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BALLON d’Or winner Karim Benzema has agreed terms on a three-year deal with Saudi Arabian champions Al-Ittihad after leaving Real Madrid. French striker Benzema, 35, won 25 trophies – including five Champions Leagues and four La Ligas – in 14 years with Madrid but they agreed to let him leave his contract a year early. He scored 354 goals for Real, second only to Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo, who hit 450 Real goals, plays for another Saudi club, Al-Nassr. “It’s a good league and there are many good players,” said Benzema. “Cristiano Ronaldo is already there, a friend which shows Saudi…

NIGERIA have bowed out of the 2023 U-20 World Cup after slumping to a 1-0 defeat against South Korea on Sunday. The Flying Eagles enjoyed the earlier exchanges but failed to make them count in the quarter-final clash. While the game ended barren after normal time, it only took South Korea five minutes into the extra time to head home the lone goal of the match. Coach Ladan Bosso’s men dominated the game, especially in the first half and the latter part of the match. They had five corners in the first half, a credence to their dominance. One of…

AC MILAN’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic has retired from football at the age of 41, bringing to an end one of the modern era’s most glittering careers. “I say goodbye to football but not to you,” the Swede told the San Siro crowd after Sunday’s last game of the season. Ibrahimovic had already announced he would leave the Italian club. He scored 511 goals for clubs including Paris St-Germain, Manchester United and both AC and Inter Milan, winning league titles in four countries. Ibrahimovic began his second spell with AC Milan in early 2020, having won the Scudetto with them in 2011,…

VICTOR Osimhen has won the Serie A Golden Boot for scoring the highest number of goals in the 2022/23 campaign. The feat makes him the first African to scoop the prize. The Napoli star scored 26 goals in 32 matches, edging his closest rival Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez to land the highly coveted “Capocannoniere” prize. Osimhen had already scored 25 goals before Napoli’s Sunday game against Sampdoria. He then scored from the spot to add one more strike to his tally as his club won 2-0. “This season has been brilliant for me, for my teammates, and for Napoli. We…

OIL-PRODUCING countries have agreed to continued cuts in production in a bid to shore up flagging prices. Saudi Arabia said it would make cuts of a million barrels per day (bpd) in July and Opec+ said targets would drop by a further 1.4 million bpd from 2024. Opec+ accounts for around 40% of the world’s crude oil and its decisions can have a major impact on oil prices. In Asia trade on Monday, Brent crude oil rose by as much as 2.4% before settling at around $77 a barrel. Average diesel prices fell by a record 12p per litre in…

INDIA’s railway minister has suggested a signal fault led to the Odisha rail disaster, with a “change in electronic interlocking” the likely cause. Ashwini Vaishnaw later said the cause and people responsible for the deadly three-train crash in eastern India had been identified but did not elaborate. India’s Railway Board said there had been “some kind of signalling interference” rather than failure. A report into India’s worst rail accident this century is due later. Meanwhile the death toll has been revised down to 275 after some bodies were counted twice, officials said. Of the 1,175 injured people taken to hospital,…

MOZAMBIQUE’s justice minister says prison guards who help inmates get hold of drugs and other banned substances are “worse than the criminals” themselves. “Alcohol, cigarettes, mobile phones and other equipment is always being found in the cells,” Helena Kida said. She made the comments during a lecture on human rights in the Special Women’s Penitentiary, in the southern city of Matola, saying that all manner of illegal items are entering prisons, which would be impossible without the connivance of the guards. “They have their rights and duties, as well as constitutional guarantees,” she said, urging them to honour the oaths…

PETROL prices have almost doubled in Benin after it was announced that fuel subsidies would be scrapped in next-door Nigeria. Nigeria is one of Africa’s oil giants and subsidised petroleum products are routinely smuggled into Benin, where they’re mostly sold by the roadside and serve a large part of the population Popularly called kpayo – which means “unoriginal” in Goun, a native language – it is cheaper than fuelling up at stations, local media reported. Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu had in his inauguration speech said fuel subsidy was “gone”, an announcement that triggered panic-buying and a surge in fuel…

EDEN Hazard will leave Real Madrid on 30 June after reaching an agreement to terminate his deal early. Hazard joined for £89m in 2019 but has played just 54 league games, including only six this season. The 32-year-old was under contract until June 2024 but on Real have “reached an agreement” to end the deal. The club said it expressed its “affection” to former Chelsea forward Hazard and wished him “the best of luck for the next stage of his career”. During his injury-hit time in the Spanish capital, the Belgium international won the Champions League, a Club World Cup,…

PEP Guardiola hopes the postscript to a historic season for Manchester City will be Ilkay Gundogan signing a new contract. The midfielder, whose present deal at the club expires this summer, scored two as City beat Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley to win the FA Cup. Next Saturday’s Champions League final against Inter Milan could be the 32-year-old’s final City appearance. “He knows what I think,” said Sky Blues boss Guardiola. “(Football director) Txiki (Begiristain) is working on it. Hopefully he can be successful.” Guardiola and Gundogan, who live in the same Manchester city centre apartment block, have built a…

