Author: Editor

REAL Madrid forward, Vinicius Junior, has labeled the Spanish La Liga a championship of racists after facing yet another racist abuse in his team’s 1-0 loss to Valencia on Sunday. The second half of the game became chaotic after Vinicius squared off with the Valencia fans and was later sent off for hitting Hugo Duro during a brawl. There was a delay of several minutes after Vinicius appeared to be racially abused by a Valencia supporter. Reacting to the incident in a Twitter post, the Brazilian said racism is now normal in La Liga as it is not the first,…

BORUSSIA Dortmund are one win away from their first Bundesliga title in a decade, after two second-half goals from Sebastien Haller delivered a 3-0 win at Augsburg on Sunday. Dortmund are now two points clear of Bayern Munich, who lost 3-1 at home to RB Leipzig on Saturday, with one match remaining. They now need to better Bayern’s result next week at home against Mainz to lift the Bundesliga shield for the first time since 2011-12. Despite Augsburg being reduced to 10 men late in the first half, the game was scoreless until the 58th minute, when Haller pounced on…

TWO pilots were killed Sunday when a US-made military helicopter crashed in the north of Afghanistan, the country’s defence ministry said. “An MD-530 helicopter of the country’s air force, which was flying from Mazar-e-Sharif airfield towards Samangan, collided with an electricity pylon,” the defence minister tweeted. In September, a Black Hawk helicopter commandeered by the Taliban government after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan crashed during a training session in Kabul, killing two pilots and a crew member. When exiting the country in 2021, the US military left behind billions of dollars worth of aircraft, vehicles, weapons and other hardware…

A BEACH resort bristling with fortifications. A major road lined with anti-tank ditches. Satellite analysis by BBC Verify has uncovered some of the extensive defences built by Russia as it prepares for a major Ukrainian counter-attack. After months of stalemate, the expected assault is likely to be a crucial test for Ukraine as it seeks to prove it can achieve significant battlefield gains with the weapons it has received from the West. By examining hundreds of satellite images, the BBC has identified some key points in the significant build-up of trenches and other fortifications in southern Ukraine since October. These…

AN outbreak of cholera has killed at least 10 people in South Africa’s most populous province of Gauteng, health authorities have said. At least 95 people have since last Monday visited hospitals showing cholera symptoms in Hammanskraal, an area north of the capital, Pretoria. Lab tests on Sunday confirmed at least 19 were cases of cholera, the Gauteng health department said in a statement. It added that 37 people were admitted in critical condition. The victims included a three-year-old child and nine adults. Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, the provincial head for health, has urged the public to take extra precautionary measures and…

SUDAN’s army is resisting an attempt by paramilitaries to advance towards its main airbase near the capital Khartoum, residents have said. The airfield is used by the military to carry out air strikes on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and was also used by foreign governments to evacuate their nationals early in the conflict. The fighting comes despite the announcement of a new seven-day truce. Previous ceasefires have collapsed within minutes of being called. A US-Saudi statement said the latest truce would come into effect on Monday evening, and would be different as it provides for a “ceasefire monitoring mechanism”.…

AT least four persons have been confirmed dead and three others severely injured following an explosion from a local welder’s shop at Isa local government area of Sokoto State on Sunday afternoon. A resident in the community, who hinted our correspondent about the incident, said: “when I heard the loud explosion, what came to my mind was that bandits were on rampage. “It was when I saw people running towards the welder’s shop where the explosion occured that my mind was at rest that it wasn’t bandits that struck. “Upon enquiry, I was told that the explosion was from a…

ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta says his side have had “an incredible journey” but now “must heal” after falling away in the Premier League title race. The Gunners’ defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday saw Manchester City confirmed as champions for the third straight season, while Arteta and his players are left wondering what might have been. After a flying start to the season, Arsenal were eight points clear at the top of the table after 18 games and held the same lead over City at the start of April, albeit having played a game more. However, a run of just…

BAYERN Munich’s hopes of an 11th successive Bundesliga title were dealt a major blow as they lost to Leipzig. Victory for Dortmund at Augsburg on Sunday would lift Edin Terzic’s team two points clear at the top heading into the final day. Serge Gnabry finished off a slick move to give Bayern a half-time lead. But Konrad Laimer levelled in the second half before penalties from Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai completed the turnaround. Nkunku sent his spot-kick straight down the middle after being felled in the box by Benjamin Pavard, before Noussair Mazraoui handled to allow Szoboszlai to fire…

