Author: Editor

BRUNO Fernandes is giving serious consideration to quitting Manchester United next week and taking up a lucrative offer to join Saudi Pro-League club Al-Hilal. The Portugal international’s representatives are said to have met Al-Hilal officials in the past few days for further discussions about a move that would allow the 30-year-old to take part in the forthcoming Fifa Club World Cup. The issue has been the topic of conversation on United’s current tour of Asia, with boss Ruben Amorim saying on Friday he thinks the player “wants to stay”. While Fernandes has remained focused and continues to take his responsibilities…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron has warned that his country could “apply sanctions” against Israelis unless the government in Tel Aviv responds to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Speaking during a visit to Singapore on Friday, Macron said the international community could not remain passive while Palestinians in Gaza face a deepening hunger crisis. The comments raise further the international pressure building on Israel, which has blockaded the Palestinian enclave for close to three months, with aid agencies warning of famine. “The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground,” Macron said at a joint news conference…

HALF the global population endured an additional month of extreme heat over the past year because of manmade climate change, a new study found Friday. The findings underscore how the continued burning of fossil fuels is harming health and well-being on every continent, with the effects especially under-recognized in developing countries, the authors said. “With every barrel of oil burned, every tonne of carbon dioxide released, and every fraction of a degree of warming, heat waves will affect more people,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-author of the report. The analysis — conducted by…

FLIGHTS were temporarily disrupted at Liberia main airport on Thursday night after a private jet carrying President Joseph Boakai almost crashed while landing. Part of the presidential jet’s landing gear malfunctioned while approaching the runway, causing a rough landing, airport authorities said. The incident, which sparked panic at the airport, forced the cancellation of all scheduled flights for the night, local media reported. President Boakai, who was returning from a trip in Nigeria with his entourage, was safely evacuated unharmed, as authorities announced an investigation. Photos of the stalled jet at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) circulated on social media,…

A SUSPECT wanted for the murder of a South African university student has been killed in a shootout with police. The man had been linked to the death of Olorato Mongale, whose body was found in Johannesburg on Sunday, about two hours after she was reported missing having gone on a date. In the early hours of Friday morning, police officers found the main suspect hiding at a residential complex in the coastal town of Amanzimtoti, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said. The suspect, who has not been named by the police, shot at the officers, who returned fire and killed…

MANCHESTER United winger Amad responded to supporters in Malaysia with an obscene gesture after being subject to “serious personal abuse”, the club say. The Ivory Coast international was pictured putting his middle finger up to people outside the team’s hotel in Kuala Lumpur on United’s post-season tour. A video of the incident was widely shared on social media. United say the winger’s gesture was in response to “serious personal abuse” about his mother. “I have respect for people but not for the one who insults my mum,” Amad wrote on X. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that but I don’t…

THERE were multiple explosions near a newly opened aid distribution point opened by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the centre of the Strip, as desperate Palestinians struggle to find food and the United Nations warns the “window to prevent famine is closing fast”. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 70 people so far today, including nine killed in an Israeli bombing near as-Saraya junction in Gaza City. The Israeli government has approved 22 illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the largest one-time approval in history. This is as the Israeli military has launched several…

A SOUTH African woman convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison, along with her two accomplices. The jail terms for Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn come more than a year after Joshlin Smith mysteriously disappeared outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town. Despite a highly publicised search for the girl, who vanished in February 2024, she is yet to be found. South African prosecutors say she was sold into slavery however this was not definitively proven during the trial. It is believed…

UKRAINE and Russia exchanged 1,000 prisoners of war each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, their largest exchange in the three-year war, following a Russian proposal made during talks in Istanbul on May 16. But any confidence built by that gesture may have been dissipated by Russia’s launching of its largest long-range aerial attacks against Ukrainian civilians during the same three days. Russia launched more than 900 kamikaze drones and 92 missiles, killing at least 16 civilians. Those attacks followed days of Ukrainian strikes on Russian military infrastructure in Russia’s Tula, Alabuga and Tatarstan regions, in which it used at least…

DUBBED “Germany’s forgotten genocide”, and described by historians as the first genocide of the 20th Century, the systematic murder of more than 70,000 Africans is being marked with a national day of remembrance for the first time in Namibia. Almost 40 years before their use in the Holocaust, concentration camps and pseudoscientific experiments were used by German officials to torture and kill people in what was then called South West Africa. The victims, primarily from the Ovaherero and Nama communities, were targeted because they refused to let the colonisers take their land and cattle. Genocide Remembrance Day in Namibia on…

