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CRISTIANO Ronaldo leads the list of the world’s highest-paid footballers in 2024, with total earnings of $285 million, according to Forbes. In an article posted by Forbes on Thursday, the Al Nassr star, 39, earns $220 million on the field and $65 million from off-field activities, including brand partnerships and his own businesses. Ronaldo’s global appeal is evident, with a social media following exceeding 900 million across Instagram, Facebook, and X. His recent foray into YouTube has also been a success, quickly surpassing 1 million subscribers and accumulating over 544 million views. Lionel Messi ranks second with $135 million in…

THE one million children in Gaza are living a “hell on Earth”, the UN said Friday, with around 40 children having been killed there every day over the past year. More than a year into Israel’s war against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory “children continue to suffer unspeakable daily harm”, said James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF. “Gaza is the real-world embodiment of hell on Earth for its one million children,” he told reporters in Geneva. “And it’s getting worse, day by day.” Since Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack inside Israel, which sparked the war,…

NORTH Korea has decided to send a “large-scale” troop deployment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia’s Far East and undergoing training, Seoul’s spy agency said Friday. The announcement sparked anger in Kyiv, which demanded a “strong reaction” from its European and US allies, and concern in Paris. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the move smacked of “desperation” from Moscow. Seoul’s National Intelligence Service released detailed satellite images it said showed the first deployment of elite North Korean soldiers being moved by Russian military vessels to Vladivostok. Seoul’s spy agency said that between…

SOME 1,100 people across Africa have died from mpox, the African Union’s health agency said Thursday, warning that the epidemic was “going out of control” without further action. In all, 42,000 cases have been recorded in Africa since January, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said, with cases reported for the first time in Zambia and Zimbabwe. This brings to 18 the number of African countries where mpox has been officially detected this year, it said. “Mpox is going out of control if we don’t act,” Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya told an online media briefing. “I’m…

KENYA’s parliament on Friday unanimously voted to back President William Ruto’s pick to replace his impeached deputy Rigathi Gachagua, even as a High Court injunction threw the historic political process into disarray. In a fast-moving political drama, Gachagua was sacked by the upper house on Thursday night on accusations of stirring ethnic hatred and undermining the judiciary, charges he denied and vowed to fight in court. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki was swiftly nominated to replace Gachagua in a shake-up that analysts suggested could help Ruto consolidate his grip on power that has been shaken by recent anti-government demonstrations, the biggest…

REAL Madrid fans rallied around star striker Kylian Mbappe on Thursday as the France captain battles a media frenzy linking him to a rape investigation in Sweden. Swedish prosecutors on Tuesday confirmed an investigation had been launched — without naming Mbappe — following an alleged rape at a plush Stockholm hotel on October 10. Media in Sweden had reported the French superstar was the target of the probe following his two-day visit to the capital last week, which Mbappe and his lawyer have denied. For Juan Castro, a 72-year-old Real Madrid supporter, the press reports are merely “fake news” that…

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the war in Gaza is “not over” following the alleged killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even as Western leaders expressed hope that his death would present an opportunity to end the yearlong conflict. “Today, evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not yet complete,” Netanyahu said in a recorded address on Thursday. Netanyahu’s sentiments were echoed by other prominent Israeli politicians, including Benny Gantz, the leader of the centre-right National Unity party. Gantz, who resigned from Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet in June amid disagreements over the…

BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk has donated almost $75 million to the political action committee he created to support Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign, according to filings made late Tuesday, illustrating the Tesla founder’s growing commitment to the Republican’s cause. Musk, estimated to be the world’s richest man, has taken an increasingly visible role in Trump’s campaign, accompanying him on stage at a recent rally in Pennsylvania and frequently lambasting his opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, on social media. Trump frequently name-checks Musk at rallies, and has promised to appoint him to a committee tasked with slashing government bureaucracy. Harris and Trump are…

NIGER’s military authorities have banned rice, cereal and other food exports to all countries except fellow junta-led Burkina Faso and Mali to protect local supply, the government has said. With the Sahel nation experiencing high inflation on certain foods, the products banned for export besides rice include legumes such as cowpea as well as cereals like millet, sorghum and corn. Junta chief Abdourahamane Tiani took the measure “to protect the supply of the internal market” and “make the goods of mass consumption accessible”, the government said in a statement late on Wednesday. “These prohibitions do not apply to exports” to…

THE Kenyan Senate voted on Thursday to oust Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a historic impeachment vote. The upper house has so far voted to impeach the 59-year-old on five charges out of a total of 11 against him, after two days of hearings. The Senate only had to find him guilty of one charge to remove him from office. He is the first deputy president to be ousted in this manner since impeachment was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution. A similar motion against President William Ruto’s number two was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house National Assembly last…

