REAL Madrid were handed a quick rematch with Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the draw for the Champions League play-off round on Friday, while reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain will face domestic rivals Monaco. Benfica beat Real 4-2 in their final game of the league phase on Wednesday, with a 98th-minute goal by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin proving decisive in allowing the Portuguese side to snatch the last play-off spot ahead of Marseille, who were eliminated altogether. The defeat also nudged Madrid out of the top eight places in the league standings, which give direct access to the last 16, forcing them…
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AFTER 18 years as a teacher with an UNRWA-run school, Maryam Shaaban (name changed for safety reasons) fainted upon learning she was among 600 employees dismissed from their posts, the latest in a barrage of devastating blows borne out of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave. Earlier in January, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced a series of harsh austerity measures, including a 20 percent salary cut for local staff in Gaza, reduced working hours, and the termination of contracts for employees based outside Gaza who had been previously placed on “exceptional leave”. According to a…
THE United States Department of Justice has released a massive new tranche of investigative files related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. At a news conference on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. He said the release means the department has met a legal requirement passed by Congress last year. “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with…
THE ISIL (ISIS) armed group has claimed responsibility for an attack on an air force base at Niger’s main airport. The ISIL-affiliated Amaq News Agency reported on Friday that the group carried out a “surprise and coordinated attack” on the base at Diori Hamani International Airport near the capital, Niamey. It claimed the attack caused “significant damage”, without providing more details. The military government, which took power in a 2023 coup, said security forces killed 20 attackers in fighting after the attack, which took place shortly after midnight on Thursday. Four army soldiers were wounded in the violence. Niger’s authorities…
A MALIAN lawmaker has been jailed in neighbouring Ivory Coast for three years for insulting the 84-year-old Ivorian leader, who recently won a fourth term in office. Mamadou Hawa Gassama, who serves in the transitional parliament set up by Mali’s junta, was arrested last July while on a trip to Ivory Coast. Prosecutors said he described President Alassane Ouattara as a “tyrant”, “an enemy of Mali” and strongly criticised his leadership in interviews and on social media. Since Mali’s military took power in 2020, relations with Ivory Coast have been strained. Ouattara, an ally of France – the former colonial…
SENEGAL coach Pape Thiaw has been banned for five Confederation of African Football (CAF) matches after a chaotic Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final against Morocco this month, it was announced on Wednesday. A CAF statement said the tactician was guilty of “unsporting conduct” and “bringing the game into disrepute” during the decider in Rabat on January 18, which Senegal won 1-0 after extra time. Senegalese forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, who play in the English Premier League, received two-match bans for “unsporting behaviour towards the referee”. The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) was fined a total of $615,000 for…
ISRAEL has handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for the final Israeli captive, whose remains were recovered by Israeli forces earlier this week, closing the chapter on this part of its more than two-year genocidal war on Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza, said Palestinian authorities are still trying to determine whether the bodies of the Palestinians will be released at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis or at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City later on Thursday. On Wednesday, Israel laid to rest policeman Ran Gvili, who was…
CHINA executed 11 people linked to telecom scam operations on Thursday, state media reported, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in the lawless borderlands of Myanmar. Initially, largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In recent years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation…
A BURST of heavy gunfire and explosions erupted early Thursday near the international airport in Niger’s capital Niamey before halting within hours, residents told AFP. Videos filmed by residents of the area showed streaks of light in the sky with the sound of loud explosions, while other images showed flames several metres high and charred cars. The capital’s Diori Hamani International Airport houses an air force base and is located about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the presidential palace. Niger, a country hit regularly by jihadist attacks, has been led for more than two years by Abdourahamane Tiani, the head…
PASSENGERS flights between Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and cities in the northern Tigray region have been cancelled amid fears of a return to conflict, with reports of clashes in one area. Ethiopia Airlines, which operates all routes in the country, sent passengers a text message about the cancellations citing “unplanned circumstances”. Neither the airline nor the government has commented further. Airport staff in Tigray’s main city of Mekelle have reportedly been told not to go to work. A 2022 peace deal to end a brutal civil war in Tigray has been unravelling as tensions grow over disputed territory and ahead…
