Author: Editor

THREE of Nigeria’s leading attacking talents in Europe; Victor Boniface, Umar Sadiq and Taiwo Awoniyi will be stepping onto the pitch today under increasing scrutiny, as all three battle worrying goal droughts that stretch back several months. Victor Boniface, who took Europe by storm at Bayer Leverkusen in the 2023/24 season with 14 goals and nine assists, has seen his form dip dramatically. Last goal: March 2025 vs Bochum Drought: 12 matches / 8 months Now on loan at Werder Bremen, the striker has played six games this season, registering just one assist. Even in his first start for Bremen,…

THIRTY more bodies of Palestinians who were detained by Israel have been returned to the besieged Gaza Strip, some showing signs of torture. The return of the Palestinian remains, via the International Committee of the Red Cross, came as Israeli forces continued air strikes across the Strip despite a shaky ceasefire, killing at least three people on Friday. One Palestinian was killed and his brother wounded by Israeli gunfire in the Shujayea neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City, while another was killed by Israeli shelling in the Jabalia refugee camp, Wafa news agency reported. A third Palestinian died of wounds sustained…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has said he is not considering strikes within Venezuela, appearing to contradict his own comments earlier this month, amid a major US military build-up in the region. The US has now deployed fighter jets, warships and thousands of troops to the Caribbean, with the world’s largest warship, aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, on its way towards the Venezuelan coast. When asked by reporters on board Air Force One on Friday if media reports that he was considering strikes within Venezuela were true, Trump answered: “No.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the same…

HUNDREDS of people have been killed in Tanzania during three days of protests following Wednesday’s general election, the country’s main opposition party has said. The death toll varies, and a nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the numbers. While a spokesperson from the opposition Chadema party told AFP news agency that “around 700” people had been killed in clashes with security forces, a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died. The government has sought to play down the scale of the violence – and authorities have…

MORE than 60,000 people have fled the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over the weekend, according the UN refugee agency. There have been reports of mass executions and crimes against humanity as the RSF fighters stormed the city after an 18-month siege marked by starvation and heavy bombardment. The flow of those fleeing the violence towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the past few days, the UNHCR’s Eujin Byun told the BBC. They were narrating horrendous stories of atrocities, including rape, and…

SAUDI Arabia has revealed it rejected an offer to bring global football icon Lionel Messi to the Saudi Pro League on a short-term deal ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Abdullah Hammad, CEO of the Mahd Sports Academy, disclosed that Messi’s representatives approached him during the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, seeking a temporary move while the Major League Soccer (MLS) season goes on its extended break. “During the last Club World Cup, Messi’s team contacted me and offered for him to play in Saudi Arabia because the MLS will stop for nearly four months,” Hammad said on the…

THE Palestinian group Hamas has handed over two bodies it said were of deceased Israeli captives, a day after the fragile Gaza ceasefire was shattered by a series of deadly Israeli strikes across the besieged enclave. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the two bodies had been received by Israeli forces via the Red Cross in Gaza and would be transported into Israel for identification. Under the US-brokered accord to halt Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, Hamas released 20 living captives in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Israeli forces have…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has announced the lowest refugee admission cap in the country’s history, limiting entry to just 7,500 people for the fiscal year 2026. In a presidential document published on Thursday but dated September 30, the Trump administration indicated that the US refugee system would remain largely closed to the millions of people around the world fleeing unsafe conditions. “The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa pursuant to Executive Order 14204 and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands,” the document said. Trump has repeatedly said white South…

PROTESTS have escalated in major cities across Tanzania as opposition supporters denounce Wednesday’s presidential and parliamentary elections as a sham. Hundreds of demonstrators also crossed into Kenyan territory, barricading roads, lighting bonfires and tearing down posters of President Samia Suluhu Hassan along the way. Kenyan police said two people died after fleeing running battles with Tanzanian police. Protesters accuse the government of undermining democracy, as the main opposition leader is in jail and another opposition figure was disqualified from the election, bolstering Samia’s chances of winning. Anger grew on Thursday after the electoral commission started announcing results, with Samia getting…

CAMEROON’s Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji says opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary will face legal action over allegations he incited “violent post-election demonstrations”. At least four protesters have been killed during clashes between security forces and opposition supporters since Cameroon’s election on 12 October, with 92-year-old President Paul Biya winning an eighth consecutive term. Tchiroma Bakary insists he won the election, a claim dismissed by Biya’s ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM). Violent crackdowns by police and security officers on protesters have alarmed the international community, with the UN, African Union and EU calling for restraint. On Tuesday,…

