EBERECHI Eze scored the winning goal as Arsenal were tested but overcame a spirited Mansfield Town to move into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The hosts, who are just five points clear above the relegation zone in League One, heaped pressure on the Premier League leaders before Noni Madueke gave Arsenal the lead just before half-time. Madueke had earlier forced Mansfield goalkeeper Liam Roberts into a save before the England winger curled the ball into the top corner after Gabriel Martinelli teed him up at the edge of the box. But this was not the routine win many expected…
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A FATHER and his daughter have been killed in an Israeli drone attack in central Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as Palestinians continue to suffer amid worldwide attention on the United States-Israeli war on Iran. The two were killed early on Saturday. In a separate attack later in the day in Khan Younis, another person was killed and a young girl wounded, according to Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground. Israeli forces continue carrying out air strikes, artillery shelling, and naval bombardment on Gaza on a daily basis, despite an October 11 “ceasefire” as Israel continues its ongoing genocide. Suffering in…
A MEMBER of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Saturday that the body would meet within a day to choose the country’s next supreme leader, Iranian media reported. “With divine assistance, this session will occur within the next twenty-four hours,” said Hossein Mozafari, one of the assembly’s 88 members, cited by the Fars news agency. The statement came a week after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack. Mozafari also urged Iranians to “refrain from any speculation and the spreading of rumours regarding this matter” as the assembly hasdnot yet convened for a session. Meanwhile,…
AT least 23 people have been killed in flash flooding in Nairobi, police said Saturday, as search and rescue operations continued amid widespread devastation. Torrential rains lashed the Kenyan capital late Friday, turning major streets into rivers and flooding thousands of homes and businesses. Rescue teams were still pulling out bodies and rescuing trapped residents on Saturday, while AFP reporters saw heavily damaged roads and infrastructure from the city’s vast slums to upmarket areas like Parklands. “The river banks broke as the rains continued and cars were swept off and water flowed into our shops destroying property for many people,”…
GUINEA dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president. Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred. Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralisation ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations”. The decree also stripped them of control of their assets. Included are Guinea’s three main political parties — the Union of Democratic Forces…
PRESIDENT Donald Trump threatened to escalate the bombing of Iran on Saturday as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that he would never surrender, despite a fresh blitz of US and Israeli air strikes that set a Tehran airport ablaze. Israel confirmed some of the biggest raids since the aerial bombardment of Iran began last Saturday, with a military academy, an underground command centre and a missile storage facility named as targets. Pre-dawn AFP photos showed fire and smoke billowing from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, one of two that serve the capital. “Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump posted…
QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. As Fasting draws to an end, what is your message for us all? Mustapha Noor, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. Many people misunderstand the true nature of fasting, and they make it an occasion for eating and drinking, making special sweets and staying up late at night and watching shows on satellite TV. They make such preparations long before Ramadan, lest they miss out on some food bargains before food prices go up. They prepare by buying food, preparing drinks and looking at the satellite TV guide so they can choose which…
LIONEL Messi has been criticised for meeting United States President Donald Trump and applauding his latest brief on the Iran war at an White House event honouring the Argentinian superstar and his Inter Miami team. Messi drew high praise from Trump in Washington, DC on Thursday, but the Miami captain received backlash on social media for meeting and applauding the US president. Miami beat the Vancouver Whitecaps in December for the Major League Soccer (MLS) title, and Messi was named the league’s MVP for the second consecutive season. “It’s my distinct privilege to say what no American president has ever…
INTENSE air attacks have pounded Tehran and other Iranian cities on the seventh day of the US-Israeli war on the country, amid warnings from United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the bombardment was “about to surge dramatically”. Israel’s military said on Friday morning it had begun a new wave of strikes on Tehran, targeting “regime infrastructure” in a “new phase” of the war, while the US said its B-2 bombers had dropped dozens of “penetrator” bombs on deeply buried ballistic missile launchers inside the country. Huge explosions pounded locations in the Iranian capital, including targets linked to the country’s…
QATAR has partially reopened its airspace days after Iranian missile and drone strikes forced the country to ground all flights as a United States-Israeli military campaign against Iran continues into its seventh day. The Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announced the limited opening on Friday evening, saying flights would operate through “designated navigational contingency routes with limited operational capacity” in coordination with the Qatari armed forces. The move marks a cautious first step towards restoring air links to one of the Gulf’s most important aviation hubs but falls well short of a return to normality, with scheduled commercial flights to and…