TURKEY’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in for a third term as president on Saturday, promising to serve “impartially” after winning a historic runoff election to extend his two-decade rule. Erdogan called for unity and the anger and resentment of the campaign to be set aside as he spoke during a lavish ceremony at his presidential palace in the capital Ankara attended by dozens of world leaders. Turkey’s transformative but divisive leader won the May 28 runoff against a powerful opposition coalition, despite an economic crisis and anger over the response to a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000…

THREE Israeli soldiers have been killed by an Egyptian security officer in exchanges of fire on the Israeli side of the border. The armed forces of both countries say they are jointly investigating the unusual incident. Egypt says its officer crossed into Israel while chasing drug traffickers. The Israeli military has said the shootings were assumed to be connected with a drug smuggling operation it had thwarted overnight. According to the army, two Israeli soldiers – a man and woman – posted in a remote spot along the border were shot dead early on Saturday morning. Their bodies were discovered…

THE government in Senegal has deployed soldiers throughout the capital, Dakar, as residents brace themselves for more unrest. On Thursday clashes between security forces and protesters left nine people dead. It followed the conviction of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko for immoral behaviour. He was sentenced – in his absence – to two years in jail. Mr Sonko maintains the charges were politically motivated to prevent him from running in next year’s presidential election. Police have surrounded his house and some social media sites have been blocked by the government.

RESIDENTS of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, have reported more fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It comes despite US sanctions imposed after the collapse of a humanitarian ceasefire. People in the city said the army had resumed air strikes and was using more artillery, but with no sign that the RSF was retreating from the streets and homes it has occupied. The military announced it had brought reinforcements to the capital from other parts of Sudan. Analysts say the armed forces are expected to launch a massive offensive to clear the paramilitaries from the streets.

KANO State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida personally led the demolition of structures believed to be illegally erected on properties belonging to the government. This newspaper gathered that late Friday night, a task force set up by the governor began the demolition of structures built inside the Kano Race Course (Filin Sukuwa) under the governor’s supervising eyes amidst heavy security. Recall that Abba Gida-Gida had in his inaugural speech on Monday gave a marching order to security agencies in the state to immediately take over all public properties sold by the administration of former Governor Umaru…

THE 2023 FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United takes place at Wembley on Saturday (15:00 BST) – the first all-Manchester final in the competition’s history. A near 90,000 crowd is expected at Wembley despite more national train strikes leaving tens of thousands of fans having to make alternative plans to travel to London. Pep Guardiola’s City, who have already won the Premier League and face Inter Milan in the Champions League final on 10 June, need a victory to stay on course for a remarkable Treble. But United, who have already defeated City this season, are looking…

DEFENDER Sergio Ramos will leave French champions Paris St-Germain at the end of their Ligue 1 season on Saturday. Ramos becomes the second high-profile exit announced this week, with Lionel Messi’s departure also confirmed. “Tomorrow is a special day, tomorrow I say goodbye to another stage of my life, goodbye to PSG,” said Spanish great Ramos on Twitter. The 37-year-old made 57 appearances for PSG and won two French titles after joining them from Real Madrid in 2021. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said: “Sergio’s leadership, team spirit and professionalism, combined with his experience at the highest level, make him a…

NAPOLI striker, Victor Osimhen, has won the Best Striker award for the 2022/23 Serie A season. The Serie A made the announcement on Friday, saying the striker fended off competition from Lautaro Martinez of Inter Milan and AC Milan’s Rafael Leao of AC Milan to scoop the prize. The Nigerian bagged the award having scored 25 league goals this term, four more than his closest rival Martinez with just one game to go. The Super Eagles forward emerged as the top striker having led Napoli to its first Serie A crown since the 1989–1990 season. That was the club’s third…

AT least 288 people are now known to have been killed and 850 injured in a multiple train collision in India’s eastern Odisha state, officials say. More than 200 ambulances were sent to the scene in Balasore district, says Odisha’s chief secretary Pradeep Jena. One passenger train is thought to have derailed before being struck by another on the adjacent track late on Friday. It is India’s worst train crash this century. Officials say the death toll is expected to rise further. Indian Railways said the two services involved were the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express. Sudhanshu Sarangi,…

AUSTRAIN officials have voiced their relief after two of the country’s citizens were released by Iran after years of imprisonment in the country. Dual Austrian-Iranian nationals Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb were freed as part of a prisoner swap involving Europeans and an Iranian diplomat. The pair’s detention in Iran, on spying and security charges respectively, attracted criticism internationally. Belgium said a third person – a Danish citizen – had also been released. The trio were flying into Belgium via Oman following medical examinations, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. Local media reported that they will be met at…