LIVERPOOL crashed out of the League Cup on Wednesday as Crystal Palace’s 3-0 win in the fourth round added to the mounting crisis at Anfield. Ismaila Sarr struck twice in the first half and Yeremy Pino grabbed the third to condemn Arne Slot’s side to a sixth defeat in their last seven games in all competitions. Slot fielded a weakened team as he prioritised Liverpool’s crucial games against Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Manchester City over the next two weeks. But it was still another embarrassing result for Liverpool, coming hot on the heels of a 3-2 loss at Brentford…

DURING Israel’s war on Gaza, Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, was warned by Israeli soldiers for months in 2024 to take his family and leave his duties. But Abu Safia refused to leave his patients behind, as his colleagues and family said in a documentary by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines. Then in December as Israeli forces surrounded the hospital, an Israeli officer called Abu Safia and promised to relocate him and his staff to another hospital. But the promise was a lie. Instead, the paediatrician and neonatologist was abducted…

RESIDENTS of a Rio de Janeiro community lined up their dead in the street Wednesday after Brazil’s bloodiest police raid killed at least 119 people, spotlighting the city’s controversial war against drug gangs entrenched in poor neighborhoods. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was left horrified by the death toll from the operation, just days before Brazil hosts COP30 global climate talks in the Amazon city of Belem. While activists and the United Nations raised concerns over the use of force by police, Rio’s state government hailed the operation as a success in its bid to halt the takeover of…

THE Rapid Support Forces militia reportedly killed hundreds of civilians at the main hospital in el-Fasher, days after it captured the Sudanese city, the head of the UN’s health agency says. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reported killing of 460 people at the hospital. Earlier, the Sudan Doctors’ Network said that on Tuesday RSF fighters had “cold bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present”. It gave no causality figures, but said medical facilities in the city had been “transformed into…

TANZANIA’s authorities have imposed a curfew in Dar es Salaam, the nation’s biggest city, following violent clashes between the police and protesters on election day. Sources at the city’s Muhimbili Hospital told the BBC they had seen an influx of wounded patients, as Tanzanians voted in presidential and parliamentary elections. The poll is expected to be a shoo-in for President Samia Suluhu and her ruling party, as the main opposition leader is in jail on treason charges, which he denies, and his party has boycotted the vote. The protesters, who want electoral reforms and free political activity, set fire to…

THE Israeli military has killed at least 20 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “powerful” strikes following an exchange of gunfire in southern Rafah, during which one Israeli soldier was wounded. The attacks on Tuesday marked the most significant flare-up in violence since a ceasefire brokered by United States President Donald Trump came into effect in the war-devastated territory on October 10. Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, accused Israel of violating the truce and said it would postpone the planned handover of the body of a missing captive. In a statement, it also warned…

NORTH Korea has test-fired several sea-to-surface cruise missiles into its western waters, according to state media, hours before United States President Donald Trump begins a visit to South Korea. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Wednesday that the missiles, carried out in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, flew for more than two hours before accurately striking targets. Top military official Pak Jong Chon oversaw the test and said “important successes” were being achieved in developing North Korea’s “nuclear forces” as a war deterrent, according to KCNA. The test was aimed at assessing “the reliability of different strategic…

A PLANE crash near Kenya’s coast has killed 10 European tourists and a local pilot, officials have said. The aircraft was flying from the popular beach resort of Diani to an airstrip in the world-famous Maasai Mara game park when it went down at 05:30 local time (02:30 GMT), the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said. Mombasa Air Safari said the plane was carrying eight Hungarians, two Germans and a Kenyan pilot, all of whom had been killed in the crash. “Our primary focus right now is on providing all possible support to the families affected,” it added in a…

MALI has suspended schools and universities nationwide due to a severe fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by insurgents. Education Minister Amadou Sy Savane announced on state television that all education institutions would remain shut until 9 November, saying the movement of staff and students had been affected by the blockade. He said the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November. For weeks, Mali has been hit by a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by…

JURRIEN Timber urged Arsenal “not to get too high” after they extended their lead at the top of the Premier League. On a weekend where title rivals Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea all lost, the Gunners beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to move four points clear of shock second-placed team Bournemouth. Arsenal’s seventh consecutive victory in all competitions put them six points in front of City and seven ahead of reigning English champions Liverpool. The victory over capital rivals Palace also capped a fine week for Mikel Arteta’s men, who also posted a third successive Champions League win with a 4-0…