GOALKEEPER Anatoliy Trubin scored a stunning 98th-minute goal to send Jose Mourinho’s Benfica into the Champions League play-offs after beating Real Madrid. The Spanish giants also face the play-offs, and could face Benfica again, after dropping from third to ninth with defeat at Estadio da Luz. Benfica looked set to go out in agonising fashion, on goals scored, despite leading 3-2 with seconds remaining. However, a free-kick gave them one last chance. Trubin was sent up and the Ukrainian timed his run to perfection to meet the cross with a bullet header past opposite number Thibaut Courtois to spark wild…
OXFAM says it will not disclose the personal details of its Palestinian staff to Israel, citing its army’s deadly attacks in Gaza that have killed hundreds of aid workers. As part of a crackdown on NGOs providing life-saving aid to Palestinians, Israel last year demanded that some of the world’s best-known charities working in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem hand over detailed information about their Palestinian and international staff, operations and funding. On January 1, Israel withdrew the licences of 37 aid groups, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, International Rescue Committee and Oxfam, saying they failed…
IRAN’s foreign minister says the Iranian armed forces are ready to “immediately and powerfully” respond to any possible attack by the United States, hours after US President Donald Trump reiterated a threat to take military action against the country. “Our brave Armed Forces are prepared with their fingers on the trigger to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air, and sea,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media on Wednesday evening. Araghchi said Iran had learned “valuable lessons” from Israel’s days-long military assault on the country in June of last year, which also saw the Trump…
THE UN says it is gravely concerned after a senior military leader in South Sudan urged his troops to “spare no-one” including “children, the elderly, and civilians” when they are deployed to opposition-held areas of the country. “Inflammatory rhetoric calling for violence against civilians… is utterly abhorrent and must stop now,” said the head of the UN’s mission in South Sudan. South Sudan’s deputy army chief Gen Johnson Oluny made the call as he addressed his Agwelek militia as they prepared to be sent to parts of Jonglei state. The government said this was not an order. Forces aligned to…
SUDAN has moved to the forefront of the global humanitarian landscape, now hosting the world’s largest internal displacement crisis. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), approximately 14 million people have been forced from their homes within the country. These staggering figures in Sudan are part of a broader global surge in forced displacement. UNHCR estimates suggest the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide exceeded 122 million by the first half of 2025. However, amid geopolitical shifts sweeping the Middle East, a countertrend has emerged. For the first time in a decade, the global number of displaced persons dropped…
A BLOCKBUSTER final day of games in the Champions League’s league phase in rich in dramatic potential, with 30 teams waiting for their fate to be decided. Six English clubs are eyeing top-eight spots, while there are notable familiar faces looking to get the better of their former employers. Arsenal are safely through to the last 16, where they will be joined by Bayern Munich, but just about everybody else still has work to do and major targets to aim for in a congested 36-team table. The table-topping Gunners have been predicted as being best-placed to win the competition for…
TO retrieve one body, the Israeli military mobilised a fleet of tanks, drones, and what locals described as “explosive robots”. They turned a neighbourhood into a “kill zone”, dug up approximately 200 Palestinian graves, and left four civilians dead in their wake. The focus of this overwhelming force was Ran Gvili, an Israeli policeman killed more than two years ago, the last Israeli captive in Gaza after more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave. His successful recovery on Monday was hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a triumph of commitment. But just metres…
A PLANE crash has killed the deputy chief minister of India’s Maharashtra state, Ajit Pawar, the country’s aviation regulator has said. The plane, which took off from Mumbai on Wednesday, crash-landed at the airport in Pawar’s constituency of Baramati, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Two members of the prominent politician’s staff and two crew were also reported to have been killed. The cause of the crash has not yet been officially confirmed. FlightRadar, an online flight tracking service, said the aircraft was attempting a second approach to Baramati Airport when it crashed. The Times of India quoted…
THE Rwandan government has launched legal action against the UK to seek payments it claims it is owed under a scrapped migrant deal between the two countries. Rwanda has filed a case with the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, arguing the UK has failed to honour commitments made in a deal to send some asylum seekers to the African nation. Under the deal, which was signed by the previous Conservative government, the UK agreed to make payments to Rwanda to host asylum seekers and support its economy. But after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer axed the deal in 2024, the…
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron has invited his Chadian counterpart to Paris, as both countries seek to renew and improve future relations. The verbal invitation was delivered to President Mahamat Déby by France’s Ambassador to Chad, Éric Gérard, during a meeting at the presidential palace in the capital, N’Djamena, on Monday. In a statement, Chad’s Presidency said Déby accepted the invitation, although it made no mention of when the visit will take place. It follows a sharp downturn in Franco-Chadian military relations, after Chad abruptly ended its defence agreement with France in November 2024. This triggered the withdrawal of French forces…