WORLD

CHELSEA have made an initial £55million bid for Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi, according to reports. Chelsea are keen to get their transfer business underway before the World Cup, it seems, after a bid for Icardi was made today. That is according to Spanish newspaper AS, who claim Real Madrid are yet to get their act together over a rival ...

ALVARO MORATA is having a “bad time” at Chelsea but has received the backing from Diego Costa to turn the situation around. Morata was left out of the Spain squad for their international friendlies this week. The £60million striker joined Chelsea from Real Madrid last summer as a replacement for Costa, who went on strike in an effort to force ...

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the girls were released “unconditionally”. “No money changed hands,” he told reporters in the capital, Abuja. He added: “As of now, the number (of girls confirmed to have been released) has increased to 101.” One of the missing girls’ parents, Kachalla Bukar, said Boko Haram militants shook hands and took pictures with them before leaving. ...

Harare – The United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Harry Thomas, has reportedly said that his country is willing to assist the southern African country in growing its economy and creating jobs following the resignation of ex-president Robert Mugabe last year. According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, Thomas made the remarks as he was paying a courtesy visit to Zimbabwe’s deputy president Constantino Chiwenga this ...

Kigali – African leaders on Wednesday signed what is being called the largest free trade agreement since the creation of the World Trade Organisation. The deal creates a continental market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product of more than $3.4 trillion. A major goal is to boost intra-African trade and rely less on the volatility of ...

Former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso is facing a possible five-year jail sentence over alleged tax fraud. The provincial prosecutor’s office of Madrid said in a statement on Wednesday that it is seeking a conviction against the 36-year-old ex-Spain international for alleged offences between 2010 and 2012. Alonso, who retired at the end of last season, is accused ...

MOHAMED SALAH has missed more big chances than anyone else in the Premier League. Liverpool hero Mohamed Salah has taken the Premier League by storm in 2017/18 with a stunning 28-goal haul in his return to English football so far. The Egyptian star has been a menacing presence in almost every game for the Reds this season, but the latest ...

Reading have sacked manager Jaap Stam with just eight games of the Championship season remaining. The club sit only three points away from the relegation zone following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Norwich and have not won since January 30. The former Manchester United and Holland defender led the Royals to the Sky Bet Championship play-off final in his first season ...

MANCHESTER UNITED’s crisis is one of the big talking points during the international break. How can a manager such as Jose Mourinho be failing to get the best out of Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw? January was a positive time to be a Manchester United fan. Sure, at that point, the Premier League title was already well on ...

The majority of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by militants from the town of Dapchi last month have been returned, the government says. Nigeria’s Ministry of Information says 76 of the 110 schoolgirls were brought back in the early hours of this morning following “back channel efforts”. The army then “paused” its operations in the area to ensure “lives were not ...