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SOUTHAMPTON have agreed a fee with Arsenal to sign England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in a deal worth up to £25m. Ramsdale, 26, is expected to make the move before Friday’s transfer deadline, with Saints paying £18m upfront with the potential of £7m in add-ons. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent after Southampton’s 5-3 Carabao Cup second round win at Cardiff, Saints boss Russell Martin said: “If it happens it’s very, very exciting. “But we’ll have to wait and see. I’m sure we’ll talk about it at some point if and when it happens.” Wolverhampton Wanderers had been in talks with Arsenal…

THE United States has imposed sanctions on an Israeli settler group and a civilian security guard in the occupied West Bank amid intensifying violence against Palestinians in the territory. The sanctions on Wednesday targeted Hashomer Yosh, which describes itself as a volunteer organisation that aims to “protect” Israeli farmers in the West Bank, and Yitzhak Levi Filant, the civilian security coordinator of the Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus. “Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,” the US Department of State said in…

AN AMERICAN politician has been jailed for life for killing an investigative journalist who wrote critical articles detailing wrongdoing in the department he headed. Robert Telles, a former Democratic public administrator, lay in wait outside the suburban home of 69-year-old reporter Jeff German and then stabbed him to death on September 2, 2022. “Justice has been served,” Clark County prosecutor Steve Wolfson told reporters. “Today’s verdict should send a message, and that message is a clear message that any attempts to silence the media or to silence or intimidate a journalist will not be tolerated.” Telles, 47, bowed his head…

A VESSEL suspected by the Namibian authorities to be carrying military cargo intended for Israeli use in the ongoing war in Gaza has been blocked from docking in the southern African country. Namibian Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab told state media the ship was stopped because it had “explosive material destined for Israel”. The MV Kathrin, which set off from Vietnam, had requested permission to dock in the port of Walvis Bay – before sailing north, on a suspected route towards the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar. Rights groups had warned that Namibia could have been implicated in potential human…

A UGANDAN man allegedly found with 24 human skulls may have been using them for human sacrifice and could face life in prison, the police have told the BBC. Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said the suspect, Ddamulira Godfrey, would be charged under the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act. Animal remains and skins were also found in Mr Godfrey’s shrine in the suburbs of the capital, Kampala. Police are still searching Mr Godfrey’s shrine in the hopes of recovering more human remains. “We are charging him first under the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act, which [prohibits] one…

MANCHESTER United have held exploratory talks over a deal to sign Raheem Sterling from Chelsea. The 29-year-old forward has been training away from the first-team squad after being told by Blues manager Enzo Maresca he will struggle for minutes at the club. While it is being stressed there is no guarantee of an agreement being reached, it underlines United sporting director Dan Ashworth’s desire to see if he can use the situation at Stamford Bridge to his club’s advantage. United sources stress any deal will be on their terms, although winger Jadon Sancho is also available and is known to…

AT least nine people have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials and media, after Israel launched a large-scale ground and air attack on the northern part of the occupied West Bank. The director of the ambulance department at the Palestine Red Crescent Society told Al Jazeera that four people were killed in an Israeli attack early on Wednesday on the Far’a refugee camp in Tubas. Several other people were injured, but the Red Crescent said their teams were having trouble reaching them because Israeli forces were preventing ambulances from entering the area. Two people were also killed in an…

POLICE in the Maldives are investigating an alleged attempt to topple President Mohamed Muizzu by stirring anger over the Indian Ocean archipelago’s worsening financial woes. Last week, the main commercial bank in the upmarket tourist destination drastically reduced the foreign exchange spending allowed for Maldivians, sparking widespread anger. Muizzu has slammed the move as an “illegal attempt” to overthrow his government, by making him unpopular and encouraging street protests. “An investigation has been launched into the alleged coup attempt,” the police said in a statement late Monday. There have been no demonstrations in the capital Male, but scathing criticism of…

SPAIN will donate 500,000 Mpox vaccine doses to countries in central Africa suffering from a surge in cases, the government said Tuesday. The doses amount to 20 percent of Spain’s total mpox vaccine reserves, the health ministry said in a statement without specifying which nations in the region will receive the vaccines or when they will arrive. Spain also urged its European Union peers to follow suit and also donate 20 percent of their mbox vaccine stockpile, saying it” makes no sense to stockpile vaccines where there is no problem,” the statement added. France and Germany have both announced they…

ARMED separatist rebels in Mali said Tuesday that an army drone strike had killed seven of their members a day earlier in the north of the country, an area rocked by violent unrest. The Monday strike targeted two of the separatists’ vehicles, according to a statement published Tuesday by the mainly Tuareg-led separatist coalition CSP-DPA. The Malian army had said it destroyed on Monday “two vehicles, loaded with war material belonging to armed terrorist groups, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the town of Anefis”. Drone strikes on Sunday in Tinzaouatene, near the Algerian border, killed around 20 civilians,…

