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ARSENAL have agreed a deal worth £105m to sign West Ham’s England midfielder Declan Rice. Talks are continuing between the clubs over how the deal will be structured for the 24-year-old. It follows a third bid from the Gunners, having previously had two bids rejected after falling short of the £100m West Ham want. Earlier, Manchester City, who had a £90m offer for Rice rejected on Tuesday, withdrew from the running. Hammers captain Rice has been at the club since joining their academy from Chelsea in 2014. Earlier this month he led them to Europa Conference League victory, their first…

FORMER Barcelona boss Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino will reunite with Lionel Messi after being appointed as the new manager of Inter Miami. Martino, 60, replaces ex-Manchester United defender Phil Neville, who was sacked on 1 June. The Argentine has been out of work since leaving Mexico after their exit at the 2022 World Cup group stage. “Tata is a highly respected figure in our sport whose track record speaks for itself,” said co-owner David Beckham. “We are confident that his achievements in the game and experience as a head coach will inspire our team and excite our fans and look forward…

AT least 77 people have been arrested in France during a second night of unrest triggered by the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old driver by police. The teenager, named as Nahel M, was shot at point-blank range as he refused a traffic stop and drove away. Videos shared on social media showed cars being set alight and shops being ransacked on Wednesday across Paris. A prison in Fresnes was also attacked with fireworks by rioters overnight, AFP reported. The news agency said videos showed about 20 young men attacking the entrance to the prison with fireworks and projectiles. Videos shared…

A KEY defence that blocks nearly all bird flu when it attempts to invade our body has been discovered by scientists. Bird flus have been involved in four pandemics since 1918 – killing millions of people. The research, led by the University of Glasgow, showed those pandemics and normal winter flus had evolved ways of getting round this “powerful barrier”. The team think we will soon be able to predict which of the flus currently in birds pose the biggest risk. The scientists were investigating spillover events. These are the moments a person catches an infection from an animal. This…

MUSLIMS in Sudan have been celebrating Eid al-Adha amid the sound of gunfire despite a ceasefire announced by the warring military groups. Residents have told the BBC heavy artillery and airstrikes were heard in Khartoum state. “It doesn’t feel like Eid,” said Zahra Saeed, adding that the streets are “empty” and that people are “scared”. “Last night I couldn’t sleep because of the sounds of the gunfire,” Ms Saeed added. Others say they are too afraid to even attend the outdoor prayers which are normally a central part of the day: “For the first time in my life I didn’t…

THE streets of Sierra Leone’s capital were quiet on Wednesday, a day after President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in for a second term following an election his main rival slammed as “not credible.” Many people in central Freetown said they were relieved at the peaceful atmosphere as they went about their business at the start of Muslim festival of Eid, a public holiday. Some women were selling food at market and commercial drivers of motorcycles and tuk-tuks were out in rain-soaked streets scouting for customers. “I’m happy, not even because of the result, but I’m happy with the way…

THE Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar has called on Nigerians to continue to support and pray for the newly installed leaders in the country to deliver good governance to the benefit of the Nigeria citizens. Speaking in his palace shortly after the Eid prayers on Tuesday, the Sultan called on security agencies to redouble effort in the fight against terrorists and other violent criminals disturbing the peace or the country He called on the newly inaugurated leaders to work for all Nigerians irrespective of political affiliations, saying politics is over and now is time for governance. Also, speaking to…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Wednesday in Lagos urged Nigerians to have faith in God that the country will experience peace, stability and prosperity. Speaking to reporters after observing the Eid-el-Kabir prayers at Dodan Barracks prayer ground, the President stressed the need for unity and cooperation, appealing to Nigerians to eschew ethnic and religious rivalries. While noting that Allah would not burden the country with what it cannot bear, the President said: ”I thank Almighty Allah for keeping us in good health till today and pray to Him to grant us robust health and prosperity. May our sacrifices turn to prosperity.…

TODAY, Muslim faithful in Nigeria will join two billion other Muslims throughout the world to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Adha, known as Eid-Al-Kabir. The festival is rooted in scriptural accounts of both the Islamic and Judeo-Christian theology as evinced in Al Qur’an Kareem and the Old Testament respectively. The scriptural accounts (Qur’an Chapter 37 – Suratul As-Saffaat) highlight how, in a singular act of obedience to divine command, Prophet Ibrahim AS took Prophet Ismail AS, his son who he begot in his old age, to a location and prepared him for ritual of immolation as piety to Allah. As…

WEST Ham have rejected a bid of £90m from Treble winners Manchester City for captain Declan Rice. City’s offer was thought to have included an £80m initial payment but is short of the £100m the Hammers want. Arsenal are expected to make a third bid for the 24-year-old England midfielder. The Gunners’ second proposal of an initial £75m in four payments, plus £15m in add-ons, was turned down by West Ham last week. Rice’s contract with the Hammers expires in 2024, although it has the option for a one-year extension until the summer of 2025. Following the club’s Europa Conference…

