MANCHESTER City ignited the Premier League title race with a second-half blitz that sealed a 3-0 win against Chelsea as they closed the gap on leaders Arsenal on Sunday. Pep Guardiola’s side produced a devastating spell immediately after half-time, with Nico O’Reilly and Marc Guehi scoring in the space of six minutes at Stamford Bridge. Jeremy Doku wrapped up a statement victory to ensure City took advantage of Arsenal’s shock 2-1 home defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday. Second-placed City are now only six points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, setting up a seismic showdown against the Gunners at…
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THE United States and Iran have failed to reach a truce deal after high-stakes talks in the Pakistani capital, with US Vice President JD Vance saying Tehran has refused to accept Washington’s terms after 21 hours of negotiations in Islamabad. “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vance, the head of the US delegation, told reporters on Sunday, shortly before he left Islamabad after the highest-level meeting between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.…
ISRAEL’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City – his third incursion into Islam’s third holiest site this year – as Israel arrested at least 18 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. Accompanied by Israeli settlers under heavy protection from Israeli forces, Ben-Gvir offered Jewish prayers at the site, which is not allowed for non-Muslims as part of the status quo arrangement in place since 1967, though Jewish people are permitted to visit the compound. A statement from Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said it considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to…
BRITISH barrister Martin Hackett has been appointed as The Gambia’s first special prosecutor to try those responsible for human rights abuses carried out during the 22-year rule of ex-President Yahya Jammeh, which ended when he went into exile in 2017. Hackett will head a newly created office charged with dealing with the cases from a period characterised by widespread repression, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) was set up to document the extent of the alleged abuses. In its final report, handed to current President Adama Barrow in 2021, it identified those most responsible…
TANZANIAN musician Sefu Shabani, popularly known as Matonya, has been arrested and charged with rape in Kenya. The 43-year-old denied the charge when he appeared in court in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said in a statement posted on X. According to the DPP, the court granted him bail – set at 500,000 Kenyan shillings ($3,900, £2,900) – and ordered him to surrender his Tanzanian passport. The award-winning artist is beloved for his “bongo flava” hits. This is a style of music originating in Tanzania with lyrics in Swahili and romantic melodies accompanied…
BAYERN Munich romped to a 5-0 win at St Pauli on Saturday, breaking a 54-year Bundesliga goalscoring record and moving to within touching distance of a 35th league crown. Leon Goretzka’s 53rd-minute goal, Bayern’s second of the match, brought up 102 league goals this season, breaking a previous mark set by the Bavarian giants in 1971-72. Top scorer Harry Kane was left on the bench but Jamal Musiala, Michael Olise, Nicolas Jackson and Raphael Guerreiro joined Goretzka on the scoresheet as Bayern pulled 12 points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who lost to Bayer Leverkusen earlier on Saturday. With five matches…
MORE people in Iran are returning to work this week as a pause in fighting provides temporary respite from bombardment by the United States and Israel, but the economic outlook remains grim for most. In the network of narrow corridors, workshops and warehouses in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, a commercial hub in the capital, more shops were open and for longer hours on Saturday, the first day of the working week, compared with before the ceasefire announced overnight into Wednesday. Sales, however, continued to be slow compared with the period before the war, merchants said. “It’s almost complete stagnation,” said a…
POLICE have arrested hundreds of people during a mass vigil in central London to oppose the ban on campaign group Palestine Action. More than 1,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square for the demonstration on Saturday, with many holding signs saying, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Police carried many people away from the demonstration. At one point, an elderly woman with walking sticks was escorted away by police. The Metropolitan Police said they arrested 212 people for allegedly showing support for a proscribed orgnanisation. It said the ages of those arrested range from 27 to 82. One demonstrator told…
DJIBOUTI’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh has won an election with 97.8% of the vote, keeping him at the helm of the strategically-placed Horn of Africa nation for a sixth term, preliminary official results show. The 78-year-old’s sole challenger Mohamed Farah Samatar got 2.19% of the vote, in a poll boycotted by most of the opposition. In power for 27 years, Guelleh had promised to step down, but ran for re-election after the constitution was amended in November to remove the upper age limit of 75 for presidential candidates. Guelleh’s campaign focused on the fact that he had maintained stability in…
A CHARITY co-founded by the Duke of Sussex is suing him for defamation. A spokesman for Sentebale, which supports young people in southern Africa, says the court action is because of an alleged “adverse media campaign” which they claim has caused disruption and “reputational harm” to the charity and its leadership. A spokesman for Prince Harry and another former trustee of the charity, Mark Dyer, who is also being sued, said: “They categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims.” In an acrimonious dispute over how the charity was being managed, Prince Harry left Sentebale last year. The court filing shows…
