Author: Editor

MANCHESTER United, under the stewardship of Ruben Amorim, are intensifying their search for midfield reinforcements as the January 2026 transfer window approaches, with a Sporting CP star high on the shortlist, TEAMtalk understands. The Portuguese manager, renowned for his high-pressing, dynamic system, has pinpointed the engine room as a critical area to bolster a squad aiming to reclaim its place among the Premier League elite. With the directors steering recruitment, United are pursuing a blend of youth, experience, and tactical fit, with Sporting Lisbon’s Morten Hjulmand emerging as a prime target. Sources indicate that Hjulmand, a 26-year-old Danish midfielder, is…

ISRAEL has continued its air strikes and shootings in Gaza, raising fears over the future of its fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas, as United States envoys ramp up diplomacy to get the deal back on track. The Palestinian Civil Defence agency said that four people were killed in two separate attacks, both times “by Israeli gunfire as they were returning to check on their homes” in the al-Shaaf area, east of Tuffah neighbourhood, in eastern Gaza City. Israel’s military claimed it had fired at militants who crossed the so-called yellow line of demarcation and had approached troops in the Shujayea…

THE agency responsible for safeguarding the US nuclear stockpile began placing most staff on enforced leave Monday, US media reported, as the government shutdown dragged into a fourth week. Some 1,400 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were due to receive notices telling them they had been placed on unpaid “furlough,” CNN reported, leaving just 375 at their posts. “Since its creation in 2000, NNSA has never before furloughed federal workers during funding lapses,” Energy Department spokesman Ben Dietderich told CNN. “We are left with no choice this time. We’ve extended funding as long as we could.” The…

MADAGASCAR’s new head of state on Monday named a civilian prime minister, following a military takeover last week that sent ex-president Andry Rajoelina fleeing. Army colonel Michael Randrianirina, who announced Tuesday that the military had taken power after Rajoelina was impeached for desertion of duty following weeks of protests, was sworn in as president Friday. Randrianirina promised sweeping change and new elections in the poverty-stricken island nation, where anger over chronic power cuts sparked the demonstrations last month that swiftly escalated into a mass anti-government movement. Following consultations with the national assembly, Randrianirina chose Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, a figure of the…

CAMEROON’s influential Catholic Church has called for calm, as fears grow that violence could erupt once official results from the presidential election are declared. Opposition candidate and ex-government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself the winner of the 12 October election, saying he defeated 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who is seeking to extend his 43 year-rule by seven more years. Tchiroma’s declaration was criticized by both the government and Biya’s ruling party, with several officials describing it as illegal. Cameroon’s Constitutional Council has not yet released the final results. They have until 27 October to declare the winner. Tchiroma’s…

HARRY Maguire’s late header secured Manchester United’s first win at Anfield in nearly a decade and inflicted Liverpool’s fourth successive defeat. Cody Gakpo’s strike with 12 minutes left looked it would end Liverpool’s losing streak, only for Maguire to head beyond Liverpool keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili six minutes from time. Gakpo scored from close range after earlier hitting the woodwork three times, but Ruben Amorim’s side continued to press forward, with Maguire providing a dramatic finale. United stunned Liverpool by taking the lead inside two minutes, although it was a moment shrouded in controversy, referee Michael Oliver letting the play go…

ISRAEL’s military has launched a wave of air strikes on southern Gaza as the fragile United States-brokered ceasefire intended to end the two-year war comes under threat. The Israeli army said on Sunday that it was conducting a “massive and extensive wave” of strikes on dozens of targets, just hours after it struck the city of Rafah. It claimed its troops had come under fire from Hamas fighters in the area, a charge the Palestinian group denied. An Israeli security official also told news agencies that the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza would be halted “until further notice” after…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron promised that the thieves who raided the Louvre in Paris Sunday morning would be caught and the items they stole recovered. “Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor’s office,” he said in a statement on social media. Eight “priceless” items of jewellery were stolen, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise, the culture ministry said earlier. Thieves raided Paris’s Louvre museum in broad daylight Sunday, taking just seven minutes to grab some of France’s priceless crown jewels, but dropping a gem-encrusted crown as…

FORMER Kenyan prime minister and revered long-time opposition leader Raila Odinga was buried in the west of the country after a service attended by thousands on Sunday. “Now finally Baba is home,” his son, Raila Odinga junior, said beside his father’s casket, draped in the Kenyan flag. The burial concluded days of memorials that at times led to chaos, with at least five mourners dying at other events and dozens injured at a public viewing on Saturday. Odinga died on Wednesday aged 80 in an Indian hospital. He became prime minister after the bloody and disputed 2007 election, and was…

A FRENCH uranium mining company accused of partial responsibility for jihadists abducting some of its employees in the Niger Republic in 2010 is to be tried, sources following the case told AFP. Nuclear energy giant Areva, whose activities have since been taken over by Orano, has been accused of underestimating the threat of the Al-Qaeda jihadist group in the northern area of Niger, where it was mining. In 2010, armed men abducted seven Areva employees, five French nationals, a Togolese, and a Madagascan — in Arlit in northern Niger. One of the French captives, Francoise Larribe, was released five months…

