Author: Editor

LATEST reports claimed that Juventus are preparing a hefty offer in the region of €85m to convince Napoli to sell them Victor Osimhen in the summer transfer window, but the Bianconeri still have an uphill battle if they are to fend off interest from a number of different clubs, particularly Saudi’s Al-Hilal. Osimhen is currently out on loan with Galatasaray after a permanent move away from Napoli collapsed in spectacular fashion at the end of the summer transfer window. Since then, the Nigeria international has gone on to net 33 goals in 37 matches across all competitions, including 24 goals…

BAYER Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso announced Friday he will leave the club at the end of the season, amid reports linking him to Spanish giants Real Madrid. Alonso said it was “the right moment” to announce the exit, but did not confirm his next post, saying it was “not the right moment to talk too much about the future”. Spanish and German media reported Friday the 43-year-old has already agreed to join Real and will link up with the Spanish giants after the Club World Cup, replacing Carlo Ancelotti, with a compensation payment of around 12 million euros ($13.5 million)…

THE world could be witnessing “another Nakba”, or the expulsion of Palestinians, a United Nations special committee has warned. The committee sounded the alarm on Friday, accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and saying it was inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on Palestinians. The comments come after Israel announced a plan earlier this week to expel hundreds of thousands of hungry Palestinians from the north of Gaza and confine them in six encampments. For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba“, or catastrophe – the mass displacement that accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948. “Israel continues to inflict unimaginable suffering on the…

PAKISTAN’s military said strikes have been launched against Indian military sites as part of operation “Bunyan Marsoos” after three Pakistani airbases were targeted by Indian “air-to-surface missiles”. Also Pakistan Civil Aviation said it is closing its airspace from 3:15am local time (22:15 GMT) on Saturday until noon (07:00 GMT) following the latest attacks. Explosions and air raid sirens have been heard across Indian-administered Kashmir and India’s Punjab state as the Indian military said drones were sighted in 26 locations and are being “tracked and engaged”. Panicked, everyone on the streets started rushing home, 24-year-old Parray said. From the terrace of…

THE United Arab Emirates on Friday denied an Amnesty International report accusing it of providing Chinese-made weapons to Sudanese paramilitary forces at war with the regular army. “The UAE strongly rejects the suggestion that it is supplying weaponry to any party involved in the ongoing conflict in Sudan,” said Salem Aljaberi, the UAE’s assistant minister for security and military affairs. “These claims are baseless and lack substantiated evidence,” he said in a statement posted on the foreign ministry’s X account. On Thursday, Amnesty said it identified “Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers” through analysis of footage of attacks…

SOUTH Africa has criticised the US as reports emerge suggesting Washington could receive white Afrikaners as refugees as early as next week. A document seen by the BBC’s US partner CBS describes the potential resettlement as a “priority” for President Donald Trump’s government, however the timing has not been publicly confirmed by the White House. In a statement published on Friday, South Africa’s foreign ministry described the purported move as “politically motivated” and designed to undermine South Africa’s “constitutional democracy”. In February, Trump described Afrikaners as victims of “racial discrimination” in an executive order, opening up the prospect for them…

MASON Mount ended 20 months of torment with a brilliant second half double as Manchester United booked an all-English Europa Cup final with Tottenham in Bilbao on 21 May. On an anxious, nervy, mistake-ridden night at Old Trafford, fingernails were starting to get chewed at the sight of the home side making it so hard for themselves despite starting the second-leg of their semi-final with Athletic Bilbao holding a three-goal advantage. But Mount chose exactly the right time to step up. Beset by a succession of injuries that have limited the England man to just 10 Premier League starts since…

AN explosion in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has killed and injured Israeli troops from the Golani Brigade, who were detonating a building, according to Israeli websites. There is currently an Israeli media blackout on the incident on Thursday and there has been no official comment from the government there yet. Witnesses in Rafah told Al Jazeera of a large explosion, and Israeli helicopters trying to evacuate the wounded. There has been heavy fighting in the area, they said. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reports from Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, that Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades says…

UNITED States Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected the first US pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church and has taken the name Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo made his first public appearance to impart a blessing from the roofed area of St Peter’s Basilica. In his first public words, Pope Leo told the faithful “peace be with all of you”. He emphasised the theme of peace throughout the address. “Evil will not prevail; we are in the hands of God,” he told the crowd and a global audience. “So without fear, united hand in hand with God…

