Author: Editor

BRUNO Fernandes equalled the Premier League record of 20 assists in a season as Manchester United secured third place with a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Fernandes, who was recently crowned the football writers’ player of the season, moved alongside Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne when his cross was turned in by Bryan Mbeumo for United’s third goal. Mbeumo was also involved in the game’s most controversial moment when his handball in the build-up to Matheus Cunha’s strike went unpunished despite a VAR review. Both sides had secured their principal targets in recent weeks, with United set to return…

A DRONE strike has sparked a fire on the perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), raising fresh concerns over a possible regional escalation despite the fragile ceasefire between Iran and the United States. In a statement issued on Sunday, authorities in Abu Dhabi confirmed that the fire broke out at an electrical generator located outside the plant’s inner perimeter in the Al Dhafra region, while the UAE Defence Ministry later disclosed that air defence systems had successfully intercepted two drones and that a third drone struck the generator near the facility. Officials said…

AT least five people have been killed after Ukraine launched what Russian officials described as one of the largest drone barrages of the war, sending waves of unmanned aircraft towards Moscow and several other regions overnight. The Indian embassy in Russia said one Indian worker was killed and three others were injured during the drone attacks in the Moscow region. Moscow region’s Governor Andrei Vorobyov added that a woman was killed after a drone slammed into a house in Khimki, north of Moscow. Vorobyov added that apartment buildings and infrastructure sites were damaged in the attacks. Rescue workers were searching…

RESIDENTS in the Ugandan capital have expressed their fears and concerns after officials confirmed a death in the city from Ebola, following a new outbreak in neighbouring Congo. Authorities said on Friday that a Congolese man who died at the Kibuli Muslim Hospital in Kampala earlier in the week, had tested positive for the virus. As visitors arrived at the health facility on Saturday, they were screened with infrared thermometers and provided with hand sanitiser at the building’s entrance. “When I heard them saying they had got one suspect of Ebola, it frightened me,” said Kampala resident Francis Anguzu. “Why?…

OFFICIALS in Ghana said on Friday that the government has wrapped up its International Monetary Fund bailout programme, ending a $3 billion emergency support package. Accra said it had helped restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability ahead of schedule. Ghana’s presidency said inflation has reduced significantly, the currency has strengthened, and public debt has declined sharply. In December, President John Dramani Mahama announced the country would gradually exit the IMF programme thanks to reforms undertaken since 2024 when he start his second, but non-consecutive term in office. At the time, he described the economy as being in a fragile state,…

AN Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 80 as authorities warned there was no vaccine for the strain in a crisis that the World Health Organisation declared an international health emergency on Sunday. A total of 88 deaths and 336 suspected cases of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever have been reported, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) said in an update on Saturday. The Geneva-based WHO said early on Sunday the outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola constituted a “public health emergency of international concern” — the second-highest…

SPANIARD Xabi Alonso has reached an agreement in principle on a four-year deal to become Chelsea’s next permanent manager. The appointment of the former Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen boss, 44, is expected in the coming days. Chelsea have been keen to secure a replacement for Liam Rosenior, who was sacked last month. BBC Sport reported on Monday that Chelsea had started contacting prospective new managers, including Alonso, Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, Fulham’s Marco Silva and Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner. However, former Real and Liverpool midfielder Alonso emerged as the club’s preferred candidate and talks have now reached a conclusion. The…

FOREIGN Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran remains ready to resume direct military conflict with the United States, if negotiations fail to produce acceptable results. Amid a stream of state-orchestrated messaging to both domestic and foreign audiences, Araghchi also warned that despite the damage the US-Israel war on Iran has done to the region, it is also impacting ordinary American households. US energy and inflation costs have increased significantly since the conflict began on February 28, resulting in the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is normally shipped. “Americans are…

AT least eight people have been killed, and dozens injured, after a freight train crashed into a public bus in Thailand’s capital. Flames engulfed the bus and nearby vehicles near an airport rail link station in the centre of Bangkok Saturday afternoon. The city’s emergency services Erawan Medical Center confirmed the number of deaths, while Bangkok police chief Urumporn Koondejsumrit told AFP news agency at least 35 people were injured. Speaking to reporters at the scene, Deputy Transport Minister Siripong Angkasakulkiat said that all the bodies were found on the bus. It was not yet clear how many people were…

A NEW Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has caused scores of deaths has a “very high lethality rate” and no vaccine nor specific treatment, the country’s health minister warned Saturday. “The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine, no specific treatment,” Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa. “This strain has a very high lethality rate which can reach 50 percent,” Samuel-Roger Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa. Earlier Saturday, ministry officials said the death toll had already reached 80, up from 65 initially reported the previous day. The strain has also claimed one life in neighbouring…

