Author: Editor

FOR decades, football fans in Nigeria have lived in the distant memories of the mid-to-late 90s and the early 2000s. That era had Kanu Nwankwo as an “Invincible” with Arsenal; Sunday Oliseh anchoring the midfield for teams like Juventus and Borussia Dortmund; and Austin Okocha dancing with the ball at the Reebok Stadium. It was a period when Nigerian players were regulars at some of the most hallowed football cathedrals in Europe. But after years of seeing the country’s players relegated to the periphery of the global game, that sense of relevance for Nigerian footballers may have just returned. Ademola…

MIKEL Arteta has apologised to Liam Rosenior after the Chelsea boss accused Arsenal of a lack of respect before their League Cup semi-final clash. Rosenior was angry that Arsenal staff encroached onto the Chelsea half of the pitch during the pre-match warm-up at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. He was seen shouting for them to stay in their own half and later said, “I’ve never asked my team or coaches to encroach on the opposition’s territory. In that moment, I didn’t think it was right where they were operating; they were affecting our warm-up. “I asked them, maybe not politely,…

THE Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has finally partially opened this week after two years of Israeli-mandated closure. The news offers relief for many particularly those Palestinians in urgent need of treatment abroad. But for many elderly Palestinians in Gaza, staying in the enclave is an act of survival, resistance, and historical memory. Rafah may be open, but they are not planning to go anywhere. In Kefaya al-Assar’s mind, that decision to stay is an effort to correct what she perceives to have been a historical mistake made by her parents – fleeing their village of Julis, which was…

US President Donald Trump triggered global outrage on Friday after he posted a video depicting Barack Obama, the first Black president in American history, and his wife Michelle as monkeys. Top Democrats condemned the post as “racist,” even as the White House rejected what it called “fake outrage” and said the video posted late Thursday on Trump’s Truth Social account was from an “internet meme.” Near the end of the one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Republican Trump’s 2020 election loss, the Obamas are shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second. The song “The Lion…

EIGHTEEN Senegalese football fans detained in Morocco over “hooliganism” during last month’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final have begun a hunger strike pending their trial. Lawyer Patrick Kabou said his clients told him they have been “waiting to learn the charges against them since January 18”, the day they were arrested after a heated AFCON final in which Senegal beat Morocco in Rabat. Kabou, speaking to the news agency AFP, said the group complained that police officers had questioned them in French and Arabic, whereas they “only speak Wolof”, their native language. Minutes before the end of last month’s…

A 52-YEAR-OLD fisherman has died after being attacked by a crocodile while fleeing a herd of elephants in eastern Zambia, police say. Dean Nyirenda was returning from a fishing trip with two friends on Wednesday when they bumped into the elephants. They ran away, with Nyirenda diving into a stream near the Luangwa River. “That is when he was attacked by a crocodile by biting his right thigh,” local police chief Robertson Mweemba told journalists. The southern African country has a thriving elephant population and clashes between humans and wildlife have claimed many lives in recent years. Police said Nyirenda…

ATLETICO Madrid advanced to the last four of the Copa del Rey on Thursday with an emphatic 5-0 win at Real Betis as new signing Ademola Lookman scored on his Rojiblanco debut. Diego Simeone’s side join holders Barcelona, 2024 winners Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad in the semi-finals of the cup competition. A barnstorming first-half performance in Seville by Atletico set up the victory as they raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone and Lookman. The 28-year-old Nigerian joined Atletico on deadline day from Serie A outfit Atalanta on a reported 40-million-euro ($47 million)…

CHIPPA United have confirmed the departure of Super Eagles goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali after the Nigerian formally requested to leave the South African club. In a statement shared on its official X account on Thursday, the Port Elizabeth-based side said the 28-year-old shot-stopper submitted a request to depart the club, which was granted after due consideration by the management. “Chippa United Football Club confirms that Stanley Nwabali has formally submitted a request to depart club. After careful consideration, the club has agreed to grant his release,” the statement read. The club also thanked the goalkeeper for his service during his spell…

TWENTY-FIVE more Palestinians have returned to Gaza through the Rafah crossing following its long-awaited partial reopening, describing an exhausting journey through humiliating Israeli security measures, while patients in need of urgent medical treatment abroad are being transferred to the border. This comes as one Palestinian was killed and another injured by Israeli forces on Thursday, as Israeli attacks continue despite a “ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip. Israeli troops shot and killed a man near the Bani Suhaila roundabout, east of Khan Younis, while in central Khan Younis, near the Abu Hamid roundabout, a 28-year-old woman was injured by Israeli forces’…

A MAN who plotted to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September 2024, two months before the US election, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. Ryan Routh, 59, was convicted in September of trying to kill then-candidate Trump, the second attempt on the billionaire’s life in the run-up to the vote that brought him back to the White House. According to an AFP journalist in the courtroom, Judge Aileen Cannon handed down the sentence of life plus seven years after a 90-minute hearing, saying it was “to protect the public from future crime” committed by…

