Author: Editor

UEFA announced on Thursday it had fined Barcelona 25,000 euros ($26,680) for racist behaviour by their fans after two supporters were questioned by police following their Champions League quarter-final first leg with Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona were also banned from selling tickets to their supporters for their next away European game, although that punishment is suspended for a year. Barca lost the tie 6-4 on aggregate after PSG won Tuesday’s second leg 4-1. On April 10, Paris police said they had questioned two people after videos were published on social media of a supporter making monkey noises and another making Nazi…

IRANIAN Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday warned that Tehran would make Israel “regret” any attack on his country in response to the Islamic republic’s weekend barrage of missiles and drones. Tehran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel over the weekend came in the wake of a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, widely blamed on Israel. Nearly all of the projectiles were intercepted before reaching their targets. “Iran’s legitimate defense and counter measures have been concluded. Therefore, the terrorist Israeli regime must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests,” the minister told the UN…

A HAUNTING image of a grieving Palestinian woman embracing her little niece, killed in an Israeli strike in war-torn Gaza, won the 2024 World Press Photo of the Year Award Thursday. The picture taken by Reuters news agency’s Mohammed Salem shows Inas Abu Maamar cradling the body of five-year-old Saly, who was killed with her mother and sister when a missile hit their home in Khan Younis in October. Salem was in Khan Younis’ Nasser hospital on October 17 when he saw Maamar, 36, sobbing and tightly holding the wrapped body of her relative in the hospital’s morgue. The picture…

KENYA’s defence chief and nine other top brass died on Thursday in a military helicopter crash in a remote area of the country, President William Ruto said. “Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of General Francis Omondi Ogolla,” Ruto told reporters. The president, who had convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council after news of the accident emerged, said nine other “gallant military personnel” on board were also killed while two survived. He said the Kenya Air Force has dispatched an air investigation team to…

BURKINA Faso’s military junta has expelled three French diplomats, accusing them of “subversive activities”. France said there were “no grounds” to expel the diplomats. The expulsions are the latest sign of worsening relations between the two nations since Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a coup in 2022. He has pivoted Burkina Faso towards Russia, ending its close ties with France, the former colonial power. Russia reopened its embassy in Burkina Faso in December after it was shut more than 30 years ago, while the French ambassador was expelled by the junta the following month. Russia is also helping the…

MIKEL Arteta admitted Arsenal paid the price for making one big mistake as Bayern Munich’s 1-0 victory sent his side crashing out of the Champions League on Wednesday. Joshua Kimmich’s second half header punished slack marking by Arsenal and ended their hopes of reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 2009. The Gunners were beaten 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-final after a 2-2 draw in the first leg in north London last week. It was a painful experience for Arsenal boss Arteta, who bemoaned the defensive slip that proved decisive in the second leg. “At the moment it…

THE Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military facility in northern Israel that wounded at least 14 soldiers, saying it was carried out in retaliation for Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah members. The Iran-aligned group said it launched “a combined attack with guided missiles and explosive drones on a new military reconnaissance command centre in Arab al-Aramshe,” an Arab-majority village of northern Israel near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said 14 of its soldiers were wounded in Wednesday’s attack and six were in serious condition. It added that it had “struck the sources…

AROUND 70 people have been killed by heavy rains lashing Afghanistan over the past five days, the government’s disaster management department said Wednesday. Afghanistan was parched by an unusually dry winter which desiccated the earth, exacerbating flash-flooding caused by spring downpours in most provinces. Disaster management spokesman Janan Sayeq said “approximately 70 people lost their lives” as a result of rains between Saturday and Wednesday. Fifty-six others have been injured, he said, while more than 2,600 houses have been damaged or destroyed and 95,000 acres of farmland wiped away. Giving a smaller death toll last week, Sayeq said most fatalities…

LEADERS from the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, have climbed down on their initial announcement that they were visiting Togo “due to the seriousness of the controversial constitutional reforms that the government planned to introduce”. Those words were part of a press release that was published on X on Monday then deleted on Tuesday. It was replaced by a new press release, that instead called it a simple “information mission” and insisted that Ecowas delegates would “not engage in any other process as indicated in a previous press release, which has been withdrawn”. The opposition in Togo has denounced a…

SIERRA Leone’s capital, Freetown, and other cities have been plunged into darkness for weeks, due to the non-payment of electricity bills to the power providers. It has severely disrupted daily life, with operations disrupted in major hospitals. Karpowership, the Turkish ship which supplies most of Freetown’s power, has virtually switched off the lights over an unpaid bill of about $48m (£38m), despite repeated assurances by the finance minister to settle the debt. In a statement, Karpowership said it had reduced electricity supply to six megawatts – from 60 megawatts – to only power essential services. CLSG, an Ivorian power supplier,…