CHELSEA roared back to beat Real Betis 4-1 in the UEFA Conference League final in Wroclaw on Wednesday, becoming the first club to claim all four major European trophies. Manuel Pellegrini’s enterprising Betis caught the favourites cold in Poland through an early goal from Abde Ezzalzouli but Enzo Maresca’s team were a changed side in the second half. Two goals in five minutes changed the complexion of the game, with man-of-the-match Cole Palmer creating both openings for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson. Substitute Jadon Sancho made the game safe in the 83rd minute, finishing from an tight angle and Moises…

ISRAEL has killed at least 10 people trying to get aid in the past two days in a “heinous crime” committed in southern Gaza, according to the enclave’s Government Media Office. It says soldiers “opened direct fire at hungry Palestinian civilians” at an aid distribution centre run by the newly formed, Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. At least 43 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza today, including eight killed in an attack on the home of journalist Osama al-Arbid in the northern Strip. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump has said that he told Israeli Prime…

A FRENCH court on Wednesday gave the maximum 20-year jail term to a surgeon who admitted sexually abusing hundreds of patients, most of them children, during more than two decades. The three-month trial of Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, has brought to light the extent of his crimes and the suffering of his victims but also raised questions of why more was not done sooner to stop him. Le Scouarnec, one of the most prolific convicted sex predators in France’s history, was already in prison after being sentenced in 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including…

AID workers and activists are fearful that new regulations announced by Sudan’s army-backed government will lead to a crackdown on local relief volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic hunger crisis affecting 25 million people across the country. A directive announced by Khartoum state on its official Facebook page this month said all relief initiatives in the state must register with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government body that oversees humanitarian operations in Sudan. The HAC was given expanded powers to register, monitor and – critics argue – crack down on local and Western aid groups by former leader Omar al-Bashir in…

KENYA’s President William Ruto has publicly apologised to Tanzania following days of tension between the neighbouring countries. Some Kenyans on social media have been targeting Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan following the recent detention and deportation of prominent East African activists. Angry Tanzanian MPs on Monday accused Kenyans of cyberbullying and disrespecting Tanzanian sovereignty and “meddling in domestic affairs”. Speaking at a national prayer breakfast on Wednesday, Ruto appeared to extend an olive branch to Tanzania. “To our neighbours from Tanzania, if we have wronged you in any way, forgive us,” he said. “If there is anything that Kenyans have…

LAMINE Yamal is set to take over Lionel Messi’s legendary No. 10 shirt at Barcelona after signing a groundbreaking new contract this summer. The 17-year-old is reportedly poised to sign a long-term deal when he turns 18 in July, with Barcelona triggering a historic clause that includes a staggering €1 billion release clause, reflecting the club’s belief in his priceless value and potential. According to Memorabilia1899.co, the new contract will also see Yamal don the iconic No. 10 jersey starting in the 2025/26 season, taking over from current holder Ansu Fati, whose future at the club remains uncertain. Yamal, who…

WARD Khalil stares at the camera, her eyes barely focusing as she recalls the horrors of what she experienced. “When I woke up, I found a huge fire, and I saw my mom was dead,” she says, recounting the Israeli air attack early on Monday that she survived but that killed her mother, two of her siblings and 33 other people. Video footage of six-year-old Ward, her small body silhouetted against the flames after the attack on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City, has shocked people around the world, highlighting the ferocity of Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Ward’s father…

FRANCE’s lower house of parliament has approved a right-to-die bill in the first reading, taking an initial step in the lengthy process to pass legislation. A total of 305 lawmakers in the National Assembly approved the legislation on Tuesday while 199 deputies voted against the bill to grant patients medical assistance to end their lives in defined circumstances. The text has the backing of President Emmanuel Macron but is opposed by some conservative groups. In a statement on X, Macron praised the approval of the bill as “an important step” on “the path of fraternity”. “The National Assembly’s vote on…

A CHANT that US leader Donald Trump used to back claims of white genocide in South Africa is an apartheid-era slogan that did not really mean for farmers to be killed, the president said Tuesday. Trump showed clips of an opposition politician chanting “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” at tense talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa last week where he repeated unfounded claims of an orchestrated campaign of violence against white farmers. He also asked why the opposition politician seen making the chant, opposition firebrand Julius Malema — whom Trump mistakenly said was in government — had not been arrested.…

WAR-TORN Sudan is now “on the brink” of a public health disaster as cholera and other deadly diseases spread, aid group, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned. In just one week, Sudan’s Health Ministry recorded that 172 people have died due to a cholera outbreak, posting on Facebook that most of the new cases are in Khartoum state. According to local doctors, cited by Sudanese media, drone attacks have caused power outages at water purification stations, which has left people with no choice but to use unclean water. IRC country director for Sudan Eatizaz Yousif said the civil war…