LEANDRO Trossard’s second-half goal was enough for Arsenal to overcome a stubborn Fulham and move three points clear at the top of the Premier League. Mikel Arteta came into the match without captain Martin Odegaard and named Eberechi Eze in his place as the manager looked to make the most of the attacking talent at his disposal. However, it was the home side who started brightest and Fulham went close through Harry Wilson and Josh King, who had an effort tipped over the bar by David Raya. Arsenal grew into the game and Riccardo Calafiori had an excellently worked goal…

ISRAELI forces have killed 11 members of a Palestinian family in Gaza, the deadliest single violation of the fragile ceasefire since it took effect eight days ago. The attack happened on Friday evening when a tank shell was fired by Israeli forces at a civilian vehicle carrying the Abu Shaaban family in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to Gaza’s civil defence. Seven children and three women were among those killed when the Israeli military fired on the vehicle as the family attempted to reach their home to inspect it, civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a statement.…

HUGE crowds are expected to hit the streets Saturday from New York to San Francisco to vent their anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies at nationwide “No Kings” protests slammed by Republicans as “Hate America” rallies. More than 2,700 demonstrations are planned coast to coast, from big cities to small towns, and even near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is spending the weekend. Organisers say they are expecting millions to attend. Those numbers would match the massive turnout at similar events on June 14, Trump’s birthday and the day of a giant military parade in the US…

ZIMBABWE’s governing ZANU-PF has said it will begin a process to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term by two years, potentially keeping him in power until 2030. The plan was endorsed on Saturday at the movement’s annual conference in the eastern city of Mutare, where delegates instructed the government to begin drafting legislation to amend the Constitution, Justice Minister and ZANU-PF legal secretary Ziyambi Ziyambi said. Mnangagwa, 83, is constitutionally required to leave office in 2028 after serving two elected terms. Any change would require a constitutional amendment – and potentially referendums – legal experts say. Delegates erupted in applause after…

LIBERIA’s Education Ministry has blocked controversial plans to introduce mandatory drug testing in all of the country’s schools. Speaking to local media, the interim head of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), Fitzgerald Biago, said school testing would help address the growing problem of drug abuse. The announcement sparked a mixed response. Some thought it would help tackle the scourge of drugs, while others saw it as an invasion of privacy, or feared it would cost too much. Last year, President Joseph Boakai declared drug and substance abuse a national emergency and a recent EU-backed report estimated that one in…

A WEEK into the ceasefire, Israel has continued to seal Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt despite repeated international calls to allow in large-scale aid deliveries. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks killed and wounded several Palestinians in northern Gaza. For several days, the United Nations has warned that there has been little progress in aid deliveries into Gaza and that assistance must enter at scale through all border crossings to meet urgent humanitarian needs. Under the deal to end Israel’s genocide, which has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in two years, Israel was to allow for a surge in aid deliveries. The UN…

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States carried out another strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea this week, further escalating tensions with nearby Venezuela. In an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, Trump made his first statements about the attack, when confronted with media reports about survivors. “We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” Trump said, without offering evidence about what kind of vessel it was or what it was transporting. “This was not an innocent group of people.…

A JUDGE on Friday ordered the release on bail of Hannibal Kadhafi, son of deposed Libyan ruler Moamer Kadhafi, after nearly a decade of pre-trial detention in Lebanon, a judicial official said. Lebanese authorities arrested Kadhafi in 2015 and accused him of withholding information about the disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Mussa Sadr in Libya in 1978. Kadhafi, now 49 according to his lawyer, was around two years old at the time of Sadr’s disappearance. After questioning Kadhafi on Friday, the judge ordered his release “on $11 million bail and banned him from travel,” the judicial official told AFP, requesting…

COLONEL Michael Randrianirina has been sworn in as the new president of Madagascar days after a military takeover on the Indian Ocean nation. He swapped his fatigues for a suit and thanked the young people who took to the streets for weeks of protests that prompted President Andry Rajoelina to flee the country and led to his impeachment. The ceremony took place at the Constitutional Court in the capital, Antananarivo, where a large crowd gathered to watch – including those who spearheaded the demonstrations. “Today marks a historic turning-point for our country. With a people in full fervour, driven by…

RUBEN Amorim should be looking ahead to Manchester United’s return to Premier League action this weekend with a renewed sense of optimism. Yet four huge games now await United, starting at Liverpool. They could shape how this season turns out for the team, for better or worse. Amorim’s side produced one of the most solid performances of his time in charge by beating Sunderland 2-0 immediately before the international break. The result eased pressure that had been mounting on the Portuguese head coach in the aftermath of a woeful defeat at Brentford the week before. Since then, minority owner Sir…