MANCHESTER City are closing in on a second consecutive treble, yet Erling Haaland is still facing criticism as Real Madrid visit the Etihad on Wednesday aiming to exact revenge for their Champions League exit last season. The 14-time European champions were humbled 4-0 on their visit to Manchester 11 months ago at the semi-final stage as City went on to win the Champions League for the first time, along with the Premier League and FA Cup. Pep Guardiola’s men are 12 games away from repeating that remarkable feat even without their prolific Norwegian hitting the form he did last season.…

ELEVEN people, including children, have been killed in an Israeli air attack on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza as Israel continues its bombardment of the Palestinian territory. Another seven people were reported killed, including four children, in an Israeli jet attack on a house in the Yabna refugee camp in Rafah. ALjazeera had earlier reported that Gaza’s Civil Defence said “a number” of people had been killed and injured in the attack as they worked to pull the people injured, and the bodies of those killed, from under the rubble. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera Arabic shared video footage showing Israeli…

THOUSANDS of people in Ukraine were left without power on Tuesday after strong winds and heavy rain damaged electrical infrastructure, authorities said. The overnight storms put further strain on Ukraine’s fragile energy system, already reeling from near continuous Russian bombardment for the past three and a half weeks. “Due to the bad weather, 173 settlements in four regions are without power supply,” Ukraine’s energy ministry said. In the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, the worst affected area, over 15,000 people in 96 towns and villages were cut off, it said. One of the main energy providers, DTEK, said its engineers had…

THE opposition in Togo has denounced a proposed new constitution as a power grab, intended to extend the reign of President Faure Gnassingbé. The reforms would see the West African country move from a presidential to a parliamentary system. But the opposition says they are a ruse to keep Mr Gnassingbé – already in his fourth term – in power. The president’s supporters say the changes would reduce the powers of the head of state by transforming the presidency into a ceremonial role. Human Rights Minister Yawa Djigbodi Tségan says they will “improve democracy in the country”. But the opposition…

MORE than 40 toddlers were taken to hospital in South Africa on Monday after mistaking rat poison for sweets. “Upon medical examination, 17 were admitted for overnight observation, while the remaining 24 were discharged home in a satisfactory condition,” regional health authorities for Gauteng said. Also on Monday, a group of 10 people including eight children were referred to a different hospital in the same province. Health authorities say this is all part of an “alarming” overall rise in food poisoning cases – with a total of 863 such incidents reported since last October. They’re advising parents and guardians to…

THE National Examinations Council (NECO) has re-scheduled the 2024 National Common Entrance Examination into Federal Unity Colleges and the Entrance Examination into Federal Government Academy, Suleja, Niger State. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Council, Azeez Sani, said the common entrance examination earlier scheduled to hold on April, 20 2024, would now hold on June, 1 2024. “Also, the Entrance Examination for Gifted and Talented Children into Federal Government Academy, Suleja earlier Scheduled to hold on 4th May, 2024 will now hold on 25th May, 2024. “The rescheduling of the two examinations was due to low enrolment…

MIKEL Arteta urged his wounded Arsenal stars to show character and leadership after their Premier League title challenge suffered a hammer blow in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa. Arteta’s side would have gone back to the top of the table with a victory at the Emirates Stadium. But instead Arsenal were beaten for the first time in 12 league games as two goals in the last six minutes from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins rocked their title dreams. The second-placed Gunners are two points behind leaders Manchester City with six games left in their bid to be crowned English…

ISRAEL’s war cabinet has met to discuss its response to Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack. Israel did not make public whether a decision had been reached. Its allies have strongly condemned Iran’s actions, but urged Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to show restraint. While Iran has signalled it considers the matter closed, the Israeli military’s chief of staff said the attack would not go unanswered. “Look, as we look forward, we weigh our steps, and this launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles, UAVs to the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response,” Lt Gen Herzi…

FLOODING in Oman has killed at least 16 people, many of them schoolchildren, authorities said following the discovery of the bodies of a child and three adults on Monday. The Gulf sultanate’s official news agency initially reported on Sunday that nine schoolchildren and three other adults had “lost their lives after their vehicles got swept away in gushing wadi waters”. Five individuals were also reported missing in the floods that struck the northeast of the country. The Oman News Agency reported on Monday the bodies of a child and three further individuals and had also been recovered. Violent thunderstorms, heavy…

SEVERAL African countries have called on Israel to show restraint as its war cabinet meets to decide whether to retaliate against an unprecedented Iranian aerial attack on Saturday night. Iran said it carried out the assault in response to an Israeli air strike on its consulate in Damascus on 1 April. The attack killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers. Saturday’s assault on Israel involved more than 300 drones and missiles, the vast majority of which were intercepted, Israel’s military said. Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Somalia have called for restraint to avoid further escalation. South Africa’s Department of International Relations…