AN unknown number of aid workers are missing after air strikes hit a hospital in South Sudan, near the Ethiopian border, a charity group says. The hospital, run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Jonglei state, “was hit in an air strike by the government of South Sudan forces during the night on Tuesday”, MSF said. The South Sudan government is yet to comment. In a separate attack, MSF said its health facility in Pieri, also in Jonglei state, was on the same day looted by unknown assailants, leaving it “unusable for the local community”. “Our colleagues had…

THE UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned people over travel to Cape Verde after dozens of Britons fell ill with stomach bugs while there. Since 1 October, the agency has identified 118 cases of shigella and 43 of salmonella linked to trips to the West African archipelago. While most people recover within a week, four British people have died within months of contracting stomach bugs while on holiday there. The warning comes ahead of the February half term, when a greater number of British holidaymakers are expected to travel to the popular winter destination. Shigella and salmonella are both…

MOROCCO’s football federation said it will appeal disciplinary sanctions and fines imposed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after the chaotic scenes at the Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal last month. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) was fined a total of $315,000 last month, added to bans against two of its players. In a statement, the FRMF said it would lodge an appeal “in order to preserve all rights guaranteed by the regulations”, citing “non-conformity of these sanctions with the extent and seriousness of the incidents that occurred”. The AFCON final on January 18 took a…

ISRAEL has killed at least 23 Palestinians in attacks across the Gaza Strip in one of the deadliest days since an October “ceasefire” began, according to medical sources. The sources told Al Jazeera several children were among the casualties on Wednesday, including an 11-year-old girl. At least 14 people were killed in Israeli shelling on the Tuffah and Zeitoun neighbourhoods of Gaza City. Another four were reported dead in an attack on tents sheltering displaced people in the Qizan Abu Rashwan area, south of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. An additional two people were killed by Israeli air attacks on…

IRANIAN Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that nuclear talks between his country and the United States will take place this week in Oman. Araghchi announced late Wednesday that the talks were scheduled to take place at 10am in Muscat on Friday (06:00 GMT), after reports earlier suggested the anticipated meeting was faltering amid disagreements over format and location. “I’m grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements,” the foreign minister wrote on social media. On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media that he has instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable…

ZIMBABWE’s ex-President Robert Mugabe may have had financial ties with Jeffrey Epstein, according to the latest batch of files related to the convicted US sex offender. In an email exchange from 2015 with Japanese entrepreneur Joi Ito, the disgraced financier suggested they approach then-President Mugabe to provide Zimbabwe with a new currency after the local dollar collapsed because of hyperinflation. FBI documents from 2017 also released had unverified testimony from a “human confidential source”, who claimed Epstein was a wealth manager for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and provided the same service for Mugabe. Being named among the Epstein files is…

A NOTORIOUS Tanzanian drug-trafficking kingpin has been arrested in Zambia during a raid, the Zambian Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has announced. Ahmed Muharram was among several suspects detained in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, along with large quantities of marijuana and cough syrup containing codeine in several drug busts on Tuesday, the authorities said. “The suspect is a known transnational drug trafficker,” the DEC said, adding that the 40-year-old had long been on the anti-drug agency’s watch-list. The arrest of Muharram, who has not yet commented, was made possible thanks to a series of intelligence-led operations, the agency said. Under Zambian law,…

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino defended his controversial decision to award a peace prize to United States president Donald Trump as he dismissed calls for a World Cup boycott. Infantino was widely criticised for giving Trump the honour on behalf of his governing body at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington DC in December. The move drew further scrutiny after US forces seized Venezuelan president Miguel Maduro, while Trump caused more controversy with his desire to acquire Greenland for national security reasons. However, Infantino insisted Trump was deserving of FIFA’s inaugural peace prize, telling Sky News on Monday: “Objectively, he…

UNITED Nations chief Antonio Guterres again has called on Israel to immediately allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli authorities continue to block dozens of Palestinians from exiting the war-ravaged enclave to seek medical treatment. Guterres made the appeal on Tuesday, as more than 100 sick and injured Palestinians congregated at the newly reopened Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, hoping to access medical care abroad. “I also call for the facilitation of rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief at scale – including through the Rafah crossing,” Guterres said during an address at UN headquarters in…

THE United States military says it shot down an Iranian drone that approached a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, amid continued efforts by regional powers to ease tensions between Washington and Tehran. In a statement on Tuesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Tim Hawkins said a US fighter jet from the USS Abraham Lincoln “shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board”. The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C from the Lincoln, which CENTCOM said was sailing about 800km (500 miles) from Iran’s southern coast. CENTCOM said…