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REAL Madrid’s slim title hopes suffered another setback as they squandered two points against Real Betis by conceding a 93rd-minute equaliser. With five games remaining, they now sit eight points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona. The title seems all but out of reach for Alvaro Arbeloa’s side with Barca able to extend their lead to 11 points if they beat Getafe on Saturday. Vinicius Jr had given Real the lead in the 17th minute at Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla when Federico Valverde’s drive from outside the box was spilled by Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles and the Brazilian reacted…

ISRAELI forces have killed 12 Palestinians in attacks throughout Gaza, medical sources in the enclave tell Al Jazeera, as Israel continues its daily violations of the ceasefire struck last year. An Israeli attack on a police vehicle on Friday killed at least eight people, including three civilian bystanders, in Khan Younis. A separate attack in Gaza City also killed two police officers. Two other people were killed in the bombing of a house in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. Gaza’s Ministry of Interior called on the international community on Friday to intervene and end the Israeli targeting of local police…

THE US State Department is offering up to $10 million for information on the leader of the Tehran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), which Washington designates as a terrorist organisation. US officials said in a social media post Thursday that they were seeking information on KSS leader Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji, also known as Abu Alaa al-Walai. The group has “killed Iraqi civilians and attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, as well as attacking U.S. military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria”, Washington said. The post notes “you could be eligible for relocation and a reward” for…

GHANA has summoned South Africa’s top envoy to the country over reported “acts of intimidation and harassment” against its citizens and other African migrants in the southern African nation. Earlier this week, video clips were shared online showing vigilante groups attacking and confronting people they believed were in South Africa illegally – in one of them they challenge a Ghanaian man over his status. Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa and has been accompanied by occasional outbursts of deadly violence. Ghanaian officials have met the man in the video to offer him support and also urged citizens…

KENYAN President William Ruto has faced a social media backlash after publicly suggesting that Nigerian-accented English was incomprehensible and required a translator. Addressing Kenyans living in Italy on Monday, Ruto said: “If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don’t know what they are saying – you need a translator,” while boasting that Kenyans spoke “some of the best English in the world”. His remarks drew fierce condemnation from Nigerians and other Africans online who accused the Kenyan leader of demeaning a fellow African nation. “English is a colonial language, not a measure of intelligence, capability, or national progress,” wrote…

THE Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, adjourned the alleged money laundering case filed against former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State until May 6 for continuation of trial. Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the hearing to allow the former governor’s lawyer, Joseph Daudu, SAN, continue with the cross-examination of EFCC’s 12 prosecution witness (PW-12), Abdullahi Jamilu. Jamilu, who was giving his initial statement to the anti-graft agency to “refresh his memory,” said he made the statement to the EFCC on May 10, 2022. The witness, while being cross-examined by Daudu, told the court that it was the only statement…

FORMER Ivory Coast international footballer Aboulaye Traore has been sentenced to three years in jail for rape, an Ivorian women’s rights group reported. Nicknamed Ben Badi, the striker won the 1992 African Cup of Nations with the Elephants and remains a very popular figure in the West African country. In a statement, the Ivorian League for Women’s Rights said that the Bouake court handed down the three-year sentence on Wednesday, hailing a “significant advance in the fight against impunity for sexual and sexist violence”. Besides the jail term, the court ordered “the payment of 15 million CFA francs to the…

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has said he ordered the United States Navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could jeopardise the fragile ceasefire between the two countries. The US president also said on Thursday that the military will heighten its efforts to remove explosives from the strategic waterway. “I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the…

AT a store in Beirut, a shopowner breaks into laughter. “No, I don’t want to comment on the negotiations,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to Thursday evening’s direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington, DC. “If I say the wrong thing, someone might come hit me.” His response represents the polarisation and controversy surrounding the negotiations inside a country deeply divided over the best way to end Israel’s war on it. For some, the negotiations are the Lebanese state’s only choice. Others, however, reject the talks outright and believe only Hezbollah’s path of armed resistance will lead to a…

A TOTAL of 518 people died in Tanzania from “unnatural causes”, including 197 who were shot dead, in the widespread protests that followed last year’s general election, the commission of inquiry set up to investigate the violence has announced. However, commission chairman Mohamed Chande Othman did not say who was responsible for the deaths, recommending further investigations. This is the first time the authorities have said how many people died. Opposition parties and human rights groups had previously accused the security forces of unleashing a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, killing thousands. President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner…

SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed the country’s top policeman on “precautionary suspension” after he was charged in court on Tuesday. Gen Fannie Masemola, 62, is alleged to have failed in his oversight duties in connection with the awarding of a controversial $21m (£15.5m) health contract, which has become the subject of a criminal investigation and has since been cancelled. He has been charged with violating part of South Africa’s Public Finance Management Act, which governs how taxpayers’ money is spent. Masemola told journalists after Tuesday’s hearing that he denied the charges. “I know that I’m not guilty, I’m…

MANCHESTER City continued their charge towards the Premier League title with victory at Turf Moor to move Pep Guardiola’s side top of the table and relegate Burnley back to the Championship. City have hit form at the right time and are looking in ominous mood, clawing back nine points on Arsenal in less than two weeks to narrowly climb to the summit on goals scored. Guardiola’s men had not been in the number one spot since the opening week of the campaign, but an 11-game unbeaten streak has led to them overtaking the Gunners with five games left. Top scorer…

ISRAELI attacks have killed five people in southern Lebanon, including a journalist, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported, further straining a fragile ceasefire. An initial Israeli strike hit a car in at-Tiri, a village in south Lebanon, killing two people inside, NNA said on Wednesday. Israel’s military said it struck two vehicles in southern Lebanon that departed from a military structure used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The NNA reported that a later air strike on a building in the same village wounded a journalist, who was trapped under rubble. Amal Khalil, who worked for the local media outlet…

IRAN’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday their naval forces had seized two container ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, despite US President Donald Trump announcing he was extending a ceasefire to allow more time for talks. Despite the latest series of attacks on maritime traffic in the Gulf, a second round of US-Iran talks could take place within the next three days, the New York Post reported, citing Trump and unnamed Pakistani sources. “It’s possible!” Trump reportedly wrote to the Post in a text message when asked about the sources in Pakistan, who had told the newspaper that a…

A NETWORK of Colombian mercenaries backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided critical support to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enabling it to capture the western city of el-Fasher last year, a new report says. The investigation, by security analysis organisation the Conflict Insights Group (CIG), used data obtained from tracking the mobile phones of the Colombian fighters. The UAE has long denied supporting the RSF, which has been fighting Sudan’s regular army for three years. El-Fasher’s fall was one of the most brutal chapters of the conflict, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with…

POPE Leo XIV on Wednesday called for “greater room for freedom” in Equatorial Guinea and delivered a rare criticism of living conditions for prisoners before visiting inmates in a jail known for its squalor and ill-treatment of detainees. The leader of the world’s Catholics was on the second day of his visit to the oil-rich African nation, visiting President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s stronghold of Mongomo, near the border with Gabon. At a mass in Mongomo attended by some 100,000 followers, the US-born pontiff, 70, urged the country, where the majority of people live in poverty, to close the gap…

CHELSEA have sacked head coach Liam Rosenior after less than four months in charge of the club. Rosenior signed a five-and-a-half year deal at arriving from French club Strasbourg, also owned by Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. But he managed just 11 wins in 23 matches across all competitions and Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton was Chelsea’s fifth consecutive league defeat without scoring, the club’s worst scoreless run since 1912. Rosenior described the performance as “indefensible” and “unacceptable” after facing angry chants from Chelsea’s travelling supporters on the south coast. The defeat led to the Blues slipping to…

BRIGHTON produced a dominant 3-0 win to leapfrog Chelsea in the Premier League, boosting their European hopes while piling further misery on struggling visiting head coach Liam Rosenior. Goals from Ferdi Kadioglu, Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck lifted Brighton into sixth place, while Chelsea have now lost five consecutive league matches without scoring for the first time since 1912. Brighton overwhelmed Chelsea in the opening stages of the match. Kaoru Mitoma almost replicated his goal at Tottenham last weekend, volleying Pascal Gross’ shot first time, only for Robert Sanchez to make the save inside the opening two minutes. Brighton then…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has announced an extension to the ceasefire with Iran, saying that the US military will hold off its planned attack to allow more time for Tehran to put forward a proposal to end the war. Trump said the move on Tuesday comes at the request of Pakistani mediators. The truce was set to expire on Wednesday. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way…

EARLY 8,000 people died or disappeared on migration routes last year, with sea routes to Europe the most deadly, according to the United Nations. The UN’s International Organization for Migration said that many of the victims were lost in “invisible shipwrecks,” as it released new figures in a report on Tuesday. “These figures bear witness to our collective failure to prevent these tragedies,” Maria Moita, who directs the UN agency’s humanitarian and response department, told a news conference. The figure of 7,904 people that the UN counted as died or missing in 2025 constituted a fall from the all-time high…