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DAYOT Upamecano said “racism has no place anywhere” after the defender was subjected to racist abuse following Bayern Munich’s 1-0 defeat by Lazio. Upamecano, 25, was sent off in the 67th minute of the first leg of Bayern’s Champions League last-16 tie, with Ciro Immobile scoring the resulting penalty. Bayern Munich condemned the racist abuse directed at the centre-back on social media after the fixture. “2024 and we still have to repeat it,” wrote Upamecano on Instagram. “Making mistakes is part of football. I made one and I apologise to my team-mates and supporters. “Everything remains possible at home and…

The UN’s top court Friday rejected South Africa’s request to put more legal pressure on Israel to halt a threatened offensive against the Gaza city of Rafah, saying it was “bound to comply with existing measures.” Pretoria has already filed a complaint against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, alleging that its assault on Gaza amounts to a breach of the Genocide Convention. The court has yet to rule on the underlying issue, but on January 26 it ordered Israel to ensure it took action to protect Palestinian civilians from further harm and to allow…

RUSSIAN state media tends not to give much or any airtime to critics of the government, and their initial treatment of Alexei Navalny’s reported death continues in this vein. On state TV channels, the media outlets with the biggest audiences in Russia, there has been minimal coverage of Navalny’s death, and the first reports were largely slow to come and perfunctory. On two of the most popular channels – Channel One and Rossiya 1 – it took almost 45 minutes and an hour respectively after the announcement, before it was mentioned. These reports provided no contextual information of who Navalny…

SOUTH African troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo have suffered their first fatalities since their recent deployment to quell a rebellion. Two soldiers were killed and three were injured after a mortar bomb landed in their base on Wednesday. The attack has led to South African opposition politicians calling for the withdrawal of troops from DR Congo. The troops are part of a regional force helping DR Congo’s military as it confronts a series of armed groups. The most prominent group is the M23, which has taken up positions on the major routes leading into Goma, the main city…

SEYCHELLES’ main opposition leader Patrick Herminie is no longer facing witchcraft charges after prosecutors dropped the case against him. He had always denied the accusations and speaking outside court on Thursday described them as “malicious action”. The police had said the case related to the discovery of two bodies exhumed from a cemetery on the island of Mahé. Mr Herminie plans to run in the 2025 presidential election under the banner of the United Seychelles Party. He called the case an “abuse of power” by President Wavel Ramkalawan, the AFP news agency quotes him as saying. “We do not have…

FORMER presidential spokesman Laolu Akande says Nigeria needs bold leaders to confront the country’s multifaceted challenges, especially security and economic problems. He made this known on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande aired on Channels Television on Friday during ‘My Take’ segment which normally opens the weekly programme. According to him, leaders must be honest and courageous to overcome the challenges in the country. “The problems as of today, the widespread hardship in the land and the menacing  insecurities require courageous leadership at the very top. Our leaders must be bold enough to fire appointed public officials who don’t deliver on…

TWENTY-FOUR hours after President Bola Tinubu unveiled plans to tackle factors responsible for food crisis, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), sealed Sahad Store, a popular supermarket in the Garki area of Abuja. The management of the supermarket was accused of shortchanging customers by charging prices other than the price tag at the shelves. The enforcement was led by FCCPC Acting Executive Vice Chairman, Adamu Ahmed Abdullahi. Briefing journalists on the sidelines of the event, Abdullahi said the commission’s preliminary investigation confirmed that the management of the supermarket were short changing customers. He said the store would remain…

MANCHESTER United’s squad last year were the “most expensive ever assembled” in football, says a Uefa report. The European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report says United’s players at the end of their 2023 financial year cost 1.42bn euros (£1.21bn) in combined transfer fees. The 2020 Real Madrid squad were previously the most costly at £1.13bn. United’s squad included £82m Antony, £80m Harry Maguire, £73m Jadon Sancho and £70m Casemiro. The total does not include £72m Rasmus Hojlund, £55m Mason Mount or £47m Andre Onana, all of whom joined in the 2023 summer transfer window. United finished third in the…

FRANCE captain Kylian Mbappe has told officials at Paris Saint-Germain that he intends to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, a source close to the Ligue 1 champions said on Thursday. The 25-year-old, who arrived in Paris from Monaco in 2017, had extended his contract in 2022 until 2024 but last summer declined to activate a clause allowing him to stay another year at PSG. Mbappe has been widely tipped to move to Real Madrid and, according to a source close to the matter, has already entered negotiations with the Spanish giants. “The terms of…

ISRAEL’s military claims it has captured “dozens” of suspects during a raid on southern Gaza’s main hospital, as staff and patients were forced to flee under gunfire. Israel said it launched a “precise and limited mission” at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, adding it had intelligence that Hamas had held hostages there. Hamas dismissed the claim as “lies”. The hospital’s director told the BBC that conditions inside were “catastrophic and very dangerous”. However, he said Israeli special forces involved in the hospital raid had yet to find any evidence of kidnapped Israelis and that the search was continuing. His comments…