SOME of the 43 Ugandan students evacuated from Iran have described their ordeal after being evacuated from the country. “We could hear the ground trembling, we could hear the ground shake,” Oscar Nyegyema told AFP after arriving at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport. “We really did not know whether we could make it out.” Masters student Aloysious Ssegawa told BBC Focus on Africa that the bombings felt like an ”earthquake” and all he could think about doing was ”running for his life”. After the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on Saturday, Iran retaliated with strikes on Israel and US allies…
ON a drizzly Sunday evening in the Zimbabwean capital, three boys aged between six and nine scout for scrap metal just as the informal welders in Siyaso Market are about to close for the day. Early the next day, the boys return to the informal steel fabrication market, which is now partly turned into collection points for discarded metal components, to pick up the scrap for reselling. “We are only afraid of the dogs that can chase you, but usually we are safe, and no one suspects us [of stealing],” says eight-year-old Takudzwa Rapi. “Sometimes they allow us to pick…
QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. Is there a specific prayer recited for Ramadan or the last ten days? Aminu Kabiru, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. Tirmidhee and others report: `A’isha asked: “O Messenger of Allah! If I was to know which night is the night of qadr, what should I say therein?” He answered: “Say: ‘O Allah! Verily, You are One who Pardons (`Afuww) and You love pardoning (`afw), so pardon (`afw) me!’” Al-`Afuww is a Name of Allah. It is often translated to mean the One who pardons or forgives. `Afuww comes from `afw. `Afw linguistically…
THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) has postponed the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco two weeks before the competition was billed to kick off, citing what it described as “certain unforeseen circumstances” for the rescheduling. Initially scheduled to take place from March 17 to April 3, the tournament, which doubles as the qualifying phase for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, will now be held from July 25 to August 16, 2026, CAF explained in a statement on Wednesday. The new date positions the competition shortly after the 2026 men’s World Cup. CAF said the…
IRAN’s semi-official Fars News Agency has reported that overnight attacks on Bahrain’s capital, Manama, targeted the Financial Harbour Towers commercial complex, the location of the Israeli embassy in the city. The first week of the United States-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on nations hosting US forces and assets has engulfed the region and beyond into a broader conflict. The Reuters news agency reported Friday that an Iranian drone was intercepted and destroyed in the vicinity of the complex. Multiple Gulf nations, Arab states, as well as Turkiye and Azerbaijan have been caught in the crosshairs of the…
US President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted he should have a role in picking Iran’s next supreme leader after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose son he said he found unacceptable. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump told Axios in an interview, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after the United States ousted her boss, Nicolas Maduro. Trump told the news outlet that the United States would likely return to war within five years without a…
MORE than 200 people, including 70 children, have been killed after a landslide caused a collapse in a mining area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government says. The landslide struck Rubaya, the country’s biggest source of coltan – an ore vital in the electronics industry – in the rebel-controlled east on Tuesday following heavy rains. In a statement, the mines ministry blamed the tragedy on M23 rebels and said they were allowing illegal mining without proper safety standards. The M23 are yet to comment but a source in Rubaya told the BBC the collapse was…
NIGER Republic’s ruling junta said Thursday it had cancelled three gold mining companies’ concessions and denied a licence extension to a British oil company, accusing them of failing to respect their obligations. The west African country, a uranium, gold and oil producer, has been ruled since a 2023 coup by a military government that has asserted its sovereignty over natural resources. The government said in a statement it had cancelled concessions awarded between 2017 and 2020 to three gold mining and processing companies: Comini, Afrior and Ecomine. The three “have not honoured” their commitments, notably to pay taxes, provide an…
QUESTION: Salamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. Is it permissible to pray in a room when there is someone else in the same room who is watching television, if that person is watching it at a low volume and the program being shown does not contain anything but people who are dressed decently? Sadiya AbduRahman, Abuja – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. It is makrooh to pray in a place where the worshipper will be distracted from his prayer. And undoubtedly the television is one of the greatest distractions to people; if a man prays in a place where the television…
GERMAN Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have rekindled their interest in Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen, with head coach Vincent Kompany considering the Nigerian as a potential replacement for Harry Kane, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. Bayern Munich are still in talks to renew Kane’s contract amid interest from Barcelona and clubs in the Premier League. Kane may only be in his third season with Bayern, but he has already cemented himself as one of the club’s best strikers, with a return of 130 goals from 133 competitive matches. With no offer on the table yet, the club sees Osimhen as the most…