THE bodies of a journalist and his partner have been found in South Africa in an advanced stage of decomposition, more than two months after they went missing, local media groups have said. Police said they had found human remains, but DNA tests still needed to be conducted to confirm they were those of radio journalist Sibusiso Aserie Ndlovu and his partner Zodwa Precious Mdhluli. In a joint statement, two media groups said that police had achieved a breakthrough after arresting five suspects. The couple were murdered and their bodies dumped in a bush in northern Limpopo province, the media…

THE US has announced that it is cutting $50m (£37m) in aid to Zambia’s health sector, due to the country’s failure to address the “systematic theft” of donated drugs and medical supplies. This “difficult” decision was taken after repeated warnings to the Zambian government to safeguard vital drugs meant for the country’s most vulnerable patients, said US ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales. “We are no longer willing to underwrite the personal enrichment of fraudsters or the corrupt when patients go without or have to buy life-saving medications that we have provided for free,” he added. The Zambian government said it…

A FORMER member of the House of Representatives, Gudaji Kazaure, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly receiving N70m from a former governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele. Sources told this newspaper that the anti-graft agency operatives arrested Mr Kazaure on Wednesday shorty after a Kano High Court vacated a restraining order against the former lawmaker. According to a source at the EFCC, Mr Kazaure received N20m in two tranches from through Mr Emefiele’s emissary named Mr Eric to buy “Sallah Rams”. The source further stated that Mr Kazaure subsequently received the sum of…

ON Monday the 5th of May, 2025, just three days ago, I had what I can call a “chance meeting” with the Acting Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof Patricia Manko Lar. I’d gone to the university now named Yakubu Gowon University, to see a childhood friend I’ve not met for close to 40 years. I entered the gate of the Senate Building at the ground floor of the university and it was full of people and I went straight to the reception to ask for where I’d get my friend. There were about six people seated by the…

PARIS Saint-Germain have secured their place in the UEFA Champions League final after a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night, completing a 3-1 aggregate win in the semi-finals. The French champions, holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, extended their advantage early in the match when Fabián Ruiz unleashed a powerful strike in the 27th minute, leaving Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya with no chance. PSG doubled their lead in the 72nd minute, with Achraf Hakimi finishing off a well-orchestrated team move to make it 2-0 on the night. Arsenal managed to pull one…

ISRAEL’s attacks on Gaza have killed at least 61 people since dawn, targeting civilians in crowded places as its more than two-month blockade of the besieged and bombarded enclave has caused acute food shortages, accelerating the starvation of the Palestinian population. A reconnaissance drone strike targeted an area near the Thai and Palmyra restaurants on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City on Wednesday. Two missiles were fired at two locations at the same time, 100 metres (110 yards) apart, one inside a restaurant and another at an intersection, killing at least 17 people. Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud…

INDIA hit Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir with missiles on Wednesday and Pakistan vowed to retaliate saying it shot down five Indian aircraft, in the worst clash in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours. India told more than a dozen foreign envoys in New Delhi that “if Pakistan responds, India will respond,” fuelling fears of a larger military conflict in one of the world’s most dangerous – and most populated – nuclear flashpoint regions. The escalation comes at a fragile moment for Pakistan’s $350 billion economy, which recently emerged from an economic crisis with the government trying to shore…

MALI’s military government has suspended the activities of political parties “until further notice”, days after a rare pro-democracy rally. The decree signed on Wednesday by the transitional president, General Assimi Goita, cited “reasons of public order” and covered all “associations of a political character”, according to state media. It was issued a week after authorities announced the repeal of a law governing the operation of political parties – a decision interpreted by legal experts as a step towards their dissolution. In response, a coalition of dozens of parties formed to “demand the effective end of the political-military transition no later…

A KENYAN court has sentenced four men to one year in prison or pay a fine of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of live queen ants out of the country. The four suspects – two Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan – were arrested last month with live ants suspected to have been destined for collectors in Europe and Asia. They had pleaded guilty to the charges, with the Belgians telling the court that they were collecting the highly sought-after ants as a hobby and didn’t think it was illegal. But delivering the sentence on Wednesday, the judge…

DAVIDE Frattesi fired Inter Milan into the Champions League final on Tuesday with an extra-time winner, which gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, where they will feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after coming…

HAMAS will no longer engage in ceasefire negotiations with Israel, seeing no point in doing so “as long as the hunger war and extermination war” continues on the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian group’s senior official. Basem Naim told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that the international community must pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the “crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings” in Gaza. “There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” he said.…