Author: Editor

TOTTENHAM manager Antonio Conte said he would “die for this club” until the end of the season but admitted the contract he signed at the start of his tenure was strange. Poor recent results and the looming end of the Italian’s contract have led to mounting speculation that he will soon leave the club. But Conte urged “time and patience” on the eve of his team’s match against Nottingham Forest. “If you ask me now am I ready now to die for this club? Yes,” he said on Friday. “Until the end, I am ready to die for this club.…

IRAN and Saudi Arabia have agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies within two months, according to Iranian and Saudi state media. The agreement was reached on Friday during talks in Beijing. Iranian state media posted images and video of Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, with Saudi national security adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban and Wang Yi, China’s most senior diplomat. “After implementing the decision, the foreign ministers of both nations will meet to prepare for an exchange of ambassadors,” Iranian state television said. In the footage aired by Iranian media, Wang…

FACEBOOK owner Meta is working on a new “text sharing” social media network, it said Friday, in a project seen as a potential rival to embattled Twitter. Since billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October, the platform has suffered outages, layoffs, and seen advertisers flee over the lack of content moderation. But so far no major alternative to Twitter has emerged, leaving global leaders, politicians, celebrities, and companies little choice but to continue to communicate via the platform. Following reports on news websites Platformer and India-based Moneycontrol, Meta confirmed on Friday that it was beginning to work on the…

SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed claims that his new cabinet is bloated and says he is committed to restructuring the government. Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen on Thursday asked President Ramaphosa in parliament if it was fair for ministers to be “living like rock stars” while ordinary citizens suffer. “[They have] 98 mansions worth over a billion rand, free generators, free electricity and high-end luxury vehicles,” Mr Steenhuisen said. “Well, I don’t know about rock stars,” the president responded. Mr Ramaphosa denied the opposition leader’s claims that South Africa had the largest cabinet across the globe,…

MORE than 1,000 Africans trying to reach Europe have been rescued in a single night off Tunisia, the coast guard said Friday, after a wave of violence against black migrants. Last month President Kais Saied ordered officials in the North African country to take “urgent measures” to tackle irregular migration, claiming without evidence that “a criminal plot” was underway to change Tunisia’s demographic makeup. His comments fuelled attacks, evictions, and other retaliation against migrants, international rights groups said Thursday, after West African countries, flew home hundreds of their fearful nationals. Tunisia’s coast guard said in a statement that it had…

THE National Population Commission (NPC) has said that the postponement of the 2023 gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections will affect the conduct of the 2023 Housing and Population Census. Recall that the census which would hold after 17 years was scheduled for March 29 to April A staff member of the commission, who does not want his name in print as the decision is yet to be taken told this newspaper that the exercise would now hold between May 3 to 7. “The census will hold now from May 3 to 7 and it is a recommendation that…

PRESIDENT-Elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has condoled the family and colleagues of the National Welfare Officer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Friday Nwosu, who died Thursday evening in Abuja. Late Nwosu was until his death a leader of the party in Abia State and a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. In a statement by his media office on Friday, Asiwaju Tinubu said Nwosu’s death had left a gaping hole in the party. “I received with shock and grief the news of the sudden death of Chief Nwosu. He was a dedicated party man and…

Man United 4 v Real Betis 1 MANCHESTER United manager Erik ten Hag hailed goalscoring skipper Bruno Fernandes as the star man in his side’s Europa League last-16 first-leg victory against Real Betis. Fernandes had taken the brunt of huge criticism heaped on United following Sunday’s record 7-0 Premier League humiliation at Liverpool. But Ten Hag confirmed in the build-up the Portuguese would remain captain if Harry Maguire was not on the field – and Fernandes repaid that faith with an outstanding contribution to a much-needed win. It included his eighth goal of the season as he headed home Luke…

Sporting Lisbon 2 v Arsenal 2 ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta says his side must “improve massively” if they are to continue winning games after the Gunners were held by Sporting Lisbon in an entertaining Europa League last-16 first leg. France defender William Saliba put the Premier League leaders ahead with a towering header before Sporting took advantage of poor defending to score either side of half-time through Goncalo Inacio and Paulinho. An own goal by the hosts’ Japanese midfielder Hidemasa Morita ensured Arsenal will start on level terms when the teams meet in the return leg at Emirates Stadium next…

MALAYSIA’S former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been charged with abuse of power and money laundering in connection with the awarding of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Muhyiddin, who led the country from March 2020 through the worst of the pandemic, pleaded not guilty to the six charges at a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday morning. The charges were filed after Muhyiddin was questioned by investigators from Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency for a number of hours on Thursday over a government support programme that his government introduced to help building contractors during the coronavirus lockdown. He faces four counts of…

