Federal Constituency of Niger State in the Feb. 25 general elections. Gana, who won the election with 47,942 votes as against 40,003 votes scored by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Abdullahi Usman Gbatamagi, was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Dissatisfied with the declaration, the APC…
PAUL Pogba is facing a ban of up to four years after allegedly testing positive for testosterone, according to reports in Italy. The France midfielder, whose return to Juventus from Manchester United in July 2022 had already turned into a nightmare before this development, is reported to have tested positive after his club’s Serie A fixture against Udinese on August 20, a game in which he did not play. According to reports, Pogba is set to be suspended on an initial precautionary basis and has three days to request a B sample. The maximum suspension in such cases is four…
THREE more countries sealed their places at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on Saturday as Mozambique secured qualification with a dramatic 95th-minute winner. Mauritania and the Democratic Republic of Congo also booked a spot at next year’s finals, but there was disappointment for striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his Gabon side missed out. Three places are still to be resolved for Afcon which kicks off in Ivory Coast on 13 January. Mozambique ensured their return to the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2010 thanks to a late 3-2 win over Benin in Maputo in Group…
GERMANY have sacked coach Hansi Flick just nine months from hosting Euro 2024 after Saturday’s humiliating 4-1 defeat by Japan, the German FA (DFB) announced on Sunday. Flick became the first and only Germany head coach to be sacked since the position was created in 1926. Sporting director Rudi Voeller, who coached the side to a 2002 World Cup final against Brazil, will take over on an interim basis, with a successor to be announced at a later date. German FA boss Bernd Neuendorf said the sacking was “unavoidable” after the team’s recent run of “disappointing” results. In a statement,…
PRESIDENT Joe Biden has denied that the US is attempting to stem China’s international influence, after signing a new historic deal with Vietnam. More than 50 years since the last American soldier left Vietnam, Mr Biden travelled to Hanoi to sign the agreement that will bring the former foes closer than ever before. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam is a major relationship upgrade for the US. It is the culmination of a relentless push by Washington over the last two years to strengthen ties with Vietnam, which it sees as key to counter China’s influence in Asia. It is…
TWO foreign aid volunteers have been killed and two others injured in a Russian missile attack in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has said. Emma Igual, the Spanish director of Road to Relief, and Anthony Ihnat, a Canadian colleague, died on Saturday as their vehicle drove towards Bakhmut. The NGO said that German volunteer Ruben Mawick and Johan Mathias Thyr, a Swede, were badly injured by shrapnel. The group said the vehicle suffered a “direct hit”, flipped and caught fire. The aid workers had left from Slovyansk and were headed to the Bakhmut area to assess the needs of civilians “caught in…
ANNUAL inflation in Egypt hit 39.7 percent in August, official figures showed Sunday, an all-time high as the Arab world’s most populous country grapples with a punishing economic crisis. It comes after a previous record of 38.2 percent in July and amid an unrelenting downturn that has seen the currency shed half its value against the US dollar since early last year. Food and drink prices alone rose 71.9 percent year-on-year, said the state statistics agency CAPMAS. The economic crisis in the import-dependent country was catalysed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, which destabilised crucial food supplies and unsettled…
USING heavy equipment and even their bare hands, rescuers in Morocco on Sunday stepped up efforts to find survivors of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 2,100 people and flattened villages. The first foreign rescuers flew in to help after the North African country’s strongest-ever quake killed at least 2,122 people and injured more than 2,400, many seriously, according to official figures updated late on Sunday. Friday’s 6.8-magnitude quake struck 72 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of the tourist hub of Marrakesh, wiping out entire villages in the hills of the Atlas mountains. On Sunday an aftershock of magnitude 4.5…
NIGER’s military has accused France of gathering forces and equipment in several West African countries with a view to launch a “military intervention” against Niamey. Colonel Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for Niger’s coup leaders, made the claim on national television late on Saturday. He said France was continuing to deploy its forces in member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as “part of preparations for an aggression against Niger, which it is planning in collaboration with this community organisation”. French “military cargo aircraft have enabled large quantities of war material and equipment to be unloaded in…
SEAN Strickland defeated Isreal Adeanya to become the new UFC middleweight champion of the world with all judges scoring the fight in his favour at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. A first-round knock down by the American was the highlight of the fight that went the whole five rounds. All three judges scored the fight 49-46 for the American and new middleweight world champion, Strickland. He did it with nonstop pressure and steady, upright boxing never once attempting a grapple. It is back to the drawing board for the Nigerian-born fighter Adesanya as he was on the back…
JAPAN humiliated Euro 2024 hosts Germany 4-1 in a friendly international on Saturday, piling the pressure on struggling coach Hansi Flick. Japan, who also contributed to Germany’s group stage exit at the World Cup with a 2-1 win in Qatar last year, scored twice in each half. The defeat raises more questions over Flick’s future, nine months out from Germany hosting the European Championships. Junya Ito and Ayase Ueda scored either side of a Leroy Sane strike in the first half, Japan taking a 2-1 lead into halftime as the home fans jeered the home side. Germany continued their limp…
G20 leaders decried the use of force in Ukraine for territorial gain in a summit statement on Saturday, without naming Russia. Referencing the “war in Ukraine”, the document said that “all states” should “refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state”. There was no explicit reference to Russia, unlike in a G20 statement in Bali last year that cited a UN resolution condemning “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine”. Nonetheless US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan welcomed the…
A GEORGIA special grand jury recommended charging one current and two former US senators and 18 other allies of ex-President Donald Trump, a newly released report says. But prosecutors decided not to indict them for alleged efforts to reverse the 2020 election results in the state. The jury had voted to recommend indictments against Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and former Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The full report was released on Friday. The document, much of which was previously under seal, offers the clearest picture yet of the secret jury’s thinking as they investigated whether Mr Trump and his…
THE death toll from a powerful earthquake in Morocco has soared to more than 2,000, with a similar number of injured. The interior ministry says more than 1,400 have serious injuries, and the heaviest casualties are in provinces just south of Marrakesh. King Mohammed VI declared three days of national mourning and ordered shelter, food and other help for survivors. Many people are spending a second night out in the open. The magnitude 6.8 quake hit Marrakesh and many towns on Friday night. In remote mountain areas, entire villages are reported to have been flattened. The epicentre was in the…