Author: Editor

NEYMAR’s return to his boyhood club, Santos, is complete. One of Brazil’s greatest footballing exports, and still the world’s most expensive player, has signed a six-month contract that brings him back to Vila Belmiro. The 32-year-old’s homecoming follows the termination of his contract with Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal on 27 January, closing the chapter on an injury-plagued and ultimately unfulfilling stint in the Middle East. “He was desperate to come back to Santos,” said BBC Sport’s Spanish football expert Guillem Balague. Santos were eager to bring Neymar back too. They reportedly used an AI-generated voice of club legend Pele,…

A CHILD has been killed and two other people wounded in an Israeli drone strike on eastern Jenin as the Israeli army’s deadly raids continued across the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that the drone targeted civilians near the Saadi family council which resulted in the killing of the 14-year-old. The deadly Israeli raids, which it calls the “Iron Wall” campaign, were launched just days after a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza. Since then, at least 20 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces across the occupied territory in addition to dozens wounded. In addition to…

COLOMBIA has offered to pay for the “dignified” deportation of its citizens from the United States, the foreign ministry said Friday, a week after a public spat between presidents Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump over the removal of migrants. The two leaders had issued threats and counter threats of major trade tariffs of up to 50 percent, and Washington’s embassy in Bogota stopped issuing visas from Monday to Friday in retaliation for Petro’s refusal to allow US military planes to return Colombian migrants to their country. Petro had accused the United States of treating the migrants like criminals, placing them…

BURUNDI’s president has warned the escalating conflict in eastern DR Congo could spark a regional war. The Rwanda-backed M23 group has wrested control of Goma, the main city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and is pushing southwards. The offensive is the latest to scar a region where an estimated six million people have died over three decades due to conflict. “If Eastern Congo does not have peace, the region has no peace,” President Evariste Ndayishimiye warned in remarks posted on social media Saturday. “If it continues like this, war risks becoming widespread in the region,” he said, adding: “If…

ARTILLERY shelling and air strikes killed at least 56 people across greater Khartoum on Saturday, according to a medical source and Sudanese activists. Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a battle for power since April 2023 that has intensified this month with the army fighting to take back control of the capital. RSF shelling killed 54 and injured 158 people at a busy market in army-controlled Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum, on Saturday, overwhelming the city’s Al-Nao Hospital, according to a medical source and the health ministry. “The shells hit in the…

CAR owners across the country have been thrown into a wide state of panic as the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) reaffirmed its commitment to enforcing the mandatory Third-Party Insurance policy nationwide, beginning February 1, 2025. The directive, issued by Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police (IGP), aims to strengthen road safety measures and ensure compliance with insurance regulations among vehicle owners, according to a statement released on Friday by Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Force public relations officer. He said, “In line with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM., the Nigeria Police Force once again…

ASTON Villa are one of a number of clubs interested in Manchester United’s out-of-favour striker Marcus Rashford. The 27-year-old has not featured for United since being dropped by head coach Ruben Amorim for the Manchester derby on 12 December. Amorim said on Wednesday he felt his side would be better with Rashford in it, but the player had not met the standards he demands of his squad. Rashford’s representatives have met a number of leading European clubs over the past few weeks in an effort to gauge interest. With the hours ticking down to Monday’s 23:00 GMT deadline, numerous sources…

IRANIAN Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told Al Jazeera that any attack by Israel or the United States on Iran’s nuclear facilities would plunge the region into an “all-out war”. In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic during a visit to Qatar, Araghchi warned that launching a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be “one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make”. He said Iran would respond “immediately and decisively” to any attack and that it would lead to an “all-out war in the region”. Concerns have grown in Iran that US President Donald Trump might empower…

AN official at Meta’s popular WhatsApp chat service has said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions targeted its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The official told the Reuters news agency on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted but confirmed that WhatsApp is referring targets to the Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. He declined to say how WhatsApp ascertained that Paragon was responsible for the breach. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but would not go into detail. In…

THE United Nations says at least 700 people have been killed in intense fighting in Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, since Sunday. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said 2,800 people have been injured, as M23 rebels – backed by Rwanda – captured the capital of North Kivu province. The rebels are now reported to be moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu. The conflict in eastern DR Congo dates back to the 1990s but has rapidly escalated in recent weeks. M23, which is made up of ethnic Tutsis, say they are fighting for minority…