A NUMBER of people have been killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall in the north German city of Hamburg. Police say the gunman acted alone and is thought to be dead. It is unclear if the attacker is among the six or seven fatalities reported by German media. As yet, “there is no reliable information on the motive”, police say. A number of people were also injured in the shooting on Deelböge street in the city’s Gross Borstel district. Police say they found a dead person at the scene who they believe may have been a…

AMNESTY International on Thursday called on Ethiopian authorities to restore access to social media networks including Facebook, TikTok and Youtube as a blockade on some platforms entered its second month. In a statement, Amnesty said the blockade clearly violated rights to freedom of expression and access to information and “further stains the country’s already dismal record on media freedom”. “Amnesty International urges the Ethiopian authorities to lift this blockade without delay and to end this culture of interfering with people’s right to express themselves and to seek and receive information,” said deputy regional director for East and Southern Africa Flavia…

FOURTEEN migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have drowned off the coast of the Tunisian city of Sfax, the coastguard said on Thursday.Fourteen migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have drowned off the coast of the Tunisian city of Sfax, the coastguard said on Thursday. “Coastguard patrols last night intercepted a group whose boat had sunk, rescuing 54 people of various sub-Saharan African nationalities, and recovering 14 bodies,” the authority said in a statement on Facebook. Black migrants in Tunisia have complained of a rising tide of racist violence since President Kais Saied accused them last month of causing a crime wave and representing…

A CHINESE National, Frank Geng-Quangrong, 47, on Thursday, again told a Kano High Court that he never intended to kill his Nigerian girlfriend, Ummukulsum Sani, 22. The defendant, who lives at Railway Quarters Kano is charged with culpable homicide. Frank, led in evidence by defence counsel, Muhammad Dan’azumi, tendered a black mobile phone Redmi, WhatsApp messages, pictures,videos of the deceased and a certificate of compliance dated March 8. “The exhibits include the defendant’s phone, WhatsApp computer generated chats between Frank and Ummukulsum between Sept.13 and Sept.16, 2022. “Other exhibits include pictures, the receipt of the N5 million gold jewelry he…

LAGOS State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has expressed deep shock and sorrow over the early morning accident, on Thursday, involving a train and a Lagos State Government staff bus, which happened between Shogunle and Ikeja, axis of the state. Three persons reportedly died, while over 84 others sustained various degrees of injuries in the accident as confirmed by Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA. In a swift reaction to the unfortunate incident, the Governor, who expressed sadness, registered his sincere condolences to the families of those that lost their lives in the accident, praying that God would grant them eternal rest.…

BAYERN Munich cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League as they condemned Paris St-Germain to another last-16 exit. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting swept home just after the hour mark for the hosts against his former club, with substitute Serge Gnabry adding the gloss to a professional display late on. PSG have now been eliminated from the competition at this stage in five of their previous seven campaigns and this represented another dismal failure for the Ligue 1 leaders and their under-pressure head coach Christophe Galtier. Despite boasting a collection of stars, the Parisians not only failed to score over two…

TOTTENHAM Hotspur’s Champions League campaign ended in bitterly disappointing fashion as they failed to overturn a first-leg deficit in the last 16 against AC Milan. Spurs paid the price for another passive start that allowed Milan to settle into their task – the misery complete when defender Cristian Romero was sent off late on after receiving a second yellow card for a wild challenge on Theo Hernandez. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg tested AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan with a powerful second-half shot and Harry Kane headed wide, but Spurs failed to mount sustained pressure on the Italian defence. A late Kane header…

MANCHESTER United manager Erik ten Hag says captain Bruno Fernandes is an “inspiration to the team” after his attitude was criticised in the 7-0 Premier League defeat by Liverpool. A visibly frustrated Fernandes appeared to push the referee’s assistant in the 81st minute at Anfield. Ten Hag said Portugal midfielder Fernandes will remain captain despite calls for him to lose the armband. “He is playing a brilliant season,” said Ten Hag. “He has played a big role in us being where we are. Everyone makes mistakes and we learn. I have to learn and he will as well. “He is…

A DRONE strike killed four people in government-held eastern Syria on Wednesday in an area controlled by Iran-backed factions, a war monitor said. “Four people were killed and eight wounded in a drone strike near a weapons factory belonging to Iran-backed groups and near a truck loaded with weapons,” Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP. There was no immediate word on who carried out the strike in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor or whether the dead were fighters or civilians. The strike targeted a part of the city that is home to residences…

A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy who shot his teacher in a primary school in the US state of Virginia is unlikely to be charged, a prosecutor has said. But authorities in the city of Newport News have yet to decide if any adult will face criminal charges in the case. Police have said the child brought the gun in his backpack to Richneck Elementary School on 6 January. Abigail Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher, was shot in the hand and chest, but survived. On Wednesday, Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn told NBC News that his office would not seek charges against the…