BRAZIL forward Marta is set to play in a sixth World Cup after being named in her country’s squad for the women’s tournament this summer. The 37-year-old is a six-time winner of the Fifa World Player of the Year award. She also holds the record for the most goals in World Cup tournaments – men’s or women’s – with 17. “Marta is the queen, she is an icon. Just being around her is contagious,” said Brazil manager Pia Sundhage. “If she will be in the starting line-up I don’t know, not yet. She will play the role I will give…

PROTEST and unrest erupted in the Paris region overnight after police shot dead a 17-year-old who failed to stop when ordered to by traffic police. Video circulating on social media shows a police officer pointing a gun at the driver of a car, before a gunshot is heard. The car then crashes to a stop. The teenager, named as Naël M, died of bullet wounds in the chest despite help from emergency services. The officer accused of shooting him has been detained on homicide charges. The shooting triggered a series of protests on Tuesday night in Nanterre, the area just…

ATTENTION in the Ukrainian capital has been fixed squarely on the mutiny of the Wagner Group, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, and its consequences for Vladimir Putin and the conduct of the war in Ukraine. The drama over the border in Russia has hardened the view in Kyiv that Mr Putin’s time as Russia’s president is coming to an end. “I think the countdown has started,” said Andriy Yermak, President Zelensky’s closest adviser. At a briefing in Kyiv, he looked back to the year that Russia first invaded Ukraine, annexing the Crimean Peninsula. “What Ukraine has seen since 2014 has become…

KENYA’s opposition leader Raila Odinga called for nationwide civil disobedience in an effort to reverse recent tax increases agreed by parliament while addressing his supporters in the capital, Nairobi. Mr Odinga, who was runner-up in last year’s presidential election, also called for a revival of mass protests against President William Ruto’s government. “We must punish the traitors. We must repeal the finance bill,” he told thousands of his supporters. This comes a few days after President Ruto signed the controversial tax measures into law after it was passed by MPs last week. The new law raises the value-added tax on…

SECURITY sources in Burkina Faso say unidentified assailants have killed 31 soldiers and three members of the Homeland Defence Volunteers – a group of civilians given basic military training. The army said more than 40 assailants were killed. The volunteers work alongside the army, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties. The attack, on a supply convoy, took place on Monday in the northern province of Bam in the Central-North region. At least 10,000 have been killed and more than two million displaced in the prolonged jihadist insurgency Burkina Faso has been facing from neighbouring Mali.

NIGERIAN striker, Victor Osimhen, has claimed the Best African Player award ahead of Treble winner Riyadh Mahrez and Mohammed Salah at the Ghana Football Awards. The 24-year-old registered 31 goals in all competitions last season to help Napoli win the Serie A title for the first time in over three decades. The Super Eagles forward’s best season as a professional player has seen him scoop awards and break records, with his latest coming from the award ceremony in Ghana. Osimhen, in a video online, thanked the organisers for the award and promised to make Africa proud. The video was posted…

MANCHESTER City are working to sign RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol – but the German club want at least 100m euros (£85.77m) for the Croatia defender. City boss Pep Guardiola is a big admirer of the 21-year-old centre-back, who starred at the World Cup last year. BBC Sport has been told contact has been made between City and Gvardiol’s camp. Gvardiol has a release clause in excess of 110m euros (£94.35m), which can be triggered next summer. It means Leipzig are not willing to let him leave 12 months early for a significantly smaller amount. Gvardiol made 41 appearances for Leipzig…

AN audio recording in which Donald Trump appears to acknowledge keeping a classified document after leaving the White House has been obtained by US media. In the recording, the former president is heard riffling through papers and saying: “This is highly confidential”. It has not been independently verified by the BBC. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of mishandling sensitive files. CNN was the first to publish the roughly two-minute clip, and said it comes from a July 2021 interview that Mr Trump gave with people working on the memoir of his former chief of staff Mark…

ON a bright Sunday morning the wildlife-lovers gather in Miramar, a scenic peninsula. They are on an exterminating mission. Predator-Free Miramar aims to protect birds in this area of Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, by ridding it of rats – every last one of them. After donning hi-vis jackets, the volunteers are handed peanut butter – ideal bait for rodents – and poison. Each is assigned a patch where they will check coil traps and toxin-laced bait boxes. “Good luck fellows,” says Dan Coup, who leads the group. A GPS app guides Coup through the bush to devices on his route.…

MORE than 10,000 people have registered as refugees in South Sudan after fleeing the conflict in Sudan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), has said. While, overall, 130,000 people have fled into South Sudan since the fighting started in April, most of them were South Sudanese returning home. Ocha said the latest influx continues to compound a dire situation as the arrival numbers are projected to continue to increase as fighting continues. Among those arriving include unaccompanied or separated children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, those with urgent medical needs, single- or female-headed households and pregnant…