REAL Madrid’s stuttering form continued as their slim La Liga title chances were dealt another blow with a frustrating draw against Girona. Victory would have cut Barcelona’s lead at the top to four points before they host city rivals Espanyol on Saturday. Instead, Hansi Flick’s side will move nine points clear if they win the derby encounter after Real’s winless run extended to three games in all competitions. Federico Valverde put Los Blancos ahead six minutes after the break at the Bernabeu with a low strike from the edge of the area which squirmed past goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga. But Thomas…
THE United States delegation has departed for Saturday’s planned ceasefire negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Iran’s government confirmed its representatives have already arrived. But new tensions between the two sides emerged on Friday that throw the upcoming talks — already shrouded in deep distrust — into doubt. The ceasefire, announced on Tuesday, temporarily put a stop to the US and Israel war against Iran. Yet, since the deal was struck, conflicts have erupted over the 10-point Iranian proposal to pause the fighting. Both sides have offered differing accounts of its terms after agreeing to them. One critical point of discord…
THE casualty rate for Russian soldiers in Ukraine increased to a new monthly high in March, according to Ukraine’s armed forces. They say drone production enabled a record number of strikes. Ukraine tallied Russian casualties at 35,351 last month, with drones causing 96 per cent of them while artillery and small arms fire accounted for the rest. That casualty rate was a 29 per cent increase on February, said Ukraine’s commander in chief. “These are clearly confirmed losses: we have video footage of each such strike in our system,” said Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The losses are slightly above…
WITH growing fears that the militant Islamist insurgency that has engulfed large parts of West Africa is spreading, security has been dominating the campaign trail in Benin – a once-largely peaceful nation. Sunday’s presidential election comes about four months after outgoing President Patrice Talon survived a coup attempt, when Nigeria – the regional superpower – sent warplanes to bombard mutinous soldiers who had attempted to overthrow him. Nigeria’s intervention prevented Benin from going down the path of several other regional states – including Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali – where the military seized power in recent years as disillusionment grew…
THE world’s largest known group of wild chimpanzees has split and been locked in a vicious “civil war” for the last eight years, according to researchers. It is not clear exactly why the once close-knit community of Ngogo chimpanzees at Uganda’s Kibale National Park are at loggerheads, but since 2018 the scientists have recorded 24 killings, including 17 infants. “These were chimps that would hold hands,” lead author Aaron Sandel said. “Now they’re trying to kill each other.” The study, published in the journal Science, says the intensity and duration of the violence may inform how early human conflict developed.…
FIFA on Thursday unveiled its list of match officials for the June 11-July 19 World Cup, including 52 referees, six of whom are women. Football’s governing body will also take 88 assistant referees and 30 video match officials, who hail from all six confederations and 50 member associations. “The selected match officials are the very best in the world,” said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s chief refereeing officer. “They were part of a wider pool of officials that was identified and monitored over the past three years. They have attended seminars and officiated at FIFA tournaments. “In addition, their performances in domestic…
ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government is ready to hold direct talks with Lebanon, a day after Israeli attacks on its northern neighbour killed hundreds of people and threatened a fragile United States-Iran truce. “In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office on Thursday. “The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.” The statement comes a day after Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed…
THE fertility rate in the United States has dropped to an all-time low, continuing a trend that has seen births in the country drop by nearly 23 percent since 2007. Data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday shows that the fertility rate for 2025 was 53.1 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, a one percent drop compared to the year before. Experts attribute the change to a variety of factors, from changing priorities among younger women to socioeconomic factors such as anxiety over the cost of living and the affordability of…
FEARS are growing in opposition circles in Zimbabwe that the ruling Zanu-PF party is making a new grab for power as it presses ahead with constitutional amendments aimed at giving parliament – rather than voters – the right to elect the president and to extend his term from five to seven years. “This is a coup, a slow coup that is unfolding in Zimbabwe,” veteran opposition politician and former finance minister Tendai Biti told the BBC. But Zanu-PF in power since independence in 1980 has vehemently defended the proposed changes. “There’s nothing that stops us to change, to go to…
KENYA has made a formal protest against a UN report which alleged that its personnel serving in a Security Council-authorised mission in Haiti had been involved in sexual abuse. In a letter to the UN chief António Gutteres, Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi expressed concern over the allegations that were first reported last August. A report by the secretary general made public last week implicates officers under the Kenyan-led mission in four cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Three of the alleged victims are children – a 12-year-old and two aged 16. Mudavadi said the claims were…