MANCHESTER City have agreed a £21.2m deal with Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal to sell defender Joao Cancelo. Personal terms are not thought to be a problem, although Cancelo is yet to agree to the move. If he does, the 30-year-old is expected to sign a three-year contract, ending his five-year stay at Etihad Stadium. City manager Pep Guardiola said this month Cancelo could play for the club again. However, the disagreement which led to Cancelo spending time on loan with Bayern Munich and Barcelona over the past 18 months was always likely to prove a major stumbling block. Cancelo…

SOME 60 media and rights organisations on Monday urged the European Union to suspend a co-operation accord with Israel and impose sanctions, accusing it of “massacring journalists” in Gaza. “In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible”, the groups said in a joint statement. The call came ahead of a meeting by…

JAPAN has said the violation of its airspace by a Chinese military spy plane was “utterly unacceptable”, a day after the country scrambled jets and summoned a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo in protest. Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the airspace breach – the first by a military aircraft – was “not only a serious violation of Japan’s sovereignty but it also threatens our security”. Japan’s military said on Monday that a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane had been detected at 11.29am (02:29 GMT) circling above the Danjo Islands off the southwestern coast…

AT least 60 people have been killed after a dam burst because of heavy rainfall in war-torn Sudan. Search operations are currently underway, but there are fears that the death toll could be even higher. The Arbat dam has a capacity of 25 million cubic metres, and is the main source of drinking water for the coastal city of Port Sudan, where the military government is based. After being ravaged by 16 months of civil war, Sudan is now experiencing torrential rains and floods that have killed dozens and forced tens of thousands from their homes. The collapse of the…

TANZANIA’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has named a “troublesome” lion after one of the country’s opposition leaders. President Samia was visiting the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) when she was introduced to the unruly lion by officials. “Does that lion have a name?” asked President Samia. “If not, name him Tundu Lissu.” Mr Lissu is the leader of the main opposition party Chadema. He was arrested earlier this year for attempting to hold a youth rally, which police say was intended to incite violence. “It is because he is always unsettled,” Ms Samia said as she gave the lion its new…

SWEDISH football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who coached England from 2001 to 2006, died Monday at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his agent said. “He passed away peacefully this morning with his family around him at his home,” Eriksson’s agent Bo Gustavsson told AFP. The Swede, who managed a number of high-profile teams and took England to World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, announced in February 2023 that he was stepping back from public life due to “health issues”. In January, he told public broadcaster Sveriges Radio that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer and…

ENDRICK scored on his Real Madrid debut as Carlo Ancelotti’s side secured their first La Liga victory of the season with a hard-fought home win against Real Valladolid. The champions were frustrated for vast periods of the game in Kylian Mbappe’s home debut but hit their attacking stride when the game opened up following Federico Valverde’s second-half breakthrough. Substitute Brahim Diaz made it 2-0 in the 88th minute, collecting a long ball from Eder Militao before dinking it over Valladolid goalkeeper Karl Hein. Eighteen-year-old striker Endrick added gloss to the scoreline by powering an effort inside the near post in…

AL-TABIN School was not the first school in Gaza that Israel has targeted. But medics, journalists and survivors told Al Jazeera that Israel’s August 10 attack on it was the most gruesome massacre since Israel launched its assault on the besieged enclave in October last year. Israel killed more than 100 displaced Palestinians, leaving victims dismembered, charred and often unidentifiable by their loved ones. Some 2,400 displaced Palestinians, many exhausted by having been displaced several times, were sheltering in the school in eastern Gaza’s Daraj neighbourhood when it was struck by two guided missiles. The missiles blazed through the upper…

TELEGRAM chief executive Pavel Durov is to appear in court Sunday after being arrested at a Paris airport for offences related to his popular messaging app, sources told AFP. Russia has accused France of “refusing to cooperate” following the arrest of the Franco-Russian billionaire, 39, at Le Bourget airport on Saturday night. Durov had arrived from Baku, Azerbaijan, and was planning to have dinner in the French capital, a source close to the case said. An investigating magistrate was to decide later Sunday on a possible extension of Durov’s 24-hour detention. Depending on that decision, he could be charged or…

AN armed group linked to al-Qaeda, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has claimed responsibility for what it says was an attack that killed up to 200 people and injured at least 140 in central Burkina Faso. The attack took place on Saturday in the region of Barsalogho, about 40km (25 miles) north of the strategic town of Kaya, which analysts said is home to the last standing force protecting the capital, Ouagadougou. Fighters opened fire on teams of people digging trenches designed to protect security outposts. Several soldiers were missing after the attack, and the attackers took weapons and a…