FOR many Nigerians living in South Africa, each new wave of xenophobic unrest revives an unsettling reality; the fear that their nationality alone could make them targets of mob violence, looting, or intimidation. Although attacks against foreign nationals in South Africa are not new, the recurring hostility towards Nigerians has continued to raise difficult questions about migration, economic frustration, and the fragile state of African solidarity decades after the end of apartheid. The attacks on Nigerians in South Africa can be traced back to the early 2000s, when xenophobic violence on the Cape Flats resulted in the deaths of two…

MANCHESTER United are in negotiations with Michael Carrick over a two-year deal to become head coach on a permanent basis. Senior United figures have decided former Red Devils midfielder Carrick is the right man to take over. At a news conference on Friday, the 44-year-old – who has been in caretaker charge since January – said there should be a resolution on his future “pretty soon”. An announcement before Sunday’s final home game of the season against Nottingham Forest is not being ruled out. The contract is likely to contain the option of an additional year. Asked directly about the…

AT least seven Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured in two Israeli air strikes on a residential building and a civilian vehicle in Gaza City, according to medical sources. The deaths on Friday come as Israel said it carried out a strike on Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of the armed wing of Hamas in Gaza. In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said they targeted “one of the architects” of the October 7 attacks. Their statement did not say whether Haddad was killed. Hamas has not commented, and Al Jazeera has…

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says strikes targeting Russia’s oil industry and military production facilities are “entirely justified” after Moscow flattened an apartment block in Kyiv, killing at least 24 people. On Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Russia’s attacks would not go unpunished, saying he had discussed long-range strikes with senior military, security and intelligence officials, as a day of mourning was observed in Kyiv following Thursday’s attack on a nine-storey apartment block in the capital’s Darnytskyi district. Ukraine’s air force said the strike, which also killed three children, was part of Russia’s largest aerial assault on the country since the war…

NIGERIA has officially begun the implementation of a 30-day visa exemption for Rwandan nationals, in what the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) describes as a landmark move to strengthen diplomatic relations and promote intra-African mobility. “Nigeria implements 30-day visa exemption for Rwandan nationals,” a statement issued by the NIS Service Public Relations Officer, DCI Akinlabi Akinsola, on Friday, confirmed the policy shift The announcement follows President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, where he outlined the reciprocal arrangement aimed at easing travel between both countries. According to the statement, the decision also reflects Rwanda’s earlier…

AFRICA’s top health agency has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province. Around 246 cases and 65 deaths have been reported, mainly in the gold-mining towns of Mongwalu and Rwampara, said the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Ugandan officials confirmed one case of imported Ebola from DR Congo on Friday, with the country’s health ministry stating that a 59-year-old male who died on Thursday had tested positive. Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now DR Congo, and is thought to have spread from bats. This is the…

KYLIAN Mbappe will spearhead France at the World Cup after coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday announced his 26-man squad for this summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Deschamps, who guided France to World Cup glory in 2018 and will leave his role after the 2026 edition, included few surprises. “It’s a squad. Not necessarily the 26 best players. It’s about balance and how the team comes together,” Deschamps told French TV channel TF1. “The overriding and essential criterion (for selection) is a sporting one,” the 57-year-old later explained to journalists. Mbappe will likely captain the team from…

THE Israeli government has said it is taking the extraordinary step of suing The New York Times after the newspaper published an article detailing rape allegations by Palestinian detainees against Israeli forces. Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office made the announcement three days after the release of the article by longtime New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, which was based on the accounts of 14 male and female Palestinian victims. The report added to a growing body of evidence of systematic Israeli sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees, whose numbers have soared since October 7, 2023. That evidence has been documented by rights…

LATVIAN centre-right Prime Minister Evika Silina has announced her resignation, after the Progressives Party, her left-leaning coalition partner, pulled support from the government and left her without a majority. “I ⁠am resigning, but I am not giving up,” Silina, who has been prime minister since 2023, said in a televised statement on Thursday. Her resignation came days after Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Spruds, from the Progressives Party, was forced to resign over the government’s handling of several incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory. Silina said at the time that Spruds had lost her…

SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa fired, on Thursday his social development minister, a leading member of his ANC party, after weeks of mounting corruption claims. Sisisi Tolashe is the second senior official in weeks to be pushed aside by the president on graft allegations after the national police chief was suspended last month. The case adds to a slew of corruption scandals eroding public trust in the ANC party, which took power at the end of apartheid in 1994 but has since shed support. Ramaphosa announced the dismissal of 66-year-old Tolashe, also president of the ANC’s influential Women’s League, in…