CHAOS erupted in Ghana’s parliament late on Thursday night, with lawmakers destroying furniture, and pushing and shoving each other. Police were called into the meeting – held to vet Ghana’s new ministerial appointments – as MPs damaged tables and microphones. The vetting committee had disagreed over a number of issues, with some accusing opposition MPs of dragging out the process in order to settle political scores. On Friday morning the vetting committee’s chairman apologised to the Ghanaian public, calling it “totally unacceptable”. The cross-party committee had been scheduled to vet three lawmakers from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC). The…

REIGNING champions Real Madrid will face 2023 winners Manchester City in the plum tie of the play-off round of this season’s Champions League, following Friday’s draw. It is the fourth year running in which the sides have been drawn against each other in a knockout tie, with Real emerging victorious in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals last season. City, who scraped through after finishing 22nd in the league phase in this first season of the new format for Europe’s elite club competition, will be at home in the first leg before going to Spain for the return. Elsewhere, Celtic…

MANCHESTER United advanced straight to the Europa League last 16 as Kobbie Mainoo scored one and assisted another to help Ruben Amorim’s side to a narrow win at FCSB. After a relatively drab first 60 minutes Mainoo’s low pass found wing-back Diogo Dalot, who was unmarked at the back post to comfortably tap United ahead. Eight minutes later the England midfielder got on to the scoresheet by side-footing home Alejandro Garnacho’s cut-back. Amorim opted to start Mainoo in a more advanced position and the midfielder rewarded the Portuguese’s call by scoring his first goal of the season, having not hit…

HAMAS says its top military commander Mohammed Deif has been killed. The Israeli military had said it killed Deif in an air attack in July, but the Palestinian group had not confirmed his death until Thursday. The spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said his death was “befitting”. “This is befitting of our leader Mohammed Deif, who exhausted the enemy for more than 30 years,” Abu Obeida said. “How, by God, could Mohammed Deif be mentioned in history without the title ‘martyr’ and without the medal of martyrdom?” Abu Obeida asked. Deif was one of the…

A SERIES of constitutional reforms granting sweeping new powers to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have been passed without dissent by the country’s legislature. A unanimous vote on Thursday ushered in what critics have described as a power grab by Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. The reforms also make the vice president a “co-president”. “We have to go step by step and make it clear that Nicaragua’s government is a revolutionary government, even if that hurts some people’s feelings,” the head of Nicaragua’s National Assembly, Gustavo Porras, said earlier this month. The move is the latest to expand…

UGANDA has confirmed an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Kampala, its capital city, and the death of a nurse, the Ministry of Health says. The victim, who died on Wednesday at a Kampala hospital, was a 32-year-old man, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Health Ministry, told reporters on Thursday. He sought treatment at various facilities, including at a public hospital in Mbale, 240km (150 miles) east of Kampala near the border with Kenya, she said. “The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on 29 January. Post-mortem samples confirmed the Sudan…

SOUTH Africa and Rwanda’s already fraught diplomatic relations have worsened after President Cyril Ramaphosa accused the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group of killing South African peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. As the rebels gained the upper hand in the battlefield by capturing most of Goma – the biggest city in the east – South Africa fired a diplomatic salvo, warning that further attacks on its troops would be considered a “declaration of war”. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame hit back, accusing South Africa of being part of a “belligerent force” involved in “offensive combat operations” to help the Congolese government…

SUPER Eagles coach Eric Chelle says Nigeria’s mission at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be driven by personal and collective thirst for revenge. Nigeria has been drawn into Group C, where they will compete against 2004 champions Tunisia, as well as Uganda and Tanzania, in the group stage. With three AFCON titles to their name (1980, 1994, and 2013), the Super Eagles remain one of the tournament’s strongest contenders. The team is also fueled by the painful memory of their 2-1 loss to Côte d’Ivoire in the 2023 AFCON final – a defeat that still lingers in…

MANCHESTER City survived a huge scare as they scraped into the Champions League play-offs with victory over Club Brugge at Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions knew only victory would suffice to avoid the abject embarrassment of slipping out of the top 24 places in the tournament’s new format. And they were left facing that grim prospect after Raphael Onyedika gave Club Brugge a shock lead as he turned in Ferran Jutgla’s cross just before half-time. City needed a response with tension mounting, duly providing it against a Belgian side who showed enough to fully deserve their place in…

PRESIDENT Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah have rejected any forced displacement of Palestinians, days after United States President Donald Trump suggested that Arab countries take in Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip. “Regarding what is being said about the displacement of Palestinians, it can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security,” el-Sisi told a press conference on Wednesday. “The deportation or displacement of the Palestinian people is an injustice in which we cannot participate,” he said. Later on Wednesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said that Palestinians must remain on their land. The…