Author: Editor

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…

SAIF al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the longtime former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in Libya. Ahmed Khalifa, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in the North African country, said on Tuesday that Gaddafi is believed to have been shot and killed in the western Libyan city of Zintan, where he was based for the past decade. The 53-year-old’s killing was confirmed by his political adviser, Abdullah Othman, but the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear. Khaled al-Mishri, the former head of the Tripoli-based High State Council, an internationally recognised government body, called for an “urgent and transparent…

THE authorities in Puntland, a semi‑autonomous region of Somalia, have executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14‑year‑old girl, in a rare case in the region in which the death penalty has been carried out against a woman. Hodan Mohamud Diiriye, 34, was killed by firing squad on Tuesday in the city of Galkayo after a court found her guilty of beating to death a teenager who had been working as a domestic helper. Saabirin Saylaan’s killing in November sparked protests in Galkayo, along with renewed calls for greater child protection. The case touched a deep nerve in a country…

THOUSANDS of sick and wounded Palestinians are eagerly waiting to leave Gaza for urgent medical care abroad as Israel opens the Rafah border with Egypt for “limited” crossings. Only five patients managed to exit today. The border crossing after being closed by Israel for nearly two years will reportedly operate for six hours a day and allow the exit of only 150 people. A bus carrying the first 12 Palestinians who passed Israel’s intense screening process passed through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, far short of the 50 per day expected. Health authorities say 1,268 people have died in Gaza…

PAKSITANI security forces have killed at least 145 fighters in the restive Balochistan province in a manhunt launched after a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks that left nearly 50 people dead. The announcement on Sunday came a day after the attacks, which began early on Saturday at multiple locations across southwestern Balochistan and left 31 civilians, including five women, and 17 security personnel dead. The assault, claimed by the banned separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), prompted authorities to impose months-long security restrictions on the province, banning public gatherings, demonstrations and limiting traffic movement. The measures also ban the…

AN internal clash within Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has reportedly left a senior commander dead in the Darfur region, according to local sources. Sources told reporters that Abdullah Abu al-Qasim, commander of the RSF’s Sha’iriya sector, was killed during fighting that erupted among RSF elements in the Khazan area late on Sunday. The clashes began at around 8:00 p.m. local time and were triggered by internal leadership disputes within the paramilitary group, the sources said. The fighting resulted in multiple casualties, though the total number of dead and wounded remains unclear. Abu al-Qasim, also known as “Dawli,” was a…

GHANA has paused citizenship applications for members of the African diaspora in order to make the system more accessible and user friendly. Since 2016, those who can prove their ancestors came from Africa have been able to get Ghanaian nationality. It was primarily aimed at the descendants of those who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade. More than 1,000 people – including African American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder – have obtained Ghanaian citizenship in recent years. However, some applicants have complained about the number of stages involved, as well as the high cost. Dr Erieka Bennet, ambassador for the Diaspora…

BENJAMIN Sesko scored a stoppage-time winner as Manchester United made it three wins in a row under Michael Carrick in a Premier League thriller with Fulham at Old Trafford. In a match preceded by a protest attended by 500-600 fans, according to police sources, United seemed to be cruising to victory as Brazilian duo Casemiro and Matheus Cunha put them two up with goals either side of half-time. But after Raul Jimenez pulled one back five minutes from time with a brilliant penalty into the roof of the home net, Kevin looked to have snatched a point with a thunderous…