VENEZUELA’s foreign minister said Thursday he had decided to “suspend the activities” of the UN rights office in the country and ordered its staff to leave within 72 hours. The move comes two days after the United Nations agency expressed “deep concern” over the detention of prominent rights activist Rocio San Miguel and called for her “immediate release.” Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said the office had taken on an “inappropriate role” and had become “the private law firm of the coup plotters and terrorists who permanently conspire against the country.” He said the decision would remain in place until the…

KENYAN police have re-arrested a fugitive murder suspect who had escaped from police custody, local media report. Kelvin Kangethe, 41, is wanted by US authorities in connection with the killing of his girlfriend in Boston last October. He has not commented on the allegations. He had been detained in Kenya awaiting a decision on whether to extradite him to the US. Last week, he escaped from a police station in the capital, Nairobi, where he was being held. Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei said the suspect was captured on Tuesday night in Ngong – on the outskirts of the capital…

THE prominent Zimbabwean opposition politician, Job Sikhala, has been fined and given a nine-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of publishing falsehoods on social media. In 2021 he said that a police officer had killed a child at a bus stop. Sikhala’s lawyer said he should never have been charged in the first place under a law which the top court long ruled to be unconstitutional. The politician has just been released from almost two years of pre-trial detention on unrelated charges. He has accused the government of weaponising the courts, and faces another appearance on Friday.

BRITAIN is in recession, official data showed Thursday, dealing another blow to embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative party is forecast to lose a general election expected this year. Gross domestic product shrank 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 after contracting 0.1 percent in the prior three months, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. That places the economy in recession, which is defined as two quarters of falling GDP in a row. While economists predicted that the recession could be short-lived, the data is a big setback for Sunak, who has placed economic…

THE World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Tuesday it has referred Nigeria and Venezuela to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over alleged non-compliance of their anti-doping agencies with WADA rules. WADA said it filed last week “two separate requests for arbitration with the Court of Arbitration for Sport” for the two cases. The two national agencies were sanctioned in November for not addressing what the Montreal-based doping watchdog said were several “critical requirements” to their anti-doping programs. That resulted in them losing their rights within the organization, no longer being permitted host major sporting events and a ban on their…

PROTESTERS denouncing Israel’s offensive in Gaza disrupted a foreign policy debate in Sweden’s parliament on Wednesday, as the country’s foreign minister reiterated support for Israel’s right to self-defence against Hamas. Security guards escorted a woman out of the public gallery after she shouted that Israel “was committing genocide”, as Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom presented the government’s foreign policy declaration to parliament. “Sweden supports Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against Hamas in accordance with international law,” Billstrom said before being interrupted. He added that “in light of the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the government believes that a ceasefire is necessary…

ONE person has died and 21 people were wounded in a shooting in Missouri at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade. Officials said they treated eight victims who were in immediately life-threatening condition and seven others who had suffered injuries that could prove life-threatening. Nine children were among the wounded – all are expected to recover. Police said they have arrested three suspects in connection to the shooting. The shots were fired west of Union Station, the train station in downtown Kansas City, which was where the parade ended at around 14:00 local time (20:00…

AUTHORITIES in Somalia have banned wearing of face masks in the capital, Mogadishu, due to security concerns. The spokesperson of the Mogadishu administration, Salah Dheere, said that wearing of masks was being used to hide identity and facilitate criminal activities. The masks were widely used during the Covid-19 pandemic. Authorities also outlawed wearing of hats and carrying of weapons in public transport. However, traditional sunnah hats worn by elders are exempt from the ban. The decision was made during a recent security meeting in Mogadishu, chaired by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with…

GHANA’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has replaced Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, as the West African country eyes an economic recovery. Mr Ofori-Atta has been in office since 2017 and has faced criticism for Ghana’s current economic crisis, the worst to hit the country in decades. At the height of the crisis in 2022, inflation surpassed 50% and the government defaulted on loan payments. It subsequently restructured its debt with creditors to qualify for an IMF bailout. Mohammed Amin Adam, who previously served as deputy energy minister and minister of state in the finance ministry, was on Wednesday appointed as Mr Ofori-Atta’s…

THE President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has announced an over 37-member constitution review committee on the 1999 constitution to be chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin. The committee would also comprise one lawmaker from each geopolitical zone and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The committee, in particular, will review the laws in the area of artificial intelligence, state police, among others. and is expected to be inaugurated next week Tuesday. There have been clamour for state police as Nigeria grapples with worsening security challenges such as kidnapping and banditry. Governors elected on the platform of the…