A TOURIST plane crashed in a mountainous area of western Switzerland on Saturday, reportedly leaving several people dead. Regional police confirmed that a plane had crashed near Ponts-De-Martel in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel, but did not immediately provide more details. According to media reports, several people died in the crash, which is said to have happened around 10:20 am (0820 GMT) in a steep and forested area in the Neuchatel Mountains. Police said they would hold off on providing information on the plane that crashed, how many people who had been onboard and how many who may have perished…

AT least nine people have died after a stampede at a football stadium in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, officials have said. Police said seven men and two women were among the dead, with all the victims over the age of 18. The crush occurred during a match between local team Alianza and Santa Ana based team Fas at the Monumental stadium. The match was subsequently suspended with around 10 minutes played. The disaster reportedly occurred after a stampede began when a large number of fans tried to enter the venue after the gates had been closed. The two sides…

AIR strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country’s warring generals kept up their struggle for control. Khartoum residents told AFP that heavy fighting raged despite repeated international calls for a humanitarian truce. The area around the state television building in Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman was one of the sites bombarded, witnesses said. The power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15. The conflict has…

A TEMPORARY ceasefire in Sudan has been agreed as fighting between two warring factions entered its sixth week. Previous truce attempts between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have tended to collapse within minutes of beginning. But the new deal will be enforced by a “ceasefire monitoring mechanism,” according to a US-Saudi statement. As part of the seven-day humanitarian ceasefire, Sudanese officials have agreed to restore essential services. Fighting between the two sides has plunged the country into chaos since it began last month, with more than a million people thought to have been displaced. Stocks…

MANCHESTER City have been crowned Premier League champions for the third successive season after title rivals Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest. The Gunners, top for the majority of the campaign, are four points behind City with only one game left to play after being beaten 1-0 on Saturday. Pep Guardiola’s side have won the title in five of the past six campaigns. They also have a chance to claim the Treble, with the FA Cup and Champions League finals to come next month. Only Manchester United, in 1998-99, have previously achieved that feat – and it is their derby rivals…

INJURY-PLAGUED defender Phil Jones will leave Manchester United at the end of the season after 12 years with the Old Trafford club. United announced on Friday that Jones’ troubled time in Manchester will end when his contract expires in June. The 31-year-old, who joined from Blackburn in 2011, played 229 times, scoring six goals for United and helping them win one Premier League title, an FA Cup and the Europa League. Jones, who is yet to decide whether he will carry on playing, wrote on Twitter: “It’s not a time to be sad. It’s a time to look back, for…

ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta says his side have “made strong steps” this season, regardless of how their final two Premier League games play out. They travel to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Saturday, knowing defeat would hand the title to Manchester City. The Gunners were seven points clear at the top on 26 December but are now four points behind Pep Guardiola’s side. “We have built that core and that foundation,” Arteta said. “There’s a lot of quality, a lot of youth, a lot of enthusiasm, but as well surrounded by a lot of good people with the right experience, with…

RUSSIA on Friday said it banned entry to 500 Americans, including former president Barack Obama, in response to sanctions imposed by Washington. “In response to the anti-Russian sanctions regularly imposed by the Biden administration… entry into the Russian Federation is closed for 500 Americans,” the foreign ministry said, adding that Obama was among those on the list. On Friday, the United States added hundreds more companies and individuals to its sanctions blacklist as it broadened efforts to choke off Russia’s economy over the Ukraine offensive. “Washington should have learned a long time ago that not a single hostile step against…

PRESIDENT Bashar Al-Assad strode into the Arab League summit in Jeddah, relishing the clearest recognition yet that he has won his war for Syria. He was embraced by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A decade ago, the Saudis funded anti-Assad militias. Now the prince, known as MBS, wants to remake the Middle East, and he needs Syria onside. In a speech, President Assad insisted that Syria would always belong to the Arab world. But other countries should not interfere with what happened inside its borders. “It is important to leave internal affairs to the country’s people as they…

SUDAN’s army chief Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has sacked his deputy and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. Both Gen Burhan and Hemedti have served as chairman and deputy of the ruling Sovereign Council respectively, since the October 2021 military coup. In a decree released on Friday, Gen Burhan appointed former rebel leader Malik Agar as his deputy. Mr Agar is also a Sovereign Council member. He directed the secretariat of the Sovereign Council and the relevant state authorities to immediately effect the decree. The army chief had last month dissolved the…

SOME 82 Ghanaian police officers have sued the government accusing it of failing to promote them after they finished their studies under the country’s study leave with pay policy. Led by deputy inspector Kofi Osal, the officers say they were denied their deserved promotions as well as entry into police college after the successful completion of their studies during the 2017/2018 academic year. They said the move was “unfair and unreasonable” and urged the Accra High Court to issue an order directing the police service to grant them the promotions.