SERENA Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, revealed on Wednesday she had a grapefruit-sized cyst removed from her neck and is doing well as she recovers. The 43-year-old former women’s tennis world number one said in a Tik Tok video that she found a lump in May on the right side of her neck and an MRI showed she had a brachial cyst. “I am still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first,” Williams posted on X. Williams did not have the cyst removed immediately but after it grew in size and she had multiple tests and a…

ISRAEL carried out dozens of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Wednesday, killing dozens including a city mayor, toppling buildings and causing widespread destruction in several southern areas. The latest exchanges in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed increasing calls for a ceasefire. The Israeli army said its warplanes struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, where the Lebanese group and its ally Amal hold sway. The Lebanese health ministry said dozens were killed and 43 injured in the strikes on two municipal buildings, adding that rescuers were searching through…

MORE than a million copies of books by Han Kang, the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, have sold locally since the honour was announced, bookstores said Wednesday. The short story writer and novelist is best known overseas for her Man Booker Prize-winning “The Vegetarian”, her first novel translated into English. The 53-year-old, who also became the first Asian woman author to win the Nobel, was chosen “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”, the Swedish Academy said last week. Han’s win has created a sensation in…

NIGER’s military leaders have renamed streets and monuments bearing French names, in the latest move to cut links with the country’s former colonial power. Avenue Charles de Gaulle in the capital, Niamey, is now Avenue Djibo Bakary in honour of the Nigerien politician who played a key role in the West African country’s struggle for independence. “Most of our avenues, boulevards and streets… bear names that are simply reminders of the suffering and bullying our people endured during the ordeal of colonisation,” said junta spokesman Maj Col Abdramane Amadou. Niger’s relationship with France and other Western allies deteriorated after President…

KENYA’s parliament has begun the final step to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office just two years after he was elected on a joint ticket with the president. An overwhelming majority voted in the National Assembly last week to approve his impeachment, setting the stage for the two-day trial in the Senate that takes the final decision. The deputy president faces 11 charges including corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and undermining government – all of which he denies. The row follows his recent fallout with President William Ruto, who has remained silent about the matter. Gachagua’s trial is being conducted…

ALEX Ferguson is leaving his reported £2 million-a-year ($2.6m) ambassador role with Manchester United at the end of the season as part of a cost-cutting exercise. The former United manager, 82, won 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League crowns among a huge trophy haul during nearly 27 years at Old Trafford. The Athletic reported that the decision had been made amicably, with Ferguson stepping down from the global ambassador role when the season ends. Ferguson, a regular at matches since he stepped down in 2013, will remain a non-executive director of the football club board. It comes as…

HEZBOLLAH’s acting chief has warned the group plans to fire rockets into more areas of Israel until the Netanyahu government stops its air strikes and ends its ground invasion of Lebanon. “I am telling the Israeli home front: The solution is a ceasefire,” Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast live on Tuesday, adding that the group would not be defeated by the ongoing bombardment of its strongholds as well as the killing of its leadership. Qassem said Hezbollah is focused on “hurting the enemy”, signalling that it would ramp up attacks further south in Israel. Qassem has led the…

NORTH Korea blew up sections of the deeply symbolic roads and railways connecting it to the South on Tuesday, Seoul’s military said, adding it had conducted a “counter-fire” operation in response. Pyongyang’s military last week vowed to permanently seal its southern border after spending months laying mines and building anti-tank barriers in the wake of leader Kim Jong Un declaring the South his country’s “principal enemy”. The North also accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on the capital Pyongyang, with Kim convening a security meeting to direct a plan of “immediate military action” in response, state…

MILLIONS of people across Southern Africa are going hungry due to a historic drought, risking a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe, the United Nations has warned. Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have all declared a state of national disaster in the past months as the drought has destroyed crops and livestock. Angola and Mozambique are also severely affected, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said in a briefing, warning that the crisis is expected to deepen until the next harvests in March or April next year. “A historic drought – the worst food crisis yet – has devastated more than 27…

UKRAINE has denied allegations that it had supplied drones to rebels fighting against the Malian army and Russia-backed mercenaries. It comes after Paris-based Le Monde newspaper reported reported that Ukrainian drones were providing support for the Tuareg rebels “who are benefiting from discreet but decisive support from Kyiv”. Mali ‘s junta-led government ended a long-running alliance with former colonial power France in 2022 in favour of Russia in a bid to tackle a years-long insurgency in the north. But it has been unable to quell the unrest and recently suffered heavy losses, alongside its Russian allies. Mali and its neighbours…